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

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

The New York Post [1/17/2026 7:41 PM, Anna Young, 42219K] reports the Minnesota National Guard said Saturday they are on standby amid escalating anti-ICE protests in Minneapolis — and revealed a distinctive item they will wear to set themselves apart if deployed. "Members of the Minnesota National Guard are on standby, ready to assist local law enforcement and public safety agencies," the state troops announced in an X post, which included a photo of two guardsmen with blurred faces holding guns and sporting neon yellow safety vests over their uniforms. "If our members are activated, they will be wearing reflective vests, as pictured here, to help distinguish them from other agencies in similar uniforms.” The military force has not yet been deployed but was mobilized Saturday afternoon by Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz to support local law enforcement and emergency management agencies amid weeks of intensifying unrest in the violence-plagued city, according to the Minnesota Department of Public Safety. Photos shared on social media show guardsmen lining up their Humvees and prepping their gear. "They are not deployed to city streets at this time, but are ready to help support public safety, including protection of life, preservation of property and supporting the rights of all who assemble peacefully," the police department said on X. . Mayhem has overrun the Twin Cities since the shooting death of protester Renee Nicole Good by an ICE agent clipped by her fleeing SUV during a heated confrontation at a rowdy protest on Jan. 7. The fatal incident triggered waves of raucous demonstrations and violent, viral clashes between agitators and immigration officers, which resulted in the Department of Homeland Security deploying thousands of additional ICE agents to the chaos-ridden area. While demonstrators have been repeatedly asked to tone down their aggression, frantic protests have left federal vehicles destroyed and government property stolen amid the pandemonium. On Saturday, leftwing protesters attacked and allegedy stabbed pardoned Jan. 6 rioter and Florida Senate candidate Jake Lang after his "March Against Fraud" was met with violent pushback in Minneapolis, video showed. Lang — who wore a bulletproof vest — screamed into a microphone, later yelling, "We deserve a future for white Americans" and "send the Somalis back," before he was attacked. President Trump on Thursday threatened to invoke the Insurrection Act to flood the city with military forces if lawmakers didn’t help stem the anarchy. 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. CNN [1/18/2026 6:34 AM, Hanna Park and Sydney Bishop, 18595K] reports that the National Guard is “staged and ready to respond,” Minnesota National Guard spokesperson Army Maj. Andrea Tsuchiya said in a statement to CNN, noting the troops will help provide “traffic support to protect life, preserve property, and support the rights of all Minnesotans to assemble peacefully.” Walz thanked local law enforcement for maintaining public safety amid the ongoing protests against the Trump administration’s sweeping immigration operation in the Twin Cities. He urged everyone making their voices heard this weekend to “stay safe and stay peaceful.” Protests intensified after an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent fatally shot Renee Good, a 37-year-old mother of three, in her car earlier this month. Her killing has sparked protests across the country and fueled outrage at President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown, which has seen armed and masked agents employing aggressive tactics in targeted campaigns across US cities. That outrage deepened last week when another federal agent shot a Venezuelan man in the leg who the Department of Homeland Security said was “violently” resisting arrest. An official in Walz’s office said the mobilization announced Saturday was a reconfirmation of the governor’s direction for the state National Guard to prepare if needed to support local law enforcement. Walz gave the initial order to prepare the day after Good was killed.

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Breitbart [1/17/2026 9:57 PM, Elizabeth Weibel, 2416K]
Breitbart [1/17/2026 11:21 PM, Staff, 2416K]
Washington Examiner [1/17/2026 8:45 PM, Zach LaChance, 1394K]
USA Today [1/17/2026 9:41 PM, Jonathan Limehouse, 67103K]

Washington Post [1/18/2026 12:02 AM, Dan Lamothe, 24149K] reports the Pentagon has ordered about 1,500 active-duty soldiers to prepare for a possible deployment to Minnesota, defense officials told Washington Post late Saturday, after President Donald Trump threatened to invoke the Insurrection Act in response to unrest there. The soldiers are assigned to two infantry battalions with the Army’s 11th Airborne Division, which is based in Alaska and specializes in cold-weather operations. The Army placed the units on prepare-to-deploy orders in case violence in Minnesota escalates, officials said, characterizing the move as “prudent planning.” It is not clear whether any of them will be sent to the state, the officials said, speaking like some others on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive military planning. The White House said in a statement that it’s typical for the Pentagon “to be prepared for any decision the President may or may not make.” Spokespeople for the Defense Department did not respond to requests for comment. The development was reported earlier by ABC News. The Insurrection Act, a federal law dating to 1807, permits the president to take control of a state’s National Guard forces or deploy active-duty troops domestically in response to a “rebellion.” Invoking the act would be an extraordinary move and mark the first time a commander in chief has done so since President George H.W. Bush called on the military during the Los Angeles riots of 1992 that killed dozens of people and caused widespread destruction. Typically, invoking the Insurrection Act is considered a last resort, when law enforcement personnel are unable to keep the peace during times of civil unrest. Trump threatened Thursday to invoke the law, saying on social media that unless officials in Minnesota could stop protesters from “attacking” agents with Immigration and Customs Enforcement, he would “institute the INSURRECTION ACT” and “quickly put an end to the travesty that is taking place in that once great State.” On Friday, Trump seemed to cool his rhetoric, saying there wasn’t a reason to invoke the law “right now.” He added, “If I needed it, I’d use it.” The Trump administration has turned up the pressure on Gov. Tim Walz and other Democratic leaders in Minnesota, with the Justice Department launching an investigation into whether Walz and Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey have impeded immigration enforcement. Walz, Frey and other Democrats have said the move is an act of authoritarianism intended to silence critics of the administration’s actions. Walz and Frey have pleaded for protesters to remain peaceful. On Saturday, Walz also mobilized the Minnesota National Guard to support local authorities, but he has not deployed those troops. Minnesota has been a preoccupation of the Trump administration since at least December, when the Department of Homeland Security launched Operation Metro Surge, a multi-week immigration crackdown that has led to the arrest of hundreds of people and has been marked by clashes between federal agents and protesters. ICE agents have shot two people there this month, killing Renée Good, an American citizen, and wounding a Venezuelan migrant, Julio Cesar Sosa-Celis, after they attempted to detain him.

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Reuters [1/18/2026 2:30 AM, Chandni Shah, 36480K]
ABC News [1/17/2026 9:30 PM, Staff, 30493K]

USA Today [1/17/2026 12:48 PM, Eduardo Cuevas, 67103K] reports a federal judge barred immigration agents from using tactics such as pepper spray and arrest against peaceful protesters in Minneapolis. In a preliminary injunction issued Jan. 16, U.S. District Judge Katherine Menendez of Minnesota gave local demonstrators some reprieve as they’ve protested against the Trump administration’s surge of thousands of federal immigration agents to the Twin Cities. The 83-page ruling by Menendez, appointed by former President Joe Biden, prevents agents from “retaliating against persons engaging in peaceful and unobstructive protest activity,” including observing the federal Operation Metro Surge activities, the order said. The ruling came less than 10 days after an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent fatally shot 37-year-old Renee Nicole Good on Jan. 7 during protests in Minneapolis. Her death triggered demonstrations in several American cities. ACLU of Minnesota, which represents the six protesters who filed the lawsuit, said in a social media post it was hopeful the injunction will prevent further First Amendment violations. The lawsuit was filed by six protesters on Dec. 17 – three weeks before Good’s shooting – when the federal operation was about two weeks old. A federal agent also shot a second person on Jan. 14 during what officials described as a targeted traffic stop. The Department of Homeland Security and the Department of Justice didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment. In a statement to Politico, Tricia McLaughlin, DHS assistant secretary for public affairs, said the First Amendment protects speech and peaceful assembly, not rioting. “DHS is taking appropriate and constitutional measures to uphold the rule of law and protect our officers and the public from dangerous rioters,” McLaughlin reportedly said. “We remind the public that rioting is dangerous – obstructing law enforcement is a federal crime and assaulting law enforcement is a felony.” Breitbart [1/17/2026 5:58 PM, Staff, 2416K] reports that although they face "grave threats," she said the federal officers have "used the minimum amount of force necessary to protect themselves, the public and federal property." McLaughlin did not indicate whether the department will appeal the federal court ruling by Menendez, who was appointed to the federal bench by former President Joe Biden in 2021

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Breitbart [1/17/2026 11:15 AM, Amy Furr, 2416K]
Daily Caller [1/17/2026 10:22 AM, Hudson Crozier, 835K]

FOX News [1/18/2026 3:11 AM, Michael Sinkewicz, 40621K] reports one of President Donald Trump’s most prominent immigration enforcers vowed Saturday to continue using tear gas during Operation Metro Surge in Minneapolis, after a Minnesota federal judge Friday barred federal officers from using it against peaceful protesters. Border Patrol commander Gregory Bovino said federal agents would continue deploying tear gas against violent protesters who "cross the line" amid ongoing unrest and heightened tension across the Twin Cities. "We’re going to continue to use that minimum amount of force necessary to accomplish our mission," Bovino said Saturday on "Fox News Live," adding that immigration officers have never used tear gas against "peaceful protesters." "We always support the First Amendment, but when they cross the line and they’re violent, we will use those less lethal munitions because it keeps them safe, it keeps our officers safe, and it keeps the public safe," Bovino said. Bovino’s comments after U.S. District Judge Kate Menendez issued a ruling Friday in a case filed in December on behalf of six Minnesota activists, represented by the American Civil Liberties Union of Minnesota, barring federal officers from detaining or deploying tear gas against peaceful protesters who are not obstructing authorities while participating in Operation Metro Surge. After the ruling, DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said that the First Amendment does not protect "rioting," adding that DHS is "taking appropriate and constitutional measures to uphold the rule of law and protect our officers and the public from dangerous rioters." "We remind the public that rioting is dangerous—obstructing law enforcement is a federal crime and assaulting law enforcement is a felony," McLaughlin said in a statement to Fox News Digital. "Rioters and terrorists have assaulted law enforcement, launched fireworks at them, slashed the tires of their vehicles, and vandalized federal property. Others have chosen to ignore commands and have attempted to impede law enforcement operations and used their vehicles as weapons against our officers." McLaughlin added that law enforcement has followed their training and has "used the minimum amount of force necessary to protect themselves, the public, and federal property."

Bloomberg [1/18/2026 2:35 AM, Margi Murphy and Jeff Stone, 18207K] reports the FBI is asking agents across the US to travel to Minneapolis for temporary duty, according to people familiar with the situation. The bureau in recent days sent messages to agents nationwide seeking volunteers to temporarily transfer to the city, the people said. The messages didn’t specifically reference the anti-Immigration and Customs Enforcement protests that have escalated in Minneapolis and didn’t detail the assignment, the people said. The Department of Justice and the Department of Homeland Security have already been increasing their presence in Minneapolis. The city has become a focal point of anti-ICE protests since an officer shot and killed a woman, Renee Good, on Jan. 7 while she was in her car. It wasn’t immediately clear what the FBI would ask agents who volunteered to travel to Minneapolis to do. FBI agents have traditionally focused on national security-related tasks such as counter-terrorism, organized crime and high-profile violent offences. FBI Director Kash Patel and US Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche on Friday visited Minneapolis, according to a post shared on Patel’s X account. Patel said in the post that the FBI was “cracking down on violent rioters and investigating the funding networks supporting the criminal actors with multiple arrests already.” A federal judge on Friday ordered immigration officers not to arrest, detain, pepper-spray or otherwise retaliate against peaceful protesters in Minneapolis after demonstrators alleged their constitutional rights were being violated. The Department of Homeland Security “is taking appropriate and constitutional measures to uphold the rule of law and protect our officers and the public from dangerous rioters,” Tricia McLaughlin, a spokesperson for the agency, said in a statement to Bloomberg in response to the ruling.

Washington Times [1/17/2026 6:30 AM, Stephen Dinan, 852K] reports a federal judge ruled Friday that federal agents in Minnesota have been too harsh in dealing with anti-ICE protesters, and specifically forbade them from taking action against people who trail their vehicles as long as they keep a reasonable distance. Judge Katherine Menendez, a Biden appointee to the court, said she’d seen too many instances of apparently peaceful protesters either stopped or blasted with pepper spray, which she said seemed to be retaliation for their exercise of their First Amendment rights — which include trailing officers while they are making arrests. She specifically forbade federal officers from stopping or arresting drivers unless they are “forcibly obstructing or interfering” with the agents. She also forbade the use of pepper spray against “peaceful and unobstructive” protesters.

Politico [1/17/2026 9:23 PM, Staff, AP, 13586K] reports protesters for and against the Trump administration’s latest immigration crackdown clashed in Minneapolis on Saturday as the governor’s office announced that National Guard troops had been mobilized and stood ready to assist state law enforcement, though they were not yet deployed to city streets. There have been protests every day since the Department of Homeland Security ramped up immigration enforcement in the Twin Cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul by bringing in more than 2,000 federal officers. A large group of protesters turned out in downtown Minneapolis and confronted a much smaller group of people attending an anti-Somali and pro-Immigration and Customs Enforcement rally. They chased the pro-ICE group away and forced at least one member to take off a shirt they deemed objectionable. Jake Lang, who organized the anti-Islam and pro-ICE demonstration, appeared to be injured as he left the scene, with bruises and scrapes on his head. He said via social media beforehand that he intended to “burn a Quran” on the steps of City Hall, but it was not clear if he carried out that plan. Lang was previously charged with assaulting an officer with a baseball bat, civil disorder and other crimes before receiving clemency as part of President Donald Trump’s sweeping act of clemency for Jan. 6 defendants last year. Lang recently announced that he is running for U.S. Senate in Florida.

