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Feb 17, 2026
Two ICE officers have been placed on administrative leave and are accused of lying under oath about an incident in Minneapolis last month involving two Venezuelan immigrants, one of whom was shot in the leg by an agent. After the incident, the two Venezuelan men, Alfredo Alejandro Aljorna and Julio Cesar Sosa-Celis, were charged with felony assault, falsely accused of beating an ICE officer with a broom and snow shovel. Sosa-Celis was shot in the right thigh. While the Department of Homeland Security originally claimed the two men had attacked the agent, video evidence and witness testimonies contradicted the accusations. Federal prosecutors in Minneapolis last week dropped the felony assault charges against Aljorna and Sosa-Celis.
Criminal defense attorney Frederick Goetz, who represents Aljorna, says the admission of wrongdoing is "unusual" given that the Justice Department has been zealous in carrying out President Trump's anti-immigration agenda. It was "not only a dismissal, but a dismissal with prejudice, meaning that my client can never be charged again for anything to do with this incident," says Goetz.
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Feb 17, 2026
We look back on the life and legacy of civil rights icon Reverend Jesse Jackson, who died Tuesday at the age of 84. From marching with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. to building the Rainbow Coalition in his two presidential runs and beyond, "Jackson's life contributed to making this country more democratic, more inclusive, more fair," says Howard University political science professor Clarence Lusane.
We also speak with activist Larry Hamm, who co-chaired Jackson's 1988 presidential campaign in New Jersey. Hamm first met Jackson in 1971 and says he was "audacious" above all else. "Jesse knew his place in history," says Hamm.
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Feb 17, 2026
As we remember the life and legacy of civil rights icon Reverend Jesse Jackson, who died Tuesday at the age of 84, we air remarks by Senator Bernie Sanders from a 2024 tribute held during the Democratic National Convention. Sanders, whose own two runs for president galvanized progressives across the United States, hailed Jackson's campaigns in 1984 and 1988 for building a broad coalition for social justice. "Jesse Jackson is one of the very most significant political leaders in this country in the last 100 years," Sanders said. "Jesse's contribution to modern history is not just bringing us together; it is bringing us together around a progressive agenda."
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Feb 17, 2026
Civil rights icon Reverend Jesse Jackson died Tuesday at the age of 84. Jackson is known for working closely with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference during the civil rights movement, and he later ran two groundbreaking presidential campaigns in 1984 and 1988, when he pushed to cut the Pentagon budget while increasing domestic spending on education, housing and healthcare. Jackson was also involved in international campaigns from the anti-apartheid struggle in South Africa to supporting Palestinian self-determination. We remember his legacy and air interviews from his many appearances on Democracy Now! over the years.
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Feb 17, 2026
Civil Rights Icon Rev. Jesse Jackson Dies at 84, Second Round of Indirect Talks Between U.S. and Iranian Officials Underway in Geneva, Ukrainian and Russian Officials Meet in Geneva Today for U.S.-Brokered Peace Talks, Drop Site News: Senior Hamas Leader Says Group Will Not Follow Calls to Unilaterally Disarm, Trump Calls Cuba a "Failed Nation" and Refuses to Rule Out Military Action, Minnesota Investigators Say FBI Refusing to Share Evidence in Alex Pretti's Killing, AG Bondi Faces Bipartisan Criticism After Telling Congress All Epstein Files Have Been Released
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Feb 16, 2026
Three activists — Robert Earl Council, Melvin Ray and Raoul Poole — featured in the Oscar-nominated documentary The Alabama Solution were placed in solitary confinement last month in what advocates believe is retaliation for their role in exposing the abuses of the state's prison system and for helping to organize a prison labor strike. We're joined by three guests who worked on the documentary: director Andrew Jarecki, investigative journalist Charlotte Kaufman and Tiffany Johnson Cole, a childhood friend of and attorney for Robert Earl Council. Johnson Cole has filed a lawsuit against her client's transfer. She says Council, Ray, Poole and other incarcerated activists have "put themselves in harm's way in an effort to bring about change in a system that is truly cruel and inhumane."
