Democratic lawmakers say ‘dramatic changes’ needed from DHS as negotiations continue
Speaking at the US Capitol today, Senate and House Democrats said that “dramatic changes” are needed at the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) as they continue their negotiations over a full-year appropriations bill
A reminder that Trump signed a stopgap spending measure on Tuesday that funds the DHS until 13 February while lawmakers hammer out guardrails.
The Senate’s top Democrat, Chuck Schumer, said that the party is also demanding the end of “roving patrols”, “independent oversight by state and local governments” and “no secret police”.
Democrats have pushed for the need of judicial warrants to conduct raids, a reduction in aggressive tactics, and for agents to not wear masks.
“You can’t just stop anybody on the street … and not even tell them why they’re picked up,” Schumer said today. He added that Democrats hope to get a legislative proposal together to submit “within the next 24 hours”.
Schumer said that he hopes Republicans in both chambers will negotiate in good faith, but they also need to get the White House “on board”.
Key events
Lauren Gambino
Donald Trump said Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, should be “very worried” about a US military buildup in the Middle East after a violent crackdown against anti-government demonstrations in Tehran last month.
He also warned Iran not to try to restart their nuclear program. “You do that, we’re going to do bad things to you,” he said in an interview with NBC News that aired on Wednesday.
His remarks come as the US and Iran salvaged talks scheduled for Friday after the US initially rejected Iran’s request to move them from Turkey to Oman.
“That country’s a mess right now because of us,” Trump said of Iran. “We went in, we wiped out their nuclear if I didn’t take out the nuclear, think of it. If we didn’t take out that nuclear, we wouldn’t have peace in the Middle East.”
Trump has previously said the country needs “new leadership”.
More than 60% of voters think the Trump administration has not given an honest account of the fatal shooting of Alex Pretti, the 37-year-old ICU nurse who was killed by ICE agents in Minneapolis last month, according to a new Quinnipiac University poll.
A majority of voters also believe Homeland Security secretary Kristi Noem should be removed from her position, and 80 percent think there should be an independent investigation into Pretti’s shooting.
The poll’s findings fall largely along partisan lines, with 93 percent of Democrats saying they did not believe the Trump administration’s account and 60 percent of Republicans saying that they did.
Adults across the world were far more likely to name the economy as the greatest problem facing their countries than other issues like safety, food and shelter, the environment, healthcare or immigration, according to a new Gallup poll.
The poll found that 23% of adults across 107 countries named the economy as their country’s most important problem – while 10% listed work.
Among high-income nations like the United States, younger people were more likely to cite economic concerns than their older peers. About one-third of adults under the age of 35 raised concerns about affordability in the poll, compared with only 13% of those 55 and older.
The CIA has shuttered its longtime favorite reference manual, the World Factbook.
In an announcement on its website, titled “Spotlighting the World Factbook as We Bid a Fond Farewell”, the CIA said: “The World Factbook served the Intelligence Community and the general public as a longstanding, one-stop basic reference about countries and communities around the globe” but gave no reason for its closure.
The Factbook was first published in 1962 as a classified manual for staff, with an unclassified version first released in 1971. In 1997, the World Factbook went online at CIA.gov, where it received millions of views each year from researchers, pop science aficionados and others seeking information on other countries.
Immigration agents have arrested more than 4,000 people since Operation Metro Surge began in Minnesota, according to White House press secretary, Karoline Leavitt.
Leavitt called those arrested “dangerous criminal illegal aliens” and said that “Democrats opened our borders and allowed vicious criminals, including murderers, rapists, gang members and terrorists to invade our communities”, adding that “President Trump is reversing that horrific damage”.
She did not include specific data on the number of those arrested who have been convicted or deported.
The Trump administration has classified immigrants across the country as “vicious”, labeling them as gang members or other criminals in order to justify their arrest – or as in the case of two people in Portland, Oregon, last month, their shooting.
Highly public cases of those detained so far in Minnesota have included five-year-old Liam Ramos and 10-year-old Elizabeth Caisaguano.
Georgia Congressman Barry Loudermilk says he will not seek re-election when his term ends
Congressman Barry Loudermilk, who has represented Georgia’s 11th congressional district since 2015, will not seek re-election when his term ends next year. Loudermilk serves as the chair of a House judiciary subcommittee investigating the January 6 attack on the US Capitol.
