Protesters gather in downtown Milwaukee to voice opposition to the actions of federal immigration agents. (Photo by Isiah Holmes/Wisconsin Examiner)

Hundreds of people marched up State St. Friday from the University of Wisconsin-Madison campus to the Wisconsin State Capitol to protest federal immigration enforcement in Minnesota and across the country.

The anti-ICE protest was part of a day of action across the country organized in reaction to the recent killings of Alex Pretti and Renee Good by federal agents in Minneapolis, and the ongoing federal crackdown in Minnesota. Friday’s national shutdown — a day of no school, no work and no shopping — was called for by student groups and immigrant rights advocates in Minnesota.

“What do we want? ICE out. When do we want it? Now,” protesters bundled in coats, scarves, gloves and hats chanted as they marched in the 13-degree weather.

“This month, I watched our neighbors in Minneapolis fight ICE on days colder than this one with love and solidarity,” Halsey Hazzard, a co-chair of Madison Area Democratic Socialists of America and a UW-Madison library employee, told the crowd gathered on the steps of the Capitol. Hazzard said the Trump administration “fears” people “coming together, reaching out to one another and learning that love is stronger than fear.” 

Dozens of businesses in Wisconsin’s capital city showed solidarity by closing up shop or donating proceeds to advocacy groups in Minnesota and Wisconsin. 

People carried signs expressing their opposition to the actions federal immigration agents have  taken in Minnesota and elsewhere, including detaining children. “Children aren’t criminals. Trump is,” one sign declared.

Recently, the Trump administration came under fire for its detainment in Minnesota of 5-year-old Liam Ramos and Vice President J.D. Vance defended the action. Ramos remains in a detention facility in Texas.

“No fear! No hate! No ICE in our state!” the Madison marchers chanted.

“Immigrants Make America Great,” another sign stated.

One sign called out the only Republican in the open race for governor of Wisconsin, stating “Tom Tiffany Likes ICE.” Tiffany, the congressman who represents the Northwoods, said in the wake of the shooting of Pretti, who was an ICU nurse from Green Bay, that he would work with local, state and federal law enforcement to “remove criminal illegal aliens.” He urged Minnesota leaders to do the same.

“Cooperation is how you avoid tragic consequences. Deporting illegal aliens is how you make America safer. And waiting for the facts is how you avoid escalating the situation,” Tiffany said.

Pretti’s death prompted protests across the country, including in Green Bay, last weekend. 

Once the group made it to the Capitol, a number of speakers criticized the Trump administration and called for the elimination of ICE.

“Today, we are standing together to demand defund ICE,” Hazzard said.

“Defund ICE,” protesters echoed. 

“Not another dollar for ICE to terrorize our communities. We must strip ICE of its funding for both enforcement and detention. Abolish ICE. End the occupation of Minneapolis and all other cities,” Hazzard said.

A big crowd descends on Milwaukee’s Cathedral Park

Hundreds of people raised their voices in Milwaukee on Friday in opposition to a federal immigration crackdown in Minnesota. Trudging through  a  fresh coat of snow,  protesters streamed into Cathedral Square Park by the dozens. Activists from various local groups charged the crowd with a short round of speeches before taking to the streets for a march. 

Chanting “move ICE, get out the way;” “no ICE, no KKK, no Fascist USA,” and the names of Renee Good and Alex Pretti — two Minneapolis residents who were killed in separate incidents involving federal agents — the marchers filled the streets of downtown. The crowd of people of all ages from  young children to older seniors, passed the Federal Building of Milwaukee and City Hall before returning to the park. 

No violence, conflicts, or destruction occurred. A single drone was seen hovering over the march, and police presence was minimal.

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U.S. President Donald Trump holds up a signed executive order alongside Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy, Roger Penske, chair of the Penske Corporation, Bud Denker, President of Penske Corporation, and U.S. Interior Secretary Doug Burgum, in the Oval Office of the White House on Jan. 30, 2026 in Washington, DC. Trump signed an order aimed at bringing an IndyCar race to the District of Columbia this summer as part of the celebration of America’s 250th birthday. (Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images)

The nation’s capital will host an autorace through its streets this summer, President Donald Trump said Friday.

The IndyCar race, which Trump compared to the Indianapolis 500, will take place Aug. 23, with preliminary events such as practice sessions occurring for two days before, Trump said during an Oval Office announcement. 

It will be free for spectators to attend and broadcast by Fox.

The event, dubbed the Freedom 250 Grand Prix, is one of several Trump’s White House has planned to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence this summer. The celebration is also scheduled to include an Ultimate Fighting Championship match at the White House.

The race track will go around “our iconic national monuments in celebration of America’s 250th birthday,” according to an executive order Trump signed. The exact route will be finalized by Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy and Interior Secretary Doug Burgum within the next two weeks, according to the order.

Trump implied that the site of the race had already been chosen, saying that he urged organizers to choose “the best site,” no matter the permitting difficulties. The order directs Duffy and Burgum to ensure all permits are secured.

Duffy, Burgum, and representatives of the Penske Corp., which owns the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in Indiana that hosts the sport’s premiere event, flanked Trump during the Oval Office signing.

Trump noted that Penske executives had long sought a race in Washington, D.C., but had not made progress with lawmakers they’d lobbied. Trump approved the plan after “half a meeting,” he said.

“They’ve been coming here for years, and everybody wanted it,” he said. “Every senator wants it, every Congress, everybody wants it, but they don’t get things done. Trump gets things done.”

Officials at the White House Friday lauded the plan.

“To think of 190 miles an hour down Pennsylvania Avenue, this is going to be wild,” said Duffy, a former member of Congress from Wisconsin. “Freedom, America, speed and roadracing. It doesn’t get more American than that, Mr. President.”

Kevin Warsh, second from left, listens during a panel discussion at the Semafor 2024 World Economy Summit on April 18, 2024, in Washington, D.C. (Photo by Tasos Katopodis/Getty Images for Semafor)

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump’s new Federal Reserve chair pick likely faces headwinds in the U.S. Senate, as a key lawmaker opposes the administration’s ongoing criminal probe of current Fed leader Jerome Powell.

Trump announced early Friday he’s tapped Kevin Warsh to lead the central bank after Powell’s term ends in May. Warsh sat on the Federal Reserve Board of Governors from 2006 to 2011 after being nominated by President George W. Bush and is a visiting scholar at Stanford University’s business school and the university’s conservative think tank, the Hoover Institution.

“I have known Kevin for a long period of time, and have no doubt that he will go down as one of the GREAT Fed Chairmen, maybe the best,” Trump wrote on his own platform, Truth Social. “On top of everything else, he is ‘central casting,’ and he will never let you down.”

But the president is one vote short needed to push the nominee through the tightly divided Senate Banking Committee if all Democrats on the panel vote against.

Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., a member of the Banking Committee, praised Warsh as a “qualified nominee with a deep understanding of monetary policy.” 

But Tillis, who is retiring after this term, said he won’t vote for the pick if Trump continues to investigate Powell on accusations that he lied to Congress over the cost of renovations to the Fed’s Washington, D.C., headquarters.

“Protecting the independence of the Federal Reserve from political interference or legal intimidation is non-negotiable. My position has not changed: I will oppose the confirmation of any Federal Reserve nominee, including for the position of Chairman, until the DOJ’s inquiry into Chairman Powell is fully and transparently resolved,” Tillis wrote on social media Friday morning.

The Federal Reserve holds significant influence over the nation’s economy, and numerous experts advise separating monetary policy from political influence. Adjusting interest rates, to cool inflation or stimulate the economy, is one tool the central bank uses to accomplish maximum employment and price stability.

Threats to Powell

Trump has publicly threatened to fire Powell multiple times if the chair did not lower interest rates more aggressively.

Powell revealed in mid-January that he received a federal grand jury subpoena from the Department of Justice for a probe into whether he lied to Congress about construction costs.

Powell said in a rare video statement at the time that the investigation was not purely about oversight but rather about “setting interest rates based on our best assessment of what will serve the public, rather than following the preferences of the president.”

Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche declined to comment on the status of the subpoenas Friday when asked if Trump’s nomination process would speed up the investigation into Powell.

“I don’t think the timing of President Trump’s decision to nominate somebody is a controlling factor in any investigation,” he told reporters at an unrelated press conference at the Justice Department.

No commitment to lower rates

Trump praised Warsh on social media Friday morning, upon announcing his decision.

Warsh, a former New York banker and economic adviser to Bush, served on the Fed board through the tumultuous global financial crisis.

Trump told reporters Friday afternoon that he hasn’t asked Warsh about a commitment to lower interest rates. 

“I don’t want to ask him that question. I think it’s inappropriate. Probably, probably would be allowed, but I want to keep it nice and pure. But he certainly wants to cut rates. I’ve been watching him for a long time,” Trump said.

When asked about Tillis’s opposition, Trump called the senator an “obstructionist.”

“I mean, you know, if he doesn’t approve, we just have to wait till somebody comes in that will approve it, right?” Trump said. 

Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., a member of the Senate Banking Committee, urged her Republican colleagues on the panel to oppose Trump’s pick.