Bloomberg [1/17/2026 4:12 PM, Alicia A. Caldwell and María Paula Mijares Torres, 18207K] reports anti-ICE protesters in Minneapolis overwhelmed a planned rally in support of Immigration and Customs Enforcement on Saturday, pelting the supporters with snowballs and water balloons in sub-freezing weather. As many as a thousand protesters denouncing federal immigration enforcement showed up to where a handful of opponents were demonstrating. No injuries were reported. Jake Lang, who participated in the Jan. 6, 2021 storming of the US Capitol, was among the leaders of the pro-ICE demonstrations outside Minneapolis City Hall. President Donald Trump pardoned Lang and others who rioted at the Capitol to stop the certification of President Joe Biden’s election victory in 2020. The Minneapolis confrontation lasted almost two hours before Lang and other ICE supporters tried to leave but were surrounded by anti-ICE protesters, who followed them to a downtown hotel. Reuters [1/17/2026 8:02 PM, Brad Brooks, 36480K] reports that, waving signs and screaming chants that called for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Border Patrol agents to leave Minneapolis, the anti-ICE protesters gathered downtown near City Hall. Scores of them moved forward, forcing about 10 far-right demonstrators against the outside of the municipal government center within minutes. Some in the crowd tossed water balloons that soaked the right-wing demonstrators as temperatures hit -4 degrees Fahrenheit (-20 Celsius) with the wind chill. Police maintained their distance as the dueling protests played out. About an hour after the rallies began, the tiny contingent of right-wing activists quickly walked a few blocks away to a hotel, hounded by hundreds of anti-ICE protesters who screamed obscenities and told them to get out of the city. A few scuffles broke out, but Reuters did not observe any serious violence.

The Washington Post [1/17/2026 2:16 PM, Daniel Wu, Molly Hennessy-Fiske, Amy B Wang, Rachel Hatzipanagos and Brianna Tucker] reports a right-wing provocateur who was among the pardoned Jan. 6 rioters led a brief anti-immigration demonstration Saturday in Minneapolis that ended in an altercation between crowds, during a time of heightened tension after President Donald Trump dispatched thousands of immigration enforcement agents to the city. Jake Lang, who was pardoned along with roughly 1,600 others on the first day of Trump’s second term, gathered with a handful of people near the city’s federal courthouse just before noon local time, blasting “Ice Ice Baby” in a show of support for the federal immigration enforcement agency and shouting racist and incendiary things about how immigrants were “replacing” White Americans. The demonstrations, which took place on a bitterly cold day in Minneapolis, lasted only about two hours, before Lang tried to leave. Most people appeared to be letting him exit the area, but a scuffle broke out. Lang appeared to take some punches and was later seen bleeding from the back of his head. Police ordered the remaining crowd to disperse. The demonstrations come amid a federal immigration enforcement surge, two shootings involving Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers and threats from the White House to invoke the Insurrection Act to quell protests. Fears of violence have grown after an ICE officer fatally shot Renée Good, a 37-year-old mother of three, who was in her car witnessing federal enforcement actions on a residential street in Minneapolis. NBC News [1/17/2026 8:11 PM, Matt Lavietes, Selina Guevara, and Shaquille Brewster, 34509K] reports a right-wing provocateur who was pardoned for charges tied to the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol says he was stabbed during a pro-ICE rally outside Minneapolis City Hall on Saturday. "I just got stabbed...today in Minnesota," Jake Lang said in a post on X, alleging he was attacked by a counterprotester. NBC News could not independently verify his claim, and Lang did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Lang, a 30-year-old conservative influencer who served four years in jail for alleged crimes in connection with Jan. 6, was hosting an anti-immigration demonstration with a small group of pro-ICE supporters when hundreds of counterprotesters converged on the scene. The anti-ICE demonstrators and a group of reporters surrounded Lang and his associates, backing them in a recessed window along the City Hall building. Counterprotesters could also be seen hurling water balloons at Lang, leaving him soaked in water in the freezing cold. They also threw snowballs at other pro-ICE protesters, soaking them as temperatures dropped toward zero degrees Fahrenheit. "Please stop," Lang repeated to one protester who appeared to be grabbing his legs. The heated confrontation comes as pressure continues to build in the Twin Cities following the killing of Renee Nicole Good this month by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer. NewsMax [1/17/2026 6:03 PM, James Morley III, 4109K] reports that police intervened and ordered crowds to disperse. In a post on X, Lang claimed he was stabbed during the incident. "I just got stabbed by a crazie white commie leftist rioter today in Minnesota All for pointing out their replacement by 70 IG burka wearing (pirate) Somalians Plate carrier blocked it... Jesus is King," Lang wrote. The incident occurred amid days of heightened tensions in Minneapolis, where pro- and anti-Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) demonstrators have clashed over the Trump administration’s expanded immigration enforcement in the Twin Cities.

AP [1/17/2026 8:47 PM, Jack Brook, 31753K] reports protesters for and against the Trump administration’s latest immigration crackdown clashed in Minneapolis on Saturday, as the governor’s office announced that National Guard troops had been mobilized and stood ready to assist state law enforcement, though they hadn’t been deployed to city streets yet. There have been protests every day since the Department of Homeland Security ramped up immigration enforcement in the Twin Cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul by bringing in more than 2,000 federal officers. A large group of protesters turned out in downtown Minneapolis on Saturday and confronted a much smaller group of people demonstrating in support of Immigration and Customs Enforcement. They chased the pro-ICE group away and forced at least one member to take off a shirt they deemed objectionable. Jake Lang, who organized the anti-Islam and pro-ICE demonstration, appeared to be injured as he left the scene, with bruises and scrapes on his head. He said via social media beforehand that he intended to “burn a Quran” on the steps of City Hall, but it was not clear if he carried out that plan.

FOX News [1/17/2026 1:27 PM, Staff, 40621K] reports Border czar Tom Homan joins ‘Saturday in America’ to warn of potential consequences of Gov. Tim Walz and Mayor Jacob Frey’s ‘hateful’ anti-ICE rhetoric and respond to Democrats’ calls for ‘accountability’ for immigration officials. [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

NewsMax [1/17/2026 4:46 PM, Staff, 4109K] reports Chief Border Patrol Agent Greg Bovino, in a Newsmax interview on Saturday, disputed claims that federal immigration agents in Minneapolis are "grabbing American citizens off the street," calling such reports "a flat-out lie" as protests and political tensions swirl around ICE operations in Minnesota. However, Bovino told Newsmax’s "The Count" that citizens who commit crimes, including assaults on officers, will be arrested. "As far as American citizens, if you assault a federal officer or any law enforcement officer, that’s 18 U.S.C. 111 assault on a federal officer," Bovino said. "It doesn’t matter if you’re an illegal alien, an American citizen, or you could be an alien from outer space," he added. "We are going to arrest you, and we’re not going to put up with that." Bovino said Americans are arrested "all the time" for offenses including narcotics trafficking and alien smuggling, adding, "This is a nation of laws." The interview came after President Donald Trump was quoted on-air discussing invoking the Insurrection Act in Minnesota. Bovino said Trump has indicated he does not believe it is necessary "right now." Bovino also praised Trump and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem for relying on information from law enforcement on the ground.

CBS News [1/17/2026 10:34 AM, Camilo Montoya-Galvez, Jennifer Jacobs, and Sarah N. Lynch, 39474K] reports the Justice Department is investigating Minnesota officials, including Gov. Tim Walz and Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey, over an alleged conspiracy to impede federal immigration agents, an extraordinary escalation in the Trump administration’s clash with Democratic leaders there, multiple sources familiar with the matter told CBS News. One of the sources, a U.S. official, said the investigation stems from statements that Walz and Frey have made about the thousands of Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers and Border Patrol agents deployed to the Minneapolis region in recent weeks. Subpoenas are likely to be issued in the probe, sources familiar with the matter told CBS News. A Justice Department spokesperson declined to comment. "This is an obvious attempt to intimidate me for standing up for Minneapolis, our local law enforcement, and our residents against the chaos and danger this Administration has brought to our streets," Frey said in a statement to CBS News. "I will not be intimidated. My focus will remain where it’s always been: keeping our city safe.". Walz said in a statement: "Two days ago it was Elissa Slotkin. Last week it was Jerome Powell. Before that, Mark Kelly. Weaponizing the justice system and threatening political opponents is a dangerous, authoritarian tactic. The only person not being investigated for the shooting of Renee Good is the federal agent who shot her." Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem on Thursday said: "Mayor Frey and Governor Walz have to get their city under control. They are encouraging impeding and assault against our law enforcement which is a federal crime, a felony." Noem has said rhetoric from Walz and Frey "perpetuated" violence directed at federal officers, arguing their comments undermined public trust in law enforcement and emboldened protesters on the ground.

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Breitbart [1/17/2026 9:16 AM, Neil Munro, 2416K]
CNN [1/17/2026 8:29 AM, Kaitlan Collins, Hannah Rabinowitz, Elizabeth Wolfe]

FOX News [1/17/2026 10:00 AM, Alec Schemmel, 40621K] reports the Trump administration accused Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz and Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey of "actively organizing" anti-ICE resistance after officials from the Minnesota Department of Corrections (DOC) accused the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) of lying about how the state is handling its illegal immigration problem. DHS called on Walz and Frey earlier this week to honor federal immigration detainers for the more than 1,300 illegal aliens that the federal agency said the state of Minnesota had in custody, accusing officials in the state of releasing nearly 470 criminal illegal immigrants onto Minneapolis’ streets. Walz’s office subsequently disputed DHS’s claim, calling it "categorically false" that the state does not honor federal immigration detainers, meant to hold criminal illegal aliens in custody after committing a crime until Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) can come pick them up. In a press release Thursday, the Minnesota DOC echoed Walz’s verbiage that DHS’s claims were "categorically false," adding that they are "unsupported by facts and deeply irresponsible" as well. The Minnesota DOC also claimed that they have "always" coordinated with ICE agents when individuals in custody have detainers.

FOX News [1/17/2026 10:27 AM, Ashley Oliver, 40621K] reports President Donald Trump responded to unrest in Minnesota this week by threatening to invoke the Insurrection Act, which critics said would amount to federal overreach and unnecessarily militarize cities. Trump’s potential use of the Insurrection Act would be the latest in a list of several instances of presidents using it and would allow active-duty U.S. military troops to conduct law enforcement within the state. Trump framed the possible use of the Insurrection Act as a means of addressing what he said were failures by Minnesota’s Democratic leadership. On Friday, he told reporters he did not plan to use it, for now, but that he has not ruled it out.

CNN [1/17/2026 9:31 PM, Taylor Galgano, 606K] reports a family trying to get home from their son’s basketball game in Minneapolis on Wednesday found themselves between protesters and federal agents, before they were tear gassed in their car and the mother had to administer CPR to her infant. Destiny Jackson, 26, tells CNN her family of eight pulled over because protesters and parked cars were making it difficult to drive past. The family said they did not know about the protest, which erupted the same evening an immigration agent shot a man in the leg. But Jackson and her family suddenly found themselves face-to-face with the charged political climate in Minneapolis, where tensions have continued to mount after an ICE agent fatally shot a mother of three earlier this month. Since then, thousands of immigration agents have been sent to the Twin Cities, and they’ve been met with demonstrators, most peacefully protesting, in the street. Still, state and local officials in St. Paul and Minneapolis have been bracing for more protests. Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison later told CNN the family was “caught in the middle of” the situation. Department of Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said, agents responding to protests had “followed their training and reasonably deployed crowd control measures.” They were not, she said in a statement to CNN, targeting the family. She started to see federal agents and knew it wasn’t safe for the family, which included her husband and six children ranging from a 6-month-old to an 11-year-old, to be there anymore. Her husband attempted to back the car up, but realized there were federal agents on either side of the car. They were trapped. “An ICE agent, one of them like yells in my window like ‘get the F out of here.’ And my husband’s like ‘we’re trying,’” Jackson said. She told her husband not to move their vehicle until the federal agents were gone, so they didn’t accidentally hit one of them. “We’ve seen what happened to Renee (Good),” she said, referring to the woman who was killed when an ICE agent shot into her vehicle during an encounter earlier this month. The next few moments played out quickly, Jackson said. She started to see flash bangs out her window and then watched as a tear gas canister flew through the air and dropped to the ground, before rolling under her car. Within three seconds, she felt her car go up in the air and slam back down. All the air bags in her car went off and everything went “blurry.” Tear gas quickly started filling the car while the doors auto locked, trapping them inside. Dramatic video shows the moment the family evacuated their car and fled into a nearby home. The baby was the last to make it out of the car, as the bystanders struggled to maneuver the car seat. When someone brought Jackson her baby into the house, she said he wasn’t breathing and his eyes were closed. She screamed for a wet towel and gave the baby mouth-to-mouth while people poured milk on her other children’s eyes. “In the midst of like doing mouth-to-mouth, I stopped and I looked at my baby and I was just like ‘wake up, you have to,’” she said. “I just felt like I’m gonna give you every breath I have.”

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AP [1/17/2026 2:16 PM, Hannah Fingerhut and Sarah Raza, 19051K]

NBC News [1/17/2026 7:06 PM, Ryan J. Reilly, Julia Ainsley, and Jon Schuppe, 34509K] reports Federal officials are investigating the widow of Renee Nicole Good to determine whether she may have impeded a federal officer moments before he shot and killed her wife in Minneapolis, according to two people familiar with the investigation who spoke to NBC News. The federal investigation into the shooting by Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer Jonathan Ross is focusing more on Becca Good, including what officials said were her possible ties to activist groups, and less on Ross’ actions when he fired into Renee Good’s vehicle during an immigration operation last week, the people said. The fatal encounter has touched off protests in Minneapolis and calls for accountability for immigration officers, whose tactics have resulted in at least 10 other shootings since September. Antonio Romanucci, Becca Good’s lawyer, said in a statement Saturday that "there has been no contact from the FBI or federal officials indicating Becca Good is the subject of an investigation.". The Justice Department is also investigating Gov. Tim Walz and Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey under the theory they conspired to impede federal immigration agents through their public statements, according to a senior law enforcement official and person familiar with the matter. Last week, President Donald Trump described Renee and Becca Good as "professional agitators." He offered no evidence to support that claim. In the moments after the shooting, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said that what Renee Good had done was "domestic terrorism." At the same time, the Justice Department has largely abandoned a previous focus on law enforcement and policing accountability, closing up so-called pattern or practice investigations into departments accused of civil rights violations, including the Minneapolis Police Department after the murder of George Floyd. The investigation into the shooting has prompted turmoil within the Justice Department, including this week’s departure of six prosecutors in Minneapolis who resigned over concerns about the investigation. One, Joe Thompson, led a fraud investigation that was cited as part of the reason immigration officers were sent to Minneapolis.

