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 [1/24/2026 5:50 AM, Nicholas McEntyre, 43962K] reports President Trump assured Americans that the government is prepared for the ‘catastrophic’ Winter Storm Fern as more than 9,000 flights have been canceled across the US. Over 235 million people under winter storm warnings have begun to hunker down as the devastating storm is projected to bring snow, ice and frigid temperatures to parts of 40 states stretching from Texas over to the Carolinas and up the East Coast. Trump urged residents in Fern’s path on Friday night to “stay safe and stay warm” and that the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) is ready to respond to the potentially historic storm. “I have been briefed on the Record Cold Wave and Historic Winter Storm that will be hitting much of the United States this weekend. The Trump Administration is coordinating with State and Local Officials. FEMA is fully prepared to respond. Stay Safe and Stay Warm! President DJT,” Trump wrote on Truth Social alongside an alert from the National Weather Service. The federal government put nearly 30 search and rescue teams on standby. Officials had more than 7 million meals, 600,000 blankets and 300 generators placed throughout the area the storm was expected to cross, according to FEMA. USA Today [1/23/2026 5:56 PM, Joey Garrison, 67103K] reports that the White House said its Office of Intergovernmental Affairs has communicated directly with officials from a dozen states expected to be affected by the storm to ensure pre-storm preparedness. Those states are Texas, Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, Tennessee, South Carolina, North Carolina, Virginia, Maryland and New Jersey. The White House also held a call with grid operators. Snowfall totals above 12 inches are likely across the Ohio Valley, Mid-Atlantic and Northeast, and will cause travel disruptions, according to the National Weather Service. Dangerous ice accumulation, through freezing rain and sleet, is expected in several states. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said she spoke with governors and emergency managers from states in the storm’s path. She said the Federal Emergency Management Agency and other federal agencies are closely monitoring conditions and coordinating with state officials. FEMA said it has pre-positioned supplies ‒ including meals, generators and shutter drivers ‒ to distribution centers in Camp Minden, Louisiana; Greencastle, Pennsylvania; Forth Worth, Texas; and Atlanta. More than 20 FEMA staff members are dispersed at state emergency operations centers, three incident management assistance teams have been deployed and 28 urban search and rescue teams are on standby, according to the agency. FEMA’s National Response Coordination Center and regional response centers are activated.

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FOX News [1/23/2026 2:49 PM, Greg Norman-Diamond and Preston Mizell, 40621K]

The Washington Post [1/23/2026 12:28 PM, Brianna Sacks, 24149K] reports the Department of Homeland Security has paused terminations of employees working on the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s disaster response as it ramps up preparations for a massive and life-threatening winter storm that will pummel half the country this weekend. Earlier this month, The Washington Post reported that the agency planned to terminate disaster response and recovery workers in waves. On New Year’s Eve, agency officials eliminated about 65 positions that were part of FEMA’s largest workforce, known as the Cadre of On-Call Response and Recovery (CORE) — staffers who are among the first on the ground after a disaster and often stick around for years to help communities recover. But on Thursday night, DHS’ head of human resources sent an email notifying teams that “just a few minutes ago,” FEMA headquarters decided the agency would halt their process of non-renewing dozens of federally funded employees. These roles, hired by FEMA for multiyear terms under the Stafford Act using the disaster relief fund, have been up for renewal on a rolling basis. Earlier that day, about 30 disaster workers received notices that their jobs would not be renewed. The pause then prompted human resources staff to backtrack, notifying those same workers that they still had jobs, according to the email and an official familiar with the process. Bloomberg [1/23/2026 1:58 PM, Zahra Hirji and Gregory Korte, 18207K] reports that the affected workers are part of FEMA’s Cadre of On-Call Response/Recovery Employees, or CORE — a temporary workforce hired on one- or multi-year contracts. The Trump administration has broadly targeted temporary and probationary workers as part of its effort to shrink the federal workforce, as well as encouraged veteran staffers to leave with incentive packages. The pause comes as a winter storm is expected to bring heavy snow, ice and extreme cold across a wide swath of the US. FEMA lost more than 3,700 employees — or about 14% of the agency — between January and November last year, according to newly released federal workforce data. FEMA said in a statement that it was following standard protocol and activating its national response center and said news of the staffing cuts being rescinded was “manufactured drama.” Congress has also weighed in. A Homeland Security appropriations bill passed by the House this week included nonbinding language urging FEMA to maintain sufficient staffing — including reservists and response cadres — to carry out its mission. While the measure has not cleared the Senate, administrations often treat such guidance as a signal of congressional intent. Senate Democrats sent a letter to Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem asking her to pause CORE terminations last week. NewsMax [1/23/2026 5:12 PM, Jim Thomas, 4109K] reports FEMA and partner agencies have been positioning supplies and response capabilities ahead of the storm. A FEMA memo obtained by Fox News Digital said 250,000 meals, 400,000 liters of water, and 30 generators had been prepositioned at Camp Minden in Louisiana, along with shuttle drivers to “rapidly move commodities as needed” from facilities in Pennsylvania, Texas, Louisiana, and Georgia. The same memo said 28 urban search and rescue teams were on standby, "ready to deploy and support lifesaving operations at the request of governors." "The time to prepare is now," Secretary Kristi Noem said in a statement released by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). "The agency urges people to pay attention to local officials and take any necessary actions to keep safe as severe winter weather moves across the nation." Governors across several states have already declared states of emergency due to the forecast. Weather and emergency officials across multiple states have issued warnings and declarations as the storm approaches.

CBS News [1/23/2026 6:36 PM, Caitlin Yilek, 39474K] reports the United States carried out another strike on an alleged drug-smuggling boat in the eastern Pacific Ocean on Friday, the first since the U.S captured former Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro. The strike — the 35th since Sept. 2, 2025 — killed two people and left one survivor, according to U.S. Southern Command. "Intelligence confirmed the vessel was transiting along known narco-trafficking routes in the Eastern Pacific and was engaged in narco-trafficking operations," Southern Command said. The military said the U.S. Coast Guard was notified to conduct a search-and-rescue mission for the survivor. The last strike was carried out on Dec. 31, just days before Maduro was captured and brought to the U.S. to face narco-terrorism charges. The Trump administration has accused Maduro of drug trafficking and working with gangs designated by the U.S. as terrorist organizations, which Maduro denies. Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, pleaded not guilty earlier this month to federal drug trafficking and weapons charges. The New York Post [1/24/2026 2:03 AM, Alexandra Koch, 42219K] reports US Southern Command (USSOUTHCOM) said intelligence confirmed the vessel was transiting along known narco-trafficking routes in the Eastern Pacific and was engaged in trafficking operations. USSOUTHCOM activated its search-and-rescue system to search for one suspected narco-terrorist, who officials said survived the strike. The Department of War last conducted a kinetic strike in the Eastern Pacific on Dec. 31, targeting three suspected narco-trafficking vessels traveling as a convoy. The three ships, allegedly operated by designated terrorist organizations, were traveling in international waters. Officials claimed those aboard transferred narcotics between the three vessels prior to the strikes. Three narco-terrorists were reportedly killed on the first vessel, while those on the other two ships jumped out before follow-on engagements sank the vessels. It is unclear how many survivors escaped. Despite extensive coordination with international rescue coordination centers, Department of War partners, and Automated Mutual-Assistance Vessel Rescue (AMVER) system vessels, the Coast Guard said available assets were "extremely limited due to distance and range constraints," prompting them to suspend the search Jan. 2. The AP [1/23/2026 6:35 PM, Staff, 31753K] reports that the U.S. military has focused lately on seizing sanctioned oil tankers with connections to Venezuela since the Trump administration launched an audacious raid to capture Maduro and bring him to New York to face drug trafficking charges. With the latest military action, there have been 36 known strikes against alleged drug smuggling boats in South American waters since early September that killed at least 117 people, according to announcements from the U.S. military and Trump. The majority of those of strikes have occurred in the Caribbean Sea.

Reported similarly:
New York Times [1/23/2026 8:07 PM, Ashley Ahn, 135475K]
The Hill [1/23/2026 6:54 PM, Filip Timotija, 12595K]
NBC News [1/23/2026 6:42 PM, Mosheh Gains and Dareh Gregorian, 34509K]

CBS News [1/23/2026 6:38 PM, Staff, 39474K] Video: HERE reports this week, seven House Democrats broke with leadership and voted to fund the Department of Homeland Security without ICE reforms. Political strategists Matt Gorman and Chuck Rocha join "The Takeout" to discuss.

FOX News [1/23/2026 12:28 PM, Alex Miller Fox, 40621K] Video: HERE reports Senate Democrats are beginning to peel off from their leadership, upping the ante for another government shutdown. Disputes over Department of Homeland Security (DHS) funding, fewer restrictions on President Donald Trump’s authority and a possible headache with a previous, controversial provision could set the stage for another government shutdown. Senate Republican and Democratic leaders don’t want to idly fall into another government shutdown, given that Congress just exited the longest closure in history a few short months ago. They have differing reasons, but for now, Republicans and Democrats agreed that the best option was to fund the government. While the powers that be may have a momentary truce, it’s rank-and-file members who could drive Washington, D.C. to the edge of another shutdown. Many of the issues lie within the DHS funding bill, which Democratic negotiators argued included several wins in their quest to rein in Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). That bill passed through the House Thursday, with tepid support from House Democrats. Only seven broke from their colleagues, a sign that Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and his leadership team will have their work cut out for them in the upcoming week. And now, they’ll have to wrangle Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., who on Friday announced in a statement that he would not back the broader package. Kaine wanted to see a much broader swath of constraints baked into the behemoth funding package, including safeguards against Trump’s war powers, the firing of federal workers, and DHS and ICE retribution against his home state. A source familiar told Fox News Digital that there were up to 10 Senate Democrats who might not vote for the package or any funding bills from Republicans in general. That complicates the math needed to reach 60 votes.

Then there is Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., who is a member of Schumer’s leadership team and the top Democrat on the Senate Homeland Security Appropriations subcommittee, who said he won’t support the DHS bill, arguing that it does not go far enough to restrict DHS Secretary Kristi Noem or Trump. [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

Breitbart [1/23/2026 3:30 PM, John Binder, 2416K] reports Fletcher Harris, a 20-year-old college soccer player, and his girlfriend, 19-year-old Skylar Provenza, would still be alive today if not for illegal immigration, Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Kristi Noem says. Juan Alvarado Aguilar, an illegal alien who is subject to an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detainer, has been arrested and charged in Rowan County with two counts of felony death by a vehicle and one count of drunk driving. Aguilar, according to police, was driving a truck when he crossed lanes and hit Harris, who was driving, and Provenza, who was sitting in the front passenger seat — killing them both at the scene of the crash. ICE has since lodged a detainer against Aguilar, seeking custody of him should he be released from Rowan County Jail at any time.

CBS Chicago [1/23/2026 3:59 PM, Todd Feurer, 39474K] reports a pair of government watchdogs have denied U.S. Sen. Tammy Duckworth’s request to conduct a joint investigation into federal agents’ tactics during immigration enforcement operations in the Chicago area. In October, Duckworth sent a letter to the inspectors general for the Department of Justice and Department of Homeland Security calling for a joint investigative task force into federal agents’ use of force amid Operation Midway Blitz, and to recommend any necessary corrective actions. On Wednesday, DHS inspector general Joseph Cuffari sent Duckworth a letter denying that request, saying he and his counterpart at the DOJ determined that their agencies could "conduct appropriate oversight without establishing a task force." Cuffari would not confirm or deny any ongoing investigations into ICE or Border Patrol agents’ use of force. Cuffari said his office or the DOJ inspector general would notify Duckworth if they open any investigations related to her concerns, and would share any relevant reports with her office.

New York Times [1/23/2026 9:45 PM, Ernesto Londoño, 135475K] reports the deployment of thousands of federal agents to Minnesota to round up undocumented immigrants has yielded no shortage of indelible images in recent weeks. There was the American citizen dragged out of his home in subzero weather in his underwear. And the detention of a 5-year-old boy wearing a Spider-Man backpack and a hat with floppy ears drew outrage from school officials. But photos of a Border Patrol agent squirting pepper spray in the face of a man who was being pinned down by fellow officers on Wednesday searingly captured why the ongoing immigration operation has been met with furious resistance on the streets of Minneapolis. Images of the episode drew millions of views online, made the front page of The Minnesota Star Tribune and elicited blistering condemnation from local officials. “No one looking at this image can seriously claim this is about public safety,” said Mayor Jacob Frey of Minneapolis. “It should alarm every American because if it can happen here, it can happen anywhere.” Gov. Tim Walz reposted the Star Tribune newspaper page on social media, along with a two-word comment: “Trump’s America.” Tricia McLaughlin, a spokeswoman for the Department of Homeland Security, did not respond to an email asking about the confrontation and whether the use of force depicted in photos and videos taken by bystanders that day had violated use of force policies. The identity and whereabouts of the man who was sprayed was unclear on Friday.

ABC News [1/23/2026 8:32 PM, Luke Barr and Nadine El-Bawab, 30493K] reports a top federal official has accused the father of a 5-year-old detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement of "abandoning his child," despite school officials saying the boy’s mother was home and begged for him. Marcos Charles, the top ICE official in Minneapolis, accused Adrian Alexander Conejo Arias of abandoning his son, Liam, when fleeing from federal authorities in Minneapolis earlier this week. "He and his child were in a vehicle. Arias fled from law enforcement on foot, abandoning his child in the middle of winter in a vehicle. One of our officers stayed behind with that child, while other officers apprehended his father," Charles said at a press conference Friday morning. "After conducting the arrest, my officers, they cared for him, took him to get something to eat from a drive through restaurant, and spent hours ensuring he was taken care of again my officers did that, not his father," Charles said. Charles’ account of the detention of the 5-year-old boy is drastically different than what the family’s attorney and schools officials said occurred. "My officers did everything they could to reunite him with his family. Tragically, when we approached the door of his residence, the people inside refused to take him in and open the door," Charles said. "My officers do the right thing, no matter how difficult or how long it takes throughout the day. ". Charles also said agents were not targeting the child. The family has a pending asylum case and no order of deportation, officials at Conejo Ramos’ school said in a statement. The family’s attorney, at a press conference Thursday, said the 5-year-old and his father "did everything right.” "Liam and his dad did enter the United States at a port of entry to seek asylum through the CBP One app," attorney Marc Prokosch said. "They used the app, they made an appointment. They came to the border and presented themselves to Customs and Border Protection. They were just trying to secure safety from persecution for their family from their home country.” The family’s attorney said Thursday that boy and his father are at the Dilley Immigration Processing Center, about an hour south of South Antonio, Texas. Greg Bovino, the Border Patrol’s commander at large for Minneapolis, told reporters that the agency’s members are "experts in dealing with children.” "Over those past four years, hundreds of thousands of children are trafficked across that border. Guess who they came into contact with? Sometimes, who was the very first law enforcement agency or American citizen that they saw? Us. Border Patrol, followed by our counterparts at immigration and customs enforcement," Bovino said.

New York Times [1/24/2026 12:40 AM, Elena Shao, Arijeta Lajka, Helmuth Rosales, and Raj Saha, 135475K] reports federal immigration agents have broken windows and dragged occupants out of their vehicles. They have forcefully tackled people to the ground. They have pushed and shoved protesters, and deployed pepper spray directly in their faces. For weeks, residents have documented the scenes unfolding as federal agents pursue President Trump’s immigration crackdown in Minnesota. The videos have circulated widely and intensified outrage and fear among many Minnesotans. Marty Kurcias, 76, who was protesting at the airport on Friday, said the aggressive treatment he has seen of Minnesotans was jarring. “It can’t go on like this,” he said, adding, “We don’t abide by cruelty or violence.” Trump administration officials have defended the tactics as necessary in the face of widespread protests. But the heavy-handed use of force has drawn mounting scrutiny. The New York Times reviewed dozens of videos taken in recent weeks and identified multiple aggressive tactics that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and other federal agents used during immigration arrests and in encounters with protesters. An internal memo, leaked by a whistle-blower group, showed that ICE officials had drafted guidance saying that their officers could enter homes without a judicial warrant and that they could rely instead on administrative warrants that are issued by a government agency and do not go through the federal court system. Tricia McLaughlin, a spokeswoman for the department, acknowledged that officers had relied on administrative warrants to enter homes to conduct arrests. John Sandweg, who served as an acting director of ICE under President Barack Obama, said the practice of entering homes without a judicial warrant would be a significant departure from decades-old ICE policies and procedures. [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

CBS News [1/23/2026 4:56 PM, Camilo Montoya-Galvez, 39474K] reports the 5-year-old immigrant boy taken into custody by Immigration and Customs Enforcement alongside his father in the Minneapolis area earlier this week has an active and pending case in immigration court and cannot be legally deported yet, according to government records reviewed by CBS News. The ICE operation that led Liam Adrian Conejo Ramos and his father to be taken into government custody, captured on videos and photos that have gone viral, has garnered national attention and raised questions about who exactly the Trump administration is targeting in its mass deportation campaign. Justice Department records reviewed by CBS News indicate Liam and his father, Adrian Alexander Conejo Ramos, have immigration court cases listed as "pending." The records by the Justice Department’s Executive Office for Immigration Review do not list any deportation orders in either case, indicating that an immigration judge still must consider Liam and his father’s claims before any deportation attempt. The information says the family’s immigration court case was docketed on Dec. 17, 2024. Liam and his father are now being held at the Dilley detention center in Texas, ICE’s long-term holding site for families with underage children, according to officials and the agency’s detainee tracking system. Representatives for Liam and his father say the family is from Ecuador and that they entered the U.S. in 2024 to request asylum. The family’s lawyer said they were able to get an appointment to enter the U.S. at an official crossing site along the southern border, with the government’s permission, through a Biden administration system that relied on a phone app called CBP One. Department of Homeland Security spokeswoman Tricia McLaughlin said Friday the agency has "no record" of the family using CBP One.

FOX News [1/23/2026 5:25 PM, Louis Casiano, Bill Melugin, 40621K] reports the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) on Friday released an image of the father of a preschooler who authorities said was abandoned by his father as he fled from federal law enforcement. Conejo Arias is an Ecuadorean citizen who was in the United States illegally and was released into the country by the Biden administration. DHS has no record of him or his family entering the U.S. via the Biden-era CBP One cell phone app as the family attorney had claimed. Fox was told by the agency that Conejo Arias a process known as VR, voluntary return, to leave the U.S. with no immigration consequences, but he declined. Democrats have claimed that Ramos was "kidnapped" as his father was being detained in Minneapolis. Columbia Heights school district superintendent Zena Stenvik said Ramos was "used as bait." DHS officials said officers were approaching Conejo Arias when he ran and left his son. On Friday, ICE officials said authorities were targeting the father, not the child. McLaughlin said officers tried to get Liam’s mother to take him, but she refused to accept custody. The boy and his father are being detained together at the Dilley Detention Center in Texas, which holds families. Rep. Jasmine Crockett, D-Texas., on Friday said she plans to visit the detention center next week to "conduct oversight and will demand answers on the whereabouts and wellbeing of Liam." The Wall Street Journal [1/23/2026 6:04 PM, Victoria Albert and Mariah Timms, 646K] reports that the Department of Homeland Security said ICE was conducting an operation to arrest Liam’s father, who the department said was in the country illegally, when the father fled and left Liam alone in a vehicle. Agency spokeswoman Tricia McLaughlin said an officer stayed with Liam while others apprehended his father. Officers made several attempts to get his mother, who was inside the house, to take custody of him, saying she wouldn’t be detained if she did so, McLaughlin said. “Our officers’ primary concern during the entire operation was the safety and welfare of the child,” she said. Mary Granlund, board chair for Liam’s school district, said she saw people begging ICE agents on the scene not to take the child and offering to care for him. Granlund told reporters this week that the child’s mother appeared to be inside the home, but that his father urged her not to open the door. CNN [1/23/2026 3:03 PM, Holly Yan, 18595K] reports that what exactly led Immigration and Customs Enforcement to take Liam and his dad away from their suburban Minneapolis driveway remains in dispute. But the boy’s plight – and his uncertain future – sparked renewed outrage: Liam is now the fourth child from his school district to be taken away by ICE in just the past two weeks, Columbia Heights Public Schools said. CBS News [1/22/2026 10:57 PM, Staff, 39474K] reports that, as community outrage grew, Department of Homeland Security spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin claimed that "ICE did NOT target a child," and said he was instead abandoned by his father. They say his father fled federal agents as they approached his vehicle, leaving the child. DHS officials allege that the father, whom they described as an illegal immigrant from Ecuador, was taken into custody as other ICE officers stayed with the child. "For the child’s safety, one of our ICE officers remained with the child while the other officers apprehended (the father)," DHS officials said. School officials say a nearby adult on the scene offered to take the child, but ICE agents did not allow that. Later Thursday, McLaughlin went further, calling the framing of the incident as ICE using the child as "bait," claims made earlier by the child’s school district, were "a horrific smear.” "Our officer’s made multiple attempts to get the alleged mother who was inside the house to take custody of her child. Officers even assured her she would NOT be taken her into custody. The alleged mother refused to accept custody of the child. The father told officers he wanted the child to remain with him," McLaughlin said. "Parents are asked if they want to be removed with their children, or ICE will place the children with a safe person the parent designates. This is consistent with past administration’s immigration enforcement.”

Reported similarly:
(B) NBC News Daily [1/23/2026 1:34 PM, Staff]

NewsMax [1/23/2026 11:01 AM, Nicole Weatherholtz, 4109K] reports Department of Homeland Security Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs Tricia McLaughlin pushed back on reports that Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents arrested a 5-year-old boy in Minnesota, calling the story a media fabrication. "The facts don’t show it at all," McLaughlin said during a Friday morning appearance on Newsmax’s "Wake Up America." "This is a horrific smear that we’re seeing the mainstream media and politicians on the left, including [former Vice President] Kamala Harris, take and run with." McLaughlin said the "facts are actually that this little boy was abandoned by his own father" during an attempted detention. "His own father was being approached by ICE agents when he darted, ran, and abandoned the child," she said. Federal agents stayed with the child in "frigid temperatures," McLaughlin said, and tried to place him with his mother, "who actually would not take the child into custody." "Our law enforcement officers actually were taking care of the child, brought him to McDonald’s, were playing his favorite music to really calm him down," she said. "There’s major riots forming around our law enforcement officers – that is horrendous that the child is having to face this." She said the child is now "reunited with his father in a federal processing facility," and she urged the public to focus on the facts rather than the media narrative.

FOX News [1/23/2026 10:06 AM, Staff, 40621K] reports that Acting ICE Director Todd Lyons said the left has the facts ‘totally wrong’ after a 5-year-old was detained with his father, who was the target. [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

Blaze [1/23/2026 5:15 PM, Joseph MacKinnon, 1442K] reports an image was circulated widely this week showing a visibly upset preschooler wearing an oversized hat and Spider-man backpack standing in the company of federal immigration agents. Evidently loath to investigate the circumstances surrounding the photo and what it actually depicts, Democrats and other radicals rushed to condemn U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. During his visit to Minneapolis on Thursday, Vice President JD Vance gave the press a reality check, noting that anti-ICE propagandists glossed over some critical information about the incident. The Department of Homeland Security indicated that when ICE attempted to arrest the boy’s father, Adrian Alexander Conejo Arias, in the Minneapolis suburb of Columbia Heights on Jan. 20, the illegal alien from Ecuador "fled on foot — abandoning his child." Marcos Charles, the assistant director of enforcement and removal operations for ICE, indicated on Friday that after the illegal alien ditched his little boy and was arrested, ICE officers "stayed with the child. They cared for him, took him to get something to eat from a drive-thru restaurant, and spent hours ensuring he was taken care of. Again my officers did that. Not his father." Charles noted further that people inside the illegal alien’s apparent residence refused to open the door for the young boy and take him back. According to DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin, the boy’s alleged mother was inside the house and would not let him in even after officers assured her that she wouldn’t be taken into custody. Marc Prokosch, a lawyer representing the family, indicated during a press conference on Thursday that the boy and his father were reunited and are being kept together at the Dilley Immigration Processing Center, a family holding center in Dilley, Texas.