“Trump can’t appoint his next puppet to the Fed all by himself. The Senate has to approve it. Any senator who claims to care about the independence of the Fed, including my Republican colleagues, should refuse to move forward with this nomination period until Trump drops his witch hunts,” Warren said in a video message posted on social media Friday afternoon.

Powell has not been Trump’s only target on the Federal Reserve. The president is awaiting a ruling from the U.S. Supreme Court on whether he violated the law when he fired Federal Reserve Board Gov. Lisa Cook, a President Joe Biden appointee, via social media over the summer.  

Jacob Fischler and Shauneen Miranda contributed to this report.

U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York Geoffrey Berman announces charges against Jeffrey Epstein on July 8, 2019 in New York City. (Photo by Stephanie Keith/Getty Images)

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Department of Justice released more than 3 million pages of documents Friday related to the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

The release, which in the 3 million pages includes more than 2,000 videos and 180,000 images, comes more than 40 days after the agency was legally required to release the full set of files involving the disgraced financier, in compliance with federal law. 

The department instead opted for a piecemeal rollout of the files, prompting backlash.

U.S. Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche said Friday’s release marks the end of a “very comprehensive” records review process to “ensure transparency to the American people and compliance” with the federal law — known as the Epstein Files Transparency Act — mandating the release. 

“After submitting the final report to Congress as required under the act and publishing the written justifications for redactions in the Federal Register, the department’s obligations under the act will be completed,” he said. 

In total, the DOJ has now released approximately 3.5 million pages in adherence with the federal law. 

President Donald Trump signed a bill into law in November requiring the DOJ to make publicly available “all unclassified records, documents, communications, and investigative materials in DOJ’s possession that relate to the investigation and prosecution of Jeffrey Epstein,” including materials related to Epstein’s accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell.

GOP Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky and Democratic Rep. Ro Khanna of California co-sponsored the measure — which gave the department 30 days after the bill was enacted into law to release the files, or Dec. 19.

Trump, who has appeared in several of the files, had a well-documented friendship with Epstein, but has maintained he had a falling-out with the disgraced financier and was never involved in any alleged crimes. 

“There’s a hunger or a thirst for information that I do not think will be satisfied by the review of these documents,” Blanche said. 

“There’s nothing I can do about that.” 

The U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C., surrounded by snow and ice, on Wednesday, Jan. 28, 2026. (Photo by Jennifer Shutt/States Newsroom)

WASHINGTON — The federal government began a partial shutdown early Saturday, even though Senate Democrats and President Donald Trump reached a deal that allows lawmakers more time to negotiate new constraints on immigration enforcement. 

The Senate voted 71-29 on Friday evening to pass the reworked government funding package before a midnight deadline. But the earliest the House could clear it for Trump’s signature is Monday evening, when members return from a recess.

The scheduling problem guarantees the current spending law, which Congress approved in November at the end of the last shutdown, will expire without a replacement. 

However, the effects on the nation are not expected to be as dramatic as those during the historic 43-day shutdown last year. Since Congress has already passed half of the dozen annual appropriations bills, this shutdown will only affect part of the government, and possibly with moderate impacts since it may only last a few days until the House acts.

The unexpected hitch in progress toward passing the $1.2 trillion package came about after immigration agents killed a second person in Minneapolis and Senate Democrats demanded reforms be included in the Department of Homeland Security spending bill. Trump has agreed to two weeks of negotiations on the DHS bill, which includes funding for Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Customs and Border Protection and other immigration enforcement agencies.

Senate Appropriations Chairwoman Susan Collins, R-Maine, said the full-year measures are “fiscally responsible bills that reflect months of hard work and deliberation from members from both parties and both sides of the Capitol.”

“The package also continues funding for the Department of Homeland Security for two weeks to allow us additional time to evaluate further changes in ICE procedures beyond those that we have already included in this bill,” she said. 

Once the package becomes law, she said, 96% of government will be funded for the fiscal year that began back on Oct. 1. 

Washington Democratic Sen. Patty Murray, ranking member on the Appropriations Committee, said approving the five full-year bills and a stopgap for the Homeland Security Department represented “a simple, commonsense path forward.”

“It is good news we have a deal to fund these key programs families count on while work continues on serious DHS accountability over the next two weeks,” Murray said. “It could not be more clear that ICE and CBP are out of control and that we cannot just wait for the same president who caused this mess to address it.”

Senators from North Carolina, South Carolina tangle

South Carolina Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham said in a floor speech several hours before voting began that he would hold up quick consideration of the funding package until leaders agreed to schedule floor votes on two separate proposals. 

The first would establish some sort of criminal penalty for local or state officials who do not cooperate with federal immigration enforcement agents, often called sanctuary cities. The second would clear the way for conservative organizations to file lawsuits against former Justice Department special counsel Jack Smith for his investigation into efforts to overturn the 2020 election results. 

“What is the right answer when a state or a mayor says, ‘I don’t like this federal law, I’m not going to do it because there’s good politics for me.’ I think you risk going to jail,” Graham said. “We cannot live in a country this way, where you get to pick and choose the laws you don’t like.”

A spokesperson for Graham later confirmed to States Newsroom that the senator didn’t want the votes Friday but “just sometime down the road.” Graham released a statement later in the afternoon that Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., had agreed to schedule floor votes “at a time to be determined.”

North Carolina Republican Sen. Thom Tillis spoke directly after Graham and rebuked him for delaying the entire funding package. 

Tillis called on senators from both political parties to start negotiations about “common sense sorts of ways to lower the temperature” on immigration enforcement.

He said officials should “hold people accountable when they’re harming ICE agents, and hold ICE agents accountable if they reacted in a way that’s not consistent with their law enforcement training.”

Tillis argued that Graham’s approach to pushing for amendment votes that are unlikely to succeed wouldn’t have any tangible, real-world impacts. 

“One senator has a lot of power. And if you use it judiciously, you can be productive and make a difference,” Tillis said. “But if you use it in the heat of the moment, you can make a point that not a damn person is going to remember a month later.”

Some departments, judiciary affected

The departments of Defense, Education, Health and Human Services, Homeland Security, Housing and Urban Development, Labor, State, Transportation and Treasury will all experience the funding lapse. The Executive Office of the President, Supreme Court and judicial branch will also be affected. 

All other federal programs will continue uninterrupted, since their spending bills have become law, including those at the departments of Agriculture, Commerce, Energy, Interior, Justice and Veterans Affairs, as well as military construction projects and funding for Congress. 

A spokesperson for the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts wrote in a statement earlier this week that “operations would continue using court fees and other available balances through Wednesday, February 4. 

“The following day, on February 5, the Judiciary would begin operating under the terms of the Anti-Deficiency Act. Federal courts would continue operating, but would be limited to activities needed to support the exercise of the Judiciary’s constitutional functions and to address emergency circumstances.”

House Democrats demand changes in DHS bill

A spokesperson for the White House budget office said the departments and agencies affected by the funding lapse can use their contingency plans from the last shutdown unless they had “big changes.”

Those documents detail how many employees continue working without pay during a shutdown and how many are furloughed. 

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries said Democrats wouldn’t support the spending bill unless major reforms are made in the way immigration officers conduct enforcement.

“We’re going to have to evaluate what the real opportunity is to get dramatic changes at the Department of Homeland Security. It has to be bold,” he said during a morning press conference. “The Senate has to do its thing before we have anything to evaluate.”

Madison small businesses and residents, protesting a federal immigration crackdown in Minnesota, are planning to show solidarity Friday by shutting down or donating proceeds to immigration and other advocacy organizations. On Friday, Jan. 9, people gathered outside the Wisconsin State Capitol to protest and mourn over the killing of Renee Good by ICE agent Jonathan Ross in Minneapolis. (Photo by Isiah Holmes/Wisconsin Examiner)

Madison small businesses and residents, protesting a federal immigration crackdown in Minnesota, are showing solidarity Friday by shutting down or donating proceeds to immigration and other advocacy organizations, with marches and rallies planned during the day.

The businesses are following a call for a “nationwide shutdown” — a day of no school, no work and no shopping. According to the Guardian, the call for the shutdown came from several student groups at the University of Minnesota.

“The people of the Twin Cities have shown the way for the whole country — to stop ICE’s reign of terror, we need to SHUT IT DOWN,” states a website about the effort.

Madison businesses shutting down 

An array of small businesses in Wisconsin’s capital have announced plans to support the day of action. 

There is also a student walkout planned for 2 p.m. by UW-Madison students who plan to meet at Library Mall on campus and march to the state Capitol at 2:45 p.m. A rally is planned at 3 p.m. at the Capitol. Another march is also planned in Milwaukee at 2 p.m. at Cathedral Square Park.

Lake City Books, located on N. Hamilton St. in downtown Madison, will be staying open to serve  as a warming place for people protesting at the Capitol, according to the business’s Instagram account. The local bookstore plans to have free hand warmers and sign-making materials available.

The book store will kick off its February fundraiser with proceeds from its “Books Against Tyranny” display donated to the Minnesota ACLU chapter to “support those whose First Amendment rights have been violated.”

