Senate Democrats are threatening to block legislation Thursday to fund the Department of Homeland Security and several other agencies, potentially bringing the government a step closer to a partial shutdown Friday if Republicans and the White House don’t agree to restrict President Donald Trump’s surge of immigration enforcement.
As the country reels from the killings of two protesters by federal agents in Minneapolis, irate Senate Democrats are demanding that officers take off their masks, identify themselves and obtain judicial warrants showing probable cause for arrests. If those are not met, Democrats say they are prepared to block the wide-ranging spending bill, denying Republicans the votes they need to pass it and triggering a shutdown at midnight on Friday.
Meanwhile, FBI raid in Georgia highlights Trump’s 2020 election obsession and hints at possible future actions. A federal appeals court ruled that Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem acted illegally when she chose to end legal protections that gave Venezuelans permission to live and work in the U.S. And Sen. Amy Klobuchar says she's running for governor of Minnesota as a unifier who will take on Trump.
The Latest:
Warner questions Gabbard’s role in FBI search of election office
The top Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee wants to know why Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard joined an FBI search of a Georgia election office that was featured in bogus conspiracy theories over Trump’s 2020 election loss.
Sen. Mark Warner of Virginia said that if Gabbard believes a foreign intelligence service tried to swing the election she is obligated to inform his committee. Otherwise, “she is simply attempting to inject the non-partisan intelligence community into a domestic political stunt designed to legitimize conspiracy theories that undermine our democracy,” Warner said at a committee hearing Thursday.
Gabbard’s office did not immediately respond to questions about Wednesday’s action, which involved the FBI executing a search warrant and taking away many boxes of ballots cast by voters. Trump’s claims of a stolen election have been repeatedly rejected by courts and state and federal officials, who found no evidence of fraud that would have altered the outcome.
Homan seeks to expand help for ICE detentions in Minnesota
ICE has historically relied on cooperation from local and state jails and prisons with immigrants in custody who’ve committed or are accused of crimes to alert ICE so that agents can pick them up before they’re released.
Many urban areas don’t have such cooperation agreements, saying that keeping detainees beyond their release dates or otherwise working with ICE makes victims or witnesses to crimes more reluctant to support prosecutions. The Hennepin County Jail, which serves Minneapolis, and the Ramsey County jail, which serves St. Paul, don’t honor such “detainers,” but both do hand over prisoners if there is an arrest warrant signed by a judge.
ICE argues that arresting immigrants while they’re still in custody is safer and better for immigrant communities by avoiding street operations that might result in detentions of other people who are in the country illegally but haven’t committed any crimes.
Homan said he appreciates that Minnesota’s state prisons honor ICE detainers, “and we’re going to expand upon that.”
Trump’s holding a cabinet meeting today. Here’s what to expect
Trump and his Cabinet have a meeting set for 11 a.m. Eastern. Anyone planning on tuning in should be prepared for a long haul.
The most recent Cabinet meeting ran past the two-hour mark — long enough that the president was caught closing his eyes. While officials defended this as a sign of the president’s active listening, he recently suggested in an interview with New York Magazine that he did so because the meeting was boring. December’s still fell short of an August meeting that went more than three hours and 15 minutes.
Since returning to office, Trump has used his cabinet meetings to review his administration’s accomplishments and provide Cabinet members with an opportunity to shower him with superlatives. Past meetings have also included questions from reporters.
Minneapolis’ Jacob Frey in Washington to meet with mayors, lobby senators on ICE limits
Mayor Frey’s office says he’ll attend the U.S. Conference of Mayors on Thursday to advocate for an end to the immigration enforcement surge in Minneapolis. He’ll also meet with federal lawmakers as Senate Democrats threaten to hold up this year’s Homeland Security budget unless the Trump administration agrees to limit ICE arrests to the targets of judicial warrants.
“Minneapolis may be where we’ve seen one of the largest ICE deployments in the country, but it will not be the last if we fail to act,” Frey said in the statement. “I’m going to Washington to make the case for ending this strategy and replacing it with approaches that build trust, improve safety, and put our residents first.”
Homan: No timeline for leaving Minnesota
“I’m staying until the problem’s gone,” Homan said.
He said he’s made some progress while meeting with elected officials and law enforcement leaders across the city and state, seeking common ground.
More agreements are now in place between Immigration and Customs Enforcement and local jails to hand over immigrants in their custody, and he said this means fewer officers will be needed in the streets, which in turn will allow the Trump administration to draw down staff.