Washington Examiner [1/23/2026 11:54 AM, Christian Datoc, 1394K] reports Vice President JD Vance sat for a half-hour interview with the Washington Examiner, during which he spoke about Immigration and Customs Enforcement operations in Minneapolis, President Donald Trump’s designs for Greenland, “realistic” expectations for the anti-abortion movement, and more. The interview took place on Thursday aboard Air Force Two, sandwiched between Vance’s affordability-focused stop in Toledo, Ohio, and his meeting with immigration officers and community members in Minneapolis. Three aides to the vice president sat in on the conversation, and, at one point, an Air Force attendant briefly interrupted the interview to deliver Vance a coffee. [Editorial note: consult audio at source link]

AP [1/24/2026 8:36 PM, Steve Karnowski, 2416K] reports the detention of a 5-year-old Ecuadorian boy with his father outside their home in Minnesota has become the latest lightning rod for America’s divisions on immigration under the Trump administration. Versions offered by government officials and the family’s attorney and neighbors offer contradictory versions of whether the parents were given adequate opportunity to leave the child with someone else. Neighbors and school officials say that federal immigration officers used the preschooler as “bait” by telling him to knock on the door to his house so that his mother would answer. The Department of Homeland Security calls that description of events an “abject lie.” It says the father, Adrian Alexander Conejo Arias, fled on foot and left the boy, Liam Conejo Ramos, in a running vehicle in their driveway. The dueling narratives come just two weeks after the deadly shooting of Renee Good in Minneapolis by a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer that witnesses also viewed as a blatant abuse of power — and that the government defended as a legitimate act of self-defense. The father and son are now at family detention facility in Dilley, Texas, near San Antonio. Federal officials say the father was in the U.S. illegally, without offering details. Stephen Miller, the White House deputy chief of staff, said he came illegally in December 2024. The family’s attorney said he had a pending asylum claim allowing him to stay in the country. Both can be true. The government may have tried deporting him after determining he entered illegally but he may have exercised a legal right to seek asylum, putting his removal on hold until a judge rules on his claim. An online court summary shows the case was filed on Dec. 17, 2024, and is assigned to the immigration court inside the Dilley detention center. Columbia Heights Public Schools Superintendent Zena Stenvik told reporters that the officers instructed the boy to knock on the door to his home to see if other people were inside, “essentially using a 5-year-old as bait,” she said. The father told the child’s mother, who was inside, not to open the door, Stenvik said. School officials said the agents wouldn’t leave Liam with other adults. A photo of the boy wearing a beanie and a Spiderman backpack has circulated widely on social media, sparking strong reactions. “Why detain a 5-year-old?” the superintendent asked. “You cannot tell me that this child is going to be classified as a violent criminal.” School officials said other adults at the scene offered to care for the boy but were ignored by agents, including a neighbor who said they had papers authorizing her to take care of Liam on behalf of the parents. Mary Granlund, school board chair for Columbia Heights, said she told agents that she also could take care of him.

NewsMax [1/23/2026 8:33 PM, Staff, 4109K] reports Sen. Markwayne Mullin, R-Okla., told Newsmax on Friday that factless media coverage of an abandoned 5-year-old boy in Minnesota has fueled public unrest and dangerous misinformation about immigration enforcement. He warned that irresponsible reporting is having real-world consequences. "The media is stirring this discontent across the country, and they’re getting people killed because of their false reporting," he said on "Rob Schmitt Tonight." Some media outlets and Democrats portrayed the image as Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents detaining or arresting the child, sparking protests and political backlash. Mullin said that portrayal was false and omitted crucial facts provided by federal officials. "This story that they’re blowing up about this 5-year-old kid is so false and so untrue," he said. "They’re not even reporting the facts.” According to the Department of Homeland Security, ICE agents arrived at the preschool to detain the child’s father, an Ecuadorian national living in the U.S. illegally. DHS said the father fled, leaving the boy behind. Agents remained with the child to ensure his safety and later worked to reunite him with his parents. DHS has said the father and child are now being held together at a detention center in Texas. Mullin said he personally discussed the case with Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, who he said shared details that were ignored by news outlets even after being provided to them. "She actually sent them the facts, and they still didn’t report it," Mullin said. Mullin said agents offered to release the child to his mother without arresting or deporting her, but she did not come to retrieve him. Agents then asked the father how he wanted to proceed. "He said, bring it with me. I want to keep him," Mullin said. "And so, they’re actually flying them both back to where they [came from].”

New York Times [1/23/2026 5:18 PM, Shaila Dewan and Miriam Jordan, 135475K] reports top Homeland Security officials said on Friday that a 5-year-old whose detention near Minneapolis provoked outrage was being “well cared for” as he remained in a Texas detention center with his father. “That child is in the least restrictive setting possible,” Gregory Bovino, the official in charge of President Trump’s Border Patrol operations, said at a news conference outside Minneapolis. Advocates for immigrants say that Homeland Security agents have previously mistreated children whom they have detained. But Bovino and others defended their actions after a photo of the prekindergarten pupil, Liam Conejo Ramos, who was wearing a winter hat with floppy ears and a Spider-Man backpack, became a magnet for fury at the government’s drive to detain immigrants in the Twin Cities. The child and his father are now in a detention center in Dilley, Texas. Mr. Bovino said Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers and Border Patrol agents were probably more experienced at handling young people than “any domestic law enforcement agency.” The detention of Liam on Tuesday provoked a storm of public criticism. The child’s school district and the federal government have given conflicting accounts.

NBC News [1/23/2026 6:33 PM, Staff, 34509K] reports Bovino comments on ICE detainment of 5-year-old. [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

FOX News [1/23/2026 9:07 PM, Staff, 40621K] reports Chief Border Patrol agent Greg Bovino gives an update on the father-son duo at the heart of Minnesota’s anti-I.C.E. protests and more on ‘Jesse Watters Primetime.’ [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

CNN [1/23/2026 3:32 PM, Alayna Treene, Priscilla Alvarez, Kristen Holmes, 18595K] reports the ongoing protests and images coming out of Minnesota have prompted concerns from some Trump administration officials over the optics of the immigration crackdown as Americans grow alarmed by the chaotic scenes unfolding in the state. President Donald Trump has expressed frustration behind closed doors that the immigration messaging is getting lost, sources familiar with the discussions told CNN. Trump has sought to take control of the narrative, starting with an impromptu press conference on the anniversary of his first year in office. The president, at times sounding exasperated, thumbed through mugshots of individuals arrested in his immigration crackdown, highlighting their alleged crimes. His message was clear that while there might be some issues, ICE is necessary to follow through on his agenda — to deport the most dangerous criminals back to their home country. Trump’s advisers have privately discussed the perils of the protests in Minneapolis in recent days, following the fatal shooting of Renee Good by an ICE agent earlier this month, with many acknowledging that the fallout in the city must be contained, the sources said. As a result, top White House officials have been plotting how to move the narrative away from the unrest in Minneapolis and instead focus on what they view as ICE’s achievements. Some administration officials believe there is too much focus on the tensions between ICE agents — and therefore the administration — and protesters, and have discussed how to extricate themselves from that narrative, multiple officials tell CNN.

NewsNation [1/23/2026 5:28 PM, Jeff Arnold, 8017K] reports the narrative surrounding the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement operations in cities such as Minneapolis falls largely along political lines, despite a growing number of Americans expressing displeasure with the tactics being used by federal agents and officers. More than 3,300 arrests have been made by Immigration and Customs and Enforcement officers and Border Patrol agents in Minneapolis over the past six weeks. Despite that, federal immigration officials continue to defend the tactics of federal agents and officers, who have clashed with protesters and elected officials since mid-2025 in cities such as Los Angeles, Chicago, Charlotte and now Minneapolis. U.S. Border Patrol Commander Gregory Bovino said Friday that agents remain unabated by opposition from demonstrators and elected officials. Protests have intensified in Minneapolis since Good’s death, while the Department of Justice has targeted Minnesota’s governor, Minneapolis’ mayor and other lawmakers, alleging they have obstructed the work of federal agents.

The New York Times [1/23/2026 6:02 PM, Alan Feuer and Glenn Thrush, 135475K] reports an F.B.I. agent who sought to investigate the federal immigration officer who fatally shot a 37-year-old woman in Minneapolis this month has resigned from the bureau, according to two people familiar with the matter. The agent, Tracee Mergen, left her job as a supervisor in the F.B.I.’s Minneapolis field office after bureau leadership in Washington pressured her to discontinue a civil rights inquiry into the immigration officer, Jonathan Ross, according to one of the people. Ms. Mergen’s resignation was only the latest shock wave to have emerged from the Justice Department’s handling of the shooting of Renee Good, an unarmed mother who was killed on Jan. 7 as she was behind the wheel of her Honda Pilot. Instead of allowing Ms. Mergen to work with the U.S. attorney’s office in Minneapolis to investigate Mr. Ross, the Justice Department has decided to investigate Ms. Good and her partner, Becca Good, scrutinizing their possible ties to left-wing protest groups in Minneapolis. That decision prompted at least six senior prosecutors in the office to resign in protest. CBS News [1/23/2026 7:31 PM, Sarah N. Lynch, Daniel Klaidman, Scott MacFarlane, 39474K] reports Mergen left the FBI "in part due to the pressure on her to reclassify/discontinue the (Good) investigation," a source with knowledge of her departure told CBS News. Another FBI source said Mergen "would not bow to pressure" from leadership. Her squad, which also handles civil rights cases, was involved in both the Good investigation and the ongoing probes into public benefits fraud in Minnesota. FBI spokesman Ben Williamson told CBS News the FBI does not comment on personnel matters. He said in a statement regarding the bureau’s probe of the Good shooting, "The facts on the ground do not support a civil rights investigation. FBI continues to investigate the incident as well as the violent criminal actors and those perpetrating illegal activity." According to a source with direct knowledge of the matter, the FBI’s public corruption squad is also under pressure from Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche’s office to investigate campaign finance contributions in connection with Feeding Our Future, the Minnesota nonprofit at the center of what prosecutors have said is the nation’s largest COVID-era fraud scheme. FBI officials told Blanche’s office it has reviewed campaign contributions but has not uncovered any evidence linking the benefits fraud to illicit campaign contributions, the source added. [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

Reported similarly:
NBC News [1/23/2026 11:24 PM, Kelly O’Donnell, Ryan J. Reilly and Marlene Lenthang, 34509K]
NewsMax [1/23/2026 10:32 PM, Staff, 4109K]
Washington Examiner [1/23/2026 11:49 PM, Molly Parks, 1394K]

Breitbart [1/23/2026 1:51 PM, Bradley Jaye, 2416K] reports that FBI Director Kash Patel has purged his department of agents linked to the Biden administration’s efforts to jail the Democrat former president’s electoral foe, Donald Trump. Patel forced out field office leaders and other senior agents connected to the two criminal investigations of Trump, including the special agent in charge in Atlanta, the acting assistant director in charge of the New York field office, and the former special agent in charge in New Orleans who had recently moved on to another job, MS Now reported and two senior administration officials confirmed to Breitbart News. As many as six agents in Miami were forced out over their connection to the FBI’s raid of Mar-a-Lago, conducted by over 30 agents accompanied by CNN cameras. "These are dark times for our Nation, as my beautiful home, Mar- A-Lago in Palm Beach, Florida, is currently under siege, raided, and occupied by a large group of FBI agents," Trump said at the time. "Nothing like this has ever happened to a President of the United States before." The agents also searched Melania Trump’s Mar-a-Lago wardrobe, leading to widespread condemnation of the agents for searching through the former supermodel’s panty drawer. FBI emails declassified in December 2025 revealed that officials had expressed concern about a lack of probable cause for the 2022 search of Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate, but the operation proceeded in spite of that after officials in Biden’s Justice Department provided legal cover. Other agents fired were involved in the widespread "Arctic Frost" investigation of Trump.

CNN [1/24/2026 5:14 AM, Elizabeth Wolfe, 18595K] reports waves of Minneapolis residents filled frigid city blocks and packed the Timberwolves NBA arena Friday to demand ICE leave their neighborhoods, even as the immigration official orchestrating the crackdown promised detentions would not let up. Protests touched virtually every corner of the city Friday. Storm-weathered Minnesotans endured subzero temperatures at a downtown march, airport protest, arena rally and saw an "economic blackout" in which businesses closed their doors to boycott ICE’s presence. But Border Patrol Commander-at-Large Gregory Bovino doubled down on the unrelenting detention effort, which has at times swept up legal residents, US citizens and even a preschooler. He vowed earlier Friday to continue the government’s search for "criminal aliens.” "We’re going to take them off the streets wholesale," Bovino said at a news conference. "It’s on. We won’t quit.” Children and families are among those caught up in the mass deportation campaign. A 5-year-old boy was detained alongside his father in their driveway earlier this week, adding to the mounting list of controversial encounters over which federal and state officials are clashing. FBI agent investigating fatal ICE shooting resigns: The FBI agent who was assigned to work with state investigators to look into the fatal ICE shooting of Renee Good has resigned from the bureau, two sources familiar with the matter told CNN. Soon after the agent opened a civil rights investigation into the officer, she was ordered to reclassify it as an investigation into an assault on the officer. It comes amid a much larger purge of seasoned FBI agents across several states, multiple sources familiar with the departures told CNN. 5-year-old remains in custody: There are dramatically conflicting accounts over what led up to the detention of preschooler Liam Conejo Ramos alongside his father. Amid concern for the boy’s welfare, Bovino, the Border Patrol official, said Friday his agents are "experts in dealing with children." The child and his parent have been sent to a family detention facility in Texas. Liam is now the fourth child from his school district to be taken away by ICE in just the past two weeks, Columbia Heights Public Schools said. Feud over state detainees: DHS spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin declined to say how long federal operations would last in Minnesota but said the situation there could be "quelled" if Gov. Tim Walz and Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey agreed to hand over people in the state’s correctional facilities who are wanted by ICE. But officials disagree over how many people in state custody are under ICE detainers. McLaughlin said there are over 1,000, while a state corrections chief says there are only a few hundred.

Wall Street Journal [1/23/2026 7:37 PM, Mariah Timms and Jack Morphet, 646K] reports thousands took to the streets in subzero temperatures Friday afternoon to protest the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown in Minnesota. Demonstrators wore snow boots and ski goggles, passed around handwarmers and carried signs taped to hockey sticks. Protesters’s eyelashes and beards froze while they chanted “ICE out” and “Minnesota nice, but F— ICE” during a two-hour march through downtown Minneapolis. The march was part of a day of events that encouraged Minnesotans to boycott school, work and shopping in protest of the surge of Immigration and Customs Enforcement in the Twin Cities. ICE agents have been deployed en masse in Minnesota, in what the Department of Homeland Security has described as the largest operation in its history. The enforcement efforts followed a welfare-fraud scandal that put the state’s Somali community into the national spotlight. Vice President JD Vance visited Minneapolis on Thursday to urge local officials in the left-leaning city to cooperate with federal authorities to quell what he called “chaos.” The administration has blamed state and local officials for some of the tension. White House officials have denigrated the state’s existing policies and laws that limit cooperation with civil immigration enforcement, including refusing to house ICE detainees in local jails in many situations. During demonstrations in Minneapolis on Friday, roughly 100 clergy members were arrested at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport. Mostly Christian clergy and faith leaders rallied at the airport, where they claimed planes were flying detained migrants out of the state as part of ICE’s “Operation Metro Surge,” according to Justin Lind-Ayres, a Lutheran pastor in Minneapolis. The MSP Airport Police Department confirmed officers made arrests, but didn’t immediately confirm how many. Homeland Security has defended its tactics and maintained it needs to detain immigrants living in the U.S. illegally. Mass immigration enforcement was a key promise of President Trump’s campaign coming into his second term, and officials have expanded the role of agencies like U.S. Customs and Border Protection into the interior to assist with it.

Breitbart [1/23/2026 12:43 PM, Staff, 2416K] reports people are calling out of work, businesses are shutting down and people are avoiding spending money in Minnesota Friday as a protest of the federal agents surge in their state. The general strike day is called ICE Out of Minnesota: Day of Truth and Freedom, and the organizers have called for people to boycott work, school and shopping. The strike calls for an immediate end to Immigrations and Customs Enforcement agents in the state and charges for the ICE agent who shot and killed Renee Nicole Good. It also demands no more funding for ICE in the next federal budget. "It’s tense and emotional, and folks are hurting," Bishop Dwayne Royster, executive director of Faith in Action, told The New York Times. He said Minnesotans are showing their "deep resilience and willingness to stand together in ways I haven’t seen folks do in a very long time.” The day of the protest will be difficult for those braving the weather, as Minnesota is under an extreme cold warning Friday. Temperatures in the Twin Cities are expected to drop to minus 20 degrees, with wind chills of minus 41 degrees. A march is scheduled for 2 p.m. CST in Minneapolis, and prayer vigils are planned all over the state. The city has been under tension for weeks since the agents arrived. Good was killed by ICE agent Jonathan Ross on Jan. 7. Federal prosecutors recently subpoenaed Gov. Tim Walz, Mayor Jacob Frey and other Democratic elected officials. A Nicaraguan detainee died in ICE custody of an apparent suicide. On Thursday, a 5-year-old boy was detained with his father, and three other children were taken. Three activists were arrested after a protest during a church service. Vice President JD Vance visited the city Thursday to "restore law and order" in the city, and he blamed local officials for the "chaotic" ICE enforcement. The cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul and the state of Minnesota have filed a federal lawsuit to stop the federal action in their cities and state. In an email on Thursday, a Department of Homeland Security official told The Times that the strike was "beyond insane." He asked, "Why would these labor bosses not want these public safety threats out of their communities?". Homeland Security Secretary Kristi L. Noem said on X Monday that the agency had arrested more than 10,000 undocumented immigrants in Minneapolis. She provided no evidence of that number.

Reported similarly:
USA Today [1/23/2026 10:15 PM, Christopher Cann, 67103K]

New York Post [1/24/2026 12:36 AM, Alexandra Koch, 42219K] reports anti-ICE agitators, including activists and clergy, swarmed outside the entrance of the Target Center in downtown Minneapolis Friday, rallying to halt federal immigration enforcement in the blue city after the "ICE Out of MN: Day of Truth and Freedom" march. Thousands of people marched Friday from The Commons in downtown Minneapolis to the arena. Tensions flared in the city after the fatal shooting of Renee Nicole Good by an ICE agent Jan. 7, and organizers called for no work, no school and no shopping Friday. People taking part in the march picketed with signs that said, "Silence is more dangerous than frostbite," "This was a terrible idea, Napoleon Bovino" and "Justice for Renee Good.” Others, in the frigid 20-below-zero temperatures, chanted, "Stand up, fight back," "What do we want? ICE out! When do we want it? Now!" and "The people united will never be defeated.” Nearby skywalks were packed with onlookers waving at the marchers. Once inside the arena, footage captured a less impressive group of demonstrators coordinating the wave with signs and sitting in stadium seats, seemingly warming up from the bitter conditions outside. While the demonstration appeared peaceful, reporters on site noted a security checkpoint was set up in front of the arena with a metal detector. Elizabeth Shaffer, who represents Ward 7 on the Minneapolis City Council, took to social media to applaud the turnout. "Thousands showed up today to peacefully march in downtown Minneapolis and rally at the Target Center to demand: ICE out of Minnesota now!" Shaffer wrote in an X post. She shared a photo from inside the arena, which appeared to show mostly empty seats behind a Jumbotron that said "ICE OUT OF MINNESOTA.”

NewsMax [1/23/2026 6:26 PM, Staff, 4109K] reports police arrested about 100 clergy demonstrating against immigration enforcement at Minnesota’s largest airport Friday, organizers estimated, as thousands gathered, despite Arctic temperatures, in downtown Minneapolis to protest the Trump administration’s crackdown. Friday’s protests are part of a broader movement against President Donald Trump’s increased immigration enforcement across the state, with labor unions, progressive organizations and clergy urging Minnesotans to stay away from work, school and even shops in Minneapolis and St. Paul. "Roughly 100 clergy" were arrested, according to Trevor Cochlin of Faith in Minnesota, a progressive advocacy group and one of the organizers the protest at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport. They were protesting the deportation of immigrants from the facility. Authorities have not said how many people were detained at the airport. Metropolitan Airports Commission spokesman Jeff Lea said the protesters were arrested outside the main terminal because they went beyond the reach of their permit for demonstrating and disrupted airline operations. The Rev. Elizabeth Barish Browne traveled from Cheyenne, Wyoming, to participate in the rally in downtown Minneapolis. "What’s happening here is clearly immoral," the Unitarian Universalist minister said. "It’s definitely chilly, but the kind of ice that’s dangerous to us is not the weather.” Protesters have gathered daily in the Twin Cities since Jan. 7, when Renee Good was fatally shot by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer. Federal law enforcement officers have repeatedly squared off with community members and activists who track their movements. A 2-year-old named Chloe was detained with her father as they drove home from a grocery store in South Minneapolis on Thursday, according to a GoFundMe page created by Minneapolis city council member Jason Chavez. Department of Homeland Security said in a statement that Border Patrol arrested Elvis Tipan Echeverria of Ecuador and that the toddler’s mother refused to take her so she was reunited with her father at a federal detention facility. DHS repeated its allegation Friday that the father of 5-year-old Liam Ramos abandoned him during his arrest by immigration officers in Columbia Heights on Tuesday, leading to the child being detained, too. Department spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin said Liam was detained because his father, Adrian Alexander Conejo Arias, "fled from the scene." The two are detained together at the Dilley Detention Center in Texas, which is intended to hold families. McLaughlin said officers tried to get Liam’s mother to take him, but she refused to accept custody.

CBS News [1/23/2026 9:55 PM, Staff, 39474K] Video: HERE reports new video from Minneapolis shows crowds braving arctic temperatures to protest ongoing immigration enforcement operations in the city. The Associated Press reports about 100 people were arrested Friday at Minnesota’s largest airport as part of the demonstrations.

Reuters [1/24/2026 6:04 AM, Bianca Flowers, 36480K] reports when immigration agents began aggressive operations in Minneapolis last month, Kowsar Mohamed started knocking on doors, fielding late-night calls and mobilizing other Somali Americans into an ad-hoc response team. Many feared they were being singled out, a worry that revived memories of the state surveillance and arbitrary authority they thought they had left behind when they resettled in the United States. More than 100 volunteers now patrol south Minneapolis, distribute "Know Your Rights" guides and escort frightened elders — part of a sweeping grassroots effort to counter what many describe as constitutionally suspect raids that are destabilizing Minnesota’s roughly 80,000‑strong Somali community, one of the country’s largest refugee populations. "You would never fathom that people would just pluck you off the streets ... and say, ‘Prove to me that you’re a citizen,’" Mohamed said, referring to reports of aggressive tactics by the agents. "It’s not that we never thought it was impossible. We just believed the Constitution was going to protect us from this level of interrogation." "You would never fathom that people would just pluck you off the streets ... and say, ‘Prove to me that you’re a citizen,’" Mohamed said, referring to reports of aggressive tactics by the agents. "It’s not that we never thought it was impossible. We just believed the Constitution was going to protect us from this level of interrogation."

CNN [1/23/2026 9:21 AM, Staff, 18595K] reports Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey tells CNN’s Sara Sidner, "we are being targeted for doing one of the most basic things we are required to perform as public servants," after Vice President JD Vance blamed the federal presence in the city on local officials. [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

Breitbart [1/23/2026 11:56 AM, Lowell Cauffiel, 2416K] reports President Donald Trump this week called for a criminal investigation into Rep. Ilhan Omar, (D- MN), questioning how the lawmaker’s wealth could balloon to more than $30 million while serving in public office. "There is no way such wealth could have been accumulated, legally, while being paid the salary of a politician," Trump wrote on Truth Social Thursday. "She should be investigated for Financial and Political Crimes, and that investigation should start, NOW!". Omar, who is Somalia-born, represents Minnesota’s 5th Congressional District and is already the subject of a House Oversight Committee investigation into her and husband Tim Mynett’s finances. Republican lawmakers want to know how the couple’s wealth increased so dramatically since Omar, a member of a left-wing group of lawmakers known as "the Squad," arrived in Congress in 2019. The Washington Free Beacon, one of the first to report the explosion in Omar and her husband’s wealth, wrote that Mynett’s companies were essentially running on fumes only a couple years ago. According to the Beacon, a winery Mynett was invested in had just $650 in its bank account in February of 2024. Mynett’s other venture, Rose Lake Capital, was worth no more than $1,000 to Mynett at the end of 2023, and had just $42.44 in its bank accounts in February 2024, according to court documents reported by the outlet.

Daily Signal [1/23/2026 12:37 PM, Virginia Grace McKinnon, 549K] reports while some Democrats are downplaying the fraud recently exposed in Minnesota, one Democrat Minnesota congresswoman seems to be concerned. Rep. Angie Craig, D-Minn., recently reintroduced a piece of legislation she says will "crack down on fraud in federal programs." The Stop Fraud in Federal Programs Act seeks to increase penalties for federal fraudsters and require third-party audits for one specific U.S. Department of Agriculture-managed program. "Today I reintroduced my bill to crack down on fraud in federal programs and hold perpetrators accountable," Craig said in an X post this week. The first piece of the bill will raise the maximum prison sentence from 10 to 20 years and require the convicted person to pay $250,000, or twice the value of the stolen property, whichever is more. "We’ve got to restore trust in our government and ensure fraud schemes like Feeding Our Future never happen again," Craig said in a statement. "That starts with prosecuting criminals to the fullest extent of the law, and my bill that I’ve been working on since 2023 will help us do that.” The Trump administration is calling Feeding Our Future the largest COVID-19-era fraud scheme charged in the country. The million-dollar nonprofit was supposed to be giving free meals to children as a sponsor of the USDA’s Summer Food Service Program. Attorney General Pam Bondi says this scheme cost the U.S. $300 million to $400 million. Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins announced in early January that the USDA has paused all federal funding, equaling almost $130 million, to Minnesota until the state can provide payment justifications for all grants since January 2025 within 30 days. The congresswoman has been active in the media, calling for Immigration and Customs Enforcement to leave the state. The same week she introduced the Stop Fraud in Federal Programs Act, she also introduced articles of impeachment against Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem.

New York Post [1/23/2026 10:26 AM, Zain Khan, 42219K] reports Vice President JD Vance revealed that about $7 billion worth of fraud has been discovered in California. "I think we have a fraud problem that is much worse than California than it is in Minnesota," Vance said in an interview Thursday, noting the head of US Small Business Administration gave him the shocking news. "This is unfortunately a problem that is much bigger than Minnesota." The vice president also said efforts to block immigration enforcement were a uniquely blue-state phenomenon, adding that some Democratic-led states are engaged in a "small-scale civil war" with the federal government over immigration. "You look at red states like Texas, but blue cities like Austin. You do not see this level of chaos over the enforcement of immigration laws," he said. His remarks come as governors like California’s Gov. Gavin Newsom have stepped up their opposition ICE activity.