“We stand with MN. We support free speech and all peaceful protest. Please be kind to each other and continue to support small local businesses,” the book store said. 

Bloom Bake Shop plans to close its two locations in Madison at 2 p.m. so its team members can attend the rally downtown. The local bakery said it will also be selling sugar cookies dedicated to Minnesota, and the profits from the cookies will go to the Immigrant Rapid Response Fund.

“At Bloom, we’ve been clear about where we stand: with Minnesota, and with all those living in fear or suffering during this American crisis. We stand with people peacefully exercising their rights, and with those working to protect the freedoms our communities depend on,” the bakery said in an Instagram post. “Life feels bitter right now. Our intention is to offer something sweet, along with sincere hope, during these very challenging times. We must resist. We must stay strong. Together.”

Madison Sourdough said it plans to donate 10% of its proceeds on Friday to Voces de la Frontera, though it plans to close its kitchen early at 1:30 p.m., so its staff can attend the march and rally protesting unconstitutional and immoral tactics in Minnesota and across the country.

Casetta Kitchen said it plans to donate 20% of its Friday sales to Community Aid Network Minnesota. 

Forward Craft and Coffee on Atwood Avenue in Madison said it will be donating $1 of every drink it sells to the Minnesota Rapid Response Fund.

Other Madison businesses with plans to close or donate proceeds include: 

• A Room of One’s Own
• Ailimentari
• Ahan
• Boulders Climbing Gym
• Lola’s
• Mansion Hill Inn
• Origin Breads
• Robin Room Bar 
• SevvenCycle
• Teasider
• The Bubbling Tea Pot

Wisconsin Democratic lawmakers also express solidarity

State Rep. Francesca (D-Madison) said in a video that the shutdown is “a way to show the world that we grow power. We fight back as a collective and stand together.” She encouraged small businesses to join the shutdown effort in whatever way they can. 

On Thursday, a group of Wisconsin state lawmakers — all Democrats — took part in a solidarity event in support of Minnesota. Some traveled to Minneapolis to be in solidarity in person, including state Sens. Melissa Ratcliff (D-Cottage Grove) and Chris Larson (D-Milwaukee) as well as state Reps. Ryan Clancy (D-Milwaukee), Christian Phelps (D-Eau Claire), Maureen McCarville (D-DeForest). 

Others joined from a Zoom call including state Reps. Deb Andraca (D-Whitefish Bay), Christine Sinicki (D-Milwaukee), Robyn Vining (D-Wauwatosa), Brienne Brown (D-Whitewater) and Darrin Madison (D-Milwaukee), who spoke on the call. 

“We also continue to grieve and remember the loss of Alex Pretti and Renee Good. Their lives mattered. Their families alongside every single family impacted by the actions of ICE deserve truth, justice and full accountability, and we stand with them in that demand. Right now, our communities are being tested,” Madison said. 

Madison said that “our communities are being tested” by an agency that “too often treats our neighbors like targets instead of human beings.”

“Here in Wisconsin, we, too, are pushing back,” Madison said. “Faith leaders, workers and neighbors are building rapid response networks and community defense efforts to protect families when the system refuses to. We stand in solidarity with Minnesota and communities who are saying ‘We will not be divided. We will not be intimidated and we will not stop organizing until every family can live without fear because we must keep families together.’”

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“Far too often, [African-American] contributions are confined to lessons about slavery, the Civil Rights Movement, or even limited to Martin Luther King's ‘I Have a Dream’ speech,” Sen. Dora Drake said. (Photo by Baylor Spears/Wisconsin Examiner)

As the Trump administration pulls down displays on Black history, Wisconsin state Sen. Dora Drake (D-Milwaukee) and Rep. Shelia Stubbs (D-Madison) are renewing their push for Wisconsin to bolster education on African-American history in schools.

Their bill would require the Department of Public Instruction (DPI) to work with a handful of organizations, including the African American/Jewish Friendship Group, Inc., the Wisconsin Black Historical Society, America’s Black Holocaust Museum in Milwaukee and the University of Wisconsin system, to develop a model curriculum on African-American history for each grade from kindergarten through high school. The bill would have Black history instruction incorporated into model academic standards for social studies.

“African Americans have lived in Wisconsin for over 300 years — long before we officially became a state. Our ancestors, our heritage and our culture have shaped the development of our state and our nation in so many ways,” Stubbs said. “Unfortunately, the history lessons that are being taught to our children and the course of their education do not always reflect the fact.”

Stubbs said the bill would help students be better informed, develop empathy and an appreciation for Black perspectives and experiences. 

“By actively working with community partners, who have extensive background and study and teach in African-American history, we’ll ensure that the information being shared with students is thorough, it’s accurate and is culturally sensitive,” Stubbs said.

Wisconsin already has a state statute that requires that school boards provide students with “an understanding of human relations, particularly with regard to American Indians, Black Americans, Hispanics, Hmong Americans, and Asian Americans,” and that law was recently changed by the state Legislature to include instruction about the state’s Hmong and Asian American communities.

But the lawmakers argue the state needs to go further.

“While there is language in the statutes to promote the understanding of human relations with regards to marginalized groups, we lack stronger language, specifically requiring the development of rigorous, developmentally appropriate curriculum with regard to the African-American history,” Stubbs said. 

Former state Rep. LaKeshia Myers (D-Milwaukee) and former Sen. Lena Taylor (D-Milwaukee) first introduced the proposal in 2021 following an uptick of racially insensitive incidents at schools. 

The bill would require public school boards, independent charter schools and private schools to include instruction on African American history. DPI would need to hire three education consultants to assist schools with updating curriculum. The bill includes an appropriation of $384,000 for this purpose.

The bill would also prohibit DPI from granting a teaching license if someone hasn’t received instruction in African-American history. 

Drake said that schools focusing on limited pieces of Black history overlook the “breadth and the depth” of Black history and allow for “misconceptions, misinterpretations and inaccurate history and historical lessons.”

“Far too often, [African-American] contributions are confined to lessons about slavery, the Civil Rights Movement, or even limited to Martin Luther King’s ‘I Have a Dream’ speech,” Drake said. 

The civil right leader’s speech from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C. has been a point of discussion recently among Wisconsin lawmakers, including Drake, as his speech has been used to justify a constitutional amendment proposal to eliminate diversity, equity and inclusion efforts in Wisconsin local and state government. 

Drake noted that the introduction of the bill comes as the National Park Service and federal agencies under leadership of President Donald Trump have been removing Black historical figures and events from their websites and museums. She specifically noted the removal of an exhibit titled “Freedom and Slavery in the Making of a New Nation” that memorialized nine people enslaved by George Washington at the presidential mansion by the National Park Service at the direction of Trump earlier this month.

“Their stories were removed,” Drake said. “This instance is far too similar to the millions of African-Americans’ stories that have been lost and forgotten.”

Drake said the bill would ensure that erasure doesn’t happen in Wisconsin by incorporating Black history into the state’s K-12 curriculum. She said students would learn about pivotal moments and figures including those who fought in the American Revolution, led rebellions against slavery, including Nat Turner, built thriving communities during the Reconstruction Era including Black Wall Street, and championed civil rights.

William Greer, the retired CEO of Journey Mental Health Center, Inc., a historical fiction writer and a member of the African American/Jewish Friendship Group, said he received little  education on Black history in high school and as a student at UW-Madison, where he went to school with the goal of becoming an English teacher.

“I came away from those experiences with only your rudimentary knowledge of the contribution of African-Americans,” Greer said. “This left me with an impression of self-doubt.”

Greer said he later educated himself on Black writers, including James Baldwin, Toni Morrison and Zora Neale Hurston. It changed the trajectory of his life.

“I discovered that the fortitude and resilience of Black people did not begin or end in America. This discovery struck the shackles from my mind, and I was finally able to dream with purpose,” Greer said. “In today’s climate the stakes are too high to leave this critical learning to chance… America is the only country in the world that routinely has the word ‘dream’ attached to its name. People from all over the world come here in pursuit of the American Dream. Freedom, opportunity and diversity are the underpinnings of that dream and if you remove any one of these pillars, the dream will crumble.”

The African American/Jewish Friendship Group is a nonprofit group that was started by Merle and Gerald Sternberg in 1990 to improve race relations in Dane County. 

The bill was announced just days before the start of Black History Month, though Merle Sternberg said education on Black history needs to go beyond February. She said teaching American history without including African-American history “would be like teaching math without addition or subtraction.” 

“African-American history is U.S history and that traditional way of highlighting a few key figures and events during Black History Month is no longer sufficient,” Sternberg said. “Now more than ever, we need to give voice to Black history, not silence it.”

The bill would need to advance in the state Senate and Assembly, which are controlled by Republicans, to become law.

“This is something that should be supported by everyone,” Drake told reporters. “So it’ll be sent out for a cosponsorship and we’ll continue to have conversations to see if they can get it in the public hearing.”