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New York Post [1/18/2026 12:57 AM, Anna Young, 42219K]

CNN [1/18/2026 1:27 AM, Staff, 18595K] reports a DHS agent appears to repeatedly knee a man in the face during an arrest in Minneapolis, according to video reviewed by CNN. A witness says the detainee was not resisting, while DHS says the man is a “criminal alien from Ecuador.” [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

Wall Street Journal [1/17/2026 4:20 PM, Michelle Hackman, Kris Maher, and Brenna T. Smith, 646K] reports the collision of the Trump administration’s huge immigration operation and the enormous pushback from residents is leading to a tinderbox in Minneapolis. For locals, much of the anger stems from the clash between the administration’s stated rationale for being in the area and the reality on the ground. They are here, federal officials say, to find “criminal illegal aliens hurting Americans” after a sprawling welfare-fraud scandal involving dozens of Minnesotans of Somali descent gained national attention. But residents see massive federal overreach in a place with a relatively small proportion of immigrants in the country illegally compared with other states. Minnesota’s population of immigrants here illegally stands at an estimated 2.2%, about half the national average, according to the Pew Research Center. More than 90% of the state’s Somali population, the group highlighted in the fraud investigation, have some sort of permanent legal status, according to the Census Bureau’s American Community Survey. “They are taking people that are working within the system, that are asylum seekers, that are green-card holders,” said Dan Engelhart, a northeast Minneapolis resident and a commissioner on the city’s park board. “It’s really terrifying to see our neighbors terrorized in this way.” In a statement Friday, Tricia McLaughlin, a spokeswoman for the Department of Homeland Security, said allegations that ICE engages in racial profiling were false, and that “obstructing federal law enforcement officers during the performance of their duties is not only dangerous but also a federal crime and a felony.” “Law enforcement uses ‘reasonable suspicion’ to make arrests, as allowed under the Fourth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution,” she said.

AP [1/18/2026 12:09 AM, Sarah Raza, 30493K] reports rows of businesses stood shuttered inside a sprawling complex of Somali businesses on a recent afternoon. Karmel Mall in south Minneapolis contains more than a hundred small businesses in suites offering everything from clothing and food to insurance and accounting services. On Thursday, the noisy hallways inside lay quiet, save for occasional chatter between neighboring vendors. The smell of fried food still wafted from the bakeries, the central heating hummed and the sound of Quran recitation flowed quietly from some shops. But many sellers sat alone in their clothing stores, waiting for the occasional customer to walk by. Everyone is afraid of federal immigration agents, business owners said. Sellers and customers, citizens and noncitizens. Some don’t bother opening shop because they aren’t expecting any customers. “It’s been like this for three weeks now,” said Abdi Wahid, who works at his mom’s convenience store in the mall. “Everywhere it’s all been closed up, all the stores.” Karmel Mall is an economic hub for the area’s Somali population, which is the largest in the U.S. But it also features housing, a mosque and Quran classes, serving as a robust community center for the area. The economic impact of the Trump administration’s “Operation Metro Surge” stretches beyond the Somali community: many immigrants are on edge, afraid to go to work or leave their homes amid the immigration crackdown. But President Donald Trump has made the Somali community a special target of his deportation rhetoric after a recent government fraud case in Minnesota included a number of Somali defendants. Since December, Trump has made numerous jabs at the community, calling them “garbage” and saying “they contribute nothing.” Wahid said early afternoons at the family business once meant 15 to 20 customers. These days, it’s tough to get one. Wahid is a citizen, but he said the fear extends beyond just immigrants. Citizens are also scared of coming in, especially following the killing of Renee Good and the ICE raid at Roosevelt High School in south Minneapolis. “I think that caused a lot of people to not even want to come,” he said, because they could be targeted “just because of their race.” Homeland Security assistant secretary Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement that law enforcement uses “reasonable suspicion” to make arrests under the fourth amendment. “A person’s immigration status makes them a target for enforcement, not their skin color, race or ethnicity,” she said. Upstairs, Bashir Garad runs Safari Travel & Accounting Services. Not only has the crackdown in Minneapolis meant he’s lost almost all his customers, but his existing clients are cancelling upcoming trips because they’re worried they won’t be let back into the country. “They see a lot of unlawful things going on in the city,” he said. “They look at something bad, and then they think some bad things may happen to them.” The majority of his clients are East African, and nearly all are U.S. citizens. They still hesitate to travel. “The government is not doing the right thing,” he said. “If there’s a criminal, there’s a criminal. Regardless, there are ways to find the criminal, but to marginalize the community’s name, and a whole people, that is unlawful.” Ibrahim Dahiye, who sells electronics, said winter always used to be slow, “but now it’s totally different. No one comes here. All the stores are closed, few are open.” Since the crackdown began, Dahiye said his business is down $20,000 monthly, and he’s now pooling funds to make rent. He said he’s lost most of his customers. His employees are too scared to come to work. He tapped his jacket pocket, saying he keeps his passport on him at all times. “I don’t know what we can do,” Dahiye said. “We believe in Allah, but we can’t do anything.”

The Hill [1/17/2026 12:00 PM, Rebecca Beitsch, 12595K] reports in his first year back in office, President Trump has completely shifted the U.S. approach to immigration, launching the most visible enforcement effort seen in history while closing the door to many legal pathways for entering the U.S. Trump promised to plug the border and crack down hard on those living in the country illegally, and under his tenure crossings have fallen to a historic low while the number of people kept in immigration detention centers has soared. Whether Trump has fulfilled his promise to go after the worst of the worst when it comes to immigrants in the country illegally is in dispute. More than 70 percent of those held in immigration detention have no prior criminal record. Separately, many of those targeted have legal status in the U.S., as the Trump administration pushes to end, pause or limit various ways to lawfully live in the country. Republicans described the year as a culmination of Trump’s most prominent campaign pledge. Democrats argue Trump’s actions have at times descended into unlawful territory.

Chicago Tribune [1/17/2026 7:57 PM, Caroline Kubzansky and Eva Remijan-Toba, 4829K] reports Andrew Pollock wore four layers of clothing to a freezing protest outside the Broadview Immigration and Customs Enforcement processing center Saturday to deliver what he said was a "pretty straightforward" message to the federal government: "Killing American citizens is bad," he said. "And they should stop doing that.". Pollock, 39, was one of hundreds to gather and march outside the west suburban facility to condemn recent violence by federal agents executing President Donald Trump’s nationwide campaign to arrest and deport people in the country without legal status. The demonstration, one of the first large-scale events to occur in Broadview since federal agents pulled back from their 64-day surge of immigration enforcement raids in and around Chicago, took place less than two weeks after ICE agent Jonathan Ross shot U.S. citizen Renee Good to death in Minneapolis. Good’s life and death were top of mind for many of the demonstrators who packed the street outside the processing center Saturday alongside Pollock, but so was the memory of a man from the Chicago area who died at the hands of federal agents in the early days of last year’s surge in Chicago.

FOX News [1/17/2026 1:20 PM, Michael Dorgan Fox, 40621K] reports Texas hospitals accumulated more than $1 billion in healthcare costs for illegal immigrants during fiscal year 2025, the first year the state began tracking the figures. The data, compiled by the Texas Health and Human Services Commission (HHSC) and obtained by Texas Scorecard, shows hospitals logged 313,742 visits linked to individuals not legally present, with total costs reaching $1.05 billion by the end of the fiscal year. Texas’ fiscal year runs from Sept. 1 through Aug. 31, but hospitals were only required to begin reporting in November. Based on the reported data, costs averaged about $105 million per month, meaning the true annual total could be significantly higher. To put the figures into perspective, the reported hospital costs approach about 1% of the state’s tax-funded resources. The figures were collected under an executive order signed by Gov. Greg Abbott in August 2024 that mandated the agency track the number of "individuals not lawfully present" in the U.S. who use Texas public hospitals. Abbott’s executive order directed Texas hospitals to provide HHSC with quarterly breakdowns on patients not lawfully present in the U.S., including the number of inpatient discharges, emergency department visits and the cost of care provided to these patients. Texas, a border state, reported some of the highest crossing numbers ever recorded under the Biden administration, putting immense pressure on its healthcare system, Andrew Mahaleris, Abbott’s press secretary, told Fox News Digital previously.

FOX News [1/17/2026 1:28 PM, Greg Norman-Diamond, James Levinson, and Patrick Ward, 40621K] reports National Guard troops deployed to Washington, D.C., will likely have their stay in the nation’s capital extended until the end of the year, a U.S. official told Fox News. A White House official added that President Donald Trump has made clear that he will use all tools available to keep Washington, D.C., safe, including National Guard deployments as deemed necessary. As of Friday, there are a total of 2,429 troops committed to the ongoing mission in D.C. Of those troops, 712 are from the D.C. National Guard, while 1,717 others are from 11 states around the U.S. A memo signed by Army Secretary Dan Driscoll, dated Wednesday, said "the conditions of the mission" warrant an extension past the end of February to support Trump’s "ongoing efforts to restore law and order," The Associated Press reported. The National Guard said in an article on its website last November that, "signs of renewal are taking shape under the D.C. Safe and Beautiful mission — a coordinated federal, local and military effort focused on improving public safety and restoring the District’s most recognizable spaces.".

Los Angeles Times [1/18/2026 6:00 AM, Steve Fisher and Kate Linthicum, 14672K] reports Adrián Ramírez hadn’t been to his hometown in western Mexico for more than two decades. When he finally returned there early last year after being deported from the United States, he found the place transformed. Ramírez remembered the town as vibrant. But the discotheque where he used to dance through the night in his 20s was gone. The bustling evening market, where locals gather for tacos, now empties out early. After 10 p.m., cartel members wielding military-grade weapons take control of the streets. “It is no longer the same Mexico of my childhood,” said Ramírez, 45, who asked to be identified by his middle and last name for security reasons. “There was more joy, more freedom. But that’s not the case anymore.” Anyone returning to their hometown after decades away will note changes — old businesses close and new ones open, some people move away and others die. Adjusting to such shifts has long been part of the Mexican migrant experience. But many of the tens of thousands of people who have been deported to Mexico by the Trump administration have spent decades in the U.S. and are discovering that their country has also changed in more profound ways. Criminal groups, better armed and better organized than in the past, now control about a third of Mexican territory, according to an analysis by the U.S. military. Gangs have branched out beyond drug trafficking to extort money from small businesses and dominate entire industries, such as the avocado and lime trade. In some regions, criminals charge taxes on just about anything — tortillas and chicken, cigarettes and beer. Parts of Michoacán, the state where Ramírez is from, now resemble an actual battlefield, with criminal groups fighting each other with grenade launchers, drones rigged with explosives and improvised land mines. Returning migrants are vulnerable to violence because they stand out. Many speak Spanglish. Their stylish haircuts, often with fades on the sides, set them apart in rural communities. So does their gringo-style attire, like baggy pants and T-shirts touting their favorite sports teams — Dodgers, Raiders, Dallas Cowboys. Ramírez said that even his mannerisms, which had changed from years up north, quickly identified him as an outsider. Cartels single out returning migrants for kidnapping or extortion because they are perceived to have money, said Israel Concha, who runs Nuevo Comienzos, or New Beginnings, a nonprofit with offices in Las Vegas and Mexico City that supports deportees. Returnees often don’t know how to navigate cartel-run checkpoints or local rules set by criminal groups. “We’re an easy target,” Concha said.

Los Angeles Times [1/18/2026 6:00 AM, Robin Abcarian, 14672K] reports in the wake of President Trump blaming Renee Good’s death on her disrespect for law enforcement, and White House advisor Stephen Miller promising “immunity” for federal officers, it has become clear that the administration is attempting a certain kind of psychological conditioning in the blue cities its agents are now terrorizing. What it all adds up to is a message of impunity that has not been lost on the officers stopping people on the street and asking for identification, yanking them from their cars and homes and workplaces, and roughing up protesters. The other day, for example, an officer in Minneapolis decked out in combat fatigues used Good’s death as an implicit threat against a peaceful protester. In a widely circulated video clip, the officer walks down the street waving traffic by as he approaches a woman who’s recording him. “Shame on you,” she says calmly as he approaches her car window. The officer looks at her, looks away briefly, then in a patronizing tone full of faux-sadness says: “Have y’all not learned from the past couple of days? Have you not learned?” “Learned what?” she asks. “What’s our lesson here? What do you want us to learn?” He says something about not “following federal agents,” then grabs at her phone. He didn’t say, “Look what you made me do.” He didn’t have to. On Thursday, Trump threatened to invoke the Insurrection Act, and put boots on the ground in Minnesota to quell the protests that have erupted after his massive immigration crackdown resulted in yet another ICE shooting. This time, according to the feds, an officer was defending himself after being attacked with a snow shovel and broom by two men who emerged from a nearby building while the officer was trying to detain a Venezuelan immigrant resisting arrest. These clashes, however, are as inevitable as they are unnecessary. (And by the way, where ARE all those “Don’t Tread on Me” people?) Contra the president’s campaign promises, the goal is not simply to apprehend criminals who are in the country illegally. After all, deportations reached a record high under President Obama. He was dubbed the “deporter in chief” by immigration rights activists. Yet the deportations were carried out quietly, and were focused on criminals and recent unauthorized border crossers — not the immigrants who have worked hard, created lives and families and put down roots. I can’t recall a single story during the Obama years about a violent, military-style raid, as we saw in Chicago last September during Trump’s “Operation Midway Blitz.”