FOX News [1/23/2026 2:26 PM, Greg Norman-Diamond, 40621K] reports that a top U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) official on Friday rejected the "false narrative" surrounding an incident involving a 5-year-old boy in Minnesota, while also asserting that an anti-ICE mob that recently stormed a church was not peaceful. A photo of a young child standing next to a black vehicle has gone viral this week following an enforcement operation in the Minneapolis area. ICE and the Department of Homeland Security said Thursday that the child was "abandoned" by his father, not targeted by federal immigration agents. "It’s a shame to see politicians and activists spreading fear in their own communities by creating a false narrative about what we do and who we are and who we arrest," ICE Executive Assistant Director of Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) Marcos Charles said Friday. "One of our officers stayed behind with that child while other officers apprehended his father. After conducting the arrest, my officers stayed with the child. They cared for him. Took him to get something to eat from a drive-through restaurant and spent hours ensuring he was taken care of. Again, my officers did that, not his father," Charles added. "My officers did everything they could to reunite him with his family. Tragically, when we approached the door of his residence, the people inside refused to take him in and open the door," Charles continued. "Let me say it again. They saw the young boy, and they refused to open the door and take him back. [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

NBC News [1/22/2026 4:48 PM, Nicole Acevedo, Ryan J. Reilly, and Alicia Victoria Lozano, 34509K] Video: HEREreports Homeland Security and FBI agents arrested three protesters in connection with a demonstration that interrupted Sunday service at a church in St. Paul, Minnesota, Attorney General Pam Bondi said Thursday on social media. The protesters — Nekima Levy Armstrong, Chauntyll Louisa Allen and William Kelly — and others involved in the demonstration objected to a pastor at Cities Church who they said works for Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Meanwhile, a federal magistrate judge rejected a criminal complaint against journalist Don Lemon, who said he was at the church protest because he was reporting on it, according to a source familiar with the matter, who described Bondi as "enraged" by the decision. Several organizers of the protest were calling for the resignation of pastor David Easterwood, who they say is also the acting director of an ICE field office in St. Paul. In that role, Easterwood spoke alongside Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem about ICE activity in October, according to video from NBC affiliate KARE of Minneapolis. Noem shared a photo of Armstrong’s arrest on social media Thursday, saying she was being held on conspiracy charges alleging that she played "a key role in orchestrating the Church Riots in St. Paul, Minnesota.” "Religious freedom is the bedrock of the United States — there is no First Amendment right to obstruct someone from practicing their religion," Noem said.

NBC News [1/23/2026 6:12 PM, Ryan J. Reilly and Alicia Victoria Lozano, 34509K] reports judges in Minnesota denied motions by the Trump administration to detain three protesters arrested this week for demonstrating inside a St. Paul church, where a pastor allegedly works for Immigration and Customs Enforcement. U.S. District Judge Laura M. Provinzino wrote in her order for two of the protesters, Nekima Valdez Levy-Armstrong and Chauntyll Louisa Allen, that Justice Department lawyers failed to "demonstrate that a detention hearing is warranted, or that detention is otherwise appropriate." The judge found the Trump administration offered "no factual or legal support" to support their contention that this was a "crime of violence." The third protester, William Scott Kelly, was separately ordered released by a federal magistrate judge. Armstrong, Allen and Kelly were charged by criminal complaint in a case that involves an unknown number of defendants. Because not all the defendants are in custody, the criminal affidavit, a sworn statement by an officer used to establish cause for an arrest, is redacted. The case cites the FACE Act, a federal statute that has historically been used to protect reproductive facilities, but also contains provisions that cover houses of worship. But records show that the federal magistrate judge found there was no probable cause to charge Levy-Armstrong and Allen on FACE Act charges, and they instead face a single count of conspiracy against constitutional rights, a statute with roots in the post-Civil War era. Kelly also appears to be now be facing only one charge of conspiracy against rights. The criminal affidavit was signed by a special agent for Homeland Security Investigations, which is part of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

NewsMax [1/23/2026 5:23 PM, Solange Reyner, 4109K] reports a federal judge in Minnesota on Friday denied prosecutors’ emergency bid to jail two defendants accused of conspiring to violate civil rights during an anti-Immigration and Customs Enforcement disruption at a St. Paul church, leaving in place a magistrate judge’s order releasing them under strict conditions. U.S. District Judge Patrick J. Schiltz ruled the government failed to show the charge qualifies as a "crime of violence" warranting detention or that the defendants, Nekima Levy Armstrong and Chauntyll Allen, posed a serious flight risk, though he added requirements that they surrender any passports and not seek new travel documents. Attorney General Pam Bondi said on Thursday that FBI and Homeland Security agents took part in the arrests of Armstrong and Allen, the civil rights activists who helped organize the protest. William Kelly, an anti-ICE activist and Army veteran, was also arrested, Bondi said. FBI Director Kash Patel said on X that Armstrong faced charges under a federal law that bars physical obstruction of houses of worship. Meanwhile, a U.S. magistrate judge in Minnesota rejected a proposed criminal complaint from the Department of Justice against former CNN anchor Don Lemon, who livestreamed the protest from within the church, according to a source familiar with the matter. Bondi said there would be more arrests over the Sunday protest, where dozens of demonstrators interrupted a service alleging that the pastor David Easterwood was an ICE director, saying that role conflicted with Christian values. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem on Thursday posted images of the three arrests and said Armstrong, Allen, and Kelly would be charged under a federal law that prohibits people from conspiring to interfere with the constitutionally protected rights of others, such as the free practice of religion.

USA Today [1/23/2026 6:37 PM, Brie Anna J. Frank, 67103K] reports a federal judge in Boston has formally ordered President Donald Trump’s administration to cease efforts to deport foreign-born student protesters over pro-Palestinian speech. U.S. District Judge William Young’s Jan. 22 order largely reiterates his September opinion that concluded Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, along with their subordinates, misused their authority "to target non-citizen pro-Palestinians for deportation primarily on account of their First Amendment protected political speech." The order says their enforcement policy and its implementation is "of no effect, void, illegal, set aside and vacated.” The Department of Homeland Security said the administration would appeal Young’s ruling. Tricia McLaughlin, the Department of Homeland Security’s assistant secretary, said the administration is "under no obligation" to allow "the world’s terrorist sympathizers" in the country. "The framers of our Constitution and its Bill of Rights never contemplated a world where foreign citizens could come here as guests and hide behind the First Amendment to advocate for anti-American and anti-Semitic violence and terrorism," she said. "We expect a higher court to vindicate us in this."

FOX News [1/23/2026 3:18 PM, Breanne Deppisch, 40621K] reports a federal judge in Boston blocked the Trump administration this week from detaining or otherwise "retaliating" against pro-Palestinian academics and student protesters on college campuses nationwide, saying in a new court order that plaintiffs have the right to challenge any attempts to remove them from the U.S. in federal court. U.S. District Judge William G. Young, a Reagan appointee, had ruled last fall that the Trump administration’s actions violated the First Amendment and amounted to what he described as an "unconstitutional conspiracy." The new order codified what Young described last week as "remedial sanctions" that he said he planned to issue to protect "certain plaintiffs’ noncitizen members" from "any retribution for the free exercise of their constitutional rights." The judge’s order applies to pro-Palestinian noncitizen academic protesters and students on college campuses whom he previously ruled had been "illegally" and "intentionally" targeted by Trump officials. The new order says all the plaintiffs in the case have the right to seek relief via the federal courts before any retaliatory removal. The only caveats, he said, are that the individuals in question must show that they are a member of either the American Association of University Professors, or the Middle East Studies Association — the two academic groups that sued the Trump administration last year. They must also submit documentation proving that their U.S. immigration status had not expired, and showing that they had not been accused of any crimes since last September.

The Hill [1/23/2026 10:46 AM, Ella Lee, 12595K] reports a federal judge ruled Thursday that university association members may seek relief from the court if their immigration status is changed as retribution for challenging an alleged Trump administration policy to single out campus activists critical of Israel’s war in Gaza for immigration enforcement. U.S. District Judge William Young’s order follows a trial last year where he found top Cabinet officials conspired to target noncitizens for deportation on account of their support for Palestinians and criticism of Israel. At a hearing last week, Young said Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and Secretary of State Marco Rubio operated an “unconstitutional conspiracy” to deport certain people so the university association members would be hesitant to speak out. “The big problem in this case is that the Cabinet secretaries, and ostensibly, the president of the United States, are not honoring the First Amendment,” Young said. “There doesn’t seem to be an understanding of what the First Amendment is by this government.” The judge, an appointee of President Reagan, described his Thursday order as a “remedial sanction to protect certain of the Plaintiffs’ non-citizen members from any retribution for the free exercise of their constitutional rights.” Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin signaled the administration will appeal. “There is no room in the United States for the rest of the world’s terrorist sympathizers, and we are under no obligation to admit them or let them stay here,” McLaughlin said in a statement. “The framers of our Constitution and its Bill of Rights never contemplated a world where foreign citizens could come here as guests and hide behind the First Amendment to advocate for anti-American and anti-Semitic violence and terrorism.

Reported similarly:
ABC News [1/23/2026 11:22 AM, Laura Romero, 30493K]

CNN [1/23/2026 8:43 PM, Jake Tapper, Jennifer Hansler, 606K] reports newly unsealed court documents show the Trump administration did not have evidence that Tufts University PhD student Rümeysa Öztürk was supporting terrorist activity when she was arrested and her visa was revoked, and the action was taken because of an opinion article she wrote that contained criticisms of Israel. The documents, related to legal cases of students whose visas were revoked by Secretary of State Marco Rubio and who were threatened with deportation last year, also show the administration found it difficult to find evidence to support the revocation of Öztürk’s visa. In most of the cases, including that of student activist Mahmoud Khalil, the documents show the administration made its recommendations to revoke visas based on the students’ involvement in protests criticizing Israel’s war in Gaza, despite arguments from the administration of antisemitism and support for terrorism. The administration also acknowledged it would likely face scrutiny in court given the protections granted by the First Amendment. New York Times was first to report on the unsealed documents. Last March, Rubio posted on X that they "will be revoking the visas and/or green cards of Hamas supporters in America so they can be deported.” That same month, Öztürk was detained by a plain-clothed police officer outside her home. The administration sought to deport her after revoking her student visa. The Tufts PhD student had written an opinion piece, along with three other students, criticizing the university’s response to student activists who demanded that Tufts "acknowledge the Palestinian genocide," disclose its investments and divest from companies with ties to Israel. A State Department memo said Öztürk’s visa was revoked following an assessment that her actions "‘may undermine U.S. foreign policy by creating a hostile environment for Jewish students and indicating support for a designated terrorist organization’ including co-authoring an op-ed that found common cause with an organization that was later temporarily banned from campus.” DHS spokeswoman Tricia McLaughlin told CNN at the time that Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) investigations had found that Öztürk had "engaged in activities in support of Hamas, a foreign terrorist organization that relishes the killing of Americans.” However, in a State Department memorandum released as part of the tranche of documents, a department official wrote that DHS, ICE and Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) had not found that Öztürk had "engaged in any antisemitic activity or made any public statements indicating support for a terrorist organization or antisemitism generally.”

FOX News [1/23/2026 7:30 PM, Rachel del Guidice, 40621K] reports New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani said Thursday that anti-Israel activist Mahmoud Khalil should "remain in New York City" as the Trump administration works to deport him. "Mahmoud Khalil is a New Yorker," Mamdani said during a news conference. "He should remain in New York City," he added. "We have seen this attack on him is part of a larger attack on the freedom of speech that is especially pronounced when it comes to the use of that speech to stand up for Palestinian human rights. "And I will make that clear to everyone — and I have said it time and again — that he deserves to stay in the city. He deserves to be in the city, just like any other New Yorker.” On Jan. 15, a federal appeals court ruled a lower court judge lacked authority in ordering the release of Khalil, siding with the Trump administration. In the 2-1 decision, the three-judge panel of the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that U.S. District Judge Michael Farbiarz of New Jersey lacked "subject-matter jurisdiction" under federal immigration law to stop the Trump administration’s effort to remove Khalil. In March, Khalil, a Columbia University graduate student from Syria, was arrested at Columbia over his anti-Israel activism on campus, and an immigration judge ruled he could be removed from the country based on a memo from Secretary of State Marco Rubio that said his campus protests were not aligned with U.S. foreign policy interests. He was ordered to be released from the government’s detention June 20 after he was arrested at his New York City apartment by special agents from Homeland Security Investigations in early March. The New York Civil Liberties Union, which is representing Khalil, told Fox News Digital in a comment that "Mahmoud cannot be legally detained or deported now because his appeals process has not concluded.” The team added, "But it’s no surprise to hear the government reiterate what has always been its ultimate goal — to impose the extreme punishment of deportation on Mahmoud for his pro-Palestinian speech. The government’s statements only reinforce its disdain for the First Amendment rights of people engaged in lawful protest and make clear why federal court intervention is so vitally important.” [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

Daily Caller [1/23/2026 10:49 AM, Jason Hopkins, 835K] reports a federal jury found an alleged gangbanger not guilty of placing a high-priced bounty on one of the biggest faces of the Trump administration’s illegal immigration crackdown. Juan Espinoza Martinez, a Mexican national living unlawfully in the United States, was found not guilty on Thursday of placing a $10,000 hit on Border Patrol Commander Greg Bovino. The illegal migrant’s defense team argued during the two-day trial that he was not actually a member of the notorious Latin Kings gang and that his statements about the Bovino bounty were just him "re-sharing neighborhood gossip." "Leftist judges and juries are empowering violent insurrection against the government in an effort to stop ICE from removing criminal alien invaders," White House deputy chief of staff for policy Stephen Miller, an architect of the Trump administration’s immigration agenda, said in a public reaction to the verdict. Federal immigration authorities took Martinez into custody on Oct. 6 in Burr Ridge, a suburb of Chicago, after a confidential source handed over Snapchat messages appearing to show Espinoza Martinez offering $2,000 for information on Bovino’s whereabouts and a $10,000 prize for his killing. Homeland Security Investigations, a division of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), captured a screenshot of a Snapchat conversation in which Espinoza Martinez allegedly offers an undercover informant a bounty for information "cuando lo agarren," Spanish for "when they catch him," and the larger reward "if you take him down." A third response of "LK….on him" suggested involvement of the Latin Kings, one of the largest Hispanic gangs in the country, with a heavy presence in the Chicago area. The case was the first of its kind since the Trump administration in September launched Operation Midway Blitz, a large-scale immigration enforcement surge across Chicago, a major sanctuary city that refuses to cooperate with federal immigration authorities. Chicago and Illinois officials have since waged a lawsuit to boot ICE out of the state. Following the not guilty verdict, the Trump administration maintained that Espinoza Martinez sought to harm federal immigration authorities. "This verdict does not change the facts: Espinoza targeted federal law enforcement with violence via Snapchat," Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin told the Daily Caller News Foundation. "The media and sanctuary politicians must stop demonizing our brave law enforcement who are facing an 8000% increase in death against them and having terrorists shoot at them, cars being used as weapons against them, online doxing of their families, and more.”

Washington Times [1/23/2026 6:28 PM, Stephen Dinan, 852K] reports Rep. Bennie G. Thompson, the senior Democrat on the House Homeland Security Committee, announced his support Friday for an effort to impeach Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem. The Mississippi lawmaker said Ms. Noem has “enriched herself” on taxpayers’ dime, ignored Congress’s laws, defied court orders and hindered congressional oversight. He said that amounted to abuse of power and a violation of her oath of office. “Therefore, we must build a record and begin the process of impeachment. It is not a remedy we pursue lightly, but it is also a duty we cannot ignore. Be assured that accountability is coming,” Mr. Thompson said. He backed the impeachment resolution introduced this week by Rep. Robin Kelly, Illinois Democrat. She cited three articles, namely obstruction of Congress, violation of public trust and self-dealing. Impeachment is unlikely to go anywhere with the GOP in control of the House, but Mr. Thompson’s support for the idea made clear that Ms. Noem will be a target if Democrats gain control of the chamber in November’s elections. The same situation faced then-Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, President Biden’s DHS chief.

New York Times [1/23/2026 4:52 PM, Annie Correal, Luis Ferré-Sadurní and Hamed Aleaziz, 135475K] reports Venezuela’s interim government, in another sign of its willingness to placate the Trump administration, is receiving more deportation flights in the aftermath of the U.S. capture of President Nicolás Maduro, according to U.S. officials. Last year, Venezuela allowed as many as two flights per week, a number that is now expected to rise to three, according to a U.S. official. Two other officials also confirmed an increase without giving a specific number. The Trump administration has been pressing Venezuela’s interim government on deportations since the United States captured Mr. Maduro on Jan. 3, according to one of the U.S. officials. All the officials spoke on the condition of anonymity because they said they were not authorized to speak publicly on the matter. This week, for the first time since Mr. Trump took office, three deportation flights from the United States arrived in a single week in Caracas, the Venezuelan capital. If three flights per week becomes the norm, it would mean that the United States would deport nearly 30,000 Venezuelans this year, roughly double the number from last year, immigration experts said. That figure would place Venezuela in the top five countries receiving deportees from the United States. An estimated 650,000 Venezuelans live in the country without legal status.

CNN [1/23/2026 12:26 PM, Jennifer Hansler, 606K] reports that the Trump administration is expected to deport dozens of Iranians back to their home country as soon as this Sunday, sources familiar with the matter told CNN. It would be the first known deportation flight to Iran from the United States since sweeping anti-government protests broke out in the country in recent weeks and President Donald Trump threatened the regime if it continued its brutal crackdown on the uprisings. It would also be the third deportation flight to Iran under Trump. There are major concerns about the fate of the Iranians on board the prospective deportation flight, which was first reported by MS NOW. Two of the Iranians who have been informed they will be on the upcoming flight are gay. They face "an extremely high chance" of being executed if they are forced to return, their lawyer, Bekah Wolf, told CNN. "If they were to be sent back right now, they’re facing death sentences by hanging," said Wolf, a lawyer with the American Immigration Council. Being gay is a crime punishable by death in Iran. One of the men spoke to CNN from detention on Friday. He said that he and his partner will be executed if they are forced to go back. If Trump cares for the people of Iran, the man said, he should not deport them from the US. Trump has threatened retaliation against the Iranian regime if it executes protesters.

AP [1/23/2026 4:26 PM, Astrid Suárez, 31753K] reports that Colombian President Gustavo Petro said Friday he was optimistic about a high-stakes White House meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump scheduled for Feb. 3. The announcement marks a significant de-escalation after months of hostility that saw the U.S. revoke Petro’s visa and impose sanctions on him and his family over unproven drug-trafficking allegations. "The talks are going well," Petro said in a brief message on X, after citing an announcement from the foreign ministry regarding preparations for the meeting. In a significant diplomatic shift, Colombian Foreign Minister Rosa Villavicencio and U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio held a cordial call to finalize preparations. According to Tommy Pigott, a State Department spokesman, Rubio confirmed during the exchange Friday that President Petro would receive full diplomatic guarantees — a sharp reversal from September, when Washington threatened to revoke Petro’s visa following his criticism of U.S. foreign policy at a New York rally. According to both governments, the upcoming meeting will pivot from recent tensions toward "common priorities," including trade, joint economic opportunities, and regional security. Discussions are also expected to focus on intensifying the fight against transnational organized crime. Tensions between the presidents eased in early January when Trump took a phone call from Petro, who called to "explain the drug situation and other disagreements we’ve had," according to the U.S. president.

Breitbart [1/23/2026 7:00 AM, Nick Gilbertson, 2416K] reports in his new book, The Invisible Coup: How American Elites and Foreign Powers Use Immigration as a Weapon, New York Times bestselling investigative author and Breitbart News Senior Contributor Peter Schweizer chronicles the Mexican government’s creation of "Migrant TV" to coordinate migrant political action in the United States. Schweizer details how Migrant TV, which reached millions of Mexicans living in America, both provided positive coverage of then-Democrat presidential nominee and Vice President Kamala Harris in the lead up to the 2024 election and featured negative coverage of President Donald Trump and his campaign. "In 2024, mobilization of Mexican assets for American elections was the order of the day. The Mexican government launched a television channel called TV Migrante (Migrant TV) and beamed it out to the tens of millions of Mexicans living in the United States," Schweizer writes. "While the programming featured some practical advice, the government-funded channel also bombarded the audience in the US with political messages." "The channel ran glowing videos about Kamala Harris. On the other hand, they fed migrants a diet of reports on candidate Trump’s ‘fake news and lies,’" he continues. "They also repeatedly played the Migrant Anthem as a call to arms for migrants living in the United States, reminding them to do their duty for their country." Migrant TV continued to offer critical coverage of Trump, as well as his administration, after he was sworn into the presidency for a second time. "After Trump returned to the White House in January 2025, the Mexican government used Migrant TV to beam messages to millions of Mexicans living in the US, such as ‘Racism, Hate, and Business: The Trumpist Model,’" Schweizer writes. "They also ran slick stories about how ‘the United States Department of Homeland Security has become the main spokesperson for hatred against migrants’ and stories about Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE)’s ‘repressive machinery.’" Schweizer hammers the American media for its silence on the Mexican government’s efforts to influence America’s "internal politics" and contrasts the lack of coverage with intense focus on "Russian interference" among the American media.

New York Times [1/23/2026 11:45 AM, Nicholas Bogel-Burroughs, 135475K] reports for the past six weeks, federal agents have been trawling the icy streets of the Twin Cities, drawing protests small and large, and arresting thousands of immigrants as part of the Trump administration’s latest deportation surge. The most consistent demonstrations, however, haven’t taken place in downtown Minneapolis or in the capital, St. Paul, but miles away at the B.H. Whipple Federal Building, a Brutalist structure that sits between a highway and an airport. Whipple is now the home base for thousands of immigration agents. It is the first stop for those caught in the immigration sweeps throughout Minneapolis-St. Paul, and where, through freezing weather and occasional tear gas, protesters have kept watch, chanting and blowing whistles, as masked agents drive in and out. The 57-year-old building has long been the center of federal affairs in the Twin Cities area, with hundreds of workers in government offices that include Veterans Affairs, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the Department of Homeland Security. There is also an immigration court. The transformation of this physical manifestation of federal bureaucracy into a rallying point for protesters, and a detention center for citizens and undocumented immigrants alike, has been startling in its speed and scope. Those who have been detained at Whipple describe crowded conditions, huddled families and lots of tears. People held there, including those released without charges, have described seeing detained immigrants having to go to the bathroom with little privacy and being held in rooms with no beds, so tightly packed that it seemed impossible for them to lie down. The Department of Homeland Security said in an unsigned statement that any claims about poor conditions were false, and that detainees are given “proper meals, medical treatment, and have opportunities to communicate with their family members and lawyers.”

The Hill [1/23/2026 8:00 AM, Corey Kvasnick, 12595K] reports I never imagined I would need to learn what my legal responsibilities were if federal law enforcement showed up at my workplace. I never thought I might have to ask to see a search warrant. I’m a business owner in Minneapolis. I employ hundreds of people. I pay my taxes, and I don’t commit crimes. I try, in all the boring and unglamorous ways, to be a model citizen. Until recently, that felt sufficient. But there is something different in the air here right now. The anger is palpable, and it isn’t confined to one side. Both sides are hardening in real time. People are no longer arguing to persuade; they’re bracing for impact. Beneath the anger is something quieter and more corrosive: fear. I employ many Hispanic workers — all legal. Some have been with me for more than 15 years. They show up every day, do difficult work, and quietly build lives for their families. To me, they represent the American dream as much as anyone. Many came from places where stability was fragile and safety was never guaranteed. That history matters, because fear has a memory. I now see that fear in their eyes.

San Diego Union Tribune [1/23/2026 2:36 PM, Scott Santarosa, 1538K] reports a good friend of mine is a weaver; her loom sits behind her on Zoom calls. She has taught me about the warp and weft threads which make up a piece of cloth. When one attempts to selectively remove weft threads, tugging and pulling them away from neighboring strands as well as the warp around which they are woven, the integrity of the fabric is breached. As I watch what has transpired and continues to transpire in Minneapolis, I cannot help but think we as a country, in attempting to detain and deport immigrants, are attempting to extract too many warp and weft threads. And the garment that is our country is compromised, perhaps beyond repair. It could seem reasonable to extract threads that are faulty or flawed. This is the justification for the administration’s desire to deport criminals, persons who have truly harmed others by breaking laws. I think people on all sides of the political spectrum can and do find some measure of reason with this strategy. However, when we as a country put a certain quota on deportations, some 3,000 per day, we no longer are seeking only to extract the seemingly destructive threads. Rather, we begin taking away essential threads. I, like many others, contend that the vast majority of immigrants are not criminals, but rather are aspiring citizens who contribute significantly to the good of this country. That was certainly the case of my own grandfather, Pasquale Santarosa. He crossed the border from Canada one snowy night. He worked hard in a lumber mill in Northern California, and then in a school as a maintenance man, all to provide for his family. Along the way he became a citizen. He was able to pursue the American dream. My dad, my aunt, my family — we are the beneficiaries. This is the story of so many others. I wonder when did the American dream become a bad thing? I am very sure that so many people who voted for this president, who work for the Department of Homeland Security, who work for ICE to enforce the quotas likewise are descendants of people who sought the American dream. Do we no longer believe that this country is the land of opportunity? Do we no longer believe that the presence of hardworking and talented immigrants makes this nation great?