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Flanked by Rev. Julia Burkey, left, and U.S. Rep. Mark Pocan, right, Christine Neumann-Ortiz speaks at a press conference Thursday about plans to respond if federal immigration agents surge into Wisconsin. (Photo by Erik Gunn/Wisconsin Examiner)

A surge in Wisconsin of federal immigration enforcement will be met with an organized and peaceful resistance, the product of more than a year’s worth of planning and training, advocates vowed Thursday.

Voces de la Frontera, a statewide immigrant rights advocacy group based in Milwaukee, has established a 24-hour hotline to field calls from people concerned about the possible presence of federal agents from Immigration and Customs Enforcement as well as border patrol.

At an afternoon news conference with U.S. Rep. Mark Pocan (D-Black Earth) in a Madison church, Christine Neumann-Ortiz, executive director of Voces, said the hotline is “the starting point” for people who want to respond if they encounter a possible surge of ICE or border patrol agents.

Staffed around the clock by volunteers, the hotline was established to provide a centralized source of verified reports when there’s new ICE or border patrol activity around the state and to quickly dispel false reports that only increase fear.

Advocates and their allies are bracing for the possibility of a new federal surge in Wisconsin following what has now been more than two months of escalated federal activity in Minneapolis.

“It is not likely a question of if they’ll be coming into the community in a stronger way,” Pocan said. “It is a question of when they’ll be coming into the community.”

The Minnesota surge has led to the deaths of two people — Renee Good and Alex Pretti — who were killed by federal agents. In both instances, eyewitness accounts and videos refuted Trump administration claims that the victims had acted violently in the moments before they were shot.

“It’s not just the killings and the violence, but people are being separated and they’re also being held in dangerous and deadly conditions that are harder to see,” Neumann-Ortiz said — because federal officials have been “denying much oversight.”

Pocan authored a bill to abolish ICE during Trump’s first term, but acknowledged that even he has been taken aback by the agency’s actions in the last year.

“I don’t think people realized — nor did I — that we would ever get to this point where ICE was this rogue, this out of control,” Pocan said. “We have seen them going into communities and really having devastating consequences.”

He endorsed a description of the agencies as “a modern day Gestapo” that he attributed to New York Democratic Congressman Jerry Nadler. “It’s treating the non-citizen and citizen alike with this disrespect.”

Pocan said Wisconsin can respond both forcefully and peacefully.

“Our message is that this is a community that’s going to be united,” he said. “We are going to fight back. And I do not mean physically fight back — I mean morally fight back — on what ICE is doing and how it’s treating our neighbors and our community, and what we’re seeing in Minneapolis and other places across the country.”

Rev. Julia Burkey, the senior pastor at Orchard Ridge United Church of Christ where the news conference was held, described the actions of the federal Department of Homeland Security as “terrorizing and killing innocent people, who are all beloved children of God, simply seeking to live their lives and make peace in their communities.”

She contrasted that with the response of Twin Cities residents who have turned out to support the immigrant community.

“We also are so inspired by the people of Minnesota and how they are loving their neighbors, how they’re singing songs of love and solidarity, how they’re protecting the most vulnerable people who are delivering church meals to those who are even afraid to go outside,” Burkey said.  “What we’re seeing is a groundswell of neighborly love, and we have that groundswell of neighborly love here in Wisconsin, too.”

Voces and its allies have been preparing for a wave of federal anti-immigrant action since President Donald Trump was elected to his second term.

“In Wisconsin, we have been building — really since November 2024 — with other organizations, faith groups, unions, a statewide community defense network to stand in solidarity with immigrant families and to protect our collective democratic rights,” Neumann-Ortiz said. “This network exists to help people assert their constitutional rights through peaceful assembly to document ICE violations and expose the truth about what is happening in our communities.”

Neumann-Ortiz urged people not to post or share purported sightings of ICE or other federal agents that have not been verified, to avoid spreading needless fear and misinformation.

The Voces hotline has trained volunteers who can be dispatched to locations where the federal agencies are suspected of operating and document what they encounter.

Verifiers are trained to not interfere in federal options, Neumann-Ortiz said, but instead “observe, record and support impacted families, connecting them through another network of folks who can provide legal resources and mutual aid when necessary.”

Voces also coordinates a rapid response network of volunteers to peacefully protest and publicize “unlawful and abusive activity” by federal agents, she said. Tens of thousands of volunteers have been trained across the state in churches, schools, workplaces and other locations on their legal rights and on how to respond safely, nonviolently and effectively and in a spirit of “collective care,”  she added.

“Everyone should know that you have the right to remain silent if you are questioned by ICE, you have the right to an attorney if you are arrested or detained, and you have the right to demand that ICE present a judicial warrant signed by a judge before giving them access to your home, workplace, or any other area that is considered a private area not open to the public,” Neumann-Ortiz said.

“Together, these efforts represent a model of community-based safety, rooted in solidarity, dignity, shared responsibility,” she said. “We believe that real security comes from people looking out for one another, not from militarized federal agencies. Our communities deserve safety without fear, justice without violence and dignity without conditions.”

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White House Border Czar Tom Homan talks with reporters on the driveway outside the White House West Wing on March 17, 2025. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

President Donald Trump’s border czar, Tom Homan, cited “sanctuary” policies and the Biden administration’s ineffective border enforcement as the reason for the ongoing massive presence of immigration agents in Minnesota in a press conference Thursday morning. 

Homan took over operations in Minnesota Monday from Border Patrol Commander Gregory Bovino, who was demoted after his agents shot and killed Alex Pretti in Minneapolis over the weekend. 

Three thousand immigration agents remain in Minnesota, Homan said, and a reduction in force depends on cooperation from elected officials.

Over the past month, immigration agents have shot three people, killing two; racially profiled people, asking them to produce proof of legal residency; detained legal immigrants and shipped them across state lines, including young children; caused numerous car crashes; deployed chemical irritants on public school property; smashed the car windows of observers and arrested them before releasing them without charges; and threatened journalists who were filming them from a distance in a public space, among other high-profile incidents. 

Homan tacitly acknowledged the chaos, saying, “I’m not here because the federal government has carried out its mission perfectly.” 

Despite agents’ frequent arrests of legal immigrants and those without criminal histories, Homan insisted that immigration operations in Minnesota are targeted on removing undocumented immigrants who have committed crimes.

Homan, who reportedly was investigated for receiving $50,000 in cash from an undercover FBI agent in 2024 in an alleged bribery scheme, said state and local law enforcement agencies’ refusal to assist immigration agents is the reason for the prolonged federal presence in Minnesota. 

“Give us access to the illegal alien public safety threat and the safety and security of a jail,” Homan said in the press conference.

Many of the “worst of the worst” immigrants convicted of crimes, whose names have been provided to media outlets, were handed over to immigration officials after finishing sentences in state prisons, according to an MPR News analysis. Eight local law enforcement agencies in Minnesota have signed agreements with ICE to allow access to jails, or assist in immigration enforcement in other ways. 

Other Trump administration officials have given different explanations for the ongoing “surge” — and made other demands of elected officials. Initial reports suggested the operation would target Somali Americans. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said when the operation began in December that it was intended to “eradicate FRAUD.” Attorney General Pam Bondi sent a letter to Gov. Tim Walz last week demanding the state hand over troves of Medicaid, nutrition assistance and voter data.

Homan said he has met with Walz, Attorney General Keith Ellison, Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey and local law enforcement leaders, and that those meetings have been “productive,” though he urged those elected officials to tone down their rhetoric. 

“I’ve begged for the last two months on TV for the rhetoric to stop. I said in March if the rhetoric doesn’t stop, there’s going to be bloodshed. And there has been,” he said.

(He did not address Trump’s rhetoric; the president has called Somali Americans “garbage” and his political enemies “vermin.”)

Through a spokesperson, Frey responded to Homan’s news conference, saying “Any drawdown of ICE agents is a step in the right direction—but my ask remains the same: Operation Metro Surge must end.” 

A spokesperson for Walz said “we need a drawdown in federal forces, impartial (Bureau of Criminal Apprehension) investigations, and an end to the campaign of retribution against Minnesota.”

Ellison did not immediately return requests for comment.   

Homan seemed to take a shot at his predecessor, Bovino, who made frequent appearances in Minneapolis and at the Whipple Federal Building, surrounded by camerapeople. 

“I didn’t come to seek photo ops or headlines,” Homan said. “I came here to seek solutions.” 

Max Nesterak contributed reporting.

Diana E. Murphy federal courthouse is shown in Minneapolis Friday, May 17, 2024. (Photo by Nicole Neri/Minnesota Reformer)

Patrick J. Schiltz, chief judge of the federal district court in Minnesota and a former clerk to conservative icon Antonin Scalia, ripped the Trump administration for ignoring dozens of court orders in a ruling Wednesday.

Schiltz had previously demanded to see U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Acting Director Todd Lyons for a Friday contempt proceeding.

After ICE released a detainee identified in court documents as Juan T.R., Schiltz canceled the hearing but also blasted the government for undermining the rule of law by ignoring judicial orders.

“That does not end the court’s concerns, however,” he wrote, attaching an appendix identifying 96 court orders that ICE violated in 74 cases.