Border czar suggests more targeted operations in Minneapolis
Homan also seemed to suggest a renewed focus on what Immigration and Customs Enforcement calls “targeted operations” designed to focus their arrest efforts on apprehending immigrants who’ve committed crimes.
Homan said they would conduct “targeted strategic enforcement operations” where they would prioritize “public safety threats.”
He also called on local jails to alert immigration enforcement when they have someone in their custody who is an immigrant about to be released, saying that transferring people over to ICE while they’re still in jail is safer for the officers and means they aren’t out on the streets.
“Give us access to illegal aliens, public safety threats in the safety and security of a jail,” Homan said.
Trump eyes basing his Board of Peace at DC building that formerly housed US Institute of Peace
The Trump administration is looking at basing Trump’s new international Board of Peace in the Washington building that formerly housed the U.S. Institute of Peace, according to four administration officials.
The officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss internal deliberations, said the subject has been a matter of serious discussion but stressed that a final decision has not yet been made about where the board’s administrative staff will be located.
The building is the subject of litigation brought by former USIP employees and executives after the administration seized the facility last year and fired almost its entire staff. The building has since been renamed the Donald J. Trump U.S. Institute of Peace, but its name and status remains in legal limbo.
Trump unveiled the board last week in Davos, Switzerland, and it currently has 27 “founding members,” whose first task is to oversee the Gaza peace plan.
— By Matthew Lee
Miller slams court order to stop arresting resettled refugees
The judge’s temporary restraining order, which aims to prevent federal officers from arresting and detaining resettled refugees in Minnesota, responded to a lawsuit challenging a new Homeland Security operation to to reevaluate the refugee status of nearly 5,600 people.
The order calls for the immediate release of refugees detained in Minnesota and release within five days of those transferred to Texas.
Deputy White House Chief of Staff Stephen Miller’s quick social media response: “The judicial sabotage of democracy is unending.”
Chief federal judge in Minnesota says ICE violated 96 court orders
Chief Judge Patrick Schiltz warned the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency that it had violated 96 court orders in 74 cases this month.
“This list should give pause to anyone — no matter his or her political beliefs — who cares about the rule of law,” he wrote. “ICE has likely violated more court orders in January 2026 than some federal agencies have violated in their entire existence.”
It was Schiltz who ordered ICE’s acting director Todd Lyons to personally appear in his courtroom Friday after the agency failed to obey an order to release an Ecuadorian man from detention in Texas. The judge canceled the order after the agency freed the man, but warned ICE that future noncompliance may result in orders requiring the personal appearances of top government officials.
ICE didn’t respond to an email seeking comment.
Drawdown in Minnesota but only after ‘cooperation’
Trump’s border czar says the administration is open to a drawdown of agents in Minneapolis but only after he sees cooperation from state officials.
Trump sent Tom Homan to Minneapolis after the shooting of two U.S. citizens by federal immigration officers.
At a Thursday news conference, Homan doubled down on the need for local jails to alert Immigration and Customs Enforcement to people in their custody who ICE can remove from the country. Homan said that means that fewer agents have to actually be out on the streets looking for people.
He acknowledged that immigration enforcement operations in Minnesota haven’t been perfect but was adamant that the administration isn’t surrendering.
A shadow network in Minneapolis defies ICE and protects immigrants
If there’s been a soundtrack to life in Minneapolis, it’s the shrieking whistles and honking horns of thousands of people following immigration agents across the city. They are the ever-moving shadow of the Trump administration’s Operation Metro Surge.
They are teachers, scientists and stay-at-home parents. They own small businesses and wait tables. Their network is sprawling, often anonymous and with few overall objectives beyond helping immigrants, warning of approaching agents or filming videos to show the world what is happening.
And it’s clear they’ll continue despite the White House striking a more conciliatory tone after the killing of Alex Pretti, including the transfer of Gregory Bovino, the senior Border Patrol official who was the public face of the immigration crackdown.
“I don’t think the threat that we’re under will change because they change out the local puppets,” said Andrew Fahlstrom, who helps run Defend the 612, a hub for volunteer networks.
Republican senator confirms ICE stand down in Maine
Sen. Susan Collins said Thursday that immigration officials have ceased their “enhanced operations” in the state after more than 100 arrests in an enforcement surge.
She made the announcement after saying she had several direct communications with Noem.
“There are currently no ongoing or planned large-scale ICE operations here,” Collins said in a statement. “I have been urging Secretary Noem and others in the Administration to get ICE to reconsider its approach to immigration enforcement in the state.”