FOX News [1/23/2026 11:18 AM, Staff, 40621K] reports that DHS Secretary Kristi Noem has announced over 2.2 million illegal migrants have self-deported in the last year and an increased stipend of $2,600 to any illegal that self-deports. [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

Bloomberg [1/23/2026 6:39 PM, Isabel Gottlieb, 803K] reports the Department of Homeland Security has reportedly identified at least a half dozen warehouses to buy across the East Coast and Central US as the agency looks to expand its capacity to hold and transport detainees. The government’s plan to purchase warehouse space is part of the agency’s larger goal to hold tens of thousands of detainees at facilities located around the country near logistics hubs, Washington Post reported in December. DHS sent a letter Jan. 21 to Hanover County, Va., "confirming its intent to purchase and operate a US Immigration and Customs Enforcement processing facility in a warehouse".

Washington Post [1/24/2026 5:00 AM, Maria Sacchetti, 24149K] reports the Trump administration proposed massive cuts to Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s body camera program for this fiscal year as officers surged into U.S. cities to arrest immigrants, calling into question the agency’s commitment to deploying cameras. In its initial budget proposal, the Department of Homeland Security said it planned to slash the body camera program’s 22-person staff to three employees and reduce spending on the initiative from about $20.5 million to $5.5 million. Officials instead proposed “sustaining” the cameras ICE had last year to devote more resources to “frontline operations.” A string of violent incidents involving federal immigration officers — including the fatal shooting of Minneapolis resident Renée Good in her SUV this month — has added fresh urgency to calls from congressional Democrats and some Republicans for more body-worn cameras. In several use-of-force incidents, witnesses and Homeland Security officials have given wildly differing accounts of the confrontations. Yet the government has voluntarily released little officer-worn footage. To address these concerns, House appropriators this week said they would allocate about $20 million for cameras for DHS, which oversees ICE and its sibling agency, Customs and Border Protection, and require the agency to report back on its progress in 30 days. But the House plan stops short of requiring officers to wear cameras, and some congressional aides and analysts said this week that the extra money is meaningless if the cameras are not mandatory. Rep. Rosa DeLauro of Connecticut, the top Democrat on the House Appropriations Committee, said Republicans would not agree on requiring agents to wear the cameras. “Body cameras only enhance transparency and accountability which is required to build public trust — which ICE has totally lost under the leadership of [Homeland Security] Secretary Kristi Noem and Stephen Miller,” DeLauro said in a statement. Top Republicans on the committee did not respond to questions about that assertion. But a Trump administration official confirmed Friday that the White House opposed mandating body-cameras as one of “many unserious poison pill demands” from Democrats in the budget bill. The official, in an unsigned email from the Office of Management and Budget, did not explain the administration’s reasoning. Homeland Security officials have said they have been working to expand officers’ access to body cameras. But the agency did not ensure that every ICE officer had a camera last year after receiving a massive infusion of cash, and it has not responded to multiple questions from The Washington Post and lawmakers about why so many officers and agents don’t have them. Homeland Security spokeswoman Tricia McLaughlin told CNN this month that the agency “of course” allowed officers to wear cameras and said the agency was working on expanding the program. McLaughlin told The Post the same thing in September, and officials have not provided data on how many officers and agents are equipped with cameras.

Wall Street Journal [1/23/2026 9:00 PM, Tarini Parti and Eliza Collins, 646K] reports Peggy Flanagan, the progressive pick in the race for Minnesota senator, says the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency is beyond fixing. Her opponent in the Democratic primary, centrist Angie Craig, isn’t so sure. “We need a system to enforce immigration laws in this country, but ICE has completely lost the trust of the American people, and they continue to act in ways that are illegal and unconstitutional,” Flanagan, the state’s lieutenant governor, said in an interview. “We need to completely overhaul this agency and start over.” Craig, a Minnesota congresswoman who represents a swing district, said she’s opposed to Trump’s “version of ICE,” but warned that Democrats risk going too far in their response and could alienate independent voters. “We have to improve the way that people see us in terms of our ability to keep our community safe,” she said of her party. “Most Minnesotans and most Americans want secure borders, and they want violent criminals off our streets, but they don’t want to see families ripped apart.”

FOX News [1/23/2026 12:44 PM, Charles Creitz, 40621K] reports that states that refuse to cooperate with federal immigration enforcement push ICE onto the streets to search for subjects, fueling avoidable agitator unrest that is absent in places where local authorities have a working relationship with DHS, several states’ officials told Fox News Digital. Their comments follow a New York Times analysis showing that "at-large" ICE arrests — operations conducted in communities rather than jails — have surged most sharply in states that bar local authorities from honoring immigration detainers or working with federal agents. The analysis pointed to California, Illinois and New York as the most common sites for at-large arrests, citing laws there blocking local authorities from cooperating or handing over prisoners to federal immigration enforcement. The states with a 90%-or-more share of at-large arrests included Illinois, New York, Washington, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Vermont and Alaska, according to the paper. "If Dems would just honor the detainers, ICE would pick up illegal aliens from jail, where they’re already in custody," Republican strategist Tim Murtaugh remarked on the findings. "But because they don’t, ICE has to find the illegal aliens in the community after they’re released," he said. "ICE didn’t bring the chaos. The chaos is what brought ICE."

DailySignal [1/23/2026 3:50 PM, Fred Lucas, 549K] reports social media companies helped federal law enforcement identify two men this week who allegedly made online threats to kill Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents. According to the Justice Department, on Jan. 17, Google representatives notified the FBI about several threats made by a YouTube user, Prigmore, of McCloud, Oklahoma. The federal complaint says Prigmore allegedly left eight comments last week alone expressing his desire to kill federal agents and others. He also allegedly threatened to kill any law enforcement officers who came to his home. The threatening posts began in May 2025, according to the Justice Department. U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Ohio Dominick S. Gerace’s office announced charges against Novoa for allegedly making threatening interstate communications, including threats to assault or murder a federal law enforcement officer. According to charging documents, personnel from X notified Homeland Security Investigations in December 2025 about threats to ICE employees on the social media platform X.

USA Today [1/23/2026 4:31 PM, Christopher Cann, 67103K] reports Immigration and Customs Enforcement is facing scrutiny over its assertion that federal officers can forcibly enter a home without a judicial warrant – a move constitutional scholars, immigration experts and a federal judge say is a clear violation of the Fourth Amendment. An internal ICE memo from May 2025 directs agents to use force to enter residences after obtaining administrative warrants, which are signed by ICE authorities and do not require a judge’s approval, according to a whistleblower complaint reviewed by USA TODAY and first reported by The Associated Press. The memo appeared to upend longstanding precedent and law enforcement policy, including at the Department of Homeland Security, which relied on warrants signed by impartial members of the judicial branch to enter homes or businesses for searches and arrests. It remains unclear how often the new policy has been used in field operations. ICE officials and other federal authorities have downplayed constitutional concerns and said the agency is acting in accordance with the law. Marcos Charles, the executive associate director of ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations, said on Jan. 22 that agents can enter homes with only administrative warrants.

Washington Post [1/23/2026 8:13 PM, Arelis R. Hernández, 24149K] reports with long guns pointed in her direction, Teyana Gibson repeatedly demanded that federal immigration officers show her a warrant as she stood between them and her immigrant husband inside her Minneapolis house. “What are you doing?” she yelled, as the officers burst through the front door with a battering ram, according to a cellphone recording of the chaotic encounter on Jan. 11. Officers handcuffed Garrison Gibson — a Liberian national who for years had reported for regular check-ins with Immigration and Customs Enforcement — and took him away in a government vehicle. Then they handed Teyana Gibson, who is a U.S. citizen, a photocopy of a document that purported to give them the legal authority to enter and search her home without consent. But it was not a judicial warrant authorized by a federal judge — rather, the document was an administrative warrant signed by an ICE supervisor, according to court documents. For years, federal immigration officers have been expected to produce judicial warrants to forcibly enter homes without permission. But a Department of Homeland Security memo that became public this week authorizes officers to use administrative warrants to enter the residences of immigrants who have final orders of deportation from federal immigration courts. A judicial warrant is signed by an independent and neutral judge who examines the evidence to determine if it is sufficient to grant the government the extraordinary power to force their way into someone’s home, whereas an administrative warrant is usually signed by a federal immigration officer and is easier to obtain. Immigration lawyers contend that the policy violates constitutional protections shielding people from unreasonable searches and seizures in their homes and could lead to dangerous interactions between officers and unsuspecting families. DHS officials have refused to answer questions about where and when immigration officers are using administrative warrants. But at least one case involving the Gibson family is documented in a court filing in Minneapolis. Federal officers did not identify themselves before attempting to enter their home, and the couple’s young daughter and another relative hid in a bedroom, according to accounts from the family and their attorney. DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin defended the administration’s policy on administrative warrants, saying that every individual targeted by the policy has “full due process and a final order of removal.”

NBC News [1/23/2026 1:27 PM, Julia Ainsley, 34509K] reports that Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers began forcibly entering homes without judicial warrants last summer, two administration officials told NBC News. An internal document, dated May 12, 2025, but made public by two whistleblowers earlier this week, told officers they could rely on an administrative warrant to enter homes if there was an order to remove someone from the country. Administrative warrants are signed by officials in ICE field offices and generally permit officers and agents to make arrests — a lower legal standard than a warrant signed by a judge or magistrate, which is broadly what is needed when law enforcement enters a home. The news comes as ICE continues to ramp up operations across the U.S. to boost deportations, and as questions grow around its tactics. American Civil Liberties Union Immigrants’ Rights Project attorney Spencer Amdur said the policy "flatly violates the Fourth Amendment" of the U.S. Constitution, which protects from unreasonable searches and seizures by the government. "It’s part of a consistent pattern of trying to disregard clear legal limits on their authority," he said of the Trump administration. DHS spokeswoman Tricia McLaughlin confirmed the policy is actively in use, but would not give specifics on where or how many times homes have been entered. “In every case that DHS uses an administrative warrant to enter a residence, an illegal alien has already had their full due process,” she said.

Univision [1/23/2026 5:22 PM, Staff, 5004K] reports an average of 6,000 Hispanic immigrants with no criminal record were detained per month - from February to September 2025 - by the Donald Trump administration. This was revealed in a report by the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) which detailed that the detention of Venezuelans increased fourteenfold and that of Mexicans eightfold. The research, based on official data obtained through the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), indicates that this increased the proportion of detained migrants without a criminal record, who now represent more than one in three of the total. The Trump administration deported nearly nine out of 10 Hispanics arrested without criminal records and released only a few.

Washington Examiner [1/24/2026 5:00 AM, Claire Carter, 1394K] reports as President Donald Trump’s administration doubles down on its aggressive immigration enforcement agenda, new polling data shows public approval for Immigration and Customs Enforcement has plummeted to new lows. The Democratic Congressional Progressive Caucus has taken advantage of the waning public support, making the “abolish ICE” movement a pillar in its 2026 legislative platform — vowing to block all Department of Homeland Security funding until meaningful reforms are enacted. DHS Secretary Kristi Noem has remained a staunch defender of the agency’s tactics, stating that federal agents have "been serving [their] country [their] entire life" and describing pushback from local leaders and media as "reckless behavior.” "President Trump and I will always stand with you. Please take some time today to thank an officer or agent today," Noem said in a news release Jan. 9, Law Enforcement Appreciation Day. "Make them a meal, buy them a cup of coffee, or simply thank them. To every officer who puts on the badge each day: thank you. Your service is paramount to our nation’s safety.” The shift in public sentiment comes amid the massive federal immigration enforcement campaign known as "Operation Metro Surge," which deployed approximately 2,000 federal officers to cities such as Minneapolis.

The Hill [1/23/2026 11:53 AM, Sarah Davis, 12595K] reports a new survey found that a majority of respondents disapprove of how Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is handling its job. A New York Times/Siena poll released Friday found 63 percent of registered voters disapprove of how ICE is handling its job, while 36 percent said they approve of ICE’s work. That includes 55 percent of respondents who said they strongly disapprove and 24 percent who strongly approve. The poll was taken after an ICE officer fatally shot 37-year-old Renee Good in Minneapolis, leading to weeks of unrest in the city. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has deployed immigration officers to Minnesota as part of the Trump administration’s aggressive immigration crackdown. However, local officials say citizens and others in the country legally have also been unfairly targeted in these operations, and tensions between protesters and federal officers remain high. Protesters have taken to the streets to demand the cessation of ICE’s operations in the state, and Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey (D) has strongly urged DHS to pull its agents out of the city. DHS launched another immigration crackdown effort, called “Operation Catch of the Day,” in Maine on Tuesday. In a CNN poll conducted earlier this month, about half of respondents said they believe ICE’s operations are “making cities less safe.” Only 31 percent said their actions were making them “more safe.”

Reported similarly:
CNN [1/23/2026 1:32 PM, Dana Bash, 18595K]

AP [1/24/2026 12:26 AM, Patrick Whittle, Holly Ramer and Leah Willingham, 31753K] reports Immigration and Customs Enforcement has highlighted the detention of people whom it called some of Maine’s most dangerous criminals during operations this past week, but court records paint a more complicated picture. Federal officials say more than 100 people have been detained statewide in what ICE dubbed "Operation Catch of the Day," a reference to the fishing industry. ICE said in a statement that it was arresting the "worst of the worst," including "child abusers and hostage takers.” Court records show some were violent felons. But they also show other detainees with unresolved immigration proceedings or who were arrested but never convicted of a crime. Immigration attorneys and local officials say similar concerns have surfaced in other cities where ICE has conducted enforcement surges and many of those targeted lacked criminal records. One case highlighted by ICE that involves serious felony offenses and criminal convictions is that of Sudan native Dominic Ali. ICE said Ali was convicted of false imprisonment, aggravated assault, assault, obstructing justice and violating a protective order. Court records show Ali was convicted in 2004 of violating a protective order and in 2008 of second-degree assault, false imprisonment and obstructing the reporting of a crime. In the latter case, prosecutors said he threw his girlfriend to the floor of her New Hampshire apartment, kicked her and broke her collarbone. "His conduct amounted to nothing less than torture," Judge James Barry said in 2009 before sentencing Ali to five to 10 years in prison. Ali was later paroled to ICE custody, and in 2013 an immigration judge ordered his removal. No further information was available from the Executive Office for Immigration Review, and it remains unclear what happened after that order. Other cases were more nuanced, like that of Elmara Correia, an Angola native whom ICE highlighted in its public promotion of the operation, saying she was "arrested previously for endangering the welfare of a child.” Maine court records show someone with that name was charged in 2023 with violating a law related to learner’s permits for new drivers, a case that was later dismissed. Correia filed a petition Wednesday challenging her detention, and a judge issued a temporary emergency order barring authorities from transferring her from Massachusetts, where she is being held. Her attorney said she entered the United States legally on a student visa about eight years ago and has never been subject to expedited removal proceedings. "Was she found not guilty, or are we just going to be satisfied that she was arrested?" Portland Mayor Mark Dion said during a news conference in which he raised concerns that ICE failed to distinguish between arrests and convictions or explain whether sentences were served.

Washington Post [1/24/2026 6:00 AM, Patrick Marley, Theodoric Meyer, and Marianna Sotomayor, 24149K] reports the surge of federal immigration agents into Maine has put the Senate’s most vulnerable Republican, Susan Collins, on the defensive — and in avoidance mode — as she fends off attacks from two Democratic challengers who say she needs to stand up to President Donald Trump. Collins is used to juggling her party’s increasingly aggressive stances with the politics in her state, which has not voted Republican for president since 1988. But the administration’s decision to send ICE agents into Maine is different from the typical pressure she faces in Washington over whether to support a divisive nominee or vote for a tax package. Now, as she faces reelection this fall, her state is contending with federal officers arresting people in the streets and potentially sparking the kinds of viral confrontations and controversies that have exploded in Minnesota and elsewhere. The surge, depending on how it unfolds, could create a more partisan atmosphere in Maine, which could hurt Collins’s efforts to appeal to moderates and crossover voters. Collins didn’t say whether she supported Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents flooding the streets of Portland and Lewiston. Gov. Janet Mills (D), who announced her run for the Senate in October, called for withholding ICE’s funding until it changes its tactics. Mills’s primary opponent, oyster farmer Graham Platner, said he would join protesters in the streets and called for Mills to direct Maine law enforcement to follow ICE agents. The Trump administration, in announcing its increased enforcement in Maine this week, singled out Mills for criticism. “Governor Mills and her fellow sanctuary politicians in Maine have made it abundantly clear that they would rather stand with criminal illegal aliens than protect law-abiding American citizens,” Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement.

Breitbart [1/23/2026 9:19 PM, Ian Hanchett, 2416K] reports that, on Friday’s broadcast of MS NOW’s “The Weeknight,” Maine Gov. and U.S. Senate candidate Janet Mills stated that there should be a curtailment of “further funding for ICE and for Homeland Security until questions are answered, until they put a stop to this abusive behavior towards Maine people, towards Americans who are here lawfully present and just doing their job, paying taxes, contributing to our communities, raising families here.” Mills said that Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) “ignores the fact that ICE has been weaponized to do bad things. This is not the nice ICE enforcement of 20 years ago, Susan. And I call upon Susan Collins to use her seniority, her power, of which she brags so often, as Chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, to put a hold, to curtail further funding for ICE and for Homeland Security until questions are answered, until they put a stop to this abusive behavior towards Maine people, towards Americans who are here lawfully present and just doing their job, paying taxes, contributing to our communities, raising families here. It is cruel and abusive, and it has to stop. And she has the power to do it.” Later, Mills said that the state will and does go after criminal behavior, and there should be an approach to immigration “that cares for the families who are here.” [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

FOX News [1/23/2026 4:28 PM, Sophia Compton, 40621K] reports a Brazilian national has pleaded guilty to assault on a federal officer after a violent arrest last year in Connecticut, during which he allegedly bit one Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officer and spit on another, federal prosecutors said Friday. Luis Peterson Rohr Ferreira Borges, 25, entered the guilty plea Thursday before U.S. District Judge Vernon Oliver in Hartford, according to a news release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Connecticut. The case stems from a June 25, 2025, incident in which ICE officers apprehended Ferreira Borges near Zion Street in Hartford. Prosecutors say he resisted arrest and became violent after being taken into custody. Once placed inside a government vehicle, he began kicking, flailing and yelling obscenities at Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) officers, according to prosecutors. Prosecutors say he then bit another ERO officer who attempted to restrain him and spit on the officer driving the vehicle. Ferreira Borges has remained in custody since his arrest. He faces up to one year in prison when he is sentenced on April 16. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) issued an arrest warrant for Ferreira Borges on Oct. 10, 2023, charging him with being in the U.S. in violation of the Immigration and Nationality Act. That warrant followed a separate September 2023 arrest on state charges, including assault on public safety personnel, third-degree assault, breach of peace, interfering with an officer and first-degree intimidation based on bigotry or bias, as noted in the release.

New York Times [1/23/2026 9:00 PM, Christopher Maag, Wesley Parnell, and Olivia Bensimon, 135475K] reports thousands of people withstood freezing temperatures and high winds in New York City on Friday to protest the ongoing crackdowns by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents around the country, including the detention of a 5-year-old boy near Minneapolis this week. The gathering, which began with a demonstration in Union Square in Manhattan, continued with an evening march through the streets. “I mean, it’s all so gut-punching,” said Gina Cirrito, 47, a co-founder of an organization that supports asylum-seeking families. “But the photo of that little boy in his Spider-Man backpack and little bunny hat — it just, it really hit really deep. My heart broke.” Ms. Cirrito was walking on 14th Street just after sunset, part of a crowd of protesters that stretched from curb to curb for four blocks. She held a cardboard sign that read “Sweet Liam, we’re so sorry.” Liam Conejo Ramos, the 5-year-old boy, was photographed as immigration agents detained him and his father in a suburb of Minneapolis on Tuesday.

AP [1/23/2026 8:25 PM, Didi Tang, 30493K] reports Guan Heng, who exposed human rights abuses in his native China, has been in U.S. custody since being swept up in an immigration enforcement operation in August. He says he dares not even think about what would happen to him if he were sent back. "I would be prosecuted, I would be jailed, I would be tortured. All of that could happen," Guan, 38, told The Associated Press in a recent call from the Broome County Correctional Facility in New York. A judge on Monday is to consider his appeal to remain in the United States, where he sought asylum after fleeing his homeland more than four years ago to publish video footage of detention facilities in China’s Xinjiang region. The Department of Homeland Security initially sought to deport him to Uganda, but dropped the plan in December after his plight raised public concerns and attracted attention on Capitol Hill. But his future remains unclear. Guan said the public attention has given him hope. During his first months in Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention, he said "there was no help from the outside world" and stories from fellow detainees and reports of the Trump administration’s anti-immigration campaign left him extremely pessimistic. He is among tens of thousands of asylum seekers who have been swept up in mass deportation efforts in the past year despite having what they believed to be legitimate claims to stay in the U.S. "We are very worried about the number of asylum seekers that will be sent back to extremely dangerous conditions," said Vanessa Dojaquez-Torres of the American Immigration Lawyers Association. "It’s worrying to see that an institution like asylum is being so eroded.” Guan said ICE agents stumbled upon him during an operation targeting his housemates in the small town where he was living outside of Albany. Tricia McLaughlin, a DHS spokesperson, said ICE encountered Guan when assisting the FBI in executing a criminal search warrant. "This illegal alien from China entered the U.S. illegally at an unknown date and time," she said in a written response to a request for comment. "All of his claims will be heard before an immigration judge.” Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi, a member of the House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party, has urged Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem to release Guan and approve his asylum request. In a statement to the AP on Friday in reference to Guan’s case, the Illinois Democrat called for "careful adherence to due process and America’s long-standing commitment to protecting human rights whistleblowers.”

Telemundo Washington DC [1/23/2026 3:17 PM, Freixys Casado, 61K] reports a Maryland delegate introduced a bill to allow victims of alleged misconduct by immigration agents to identify and report their abusers. The proposal stems from the fact that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents conduct immigration operations with their faces covered. While the agency claims this is a security measure, others see it as a barrier when alleged abuse occurs. State delegate David Moon, author of the bill, describes this measure as a way to "digitally unmask" ICE agents involved in violent or unconstitutional acts. The legislation—known as House Bill 351—would allow the state to use existing technology to record digital data that helps confirm the identity of a federal agent, such as license plate information, cell phone data, GPS data, and facial recognition data. Such data could only be obtained through a court order and only in cases of civil rights or criminal investigations. In a statement, ICE called the proposal dangerous and accused lawmakers of endangering its agents and their families. The agency emphasized that attacks against ICE agents, including vehicle attacks and death threats, have increased exponentially. House Bill 351 will be reviewed by the House Judiciary Committee. If passed, it would take effect on October 1, 2026.

Bloomberg [1/23/2026 5:30 AM, Siddharth Philip and Maya Averbuch, 18207K] reports President Donald Trump’s plan for a massive increase in deportation flights relies in part on a little-known startup from Virginia that’s assembling a fleet of planes after winning a $140 million contract to provide the Department of Homeland Security with aircraft. Since landing that DHS deal late last year, Daedalus Aviation Corp. has registered four Boeing Co. 737-700 aircraft previously used by discount carrier Avelo Inc., according to Federal Aviation Administration data. Those jets could help Daedalus fulfill its commitment to DHS. The company, based in Arlington, Virginia, has no other aircraft registered to it, according to FAA data. “DHS has acquired aircraft through a third party, and those aircraft are now in DHS possession and will support multi-use missions, including removals of criminal illegal aliens,” DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement.

NewsMax [1/23/2026 12:03 PM, Solange Reyner, 4109K] reports that White House border czar Tom Homan on Friday accused Virginia Gov. Abigail Spanberger of abandoning law-enforcement principles she touted during her congressional campaign and of failing to support federal immigration enforcement efforts in her state. In remarks to "Ruthless" co-host John Ashbrook, Homan, a veteran immigration enforcement official in the Trump administration, said Spanberger’s past campaign messaging, including ads highlighting her record as a former federal law-enforcement officer who helped rescue children from trafficking, rings hollow now that she serves as governor. "I’m a resident of Virginia and Spanberger — I remember her campaign ads. ‘I’m a law enforcement officer. I rescued children from sex trafficking.’ I’ve seen the commercials," Homan said. "So, first day in office, she stops being a law enforcement officer and became a politician. Because where’s all those commercials you did about supporting law enforcement and rescuing kids?" Homan said the Trump administration has made progress on finding missing children, claiming that federal authorities located 130,000 missing minors, many of whom he said were victims of trafficking or forced labor. "We already found 130,000 of those missing kids. The last administration wasn’t even looking for them," Homan said. A spokesperson for Spanberger did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

AP [1/23/2026 12:40 PM, Patrick Whittle, 31753K] reports Maine’s leading Republican and Democratic officials, now engaged in one of the nation’s highest profile Senate races, offered starkly different comments on Friday as a surge of Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents racked up their arrest totals. Democratic Gov. Janet Mills has challenged immigration officials to provide judicial warrants, real-time arrest numbers and basic information about who is being detained in Maine. Mills also called on her Republican rival, Sen. Susan Collins, to act after the House’s GOP majority defeated efforts by Democrats to curtail ICE funding. "Let me be clear: Maine will not be intimidated, and the reckless actions that we’ve seen ICE turn to will not be tolerated here in Maine," Mills said Friday. Collins avoided criticizing Immigration and Customs Enforcement tactics, other than to say that people who are in the country legally should not be the target of ICE investigations. She also said that policies she has advocated for, including providing body cameras and de-escalation training for ICE personnel, could help improve accountability and trust. And as protest organizers announced Friday demonstrations against ICE in Maine’s largest cities, she urged them to avoid interfering with ICE arrests. "There are people in Maine and elsewhere who have entered this country illegally and who have engaged in criminal activity," Collins said in a statement. "They could be subject to arrest and deportation pursuant to the laws of the United States, and people who are exercising the right to peacefully gather and protest their government should be careful not to interfere with law enforcement efforts while doing so.” ICE says ‘Operation Catch of the Day’ has about 1,400 targets. The enforcement action began Tuesday and has succeeded in removing dangerous criminals from the community, Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement to media on Thursday. Some of the more than 100 arrests were of people "convicted of horrific crimes including aggravated assault, false imprisonment, and endangering the welfare of a child," McLaughlin said.