“The extent of ICE’s noncompliance is almost certainly substantially understated,” he continued. “This list should give pause to anyone — no matter his or her political beliefs — who cares about the rule of law.”

Schiltz is a noted figure in conservative legal circles, making his sharp order all the more notable. He was appointed by former President George W. Bush.

The last straw for Schiltz was the officials’ failure to follow a Jan. 14 order to grant a timely bond hearing for Juan T.R., who Schiltz said remained in custody as of Friday. The Monday order excoriated Lyons and his colleagues for causing “significant hardship” for Minnesota residents caught up in the federal dragnet, many of whom “have lawfully lived and worked in the United States for years and done absolutely nothing wrong,” he emphasized.

Schiltz described scenarios in which detainees were held longer than necessary; removed to detention facilities elsewhere in the country; or released hundreds or even thousands of miles from home with no arrangements made for their return.

Bystanders watch as Washington, D.C., police and agents from the federal Drug Enforcement Administration make an arrest in August. Crime in major U.S. cities continued to decline in 2025, with homicides down 21% from 2024 and 44% from a peak in 2021, according to a new analysis by the Council on Criminal Justice. (Photo by Noelle Straub/Stateline)

Crime continued to decline in 2025, with homicides down 21% from 2024 and 44% from a peak in 2021, according to a new analysis of crime trends in 40 large U.S. cities released by the nonpartisan think tank Council on Criminal Justice.

If federal nationwide data, which is set to be released later this year, reflects similar trends, the national homicide rate could fall to its lowest level in more than a century.

The Council on Criminal Justice study analyzed 13 types of offenses — from homicides to drug crimes to shoplifting — in cities that have consistently published monthly data over the past eight years. Researchers found that 11 of the 13 offenses were lower in 2025 than in 2024, with nine dropping by 10% or more. 

Drug offenses were the only category to rise, while sexual assaults remained unchanged.

Carjackings and shoplifting also declined sharply. Reported carjackings fell 61% from 2023, while reported shoplifting dropped 10% from 2024.

Among the 35 cities reporting homicides, nearly all recorded declines. Denver; Omaha, Nebraska; and Washington, D.C., saw homicide rates drop roughly 40%.

There were some modest increases, including in Little Rock, Arkansas; Fort Worth, Texas; and Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The homicide rate in El Paso, Texas, remained flat. Overall, 922 fewer homicides were reported across the cities in the sample.

The downward trends extend beyond homicides. In 2025, reported incidents of aggravated assaults fell 9%, gun assaults 22%, robberies 23%, residential burglaries 17%, nonresidential burglaries 18%, larcenies 11%, and domestic violence 2%.

Looking at longer-term trends, violent crime levels in most cities are at or below pre-pandemic levels, the analysis found. Homicides were 25% lower than in 2019, with Baltimore seeing the largest drop at 60%. Milwaukee had the largest increase in homicides, at 42%. 

Robberies, carjackings, domestic violence incidents, gun assaults, aggravated assaults and sexual assaults also remained below 2019 levels. Only motor vehicle thefts and nonresidential burglaries remained slightly elevated.

Nonviolent crimes have shown varied trends over the past seven years. Burglaries fell 45%, larcenies 20%, drug offenses 19%, and shoplifting 4% compared with 2019 levels.

The Council on Criminal Justice also examined trends from recent peaks, finding substantial declines in all major offense categories. Homicides fell 44% from their 2021 peak, gun assaults fell 44%, aggravated assaults 19%, domestic violence 23%, robbery 39%, carjackings 61%, residential burglaries 51%, and motor vehicle thefts 43%.

Despite the downward trajectory, researchers caution that the reasons for the decline are uncertain. Changes in criminal justice policies, law enforcement practices, crime-fighting technology, social and economic conditions, and local violence prevention efforts could all be contributing factors, according to the analysis. 

Stateline reporter Amanda Watford can be reached at ahernandez@stateline.org.

North Lake Processing Center | Mary Minnick photo

Four individuals were arrested in Ypsilanti on Tuesday, a spokesperson for ICE confirmed, after information from Ypsilanti Community Schools Superintendent Alena Zachery-Ross and Washtenaw County Sheriff Alyshia Dyer was shared Wednesday morning with community members about ICE arrests in the area.

Christine Sauvé, the Policy, Engagement, and Communications Manager for the Michigan Immigrant Rights Center, confirmed to the Michigan Advance that three parents of Ypsilanti Community Schools students “were arrested by immigration agents while waiting to pick up their children at a bus stop when coming home from school.”

A spokesperson from ICE wrote in a statement that bus stops were not targeted in the arrests made, and that the arrests were made during a targeted vehicle stop. 

“ICE does not target schools for enforcement actions or bus stop locations. To be clear, no children were present during these arrests,” the ICE spokesperson wrote.

Dyer wrote in an email to the Advance, “I have now been able to confirm after talking with immigration enforcement leadership they will not and do not target bus stops or schools and while they did make arrests in Washtenaw on Tuesday, they never did any of this intentionally near any school bus stop areas nor were they targeting bus stops.”

A Wednesday statement from Dyer on her Facebook page said, “Based on the information we currently have, ICE activity did not occur on any school grounds. However, it did take place near bus stops in the Ypsilanti community, and it appears that parents connected to local schools were targeted at a bus stop in Ypsilanti during student drop-off times.”

Sauvé said that the three individuals arrested in the first vehicle stop — two women from Honduras and one from Mexico, the latter of whom had a final order of removal, according to the ICE statement — are all currently detained at the North Lake Processing Center in Baldwin, Mich., and the Michigan Immigrant Rights Center has scheduled time with each to provide free legal services to them. Michigan Advance was able to independently confirm based on ICE data that one of the individuals was listed as detained at the center in Baldwin.

“Parents should be able to take their children to school without fear, and children should not have to worry their parents will be arrested at a bus stop,” Sauvé wrote. “This kind of trauma has been shown to have negative effects on children’s health and wellbeing. Community members are terrified but we are heartened by the strong community response.”

MLive reported on Thursday that within three miles of where Tuesday’s detention occurred, school campuses include Ypsilanti Puentes Multilingual School — a Ypsilanti Community Schools K-4 school with a Spanish-language immersion program — Washtenaw International High School, Ypsilanti International Elementary School, Ypsilanti Community High School and several other elementary and middle schools within the district.

Michigan Immigrant Rights Center is not currently in contact with the fourth arrested individual, a man from Honduras, who was detained in a second vehicle stop in Ypsilanti, and that person’s detention location is not currently known.

ICE did not immediately respond to a follow-up inquiry about where each person is being detained.

Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro speaks with reporters and editors in Washington, D.C., on Jan. 29, 2026. (Photo by Ashley Murray/States Newsroom)

WASHINGTON — Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro is preparing a response should the Trump administration surge federal immigration agents into the commonwealth, he said Thursday in Washington, D.C.

Recent deadly shootings of two Minneapolis residents by federal agents compelled the Democratic governor “to let the good people of Pennsylvania know my views on this, where I stand, and also let them know that I’m going to protect them,” he said.

Shapiro declined to provide details, saying it would “not be prudent” to share specifics on whether a response would be a law enforcement operation or confined to challenging the administration in the courtroom.

“We’re prepared on every level now. If the president of the United States seeks to impose his will, and the federal will, on our commonwealth, there may be some things that we can’t stop, but I can tell you, we’ve learned from the good example in other states,” Shapiro said, citing actions by other Democratic governors in California, Illinois, Minnesota and Maine.

D.C. stop for presidential hopefuls

Shapiro delivered the comments during an intimate brunch with the Washington press corps hosted by The Christian Science Monitor. The Monitor routinely hosts press events with elected officials and newsmakers, and has historically been a stop on the circuit for presidential hopefuls.

Shapiro brushed aside questions about a possible presidential bid in 2028, instead saying he’s running for reelection this year and believes that “no one should be looking past these midterms.”

“I don’t think we should be thinking about anything other than curtailing the chaos, the cruelty and the corruption of this administration, and the best way for voters to do that is by showing up in record numbers,” Shapiro said.

The Pennsylvania executive also expressed he is “deeply concerned” about the administration’s efforts to undermine the election.

“The administration demanded that I turn over all of the voter rolls for our commonwealth. We have roughly 9 million voters. … I have a legal responsibility to protect that information. I also do not trust this administration to use that for anything other than nefarious purposes, and so I refuse to share that information. They’ve sued us, and we’ll see them in court,” he said.

The Trump administration has sued more than 20 states to date for voter roll data, including personally identifying information, according to the Brennan Center for Justice. The administration has said it plans to share the data with the Department of Homeland Security to search for noncitizens. 

Among the states targeted alongside Pennsylvania: Arizona, Colorado, Georgia, Maine, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Mexico, Oregon, Virginia, Washington and Wisconsin.

New book

Shapiro told reporters he attended Thursday’s event to promote his new book, titled “Where We Keep the Light: Stories from a Life of Service,” which features stories about his faith, the process of being vetted as a potential 2024 vice presidential candidate for Democratic nominee Vice President Kamala Harris, and the “dark moment” in April 2025 when a lone man set fire to the governor’s mansion in an attempt on Shapiro’s life.