Collins said U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and border patrol officials “will continue their normal operations that have been ongoing here for many years.”
Trump’s Greenland envoy says administration wants ‘unfettered’ access to island
Jeff Landry, Trump’s envoy to Greenland, says in a New York Times op-ed that the framework of an agreement on Arctic security that Trump and NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte agreed upon last week builds on existing defense agreements between the U.S. and Denmark.
“It would expand America’s operational freedom, support new bases and infrastructure, facilitate deployment of advanced missile-defense systems like the Golden Dome and crowd out hostile Chinese and Russian influence,” Landry writes.
U.S., Danish and Greenland officials held their first technical talks on Wednesday aimed at securing an Arctic security deal.
The talks follow Trump’s repeated calls for the U.S. to take over Greenland for security reasons.
Your baby could qualify for $1,000 with a Trump Account. Here’s what to know
As a continuation of Trump’s pitch to Americans on affordability and the economy under his administration, the U.S. Treasury and White House are celebrating the upcoming launch of a program they view as a key milestone: Trump Accounts.
A provision of Trump’s tax legislation, Trump Accounts are meant to give $1,000 to every newborn, so long as their parents open an account. That money is then invested in the stock market by private firms, and the child can access the money when they turn 18.
A U.S. Treasury event brought together an assortment of politicians and celebrities — from Texas Republican Sen. Ted Cruz to rapper Nicki Minaj and NBC’s “Shark Tank” judge Kevin O’Leary — to discuss the program and its potential impact on the economy. Backers of Trump Accounts have said they’re a way to help children from low-income households build wealth.
Omar criticizes Trump’s ‘hateful rhetoric’ after attack
Democratic U.S. Rep. Ilhan Omar blamed Trump for threats to her safety on Wednesday, one day after she was accosted and squirted with liquid at an event in Minneapolis by a man who posted online in support of the Republican president.
“Every time the president of the United States has chosen to use hateful rhetoric to talk about me and the community that I represent, my death threats skyrocket,” Omar said during a press conference. Asked if she's nervous about appearing in public, she said, “Fear and intimidation doesn’t work on me.”
Tuesday's attack came during a perilous political moment in Minneapolis, where two people have been fatally shot by federal agents during the White House’s aggressive immigration crackdown. Omar, a refugee from Somalia, has long been a fixture of Trump’s anti-immigrant rhetoric.
Democratic Sen. Klobuchar says she’s running for Minnesota governor
Sen. Amy Klobuchar said Thursday she is running for governor of Minnesota, promising to take on President Donald Trump while unifying a state that has endured a series of challenges even before the federal government’s immigration crackdown.
Klobuchar’s decision gives Democrats a high-profile candidate and proven statewide winner as their party tries to hold onto the office occupied by Gov. Tim Walz. The 2024 Democratic vice presidential nominee, Walz abandoned his campaign for a third term earlier this month amid criticism over the mismanagement of taxpayer funding for child care programs.
Klobuchar cited Trump’s immigration crackdown in Minnesota, federal officers killing two Minnesotans who protested, the assassination of a state legislative leader and a school shooting that killed multiple children — all within the last year. She avoided direct mention of ongoing fraud investigations into the child care programs that Trump has made a political cudgel.
US appeals court says Noem illegally ended protections for Venezuelans and Haitians
A federal appeals court ruled late Wednesday that the Trump administration acted illegally when it ended legal protections that gave hundreds of thousands of people from Venezuela permission to live and work in the United States.
A three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a lower court ruling that found Noem exceeded her authority when she ended temporary protected status for Venezuelans. The decision, however, will not have any immediate practical effect after the U.S. Supreme Court in October allowed Noem’s decision to take effect pending a final decision by the justices.
The 9th Circuit panel also upheld the lower court’s finding that Noem exceeded her authority when she decided to end TPS early for hundreds of thousands of people from Haiti. A federal judge in Washington is expected to rule any day now on a request to pause the termination of TPS for Haiti while a separate lawsuit challenging it proceeds. The country’s TPS designation is scheduled to end on February 3.
Democrats poised to trigger government shutdown over ICE reform
Senate Democrats are threatening to block legislation that would fund the Department of Homeland Security and several other agencies, potentially bringing the government a step closer to a partial shutdown if Republicans and the White House do not agree to new restrictions on Trump’s surge of immigration enforcement.
Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer said Wednesday that Democrats won’t provide needed votes until U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement is “reined in and overhauled.”
“The American people support law enforcement, they support border security, they do not support ICE terrorizing our streets and killing American citizens,” Schumer said.