Free Beacon [1/23/2026 6:35 PM, Jessica Costescu, 411K] reports Senate candidate Graham Platner (D., Maine) urged supporters to donate to an anti-ICE group led by several Somalis tied to a nonprofit under congressional investigation for allegedly defrauding the state of millions of dollars in Medicaid payments. The day after ICE launched a statewide operation targeting illegal aliens in Maine, Platner promoted the Maine Immigrants’ Rights Coalition (MIRC), a taxpayer-funded nonprofit that touted its "ICE Watch Hotline" earlier this month. Its board has included Deqa Dhalac and Nathan Davis, who have been named persons of interest in a congressional probe over their leadership roles at Gateway Community Services Maine. "Maine is reeling from ICE’s latest assault. Those incarcerated, and their families, need our support," Platner wrote on Instagram Thursday. "I’m asking you, if you have anything to spare, to consider contributing to the Maine Immigrants’ Rights Coalition. See the link in my bio, and please spread this far and wide.” Dhalac, a Somali-born state representative for Maine’s 120th district who has campaigned with Platner, served as Gateway Community Services Maine’s assistant executive director from May 2022 to March 2023. She sat on MIRC’s board as a founding member since 2017 and was its vice president until last month, around the same time she was named a person of interest. Davis, who has worked at Gateway Community Services Maine since May 2022 and took over as executive director in June, remains an at-large MIRC board member. Platner’s support for MIRC, which claims to be "dedicated to the advancement of legal, social, and economic outcomes for immigrants in the state of Maine," aligns with his repeated calls to abolish ICE and a vow "to drag every single ICE agent that’s been wearing a mask in front of a Senate subcommittee." The self-described communist who once sported a neo-Nazi tattoo has also ignored allegations against Gateway Community Services Maine and Dhalac, calling her a "very good friend and a longtime fighter for justice and decency" at a rally earlier this month.

CBS News [1/23/2026 1:02 PM, Dan Raby, 39474K] reports Georgia Sen. Jon Ossoff and Social Circle Mayor David Keener are asking the Department of Homeland Security for answers about a reported plan to turn a warehouse in the city limits into a holding center for immigrant detainees. In December, the Washington Post reported on a draft solicitation by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) that would use "large-scale warehouses holding 5,000 to 10,000 each" before deportation. Social Circle was one of seven cities named as being the proposed site for one of those warehouses, with the others located in Virginia, Louisiana, Texas, Arizona, and Missouri. The plan would also include 16 processing sites that would hold up to 1,500 people each, the Post reported. One of those proposed sites could be located in Jefferson, Georgia. The agency plans to modify the warehouses for human use, adding housing units, kitchens, a dining area, recreation areas, a medical unit, and more, the newspaper reported. Since then, Social Circle leaders have been asking for more information about the plan, calling the facility "unfeasible.” "A proposed ICE detention facility is not right for Social Circle, and the City of Social Circle does not support it. We are urging the Administration to abandon this plan, which risks overwhelming the City’s resources and more than tripling its population," Ossoff and Social Circle Mayor David Keener said in a joint statement on Friday. Ossoff has written a letter to Homeland Security Sec. Kristy Noem and Todd Lyons, the acting director of ICE, urging them to consider Social Circle’s concerns and "engage the City’s leadership to ensure that its citizens receive critical information regarding the proposed facility.”

Telemundo [1/23/2026 6:43 PM, Staff, 2218K] reports Abel Osvaldo Díaz Rodríguez, the Cuban artist known as El Chulo, was arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents this Thursday and detained at the BTC (Broward Transitional Center) immigration detention center in Broward, his manager confirmed. He was arrested this Thursday, January 22, at his residence in Miami. According to Jadar, the reggaeton artist’s manager, the artist had a deportation order, Telemundo 51 reported.

Reported similarly:
Univision [1/23/2026 3:56 PM, Staff, 5004K]

Daily Wire [1/23/2026 9:43 AM, Leif Le Mahieu, 2494K] reports a 21-year-old Ohio man was arrested after investigators say he threatened to shoot Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents and those he described as "retarded maga maggots.” The Justice Department announced Thursday that federal authorities arrested Justin Mesael Novoa for threats to assault or murder a federal law enforcement officer and for threatening interstate communications. A raid of his home in December found two rifles, two shotguns, a handgun, ammunition, helmets, a plate carrier, and a Palestinian flag, according to the Justice Department. Novoa allegedly wrote on X on November 9, 2025, "can’t wait to shoot these p*ssy ice agents and retarded maga maggots." Earlier in June, the account later identified as Novoa’s allegedly posted that "they should blast every ice agent they find" and "masked, unmarked vehicles, no badge or id. Every legal right to shoot these p*ssies.” On December 16, an agent with Homeland Security Investigations served a summons to X to turn over information about the anonymous account that posted the messages. That yielded Novoa’s email and phone number, which investigators then tracked to him. When Homeland Security Investigation agents executed a search of his home on December 20, Novoa allegedly admitted to writing the posts. "Alright, you got me. That was me," he said, according to the criminal complaint. "Damn, so Elon does give you access to that," he reportedly said after agents asked him if the X account was his.

FOX News [1/23/2026 9:03 PM, Jasmine Baehr, 40621K] reports a Columbus, Ohio, man who allegedly posted threats to "shoot" and "blast" federal immigration agents on social media has been federally charged after agents later found rifles, ammunition and body armor inside his home, prosecutors said. Justin Mesael Novoa, 21, was charged with making threatening interstate communications, including threats to assault or murder a federal law enforcement officer, the Department of Justice (DOJ) announced Thursday. According to charging documents, Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) received information last month about threats directed at U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) employees on X. Investigators say Novoa posted a message on June 8, 2025, under the username @Father2High, that said, "they should blast every ice agent they find.” Prosecutors say the same account later posted another message on Nov. 9, 2025, stating: "can’t wait to shoot these p---y ice agents and r------d maga maggots.” Federal agents executed a search warrant at Novoa’s home in December 2025, according to court filings. During the search, authorities seized two rifles, two shotguns and one handgun, along with ammunition, prosecutors said. Agents also recovered two helmets and body armor, according to the DOJ. A pro-Palestinian flag was also pictured hanging on a wall inside Novoa’s house near the guns and body armor. Threatening to kill a federal officer carries a potential sentence of up to 10 years in prison, while making threatening interstate communications may result in up to five years in prison, prosecutors said. The case was announced by Dominick S. Gerace II, U.S. attorney for the Southern District of Ohio, and Jared Murphey, acting special agent in charge of ICE Homeland Security Investigations Detroit. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Timothy D. Prichard, according to the DOJ. A criminal complaint contains allegations, and defendants are presumed innocent unless proven guilty in a court of law. The DOJ did not indicate whether additional charges are expected and no injuries were reported in connection with the case.

Chicago Tribune [1/23/2026 10:18 PM, Madeline Buckley, 4829K] reports an attorney and activist who said an immigration agent threw him to the ground as he filmed on his phone told the Tribune on Friday he learned from police that the agent has been charged with a misdemeanor in Cook County. Robert Held, a local attorney who has been a frequent protester at the Immigration and Customs Enforcement processing center in Broadview, said he followed a car that left the facility on Dec. 27 and began filming the agent filling up his car at a gas station in nearby Brookfield. “He started walking toward me and then he increased his pace and threw me to the ground,” Held said. “And he was on top of me and he grabbed my phone and … I had to use all my might to hold onto my phone.” In response to questions from the Tribune, the Brookfield Police Department confirmed it responded to a gas station in the 9200 block of 31st Street, which resulted in misdemeanor charges, but the department declined to confirm that the defendant is a federal agent. The Department of Homeland Security did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Asked whether the incident in question resulted in charges against an immigration agent, the Cook County state’s attorney’s office released a statement. The office “reviews the available facts and relevant law when making charging decisions,” the statement reads. Neither the office nor police in Brookfield would release the name of the person charged. “After a thorough review of the investigation presented by law enforcement, our office recommended proceeding on a misdemeanor charge of battery, which local police then filed,” the statement said. The man was cited and released and given a court date, according to Brookfield police. Held said he immediately called police after the confrontation at the gas station. Officers asked him questions and examined his knuckles, he said. “They did a very professional investigation,” Held said. Held shared a video he shot with his cellphone with the Tribune of the moments before the alleged battery. It shows a man filling a black SUV up with gas, before he looks toward the camera and starts walking toward Held. The misdemeanor charge, which is not yet available in Cook County court records, is one of the first known cases of a federal immigration agent charged in connection with the controversial immigration operations in the Chicago area. In the Brookfield Police Department’s statement, officials said they initially sought a felony charge. The charge comes as some advocates and community members have clamored for Illinois officials to pursue criminal cases against immigration agents who have been accused of brutalizing city and suburban residents during their 64-day Operation Midway Blitz in the fall. Another ICE agent is facing drunken driving charges after police said his car jumped a curb and crashed into a hedgerow in Oak Brook on Oct. 26. The calls for prosecutions echo those made in Minnesota, where local officials have sought to investigate the shooting of Renee Good by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer, citing mistrust in the federal government’s ability to conduct an impartial investigation.

Chicago Tribune [1/23/2026 11:09 PM, Carolyn Stein, 4829K] reports the pastor of a Naperville church was among the hundreds of clergy members who gathered in Minneapolis this week to protest the actions of federal immigration agents in Minnesota. The Rev. Kari Nicewander, pastor of First Congregational Church of Naperville, answered a call from a coalition of Minneapolis faith leaders asking for clergy to join them in a mass action in Minneapolis. Participants would be attending protests, patrolling neighborhoods and distributing food to immigrant families. "What they said is, ‘When Selma happened, they put out a call for clergy,’ and they’re asking for clergy to come to Minneapolis," Nicewander said. Since December, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents have descended on Minnesota as part of Operation Metro Surge, an immigration crackdown initially focused on Minneapolis and St. Paul but since widened to include all of the state. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security has called it "the largest immigration operation ever carried out.” Many residents have been outraged by the actions of the federal agents, with tensions flaring following the shooting death of 37-year-old Renee Good by an ICE agent in Minneapolis. On Friday, thousands of people took to the street despite subzero temperatures to protest ICE’s presence in Minnesota. Businesses closed their doors in response to a call for an economic blackout day by union and faith leaders. Before Nicewander left Wednesday for Minneapolis, she told church congregants what she was doing. Diane Diamond, a member of First Congregational Church of Naperville, said, "I was at the church council meeting and she said … ‘I left my sermon on my desk so that if I’m not back by Sunday, (the president of the church membership) can read it … I’m going to abide by the law, but they don’t seem to be paying attention to the law up there.” Despite the safety concerns, Diamond said church members were pleased to see their pastor respond and want to stand up for immigrants. First Congregational Church, where Nicewander has been pastor for six months, has a long history of activism going back to the abolition movement. Before she took over as pastor, Nicewander was deeply involved in affordable housing work and legislative advocacy in Connecticut, she said. "But this particular situation feels, to be honest, a lot more surreal and powerful in terms of the number of people who are showing up," she said. "But it’s so horrifying what is actually happening here that it’s more horrifying than most of the issues I’ve been grappling with throughout my career.”

FOX News [1/23/2026 12:49 PM, Staff, 40621K] reports that Border Patrol chief Greg Bovino spoke about recent immigration enforcement efforts in Minnesota during a news conference on Thursday. [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

NBC News [1/23/2026 6:31 PM, Matt Lavietes, 34509K] reports a 2-year-old girl and her father were taken by ICE on Thursday, according to a Minneapolis council member. The Department of Homeland Security confirmed it has detained the father, who was with a child at the time. Elvis Joel Tipan-Echeverria and his 2-year-old daughter Chloe Renata Tipan Villacis were taken in south Minneapolis on their way home from the grocery store, Minneapolis City Council member Jason Chavez said on Instagram. A spokesperson for DHS confirmed that Tipan-Echeverria was taken into custody and that he was driving with a child when he was stopped. The agency did not identify the child’s name, age or gender. DHS said in a statement that Tipan-Echeverria was "an illegal immigrant from Ecuador who committed felony reentry and broke the laws of this nation." The spokesperson added that "DHS law enforcement took care of the child who the mother would not take" and that the "child and father are now reunited [at] a federal facility." DHS said that Tipan-Echeverria "was driving erratically with a child in the vehicle." During the arrest of Tipan-Echeverria, approximately 120 individuals surrounded the agents, blocking them in and preventing them from exiting, the spokesperson added. The bystanders then began throwing rocks and garbage cans toward the agents and child before crowd control measures were deployed, DHS said.

Daily Caller [1/23/2026 9:37 AM, Jason Cohen, 835K] reports William Kelly, an anti-Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) protester who stormed a church in Minnesota, called to "shut this country down" in a Thursday TikTok video before his arrest. Attorney General Pam Bondi announced Kelly’s arrest in a Thursday X post after he was seen on video with a crowd entering and loudly disrupting a Sunday service at Cities Church in St. Paul based on allegations that the pastor worked for ICE. Kelly’s incendiary TikTok video occurred after Bondi also announced the arrest of race activist Nekima Levy Armstrong in connection with the church protest. "They’ve just arrested Nekima Armstrong for our protest on Sunday. You know, my lawyers tell me they have no fucking case. This use of the FACE [Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances] Act and the KKK Act is complete bullshit, but let’s be honest: they don’t fucking care," Kelly said. "They don’t believe in the rule of law. They’re fascists. They’re now going after fucking the Clintons for the Epstein files? What the fuck? God damn it, people.” "When will you stop fucking acting like everything’s normal and going about your fucking days? Get in the fucking streets now. It’s time to shut this country down," he continued. "We are at fascism. The Republic has fucking fallen. Please, Americans, please stand up for something. Do not be the same as those in 1930s Germany, because right now that’s exactly what you’re all fucking doing. Please wake the fuck up.” Kelly was charged with conspiracy to deprive rights, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem wrote in a Thursday X post. Her post featured an image of masked federal agents restraining Kelly as he donned a "F*ck Trump" beanie. "As you can see, all these pretend Christians, all these comfortable white people who are living lavish, comfortable lives while children are dragged into concentration camps…" Kelly yelled at churchgoers amid the Sunday demonstration, footage shows. The anti-ICE mob stayed in the church after a pastor requested they leave for disrupting the service.

ABC News [1/23/2026 11:07 AM, Matt Rivers, 30493K] reports an Army veteran and Purple Heart recipient says that he was tackled and arrested by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents in Minneapolis and held in a cell for eight hours without being allowed to contact an attorney or his family. William Vermie, 39, said in an interview with ABC News that he was taken into custody earlier this month while standing with a crowd on a public sidewalk observing ICE agents detaining two young men in his neighborhood during an immigration enforcement activity dubbed by the government as Operation Metro Surge. He said he was driven to the Bishop Henry Whipple Federal Building in Minneapolis, where he was detained in a cell. The Department of Homeland Security said in a statement to ABC News that Vermie was arrested for allegedly assaulting a law enforcement officer. "They read me my rights and asked me if I wanted to answer any questions without a lawyer, and I said no," Vermie told ABC News. "And then they said, ‘You’ll have an opportunity to contact one later.’". At no time during his detention was he allowed to speak with an attorney, Vermie told ABC News, even though he said that he later learned that his wife had contacted one for him, who had been attempting to speak with him. "We’re entitled to counsel. It’s part of the Bill of Rights. Even if you are here illegally and you are a foreign national, you are entitled to legal representation," Vermie said. "I don’t know whether they’re incompetent or if they chose to do this, but it’s not good.” Vermie’s account appears similar to complaints from multiple attorneys interviewed by ABC News who allege that some of the thousands of people arrested in ICE operations in Minneapolis in recent weeks have been denied their constitutional right to see an attorney. Four attorneys told ABC News they have been denied access to their clients at the Whipple Building, where they are being held, which they say violates Fifth Amendment and Sixth Amendment rights to due process and the right to consult with counsel, respectively. In a statement, a spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security denied the attorneys’ claims, including that any constitutional violations are taking place at the Whipple Federal Building, adding that all detainees "have opportunities to communicate with their family members and lawyers.” A spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security confirmed that Vermie was detained by federal agents. "This individual was arrested for assaulting a law enforcement officer – a felony and a federal crime," the DHS spokesperson said in a statement to ABC News. "Our brave law enforcement are grappling with a 1,347% increase in assaults and a staggering 8,000% uptick in death threats as they put their lives on the line to arrest murderers, rapists, pedophiles, and gang members.” The DHS spokesperson also said Vermie was not denied the right to speak with an attorney while he was held at the Whipple Federal Building. But Vermie’s attorney told ABC News that after he was contacted by Vermie’s family, he immediately went to the Whipple Building and waited three hours to see his client, but was denied the opportunity, despite making multiple requests. In a statement Sunday to ABC News, DHS spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin said that more than 3,000 arrests have been made as part of Operation Metro Surge. McLaughlin said the arrests have included nearly 150 U.S. citizens accused of alleged assault or obstructing law enforcement.

FOX News [1/23/2026 6:39 PM, Alexandra Koch Fox, 40621K] reports multiple anti-ICE agitators were arrested at the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport (MSP) Friday after a crowd of protesters showed up despite frigid temperatures demanding airlines take a stand against federal immigration enforcement. Faith in Minnesota, a group of religious activists "calling for racial and economic justice in Minnesota," posted a video of the arrests on social media, claiming more than 100 clergy and faith leaders were arrested. Agitators were seen lined up on their knees, as police led them one by one to a bus for transport to jail. "In -20° weather, over 100 clergy and faith leaders were arrested at MSP Airport as they gathered in peaceful, prayerful resistance to demand airlines—especially Delta and Signature Aviation—stand with Minnesotans and say #ICEOutOfMN," the organization wrote. "… This must end.” Law enforcement has not yet confirmed the number of arrests. Faith in Minnesota alleged more than 2,000 deportations have run through the airport, claiming MSP employees have been detained by ICE at work and while commuting. The Metropolitan Airports Commission told affiliate FOX 9 Minneapolis it "worked in advance with event organizers to best accommodate their right to freedom of expression while also ensuring uninterrupted operations at MSP Airport.” The approved demonstration permit limited where protesters could gather and how many could attend, in order to maintain public safety, according to FOX 9.

Reuters [1/23/2026 6:47 PM, Staff, 36480K] Video: HERE reports local police arrested dozens of clergy members who sang hymns and prayed as they knelt on a road at Minneapolis-Saint Paul International Airport as part of a day of protests and walkouts on Friday (January 23) against U.S. President Donald Trump’s deployment of thousands of immigration enforcement officers in the Twin Cities.

Los Angeles Times [1/23/2026 9:52 AM, Jaewon Kang and Alicia A. Caldwell, 14862K] reports Target Corp. was hoping for a fresh start with a new chief executive officer, but an immigration crackdown in its hometown, Minneapolis, is putting the retailer back in a familiar position: confronting a political maelstrom that’s disrupting operations. After immigration officials briefly detained two Target employees who are U.S. citizens from a Richfield, Minn., store this month, some retail staffers started calling out of work at several locations in the Twin Cities area. Meanwhile, some teams have postponed planned in-office weeks at headquarters. And local faith leaders have demanded the company ban federal agents from its stores and parking lots and issue a statement clearly condemning the enforcement operation. Outgoing CEO Brian Cornell is set to meet with them Thursday, according to the delegation. The timing of the turmoil couldn’t be worse for Target, which risks angering shoppers and employees by taking almost any stance on polarizing topics such as immigration and law enforcement. The company is still reeling from backlash against a pullback in diversity initiatives that turned away some shoppers. And it comes just a few years after Target was whipsawed by protests over merchandise tied to Pride Month and counterprotests when it later stopped selling some goods. Company insider Michael Fiddelke, set to start as CEO on Feb. 1, has said he will focus on revitalizing sales and reviving the retailer’s underperforming shares. The company, the state’s fourth-biggest employer, hasn’t issued a public statement regarding Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s detainment of the two employees in Richfield, nor commented publicly about the surge of agents that have descended on the Twin Cities or the shooting death of a U.S. citizen, Renee Good, by an ICE agent two weeks ago. A company spokesman declined to comment. Chief Human Resources Officer Melissa Kremer said in a Thursday memo to employees that the company’s security teams are increasing communication with Minneapolis-based workers about expected disruptions near its locations. Senior leaders are actively engaging with government officials, community partners, faith leaders and other stakeholders, she said in the memo, viewed by Bloomberg News. "While we can’t control everything happening around us, we are focused on what we can control," Kremer wrote. "We’re listening and working to de-escalate where possible — while staying clear on what we need to safely operate our business and care for our team.”

Breitbart.com [1/23/2026 11:30 AM, John Binder, 2416K] reports Ian Andre Roberts, the illegal alien who served as the Des Moines, Iowa, Public Schools superintendent, has pleaded guilty to federal charges that accused him of making false statements to gain employment in the United States and illegally possessing a firearm. As Breitbart News reported, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents arrested Roberts in September 2025 as he had a final deportation order from a federal immigration judge that was issued in May 2024. When Roberts was arrested, agents found $3,000 in cash in his government-issued vehicle along with a hunting knife and a loaded handgun. At the time of his arrest, Roberts was serving as the school superintendent of Des Moines Public Schools after being chosen by the school board in July 2023. The school board, at the time, praised Roberts for being "passionate about instructional excellence, diversity, equity, inclusion, and innovation in education.” Subsequently, federal prosecutors charged Roberts with making false statements to gain employment and for being an illegal alien in possession of a firearm — both of which he has pleaded guilty to. The Department of Justice writes: According to public court documents, Roberts falsely stated that he was a United States citizen on employment paperwork related to his position at the Des Moines Public Schools in June 2023. Roberts was not and has never been a United States citizen. On September 26, 2025, Roberts knowingly possessed a loaded Glock pistol in his vehicle while knowing that he was unlawfully present in the United States. On the same day, Roberts also possessed three additional firearms at his residence, including a loaded pistol, a loaded rifle, and a shotgun. [Emphasis added].

Washington Post [1/23/2026 6:56 PM, Douglas MacMillan, 24149K] reports as staff tried to resuscitate Geraldo Lunas Campos at an immigrant detention camp in El Paso, a security contractor called 911, urgently asking for help, according to a recording of the call obtained by The Washington Post through a public records request. During that call and another 911 call placed after Lunas Campos was pronounced dead, detention center employees told dispatchers the detainee had tried to hang himself — an account that appears to conflict with the medical examiner’s recent finding of a homicide while being restrained by guards. Paul Walden, a lieutenant at the Camp East Montana detention center, called 911 at 9:37 p.m. on Jan. 3, saying that Lunas Campos had “tried to hang himself.” EMS was dispatched for an “apparent suicide” and arrived at 9:48 p.m., according to the El Paso Fire Department’s incident report. Emergency responders were led to Lunas Campos, who “was found pulseless & apneic on the floor of his cell with 2 staff-members providing CPR.” At 10:38 p.m., Daniel Rios, a deputy facility director, asked 911 operators to send a police detective to investigate a “suicide” that had occurred within the preceding 30 minutes. On the call, Rios said he was still on his way to the scene. “I don’t have the details. I have none of the details. I don’t want to lie to you, you know what I mean?” Rios said on the call. The 911 calls, which have not been previously reported, intensify questions about how Lunas Campos, a 55-year-old Cuban immigrant with criminal convictions, died in federal custody, and how the government responded. Reports about the death have led public officials, from the mayor of El Paso to congressional Democrats, to call for a full investigation of the events before and after Lunas Campos’s death.

AP [1/23/2026 6:51 PM, Ryan J. Foley and Michael Biesecker, 2983K] reports a Cuban immigrant at a Texas detention center tried to hang himself, was restrained by guards in handcuffs, and stopped breathing during a subsequent struggle, according to a 911 call from a private security contractor. A caller identifying himself as Lt. Paul Walden called for emergency help as medical staff tried to revive Geraldo Lunas Campos on Jan. 3 at Camp East Montana in El Paso, Texas. A county medical examiner ruled earlier this week that the death was a homicide. “He tried to hang himself, and then we put him in cuffs, and he kept going,” Walden said, according to a recording of the call The Associated Press obtained through a Texas public information request. He did not elaborate on how Lunas Campos tried to hang himself or what happened afterward. The City of El Paso redacted parts of the call to protect medical information. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, which oversees Camp East Montana, did not mention in its initial statement on the death that Lunas Campos had attempted suicide or been physically restrained. It did not immediately respond to questions Friday about the 911 call. The 911 call lends some support to an amended description of the incident an agency spokesperson offered days later that guards intervened to help when Lunas Campos tried to kill himself. Lunas Campos “violently resisted the security staff and continued to attempt to take his life,” and stopped breathing during the struggle, the spokesperson said. A witness told The Associated Press last week that Lunas Campos was handcuffed as at least five guards held him down and one put an arm around his neck and squeezed until he was unconscious. The El Paso County Medical Examiner’s Office ruled the death of Lunas Campos, 55, a homicide caused by asphyxia due to compression to his neck and torso. Unlike many homicides, it is unclear whether any law enforcement agency outside of ICE is investigating the death.