New York Post [1/17/2026 8:30 AM, Shane Galvin, 42219K] reports lefty TikTokkers are orchestrating groups of women to chase "d–k pics" and "selfies" of ICE agents in a twisted scheme to dox them, as attacks on immigration officers surge to historic levels. A Massachusetts woman claimed to have coordinated a group to go on the dating app Tinder to dupe unsuspecting ICE agents into dates with the purpose of broadcasting their personal info online. Similar efforts to expose agents went viral in North Carolina in ICE’s increased November enforcement operation called Charlotte’s Web. DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin blasted the twisted doxing campaign — and promised anyone doing so would be prosecuted.

Reported similarly:
OutKick [1/17/2026 5:34 PM, Matt Reigle]

Newsweek [1/17/2002 11:01 AM, Sam Stevenson, 52220K] reports a new Congressional proposal seeks to abolish U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). Responding to the plan, Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin told Newsweek: "DHS is a law enforcement agency, and it will continue to carry out immigration enforcement for the safety of Americans who have been victimized by rapists, murderers, drug traffickers, and gang members. "President Donald Trump campaigned on immigration enforcement, the American people voted for it, and Secretary Noem is delivering." Democratic Congressman Shri Thanedar of Michigan introduced the Abolish ICE Act earlier this week as the country faced widespread national protests over controversial U.S. immigration policies under the Trump administration. His bill seeks to dismantle ICE, an agency criticized for its aggressive enforcement tactics and recent string of incidents involving civilians, including the fatal shooting of Renee Nicole Good in Minnesota. On Thursday, Representative Thanedar officially introduced the "Abolish ICE Act," designated as H.R. 7123, in the U.S. House of Representatives. Thanedar’s legislation calls for the termination of federal funding to ICE, the rescission of its unobligated funds, and the formal dissolution of the agency within 90 days of enactment. The bill has been referred to the Judiciary Committee, the Homeland Security Committee, and the Ways and Means Committee for further examination. The bill states that since "President Donald Trump and Secretary Kristi Noem have taken office, ICE has been weaponized to inflict terror and hysteria amongst American immigrant and non-immigrant communities. ICE has been deployed to major cities [to] aggressive enforcement policies that have brought fear to Americans. It is clear that ICE is not an organization bound by the rule of law, is past the point of reform, and must be abolished." DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin told Newsweek in an emailed statement: "Attacks and demonization of ICE are wrong. ICE officers are now facing a 1,300 percent increase in assaults.

Univision [1/17/2026 7:44 PM, Staff, 5004K] reports from Honduras, where she was deported due to a mistake acknowledged by the U.S. government , 19-year-old student Any Lucía López Belloza told CNN that she accepts the government’s apology, and recounts that "it was traumatic." “Never, ever in my life had I experienced anything like this. I was very worried because I had a lot of assignments due and I wanted to at least call someone in my family to inform the school about what was happening,” recalls the student, who points out that she was subjected to extra stress because she was close to her final exams. López Belloza is 19 years old and grew up in Texas after arriving in the United States as a child, when the whole family was seeking asylum. On November 20, 2025, she was arrested at Logan Airport in Boston as she attempted to fly to Texas to surprise her family for Thanksgiving. Two days after her arrest, ICE transferred her to Texas and then deported her to Honduras , despite an emergency court order stating that she should remain in the United States. The Trump administration acknowledged in federal court that the deportation occurred due to "a mistake ," though it argued that the ruling should not affect the legal process. [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

New York Post [1/18/2026 6:00 AM, Gabrielle Fahmy, 43962K] reports New York City socialists are mustering an army of more than 4,000 anti-ICE activists to form “rapid response” battalions and obstruct the feds in an expected imminent crackdown on illegal migrants in the Big Apple. Mayor Mamdani’s comrades with the DSA outlined the mission Thursday at a monthly meeting of their Immigrant Justice Working Group in the swanky Midtown digs of the Chinese Communist Party-linked People’s Forum, where photos of communist idols Fidel Castro and Che Guevara decorate the walls. “As we’ve seen in other cities, we still do anticipate a big wave of federal immigration enforcement,” a DSA leader who only identified herself as Marina told the crowd of more than 100 members. “It can be confusing, it can be scary, it can be kind of uncertain what’s happening in New York right now. . . . But we want to be on our front foot if and when it does.” The NYC chapter is training 2,000 DSA members and another 2,000 non-members, along with activating 50 additional trainers. It’s also beefing up staffing of its ICE hotline to operate it 24/7. “If you speak Pular, if you speak Creole, if you speak Fulani – come find us,” urged a leader. “We really want you on the team.”

The Hill [1/17/2026 7:22 AM, Matthew Euzarraga and Jay Dow, 12595K] reports a Brooklyn deacon has been detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), according to New York City Council member Susan Zhuang. Sebastian Ordonez, 58, was detained Thursday morning by ICE agents after leaving his apartment building because he lacked legal immigration status, according to Zhuang. Ordonez is from Guatemala, but his family and close friends say he has no history of violent crime and has been part of the Brooklyn community for nearly 20 years. Though his lawyer, Michael Musa-Obregon, believes his client is not legally in the country, he says “everybody is entitled to due process.” On Friday, Zhuang, Bishop Salgado, and other community members gathered to demand that federal representatives act swiftly to end federal immigration enforcement. They are also calling for Ordonez’s release from custody.

FOX News [1/17/2026 7:30 AM, Charles Creitz, 40621K] reports the Department of Homeland Security, the Department of Justice and legal scholars laid out what could happen if Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner follows through on his promise to prosecute ICE for acts committed in the line of their duty, should operations in Pennsylvania reach a flashpoint. Last week, Krasner warned he would prosecute agents who "come to Philly to commit crimes" in an apparent reference to allegations an agent acted unlawfully in shooting a Minnesota woman who appeared to intentionally hit him with her car while disrupting an operation. Philadelphia County Sheriff Rochelle Bilal doubled down, calling ICE officers "fake, wannabe law enforcement" and warned them they "don’t want this smoke ‘cause we will bring it to you." Krasner argued President Donald Trump could not pardon arrested agents because any cases would be brought at the state level, leading Fox News Digital to ask officials and experts to weigh in on what the true case may be. DHS also weighed in, saying that the city would have no legal leg to stand on if prosecutors were to decide to interfere in any Minneapolis-style operations on Broad Street.

CBS News [1/17/2026 2:57 PM, Andrew Ramos, 39474K] reports a Brooklyn church is demanding answers after they say one of their leaders was detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents this week. Church leaders said Deacon Sebastian Ordonez had no criminal record and was a prominent figure in the community for 17 years. According to local officials and faith leaders, Ordonez was taken into custody early Thursday as he stepped out of his Bensonhurst home. Community leaders said he was among a half dozen residents swept up in the morning operation that targeted an apartment building on Bay Ridge Parkway. "He lived here. He was just going to work," Bishop Erick Salgado said. "And they were waiting out there with a coffee, picking up everyone who was coming out of the building." Department of Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said ICE agents arrested Ordonez, who was "an illegal alien from Guatemala who admitted to being illegally in the United States," in a statement sent Saturday to CBS News New York. "U.S. Border Patrol first encountered Ordonez in 2000 when Ordonez was using a fake name, Juan Rivera-Barraz and claimed to be a citizen of Mexico. USBP processed and him and removed him to Mexico. He chose to commit a felony and illegally enter the United States at an unknown date," the statement continued. Councilwoman Susan Zhuang, who represents the district where this happened, said her office is trying to make sense of why the deacon was targeted. "The hand should be on criminals, but right now, the story we hear is our neighbors," she said. [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

Breitbart [1/17/2026 5:46 PM, Elizabeth Weibel, 2416K] reports Virginia Gov. Abigail Spanberger (D) repealed an executive order that directed local law enforcement officials to cooperate with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials. "This Executive Order rescinds Executive Order 47. State and local law enforcement should not be required to divert their limited resources to enforce federal civil immigration laws," Spanberger said. "It is a responsibility of federal law enforcement. Virginia state and local enforcement officers must be able to focus on their core responsibilities, investigating crime and community policing." As Breitbart News reported in February 2025, former Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin (R) signed an Executive Order that directed "the Virginia State Police and Department of Corrections to sign Section 287(g) agreements with ICE." Breitbart’s Neil Munro wrote: Youngkin signed an Executive Order on Thursday that "directs the Virginia State Police and the Department of Corrections to sign Section 287(g) agreements with ICE." It also directs "the Secretary of Public Safety & Homeland Security to request a certification from local and regional jail authorities confirming their full cooperation with ICE and that they will cooperate with the Section 287(g) VSP Task Force." The "federal 287(g) program" was described as training and authorizing "police forces to link their local arrests with ICE.".

Reported similarly:
Washington Examiner [1/17/2026 10:49 PM, Zach LaChance, 1394K]

NewsMax [1/17/2026 5:47 PM, Staff, 4109K] reports on the day she took office, Gov. Abigail Spanberger moved to unwind Virginia’s formal cooperation with federal immigration enforcement, a step that immigrant advocates quickly celebrated and Republicans warned could weaken public safety as President Donald Trump presses a tougher deportation agenda nationwide. Spanberger, a Democrat sworn in Saturday as Virginia’s first woman governor, signed an action rescinding former Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s Executive Order 47, which directed state law enforcement and corrections officers to assist federal immigration enforcement and sought a 287(g) agreement with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. A WWBT report described the move as ending Virginia’s participation in the federal 287(g) program, which can allow trained state and local officers to carry out certain federal immigration enforcement functions under agreement with the federal government. Youngkin, a Republican, announced EO-47 in February 2025 as a public safety initiative and said it would allow Virginia State Police and the Department of Corrections to partner with the Trump administration on immigration enforcement, including through a 287(g) task force model agreement. Immigrant advocacy group CASA in Action praised Spanberger’s decision. "Today is a historic day for the Commonwealth," said Luis Aguilar, Virginia director at CASA in Action. "This victory belongs to the immigrant communities who organized, spoke out, and refused to be silenced. By repealing EO-47, Governor Spanberger has reaffirmed that Virginia stands for freedom for all."

FOX News [1/17/2026 11:00 AM, Peter Pinedo, 40621K] reports despite widespread protests and intense pressure from local and state politicians to cease operations, the Department of Homeland Security said that its agents are continuing to remove the "scourge" of sexual predators, violent assailants, domestic abusers and drug traffickers from Minneapolis streets. Immigration enforcement agents in the city have faced intense opposition from anti-ICE agitators, especially since the fatal shooting of activist Renee Nicole Good. Despite this, DHS said its efforts in Minneapolis, dubbed "Operation Metro Surge," have continued to nab illegal immigrants with serious criminal records. In a Wednesday statement, DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin reiterated, "We are in Minnesota to arrest the worst of the worst criminal illegal aliens." McLaughlin said that Democratic Governor Tim Walz and Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey "refuse to let us into their jails and instead chose to release criminal illegal aliens back into Minnesota neighborhoods to victimize more Americans. Despite violence against them and a lack of cooperation from sanctuary politicians, our law enforcement will not stop their efforts to get criminals out of our country," McLaughlin went on. "Another day, another scourge of sexual predators, violent assailants, domestic abusers, and drug traffickers arrested from the streets of Minnesota by our law enforcement."

NBC News [1/17/2026 5:00 PM, Matt Lavietes, 34509K] reports standing outside his son’s elementary school, a father heard a warning crackle over his walkie-talkie: a suspicious car nearby. At another school, volunteer Joe Dirkswager stood watch, nodding at passing vehicles. Miles away in St. Paul, Matthew Kearns was questioning unfamiliar individuals near the school he graduated from decades ago. The three are among the volunteers who have begun patrolling streets around elementary and high schools in the Twin Cities, using walkie-talkies, Signal group chats and whistles to warn families and school staff of immigration enforcement activities. The informal patrols have emerged amid a sharp surge of federal immigration personnel in Minnesota and the fatal shooting of Renee Nicole Good by an ICE officer last week. On Thursday afternoon, about two dozen adults lined the perimeter of Green Central Elementary School in central Minneapolis, just blocks from where Good was killed. Patrol volunteers scanned nearby streets and relayed updates in real time. The father, Greg, a 42-year-old who asked that his last name not be published because of safety concerns for his family, said the patrols have forced families into impossible decisions on a daily basis. "Every morning I feel like I’m forced with the choice of ‘Do I try to do patrol to protect my daughter and her preschool or do I come to my son’s kindergarten to do patrol here?’" he asked. "Those are the kind of choices that the community is being faced with." Greg and eight other volunteers who spoke with NBC News said the patrols are especially aimed at protecting parents and school staff who are not U.S. citizens and fear being detained while coming and going from schools. DHS spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement that "ICE is not going to schools to arrest children — we are protecting children," and that "criminals are no longer able to hide in America’s schools to avoid arrest." "Our officers are highly trained and in the face of rioting, doxxing, and physical attacks, they have shown professionalism," she added. "They are not afraid of loud noises and whistles.".

