700 immigration officers will immediately leave Minnesota

The judge said U.S. immigration agents in Oregon must stop arresting people without warrants unless they are likely to escape.

U.S. District Judge Mustafa Kasubhai’s ruling Wednesday came in response to a lawsuit filed by a nonprofit law firm representing a man who was detained by immigration officers without a warrant despite having a valid work permit.

In a memo last week, the acting head of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement emphasized that agents should not make arrests without an administrative arrest warrant issued by a supervisor unless they develop probable cause to believe the person is likely to escape from the scene.

“It bothers me that somebody is going after Bill Clinton. Actually, I like Bill Clinton,” Trump told NBC News. “I like his behavior toward me.”

Trump also said that the former president “understood” him.

The president’s comments were a major departure from Republican members of Congress.

The former president and his wife, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, have finalized an agreement with House Republicans to testify in an investigation into Jeffrey Epstein, bowing to the threat of a contempt of Congress vote against them.

The vice president, second lady Usha Vance and their children are heading to Milan for the Winter Olympics.

On Thursday, Vance is expected to greet U.S. athletes after he lands, and later plans to watch the U.S. women’s hockey team take on Czechia.

Vance is following in the footsteps of former vice presidents. Joe Biden attended the Winter Olympics in Vancouver in 2010 and Mike Pence traveled to Pyeongchang, South Korea, in 2018. Former Vice President Kamala Harris did not attend the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing because the Biden administration did not send any diplomatic officials as a boycott over human rights concerns.

The president said his administration needs to do a better job of selling his policies.

Recent polling shows that his approval ratings are dropping on immigration and the economy, the very issues that helped him win the election in 2024.

“What happens is I think we do a phenomenal job, but we’re bad at public relations,” he told NBC News.

Trump declined to take sides in a potential future Republican presidential primary between Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio. He called both men “fantastic” and said both are “doing a great job.”

“I don’t want to get into this,” Trump told NBC News. “We have three years to go.”

Asked to compare them, Trump said they’re different in style and said a GOP ticket with both of them would be formidable, a claim he’s made before.

“I would say one is slightly more diplomatic than the other,” Trump said without naming them. “I think they’re both of very high intelligence.”

Nude photos. The names and faces of sexual abuse victims. Bank account and Social Security numbers in full view.

All of these things appeared in the mountain of documents released publicly by the U.S. Justice Department as part of its effort to comply with a law requiring it to open its investigative files on Jeffrey Epstein.

That law was intended to preserve important privacy protections for Epstein’s victims. Their names were supposed to have been blacked out in documents. Their faces and bodies were supposed to be obscured in photos.

Mistakes, though, have been rampant. A review by The Associated Press and other news organizations has found countless examples of sloppy, inconsistent or nonexistent redactions that have revealed sensitive private information.

The Justice Department has blamed technical or human errors on the problems and said it has taken down many of the problematic materials and is working to republish properly redacted versions.

▶ Read more about redactions in the files

Despite cutbacks at major tech firms, the president pushed back on assertions that artificial intelligence was causing U.S. employers to reduce jobs, scoffing that “they said the internet was going to” do the same thing.

“Everything was going to,” Trump said during an interview with NBC News.

“Robots are going to kill jobs,” he added. “Everything is going to kill jobs, and you end up, if you’re smart, doing great.”

Trump also said that he personally doesn’t use AI tools like ChatGPT very often, but repeated his frequent assertions that the U.S. is working to make advancements in such fields faster than China.

“I’ve decided I shouldn’t be involved,” Trump told NBC News on Wednesday.

Warner Bros. has accepted a partial takeover bid from Netflix and has rebuffed a competing offer from Paramount Skydance, which is led by David Ellison with backing from his billionaire father, Trump ally Larry Ellison.

Trump said he’s fielded calls from both sides.

Also during the NBC interview, the president was asked if Iran had restarted its nuclear program and responded, “I heard that they are.”

