#immigration-enforcement

#immigration-enforcement

On a cool winter night in Los Angeles, dozens gathered to protest the Trump administration's attacks on the arts and the recent federal immigration raids in southern California. But these protestors didn't carry signs or chant in front of a government building they recited poems such as Antifa Tea Party and Love in Times of Fascism. They performed anti-fascist improv to a small but lively crowd at The Glendale Room, a library-themed theater, as part of the monthly show Unquiet: A Night of Creative Resistance.

A young French tennis coach who once lived the American dream describes being detained, shackled and expelled under the Trump administration's tightened border rules. JUANA SUMMERS, HOST: There was a sharp drop in the number of European tourists visiting the U.S. last year compared to 2024. Many said the volatile political climate was the reason. Frightening stories of Europeans getting caught in the Trump administration's reinforced border controls have also dampened desires to cross the Atlantic. NPR's Eleanor Beardsley brings us one French person's experience.

Enrique Castillejos and his wife stopped at a Winchell's Donut House. It was part of their after-church routine on Friday nights. That evening's sermon had been about finding peace in God in turbulent times, and they felt it spoke directly to them. Enrique, 63, and his wife, Maria Elena Hernandez, 55, were undocumented immigrants. Like millions of others in Southern California, they had been looking over their shoulders as federal agents conducted immigration sweeps.

I do believe that we are living in a time we have not seen before, that what is happening in our country is extreme, said Vice Mayor Doria Robinson, who co-wrote the proposal with Councilmember Claudia Jimenez. I'm not prepared to say that people will be kind, rational or sane, or abide by the law, because they have not thus far and it just gets worse every day.

For months, Minnesota and Minneapolis have been at the forefront of the Trump administration's immigration crackdown as federal law enforcement flooded in and clashed with demonstrators who contested their aggressive tactics against undocumented and citizen residents alike. But in the aftermath of the killing of Renee Good and Alex Pretti by federal immigration officers, President Donald Trump appeared ready for a change of topic, directing a leadership shift on the ground and signaling a possible shift in approach.

As the Bay Area gears up for Sunday's Super Bowl in Santa Clara, South Bay Rep. Ro Khanna and other California Democrats are demanding that no immigration enforcement operations will occur at the game.

The Trump administration is reducing the number of immigration officers in Minnesota but will continue its enforcement operation that has sparked weeks of tensions and deadly confrontations, border czar Tom Homan said Wednesday. About 700 federal officers-roughly a quarter of the total deployed to Minnesota-will be withdrawn immediately after state and local officials agreed over the past week to cooperate by turning over arrested immigrants, Homan said.

Democrats want to mandate that immigration officers make arrests with a judicial warrant, NPR's Ximena Bustillo tells Up First. They argue that DHS-issued administrative warrants, which are not signed by a judge, raise questions about violations of people's constitutional rights against unreasonable searches and seizures. While some Republicans are interested in negotiating, others, like House Speaker Mike Johnson, have already discouraged it. Lawmakers also disagree on whether agents should wear face coverings.

Earlier this month, the Knoxville News Sentinel reported that Miller had been meeting in Washington DC with Tennessee speaker of the house, Cameron Sexton, to craft model legislation for states around the country. A few weeks later, the speaker announced a suite of eight bills that would turn state and local police officers, judges, teachers, social workers and others into an auxiliary extension of the federal immigration system.

Partly sunny with a high around 34 today. A low near 18 overnight. The National Museum of African American History & Culture will be closed today due to "complications involving the recent winter storm." You can find me on Bluesky, I'm @abeaujon.87 on Signal, and there's a link to my email address below. This roundup is available as a morning email newsletter. Sign up here.

"Especially in times of crisis and conflicts, old videos and photos resurface on social media falsely presented in a current context," said Brittani Kollar, who leads media literacy efforts at the Poynter Institute. The US nonprofit supports fact-checking, training and media criticism. "In wars and conflicts, it's particularly hard to get video footage," she told DW. "That's why manipulated or fake videos often fill that gap, even when they've already been used in other contexts or previously identified as false."

The New York attorney general, Letitia James, said the state's new legal observers would be volunteer employees from her office, trained to observe, without interfering, whether Trump's immigration enforcement remains within the bounds of the law. I am proud to protect New Yorkers' constitutional rights to speak freely, protest peacefully, and go about their lives without fear of unlawful federal action, James, a Democrat, said in a statement.

In the summer of 2020, I started a directory of Black-owned businesses in Maine. I was looking for a way to support the Black community for people who couldn't attend protests. I also wanted to make a longer-term economic impact. It immediately took off. These were my neighbors and local businesses that I just hadn't heard about. That's the thing: People joke about Maine being the whitest state, but there are actually plenty of Black-owned businesses here.

In an open letter from the Minnesota Chamber of Commerce, more than 60 CEOs from local companies that included 3M, Best Buy, Cargill, General Mills, Land O'Lakes, Target, Xcel Energy and UnitedHealth Group, called for "an immediate deescalation of tensions." When I called around to several contacts in those companies yesterday, one executive told me, "These raids are terrorizing our community. We have to speak up without making things worse."

The Trump administration's approach to immigration has reached a level of violence that the tech industry cannot ignore. In 2026 so far, federal immigration agents have killed at least eight people, including at least two U.S. citizens in Minneapolis - Renee Good and Alex Pretti. As immigration enforcement has grown more extreme - even detaining school children seeking legal asylum - tech workers have called on their leaders to speak up.

A VIRTUAL BRIEFING that Brooklyn Congressmember Yvette Clarke (D-09) hosted last week focused on making sure that churches in the borough have the resources and support they need to protect their congregations should immigration officials show up. Geared for clergy members, the briefing was titled "What Chicago and Minneapolis Taught Us" and featured elected leaders, advocates and experts with a record of standing against and overcoming immigration enforcement when it disregards the rule of law, Clarke's office said.

Good morning. Cloudy with a high around 39 today and a small chance of light snow after 1 PM. Snow chances continue overnight, with a low temperature near 25. Six more weeks of winter awaits us, according to a groundhog who just rose to the top of my enemies list. The Wizards host the Knicks tonight. The Capitals visit Philadelphia. You can find me on Bluesky, I'm @abeaujon.87 on Signal, and there's a link to my email address below.

The recent tensions between local authorities in Minnesota and the immigration enforcement agencies of the Trump administration, particularly Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), are not merely the stance of rebellious cities or states. They are the latest manifestation of a dispute as old as the nation itself: the resistance of local power against a federal center that periodically attempts to govern by imposition. To interpret what is happening today in Minneapolis and its consequences as an isolated episode of immigration policy is to remain on the surface.

We have heard nothing that suggests that there will be any increase in immigration enforcement from the federal authorities.

The interchamber tensions between Democrats are becoming a regular feature of funding fights in the second Trump term. Lawmakers, strategists and voters alike exploded in anger last March when Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and a handful of colleagues allowed a spending package to move forward amid the Elon Musk-led DOGE assault on federal agencies. In November, tempers again flared when a handful of Senate Democrats joined with Republicans to end a record 43-day shutdown.

Palantir celebrated its latest financial results on Monday, as the tech company blew past Wall Street expectations and continues to prop up the Trump administration's push to deport immigrants. Palantir has secured millions of dollars in federal contracts amid Trump's crackdown on immigrants. The multibillion-dollar Denver-based firm creates tech focused on surveillance and analytics, to be used by the government agencies and private companies.