Reuters [1/17/2026 12:04 PM, Brad Brooks, 36480K] reports Peter Brown’s gray mustache and beard were matted with ice as he stood watch on a frigid Friday afternoon outside Green Central Elementary, not far from where a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent fatally shot Renee Good last week. Wearing a neon green vest and equipped with a whistle and walkie-talkie, Brown, an 81-year-old retired lawyer who lives nearby, kept his head on a swivel. His eyes were taking in each passing car and pedestrian near the campus as he stood ready to sound the alarm should federal immigration personnel approach the school, which teaches in English and Spanish and is around the corner from the spot where Good died. "I never did like bullies, and that’s what the federal government has become," Brown said, explaining why an octogenarian stood outside for four hours in -2 degrees Fahrenheit with wind chill (-19 Celsius). "What’s happening in my city is nothing more than authoritarian intimidation, and me and my neighbors are not going to put up with it." Some parents not on patrol are escorting foreign-born teachers or staff members, driving them to and from their homes and schools to make them feel safer. Others are delivering groceries and prescription medicines to immigrant families who are too afraid to leave their homes or send their kids to class. U.S. Senator Amy Klobuchar, a Democrat representing Minnesota, said on Friday she had met with school principals from her state "and heard horror stories of kids and parents ‘under siege’ by ICE." "ICE is not going to schools to arrest children — we are protecting children," said DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin in a statement. "Criminals are no longer able to hide in America’s schools to avoid arrest. The Trump Administration will not tie the hands of our brave law enforcement and instead trusts them to use common sense. If a dangerous illegal alien felon were to flee into a school, or a child sex offender is working as an employee, there may be a situation where an arrest is made to protect public safety. But this has not happened." But parents and school leaders say otherwise.

FOX News [1/17/2026 7:27 PM, Staff, 40621K] reports protesters were seen clashing with agents outside the Whipple Federal Building in Minneapolis on Saturday, as law enforcement attempted to keep the crowd away from the entrance to the facility. [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

Daily Caller [1/17/2026 7:35 PM, Alex McKenna, 835K] reports three workers at El Tapatio Mexican Restaurant served lunch to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents on Wednesday before being detained later by the same agents. A dishwasher and two owners of the restaurant closed early upon learning ICE had dined at their store in Willmar, Minn. before the arrests, CBS News reported. El Tapatio has remained closed since, but the owners’ son said he would reopen today for customers. In a statement obtained by Willmar Radio, Willmar Mayor Doug Reese reminded residents that "ICE is a federal agency carrying out federal responsibilities" and also called for respect for "peaceful, lawful protest.” A spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) identified the target of the detentions as illegal alien Jose Rosario Gomez in a statement to the Daily Caller. The "officers … conducted a vehicle stop later in the day and apprehended the target and two additional illegal aliens who were in the car, including one who had a final order of removal from an immigration judge," said DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin in her statement. The same day, ICE agents were verbally abused in a Minneapolis restaurant. Federal law enforcement agents were forced to leave a Mexican restaurant in St. Paul, Minnesota after diners began shouting expletives at them, demanding they leave the business. pic.twitter.com/YlLreAidJp. Willmar residents noted increased police activity on the streets and said some businesses have closed as a result, while streets yesterday appeared "normal," according to CBS News. Willmar is about two hours west of Minneapolis where anti-ICE protests have entered their second week following the fatal shooting of a protester who attempted to run over agents with her car. In a second incident, federal law enforcement officers shot an illegal Venezuelan national when they were ambushed Wednesday while trying to make his arrest.

AP [1/17/2026 12:39 PM, Nicholas Riccardi, 31753K] reports as its immigration crackdown in Minneapolis intensifies, the Trump administration is leaning into messaging that borrows from phrases, images and music about national identity that have become popular among right-wing groups. On Jan. 9, two days after a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent’s shooting of Renee Good sent tensions in Minneapolis to a fever pitch, the Department of Homeland Security posted to social media an image of a man on a horse riding through a snowy, mountainous landscape with the words "We’ll have our home again." That’s the chorus to a song about ousting a foreign presence by a self-described "folk-punk" band that the Proud Boys and other far-right and white supremacist groups have used. The next day, the Department of Labor posted on X: "One Homeland. One People. One Heritage. Remember who you are, American." Several Trump critics on the social media site drew a parallel to a notorious Nazi slogan, "One People, One Realm, One Leader." And this past week, as President Donald Trump stepped up his pressure campaign to claim Greenland, the White House posted an image on X that showed a dog sled facing a fork in the trail, one that leads to an American flag and the White House and another that leads to the Russian and Chinese flags. Above the image was the phrase, "Which way, Greenland Man?" The post refers to a meme that riffs off the title of a notorious white supremacist book titled "Which Way Western Man?" The administration had already used the framing in an Immigration and Customs Enforcement recruiting post last year, which asked, "Which way, American Man?" The flurry of posts has renewed criticism about a recurring pattern in Trump’s second term — the sometimes cryptic use of imagery popular with the far right and white supremacists in the administration’s campaign to rally the nation behind its immigration crackdown, which it frames as a battle to preserve Western civilization. The administration says it’s tired of criticism that its messaging is framed around white supremacy or Nazi slogans. "It seems that the mainstream media has become a meme of their own: The deranged leftist who claims everything they dislike must be Nazi propaganda," White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson said. "This line of attack is boring and tired. Get a grip." Referring to the "We’ll Have Our Home Again" post, DHS spokeswoman Tricia McLaughlin said it "was a reference to 20-plus million illegal aliens invading the country." "I don’t know where you guys are getting this stuff," she added, "but it is absurd.".

Washington Post [1/18/2026 6:00 AM, Patrick Marley and Yasmeen Abutaleb, Patrick Marley and Yasmeen Abutaleb, 24149K] reports Donald Trump won the presidency in 2024 in part by promising to end border crossings and deport criminals. A year into his second term, as immigration agents and protesters skirmish in the streets of the Twin Cities, public sentiment on immigration enforcement appears to be shifting sharply, according to recent polls. Majorities of voters believe an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent was not justified in shooting a Minneapolis woman, disapprove of ICE’s work and think the agency is making cities less safe, polls show. Trump has been undeterred — his administration flooded Minneapolis with more agents after the shooting, and the president threatened last week to invoke the Insurrection Act. The clash over ICE comes as Trump and other Republicans fret that their party could lose their narrow control of the House this fall. ICE’s aggressive operations have turned off much of the public and could create a new political liability for the GOP. Aidan Perzana, 31, opposed the surge of ICE agents into his city last month. He bristled, he said, at the militarized styling of the agents, who drive unmarked vehicles, carry firearms and dress in fatigues, tactical vests and masks. Earlier this month, Perzana watched in horror out his window as an ICE agent shot and killed Renée Good in her vehicle just outside his house. “I wasn’t expecting it to happen right in front of me, but I’m not surprised it happened,” he said. The shooting cemented his opposition to ICE, said Perzana, a data engineer for the state who described himself as being on the left. “It doesn’t seem to me like they’re operating sort of within the legal framework that we have set up,” he said. A poll by CNN found 56 percent of adults did not consider the shooting an appropriate use of force, including 51 percent who said it reflected broader problems with ICE’s operations. Similarly, a Quinnipiac University poll found 53 percent of registered voters believed the shooting was unjustified and 35 percent believed it was justified. Fifty-seven percent disapproved of the way ICE was enforcing immigration laws. In an Economist/YouGov survey, 50 percent of U.S. citizens said the shooting was unjustified and 30 percent said it was justified. Far more respondents, 47 percent, said ICE made Americans less safe than the 34 percent who said the agency made Americans safer. Even before the shooting, the public had a negative impression of ICE and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi L. Noem.

AP [1/17/2026 7:42 AM, Michael Biesecker, Cedar Attanasio, and Ryan J. Foley, 31753K] reports a Cuban immigrant died in a Texas immigration detention facility earlier this month during an altercation with guards, and the local medical examiner has indicated that his death will likely be classified as a homicide. The federal government has provided a differing account surrounding the Jan. 3 death of Geraldo Lunas Campos, saying the detainee was attempting suicide and staff tried to save him. A witness told The Associated Press that Lunas Campos died after he was handcuffed, tackled by guards and placed in a chokehold until he lost consciousness. The immigrant’s family was told by the El Paso County Medical Examiner’s Office on Wednesday that a preliminary autopsy report said the death was a homicide resulting from asphyxia from chest and neck compression, according to a recording of the call reviewed by the AP. The death and conflicting accounts have intensified scrutiny into the conditions of immigration jails at a time when the government has been rounding up immigrants in large numbers around the country and detaining them at facilities like the one in El Paso where Lunas Campos died. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement is legally required to issue public notification of detainee deaths. Last week, it said Lunas Campos, a 55-year-old father of four and registered sex offender, had died at Camp East Montana, but made no mention of him being involved in an altercation with staff immediately before his death. In response to questions from the AP, the Department of Homeland Security, which includes ICE, on Thursday amended its account of Lunas Campos’ death, saying he tried to kill himself. “Campos violently resisted the security staff and continued to attempt to take his life,” DHS spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin said. “During the ensuing struggle, Campos stopped breathing and lost consciousness.”

Blaze [1/17/2026 7:07 PM, Landon Pfile, 1442K] reports a detainee died after attempting to take his own life while in federal immigration custody at a detention facility in El Paso, Texas, according to the Department of Homeland Security. But that was not what Washington Post and other liberal outlets originally reported. On Thursday evening, WaPo shared an article on social media, reporting that a local medical examiner might soon classify the death of Geraldo Lunas Campos at the Camp East Montana facility on January 3 as a "homicide" and that another detainee had witnessed the man being "choked to death by guards.” During the intervention, Campos ‘violently resisted’ staff and continued trying to harm himself, the DHS said. The DHS offered a different version of events. The DHS described Campos as a criminal illegal alien and a convicted child sex predator. Agency officials said detention security staff immediately intervened when Campos attempted suicide. During the intervention, Campos "violently resisted" staff and continued trying to harm himself, the DHS said. In the ensuing struggle, Campos "stopped breathing and lost consciousness." Medical personnel were called to the scene and attempted resuscitation before emergency medical technicians pronounced him dead at the facility. ICE said it takes the health and safety of all detainees seriously and that the incident remains under active investigation, adding that more details "are forthcoming.” Blaze News reached out to Washington Post for comment. According to the DHS, Campos was arrested by immigration authorities July 14, 2025, during a planned enforcement operation in Rochester, New York. The DHS said he entered the United States in 1996 and has since been convicted of multiple felonies such as sexual contact with a child under 11, criminal possession of a weapon, reckless driving, possession of a controlled substance, and sale of a controlled substance. An immigration judge ordered Campos removed from the United States on March 1, 2005. The DHS said he was not removed at that time because the government was unable to obtain the necessary travel documents. ICE later transferred him to the Camp East Montana detention facility on Sept. 6, 2025.

Washington Post [1/17/2026 3:20 PM, Douglas MacMillan, 24149K] reports the Trump administration is seeking to deport two men who provided accounts of the Jan. 3 death of Geraldo Lunas Campos at a Texas detention camp that differed from the Department of Homeland Security’s description of the incident. Santos Jesus Flores and Antonio Ascon Frometa, two detainees at Camp East Montana who both have criminal convictions, said in phone interviews with The Washington Post this week that they witnessed Lunas Campos engaged in a struggle with guards before his death. Flores claimed he saw guards choking Lunas Campos to death. In a statement Thursday, DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said Lunas Campos had tried to take his own life and guards were trying to save him. “Campos violently resisted the security staff and continued to attempt to take his life,” McLaughlin said. “During the ensuing struggle, Campos stopped breathing and lost consciousness.” Flores, a Salvadoran immigrant, was ordered to be removed by an immigration judge on Jan. 8, according to internal Immigration and Customs Enforcement records reviewed by The Post — five days after Lunas Campos’s death. He shared his account with The Post on Jan. 13, and on the same day was “offered” removal to Mexico but declined, citing fear of being deported there, the records show. He was named in The Post’s story about the incident two days later. Frometa, a Cuban, was served notice of removal to Mexico on Jan. 16, records show — three days after The Post interviewed him. After he refused deportation, the records show, ICE began preparations to transfer him to a detention center in the southeast U.S. He was not named in The Post’s initial story. McLaughlin declined to comment on the attempted deportations or whether those moves had anything to do with the government’s response to Lunas Campos’s death.

Univision Austin [1/17/2026 11:07 AM, Staff, 5004K] reports a driver was injured after being stopped at a traffic stop by ICE agents, the Kyle Police Department confirmed. The events occurred on Thursday, January 15, at approximately 7:45 a.m., when Hays County Sheriff’s officers received a call from Homeland Security and ICE agents requesting an ambulance for a detained individual. Through a post on its social media, KPD said that its officers responded to the call to support EMS first responders. The injured driver was taken to a hospital under the custody of Homeland Security personnel. Kyle Police Department clarified that it was not involved in the driver’s arrest or any ICE-related operation. Hays County Judge Ruben Becerra said with indignation that he was not notified about the presence of ICE on the streets of Buda. According to the judge, these new ICE agents do not have the proper training to operate or to make arrests. The judge said that 6 months ago ICE detained 47 people, nine of whom were minors, and to date, according to the judge, there is no knowledge or information about the whereabouts of these people.

Los Angeles Times [1/18/2026 6:00 AM, Melissa Gomez, 14672K] reports a Honduran man who lived and worked in the U.S. for 26 years died after being held at a California immigration detention facility for more than a month, and his family is calling for an investigation, saying he complained of deteriorating health conditions before his death. Luis Beltrán Yanez-Cruz, 68, died on Jan. 6 at 1:18 a.m. at the John F. Kennedy Memorial Hospital in Indio after suffering from heart-related health issues, according to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials. He was being held at the Imperial Regional Detention Facility in Calexico before he was transferred to the hospital. Federal officials said Yanez-Cruz was “encountered” during a Nov. 16 enforcement operation in Newark, N.J., but he was not the target of the operation, his daughter said. He was put into removal proceedings, which were pending at the time of his death. His daughter, Josselyn Yanez, blames ICE for not taking his health concerns seriously and not providing medical attention as his health deteriorated. In a statement, ICE said Yanez-Cruz was put in the detention facility’s medical unit for chest pains before being sent to El Centro Regional Medical Center. He was then transported by helicopter to Indio. “There needs to be an investigation because this is not normal,” Yanez said. “He started having symptoms weeks ago; they could have done something.” In response to the family’s claims, a Homeland Security official said in a statement, “ICE has higher detention standards than most US prisons that hold actual US citizens. All detainees are provided with 3 meals a day, clean water, clothing, bedding, showers, and toiletries, and have access to phones to communicate with their family members and lawyers.”