He provided no further details.

“I would say he should be very worried,” Trump said of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in an interview with NBC News.

The warning came as the U.S. and Iran agreed to hold nuclear talks on Friday in Oman. The high-level talks were originally slated for Turkey, but Iran insisted on a shift in location. The U.S. reluctantly agreed to go along with the change.

A White House official, who was not authorized to comment publicly and spoke on the condition of anonymity, said that several Arab and Muslim leaders urged the Trump administration not to walk away from talks even as Iranian officials pressed to narrow their scope and change the venue for the negotiations.

The official added that the White House remains “very skeptical” that the talks will be successful but have agreed to go along with the change in plans out of respect for allies in the region.

Trump says the deaths of Renee Good and Alex Pretti in Minneapolis were both sad incidents that “should not have happened,” but nobody feels worse about the shootings than ICE agents.

Trump told NBC News on Wednesday that “he was not an angel and she was not an angel.”

“I’m not happy with what happened there,” Trump said. “Nobody could be happy, and ICE wasn’t happy either, but I’m going to always be with our great people of law enforcement, ICE, police. We have to back them.”

The statue would be a replica of a statue of famed explorer Christopher Columbus that was tossed into Baltimore’s harbor during Trump’s first term amid protests against institutional racism.

John Pica, a Maryland lobbyist and president of the Italian American Organizations United, said his group owns the statue and agreed to loan it to the federal government. The exact timing for any planned installation was unclear, Pica said, though he added, “possibly within two weeks.”

Trump endorses a traditional view of Columbus as leader of the 1492 mission that marked the unofficial beginning of European colonization in the Americas and the development of the modern economic and political order. But in recent years, Columbus has also been recognized as a primary example of Western Europe’s conquest of the New World, its resources and its native people.

For Trump, it would be another move to reshape the telling of U.S. history as the nation marks the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence.

A government lawyer who told a judge that her job “sucks” during a court hearing stemming from the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement surge in Minnesota has been removed from her Justice Department post, according to a person familiar with the matter.

Julie Le had been working for the Justice Department on a detail, but the U.S. attorney in Minnesota ended her assignment after her comments in court on Tuesday, the person said. The person spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss a personnel matter.

At a hearing Tuesday in St. Paul, Minnesota, for several immigration cases, Le told U.S. District Judge Jerry Blackwell that she wishes he could hold her in contempt of court “so that I can have a full 24 hours of sleep.”

“What do you want me to do? The system sucks. This job sucks. And I am trying every breath that I have so that I can get you what you need,” Le said, according to a transcript.

Le’s remarks reflect the intense strain that has been placed on the federal court system since Trump returned to the White House.

The spy agency announced Wednesday that after more than 60 years, it is shuttering the popular reference manual.

The announcement posted to the CIA’s website offered no reason for the decision, but it comes after Trump’s pick to lead the agency, Director John Ratcliffe, has vowed to end programs that don’t advance the agency’s core missions.

First launched in 1962 as a classified reference manual for intelligence officers, the Factbook offered a detailed, by-the-numbers picture of foreign nations, their economies, militaries, resources and societies.

The Factbook proved so useful that other federal agencies began using it and within a decade an unclassified version was released to the public.

After going online in 1997, the Factbook quickly became a popular reference site for journalists, trivia aficionados and the writers of college essays, racking up millions of visits per year.

The first lady recounted for reporters her meeting with the wife of Keith Siegel, an American Israeli who was held in Gaza for 484 days before he was freed a year ago. She included Siegel’s story in her documentary that opened in theaters last week.

Melania Trump said meeting with Aviva Siegel was emotional and “it is captured on camera and available to see in my film, ‘Melania.’”

A reporter asked the first lady if it was appropriate to use an official White House event to promote the film. She said she wasn’t doing that.

She said the Siegels were in Washington and called her to say they wanted to come thank her, “and that’s why we are here. It’s nothing to do with promotion.”