The Alabama Solution features footage clandestinely shot on contraband cellphones wielded by men incarcerated by the fifth-largest state prison system in the United States. The footage includes the apparent cover-up of the beating death of an incarcerated man by prison guards. "Any authoritarian administration does not want you to see what's going on inside," says director Andrew Jarecki. "They can't really continue to do what they're doing if there's enough public pressure, which is one of the reasons why Alabama is so anxious about this film." Kaufman adds that the problem extends throughout the country. "We spend $80 billion a year on prisons and jails and incarcerate 2 million people, and yet the public's not allowed to see in and evaluate whether the system is fulfilling its mandate."
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Feb 16, 2026
Thirty-three-year-old Palestinian activist Leqaa Kordia will soon mark one year trapped in ICE detention. Kordia, who was born in East Jerusalem, first came to police attention when she was arrested during the 2024 Gaza solidarity protests at Columbia University. Those charges were dropped, but Kordia was later detained at routine immigration check-in in New Jersey. Federal immigration officers said her student visa had expired, and sent her to an ICE detention center in North Texas, where she's been incarcerated ever since. Under what she describes as torturous conditions, she suffered her first-ever seizure, which led to a multiday hospitalization. For three days, ICE refused to inform her family and legal team about her status and whereabouts. "She's been a relatively healthy person physically until she was detained … [but] her health is at great risk if she remains in custody," says Kordia's attorney Sarah Sherman-Stokes.
Kordia has lost more than 200 family members to Israel's genocide in Gaza, and a judge has ruled that she cannot be repatriated to Israel because of risk of persecution there, but the U.S. government has refused to release her on bond while her legal battle crawls along. "Leqaa should never have been detained," in the first place, says Sherman-Stokes.
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Feb 16, 2026
Reuters: U.S. Military Preparing for Possible Strikes on Iran If Trump Orders Attack, Israel Kills at Least 11 Palestinians in Gaza Over the Past 24 Hours, Oscar-Winning Palestinian Director of "No Other Land" Says His Family Has Been Attacked by Israeli Settlers, U.S. Military Strikes Boat in the Caribbean, Killing Three People, Ukraine Launches Drone Strike on Russian Black Sea Port Ahead of Peace Talks with the U.S., AOC and Secretary of State Rubio Offer Competing Visions of U.S. Foreign Policy at Munich Security Conference, Trump Admin Planning to Spend Over $38 Billion to Buy Warehouses and Convert Them into ICE Jails, Two ICE Agents Face Criminal Probe over Lying to a Jury After Shooting a Venezuelan Immigrant in Minnesota, DHS Enters Partial Shutdown After Senate Democrats Refuse to Support Funding Bill, Federal Judge Orders Return of Deported Babson College Student Any Lucia López Belloza Back to the U.S., RFK Jr. Says He "Used to Snort Cocaine Off of Toilet Seats", Barack Obama Blasts "Clown Show" After Trump Posts Racist Video Depicting Obamas as Apes, Russell Vought Uses $15M From Foreign Aid Agency He Gutted to Pay for Security Detail, San Francisco Educators End Strike with Tentative Deal to Fully Fund Family Healthcare
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Feb 13, 2026
Cuba is facing a growing humanitarian crisis due to a U.S.-imposed oil blockade. The Trump administration has also threatened new tariffs against any nation that sends fuel to Cuba, which has been under a U.S. trade embargo since 1962. These measures have caused fuel shortages and widespread blackouts, while the cost of food and transportation has skyrocketed. "This is a massive violation of human rights," says Ernesto Soberón Guzmán, Cuban ambassador to the United Nations. "It's a massive violation of international law."
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Feb 13, 2026
Faith leaders in North Carolina are leading a three-day trek from Wilson to Raleigh in an event aimed at supporting "unabridged voting rights; living wages and ending poverty; welcoming immigrants," and more. Reverend Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove spoke with Democracy Now! from the march, saying that "love is the power that can overcome fear in this moment." As North Carolina faces a President Trump-led gerrymandering effort, Wilson-Hartgrove hopes that the event will mobilize voters across the state.