“We have to acknowledge political violence has been an issue for generations. I think it is also true that over the last several years, we’ve seen a rise,” he said, citing the recent attack on U.S. Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., the killings of former Minnesota House Speaker Melissa Hortman and her husband, Mark, and of conservative activist Charlie Kirk, as well as the assassination attempts of President Donald Trump on the campaign trail.

Elected leaders, he said, have a “responsibility to speak and act with moral clarity and to condemn that violence regardless of who’s targeted.”

“I must say, when the president of the United States fails to condemn acts of political violence because they’re targeting someone that he dislikes or disagrees with, that makes us all less safe,” he said.

The governor has been on a media blitz promoting his book, including an appearance on “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert” earlier this week.

He told the host it’s a “sad day in America that a governor of a commonwealth needs to prepare for a federal onslaught where they would send troops in to undermine the freedoms and constitutional rights of our citizens.” 

In response to a request for comment, White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson said assaults on federal immigration agents are on the rise because of “untrue smears by elected Democrats.”

“Just the other day, an officer had his finger bitten off by a radical left-wing rioter. ICE officers act heroically to enforce the law and protect American communities and local officials should work with them, not against them. Anyone pointing the finger at law enforcement officers instead of the criminals is simply doing the bidding of criminal illegal aliens,” Jackson said in a written statement.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune speaks to reporters at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 28, 2026. (Photo by Jennifer Shutt/States Newsroom)

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Senate could vote as soon as Thursday night to approve a government funding package after Democrats brokered a deal with the White House to strip out the full-year spending bill for the Department of Homeland Security. 

That bill will be replaced by a two-week stopgap for programs run out of DHS, which includes the Coast Guard, the Federal Emergency Management Agency — at a time when the agency is responding to a major winter storm — and the Secret Service. 

The change is intended to give Republicans and Democrats more time to reach agreement on restrictions to federal immigration enforcement after the deadly shooting of a second U.S. citizen by immigration agents in Minneapolis on Saturday.

President Donald Trump wrote in a social media post that he wanted lawmakers to send him the reworked package in time to avoid a partial government shutdown, which would likely begin this weekend after a stopgap spending law expires. 

“I am working hard with Congress to ensure that we are able to fully fund the Government, without delay,” Trump wrote. “Republicans and Democrats in Congress have come together to get the vast majority of the Government funded until September, while at the same time providing an extension to the Department of Homeland Security (including the very important Coast Guard, which we are expanding and rebuilding like never before). Hopefully, both Republicans and Democrats will give a very much needed Bipartisan ‘YES’ Vote.”

The package, once through the Senate, will need to go back to the House for final approval, though GOP leaders in that chamber haven’t announced if they will bring lawmakers back before Monday, when members are scheduled to return to Capitol Hill from a weeklong break. 

Once the House clears the package, it will head to Trump for his signature.

Senators did not change or remove the Defense, Financial Services and General Government, Labor-HHS-Education, National Security-State and Transportation-HUD appropriations bills from the package.

Congress previously approved half of the dozen annual spending bills, so once this package becomes law, the Department of Homeland Security will be the only division of the federal government without its full-year funding bill.

List of Democratic demands

Democrats and Republicans reached consensus on some changes to the Homeland Security appropriations bill after the Jan. 7 shooting of 37-year-old Renee Good, including funding for body cameras and additional oversight of detention facilities. 

The House approved that bill last week and sent it to the Senate as part of the larger package.  

But Border Patrol agents’ shooting and killing of Alex Pretti led Democrats to call for the DHS spending bill to be pulled to give lawmakers time to negotiate additional guardrails on federal immigration actions. 

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., outlined a list of proposed changes Tuesday that included: 

• The end of roving patrols;
• Tightening the rules governing the use of warrants;
• Requiring Immigration and Customs Enforcement to coordinate with state and local law enforcement;
• Implementing a uniform code of conduct that holds federal law enforcement to the same set of standards that apply to state and local agencies;
• Barring the wearing of masks;
• Requiring the use of body cameras; and
• Mandating immigration agents carry proper identification. 

Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., said Thursday morning that “there’s a path to consider some of” the changes to federal immigration during bipartisan negotiations.

But he expressed doubt later in the day that a two-week stopgap bill for DHS would give lawmakers enough time to find agreement on changes to immigration enforcement, saying there’s “no way you could do it that fast.”

“At some point we want to fund the government,” Thune said. “Obviously the two-week (continuing resolution) probably means there’s going to be another two-week CR and maybe another two-week CR after that. I don’t know why they’re doing it that way.”

Senate Homeland Security Appropriations Subcommittee Chairwoman Katie Britt, R-Ala., also expressed doubt a two-week stopgap would provide enough time for negotiators to broker a bipartisan deal and hold votes in each chamber. 

“I think, obviously, four weeks would be much better when you’re looking at what’s in front of us,” she said. 

Britt said she’d decide on any counter-proposals to Democrats after the government was funded. 

“We’re going to land this plane and then we’re going to figure it out,” she said. 

Homan comments please Tillis

In response to immigration agents killing Pretti, the president directed his border czar, Tom Homan, to head to Minneapolis. 

Homan said during a morning press conference that immigration enforcement would only end if state officials cooperate and aid the federal government in the Trump administration’s immigration campaign. States and localities are not required to enforce immigration law, as it’s a federal responsibility. 

Homan did not specify how long he would remain in Minnesota, only “until the problem’s gone.”

North Carolina Republican Sen. Thom Tillis said in the afternoon that he had messaged Trump to express his appreciation for sending Homan to Minneapolis, saying it led to a “sea change.”

“I texted the president and said, ‘great job,’” Tillis said. “You know, I can’t imagine we would be in this place if he’d been there to begin with.”

Tillis said he thought Homan’s press conference had been “perfect.”

“He said at least twice he wasn’t there for a photo op and he was there to de-escalate,” Tillis said. “That’s what happens when you put a professional law enforcement officer in the role versus people who have no experience in it.”

People whistle and film as federal agents block an alley near 35th Street and Chicago Avenue while they break a car window to detain a man and his young daughter Thursday, Jan. 22, 2026. (Photo by Nicole Neri/Minnesota Reformer)

Less than an hour after the Saturday morning killing of Alex Pretti by federal agents in south Minneapolis, conservative influencer Cam Higby took to social media with a sensational claim: Higby had “infiltrated” the group chats fueling local resistance to Operation Metro Surge.

On Monday, FBI director Kash Patel said he had “opened an investigation” into the chats. Many are said to be hosted on Signal, the encrypted messaging app.

“You cannot create a scenario that illegally entraps and puts law enforcement in harm’s way,” Patel said in a podcast interview with Benny Johnson, another conservative influencer. Johnson’s title for the episode’s YouTube stream, “Kash Patel Announces FBI Crack-Down of Left-Wing Minnesota Terrorist Network LIVE: ‘Tim Walz Next…’,” left little to the imagination.

In response to emailed questions about the nature of its investigation, the FBI declined to comment. 

First Amendment lawyers and national security experts expressed deep skepticism that any charges stemming from it will stick, however. 

“As a general proposition, reporting on things you are observing and sharing those observations is absolutely legal,” Jane Kirtley, professor of media ethics and law at the University of Minnesota Law School, said in an interview.

A guide that Higby described as “the watered down opsec version” of a “TRAINING MANUAL for domestic terrorist patrols chasing ICE agents in Minneapolis” instructs observers to draw attention to suspected ICE activity using whistles and car horns — but specifically warns against impeding officers.

Kirtley said Patel’s statements to date have been too vague to support firm conclusions about what the FBI will actually investigate or what charges, if any, the United States Department of Justice would bring as a result. The sorts of loaded terms that influencers like Higby and President Trump himself have used to describe organizers’ activities — such as “conspiracy” or “insurrection” — are formal legal concepts that require certain standards to be met, she added.

Jason Marisam, a constitutional law professor at Mitchell Hamline School of Law, said any prosecution would likely need to pass a two-part test established in a nearly 60-year-old U.S. Supreme Court ruling, Brandenburg v. Ohio.

Brandenburg prohibits speech only if it is “directed to inciting or producing imminent lawless action,” such as violence against law enforcement officers, and “is likely to incite or produce such action,” according to a summary by Cornell Law School’s Legal Information Institute. 

Brandenburg is “a very high bar,” Marisam said. Speech that only indirectly led to “lawless action,” such as coordinating a protest that later turned violent, would likely not meet it, he added.

Marisam said Brandenburg, incidentally, is the same standard that former special counsel Jack Smith would have needed to meet had his January 6th prosecution against President Trump gone to trial, Marisam added. That case was mooted after Trump won a second term and subsequently oversaw a campaign of professional retribution against the career prosecutors on Smith’s team. 

Marisam said narrowing or overturning Brandenburg has not yet been a priority for conservatives in the judiciary, despite self-evident benefits for Trump’s efforts to quell dissent and consolidate power. But he acknowledged that the “politics of free speech” can change depending on who’s in charge in Washington.