“I believe it is time to contribute to my community, state and nation in other ways,” Loudermilk said in a statement. “I have learned throughout my life that doing what is right is not always easy, convenient or popular. My wife and I have prayed diligently and discussed this extensively; and, while this is not an easy decision, we believe it is the right one. While serving my constituents in Congress ranks among my greatest honors, being a husband, a father and a grandfather holds even greater importance to me; and at this time, I wish to spend more dedicated time with my family.”
Senator Ron Wyden has sent a classified letter to the CIA director, John Ratcliffe, according to a press release and unclassified letter shared by Wyden’s office.
“I write to alert you to a classified letter I sent you earlier today, in which I express deep concerns about CIA activities,” Wyden wrote in the unclassified letter to Ratcliffe.
Wyden, a Democrat from Oregon, is the longest-serving member of the Senate select committee on intelligence.
Virginia will no longer deputize state police to enforce immigration laws, after an executive order that the state’s governor, Abigail Spanberger, signed today. Former governor Glenn Youngkin, a Republican, had signed an executive order last year directing state police and corrections officers to assist with federal immigration enforcement.
“This doesn’t preclude any sort of coordination or taskforce-related work; it doesn’t preclude any federal agency coming with a judicial warrant and requesting assistance,” Spanberger said. “But taking Virginia law enforcement, state agency personnel, and basically giving them over to ICE is something that ends today.”
Here’s more of our past reporting on federal efforts to recruit local police for immigration enforcement purposes:
The White House says the findings of a major Human Rights Watch report released today, finding that “the rules-based international order is being crushed” under “relentless pressure from US President Donald Trump”, are untrue.
“Human Rights Watch suffers from an organization-wide case of Trump Derangement Syndrome – they have been attacking the president before he even took office,” said spokesperson Anna Kelly. “President Trump has done more for human rights than this Soros-funded, left-wing group ever could by ending eight wars, saving countless lives, protecting religious freedom, ending Biden’s weaponization of government, and more.”
In an introductory essay to the 529-page World Report, Human Rights Watch executive director Philippe Bolopion wrote: “To be fair, the downward spiral predated Trump’s reelection. The democratic wave that began over 50 years ago has given way to what scholars term a ‘democratic recession.’ Democracy is now back to 1985 levels according to some metrics, with 72 percent of the world’s population now living under autocracy. Russia and China are less free today than 20 years ago. And so is the United States.”
Bolopion called 2025 “a tipping point”, adding: “In just 12 months, the Trump administration has carried out a broad assault on key pillars of US democracy and the global rules-based order, which the US, despite inconsistencies, was, with other states, instrumental in helping to establish.”
Here’s more coverage on the report:
The supreme court has ruled that California may proceed with implementing a congressional map voters approved last November. The map is likely to give Democrats five more seats in Congress, and was drawn after Texas redrew its congressional maps to create districts that will probably give Republicans five more seats.
Today’s supreme court ruling rejects an effort by the state’s Republican party and the Trump administration to block California’s redrawn map. Earlier this year, the court ruled that Texas could proceed with implementing its own new congressional map, redrawn to favor Republicans.
Here’s more of our past coverage of the effort to redraw congressional maps in a scramble before the midterms:
George Chidi
The Fulton county commission chair, Robb Pitts, said at a press conference this morning that he received a phone call last Monday – two days before the FBI served a criminal warrant to seize 2020 election documents – to warn that he, Georgia’s secretary of state, Brad Raffensperger, former Raffensperger deputy Gabriel Sterling and others in the state were at risk of imminent arrest by federal agents.
“That did not happen on Monday,” Pitts said. “It didn’t happen on Tuesday, but lo and behold on Wednesday, the FBI shows up.”
Pitts would not disclose who called him, identifying them only as someone familiar with Washington DC, and the Guardian has not reported or confirmed that any of the three officials are under investigation.
The FBI has maintained a seal on the affidavit that federal officials used to obtain the criminal warrant. Pitts held a press conference on Wednesday to announce that the county had filed a motion for the ballots and other election material to be returned, and for that affidavit to be unsealed.
“Because the case is still under seal at this time, I cannot share the contents of the motion itself,” he said. “We will use every resource at our disposal to fight for their vote and that we will fight using all resources against those who seek to take over our elections. Our constitution itself is at stake in this fight.”
The press conference came amid deep confusion over an unprecedented raid that turns the presidential election disputes of 2020 into a criminal case.