ABC News [1/23/2026 4:02 PM, Laura Romero, 30493K] reports the family of a Nicaraguan migrant who died at an ICE detention facility in Texas is pushing back against the Department of Homeland Security’s suggestion that his death may have been a suicide. In a press release, DHS said that Victor Manuel Diaz died in ICE custody on Jan. 14 at Camp East Montana in El Paso, after staff found him "unconscious and unresponsive in his room." While the department noted that "the official cause of death remains under investigation," they labeled the incident a "presumed suicide." However, Diaz’s family told ABC News they do not believe he took his own life and are calling for a full investigation. Manuel Diaz is the third detainee to die at the facility since it opened last year. The family said it’s concerned that, unlike the two previous deaths at the site, an autopsy of Manuel Diaz is not being conducted by the local medical examiner. DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin confirmed that the body of Manuel Diaz was sent to the Beaumont Medical Center, but DHS officials did not respond to questions from ABC News regarding why it was not sent to the local medical examiner.

USA Today [1/23/2026 11:55 AM, Eduardo Cuevas, 67103K] reports the Trump administration can’t yet deport detainees reportedly present when a 55-year-old Cuban man died inside a Texas detention facility, a judge ruled. On Jan. 21, the El Paso County Medical Examiner ruled Geraldo Lunas Campos’ Jan. 3 death inside the Camp East Montana detention facility a homicide, the El Paso Times, part of the USA TODAY Network, reported. The autopsy report showed his cause of death as "asphyxia due to neck and torso compression." The same day as the autopsy report’s release, U.S. Judge Steven Briones temporarily blocked federal immigration officials from removing two detainees who said they saw guards choking Lunas Campos. "There is very strong evidence that the guards at this detention center killed Mr. Lunas Campos," Max Schoening, a lawyer for Lunas Campos’ family, said in an interview with USA TODAY. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security didn’t respond to emailed questions about the court ruling or its assessment about the medical examiner’s report.

FOX News [1/23/2026 3:56 PM, Louis Casiano, 40621K] reports children being held in a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) center in Texas have access to computers, physical activities and education, according to a video posted by Rep. Tony Gonzales, R-Texas, who said Democrats have spun the truth about the agency. The video runs counter to long-held claims by many Democrats who have accused ICE of placing children in cages and holding them in unsanitary and inhumane conditions. On Tuesday, Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., said he was denied entry into the Dilley center despite giving officials there 24 hours’ notice. Gonzales said he visits ICE detention centers in his district often and has hosted hundreds of his congressional colleagues on tours of the centers. However, Democratic officials never visited when President Joe Biden was in office, he said.

NewsMax [1/23/2026 10:09 AM, Solange Reyner, 4109K] reports Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes earlier this week suggested residents could use lethal force against masked Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents under the state’s "stand your ground" law. "It’s kind of a recipe for disaster because you have these masked federal officers with very little identification, sometimes no identification, wearing plain clothes and masks," Mayes told 12News on Monday, calling ICE "very poorly trained." "And we have a stand your ground law that says that if you reasonably believe that your life is in danger, and you’re in your house or your car or on your property, that you can defend yourself with lethal force." Arizona’s stand your ground law eliminates the duty to retreat before using force in self-defense if a person is lawfully present and not committing a crime, allowing physical or deadly force when an individual reasonably believes it is necessary to prevent imminent death or serious injury. The statute broadly applies outside the home, but prosecutors and courts still evaluate whether the threat was immediate and the belief reasonable, and it does not protect those who seek out or provoke a confrontation. Mayes, when pressed on her comments by 12News reporter Brahm Resnik — who said they could be interpreted as a "license to an individual to shoot" — said: "Absolutely not ... but again, if you’re being attacked by someone who is not identified as a peace officer — how do you know?" She said she’s a gun owner and asked, "If somebody comes at me wearing a mask, and I can’t tell whether they’re a police officer, what am I supposed to do?

Blaze [1/23/2026 12:15 PM, Joseph MacKinnon, 1442K] reports Republican lawmakers, the Arizona Police Association, and the Trump administration castigated Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes (D) this week over her suggestion that it may be reasonable to shoot masked U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents. Mayes made no secret of her contempt for ICE in her interview with KPNX-TV’s Brahm Resnik, suggesting, for instance, that ICE officers are engaged in "thuggish, brutish behavior" and causing chaos, confusion, and anxiety in Minneapolis. "It’s a combustible situation, let’s be clear about that," said Mayes. "It’s a combustible situation being caused by ICE right now, wearing masks.” After noting that she was "outraged and sickened" to see ICE agents outside her building and claiming that "real cops don’t wear masks," the Democrat — who is seeking re-election — made a point of stressing that Arizona is a "stand your ground state.” "We also have a lot of guns in Arizona," she said with a smile. "You know, it’s kind of a recipe for disaster because you have these masked federal officers with very little identification, sometimes no identification, wearing plain clothes and masks, and we have a stand your ground law that says that if you reasonably believe that your life is in danger and you are in your house or your car or on your property, that you can defend yourself with lethal force.” Resnik pumped the brakes and said, "I want to be careful with that and understand what you are saying because you know how that could be interpreted.” "But it’s the fact," said Mayes. While Mayes clarified that you still cannot gun down peace officers in the Grand Canyon State and that she was not giving anyone license to start doing so, she appeared to give would-be killers an excuse, stating, "How do you know they’re a peace officer?". "If there’s a situation where somebody pulls out their gun because they know Arizona is a stand your ground state, then it becomes ‘did they reasonably know that they were a peace officer?’" said Arizona’s top law enforcement officer. Department of Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin told the New York Post, "This is [a] direct threat calling for violence against our law enforcement officers — this kind of rhetoric is going to get someone killed.”

Daily Caller [1/23/2026 1:07 PM, Hudson Crozier, 835K] reports an Antifa-affiliated website is on local and federal law enforcement’s radar after years of promoting anarchistic crimes and doxxing. The "Rose City Counter-Info" blog, focused mainly on Portland, Oregon, hosts numerous posts purporting to show immigration agents’ home addresses, advocating for attacks on law enforcement infrastructure and taking credit for crimes, according to a Daily Caller News Foundation analysis. The Portland Police Bureau (PPB) told the DCNF that it is "aware" of the site and similar ones, and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) twice promised consequences for the doxxing in recent months. Rose City Counter-Info promotes activism and ideological materials from Rose City Antifa, a violent group in Portland with its own website, though the blog claims no formal association. Rose City Counter-Info and Rose City Antifa did not respond to multiple requests for comment from the DCNF. The blog shows how anonymous leftists use the internet to publicly coordinate anti-government actions — with an increasingly radical flair. "We will prosecute those who dox ICE law enforcement officers to the fullest extent of the law," DHS spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin told the DCNF in June in response to a Rose City Counter-Info post doxxing three alleged ICE agents in Portland and Washington State. Flyers copying the webpages were distributed around the Portland area, and an agent’s home was then littered with trash and written threats targeting the agent by name, the DHS said in July. One flyer on a telephone pole nearby said to use an "antifa" email address to send information on any other officers.

FOX News [1/23/2026 8:13 PM, Louis Casiano, 40621K] reports a letter delivered to a Republican Party chapter in Northern California called for an all-out war against U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents, including the use of homemade explosives to send them "home in a body bag." The 12-page letter, titled "A Real American Response to Foreign Terrorist Invasions," was sent to the Sonoma County Republican Party. The lengthy document mocks ICE agents for "living out their ‘Call of Duty’ fantasy army roles, only with real assault weapons." No name or return address was listed, and there was no mention of Sonoma County in the document, the local GOP said. "NOTE: No official of any party had anything to do with the composing or distributing of this document; it is strictly a private ‘patriotic effort,’ like Donald Trump’s January 6th Washington, D.C., insurgents," the letter states on page seven. The letter’s opening line mentions the shooting death of Renee Nicole Good, who was fatally shot by an ICE agent in Minneapolis earlier this month. The Department of Homeland Security said Good was trying to ram her vehicle into an ICE agent when he opened fire in self-defense. "It is clear that every private citizen’s life, immigrant or not, is at risk of annihilation by these low-IQ, trigger-happy domestic terrorists, with no restraints from their commanders in the field. NO ONE IS SAFE NOW," the letter states. The sender also accused ICE of inflicting a "real foreign invasion–style war" on unarmed men, women and children. "They now need to feel real war, just as any foreign invading army would," the letter said, condemning Republican congressional lawmakers for backing the Trump administration’s crackdown on illegal immigration. The letter then went on to urge violence against ICE personnel. "Since ICE-DHS make so light of our innocent citizens’ lives, then it is time to show ICE how light and worthless their lives are," the letter said, calling those who support the agents "fair game." "ICE agents and their backers need to become the targets," the letter continued. "IED’d, run over with vehicles, shot at by snipers, sprayed with toxic chemicals." Several Trump administration officials are also mentioned, including Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, White House deputy chief of staff for policy Stephen Miller and Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., who has been sharply critical of ICE and the Trump administration’s crackdown on criminal illegal immigrants. Pages two and three give detailed instructions on how to make a chemical improvised explosive device (IED) in a section of the letter titled, "Carrying the War Back to the ICE Invader Murderers and Protecting Our Personnel." The anonymous person or group responsible for the letter included several images of ICE agents carrying out their duties.

Daily Wire [1/23/2026 10:02 AM, Ben Shapiro, 2494K] reports amid all of the chaos regarding the immigration situation in Minneapolis, members of the legacy media and the Left have simply started to tell lies. The latest lie being told is that federal agents seized a five-year-old boy in an effort to bait his father. "Columbia school officials say a 5-year-old boy was used as ‘bait’ for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to detain him and his father," Fox News reported. This was treated by the legacy media as a major story. This story was apparently first reported by New York Times, which stated in an article titled, "Detention of 5-Year-Old by Federal Agents Incenses Minneapolis": A 5-year-old boy wearing a Spider-Man backpack and an oversized hat was detained with his father by immigration authorities on Tuesday, one of four students who have been apprehended in a suburban Minneapolis school district during the past two weeks, school officials said. The prekindergarten pupil, Liam Conejo Ramos, is pictured in a photo released by the school system as he stands next to a vehicle with an adult’s hand on his backpack. His father is not in sight. The image prompted outrage in the Twin Cities area, where many people have been angered since mid-December by the Trump administration’s surge in deportation operations. "Why detain a 5-year-old?" Zena Stenvik, the superintendent of schools in Columbia Heights, Minn., asked at a news conference about the episode on Wednesday. Buried in the fifth paragraph of the article was this admission: "The boy and his father were taken to Dilley, Texas, outside of San Antonio, where they are being held at an immigration detention center, according to Marc Prokosch, a lawyer working with the family.” The image of the child in custody prompted an outcry. But what exactly happened? According to Tricia McLaughlin, a spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security, when the agents sought to detain the father, he fled on foot and left Liam behind in the vehicle, which is a bit of a different story.

USA Today [1/23/2026 12:15 PM, Paris Barraza, 67103K] reports an anti-Immigration and Customs Enforcement protest in solidarity with Minnesota is planned in Los Angeles on Friday, Jan. 23, organizers said, the latest demonstration coming to the city amid ongoing tensions between federal immigration agents and communities nationwide. It comes just days after nationwide walkouts were planned in protest of the Trump administration, and previous protests earlier January over the fatal shooting of Renee Nicole Good by an ICE agent in Minneapolis on Jan. 7. Hundreds of Minnesota businesses are expected to close on Friday as part of a statewide protest over the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement. The Southern California rally will be held in downtown Los Angeles, complete with a march planned to the Metropolitan Detention Center on Alameda Street. "We are witnessing a dangerous pattern of behavior by ICE agents as they traverse select communities across the United States imposing their version of a warped mandate by the Trump Administration," said Angelica Salas, CHIRLA executive director in a statement.

New York Times [1/23/2026 9:58 PM, Chris Cameron, 135475K] reports federal judge in Illinois blocked the Trump administration from ending deportation protections for about 3,670 Burmese nationals living in the United States, a setback to President Trump’s mass deportation campaign and effort to curtail a program for hundreds of thousands of migrants fleeing crisis at home. Judge Matthew F. Kennelly of the U.S. District Court in Northern Illinois wrote in a 57- page opinion that there was significant evidence that Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem’s decision to end Temporary Protected Status for Burmese immigrants was arbitrary and capricious. He wrote that the decision did not properly consider conditions in Myanmar, also known as Burma, a Southeast Asian country that is suffering a yearslong civil war. In more than four years, tens of thousands of people have been killed and millions more have been displaced. Judge Kennelly ruled that there was significant evidence that Noem’s decision to end the protections was predetermined, based on the goal of administration officials to eliminate Temporary Protected Status for all immigrants, regardless of the circumstances in their countries. He said that even as Ms. Noem justified the termination, asserting that circumstances in Burma had improved enough that deportations could proceed, other Trump administration officials reported “violence against civilians including airstrikes, shelling, and razing of villages, human trafficking, and dire humanitarian need” amid what has been a brutal conflict driven in part by ethnic tensions.

Reported similarly:
Reuters [1/23/2026 11:25 PM, Kanishka Singh, 36480K]

NewsMax [1/23/2026 4:25 PM, Nate Raymond, 4109K] reports immigrant rights advocates have filed a lawsuit seeking to block President Donald Trump’s administration from ending temporary protections from deportation that had been granted to thousands of Ethiopians living in the U.S. Three Ethiopian nationals, along with the nonprofit African Communities Together, allege in a lawsuit filed in Boston federal court on Thursday that the Department of Homeland Security is unlawfully putting over 5,000 people at risk of losing their Temporary Protected Status, or TPS, after Feb. 13. It marked the latest in a series of lawsuits challenging the Trump administration’s efforts to curtail protection from deportation extended to citizens of numerous countries ⁠through grants of TPS. Under federal law, TPS is available to people whose home countries have experienced natural disasters, armed conflicts, or other extraordinary events. It provides eligible migrants with work authorization and ​temporary protection from deportation. The lawsuit says that while Ethiopia remains a country in a humanitarian crisis, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem unlawfully terminated the Ethiopians’ legal status with just 60 days’ notice based on an unconstitutional animus against nonwhite immigrants. Ethiopia’s ‍population is predominantly Black. "The administration’s review of Ethiopia’s TPS designation resulting in the termination decision was motivated wrongly by politics and ⁠racism and ignored the rule of law, including the requirement to consider objective evidence of unsafe conditions in Ethiopia," Amaha Kassa, executive director of African Communities Together, said in a statement. Homeland Security Department spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin in a statement said TPS "was never intended to be a de facto amnesty program, yet that’s how previous administrations have used it for decades.”

Reported similarly:
Reuters [1/23/2026 5:12 PM, Nate Raymond, 36480K]

FOX Business [1/23/2026 5:27 PM, Jasmine Baehr, 10085K] reports the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) ordered all public housing authorities and owners receiving department-funded housing Friday to verify tenant citizenship and eligibility after an audit conducted with the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) flagged tens of thousands of deceased and ineligible tenants nationwide. HUD said the audit identified nearly 200,000 tenants requiring eligibility verification, including nearly 25,000 deceased tenants and nearly 6,000 ineligible non-American tenants across federally funded housing programs. Under the directive, HUD said all public housing authorities and participating owners have 30 days to take corrective action or face potential sanctions. HUD said the review was conducted in coordination with DHS and U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), which operates the Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements (SAVE) system, and was aimed at ensuring compliance with existing federal law. "We will leave no stone unturned," HUD Secretary Scott Turner said in a statement. "We are proud to collaborate with DHS to execute on the president’s agenda of rooting out abuse of taxpayer-funded resources. Ineligible non-citizens have no place to receive welfare benefits. With this new directive and audit, HUD is putting new processes in place to safeguard taxpayer resources and put the American people first.” HUD said the directive follows a letter sent last month reminding housing authorities and owners of their legal obligations under Section 214 of the Housing and Community Development Act of 1980 and President Trump’s Executive Order 14218, which requires verification of citizenship and immigration status prior to admission to HUD-assisted housing. As part of that effort, Turner and DHS Secretary Kristi Noem previously signed an "American Housing Programs for American Citizens" memorandum of understanding aimed at preventing what HUD described as the misappropriation of taxpayer dollars under federal housing programs.

Reported similarly:
Washington Times [1/23/2026 3:35 PM, Stephen Dinan, 852K]

New York Post [1/24/2026 12:52 AM, Victor Nava, 42219K] reports the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) ordered public housing authorities on Friday to conduct "immediate citizenship verification" of tenants or risk losing federal funding. The demand follows a HUD and the Department of Homeland Security audit that discovered nearly 200,000 tenants receiving taxpayer-funded rental assistance in need of eligibility verification, including some 25,000 "deceased tenants" and about 6,000 "ineligible non-American tenants.” "We will leave no stone unturned," HUD Secretary Scott Turner said in a statement. "Ineligible non-citizens have no place to receive welfare benefits," Turner added. "With this new directive and audit, HUD is putting new processes in place to safeguard taxpayer resources and put the American people first.” HUD Assistant Secretary of Public and Indian Housing Ben Hobbs described citizenship verification as "a major step forward to ensure we put American families first and eliminate waste, fraud, and abuse.” "There are hundreds of thousands of American families on housing waitlists across the country," Hobbs noted. "It is essential we prioritize our limited resources to eligible families only.” Public Housing Authorities (PHAs) and building owners participating in HUD-funded housing have 30 days "to take corrective action to address these findings.” HUD warned that "compliance with the new report will be monitored," and those who fail to verify tenant citizenship may face sanctions including withheld or reduced federal funding. With HUD funds, PHAs provide subsidized rent to eligible low-income families, the elderly and disabled individuals. There are approximately 970,000 households living in public housing units managed by some 3,300 PHAs that receive federal funding, according to HUD. President Trump signed an executive order last February directing HUD and other federal agencies to ensure illegal immigrants are excluded from receiving any taxpayer-funded benefits. The president argued that the Biden administration "repeatedly undercut the goals" of a federal law that already prohibited illegal immigrants from obtaining most government benefits, "resulting in the improper expenditure of significant taxpayer resources.”

AP [1/23/2026 5:46 AM, Staff, 31753K] reports U.S. President Donald Trump on Thursday praised his “great” trip to the World Economic Forum in Davos where he discussed plans for his “Golden Dome” — a multibillion dollar missile defense system that he says will be operational before his term ends in 2029. [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

Axios [1/23/2026 7:20 AM, Asher Price, 12972K] reports the Trump administration has indefinitely halted citizenship naturalization ceremonies at Austin’s City Hall, according to city officials. The ceremonies, typically diverse, flag-waving and emotional events, are the final step to full citizenship rights for immigrants. Citizenship status remains pending until the ceremony is conducted. Federal officials will not conduct a scheduled naturalization ceremony at City Hall in February or for the "foreseeable future," per a Jan. 16 memo from Lindsey Wilson, director of Austin’s Equity and Inclusion office, to City Council members. Five other ceremonies had been scheduled for later this year. Officials with U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) informed the city they were cancelling the ceremonies because of "a significant decline" in naturalization applications, per the memo from Wilson. The city memo also said that federal officials claimed the implementation of a more extensive vetting process for would-be citizens "is slowing adjudications and, in turn, affecting the scheduling of ceremonies. Axios has filed a public records request with the city for correspondence with USCIS.

FOX News [1/23/2026 8:09 AM, Peter Pinedo Fox, 40621K] Video: HERE reports National Border Patrol Council President Paul Perez told Fox News Digital that, despite heavy criticism from the media and Democrats, as well as the consistent presence of agitators, officers’ morale remains high and there is "no shortage of volunteers" to assist with deportation operations. Perez told Fox News Digital during an interview that though the "majority of our agents are stationed on the southwest border," members of his union understand the threat that criminal illegal immigrants pose to the entire nation after four years under the Biden administration. "Unfortunately, you throw a dart at the map, and it’s very likely that some of the people that Biden let in are there," he explained. Though distinct from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers who are primarily responsible for interior removal operations, Perez said there has been "no shortage of volunteers" for deployments for operations in cities across the country, including Minneapolis, Portland and Los Angeles. "We’ve got plenty of agents that are willing to go out there to go and help because they see the challenges that our ICE officers and our other our law enforcement partners are going up against and they want to be there to help," he explained. "They’re very well-trained, they’re very eager, they are patriotic, and they want to do their duty to secure the border and help secure America." [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

San Diego Union Tribune [1/23/2026 6:33 PM, Alexandra Mendoza, 1538K] reports pre-approved Global Entry and SENTRI applicants can now complete their enrollment interview upon entering the U.S. via the Cross Border Express from the Tijuana International Airport, officials said. The U.S. Customs and Border Protection program, known as Enrollment on Arrival, allows those who have applied online and received conditional approval to bypass the interview scheduling process at an enrollment center. The Enrollment on Arrival process began at the CBX binational terminal this week. CBP San Diego Director of Field Operations Sidney Aki announced it on Wednesday during a stakeholders’ meeting hosted by the nonprofit Smart Border Coalition.

The Hill [1/23/2026 11:07 AM, Ryan Mancini, 12595K] reports that Gregory Bovino, U.S. Border Patrol commander, on Thursday defended his trench coat after California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) accused him of buying “SS garb.” “That coat is definitely Border Patrol issued,” Bovino said on “On Balance with Leland Vittert” on NewsNation, The Hill’s sister network. “I’ve had it over 25 years. I bought that as a young agent, approximately 1999.” He noted that he wore the same coat to former Customs and Border Protection Commissioner Chris Magnus’s swearing-in ceremony in Washington, D.C., in 2021. Magnus, a former Tucson, Ariz., police chief, submitted his resignation to former President Biden in 2022 at the request of former Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas. Bovino added that he received “nothing but compliments on that coat.” “Fast forward a few years to this administration, all of a sudden it’s a problem,” he continued. “Hey, what changed there? Why is it a problem now than it was during the last administration?” Department of Homeland Security spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin reiterated some of Bovino’s remarks to the Times, saying the coat is part of “standard-issue Border Patrol winter dress uniform.” “There are legitimate policy debates to be had, but manufacturing fake outrage and likening law enforcement to the Nazis or Gestapo is incredibly dangerous,” she added in her statement.

NBC News [1/23/2026 9:15 PM, Marlene Lenthang, Griffin Eckstein and Daniella Silva, 34509K] Video: HERE reports a Border Patrol agent was recorded on video in Minneapolis chasing down a teenager, locking him in between his legs on the ground, and detaining him. The video, taken Thursday, showed an agent wearing a Border Patrol vest chase after the teen, who can be heard yelling in Spanish that he is legal. A Department of Homeland Security spokesperson said the incident unfolded as Border Patrol agents were conducting targeted immigration enforcement operations in Minneapolis. They had attempted to stop a black Toyota Camry, but the car allegedly sped away. The driver, whom the department identified as Joffre Alexander Jara Llangari, then crashed into a tree, the spokesperson said. DHS described Llangari as "a 19-year-old illegal alien from Ecuador.” He and the passenger, Rosa Florinda Llangari-Tenecoraa, fled on foot until they were arrested, the spokesperson said. DHS said Llangari had been served a notice to appear in 2024 and Llangari-Tenecoraa had been served with a notice to appear in 2022. "Both will remain in custody pending removal proceedings," DHS said. Skylar Fehlen, a local resident, witnessed the crash and recorded the video. In it, the agent can be seen chasing a teen wearing a gray hoodie. The woman filming is heard screaming, "Stop! Stop! No!". The teen was later seen laying on his stomach on the snow-covered street, in between the legs of the agent standing above him. Someone can be heard in the video asking the agent if he had a warrant, to no response. The teenager yelled in Spanish, "Yo soy legal, yo soy legal," meaning "I’m legal, I’m legal.” The woman filming repeatedly blew a whistle, a community effort to alert the public about the presence of immigration officers. The agent brought out a pair of handcuffs, and moments later the boy was seen standing with his hands cuffed behind his back, being escorted into a black SUV by three people. The SUV later drove off. Fehlen told The Associated Press she was in her living room when she saw a car hit a tree and two teens run out. She grabbed her whistle and ran outside and eventually found the one of the teens. "He yells for help, ‘Help me, help me, help me,’ and the ICE agent ends up coming, running and tackling him in the middle of the street, pins him down, is speaking to him in Spanish, trying to get him to calm down, and then he arrests him," she said. Fehlen criticized the federal immigration crackdown that has rocked the nation, and prominently Minneapolis, over the last few months. "They don’t care about documentation. They’re absolutely taking everybody, and then they end up releasing them just because they’re on this power trip," she told the AP. The Trump administration’s immigration crackdown has targeted major blue cities across the nation. In Minneapolis, there have been more than 3,000 federal immigration personnel since December, in what the administration has dubbed Operation Metro Surge. Officers have apprehended more than 3,000 undocumented immigrants in Minneapolis over the last six weeks alone, according to the Department of Homeland Security.