For instance, Trump supporters castigated what they perceived to be limits on free speech during the Biden years, but have remained silent in the face of a student’s deportation for writing an op-ed. 

Still, Patel’s apparent interest in Twin Cities observers’ encrypted chats is likely less the opening move of a well-thought-out legal strategy than an effort to discourage legally permissible activity, Marisam said.

“It seems to me that (Patel’s) announcement is meant to chill speech ahead of time,” he said.

In a blog post published Tuesday, Patrick Eddington, a senior fellow with the libertarian Cato Institute, said federal prosecutors would likewise struggle to make hay out of Twin Cities observers’ use of the encrypted messaging apps themselves. 

Trump officials and right-wing pundits have pointed to Signal’s popularity within the observer networks as evidence that participants want to evade legal accountability for their actions. Signal uses end-to-end encryption, meaning messages sent on properly secured devices kept in their owners’ possession are effectively impossible for third parties to see. Signal itself can’t access messages or calls sent over the app, the company says, though messages on a user’s device can be read if it is hacked or stolen. (Or, if the wrong person is added to a Signal chat, as when senior national security figures in the Trump administration — including Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth — sent information about military operations to the editor of The Atlantic magazine after he’d been accidentally included.) 

Eddington, who works on homeland security and civil liberties issues for Cato, said the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals’ 1999 ruling in Bernstein v. United States Department of Justice established ordinary citizens’ rights to use encrypted channels for communication they wish to keep private. Government efforts to curtail encryption could impede individuals’ rights under the Fourth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which prohibits “unreasonable search and seizure.”

Eddington cited a much earlier precedent that may well have informed the Constitution’s privacy protections, though its contemporary legal relevance is unclear. Thomas Jefferson, James Madison and other members of America’s founding generation used “codes and ciphers” to communicate before, during and after the Revolutionary War, Eddington wrote. 

“The use of encryption to keep government authorities from getting access to our private communications is literally as American as apple pie,” he wrote.

Lincoln Hills, the troubled youth detention facility, ended court-ordered monitoring Wednesday. | Photo courtesy Wisconsin Department of Corrections

On Wednesday, U.S. District Judge James Peterson ended mandated oversight of the Lincoln Hills and Copper Lake youth prisons. A court-mandated monitoring program for the juvenile detention facilities found them to be in “substantial compliance” with reforms sought in a 2018 class action settlement, marking a new chapter in their troubled history.

Teresa Abreu, the court-appointed monitor, praised the progress both facilities have made in the latest report. “This accomplishment reflects years of deliberate and meaningful reform, including the elimination of OC spray, the removal of punitive room confinement, the reduction of restraint usage and confinement in general, the use of MANDT, the implementation of a robust behavior management system and programming efforts to reduce idleness, and a strong emphasis on staff wellness.” 

For years, the Lincoln Hills School for Boys and the Copper Lake School for Girls were notorious among the nation’s largest juvenile prisons. Children and teens incarcerated there, most of them from Milwaukee, described being subjected to  pepper spray, solitary confinement, and man-handling by guards. Guards also reported experiencing violence and injuries caused by incarcerated youth. 

Those reports culminated in a lawsuit filed in 2017 by the American Civil Liberties Union of Wisconsin, the Juvenile Law Center, and the Milwaukee-based law firm Quarles & Brady LLP over conditions in both corrections facilities. A settlement agreement was eventually reached, and included a consent decree which mandated that policies, practices, and conditions improve at Lincoln Hills and Copper Lake, while also appointing a monitor to ensure that the facilities came into compliance with the settlement. 

“When we started this lawsuit in 2017, the use of pepper spray on children, solitary confinement, shackling, and strip searches were rampant at Lincoln Hills and Copper Lake,” Tim Muth, staff attorney at the ACLU of Wisconsin said in a statement. “Today, those practices have been eliminated or significantly restricted at the facilities, and the reforms codified into binding regulations.” 

Gov. Tony Evers praised the facilities’ progress. “This has been a goal a decade in the making, and it’s tremendous to be able to celebrate the completion of reforms at Lincoln Hills and Copper Lake schools today…This is a win for our state, a win for youth in our care, and a win for those who dedicate their time and energy to supporting the needed advancement of our justice system.”

Abreu’s most recent assessment noted that the overall climate, safety and culture at Lincoln Hills and Copper Lake had seen “a demonstrable improvement,” but stressed that sustaining reforms to the facilities “must remain a top priority, not just to protect youth and staff but also to ensure continued compliance with the Consent Decree, which has now been codified by the Wisconsin Administrative Code.” 

Kate Burdick, senior attorney at the Juvenile Law Center, commended Lincoln Hills and Copper Lake as being a “far cry from where we started” in a statement. “Yet we know that no child should grow up in prison — even an improved one. Across Wisconsin, the focus should be on building up alternatives to incarceration that support young people and help them thrive at home and in their own communities.” 

Today there are 112 youth incarcerated by the Wisconsin Department of Corrections according to the most recent population report. That number includes  71 boys at Lincoln Hills and 22 girls at Copper Lake. While improvements have been made to both facilities, plans to eventually close the two prisons have been stalled by years of legislative debate and local pushback from communities that don’t want new juvenile prisons built in their backyards. 

In 2024, Lincoln Hills was engulfed by a new wave of controversy after a staff member died from injuries he’d received during an assault. One of the involved teens, 18-year-old Rian Nyblom, pleaded guilty last year, and a trial for 17-year-old Javarius Hurd has been delayed. Hurd pleaded guilty to homicide and battery charges, but has argued that he was not responsible due to mental illness 

Abreu stressed in her monitoring report  more improvements are needed  at Lincoln Hills and Copper Lake. “Despite this progress, critical work remains,” the monitor wrote. “The Defendants must establish a comprehensive, long-term strategy for youth who are not suited for a juvenile correctional setting. As the Monitor has consistently advised, greater emphasis must be placed on transferring youth from [Lincoln Hills and Copper Lake] to more appropriate placements or diverting them from confinement altogether. The opening of new facilities should not result in increased incarceration; rather, it should advance the vision of placing youth closer to home and ultimately closing [Lincoln Hills and Copper Lake].”

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Rep. Andrew Hysell said Wisconsin’s state level officials need to act when the federal government is “failing” people. (Photo by Baylor Spears/Wisconsin Examiner)

Wisconsin’s freshman Democratic lawmakers are calling for the state’s constitution to be amended to include an explicit protection for Wisconsinites’ fundamental right to privacy.

“For months, we have seen agents of the federal government run roughshod over the law and the Constitution. Doing so is harming and even killing Americans,” Rep. Andrew Hysell (D-Sun Prairie) said at a press conference. “Not surprisingly, people here in Wisconsin are very afraid. If members of ICE can kill with impunity, how can anyone feel safe? This should not be happening in the United States.” 

The recent shooting of Alex Pretti, an ICU nurse from Green Bay, by federal Border Patrol agents in Minneapolis has prompted an array of reactions from Wisconsin politicians including Gov. Tony Evers, who joined a lawsuit challenging the presence of federal immigration agents in the Twin Cities, and candidates for governor, including U.S. Rep. Tom Tiffany, who said that “cooperation is how you avoid tragic consequences.”

Hysell said Wisconsin’s state level officials need to act when the federal government is “failing” people.

“When federal agents operate outside the limits set by the United States Constitution, state constitutions become the last meaningful line of defense for individual liberty,” Hysell said. 

Hysell said that elevating an individual right to privacy in Wisconsin would place clear constitutional limits on government intrusion, including administrative warrants issued by enforcement agencies rather than judges, civil detentions that function as criminal restraints without criminal process, pretextual entry into homes and the collection or use of personal data and location information without individualized judicial review.

Hysell said a constitutional amendment would act as a stronger protection than a change in state law. 

“A fundamental right flips the script in court. Instead of you having to plead to the judge that the government has done something wrong, the government has to justify how it had the power to do it in the first place,” Hysell said. “Wisconsin has a statutory right to privacy that provides some protection, but it’s not enough. Elevating the right to privacy to a constitutional level here in Wisconsin gives us protection from governmental overreach and abuse, exactly the kind of things we’ve seen in Minneapolis.”

Hysell said the bill has the support of all 23 first-term Democratic representatives.

“It’s actually quite simple,” Sen. Melissa Ratcliff (D-Cottage Grove) said. “It affirms Wisconsinites constitutional right to privacy. It’s very simple in language, and it’s a fundamental promise that deeply personal decisions belong to individuals and families — not politicians or the government.”

Constitutional amendments in Wisconsin have to pass two consecutive sessions of the state Legislature and receive approval from a majority of voters to become law. 

Wisconsin voters have decided on 10 constitutional amendment questions in the last five years. There are likely to be three on deck, including one to eliminate diversity, equity and inclusion efforts, on the ballot in November alongside Wisconsin’s open race for governor, Congressional races and state legislative races.

“Wisconsin constitutional amendments used to mean something, but now they have become weaponized by the Republican majority and used as a way to circumvent the governor’s desk all while debasing our state constitution,” Ratcliff said. “Today’s proposed Wisconsin constitutional right to privacy amendment is not political theater or abstract language. It’s about ensuring that government power has clear limits, that individuals are protected from unreasonable intrusion and that all of our core liberties are upheld.”