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Feb 13, 2026
The Republican-controlled House of Representatives voted on Wednesday to require proof of U.S. citizenship in the November midterm elections. If it becomes law, it would be the "worst voter suppression bill ever passed by Congress," according to Ari Berman, national voting rights correspondent for Mother Jones. "The bill really combines a lot of the worst things that Republicans want to do with regards to voting, and it comes at a time when Trump appears dead set to try to interfere in the midterm elections," he adds.
Wednesday's vote sends the legislation on to the Republican-led Senate, where it is expected to receive a vote but unlikely to garner the 60-vote, filibuster-proof majority needed for passage.
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Feb 13, 2026
Trump Halts "Endangerment Finding" That Gave EPA Power to Regulate Greenhouse Gases, Senate Rejects Homeland Security Funding Bill, Teeing Up Partial Government Shutdown, Trump Administration Says It's Ending Surge of Immigration Agents to Minnesota, Marine Vet Says Feds in Minneapolis Sampled His DNA and Cloned His Phone Without Warrant, IRS Improperly Shared Taxpayer Data with DHS as Part of Trump's Immigration Crackdown, Federal Judge Orders Return of Venezuelans Deported to Notorious Prison in El Salvador, "I Felt Like an Animal": Palestinian Activist Leqaa Kordia Describes Abuse in ICE Custody, High Court Rules U.K. Government's Ban on Palestine Action Unlawful, Mexico Sends Humanitarian Aid to Cuba as U.S. Tightens Blockade, Venezuela's Interim Leader Takes U.S. Energy Secretary Chris Wright on Tour of Oil Facilities, Rep. Ro Khanna Demands DOJ Unredact Name of Politician Who Wrote 2016 Email to Jeffrey Epstein, Epstein Files Set Off Political Storm in Norway, Prompt Resignations at Goldman Sachs & DP World, Judge Rules Hegseth "Trampled" Sen. Mark Kelly's First Amendment Rights in Retribution Effort, LGBTQ Activists Raise Pride Flag Over Stonewall After Its Removal by Trump Administration
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Feb 12, 2026
As we continue to look at Wednesday's contentious hearing of the House Judiciary Committee, we speak with Vermont Congressmember Becca Balint, who walked out after Attorney General Pam Bondi accused her of supporting antisemitism. Balint, who is Jewish and whose grandfather died in the Holocaust, had just asked Bondi to meet with survivors of Jeffrey Epstein — a demand that Bondi repeatedly ignored during the hearing.
"It was just heartbreaking to watch the attorney general act in this way, especially when survivors have waited, over the course of decades, for justice," Balint tells Democracy Now!
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Feb 12, 2026
Authorities in Iran have arrested the Oscar-nominated screenwriter Mehdi Mahmoudian in Tehran. Mahmoudian co-wrote the film It Was Just an Accident with dissident director Jafar Panahi, and their film is nominated for Best Original Screenplay and Best International Feature at this year's Academy Awards. Mahmoudian was arrested after signing a public statement condemning Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, as well as the brutal crackdown on anti-government protesters, calling it "an organized state crime against humanity." Panahi, who also signed the statement alongside 15 others, recently spoke with Democracy Now! host Amy Goodman at the Santa Barbara International Film Festival.
Panahi described meeting Mehdi when they were both imprisoned, which led to their creative partnership. "Because he had spent nine years of his life in prison, I knew that he had a deep understanding of different people in the society, and for that reason, I invited him to this film to help with writing the dialogues, because he knew the different characters of this film very well," Panahi said.
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Feb 12, 2026
President Donald Trump held a lengthy meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu Wednesday at the White House, where the two leaders discussed ongoing nuclear talks with Iran. Trump has said he wants to reach a deal with Iran about the country's nuclear program, which Tehran insists is only for peaceful civilian purposes but which the U.S. and Israel claim is aimed at developing nuclear weapons. In recent weeks, Trump has repeatedly threatened to attack Iran after the Iranian government crushed a wave of anti-government protests, killing thousands of people. The Pentagon is also reportedly preparing to move a second aircraft carrier strike group to the Middle East, raising pressure on Iran's leadership.