On Wednesday, Virginia Gov. Abigail Spanberger signed an executive direction ending an agreement with the federal government to deputize state police in enforcing immigration laws.

“This doesn’t preclude any sort of coordination or task force-related work; it doesn’t preclude any federal agency coming with a judicial warrant and requesting assistance,” Spanberger said at a news conference, adding: “But taking Virginia law enforcement, state agency personnel, and basically giving them over to ice is something that ends today.”

The news comes after former Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin signed an executive order last year directing state law enforcement and corrections officers to enter pacts for federal immigration enforcement, also known as 287(g) agreements after a section of a 1996 immigration law.

Spanberger said she had not heard from the Trump administration in response to her directive.

Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi has confirmed that Iran and the US will hold nuclear talks in Oman’s capital of Muscat on Friday.

His announcement on Wednesday came after hours of indications that plans for the talks might be faltering over changes in the format and content of the talks.

”I’m grateful to our Omani brothers for making all necessary arrangements,” Araghchi wrote on X on Wednesday evening.

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The Trump administration said findings by the Human Rights Watch that President Trump’s actions have had a negative impact on democracy in the country and human rights here and abroad are not grounded in fact.

“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 spokeswoman 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.”

The Homeland Security secretary touted fewer border arrests at a news conference in Nogales, Arizona.

She spoke shortly after White House border czar Tom Homan commanded headlines with his own news conference in Minneapolis, saying the department was lowering its presence in the Twin Cities. Noem has been a less frequent voice in Minnesota since President Donald Trump dispatched Homan to the state last week to de-escalate tensions.

Noem initially defended the Jan. 24 fatal shooting of Alex Pretti in Minneapolis, saying he impeded a law enforcement operation despite video that cast doubt on that version of events.

The secretary visited Eagle Pass, Texas, on Tuesday where thousands of people crossed the border illegally during the Biden administration, a point she addressed to highlight the drop in numbers.

The preliminary arrest tally for illegal border crossings from Mexico was 6,073, a fourth straight decline from the previous month. Border arrests peaked at 250,000 in December 2023.

The United States is among several high-income nations where younger people are unusually likely to prioritize economic issues, according to a new global survey of national priorities by Gallup.

About one-third of Americans under 35 cited economics and affordability as the top issue facing the country, compared to only 13% of those 55 and older.

The housing affordability crisis has been particularly acute in the English-speaking world, and the poll found that other high-income countries with similar generation gaps over the economy and affordability included Australia, Canada, the United Kingdom and New Zealand.

Asked during an interview with NBC News if border czar Tom Homan’s announcement that roughly a quarter of federal immigration officers deployed to Minnesota would be pulled out came from him, Trump responded, “Yes it did.”

“But it didn’t come from me because I just wanted to do it,” the president added.

Asked about lessons going forward based on what happened in Minnesota, Trump responded, “I learned that maybe we can use a little bit of a softer touch. But you still have to be tough.”

New international polling from Gallup shows that Americans are particularly anxious about politics and governance, compared to the residents of more than 100 other countries worldwide.

About one-third of Americans rated politics and government as the top issue facing their nation, behind only Taiwan — which faces the prospect of an invasion from China — and on par with Slovenia, Spain and South Korea.

Older Americans are especially likely to say politics is the country’s most important problem, while younger adults are more focused on economic issues.

The Supreme Court on Wednesday allowed California to use a new voter-approved congressional map that is favorable to Democrats in this year’s elections, rejecting a last-ditch plea from state Republicans and the Trump administration.

The justices had previously allowed Texas’ Republican-friendly map to be used in 2026, despite a lower court ruling that it likely discriminates on the basis of race.

Conservative Justice Samuel Alito wrote in December that it appeared both states had adopted new maps for political advantage, which the high court has previously ruled cannot be a basis for a federal lawsuit.

Republicans, joined by the administration, claimed the California map improperly relied on race, as well. But a lower court disagreed by a 2-1 vote.