Here’s a recap of the day so far
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Tom Homan said that the Trump administration will draw down 700 immigration enforcement officers. He said this was as a result of increased coordination between county jails and federal officials. “This frees up more officers to arrest or remove criminal aliens, more officers taking custody of criminal aliens directly from the jails, means less officers on the street doing criminal operations,” Homan said.
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Homan noted that “around 2000” immigration officers remain in Minnesota after today’s most recent drawdown announcement. He added that the pre-operation number was between 100 and 150 officers.
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Democratic lawmakers said today that “dramatic changes” are needed at the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), as they continue their negotiations over a full-year appropriations bill. The Senate’s top Democrat, Chuck Schumer, said that the party is also demanding the end of “roving patrols”, “independent oversight by state and local governments” and “no secret police”.
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A man convicted of trying to assassinate Donald Trump on a Florida golf course in 2024 has been sentenced to life in prison. US district judge Aileen Cannon pronounced Ryan Routh’s fate in the same Fort Pierce courtroom that erupted into chaos in September when he tried to stab himself shortly after jurors found him guilty on all counts. Routh also received a consecutive seven-year sentence for one of his gun convictions.
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Donald Trump has said that he’s learned his administration could use “a little bit of a softer touch” on immigration enforcement, after the immense backlash to his ongoing crackdown in Minnesota. “You still have to be tough,” Trump said in a forthcoming interview with NBC News. “These are criminals we’re dealing with, really hard criminals.”
Steve Bannon, the former White House strategist and rightwing podcast host, said he wants to see immigration agents at the polls in November, a proposal that election officials have feared.
Bannon has no formal power, but is an influential figure on the far right and is closely tied with the Trump administration.
Donald Trump this week again suggested that the federal government “should take over the voting” and federalize elections, which are run by local and state jurisdictions, as part of his ongoing false claims that Democrats have stolen elections.
He also reiterated lies that undocumented people are brought to the US to vote and their participation led to Democratic electoral victories.
Repeating false claims that undocumented people vote in large numbers in US elections, Bannon said on his War Room show on Tuesday: “You’re damn right we’re gonna have ICE surround the polls come November.”
The comments come as elections officials nationwide grow more concerned about potential interference from the Trump administration in this year’s midterms. One of those fears is that immigration agents will be near polling places or have a heavy footprint in Democratic areas on election day.
Law enforcement presence at the polls is generally seen as a negative among election officials, and in some places subject to legal parameters, because it can intimidate voters from casting their ballots. Immigration agents, in particular, have caused people – including US citizens and otherwise legal residents – to stay home for fear of detention or racial profiling.
Trump says that administration could use ‘softer touch’ on immigration in forthcoming interview
Donald Trump has said that he’s learned his administration could use “a little bit of a softer touch” on immigration enforcement, following the immense backlash to his ongoing crackdown in Minnesota. “You still have to be tough,” Trump said. “These are criminals we’re dealing with, really hard criminals.”
In an forthcoming interview with NBC News, Trump said that the decision to draw down 700 officers in the North Star state came from him, but the administration is “waiting for [Minnesota] to release prisoners”.
The president added: “Give us the murderers that they’re holding and all of the bad people, drug dealers, all of the bad people we allowed in our country.”
As we reported earlier, Minnesota’s department of corrections (DOC) already coordinates with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) when an undocumented immigrant, convicted of a felony, is scheduled for release. Both the DOC and the “border czar”, Tom Homan, have confirmed this cooperation, guaranteed under state law, is taking place.
County jails, however, are a separate matter. They do not fall under the purview of the DOC. In Minnesota, it’s a patchwork, as individual sheriffs choose whether to work with federal immigration enforcement.
In response to Tom Homan’s announcement that the Trump administration will draw down 700 federal officers in Minnesota, the state’s governor, Tim Walz, said the news was “a step in the right direction”.
However, he added that the state needs a “faster and larger drawdown of forces, state-led investigations into the killings of Alex Pretti and Renee Good, and an end to this campaign of retribution”.
Meanwhile, Minneapolis’s mayor, Jacob Frey, said that that while the scaling back of agents and the news that body-cameras will be issued to immigration enforcement agents was encouraging, “2,000 ICE officers still here is not de-escalation”.
“My message to the White House has been consistent – Operation Metro Surge has been catastrophic for our residents and businesses. It needs to end immediately.”