Los Angeles Times [1/17/2026 1:40 PM, James Queally, 14862K] reports a Los Angeles County district attorney’s office employee was "wrongfully detained" by federal immigration agents on Friday, according to an internal e-mail obtained by The Times. L.A. County Dist. Atty. Nathan Hochman called the incident "unacceptable" in an office-wide memo sent out on Friday evening. "A member of our Office was wrongfully detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). I can thankfully report that, shortly after, our employee was released and is safe," Hochman wrote. "This incident is unacceptable. Our employee is a dedicated public servant who serves the people of Los Angeles County with professionalism and integrity. This troubling situation caused great distress to our colleague, our co-worker’s family, and our entire Office family." The reason for the person’s detention was not immediately clear. A spokesman for Hochman declined to comment further and referred questions to ICE. Representatives for ICE did not respond to inquiries from The Times. Two law enforcement officials with knowledge of the incident, speaking on the condition of anonymity in order to talk candidly, said the employee was not a prosecutor. The employee was also not engaged in protest activity, the officials said.

Reported similarly:
CBS News [1/17/2026 11:49 PM, Dean Fioresi, 39474K]

Telemundo52 [1/17/2026 11:18 AM, Alex Rozier, 76K] reports the West Hollywood community stands with the family of Alberto Cabral, who decided to self-deport after being detained by federal agents. The 73-year-old gardener was tending to a house in West Hollywood last week when he was arrested in front of his client. Cabral is undocumented, but has no criminal record, according to his family. Cabral has lived in the United States for more than six decades, since arriving at the age of 12. Blanco recounts that the 73-year-old fractured his tailbone and still went to work when he was detained by ICE. After dealing with several health problems, Cabral decided to deport himself to Mexico.

New York Post [1/17/2026 8:15 PM, David Spector, 42219K] reports California governor hopeful Rep. Eric Swalwell vowed to strip Immigration Customs Enforcement officers of their driver’s licenses in a candidates forum — even though the state grants licenses to illegal immigrants. "They’re going to lose their immunity, they’re not gonna be able to drive. I will take your driver’s license. Good luck walking to work, a–holes," Swalwell said at the Empowerment Congress California Governor Forum Saturday. Swalwell’s pledge to strip ICE officers of their ability to drive legally would create an odd landscape in California, where illegal immigrants are granted driver’s licenses but federal law enforcement would have theirs revoked. Former California Governor Jerry Brown signed a bill into law that allowed illegal immigrants to obtain driver’s licenses in 2013, and the law went into effect two years later. "There’s only one side of the ball to be on, on behalf of Californians when it comes to ICE, and it’s offense," Swalwell said at the forum, which was also attended by other California gubernatorial candidates such as Rep. Katie Porter. Eric Swalwell answering a question on how the next governor of California will protect Californians from ICE.⁰⁰"They’re going to lose their immunity. They’re not going to be able to drive. I will take your driver’s license. Good luck walking to work, assholes." pic.twitter.com/dTbTN06xmB. The California rep. went on to state that he would direct local law enforcement to use "every power" to prosecute ICE officers. "I will direct law enforcement to use every power to prosecute [ICE officers] for battery, false imprisonment and murder," Swalwell said. Immigration activists have been attempting to sabotage and combat ICE as it has stepped up its enforcement efforts around the country since President Trump returned to office. Nationwide protests broke out after an ICE agent gunned down a woman who drove at him in her SUV in Minneapolis. Swalwell introduced federal legislation two days after the death of Renee Good in Minneapolis to strip ICE officers of their qualified immunity, alongside Rep. Dan Goldman (D-N.Y.) called the ICE OUT Act. Ross is unlikely to be prosecuted in connection to Good’s death, according to a report.

Washington Examiner [1/17/2026 2:00 PM, Anna Giaritelli, 1394K] reports the Trump administration has moved expeditiously in its second term to put up not only a border wall along the U.S.-Mexico border, but also to build out a comprehensive security system, which Americans know little about. Legal delays and poor planning meant that in President Donald Trump’s first term, he did not install 1 mile of border wall in an area that did not previously have it for almost the first three years. This time around, more than 20 miles of wall have been put in the ground since January 2025. The Border Patrol is averaging 2 miles of wall installed per week, as of mid-December, and intends to increase this to 10 miles per week, according to Border Patrol Chief Mike Banks. The top border official in the government, Rodney Scott, vowed during his confirmation hearing in April 2025 to become commissioner for Customs and Border Protection, to deliver "real border security." "We’ll continue to build out the border wall system. We’ll continue to build out the technology, but we’ll also make sure that we work with the U.S. Attorney’s Office so that there are consequences to violating laws in the United States," Scott told senators. Banks explained during an interview in Brownsville, Texas, on Jan. 7 that the smart wall system Trump has envisioned was made from the advice of agents and takes into account a number of components to be effective in the 21st century. When asked by Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem at the roundtable in Texas on Jan. 7 what agents wanted from the department, Border Patrol’s Rio Grande Valley Chief Jared Ashby said emphatically, "Wall. More barrier.… To continue closing some of the gaps that were left during the Biden administration or areas of wall that weren’t finished." Noem reiterated that the wall was one of Trump’s top priorities, in addition to technology. However, Noem added that "if you just install technology or cameras or — and don’t have a complete, full wall and infrastructure, that if there’s an administration that wants to do what Joe Biden did before, they would just turn off the technology, and then you’d have no security at all.".

Daily Caller [1/18/2026 12:19 AM, Surya Gunasekara, 835K] reports the first year of President Donald Trump’s second term has been nothing short of historic. The President has flexed the might of the United States to forge peace deals around the globe, arrest a wanted narco-terrorist dictator, advance America First tariffs reducing the trade deficit to the lowest levels in nearly two decades, and save America billions of dollars every year by reducing burdensome regulations. Despite these remarkable achievements, the complete and total turnaround on border enforcement is by far the most important accomplishment of year-one in Trump 47. The Biden Administration allowed – or in some cases facilitated – the invasion of 6.7 million illegal aliens into the United States. In just a year, under President Trump’s leadership more than 2.5 million illegal aliens have already been shown the door. Nearly 595,000 of the worst of the worst have been arrested and deported by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP). Moreover, key metrics like daily border encounters and apprehensions are at historic lows. Former President Joe Biden’s claims that Congress needed to pass immigration reform for him to stop the crossings has been proven demonstrably false. Turns out all that was needed was a president willing to vigorously enforce existing law. Perhaps the most complicated aspect of these removal operations is coordinating aircraft for millions of illegal aliens to their home countries or third-party countries. Typically, ICE removals are operated by Adiós Air – a network of eight to 14 government charters. But with $30 billion for deportation efforts in the One Big Beautiful Bill, is ICE considering more exotic alternatives? One reported option includes ICE purchasing its own fleet of aircraft. While this novel concept may seem good on paper there are several cost and legal issues that may present complications. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) claims this move will save taxpayers $279 million by allowing ICE to operate more efficient routes. There are massive costs with owning planes, just ask Richard Branson who once quipped "[i]f you want to be a millionaire, start with a billion dollars and launch a new airline." Beyond the costs, perhaps the bigger red flag is a legal one. U.S. government-owned aircraft, classified as state aircraft under the Chicago Convention, requires advance diplomatic clearance for overflight and landing in foreign countries. In many cases, the flights need at least a week for approval, which can increase denial risk due to political or diplomatic issues—especially for deportations to third-party countries where the receiving nation may be reluctant to accept deportees without ties to their country. Private contractors operate civil aircraft, which do not face these same stringent diplomatic clearance requirements and can proceed with standard operational approvals on shorter timeframes giving ICE more flexibility. Beyond the operational and financial pitfalls, acquiring a government-owned fleet raises serious long-term policy risks. If DHS purchases planes for deportation purposes, a future Democrat administration could repurpose these assets to facilitate the influx of inadmissible aliens under expansive humanitarian parole programs, similar to the Biden-era initiative for Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans, and Venezuelans (CHNV). CHNV admitted over 500,000 individuals on two-year paroles – without congressional approval – which required beneficiaries to arrange their own commercial flights after vetting and sponsorship. With a dedicated fleet of state aircraft at their disposal, however, a reversal in executive policy could enable mass government-sponsored transport of parolees directly from origin countries, bypassing commercial constraints and accelerating entries under the guise of "humanitarian" or "public benefit" rationales. This dual-use potential underscores how ownership could inadvertently arm political opponents with tools to undermine border security gains.

Tampa Free Press [1/17/2026 3:20 PM, Rick Cole, 123K] reports new federal data released Friday portrays a dramatic shift in activity along the U.S. southern border, with U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) reporting its eighth consecutive month of zero migrant releases into the interior of the United States. The operational statistics for December 2025 and the first quarter of the 2026 fiscal year indicate that border enforcement has reached its tightest levels in decades. According to the agency, the total number of nationwide encounters for October, November, and December fell to 91,603—the lowest total ever recorded to start a fiscal year. The report marks the end of the first full calendar year under the current Trump administration and draws sharp statistical contrasts with the previous administration. "Month after month, we are delivering results that were once thought impossible," Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said in a statement accompanying the data. Noem credited the drop in traffic to the administration’s specific security policies, describing the current situation as "the most secure border in history.". The volume of activity at the southwest border has dropped precipitously compared to recent years. CBP data highlights that the 21,815 apprehensions recorded in the first quarter of FY2026 represent a 95% decrease from the first-quarter average seen during the Biden administration. For the month of December alone, agents reported 6,478 apprehensions. To put that figure in perspective, the agency noted that the total number of apprehensions for the entire month was lower than the volume processed in just four days in December 2024. The daily average for apprehensions in December sat at 209. CBP officials stated this is a 96% reduction compared to the daily average under the prior administration. A central metric emphasized in the report is the number of migrants released into the U.S. pending court dates. For the eighth month in a row, the U.S. Border Patrol reported "zero parole releases." In comparison, the report notes that in December 2024, over 7,000 individuals were released by Border Patrol agents. CBP Commissioner Rodney Scott praised the workforce for what he termed a "new standard" for security.

Breitbart [1/17/2026 9:56 AM, Bob Price, 2416K] reports the Department of Homeland Security began installing a massive 500‑mile network of floating buoy barriers along the U.S.–Mexico border, a move that mirrors the deterrence strategy first deployed by Texas under Governor Greg Abbott as part of Operation Lone Star. U.S. Border Patrol Chief Michael Banks announced on Friday that U.S. Customs and Border Protection began the installation of what will become 500 miles of floating border barriers along the Rio Grande in South Texas. Before assuming this role, Banks served as Governor Abbott’s Border Czar, overseeing the state-funded buoy barrier program that was aggressively opposed by the Biden administration. While only a few thousand feet of Texas buoy’s were deployed, the program proved the technology to be effective at deterring border crossings in unsecured areas of the border. While announcing the barrier deployment during a recent border visit, DHS Secretary Kristi Noem said the barriers "create a safer environment for agents on patrol, and securing our waterways not only protects Americans, it saves the lives of illegal aliens by deterring them from daring to attempt to cross through this treacherous water."

FOX News [1/17/2026 5:54 PM, Michael Dorgan and Alex Nitzberg, 40621K] Video: HERE reports dramatic video shows several illegal immigrants scrambling across rooftops in California as they try to flee federal immigration agents during an enforcement operation at a small construction site. The frantic footage shows two individuals scaling a ladder onto the roof of a home in Montebello on Wednesday, shortly after authorities pulled up outside the single-story house. Montebello is a city in Los Angeles County. One of the individuals appeared to try to knock the ladder to the ground in an apparent attempt to prevent agents from following, but an officer caught the ladder and propped it back against the house. The illegal immigrants then split up, leaping onto separate nearby rooftops as they fled. A Department of Homeland Security (DHS) spokesperson told Fox News Digital that the incident occurred during a U.S. Border Patrol enforcement operation in the Montebello area. "These operations resulted in the arrest of five illegal aliens from Mexico and Guatemala, who have all broken the immigration laws of this country," a DHS spokesperson said. "These individuals will remain in custody pending further immigration proceedings.". Local outlet ABC7 reported that the workers’ boss initially claimed no one had been detained. DHS, however, later confirmed to Fox News Digital that five individuals were arrested during the operation. DHS said the enforcement activity was carried out as part of a broader push by the Trump administration to crack down on illegal immigration. [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

Houston Chronicle [1/17/2026 10:00 AM, Justin Ballard, 2983K] reports despite avoiding a landfall by a major hurricane last year, the United States still endured 23 weather-related disasters that caused at least a $1 billion in damage costs in 2025. The total underscores how costly extreme weather has become, even in the absence of the storms that have historically caused the most damage. Floods, severe storms, wildfires, drought, and other climate-driven events combined to produce tens of billions of dollars in losses nationwide. That long-term trend is nowhere clearer than in Texas, which has recorded 190 weather-related billion-dollar disasters since 1980 — surpassing any other state since tracking began.

FOX News [1/17/2026 10:46 AM, Andrea Margolis, 40621K] reports construction crews working on a $9 million water main replacement project in the heart of New Orleans recently uncovered centuries-old remnants of fires that once devastated the historic city. The artifacts, which were uncovered in the French Quarter, were found in early November on St. Peter Street between Chartres and Royal streets, NOLA reported last month. The finds were disclosed in a Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) document shared with city and state agencies. Though the artifacts were uncovered in November, FEMA did not share the results with state agencies until Dec. 23. "Assessment is still ongoing," said the FEMA document. "However, the interpretation thus far is that the burn layers represent the Fire of 1788 and the Fire of 1794." The artifacts will help experts glean more information about the "intensity of burn and level of destruction along the 600 block of St. Peter Street," according to FEMA, as well as details about reconstruction efforts in the fires’ wake. A FEMA spokesperson told Fox News Digital the artifacts have been removed to a laboratory, where archaeologists are preparing required analysis.