The justices’ unsigned order keeps in place districts that are designed to flip up to five seats now held by Republicans, part of a tit-for-tat nationwide redistricting battle spurred by President Donald Trump, with control of Congress on the line in midterm elections.

▶ Read more

In an interview with “The Megyn Kelly Show,” Vice President JD Vance said the agents being sent home were largely in Minneapolis to protect the ones who were carrying out the arrests.

Now, Vance said, many of them are no longer needed because the administration has gained the cooperation of local police.

“We’re not drawing down the immigration enforcement,” Vance. “We’re drawing down some of the federal officers that were helping the guys do immigration enforcement.”

In the same interview, Vance said he wants to deport anyone who has entered the country illegally, not just the ones with criminal convictions.

Despite a turn away from democratic norms in Donald Trumps’ first year, the United States is still a functioning democracy, the Human Rights Watch said in a report.

“People power remains an engine for change. In the US, “No Kings” marches have drawn millions, protesters in Chicago, Minneapolis, Los Angeles, and around the country have stood up against the deployment of the National Guard and ICE abuses, and students are still organizing for Palestine on university campuses despite draconian crackdowns and visa revocations,” the report said.

Executive Director Philippe Bolopian said the U.S. retreat from “the global rules-based world order and the US effort to undermine the system” doesn’t mean the country is the biggest human rights violator. “The U.S. society and democratic institutions are still strong. They are under attack, but they could resist.”

He cited the free press, political opposition and a vibrant society being evidence.

“You could not say that of many, many other countries around the world,”
Bolopian said. “Almost 75% of the world population is living in autocracy.”

People around the world are fighting for their rights, from Minneapolis to people risking their lives protesting in Iran but with the U.S. seemingly going in another direction and China and Russia taking illegal actions, governments need to step up, according to a Human Rights Watch report released Wednesday.

The three countries have weakened the infrastructure of human rights.

“We think that democratic country middle powers around the world should band together,” said HRW executive director Philippe Bolopian. He said it has to be a long-term alliance built around a common respect of democracy and human rights. He cited Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carneys speech at the World Economic Forum as a guide.

Bolopian suggested the European Union and places like South Africa, Brazil, Japan, South Korea, Australia and the U.K. as other prospective members who could resist tariffs and consolidate their diplomatic power.

President Donald Trump’s first year in office deteriorated democracy and human rights and combined with aggressive actions by Russia and China, have wreaked havoc on human rights protections globally, according to the annual report by the Human Rights Watch.

”The U.S took significant steps backward on immigration, health, environment, labor, disability, gender, criminal justice, and freedom of speech rights, among others,” the 536-page report said.

Among the actions, it said, was the use of National Guard units in America cities and the actions of Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Compounding the administration’s moves were the acquiescence of the establishment, including Congress, the report said.

“It’sactually incredible to see how the Trump Administration has really undermined all the pillars of US democracy, all the checks and balances on power,” HRW executive director Philippe Bolopian said.

The White House wasn’t immediately available for comment.

Sen. Roger Wicker, a Mississippi Republican, is sending a letter to Homeland Secretary Kristi Noem to voice his opposition against plans that would turn a warehouse facility in a town in the northwest part of his state near Memphis into an immigration detention center.

Wicker notes that he supports “the enforcement of immigration law,” but that he is concerned the center would disrupt a site planned for “job creation, private investment, and long-term economic growth.” He also raised concerns that the local resources and infrastructure could not support a facility planned to hold over 8,500 people at a time.

Wicker’s position is some of the highest-profile pushback to the Trump administration’s plans to dramatically scale up immigration detention capacity. Local officials have been raising similar concerns across several states.

The U.S. military has unleashed a new round of strikes against Islamic State members in Syria following the deadly December ambush that killed two U.S. soldiers and one American civilian interpreter.

U.S. Central Command said in a statement Wednesday that U.S. aircraft conducted the attacks between Jan. 27 and Monday, destroying targets that included a communication site and weapons storage facilities.