The Hill [1/23/2026 10:20 AM, Sarah Davis, 12595K] reports the man accused of leading a murder-for-hire plot against Border Patrol Cmdr. Gregory Bovino was found not guilty Thursday. Juan Espinoza Martinez, who faced up to 10 years in prison if convicted, admitted to sending a message to his friend over the social platform Snapchat with a picture of the agent and the words, “2k on info when they catch him. 10-k if you take him down.” Upon receiving this message from Espinoza Martinez, Adrian Jimenez testified that he sent its contents to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), Chicago outlet WGN reported. Espinoza Martinez’s defense attorney, Dena Singer, argued her client had no intention to actually carry out a plot against Bovino, while federal prosecutors argued he did. U.S. attorneys argued Espinoza Martinez had become “fixated and obsessed” with Bovino, pointing to additional messages in which he criticized DHS’s immigration crackdown. In a statement shared with The Hill on Friday, DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said, “This verdict does not change the facts” of the Snapchat message Espinoza Martinez sent. “The media and sanctuary politicians must stop demonizing our brave law enforcement who are facing an 8000% increase in death [threats] against them and having terrorists shoot at them, cars being used [as] weapons against them, online doxing of their families, and more,” McLaughlin said.

USA Today [1/23/2026 5:35 PM, Zach Wichter, 67103K] reports the Transportation Security Administration wants to update the way it stores and uses biometric data from PreCheck applicants. In a notice posted to the Federal Register on Jan. 15, the agency said it is considering introducing a mobile biometric ID for PreCheck users and will expand its biometric information sharing with other sections of the Department of Homeland Security. Under the proposed changes, TSA will share fingerprints with Customs and Border Protection to speed up Global Entry enrollment. It’s part of the push by DHS to create a more unified single experience for Trusted Traveler enrollees. The agency will also expand its biometric screening capabilities, which it says will lead to faster processing at TSA. The proposed changes would also allow biometric data to be used for continuous vetting of Trusted Traveler applicants for criminal and security risks, rather than a one-time screening during the application process. Since the proposed changes affect only TSA PreCheck applicants, participation in the more biometric-heavy screening is seen as voluntary. The TSA is accepting public comments on the proposed changes through March 16.

AP [1/24/2026 1:53 AM, Emilie Megnien, Jeff Amy and Jamie Stengle, 30493K] reports more than 8,000 flights across the U.S. set to take off over the weekend have been canceled as a major storm expected to wreak havoc across much of the country bears down, threatening to knock out power for days and snarl major roadways. Roughly 140 million people were under a winter storm warning from New Mexico to New England. The National Weather Service forecast warns of widespread heavy snow and a band of catastrophic ice stretching from east Texas to North Carolina. Forecasters say damage, especially in areas pounded by ice, could rival that of a hurricane. By Friday night, the edge of the storm was sending freezing rain and sleet into parts of Texas while snow and sleet were falling in Oklahoma. After sweeping through the South, the storm was expected to move into the Northeast, dumping about a foot (30 centimeters) of snow from Washington through New York and Boston, the weather service predicted. Governors in more than a dozen states sounded the alarm about the turbulent weather ahead, declaring emergencies or urging people to stay home. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott told residents on the social media platform X that the state Department of Transportation was pretreating the roads and told residents, "Stay home if possible.” More than 3,400 flights were delayed or canceled Saturday, according to the flight tracking website FlightAware. More than 5,000 were called off for Sunday. Angela Exstrom was supposed to fly back to Omaha, Nebraska, from a trip in Mexico, but she learned her Saturday flight out of Houston had been canceled. So instead, she is going back via Los Angeles. "If you live in the Midwest and travel in the winter, stuff can happen," she said. Utility companies braced for power outages because ice-coated trees and power lines can keep falling long after a storm has passed. The Midwest saw wind chills as low as minus 40 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 40 Celsius), meaning that frostbite could set in within 10 minutes. In Bismarck, North Dakota, where the wind chill was minus 41 (minus 41 Celsius), Colin Cross was bundled up Friday in long johns, two long-sleeve shirts, a jacket, hat, hood, gloves and boots as he cleaned out an empty unit for the apartment complex where he works. The federal government put nearly 30 search and rescue teams on standby. Officials had more than 7 million meals, 600,000 blankets and 300 generators placed throughout the area the storm was expected to cross, according to the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

ABC News [1/23/2026 11:57 AM, Staff, 30493K] reports the storm stretches from New Mexico to the South to the Northeast. More than 170 million people are on alert for a massive weekend storm that stretches from New Mexico to Maine, and is expected to paralyze the South with dangerous ice and snow. More than 1,700 flights within, into or out of the U.S. scheduled for Saturday have now been canceled ahead of the storm, with Dallas’ two airports hit the hardest. The Federal Emergency Management Agency is staging resources ahead of the storm, including prepositioning supplies and equipment, according to an internal planning document reviewed by ABC News. At Camp Minden in Louisiana, FEMA is staging 250,000 meals, 400,000 liters of water and 30 generators, according to the document. Incident management teams are on standby and FEMA has activated the National Response Coordination Center, the document said.

Bloomberg [1/23/2026 7:50 PM, Staff, 18207K] reports “Balance of Power: Late Edition" focuses on the intersection of politics and global business. On today’s show, Craig Fugate, former FEMA Administrator under the Obama Administration, shares what he expects to happen this weekend regarding the massive winter storm set to impact a large portion of the US. Danielle Pletka, American Enterprise Institute Distinguished Fellow, discusses the latest with the Trump Administration and Iran. [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

(B) WIS News 10 at 12:30 [1/23/2026 12:46 PM, Staff] reports that much of the US is bracing for the storm which could bring damaging ice and heavy snow across the region. Thursday, Homeland Security Kristi Noem met with governors and emergency managers from states set to be impacted by the upcoming storm. At least 183 million people in 45 states are under alert as the storm impact zone could stretch more than 1500 miles from Texas to the northeast. Noem says the Department of Homeland Security, FEMA, and other federal agencies are closely monitoring conditions and coordinating with state and local partners to prepare.

Politico [1/23/2026 6:03 AM, Thomas Frank and Megan Messerly, 13586K] reports the monster storm that’s threatening to dump snow across much of the U.S. could be a test of the Trump administration’s willingness to help states after natural disasters. With heavy snow, sleet and freezing rain forecast to begin falling Friday and continuing into Monday over a massive swath of the country, from the Rockies to the Atlantic, governors from dozens of states could be forced to navigate shifting policies under President Donald Trump, who has set efforts in motion to reduce the flow of disaster aid to states. As governors declare emergencies ahead of the storm, some are wondering whether the White House will reject their requests for federal funding to help pay for cleanup and repairs if predictions for over a foot of snow in some areas prove accurate. “They’re preparing for the worst,” said a former senior Federal Emergency Management Agency official who was granted anonymity to describe discussions with state officials. “They’re preparing for no grants, no money.” On Capitol Hill, lawmakers expressed concern Tuesday about Trump denying disaster aid for snowstorms in a report accompanying a proposed Department of Homeland Security spending plan for fiscal 2026. The report by House and Senate appropriators from both parties said the spending package “reaffirms Congress’ intent … that snowstorms shall be eligible for Federal relief.” A spokesperson for Delaware Sen. Chris Coons, a Democrat, said in a statement that the willingness of Trump and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem “to turn even the weather into a partisan issue and play politics with people’s lives may make an already bad situation somehow even worse.” Rep. Bennie Thompson of Mississippi, the top Democrat on the House Homeland Security Committee, said in an email, “Any notion that snowstorms don’t qualify as a disaster defies logic — and is unnecessarily cruel.” White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson, in a statement, called the Democratic criticisms “fear-mongering” that “ignores reality.” Axios [1/23/2026 7:33 PM, Josephine Walker, 12972K] reports that the storm will be FEMA’s first major, multistate rapid activation since the Trump administration began reducing the agency’s manpower — and watchdogs warn it may not be ready. No major storms made landfall in the U.S. during the 2025 hurricane season, but this weekend’s deluge could dump inches of crippling ice, freezing rain or heavy snow to regions not used to dealing with extreme winter weather. Multiple energy companies have warned customers to prepare for "multi-day outages." Meteorologists are comparing the downfall to Texas’ February 2021 storm when a freeze killed more than 200 people after power failures. Plus, President Trump and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem have previously floated dismantling FEMA and seemingly denied aid requests on partisan lines, fueling local leaders’ doubts that they can depend on the administration.

Breitbart [1/23/2026 6:25 PM, Nick Gilbertson, 2416K] reports the Trump administration "is closely monitoring" the winter storm forecast to affect the eastern half of the United States, a White House official said Friday afternoon. The official noted in a statement to reporters that President Donald Trump is receiving briefings on the forecast and is in dialogue with officials. "The President is being briefed throughout the day and is in close contact with officials," the White House official said. "The entire Trump Administration is closely monitoring the anticipated weather and is undertaking a whole-of-government approach to respond as appropriate.” As the Associated Press reported: The massive storm system is expected to bring a crippling ice storm from Texas through parts of the South, potentially around a foot (30 centimeters) of snow from Oklahoma through Washington, D.C., New York and Boston, and then a final punch of bitterly cold air that could drop wind chills to minus 50 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 46 Celsius) in parts of Minnesota and North Dakota. Forecasters are warning the damage, especially in areas pounded by ice, could rival a hurricane. About 160 million people were under winter storm or cold weather watches or warnings — and in many places both.

New York Times [1/23/2026 5:04 AM, Ivan Penn and Rebecca F. Elliott, 135475K] reports as arctic cold and snow squalls threaten much of the United States this weekend, managers of electric grids from the Midwest to the East Coast have issued warnings that many homes and businesses could lose power. Grid managers have instructed the country’s largest electricity providers to postpone routine maintenance on power plants and lines to ensure that those resources are available during and after the storm. Heavy snow and freezing rain weigh down tree branches and power lines, causing failures that can cripple energy systems. Frigid cold also drives up electricity demand as heating appliances require more energy and run longer. Extreme winter weather has expanded utility peak demand in the United States beyond summer to include winter. As a result, utilities have less time to maintain and upgrade equipment, making the grid less reliable and raising energy costs for consumers. “When you get one day of cold weather, it’s not as significant. But we’re talking about three or four days here of very low temperatures,” said Douglas Giuffre, who leads U.S. power and renewables research for S&P Global Energy. The energy secretary, Chris Wright, said on Thursday that the federal government had ordered that unused backup generators at data centers and “other major facilities” be made available to help prevent blackouts.

Washington Examiner [1/23/2026 10:56 AM, David Zimmermann, 1394K] reports as many states across the nation brace for a severe winter storm this weekend, the Department of Energy is advising grid operators to use data centers as backup generation sources in case of a power outage in their area. Secretary of Energy Chris Wright made the recommendation in a Thursday letter to the nation’s electrical grid operators. The backup plan for power generation is to address what he calls a "national energy emergency" amid Winter Storm Fern. "The Trump administration will not stand by and allow the previous administration’s reckless energy subtraction policies and bureaucratic red tape put American lives at risk," Wright said in a statement. "We have identified more than 35 [gigawatts] of unused backup generation that exists across the country and are taking action to ensure that if the nation needs it, the generation will be made available," he added. "Rest assured, President Trump and the Energy Department remain committed to doing everything in our power to mitigate blackouts and lower energy costs for the American people." The Energy Department had been working on the plan for months for implementation during emergencies, such as the impending winter storm or during peak demand periods in the summer, Wright told the Wall Street Journal. Invoking Section 202(c) of the Federal Power Act, the draft order applies to data centers and major industrial or commercial facilities and requires backup power resources as a last resort before an energy reliability coordinator declares an Energy Emergency Alert Level 3. The alert, which warns of possible rolling blackouts, is the highest stage of a power grid emergency. Wright is not the only Cabinet official working overtime in preparation for this weekend’s inclement weather. Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem met with state and local leaders this week in advance of potential emergencies. "DHS, [the Federal Emergency Management Agency], [the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency], [the U.S. Coast Guard], and our other federal partners are closely monitoring conditions and coordinating with state and local partners to ensure readiness," Noem posted on X Thursday afternoon. "Governors remain in the lead, and we stand ready to support.”

Bloomberg [1/23/2026 6:43 PM, Brian Kahn, 18207K] reports the eastern two-thirds of the US is gearing up for a major winter storm. Ice, sleet and snow will spread across an area spanning thousands of miles. While parts of the US have dealt with major winter storms in recent years, from California being pummeled by atmospheric rivers last year to Texas’ 2021 deep freeze, the country hasn’t seen any with this geographic scope. But two factors are lining up to create a weather system that’s forecast to grip dozens of states from New Mexico to Maine. The first is cold air. After all, snow and ice can’t happen without temperatures below freezing. The big chill comes courtesy of a huge dip in the jet stream, a band of air that moves from west to east. But it’s occasionally prone to wild swings, like the one currently over North America that has cold air riding it out of Alaska and swooping across the southern US. That dip — also known as a trough — will cause temperatures to drop well below seasonal averages. “The large-scale nature of the pattern also means that we’re getting a widespread region of cold and not just getting clipped by a short cold spell,” said Andrea Lopez Lang, an atmospheric scientist at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

CNN [1/23/2026 2:12 PM, Gabe Cohen, 606K] reports that Homeland Security officials have urged disaster response staff at the Federal Emergency Management Agency to avoid using the word "ice" in public messaging about the massive winter storm barreling toward much of the United States, according to two sources familiar with the directive. The concern is that the word could spark confusion or online mockery, given the ongoing controversy surrounding US Immigration and Customs Enforcement — also known as "ICE." The guidance, informally delivered to a group at FEMA Thursday by officials from the Department of Homeland Security – which oversees both FEMA and ICE – comes as states across the South brace for potentially devastating ice accumulations, with some areas expecting a quarter -inch or more. Officials told staff they worry that certain phrasing – like "watch out for ice" – could be misinterpreted or quickly turned into internet fodder, especially as ICE operations remain a flashpoint in cities like Minneapolis and beyond. That would take away from the purpose of the messages, meant to protect people in danger over the next few days, the officials said. "If FEMA says, ‘Keep off the roads if you see ice,’ it would be easy for the public to meme it," a source with knowledge of the guidance told CNN. "I think it’s a dangerous precedent to set. If we can’t use clear language to help prepare Americans, then people may be left vulnerable and could suffer." Instead, FEMA staff have been encouraged to use terms like "freezing rain" in their public messaging, the sources said.

CBS New York [1/23/2026 4:22 PM, Alexa Herrera, 39474K] reports New York Gov. Kathy Hochul declared a state of emergency Friday due to the impending snowstorm. The entirety of New York is under the state of emergency, which will allow officials to deploy resources more efficiently, according to the governor. Hochul said she has activated the National Guard ahead of the storm, with 100 service members and 24 vehicles to be staged to help across New York City, Long Island, and the northern suburbs. Hochul said she is coordinating with New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani on snow preparations for the city. "Our state of emergency that is now in effect allows us to literally go in the streets of New York if they call and need our assistance with plowing or whatever they may need," she said. Hochul spoke about the freezing temperatures expected, which will feel like below zero. She warned residents to know the signs of frostbite, especially if they have to be outside during the dangerously cold weather. [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

AP [1/23/2026 8:53 PM, Gabriela Aoun Angueira and Jennifer Sinco Kelleher, 31753K] reports U.S. officials have granted a request to extend housing assistance for survivors of catastrophic 2023 wildfires, Hawaii Gov. Josh Green said Friday. Nearly 1,000 households displaced by fire were anxiously awaiting word on whether federal assistance helping them stay housed will be left to expire, forcing them to find new housing or pay more for it in one of the tightest and most expensive rental environments in the country. U.S. Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem approved Hawaii’s request to extend Federal Emergency Management Agency temporary housing assistance for Maui wildfire survivors until February 2027, Green said in a news release. FEMA did not immediately respond to requests for confirmation of the extension. “It lifted a weight I did not even realize I was carrying, and I know many other families were carrying that same weight too,” Kukui Keahi, a Lahaina fire survivor and associate director of Kako’o Maui Programs at the nonprofit Hawaiian Council, said after learning of the extension.

CBS News [1/23/2026 10:17 AM, Kerry Breen, 39474K] reports the Coast Guard and a tanker crew rescued a rower whose boat capsized while he was competing in a 3,000-mile race across the Atlantic, the agency said in a news release. He reported that he had been in distress for about 24 hours. Benoit Bourguet, 47, was in a single-man rowing vessel named the City of Liverpool, the Coast Guard said. Bourguet, a Belgium citizen, was competing in the World’s Toughest Row Race, which spans 3,000 miles from Spain to Antigua. His boat was reportedly capsized by "two rogue waves," forcing him to deploy a life raft. He was about 1,275 miles east of Puerto Rico. Watchstanders at the Coast Guard Sector San Juan Command Center in Puerto Rico received two emergency distress alerts overnight Wednesday. The first, recorded around 2 a.m., came from the City of Liverpool. The second came from a personal beacon device in the same location. The Coast Guard determined that the vessel had been part of the race and reached out to race organizers, who said they had sent Bourguet several messages but not received a response. Another team in the race also could not contact Bourguet. A tanker called the Horten was traveling about 110 miles from the distress signal. The Coast Guard issued an Automated Mutual-Assistance Vessel Rescue callout to the tanker. These callouts are used by search and rescue agencies around the world to assist people who are in distress at sea, according to the Coast Guard. The tanker, traveling from Germany to Guyana, diverted off-course. It took the ship over 12 hours to reach the distress signal’s position, the Coast Guard said. During that time, Coast Guard officers remained in contact with the crew.

CNN [1/23/2026 6:07 PM, Clay Voytek, 18595K] reports the US military conducted a strike against another alleged drug-trafficking boat in the eastern Pacific Ocean on Friday, killing two people, according to US Southern Command. One individual survived the strike, and SOUTHCOM said it notified the US Coast Guard to activate a search and rescue mission for the survivor. At least 115 people have now been killed in strikes on suspected drug boats as part of a campaign, dubbed Operation Southern Spear, that the Trump administration has said is aimed at curtailing narcotics trafficking.

AP [1/23/2026 10:02 AM, Staff, 31753K] reports Rear Admiral Chad Jacoby, Deputy Commandant for Systems and Chief Acquisition Executive for the U.S. Coast Guard, delivered the Keynote Address today at the 2026 U.S. Coast Guard Outlook Summit in Reston, Virginia. The Summit was organized to provide the latest details on the $25 Billion the Coast Guard received last year from the Big Beautiful Bill Act. The new funding strengthens every facet of Coast Guard operations and supports the Service’s role as the Nation’s leading drug interdiction and maritime border security force. The funding will allow the Coast Guard to procure an estimated 17 new icebreakers, 21 new cutters, over 40 helicopters, and six C-130J aircraft while modernizing shore infrastructure and maritime surveillance systems. Rear Admiral Jacoby and other senior Coast Guard leaders spoke to and met with a nationwide audience of prime government contractors, subcontractors, and small businesses.

FOX News [1/23/2026 12:30 PM, Kurt Knutsson, 40621K] reports cybercriminals are happy to target almost any industry where data can be stolen. In many cases, less prepared and less security-focused companies are simply easier targets. A recent ransomware attack on a company tied to dozens of gas stations across Texas shows exactly how this plays out. The incident exposed highly sensitive personal data, including Social Security numbers and driver’s license details, belonging to hundreds of thousands of people. The breach went undetected for days, giving attackers ample time to move through internal systems and steal sensitive data. If you’ve ever paid at the pump or shopped inside one of these convenience stores, this is the kind of incident that should make you stop and pay attention. According to a disclosure filed with the Maine Attorney General’s Office, Gulshan Management Services, Inc. reported a cybersecurity incident that impacted more than 377,000 individuals. Gulshan is linked to Gulshan Enterprises, which operates around 150 Handi Plus and Handi Stop gas stations and convenience stores across Texas. The company says it detected unauthorized access to its IT systems in late September. Investigators later determined that attackers had been inside the network for roughly ten days before anyone noticed. The intrusion began with a phishing attack, a reminder of how a single deceptive email can still open the door to massive breaches. During that window, the attackers accessed and stole personal data, then deployed ransomware that encrypted files across Gulshan’s systems. The compromised information includes names, contact details, Social Security numbers and driver’s license numbers. That combination is especially dangerous, since it can be used for identity theft, account takeovers and fraud that may surface months or even years later.

HS Today [1/23/2026 6:04 AM, Staff, 38K] reports the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency’s acting leader used a hearing on Wednesday to defend the Trump administration’s mass layoffs at CISA and reassure lawmakers that the agency was still prepared to defend government and critical infrastructure networks from hackers. “A disciplined mission requires the right workforce — not a larger one, but a more capable and skilled one,” Madhu Gottumukkala said during a House Homeland Security Committee hearing that featured him and two other Department of Homeland Security officials. In the coming year, Gottumukkala added, “CISA will continue targeted hiring in mission critical roles while remaining aligned with [DHS’s] broader efforts to control costs and maximize return.”

SC Media [1/23/2026 8:02 AM, Staff] reports Madhu Gottumukkala, acting director of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, said the department remains capable of protecting government networks and critical infrastructure despite workforce reductions, reports Cybersecurity Dive. Speaking before the House Homeland Security Committee, Gottumukkala said the layoffs were intended to refocus the agency on its core mission. "We are prioritizing what works, eliminating duplication and ensuring that every product and service directly advances CISA’s regulatory mission and aligns with the administration’s goals of efficiency, accountability, and impact," he said. He added that CISA will continue targeted hiring for mission-critical roles while aligning with Department of Homeland Security cost-control measures and that the agency currently has the staff it needs. An internal report cited during the hearing showed nearly 1,000 employees have left, been laid off, or transferred since President Donald Trump took office, representing more than one-third of the workforce. Lawmakers asked about election security programs, broader cybersecurity operations, and regulatory work under the Cyber Incident Reporting for Critical Infrastructure Act, while Gottumukkala said the agency remains focused on its statutory responsibilities.

Daily Wire [1/23/2026 6:43 AM, Amanda Harding, 2494K] reports that former Canadian Olympic snowboarder turned alleged drug trafficker Ryan Wedding has been arrested. Attorney General Pam Bondi praised President Trump’s "law and order leadership" for helping to make the arrest possible. "At my direction, Department of Justice agents @FBI have apprehended yet another member of the FBI’s Top Ten Most Wanted List: Ryan Wedding, the onetime Olympian snowboarder-turned alleged violent cocaine kingpin," Bondi wrote in an X post. "Wedding was flown to the United States where he will face justice. This is a direct result of President Trump’s law-and-order leadership. Under @POTUS, criminals have no safe harbor." The AG went on to thank FBI director Kash Patel, Ambassador Ron Johnson, and Mexican authorities for their assistance to capture one of the FBI’s "Ten Most Wanted" fugitives. Patel also posted about Wedding’s capture, adding in some details about the former Olympian’s alleged crimes. "Wedding is believed to have been hiding in Mexico for over a decade – and has been wanted on charges for cocaine trafficking and murder since 2024," Patel wrote. "He was allegedly running and participating in a transnational drug trafficking operation that routinely shipped hundreds of kilograms of cocaine from Colombia, through Mexico and Southern California to the United States and Canada – as a member of the Sinaloa Cartel." The FBI director also praised President Trump’s leadership and strong law and order stance. "This is the SIXTH Top Ten Most Wanted Fugitive this FBI has captured within a year – fugitives who had been on the run for almost 40 years combined. That’s no accident. President Trump is letting good cops be cops and the results speak for themselves," he wrote on X.

NBC News [1/23/2026 10:36 PM, Courtney Kube and Mosheh Gains, 34509K] reports the Defense Department said in an influential strategy document published Friday that the U.S. military’s top focus is no longer on China but instead the homeland and Western Hemisphere. The priorities laid out in the 2026 National Defense Strategy, a quadrennial report last published in 2022, diverge significantly from those of the Biden administration, with efforts geared more inward such as securing the border and countering narcotics. The document says the country is not pursuing an isolationist agenda, but lays out why the U.S. wants allies to do more while the military focuses more on the homeland. The main focus on the homeland includes a section about the U.S. no longer ceding key terrain in the Western Hemisphere and how the Pentagon will provide President Donald Trump with "credible options to guarantee U.S. military and commercial access to key terrain from the Arctic to South America, especially Greenland, the Gulf of America, and the Panama Canal.” "We will ensure that the Monroe Doctrine is upheld in our time," it adds, referring to the 19th century foreign policy doctrine that asserts the U.S. sphere of influence extends throughout the Western Hemisphere. The No. 2 priority for the Pentagon is now China, which was characterized in the 2022 report as the most significant strategic competitor to the U.S., due in part to Beijing’s territorial claims in the South China Sea and its aggressive behavior to U.S. allies. The new report says the U.S. does not seek to "strangle or humiliate" China, but rather should deter the country "through strength, not confrontation." It says the Pentagon will "provide the military strength for President Trump’s visionary and realistic diplomacy, thereby setting conditions for a balance of power in the Indo-Pacific that allows all of us — the United States, China, and others in the region — to enjoy a decent peace.” The Pentagon’s third priority is to increase allies’ burden sharing, including Canada and Mexico in the Western Hemisphere and Europeans on their continent. The fourth priority is rebuilding the defense industrial base.NewsMax [1/23/2026 10:50 PM, Staff, 4109K] reports the U.S. military will prioritize protecting the homeland and deterring China while providing "more limited" support to allies in Europe and elsewhere, a Pentagon strategy document released on Friday said. The 2026 National Defense Strategy marks a significant departure from past Pentagon policy, both in its emphasis on allies taking on increased burdens with less backing from Washington and its softer tone on traditional foes China and Russia. "As U.S. forces focus on homeland defense and the Indo-Pacific, our allies and partners elsewhere will take primary responsibility for their own defense with critical but more limited support from American forces," the strategy said. The previous NDS — released under former President Joe Biden — described China as Washington’s most consequential challenge and said that Russia posed an "acute threat.” The new document urges "respectful relations" with Beijing — while making no mention of U.S. ally Taiwan, which China claims as its territory — and describes the threat from Russia as a "persistent but manageable" one affecting NATO’s eastern members. Both the Biden and Trump strategies say homeland defense is important, but their descriptions of the threats facing the U.S. differ significantly. Breitbart [1/23/2026 11:01 PM, Staff, 2416K] reports that the Trump administration’s NDS takes aim at the past administration for neglecting border security, saying this led to a "flood of illegal aliens" and widespread narcotics trafficking. "Border security is national security," and the Pentagon "will therefore prioritize efforts to seal our borders, repel forms of invasion, and deport illegal aliens," it said. Biden meanwhile focused on China and Russia, saying they posed "more dangerous challenges to security and safety at home" than even the threat of terrorism. The 2026 NDS also includes no mention of the dangers of climate change — which Biden’s administration had identified as an "emerging threat.”