"What Netanyahu is seeking to do with this visit is to inject poison pills into the negotiations in order to ensure that they fail, and thereby set the stage for a new armed conflict with Iran," says Middle East analyst Mouin Rabbani.
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Feb 12, 2026
Attorney General Pam Bondi testified Wednesday before the House Judiciary Committee, where she repeatedly refused to answer questions about her handling of the Jeffrey Epstein case. She also refused to apologize to Epstein survivors over the botched release of files, some of which contained survivors' personal information and even uncensored nude photographs. During the hearing, Bondi was photographed consulting a binder that appeared to show the search history of lawmakers who visited the Justice Department to examine the unredacted Epstein files in person.
"Essentially, they were spying on us," says Democratic Congressmember Pramila Jayapal. "It's certainly not going to stop me from continuing to review the files, but it is absolutely outrageous."
Jayapal also condemns the Justice Department for refusing to open new investigations into Epstein's associates listed in the files. "These were rich, powerful, wealthy people, mostly men, who groomed, raped, abused, manipulated young girls," she says.
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Feb 12, 2026
AG Bondi Hurls Insults at Lawmakers as She Defends Handling of Epstein Files, Trump Says "Nothing Definitive" Decided on Iran After Hourslong Meeting with Israeli PM Netanyahu, Thousands Protest in Melbourne as Israeli President Herzog Wraps Australia Tour, Video Shows ICE Agents Breaking Into Home of Pennsylvania Family, St. Paul Mayor Demands ICE Leave Minnesota After Federal Agents' Pursuit Ends in Multi-Car Crash, ICE Jailing Immigrants at Previously Undisclosed Floor of Manhattan Federal Building, New Body-Camera Footage and Emails Released in CBP Shooting of Marimar Martinez, FAA Closed El Paso Airspace After CBP Fired Anti-Drone Laser at Party Balloon, House Passes Bill to Repeal Trump's Tariffs on Canada, Trump Accepts Washington Coal Club's Inaugural Award , Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Fires Alexis Goldstein for Documenting DOGE Meeting, Argentina's Senate Approves Sweeping New Labor Bill Pushed by Far-Right President Milei
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Feb 11, 2026
In a victory for the fossil fuel industry, a set of Obama-era rules that required the federal government to regulate the emissions of six greenhouse gases is being reversed by the Trump administration. The changes would undo the legal basis of the fight against global warming, as well as remove industrial reporting obligations and roll back emissions standards for cars and trucks. Environmental engineer Gretchen Goldman helped author those emission standards while working for the Department of Transportation under the Biden administration. Now as the president of the Union of Concerned Scientists, she says their repeal will not only increase what drivers pay at the pump but also set U.S. innovation back on the world stage. "We're really seeing the abdication of U.S. leadership on climate, and that has huge implications, both for our immediate ability to reduce heat trapping emissions globally … but also in terms of our standing and contribution in the world."
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Feb 11, 2026
We continue our conversation with Texas Congressmember Al Green as he plans to reintroduce impeachment proceedings against President Trump over "infusing his hate into policy." Green currently represents Texas's 9th Congressional District, which was recently redistricted by the Texas state Legislature in favor of Republican voters. He says his seat, which he has held for over two decades, was targeted for redistricting in part because of his opposition to Trump. Green is now running for reelection in Texas's neighboring 18th Congressional District.
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Feb 11, 2026
House Democrats grilled the heads of ICE, CBP and USCIS at a hearing Tuesday over their role in the Trump administration's brutal campaign to carry out mass deportations. "These three directors are responsible for what we are seeing around the country, whether it's in detention, whether it's in the streets or even in the courts," says Illinois Congressmember Delia Ramirez, who is calling for her fellow Democrats to suspend funding for the Department of Homeland Security unless Republicans agree to their demands to rein in federal immigration agents. We play excerpts from Ramirez and other representatives' remarks about the killings of U.S. citizens Renee Good and Alex Pretti in Minneapolis, the deaths of immigrants in ICE custody and the fear and terror experienced by civilians confronted daily by masked federal agents. "This is more than authoritarianism. This is a de facto dictatorship," says Texas Congressmember Al Green, who also spoke at the hearing.