“Striking these targets demonstrates our continued focus and resolve for preventing an ISIS resurgence in Syria,” said Adm. Brad Cooper, CENTCOM’s commander.

The U.S. military said its multiple rounds of strikes since December have killed or captured more than 50 Islamic State members, including “an experienced terrorist leader who plotted attacks and was directly connected” to the ambush.

A bipartisan group of senators met with Colombian President Gustavo Petro to discuss ways to partner economically and address drug trafficking.

Petro’s visit to Capitol Hill comes a day after he met with President Donald Trump, and the pair emerged describing their meeting as friendly. Petro’s visit comes amid an intense focus on the Western Hemisphere by the Trump Administration.

Sen. Ruben Gallego, an Arizona Democrat, said the meeting revolved around ways to coordinate anti-drug trafficking efforts, as well as economic and infrastructure projects.

“I think he understands that there is a lot of potential that we could be working together,” Gallego added.

A man convicted of trying to assassinate President Donald Trump on a Florida golf course in 2024 was sentenced Wednesday to life in prison.

U.S. 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.

Prosecutors had asked for life without parole, saying Routh is unrepentant and has never apologized. A defense attorney brought in for his sentencing asked for 27 years, noting that Routh is already turning 60.

Routh also received a consecutive seven-year sentence for one of his gun convictions.

▶ Read more

Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer said Democrats aim to submit proposed legislation concerning U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement “within the next 24 hours.”

Democrats are demanding changes at ICE as part of a bill to fund the Department of Homeland Security.

Schumer said Americans are “appalled” at some of the ICE enforcement actions taking place in the country and that Democrats have “common-sense, tough objectives to rein in ICE.”

Among those, he said ICE agents should not be involved in what he called “roving patrols.” He said they also should not be allowed to engage in racial profiling or to enter certain facilities such as schools and churches.

“Finally, no secret police,” Schumer said, referring to the use of masks.

The Labor Department said Wednesday that it will release the January jobs report, delayed by the brief federal government shutdown, on Wednesday Feb. 11, nearly a week late.

It was originally scheduled for Friday.

Businesses, economists and policymakers rely on the numbers, which include the nation’s unemployment rate and the number of jobs created each month.

The department also said that its consumer price index — a closely watched inflation gauge — will come out Friday, Feb. 13, two days late.

Senate Banking leaders Elizabeth Warren and Ron Wyden wrote to Treasury and DOJ leadership asking for documentation related to President Trump’s lawsuit seeking $10 billion from the IRS and Treasury over leaked tax information, arguing the lawsuit reeks of “bald corruption.”

The tax leak was caused by a contractor who has pled guilty and was sentenced to five years in prison, and that the events occurred during Trump’s first administration.

The lawmakers raise ethical concerns that Trump is effectively suing agencies he oversees, which could create a conflict of interest and potential collusion and question the timing of Treasury’s decision to cancel contracts with the contractor’s employer, suggesting it may be connected to the lawsuit.

“This lawsuit is a shameless and transparent act of corruption that should make any American’s head spin,” states the letter sent to agency leadership, Wednesday.

House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries is laying out four demands for continued funding of the Department of Homeland Security after a short-term patch lapses on Feb. 13.

Jeffries said Democrats are seeking mandatory cameras for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers. They also believe judicial warrants must be issued by a court before Americans are taken from their homes or cars.

He also said that Democrats believe enforcement officers should not be masked in “an arbitrary and capricious fashion.”

Also, he said ICE should not be able to detain and deport American citizens, “which we know is taking place right now.”

Testifying at the House Financial Services Committee, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has had several loud exchanges with House Democrats over inflation and Trump family cryptocurrency investments.

In one instance, after a back and forth over whether tariffs cause inflation or one-time price increases, California Democrat Rep. Maxine Waters told committee leadership about Bessent: “can someone shut him up?”