USA Today [1/17/2026 4:45 PM, Jonathan Limehouse, 67103K] reports a man accused of aiming a laser pointer at Marine One, a U.S. Marine Corps aircraft carrying President Donald Trump, was acquitted of federal charges stemming from the alleged incident on Sept. 20, 2025, in Washington, D.C. Jacob Samuel Winker, 33, was found not guilty of "Aiming a Laser Pointer at an Aircraft" in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia on Jan. 13, 2026, according to court records reviewed by USA TODAY. If convicted, Winker would have faced up to five years in prison and a possible $250,000 fine, as aiming a laser pointer at an aircraft is a federal crime and a felony. A complaint filed on Sept. 22, 2025, alleged that Winker pointed the laser at a Secret Service officer assigned to secure the flight path for Marine One on the day of the incident. Winker is then accused of pointing the device at the presidential helicopter as it was flying overhead, the document continued. At the time of the alleged incident, Marine One was taking off from the south grounds of the White House, with Trump aboard, according to the complaint. The Secret Service officer said in the document that he initially noticed a shirtless Winker "talking to himself and being loud." The officer detained Winker following the alleged incident as his actions were a "danger to Marine One and everyone on-board," the complaint reads. "(Winker’s) conduct posed a risk of flash blindness and pilot disorientation, especially during low-level flight near other helicopters (U.S. Park Police, U.S. Marine Corps) and the Washington Monument," the complaint continues. "This placed Marine One at risk of an airborne collision." After being handcuffed, Winker dropped to his knees and "began saying things like, ‘I should apologize to Donald Trump,’ and ‘I apologize to Donald Trump,’" according to the complaint. He "repeated this action several times," the document reads. Alexis Gardner and Ubong Akpan, the public defenders representing Winker in the case, told USA TODAY in a statement on Jan. 17 that the jury deliberated for just 35 minutes before finding their client not guilty.

New York Post [1/17/2026 3:12 PM, Geoff Earle, 42219K] reports the Secret Service wasted no time this week getting face to face with a twisted lefty agitator in Nebraska after she appeared to write a threatening post about White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt on X. An agent showed up Friday at the home of activist Jamie Bonkiewicz, who posted the day before: "When Karoline Leavitt gets what she deserves, I hope it’s televised.". During the videotaped conversation, which took place on a front porch and which Bonkiewicz posted on her X account, she denied seeking to physically harm Leavitt, telling the agent that "I want to see her trials.". The unidentified law enforcement officer told her "you don’t want to perceive any ill-will towards these people," while asking her if she attends demonstrations or had any weapons in her house. After a man off camera asked him what would constitute "crossing the line," the agent explained that a "direct" threat like "I will go kill the president" would be outside the bounds of protected free speech. He said he would take such a threat to the US Attorney’s office, but Bonkiewicz wasn’t arrested. "Something like this, a veiled threat. Is it a threatening nature? Now that I know that you didn’t mean anything by it, it’s basically a non-issue," he responded.

Daily Caller [1/17/2026 12:45 PM, Hudson Crozier, 835K] reports a California man was arrested Friday for allegedly posting plans on social media to kill Vice President JD Vance with bombs at Disneyland Resort in July 2025, the Department of Justice (DOJ) announced Friday. Marco Antonio Aguayo, 22, said on Instagram that "pipe bombs have been placed in preparation for J.D. Vance’s arrival" on the day Vance stayed at the theme park in Anaheim, according to the DOJ’s statement. Authorities visited Aguayo at his home later that day, leading him to surrender his phone; the FBI, Secret Service, and local police have investigated the case since. "It’s time for us to rise up and you will be a witness to it," another of Aguayo’s alleged posts said, according to the DOJ. "Good luck finding all of them on time there will be bloodshed tonight and we will bathe in the blood of corrupt politicians." Aguayo is charged with threats against the president and successors to the presidency and faces up to five years in prison if convicted, the Justice Department said. The Daily Caller News Foundation could not immediately identify an attorney for Aguayo.

Washington Examiner [1/18/2026 6:00 AM, Howard Husock, 1394K] reports the arson fire that destroyed the Beth Israel synagogue in Jackson, Mississippi, last week underscored the spread of antisemitism in the United States — and the difficulty of protecting Jews and Jewish institutions. As incidents of violent antisemitism have increased, so, too, has criticism of Western governments for not doing enough to respond. The Australian government’s weak response to the mass murder on Bondi Beach exemplifies that concern. In that context, there is much to cheer in a clearly distinct approach that’s been adopted in the U.S. In the wake of such horrific incidents as Pittsburgh’s Tree of Life synagogue shootings, Washington has intervened through the federal Nonprofit Security Grant Program, an unprecedented form of state support for religious institutions. Major grants for security infrastructure, welcomed by cash-strapped congregations, have at the same time demonstrated the complications of government support for religious institutions, even prompting some beneficiaries to have second thoughts. The NSGP directs substantial grants for the installation of security infrastructure; think here of hardening synagogue buildings against terrorist attacks through car barriers, bullet-proof glass, and training for congregants, including children, on how to respond to an attack. The program, although not well-known, is significant; it will distribute $275 million this year, not exclusively to Jewish organizations but to a notable number of them. One Long Island synagogue received a $350,000 grant; 30 Jewish groups in the Baltimore area have been assisted, and 15 in Rep. Jerry Nadler’s (D-NY) district alone. It’s easy to understand why such help is welcome. Not only is the threat level higher, but each synagogue is a financially independent institution that faces a literal cost of providing protection, as I learned firsthand as a member of a synagogue board of trustees.

The New York Times [1/17/2026 5:41 PM, Shawn McCreesh, Ana Swanson, and Jeanna Smialek, 135475K] reports President Trump announced in a social media post on Saturday morning his latest strategy to get control of Greenland: He is slapping new tariffs on a bloc of European nations until they come to the negotiating table to sell Greenland. Greenland is a territory of Denmark, which will be hit with a 10 percent tariff on all goods sent to the United States beginning on Feb. 1, Mr. Trump wrote in a social media post. Norway, Sweden, France, Germany, Britain, the Netherlands and Finland, fellow NATO members that have expressed solidarity with Denmark in its refusal to yield to Mr. Trump’s demands, will also be subject to the 10 percent tariff. If those nations do not relent, he added, the rate will increase to 25 percent on June 1, “until such time as a Deal is reached for the Complete and Total purchase of Greenland.” The leaders of Europe reacted Saturday with unified outrage to Mr. Trump’s latest coercions on the massive island in the North Atlantic. So, too, did lawmakers in Washington, including some members of the president’s own party. And the abrupt announcement of new tariffs seemed to throw a trade deal Mr. Trump had struck with the European Union into serious doubt. In his post, Mr. Trump argued that the United States needed to control Greenland as a bulwark against Chinese and Russian ambitions in the Arctic, although the United States already has the right to expand its military presence in Greenland under a 1951 agreement with Denmark. The president’s new threat comes as the Supreme Court weighs overturning the legal authority that the president would probably use to impose these tariffs. The court is set to rule in the coming weeks on Mr. Trump’s use of an emergency law, the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, which the president has used to threaten tariffs at a whim against numerous countries over the past year. If the court rules against Mr. Trump, he may not be able to impose tariffs like this. Bloomberg [1/17/2026 4:03 PM, Josh Wingrove and María Paula Mijares Torres, 18207K] reports Trump threatened in a social media post to impose the tariff Feb. 1 and raise the levy to 25% in June unless and until “a Deal is reached for the Complete and Total purchase of Greenland.” The tariffs will apply to Denmark, Norway, Sweden, France, Germany, the UK, the Netherlands and Finland, he said. The explosive move targets several members of the NATO alliance, which includes Denmark. Those countries now face the prospect of punitive tariffs from an ally seeking to pry loose territory within the bloc. The European Union said Saturday that it stands behind Denmark and Greenland, and a senior European lawmaker called for a halt to a US-EU trade truce sealed with Trump in July. EU national ambassadors will meet Sunday to discuss the bloc’s next steps, according to a person familiar with the matter. “Tariffs would undermine transatlantic relations and risk a dangerous downward spiral,” EU chiefs Ursula von der Leyen and Antonio Costa said in a joint statement. “Europe will remain united, coordinated, and committed to upholding its sovereignty.” French President Emmanuel Macron branded Trump’s threats “unacceptable.” Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson said his country wouldn’t be “blackmailed” and UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer called the use of tariffs on NATO allies “completely wrong,” saying he’ll take up the matter with the US. “The Pandora’s box of tariffs has been reopened — and the stakes are higher, with an unprecedented level of brutality,” said Simone Tagliapietra, senior researcher at the Bruegel think tank in Brussels. “Europe now has no choice but to confront this hostile act with strength and without hesitation, including by resorting to its anti-coercion instruments.” EU lawmakers are poised to halt last year’s trade deal with the US after Manfred Weber, head of the European People’s Party group, said Saturday that agreement with the US “is not possible at this stage.” The EPP is the parliament’s largest faction and if EPP lawmakers join left-leaning political groups, it’s likely they’d have enough votes to delay or block the deal.

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Washington Post [1/17/2026 6:39 PM, Michael Birnbaum and Brianna Tucker, 24149K]
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CNN [1/17/2026 9:40 AM, Alejandra Jaramillo, Nic Robertson, Sophie Tanno, and Michael Rios, 18595K]
Daily Caller [1/17/2026 3:44 PM, Mark Tanos, 835K]

NBC News [1/17/2026 7:29 PM, Raquel Coronell Uribe and Steve Kopack, 34509K] reports the European Union will hold an emergency meeting of its ambassadors in Brussels on Sunday after U.S. President Donald Trump announced that he would hit eight member countries with tariffs until a deal is struck to allow the United States to purchase Greenland, a spokesperson for the Cyprus Presidency of the EU Council confirms to NBC News. Members of the European Parliament and some American lawmakers were among the political leaders who expressed their opposition to the tariff threats Saturday, and to Trump’s goal of bringing the Danish territory under U.S. control. “The measures against NATO allies announced today will not help in ensuring security in the Arctic," wrote Roberta Metsola of Malta, who serves as president of the European Parliament, in a post on X. "They risk the opposite, emboldening our joint enemies and those who wish to destroy our common values and way of life." She added, “Greenland and Denmark have both made clear: Greenland is not for sale and its sovereignty and territorial integrity needs to be respected. No threat of tariffs can or will change that fact." Kaja Kallas of Estonia, the vice president of the European Commission and the EU’s chief diplomat, said that China and Russia “must be having a field day” with Trump’s announcement, saying they are the only ones who stand to gain from "divisions among Allies." “If Greenland’s security is at risk, we can address this inside NATO,” Kallas wrote on X. “Tariffs risk making Europe and the United States poorer and undermine our shared prosperity.” “We also cannot let our dispute distract us from the our core task of helping to end Russia’s war against Ukraine,” she added. Several European political leaders signaled a desire to halt final approval of an EU-U.S. trade deal that was reached last summer and already partly implemented, but which still requires passage in the European Parliament to become official. Chief among them was Bernd Lange, the European Parliament’s longtime international trade committee chief. "New US-Tariffs for several nations are unbelievable," Lange wrote on X. "This is no way to treat partners. A new line has been crossed. Unacceptable." [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

Reuters [1/17/2026 2:24 PM, David Shepardson, 36480K] reports U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer said on Saturday it is up to Europe to decide whether it wants to raise new tariff threats from President Donald Trump against some European countries over Greenland. "If I were the Europeans I would probably try to silo this off if they can. If they want to make it an issue in the trade deal that’s really up to them and not us," Greer told reporters at the Detroit Auto Show. Trump on Saturday vowed to hit some European allies with tariffs for opposing his desire to take over Greenland. Trump said additional 10% import tariffs would take effect on February 1 on goods from Denmark, Norway, Sweden, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Finland and Great Britain - all already subject to tariffs imposed by Trump - and would rise to 25% on June 1 if no deal had been reached. In September, the Trump administration formally implemented the U.S. trade agreement with the European Union, adopting a 15% duty rate for EU autos and auto parts and setting exemptions for generic pharmaceuticals, aircraft and aircraft parts. Greer said the potential Greenland tariffs "are largely national security determinations" but said "whenever there’s a tariff involved, we’re involved, and we want to make sure that we’re equipping the president to be able to take whatever steps he makes." Greer noted the EU has yet to lower any U.S. tariffs as part of the deal. "They promised to do it, we’ve moderated our tariffs for them, they have yet to do it for us. It’s winding through their process slowly," Greer said.

FOX News [1/17/2026 1:13 PM, Rachel Wolf Fox, 40621K] reports a bipartisan, bicameral group of U.S. lawmakers set off to Denmark to reassure the NATO ally amid President Donald Trump’s push for a takeover of Greenland. The group was mostly made of Democrats, but included two Republicans: Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, and Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C. Senate Foreign Relations Committee Ranking Member Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H., Sen. Chris Coons, D-Del., Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., Murkowski, Tillis, Rep. Gregory Meeks, D-N.Y., Rep. Sarah McBride, D-Del., Rep. Madeleine Dean, D-Pa., and Rep. Sara Jacobs, D-Calif., were among those who traveled to Europe for meetings with Danish and Greenlandic officials. Some members of the delegation are expected to go to the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, next week. "The trip will highlight bipartisan support for our allies in the Kingdom of Denmark and discuss how to deepen this partnership in line with our shared principles of sovereignty and self-determination, and in the face of growing challenges around the world, especially bolstering Arctic security and promoting stronger trade relations between the two countries," a statement Shaheen issued prior to the visit read. Coons, who led the delegation, underscored the lawmakers’ desire to "reaffirm Congress’ commitment" to Denmark, calling it one of the U.S.’s "oldest, strongest NATO allies." "A great day leading our bipartisan delegation to Copenhagen meeting with Danish and Greenlandic officials to reaffirm Congress’ commitment to one of our oldest, strongest NATO allies. In an increasingly unstable world In which our adversaries are cooperating, our alliances are more important than ever," he wrote in a post on X.