New York Times [1/23/2026 6:03 PM, Eric Schmitt, 135475K] reports Gen. Dan Caine, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, is convening a rare meeting next month of dozens of military chiefs from across the Western Hemisphere, another sign of the region’s rising prominence in the Trump administration. Top military leaders from 34 countries, including nations such as Denmark, Britain and France that have territories in the area, have been invited to the gathering in Washington on Feb. 11. It is expected to focus, in part, on enhancing regional coordination in fighting drug trafficking and transnational criminal organizations. After the U.S. commando raid this month that seized President Nicolás Maduro of Venezuela, and this week’s contentious debate between President Trump and European allies over the future of Greenland, the unusual gathering casts a spotlight on the potential military implications of the administration’s “Donroe Doctrine” and a new security strategy that prioritizes the Western Hemisphere. “Participating defense leaders will explore the importance of strong partnerships, continued cooperation, and united efforts to counter criminal and terrorist organizations, as well as external actors undermining regional security and stability,” General Caine’s office said in statement on Friday. While General Caine and top aides have sought to cast the meeting in terms of enhancing security cooperation among regional partners, it comes at a fraught time for Washington’s relations with its immediate neighbors as well as allies in Europe. Prime Minister Mark Carney of Canada delivered a stark speech in Davos, Switzerland, on Tuesday, describing the end of the era underpinned by U.S. hegemony. He called the current phase “a rupture.” The United States is intensifying pressure on Mexico to allow American military forces or C.I.A. officers to conduct joint operations to dismantle fentanyl labs inside the country, according to U.S. officials. The push comes as Mr. Trump presses the Mexican government to grant the United States a larger role in the battle against drug cartels that produce fentanyl and smuggle it into the United States. This week saw the on-again, off-again fight over Greenland escalate and then cool off. Mr. Trump has said the United States needs Greenland for national security. After previously threatening to seize the island by force, he signaled this week that he was open to compromise.

USA Today [1/24/2026 5:07 AM, Josh Meyer, 67103K] reports President Donald Trump has long admired political strongmen such as Russia’s Vladimir Putin, Hungary’s Viktor Orban and Saudi Arabia’s Mohammed bin Salman. Now he’s got a new invite-only international "Board of Peace" that’s full of them. "Usually they say, ‘he’s a horrible dictator-type person, I’m a dictator,’" Trump said of himself in a speech Jan. 21 on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. "But sometimes you need a dictator." At Davos the next day, Trump held a signing ceremony for new members of the Peace Board, which he initially established to cement a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas and then to help rebuild Gaza after it was decimated by the two-year war. Putin, Orban and bin Salman have all joined the board or expressed a desire to do so. So have Turkey’s Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko and Israel’s Benjamin Netanyahu. All have drawn condemnation from international human rights groups and some international legal organizations. "Once this board is completely formed, we can do pretty much whatever we want to do," Trump told the new signatories on Jan. 22, "and we’ll do it in conjunction with the United Nations." The White House did not respond to requests for comment on who’s officially in the group – and how much they’ve paid. Edgar Vasquez, a State Department spokesman, told USA TODAY that the administration is "working on compiling the list. It includes democratic countries.”

New York Post [1/23/2026 2:24 PM, Thomas Barrabi, 42219K] reports that the Trump-backed deal to "save" TikTok fails to address core national security concerns, according to some experts – and even top lawmakers seem to be in the dark about whether it complies with Congress’s law that stated the app would be banned if it remained in Chinese hands. After a years-long legal saga, the Chinese-owned company on Thursday announced the creation of a new TikTok US joint venture governed by a majority-American board of directors. China-based ByteDance holds a 19.9% stake in the entity and will maintain ownership of TikTok’s algorithm, which will be licensed to the US entity and "retrained" on US user data. The terms fall short of Congress’s intentions to safeguard the app and mean that TikTok "will remain under ByteDance’s effective control," according to Michael Sobolik, a top expert on China and senior fellow at the Hudson Institute. "This isn’t a divestment, it’s a smokescreen," he told The Post. "The algorithm remains under Beijing’s watchful eye, and ByteDance has the strongest ownership position inside this new consortium. All the national security concerns remain, despite assurances to the contrary from the administration." Federal law passed in 2024 required ByteDance to completely divest control of TikTok or face a total ban of the app in the US. The legislation notably prohibits "any cooperation with respect to the operation of a content recommendation algorithm" or data-sharing between ByteDance and US-based owners. At the same time, the law leaves it up to the president to decide what constitutes a "qualified divestiture."

Telemundo [1/23/2026 6:50 PM, Staff, 20K] reports Alejandro “Alex” Rosales Castillo, one of the 10 most wanted fugitives by the FBI, was captured in Pachuca, Hidalgo, one of the states in central Mexico, and delivered Friday to U.S. authorities, after almost a decade of evading international justice. The arrest of Rosales Castillo, for whom a reward of $250,000 was offered, occurred on January 16 through a coordinated operation between the Secretary of Security and Citizen Protection (SSPC), the FGR and the FBI. Rosales Castillo went unnoticed in Pachuca, where he lived discreetly until intelligence work allowed him to locate him. Secretary of Security and Citizen Protection Omar Garcia Harfuch said FBI Director Kash Patel, who made a visit to Mexico, moved Rosales Castillo and "another Canadian citizen who voluntarily surrendered to the U.S. Embassy on his own plane." Ryan James Wedding, a former Canadian Olympic snowboarder, allegedly behind one of the most violent drug trafficking organizations, the Sinaloa Cartel, was arrested Thursday after remaining hidden in Mexico for more than a decade.

Reuters [1/23/2026 12:00 PM, Staff, 36480K] reports U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Friday that Haiti’s Transitional Presidential Council (CPT) must be dissolved by February 7, as he backed Prime Minister Alix Didier Fils-Aimé in a phone call with the Haitian leader, State Department spokesperson Tommy Pigott said in a statement. Rubio emphasized the importance of Fils-Aimé’s tenure continuing amid gang violence on the island, , Pigott said, after members of the council have sought to remove him before the council’s mandate ends. "The United States will ensure there is a steep cost for corrupt politicians who support vicious gangs and wreak terrorism on Haiti," Pigott added.

Politico [1/23/2026 4:00 PM, Eric Bazail-Eimil and Giselle Ruhiyyih Ewing, 13586K] reports the Trump administration and its hawkish allies on Capitol Hill are making it clear Cuba is next on their list of Western Hemisphere regime change targets. How big a role the administration wants to play in regime change in Havana is less so. President DONALD TRUMP has voiced confidence Cuba’s days are already numbered, and there’s a push by Cuba hawks in Congress and some inside the administration to increase pressure on Cuba to speed up a collapse or a negotiated transition of government in Havana. They argue there’s a unique window of opportunity before the U.S. government to bring Havana to its knees after economic assistance from Venezuela dried up following the capture of ousted leader NICOLÁS MADURO. Sen. LINDSEY GRAHAM (R-S.C.), a close ally of the White House, told your host he expects to see the administration “come out with some ideas,” adding that “it’s time to end that dictatorship.”

Breitbart [1/23/2026 12:39 PM, Christian K. Caruzo, 2416K] reports Venezuelan Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino López on Thursday claimed that Venezuela was allegedly a "testing ground for the use of unknown weapons" during the U.S. operation to capture Nicolás Maduro. According to Padrino López, a Venezuelan socialist general actively wanted by U.S. authorities on drug trafficking charges, Venezuela was "bombed" with the assistance of "artificial intelligence of the highest level" during Maduro’s capture. The regime official presided over a military academy handover ceremony in Fuerte Tiuna, Venezuela’s largest military complex and the location where U.S. Delta Force members captured the now-deposed Venezuelan socialist dictator Maduro and his wife Cilia Flores on January 3, 2026. Speaking to Venezuelan military officials, Padrino López asserted that weapons "never before used on a battlefield" were allegedly employed by U.S. forces during the law enforcement operation to capture Maduro — and referred to statements issued by President Donald Trump during his speech at the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, Switzerland, on Wednesday. "465 hours ago, that is to say 19 days and 9 hours, on this very military fort, on this very spot where we are standing right now, a military attack was carried out by the world’s leading nuclear power, the world’s most lethal power, which, as President Donald Trump said yesterday from Davos, Switzerland, at the World Economic Forum, which is held annually there in Davos, he said expressly and clearly that they had used weapons that had never been used on a battlefield before," Padrino López said. "Weapons that no one else in the world had. And those weapons, that technology that they used against our people on January 3, 2026, have turned Venezuela into a laboratory where it was subjected to systematic bombing assisted by artificial intelligence of the highest level, where that aggression ended in what we already know, the kidnapping of President Nicolás Maduro Moros, the president elected by this people, and his wife, the first lady, Dr. Silvia Flores," he continued. Padrino López has served as Defense Minister since July 2014 and also serves as the socialist regime’s "Vice President for Defense and Sovereignty." The Venezuelan general stands accused by U.S. authorities of having a long history of involving the Venezuelan military in illegal drug trafficking, using his position to facilitate the movement of air shipments of cocaine from Venezuela to Central America. The U.S. has an active $15 million bounty open for information that can lead to his arrest and/or conviction.

Breitbart [1/23/2026 11:29 AM, Nick Gilbertson, 2416K] reports that President Donald Trump discussed aspects of a potential deal regarding the United States and Greenland on Thursday, noting the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) would be part of the plan. Trump spoke with reporters on Air Force One en route to Washington, DC, from Davos, Switzerland, following the World Economic Forum this week. According to Trump, a deal would be permanent, with no time limit."It’s forever," he said. "You know, you hear about 99 years and 50 years, it’s forever. That was discussed. We can do anything we want. We can do military. We can do anything we want, and it’s being negotiated, and let’s see what happens." "There’s no price, there’s no purchase price," he added. When a reporter asked whether the United States would have "sovereignty" over regions of Greenland under the proposed deal, the president stressed the importance of reaching an agreement not only for the United States but also for Europe. "We have a lot of great things in the deal, and don’t forget, they’re also good for Europe, because, you know, when we’re good, they’re good, and if we’re not good, that’s not very good for them because we hold it all together," he detailed. "We’re holding it all together.” The president also noted that NATO would be part of the deal, and that the United States would have "no expense" other than constructing the "Golden Dome.” "We’re all going to work together. And actually, NATO is going to be involved with us. We’re going to be doing in conjunction, parts of it, in conjunction with NATO, which is really the way it should be," he told reporters.

Reuters [1/23/2026 6:47 PM, Staff, 36480K] Video: HERE reports Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen arrived in Nuuk, Greenland, on Friday (January 23) for a meeting with Greenlandic Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen following weeks of turmoil over U.S. President Donald Trump’s threat to annex the Arctic island. "We are in a serious situation as everyone can see," Frederiksen told reporters.

Roll Call [1/23/2026 11:56 AM, Staff, 548K] reports prior to announcing on Jan. 21 that he had reached a "framework of a future deal" on Greenland with the secretary general of NATO, President Donald Trump had insisted that the United States needed to acquire Greenland for national security reasons — and, at first, he wouldn’t rule out potentially taking the territory over by force. In a Jan. 21 speech at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Trump said, "I don’t want to use force; I won’t use force.” Throughout his initial push to claim Greenland for the United States, Trump made several claims about the island in the Arctic, which is home to about 56,000 people, including statements questioning Denmark’s documented ownership of Greenland and statements suggesting that the U.S. needs "ownership to defend" Greenland. Some of his claims are false. In this story, we’ll present what the president has said and the facts. Claim: "Denmark cannot protect that land from Russia or China, and why do they have a ‘right of ownership’ anyway? There are no written documents, it’s only that a boat landed there hundreds of years ago, but we had boats landing there, also." — in a text message to Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre. Facts: Trump’s claim that "no written documents" attest to Greenland being a territory owned by Denmark is false. Denmark has had a claim to Greenland since Denmark and Norway were unified under the same monarchy until the early 19th century. As part of the 1814 Treaty of Kiel, which ended a conflict between Denmark and Sweden, Denmark ceded Norway to Sweden but kept the Norwegian settlements of Greenland, Iceland and the Faroe Islands.

AP [1/23/2026 12:58 PM, Katie Marie Davies, 31753K] reports Ukrainian, Russian and U.S. envoys met in the United Arab Emirates on Friday, the first known instance that officials from the Trump administration have sat down with both countries as part of Washington’s push for progress to end Moscow’s nearly 4-year-old invasion. The talks follow a flurry of diplomatic activity in recent days, from Switzerland to the Kremlin, even though serious obstacles remain between both sides. While Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in Davos, Switzerland, on Thursday that a potential peace deal was "nearly ready," certain sensitive sticking points — most notably those related to territorial issues — remain unresolved. They are taking place in the UAE’s capital of Abu Dhabi. Representatives from Russia and Ukraine have already met several times on separate occasions, but this is believed to be the first time U.S. envoys will be there too — a significant step in that President Donald Trump has been pressing for a halt to the war. The talks are an outgrowth of recent diplomatic activity, even though Russia has kept up its attacks on Ukraine and its energy infrastructure, leaving parts of the country without power amid a bitterly cold winter. Zelenskyy met with Trump on Thursday behind closed doors for about an hour at the World Economic Forum in Davos, describing it as a "productive and meaningful" session. Trump said later that it had gone well and that both Russia and Ukraine were "making concessions" to try to end the war. Russian President Vladimir Putin met U.S. envoys Steve Witkoff and Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner in overnight talks at the Kremlin that lasted nearly four hours. A spokesman for Zelenskyy said there are "many different formats in these talks — sometimes participants step aside for separate discussions, sometimes everyone meets together, sometimes several groups break off by topic.”

CBS News [1/23/2026 6:24 PM, Staff, 39474K] Video: HERE reports negotiators from Russia, Ukraine and the U.S. kicked off trilateral peace talks in Abu Dhabi on Friday. It’s the first time all three nations have met for talks since the start of Russia’s war in Ukraine in 2022. CBS News White House reporter Olivia Rinaldi has more.

NBC News [1/23/2026 11:44 AM, Ammar Cheikh Omar and Chantal Da Silva, 34509K] reports longtime American allies who have been guarding tens of thousands of Islamic State fighters and their families agreed this week to be integrated into the Syrian armed forces. While the deal marks a major victory for the country’s interim leader, Ahmed al-Sharaa, it has been a brutal blow to the fighters, who are mainly ethnic Kurds. Many Kurds have been left shell-shocked by the fighting with Syrian forces, the rapid shift in the balance of power and the loss of territory, with some saying they felt bereft after the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces’ (SDF) had made sweeping contributions in the fight against ISIS. “Everyone has abandoned us,” Saleh al-Ali, a resident of Kobani, a Kurdish-majority city in the Ayn al-Arab district in northern Syria, told NBC News this week. Al-Ali, who said he works at a poultry farm in the Hasakah countryside, said he had traveled with his wife, their three young daughters and his ailing mother to the area about a week ago when clashes broke out between Syrian government forces and the SDF. The family tried to return to Kobani, but the roads were cut off, forcing them to flee for safety toward Qamishli. “We used to feel safe with the American military presence in northeast Syria,” said al-Ali, 41. “We believed they were our guarantee and would never abandon us — especially after we sacrificed tens of thousands of our young people fighting alongside them against ISIS and helping rebuild what ISIS had destroyed.”

Washington Examiner [1/23/2026 1:49 PM, Mike Brest, 1394K] reports that the Sharaa government’s defeat of the American military’s long-time allies, the Kurds, raises new questions about the longevity of the existing U.S. military mission in Syria. The U.S.-backed Kurdish Syrian Democratic Forces effectively capitulated to the Syrian government after suffering significant losses from a major offensive by government forces against long-held Kurdish areas. There are roughly 1,000 U.S. troops in Syria, and their primary mission is to ensure the lasting defeat of the Islamic State group. This mission commenced in 2014, and the terrorist group lost its last piece of controlling territory in 2019, though the group is still present in the country but more decentralized. Prior to the recent upheaval in Syria, the U.S. forces in the country worked with the SDF often, carrying out patrols and operations targeting ISIS operatives. The SDF also controlled the prisons filled with thousands of defeated ISIS terrorists. The U.S. military is now evacuating captured Islamic State terrorists to Iraq to ensure they cannot escape or will be freed, while the Pentagon is reportedly considering completely withdrawing from the country, according to the Wall Street Journal. "Wow, if true, ISIS would love that," GOP Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) said in response to the report. "A small footprint of Americans working with locals is an insurance policy against the reemergence of ISIS and an attack on our homeland. I believe it’s time for a new approach and new eyes on Syria. I am confident that many senators – on both sides of the aisle – share my concerns about the implications of withdrawal when Syria is so unstable."

New York Times [1/23/2026 1:00 PM, Abdi Latif Dahir, 135475K] reports President Trump said late Thursday that a large naval force was heading to Iran, continuing his threats of U.S. military action against the government nearly a month after protests erupted across the country. “We’re watching Iran,” Mr. Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One as he returned to the United States from the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. “We have a big flotilla going in that direction, and we’ll see what happens,” he added, describing the force as an “armada.” Mr. Trump had appeared to back away from threats to strike Iran, saying he had received assurances that detained protesters there would not be executed. Leaders across the Middle East had also warned Mr. Trump that a military confrontation could destabilize the region. Last week, the Pentagon ordered the aircraft carrier Abraham Lincoln and three Tomahawk-missile-firing destroyers in the South China Sea to head to the Middle East, according to two U.S. officials who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss operational matters. The Air Force in the past week also sent a dozen F-15E fighters to the region to strengthen strike aircraft numbers, according to the officials. Maj. Gen. Ali Abdollahi Aliabadi, a commander in Iran’s Khatam-al Anbiya Central Headquarters, said on Thursday that any attack on the country would “turn all U.S. interests, bases and centers of influence” into targets, according to state media. The Iranian government said this week that it had quelled antigovernment protests, which erupted last month. Iran’s state television has said that more than 3,100 people were killed during the demonstrations, but human rights groups monitoring the unrest say the toll is significantly higher.

Bloomberg [1/23/2026 12:53 PM, Jennifer Duggan, 18207K] reports that fresh from political posturing at the World Economic Forum at Davos, Donald Trump renewed threats of using military force against Iran. The US president said this afternoon that an armada of US Navy vessels was en route to the Middle East. “We have a big flotilla going in that direction and we’ll see what happens,” Trump told reporters on his way back to Washington aboard Air Force One. He had previously pulled back on a warning that he’d strike Iran, after claiming he had gotten assurances the country would not execute hundreds of protesters. The number of people reported to have been killed in the Iranian government’s crackdown on protests has risen, according to human rights groups. One United Nations special rapporteur said the total may have surpassed 20,000. In a briefing today, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Türk said children were among the dead. “Video evidence appears to show hundreds of bodies in morgues, with fatal injuries to the head and chest,” he said. Internet and telecommunications restrictions have made measuring calculating the toll difficult. Experts have described the internet and communications shutdown as one of the most severe ever seen. The protests broke out at the end of December following the collapse in the currency, before spreading nationwide, with calls for the end of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s regime.

AP [1/24/2026 6:47 AM, ELENA BECATOROS, 31753K] reports Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, a force which was key in putting down recent nationwide protests in a crackdown that left thousands dead, is “more ready than ever, finger on the trigger,” its commander said Saturday, as U.S. warships headed toward the Middle East. Nournews, a news outlet close to Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, reported on its Telegram channel that the commander, Gen. Mohammad Pakpour, warned the United States and Israel “to avoid any miscalculation.” “The Islamic Revolutionary Guards and dear Iran stand more ready than ever, finger on the trigger, to execute the orders and directives of the Commander-in-Chief,” Nournews quoted Pakpour as saying. Tension remains high between Iran and the U.S. in the wake of a bloody crackdown on protests that began on Dec. 28, triggered by the collapse of Iran’s currency, the rial, and swept the country for about two weeks. U.S. President Donald Trump has repeatedly warned Tehran, setting two red lines for the use of military force: the killing of peaceful demonstrators and the mass execution of people arrested in the protests. Trump has repeatedly said Iran halted the execution of 800 people detained in the protests. He has not elaborated on the source of the claim — which Iran’s top prosecutor, Mohammad Movahedi, strongly denied Friday in comments carried by the judiciary’s Mizan news agency. On Thursday, Trump said aboard Air Force One that the U.S. was moving warships toward Iran “just in case” he wants to take action. “We have a massive fleet heading in that direction and maybe we won’t have to use it,” Trump said. A U.S. Navy official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss military movements, said Thursday that the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln and other warships traveling with it were in the Indian Ocean.

Reuters [1/23/2026 12:35 PM, Maha El Dahan, Timour Azhari, and Humeyra Pamuk, 36480K] reports Washington has threatened senior Iraqi politicians with sanctions targeting the Iraqi state - including potentially its critical oil revenues - should armed groups backed by Iran be included in ‌the next government, four sources told Reuters. The warning is the starkest example yet of U.S. President Donald Trump’s campaign to curb Iran-linked groups’ influence in Iraq, which has long walked a tightrope between its ​two closest allies, Washington and Tehran. The U.S. warning was delivered repeatedly over the past two months by the U.S. Charge d’Affaires in Baghdad, Joshua Harris, in conversations with Iraqi officials and influential Shi’ite leaders, according to three Iraqi officials and one source familiar with the matter who spoke to Reuters for this ‍story. The message was delivered to some heads of Iran-linked groups via ​intermediaries, they said. Harris and the embassy did not respond to requests for comment. The sources requested anonymity to discuss private discussions.

Wall Street Journal [1/23/2026 6:45 PM, Heather Somerville and Amrith Ramkumar, 646K] reports the Trump administration pushed out two officials focused on neutralizing technological threats from China, people familiar with the matter said, in the latest dismissals of key personnel working on national-security issues tied to Beijing. The departures, from an office within the Commerce Department’s Bureau of Industry and Security, alarmed some U.S. officials and security hawks already concerned with what they described as the Trump administration’s softening stance toward China as trade talks between the two sides continue. President Trump recently agreed to sell Nvidia artificial-intelligence chips to Chinese customers. He dismissed several members of the National Security Council last year, and officials within BIS working on China-related matters also departed. The latest losses were within the bureau’s Office of Information and Communications Technology and Services. Set up by the first Trump administration, it has been described by many Republicans and Democrats as showing promise in limiting China’s technological and economic advances that could harm U.S. national security. The OICTS is broadly charged with securing U.S. technology supply chains and communications infrastructure, and protecting Americans’ data from adversaries. On Wednesday, Liz Cannon, the executive director of the OICTS, submitted her resignation, the culmination of a pressure campaign by senior officials to get her to leave, people familiar with the matter said. Her announced departure follows the exit of one of her deputies, who was put on administrative leave last week, the people said. “Recent staffing changes at the ICTS Office will strengthen the Office and ensure that it continues to deliver for the American people,” a BIS spokesperson said in response to questions about the departures.

Wall Street Journal [1/23/2026 11:57 PM, Michael R. Gordon, 646K] reports the Pentagon struck a conciliatory tone toward Beijing in its new defense strategy, stating that its overarching goal is to establish “strategic stability” in the Indo-Pacific region and de-escalate tensions with the Chinese military. The national defense strategy, which was issued Friday night, comes as President Trump is preparing for an expected summit meeting in April with Chinese leader Xi Jinping and as the White House has sought to lower tensions over Taiwan. The Pentagon document also underscores that U.S. pre-eminence in the Western Hemisphere is a priority and signals that the Trump administration’s longer-term goal is to reduce its military role in Europe, the Korean peninsula and the Middle East. “As U.S. forces focus on Homeland defense and the Indo-Pacific, our allies and partners elsewhere will take primary responsibility for their own defense with critical but more limited support from American forces,” it states. The Pentagon’s strategy in 2018, issued during Trump’s first term in the White House, described China in far-harsher terms. It cast China then as a “revisionist” power that along with Russia was seeking “veto authority over other nations’ economic, diplomatic and security decisions.” In contrast, the Pentagon’s new strategy document underscores the administration’s interest in opening more military-to-military communications with the Chinese military and reducing tensions to establish a balance of power in the Indo-Pacific. The goal would be to establish “a decent peace, on terms favorable to Americans but that China can also accept and live under.”

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