Hysell said there are 11 other states, including Montana and Alaska, that have privacy rights covered in their state constitutions.

The proposal will face a difficult path in the Republican-led Legislature.

Hysell said in response to a question about getting Republicans on board that “this really should be a nonpartisan issue because it’s about protecting all Americans.”

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President Donald Trump endorsed Michael Alfonso, the son-in-law of Department of Transportation Sec. Sean Duffy, in the Republican primary for Wisconsin’s 7th Congressional District Tuesday evening. (Alfonso headshot courtesy of campaign)

President Donald Trump endorsed Michael Alfonso, the son-in-law of Department of Transportation Sec. Sean Duffy, in the Republican primary for Wisconsin’s 7th Congressional District Tuesday evening.

The race for the seat, which represents a large swath of the state’s northwest area, is open as current Rep. Tom Tiffany is running in the open race for governor. Trump has endorsed Tiffany in that race.

“It is my Great Honor to endorse MAGA Warrior Michael Alfonso, a young ‘STAR’ who is running to represent the incredible people of Wisconsin’s 7th Congressional District,” Trump said in a post. “As your next Congressman, Michael will work tirelessly to Grow our Economy, Cut Taxes and Regulations, Champion our Amazing Farmers and Ranchers, Promote MADE IN THE U.S.A., Advance American Energy DOMINANCE, Keep our Border SECURE, Stop Migrant Crime, Support our Military/Veterans, Safeguard our Elections, and Protect our always under siege Second Amendment.”

Alfonso, who is 25 and married to Duffy’s daughter Evita Duffy-Alfonso, announced his campaign for the seat in Oct. 2025, saying that “Northern Wisconsin needs to continue to have a representative who will truly put our families, communities, and America first.” He has worked as a producer for the The Dan Bongino podcast.

“I was born and raised with the traditional Wisconsin values of faith, community, and hard work – and now I’m ready to give back to the area that gave so much to me. I’ve watched as the American Dream has continued to slip away from the people who so deserve it,” Alfonso said. “I’ve seen the effects of higher taxes and the increased cost of living on our families and our farms, and the erosion of our constitutional rights.”

The seat was held by Duffy from 2010 until 2019 when he abruptly resigned to focus on his family especially as his ninth child was diagnosed with severe health complications. 

Politico reports that Duffy’s campaigning on behalf of his son-in-law, including pushing Trump hard for an endorsement, had become a point of frustration in the White House.

Duffy said in a statement to Politico that Alfonso “will be the hardest working MAGA warrior for Wisconsin’s 7th district.” 

“I show up for the American people and for my family, and I’ll never apologize for that. My son-in-law will make a great congressman, and I know he is honored to have President Trump’s complete and total endorsement,” Duffy said. 

Trump’s endorsement has held significant sway in past elections in Wisconsin. Freshman U.S. Rep. Tony Wied, a businessman, entered the race for Wisconsin’s 8th Congressional District in 2024 with Trump’s endorsement and went on to win a three-way primary that year. 

Alfonso said it is his “greatest honor” to accept the endorsement. 

“He is truly the greatest president of all time, and I pledge to be a steadfast MAGA warrior for the people of Wisconsin’s 7th District,” Alfonso said. 

There are two other Republicans running for the open seat, which leans Republican, including Paul Wassgren, a businessman, and Jessi Ebben, a Stanley resident with a background in public relations and health care. Businessman Chris Armstrong and former state lawmaker and environmental advocate Fred Clark are running in the Democratic primary for the seat. 

The Wisconsin College Republicans and Turning Point Action have endorsed Alfonso as well. 

According to his campaign website, Alfonso has said that was “deeply inspired by the courage of Charlie Kirk, who risked his life to speak the truth on American campuses,” as a college student at UW-Madison. The website adds, “in the wake of Charlie’s assassination, Michael is ready to take on the challenge and honor of representing the hardworking people of Wisconsin’s 7th District.”

“He is an America First Gen-Z conservative who truly gets our generation, and will champion real conservative values as a congressman,” the Wisconsin College Republicans said in a statement.

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Demonstrators gather outside of the Henry Whipple Federal Building, shouting at federal vehicles and recording their plates Saturday, Jan. 17, 2026. (Photo by Nicole Neri/Minnesota Reformer)

A Minneapolis-based human rights group is suing the Department of Homeland Security, accusing DHS officials and agents of illegally and systematically preventing detained immigrants from meeting with their lawyers.

The proposed class action lawsuit, filed Tuesday in U.S. District Court of Minnesota, was brought on behalf of the Advocates for Human Rights and a St. Paul woman referred to by the initials “L.H.M.”

According to the complaint, L.H.M., who has lived in Minnesota since 2019 and has a pending asylum claim, was arrested Monday after a routine check-in at ICE’s Office of Intensive Supervision in Bloomington.

After L.H.M.’s family contacted her attorney, the lawyer immediately travelled to the Bishop Henry Whipple Federal Building but was unilaterally refused access to L.H.M.

L.H.M. recently underwent cranial surgery, the lawsuit states, and “has significant medical needs that may be severely adversely affected by detention conditions or involuntary transfer out of state.”

According to the claim, federal agents at the Whipple Building — and at least one ICE attorney — have repeatedly told frustrated lawyers that “no visitation between detainees and attorneys is or has ever been permitted at Whipple.”

“This is false,” the complaint continues. “Whipple has rooms labeled ‘ERO Visitation,’ where attorneys have met with clients held at Whipple for years.”

Nowadays, when lawyers attempt to arrange visits at Whipple, phone calls and emails allegedly go unanswered.

According to the suit, one lawyer was recently threatened with arrest at the Whipple Building, despite having received prior permission from agency officials. Another attorney attempting to speak to a client was “confronted by six armed security personnel, one of whom said, ‘We’re not having a debate here, turn your car around and get the hell out of here.’”

The lawsuit asserts claims under the First Amendment, the Fifth Amendment, the Administrative Procedures Act and the Immigration and Nationality Act. 

A spokesperson for Homeland Security responded: “Any allegations people detained by ICE do not have access to attorneys are false. Illegal aliens in the Whipple Federal Building have access to phones they can use to contact their families and lawyers. Additionally, ICE gives all illegal aliens arrested a court-approved list of free or low-cost attorneys. All detainees receive full due process.”

(Homeland Security has a burgeoning record of providing false information to the public, as detailed in a recent Stateline story; after the recent killing of Alex Pretti by Border Patrol, a Homeland Security spokesperson claimed Pretti “wanted to do maximum damage and massacre law enforcement” even though he never drew his gun, for which he had a permit.)

This is not the first time DHS has been sued for impeding detainees’ access to counsel. Similar suits in New York and Illinois have resulted in court orders.

DHS also has a recent history of defying court orders.

On Tuesday, U.S. District Judge Patrick Schiltz, chief judge of the Minnesota district, issued an order in a habeas petition in which he identified 96 court orders that ICE has violated since January 1 – a tally that he said is likely an undercount because it was assembled in haste.

“This list should give pause to anyone — no matter his or her political beliefs — who cares about the rule of law,” wrote Schiltz, who was appointed to the bench by George W. Bush and clerked for Antonin Scalia, the late Supreme Court justice and conservative icon.

“ICE has likely violated more court orders in January 2026 than some federal agencies have violated in their entire existence,” Schiltz wrote.

Screenshot from Bruce Springsteen's song 'Streets of Minneapolis'

Bruce Springsteen released a fiery anti-ICE protest song on Wednesday slamming “King Trump’s private army” and venerating the observers and demonstrators who “stood for justice, their voices ringing through the night.”

The song from the rock legend comes just days after federal immigration agents shot and killed Alex Pretti, an ICU nurse at the Minneapolis VA, on Saturday. He is the second fatality in a month, following poet and mother Renee Good, who was killed about a mile away in her car on Jan. 7. Both victims are honored by name in Springsteen’s lyrics, with the refrain, “We’ll remember the names of those who died; On the streets of Minneapolis.”

In a statement, Springsteen said he wrote the song on Saturday following Pretti’s killing and dedicated it to “the people of Minneapolis, our innocent immigrant neighbors and in memory of Alex Pretti and Renee Good.”

The title of the song echoes his 1993 song, “Streets of Philadelphia,” written for the film “Philadelphia” about the AIDS epidemic.

The song’s release underscores the cultural and historical significance of the resistance to the violent federal siege on the state still underway, which has mobilized tens of thousands in opposition and captured international attention through bystander videos documenting the federal agents’ brutality against immigrants and American citizens alike.

The song pays homage to the signature symbols of resistance — the whistle and the phone — which counter Stephen Miller and Kristi Noem’s “dirty lies.”

President Trump promised “reckoning and retribution is coming” for Minnesota and sent 3,000 federal agents and officers to the state in the “largest (Department of Homeland Security) operation ever.” But the operation, labeled a military occupation by local Democratic leaders, has turned public opinion sharply against the president and ICE.