And in a screaming match with Democratic New York Rep. Gregory Meeks over the Abu Dhabi royal family’s purchase of roughly 49% of the Trump family’s World Liberty Financial cryptocurrency firm last year, Meeks shouted at Bessent, “stop covering for the president. Stop being a flunky!”

Bessent is expected to appear before the Senate Banking Committee on Thursday.

Envoys from Moscow and Kyiv met in Abu Dhabi on Wednesday for another round of U.S.-brokered talks on ending the almost four-year war, as a Russian attack using cluster munitions killed seven people at a market in Ukraine.

The delegations from Moscow and Kyiv were joined in the capital of the United Arab Emirates by U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff and President Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, according to Rustem Umerov, Ukraine’s National Security and Defense Council chief who attended the meeting.

“The discussions were substantive and productive, focusing on concrete steps and practical solutions,” Umerov said on social media as the first of two days of talks wrapped up.

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said a breakthrough in the talks may not come for a while but the Trump administration has made great progress on negotiations over the past year.

▶ Read more

It’s set to expire Thursday, removing any caps on the two largest atomic arsenals for the first time in more than a half-century.

The termination of the New START Treaty would set the stage for what many fear could be an unconstrained nuclear arms race.

Russian President Vladimir Putin declared readiness to stick to the treaty’s limits for another year if Washington follows suit, but President Trump has been noncommittal about extending it.

Trump has repeatedly indicated he would like to keep limits on nuclear weapons and involve China in arms control talks, a White House official who was not authorized to talk publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity said Monday. Trump will make a decision on nuclear arms control “on his own timeline,” the official said.

Beijing has balked at any restrictions on its smaller but growing nuclear arsenal.

▶ Read more

Xi’s engagement with Trump and Putin comes as the last remaining nuclear arms pact, known as the New START treaty, between Russia and the United States is set to expire Thursday, removing any caps on the two largest atomic arsenals for the first time in more than a half-century.

Trump, a Republican, has indicated he would like to keep limits on nuclear weapons but wants to involve China in a potential new treaty.

“I actually feel strongly that if we’re going to do it, I think China should be a member of the extension,” Trump told the New York Times last month. “China should be a part of the agreement.”

In his phone call with President Trump, Chinese leader Xi Jinping said China will “never allow Taiwan to be split” from the mainland, according to the official news agency Xinhua. Xi told Trump that Taiwan is the “most important issue” in the China-U.S. relations and urged the U.S. side to handle the Taiwan issue with prudence.

China claims sovereignty over the self-governed island and vows to take it by force if necessary, though the island has never been under Beijing’s rule. The U.S. takes no side on the sovereignty issue but opposes the use of force.

The Chinese side did not mention Trump’s April visit, but Xi said both countries will be hosting important international summits this year, which in the past have provided opportunities for the leaders of the world’s two largest economies to meet one-on-one.

A day after a series of conflicting reports about the location and format of U.S.-Iran talks, Rubio said Trump officials are working on maintaining a meeting this week with Iranians as tensions between the two countries continue to rise.

“I think the Iranians had agreed to a certain format, for whatever reason, this change in their system or what have you. We’ll see if we can get back to the right place. But the United States is prepared to meet with them,” Rubio said.

Iranian state TV reported Wednesday that the talks would take place in Oman, not Turkey as originally planned.

Rubio said Wednesday that China needs to be part of any future talks to impose limits on nuclear weapons, noting the country’s “vast and rapidly growing stockpile.”

The last remaining nuclear arms pact between Russia and the United States is set to expire Thursday. Russian President Vladimir Putin has declared readiness to stick to the treaty’s limits for another year if Washington follows suit, while Rubio reiterated President Trump’s stance that China needs to be involved in such discussions.

Trump said Wednesday that he spoke with President Xi Jinping of China, including on subjects involving the military. But Trump didn’t elaborate on whether those talks involved their countries’ nuclear arsenals.