Sara Braun
An ICE attorney who publicly expressed frustrations with her role and told a court “this job sucks” is no longer detailed to the US attorney’s office for the district of Minnesota, according to NBC News.
“The system sucks. This job sucks,” Julie Le, an attorney representing the US attorney’s office in Minnesota, said in response to a federal judge’s questions on why ICE has repeatedly failed to comply with court orders.
“I wish you would hold me in contempt so I would have a full 24 hours sleep,” she added in comments that quickly went viral.
US district judge Jerry Blackwell had ordered Le, as well as assistant US attorney Ana Voss, to appear in his Saint Paul courtroom on Tuesday to explain why the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) missed multiple deadlines to release five detainees who the judge said never should have been arrested in the first place.
“A court order is not advisory, and it is not conditional,” Blackwell said. “It is not something that any agency can treat as optional as it decides how or whether to comply.”
During the hearing, Le acknowledged that many at the DHS did not understand the seriousness of an order from a federal judge.
“It took a long, long, long time, and many orders to show cause to explain and let them know that if you don’t fix it, I’m going to quit and you’re going to be dragging yourself into court,” she said.
Le said that she moved from her job as an ICE lawyer to the Minnesota US attorney’s office on 5 January to help it respond to an influx of civil filings of detainees, known as petitions of habeas corpus.
Le also told the court that she had previously submitted her resignation, after handling more than 88 immigration cases in less than a month. She ultimately ended up staying in the role because there was no one to replace her.
It comes amid intense scrutiny of the ICE operations in Minnesota, which have resulted in the detention of adults and children without criminal records, including Liam Ramos, the five-year-old in the viral photograph being detained by ICE agents in his bunny hat.
Tom Homan, the White House “border czar”, announced today that about 700 federal agents would leave Minnesota, a large decrease in the number of agents on the ground but still leaving about 2,000 agents remaining there, far above typical levels for the state.
Man who tried to assassinate Trump in Florida sentenced to life in prison
A man convicted of trying to assassinate Donald Trump on a Florida golf course in 2024 has been sentenced to life in prison.
US district judge Aileen Cannon pronounced Ryan Routh’s fate in the same Fort Pierce courtroom that erupted into chaos in September when he tried to stab himself shortly after jurors found him guilty on all counts.
“It’s clear to me that you engaged in a premeditated, calculated plot to take a human life,” Cannon said.
Routh also received a consecutive seven-year sentence for one of his gun convictions.
Shackled at the hands and wearing beige prison garb, Routh gave a rambling address in court focused on foreign wars and his desire to be exchanged with political prisoners abroad. “I have given every drop of who I am every day for the betterment of my community and this nation,” Routh said.
Prosecutors said Routh spent weeks plotting to kill Trump before aiming a rifle through shrubbery as the then Republican presidential candidate played golf on 15 September 2024, at his West Palm Beach country club.
At Routh’s trial, a Secret Service agent helping protect Trump on the golf course testified that he spotted Routh before Trump came into view. Routh aimed his rifle at the agent, who opened fire, causing Routh to drop his weapon and run away without firing a shot.
Here’s the full report:
Delayed jobs report to be released next week, BLS says
The US Bureau of Labor Statistics has said that January’s employment report will be released next Wednesday after being delayed by the three-day government shutdown, Reuters reports.
The BLS said the consumer price index report for January will now be published next Friday instead of on Wednesday; while the job openings and labor turnover survey report for December, which was due on Tuesday, will be released on Thursday this week.
Democratic lawmakers say ‘dramatic changes’ needed from DHS as negotiations continue
Speaking at the US Capitol today, Senate and House Democrats said that “dramatic changes” are needed at the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) as they continue their negotiations over a full-year appropriations bill
A reminder that Trump signed a stopgap spending measure on Tuesday that funds the DHS until 13 February while lawmakers hammer out guardrails.
The Senate’s top Democrat, Chuck Schumer, said that the party is also demanding the end of “roving patrols”, “independent oversight by state and local governments” and “no secret police”.
Democrats have pushed for the need of judicial warrants to conduct raids, a reduction in aggressive tactics, and for agents to not wear masks.
“You can’t just stop anybody on the street … and not even tell them why they’re picked up,” Schumer said today. He added that Democrats hope to get a legislative proposal together to submit “within the next 24 hours”.
Schumer said that he hopes Republicans in both chambers will negotiate in good faith, but they also need to get the White House “on board”.