Breitbart [1/17/2026 12:29 PM, Breitbart London, 2416K] reports thousands of people demonstrated in the capital of Greenland on Saturday against President Donald Trump’s plans for the US to annex the Danish autonomous territory. The protesters, including the territory’s prime minister, Jens-Frederik Nielsen, waving a Greenlandic flag, chanted slogans and traditional Inuit songs under light rain. Many wore caps with the words "Make America Go Away" — a riff on Trump’s "Make America Great Again" slogan. The Nuuk demonstration coordinated with others across Denmark on Saturday that were joined by thousands. Trump warned on Friday that he could put tariffs on countries that oppose his plans to take over mineral-rich Greenland. "We don’t want Trump invading Greenland, that is the message," said 44-year-old nurse Paarniq Larsen Strum at the Nuuk rally, calling the situation "nerve-wracking". In Copenhagen, charity worker Kirsten Hjoernholm, 52, said it was important to show unity with Greenlanders. "You cannot be bullied by an ally. It’s about international law," she said. Around her, demonstrators waved the flags of Denmark and Greenland while chanting "Kalaallit Nunaat!" — the vast Arctic island’s name in Greenlandic.

FOX News [1/17/2026 6:16 PM, Jasmine Baehr, 40621K] reports protests erupted in Greenland Saturday as demonstrators rejected President Donald Trump’s bid to take over the Arctic island, with protesters chanting that Greenland is "not for sale" and saying they want to determine their own future, Reuters reported. "We are not interested in being Americans," one protester said in a video during demonstrations in the Greenlandic capital, Nuuk. The protests followed Trump’s renewed push to acquire Greenland, including a Truth Social post Saturday in which he announced new tariffs on several European countries unless a deal is reached for the island’s purchase by the U.S. In the post, Trump wrote that Denmark and other European nations would face a 10% tariff beginning Feb. 1, rising to 25% on June 1, and said the tariffs would remain in place "until such time as a Deal is reached for the Complete and Total purchase of Greenland.” Some demonstrators wore red baseball caps styled after the "Make America Great Again" (MAGA) hats worn by Trump supporters, but with the slogan "Make America Go Away.” In Nuuk, thousands of protesters led by Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen marched toward the U.S. consulate carrying flags and banners while chanting "Kalaallit Nunaat," the island’s name in Greenlandic, according to Reuters. Nielsen addressed the crowd outside the consulate, drawing loud cheers. "I’ve come here today because I think it’s important to show that Greenland is not for sale. It is not a toy. This is our home," Naja Holm, a civil servant, told Reuters. Trump has said Greenland is vital to U.S. national security because of its strategic Arctic location and mineral resources and has warned that China and Russia are seeking influence on the island. He has argued that U.S. control would strengthen Western security in the region. The dispute has drawn sharp reaction from European leaders. Sweden’s prime minister said Europe would not be "blackmailed," while French President Emmanuel Macron warned that tariff threats were unacceptable and said Europe would respond in a united and coordinated manner in an X post. "No intimidation nor threat will influence us, neither in Ukraine, nor in Greenland, nor anywhere else in the world when we are confronted with such situations," Macron wrote in an X post. "Tariff threats are unacceptable and have no place in this context. Europeans will respond to them in a united and coordinated manner if they were to be confirmed.” Dutch Minister of Foreign Affairs David van Weel also took to social media in response. "We have taken note of President Trump’s announcement on tariffs," van Weel wrote. "Military efforts related to exercises in Greenland are intended to contribute to security in the Arctic region. The Netherlands is in close contact with the @EU_Commission and partners on our response.”

Washington Post [1/18/2026 3:00 AM, Ruby Mellen and John Muyskens, 24149K] reports the Arctic is warming around four times faster than the rest of the globe, exposing natural resources, opening up potential shipping routes and prompting an increase in activity among military powers. The changing landscape has created a region ripe for opportunity — and potential conflict — factors that may play a role in President Donald Trump’s sudden quest to obtain Greenland. Though he has called climate change a “hoax,” part of the value Trump has described in the Danish autonomous territory’s location is a result of the environmental shifts. “It’s partly the melting of sea ice making it more attractive for the economic development that he’d pursue in Greenland,” said Sherri Goodman, a distinguished fellow at the Atlantic Council and the former deputy undersecretary of defense for environmental security. Trump has said he wants the territory because of its strategic location and untapped natural resources, including diamonds, lithium and copper. The president announced tariffs Saturday on countries that have sent troops to Greenland in recent days. Talks this week between the foreign ministers of Greenland and Denmark, and U.S. officials ended in “fundamental disagreement” according to Denmark’s top diplomat, Lars Lokke Rasmussen. The prospect of the United States using military force against the NATO ally, as Trump has floated, could end the decades-old defense pact. His bid for the territory is one of the most concrete examples of how climate change is influencing geopolitics. As the northernmost parts of our planet continue to warm, the effects could change the ways the international community operates. “The freeing of the Arctic from sea ice, at least seasonally, will create an entirely new theater for economic and security competition,” said Joseph Majkut, the director of the Energy Security and Climate Change Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. “And while we’ve known that is going to be the case for some time, it seems we’re at an inflection point.” Arctic sea ice typically peaks in March, as ice forms and spreads through the depth of winter, before beginning to melt to its lowest extent, usually in September. Over approximately the past five decades, changes in Arctic ice cover have revealed pathways for shipping and commerce, as parts of the region stay ice-free for longer. There’s the northern sea route along Russia’s coast, and the northwest passage along northern Canada. Analysts note icebreakers, or vessels with the capability to chomp through thinning ice, have begun passing through a “central route,” over the top of the Arctic. In October, a Chinese container ship used the northern sea route to shave about 20 days off its typical journey through the Suez Canal to Europe. If the region becomes ice-free in future summers, it could reshape global trade. That reality is mere decades away, though exact predictions depend on whom you ask and how quickly the planet warms.

New York Post [1/17/2026 5:44 PM, David Spector, 42219K] reports newly minted Venezuelan President Delcy Rodriguez has reportedly been in the DEA’s crosshairs for years — a "priority target" for playing a major role in the South American drug trade. Rodriguez was catapulted to power after deposed dictator Nicolas Maduro was captured in a daring US raid this month. Rodriguez met Thursday with CIA director John Ratcliffe in Caracas. The DEA’s file on Rodriguez accuses her of being involved in a swath of criminal activities from drug trafficking to gold smuggling. She appears in nearly a dozen DEA probes, conducted by agents around the globe — some of which remain ongoing. Documents show that the DEA’s elite Special Operations Division has been tracking the Venezuelan pol since at least 2018. She was classified as a "priority target" due to her "significant impact" on the drug trade in 2022, according to the Associated Press. The files allege Maduro’s vice president has been accused by an informant of using hotels in the Isla Margarita Resort in the Caribbean as a "front to launder money," according to the report. Rodriguez is also the subject of an ongoing investigation regarding government contracts awarded to Maduro’s alleged bagman Alex Saab. Saab was arrested in 2020 on money laundering charges and accused of funneling $350 million into the US. He was pardoned by President Biden in 2023 as part of a prisoner exchange. The agency has also investigated Rodriguez for possible government corruption involving her long-time boyfriend, Yussef Nassif, and his brother Omar Nassif-Sruji.

Reported similarly:
AP [1/17/2026 4:59 PM, Jim Mustian, Joshua Goodman and Eric Tucker, 31753K]

FOX News [1/17/2026 4:59 PM, Alexandra Koch Fox, 40621K] reports U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) announced on Saturday a leader affiliated with al Qaeda, who had direct ties to an ISIS terrorist responsible for killing two U.S. service members and an American interpreter on Dec. 13, was killed in a U.S. strike in northwest Syria on Friday. CENTCOM officials said Bilal Hasan al-Jasim was an experienced terrorist leader who plotted attacks and was "directly connected" with the ISIS gunman who killed and injured American and Syrian personnel last month in Palmyra, Syria. "The death of a terrorist operative linked to the deaths of three Americans demonstrates our resolve in pursuing terrorists who attack our forces," said CENTCOM commander Adm. Brad Cooper. "There is no safe place for those who conduct, plot, or inspire attacks on American citizens and our warfighters. We will find you." CENTCOM launched large-scale strikes in Syria in response to the Dec. 13 attack. Operation Hawkeye Strike resulted in U.S. and partner forces hitting more than 100 ISIS infrastructure and weapons site targets with over 200 precision munitions. More than 300 ISIS operatives were captured and more than 20 were killed across Syria within the past year, according to CENTCOM. U.S. Special Envoy for Syria Tom Barrack met with Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa, Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shaibani, and members of their team in Damascus on Jan. 10 to discuss recent developments in Aleppo and the broader path forward for Syria’s historic transition. In a statement on X, Barrack said President Donald Trump agreed to lift sanctions in order to "give Syria a chance" to move forward. Bloomberg [1/17/2026 4:37 PM, Tony Czuczka, 18207K] reports Bilal Hasan al-Jasim “plotted attacks and was directly connected with the ISIS gunman” who carried out the Dec. 13 attack, which killed two US service members and a civilian interpreter, according to Centcom. The strike in northwestern Syria on Friday “demonstrates our resolve in pursuing terrorists who attack our forces,” Centcom commander Admiral Brad Cooper said in the statement. US forces have been carrying out large-scale strikes in Syria in response to the Dec. 13 attack, hitting more than 100 ISIS infrastructure targets and weapons sites, Centcom said. US and partner forces have also captured more than 300 ISIS operatives and killed more than 20 across Syria over the past year. A day after the attack, President Donald Trump vowed to do “big damage” to the militants behind it. He emphasized the Islamic State link while praising Syria’s government, which the US has embraced as an ally after the fall of former President Bashar Al-Assad in December 2024.

Reported similarly:
Washington Examiner [1/17/2026 6:39 PM, Zach LaChance, 1394K]

Washington Post [1/17/2026 1:44 PM, Shira Rubin and Adela Suliman, 24149K] reports President Donald Trump named the first members of his “Board of Peace” executive committee to rebuild and revive the devastated Gaza Strip, but the office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the announcement “was not coordinated with Israel” and “runs contrary to its policy.” The initial members include Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff and former British prime minister Tony Blair, the White House said in a statement Friday. Also announced were the members of a secondary operational committee known as the Gaza Executive Board. The board will also include Kushner, Witkoff and Blair, but also Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan and Qatari diplomat Ali al-Thawadi — leaders from nations that Israeli leaders say will work to ensure Hamas’s survival. “Bringing Qatar and Turkey into the Gaza Strip is a reward to Hamas for the October 7th massacre and a danger to Israel’s security,” former Israeli prime minister Naftali Bennett said Saturday. “This government of chaos has abdicated Israel’s sovereignty.”

CBS News [1/17/2026 3:38 PM, Staff, 39474K] reports in a rare criticism of the U.S., its close ally, Israel’s government is objecting to the White House announcement of leaders who will play a role in overseeing the next steps in Gaza. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said in a statement Saturday, a day following the announcement, that the Gaza executive committee was "not coordinated with Israel and is contrary to its policy." Netanyahu has told the foreign minister to contact U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, the statement said. Minutes after the statement from Netanyahu’s office, Israel’s far-right National Security Minister, Itamar Ben-Gvir, in a statement backed the prime minister and urged him to order the military to prepare to return to war. The White House released the names of some of the leaders who will play a role in the committee. The list does not include any Israeli officials, but includes an Israeli businessman. Other members announced so far include Rubio, President Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner, U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff, former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, Ali Shaath, an engineer and former Palestinian Authority official from Gaza, Apollo Global Management CEO Marc Rowan, World Bank President Ajay Banga and Mr. Trump’s deputy national security adviser Robert Gabriel. The White House has said the executive committee will carry out the vision of a Trump-led "Board of Peace," whose members have not yet been named. The White House also announced the members of a new Palestinian committee to run Gaza’s day-to-day affairs, with oversight from the executive committee.

Reported similarly:
AP [1/17/2026 3:59 PM, Natalie Melzer, 31753K]

Washington Post [1/17/2026 3:44 PM, Warren P. Strobel, John Hudson, Isaac Arnsdorf, Susannah George, Mohamad El Chamaa, and Tara Copp, 24149K] reports it was late morning Wednesday and much of the Middle East and official Washington seemed certain President Donald Trump would launch punishing airstrikes against Iran, his second major use of American military power in as many weeks after the daring Delta Force raid into Venezuela to seize leader Nicolás Maduro and his wife. Trump had not officially given the strike order, but his top security advisers expected him to imminently authorize one of the military options presented to him and were girding themselves for a late night. The Pentagon advertised that a guided-missile destroyer, the USS Roosevelt, had entered the Persian Gulf. Allies had been alerted that a U.S. strike was likely, according to a person familiar with the matter, and ships and planes were on the move. Personnel at the sprawling al-Udeid U.S. air base in Qatar were advised to evacuate to avoid an expected Iranian counterstrike. “HELP IS ON ITS WAY,” Trump had promised Iranian protesters, encouraging them in a social media post Tuesday morning to “take over” regime institutions. While many U.S. and foreign officials took that to mean the United States would intervene militarily, Trump remained open to help in the form of pressuring Iran to stop killing demonstrators. The key moment came Wednesday, when Trump received word through envoy Steve Witkoff that Iran’s government canceled the planned executions of 800 people, according to a senior U.S. official. “We’re going to watch and see,” Trump then told reporters in the Oval Office. On Thursday, U.S. intelligence confirmed the executions didn’t happen, the official said. Trump’s rapid evolution midweek, which left many of his advisers feeling whiplashed and Iranian dissidents feeling abandoned, reflected intense domestic and foreign pressures, according to interviews with more than a dozen current and former U.S. and Middle Eastern officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe sensitive diplomatic conversations and ongoing military preparations.

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