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Feb 11, 2026
Democratic Lawmakers Grill the Heads of ICE, CBP and USCIS on Trump's Mass Deportation Campaign, Immigrant Family Files a Lawsuit Claiming Their Toddler Was Returned to an ICE Jail Amid a Measles Outbreak, ACLU Files Lawsuit Against Law Enforcement for Mass Immigration Raid in Idaho, Democratic Congressmember Khanna Accuses the DOJ of Improperly Redacting Names of Wealthy Men in the Epstein Files, Former Palm Beach Police Chief Says Trump Told Him in 2006 That "Everyone" Knew of Epstein's Behavior, Commerce Secretary Lutnick Testifies He Visited Epstein's Island, Trump Admin Removes Pride Flag from Stonewall National Monument in New York City, Trump Admin Plans to Cut $600 Million in Public Health Funds, Trump Threatens to Send Another Aircraft Carrier to Strike Iran, WSJ: Pentagon to Send 200 U.S. Troops to Nigeria, UNICEF Warns More Than Half of All Children in North Darfur Are Acutely Malnourished, FAA Reopens El Paso Airport After Abruptly Halting Flights, At Least Nine People Killed in a Mass Shooting in British Columbia, Canada, FBI Raid of Fulton County Election Office Based on Debunked Claims from Election Deniers, Federal Grand Jury Declines to Indict Six Democratic Lawmakers for Urging Service Members to Refuse Unlawful Orders, Progressive Analilia Mejía Wins House Democratic Primary in New Jersey
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Feb 10, 2026
A new ProPublica investigation reveals new details about a sprawling ICE detention complex where families describe horrific conditions inside, such as being served contaminated food, with children and parents at times finding worms in their meals. Lights are reportedly left on for 24 hours a day. South Texas Family Residential Center, in the town of Dilley a few dozen miles from the southern border with Mexico, detains an estimated 3,500 people, more than half of them children. "I have never felt so much fear to go to a place as I feel here. … Once I go back to Honduras, a lot of dangerous things could happen to my mom and I," a 14-year-old detained at Dilley, Ariana Velasquez, told ProPublica. There are also mounting reports of psychological abuse by guards, some of whom have allegedly threatened families with separation. "Many of the children who are now being sent there are being arrested by ICE around the country, and some of them, like Ariana, have been living [in the U.S.] for years," says Mica Rosenberg, investigative reporter at ProPublica.
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Feb 10, 2026
Senate Democrats have reportedly begun tentative negotiations with the White House just days before funding for the Homeland Security Department is set to expire at midnight on Friday, threatening another partial government shutdown. Joaquin Castro, a Democratic congressmember from Texas, visited the family immigration detention center in Dilley where 5-year-old Liam Ramos was held. Kids have been "traumatized by the experience," says Castro.
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Feb 10, 2026
Lawmakers on Capitol Hill are accusing the Justice Department of covering up the names of co-conspirators of the deceased sex offender Jeffrey Epstein as fallout from the Epstein files grows across the globe. Millions of pages remain unreleased. As many prominent U.S. figures evade accountability following mentions in the Epstein files, a number of European figures have resigned for their relationships with Epstein. "The most extraordinary and worrying thing of what is going on in the United States is the scale of normalization that is happening, in which the press is absolutely a structural part of this," says Carole Cadwalladr, award-winning investigative journalist. "I have been shocked — deeply, deeply shocked — by the absence of headlines."
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Feb 10, 2026
Pentagon Says It Killed 2, Leaving 1 Survivor, in Attack on Boat in Eastern Pacific, Airlines Suspend Flights as Cuba Runs Out of Jet Fuel Amid U.S. Oil Blockade, Israel's Security Cabinet Expands Control Over Illegal West Bank Settlements, Israel's Latest Gaza Ceasefire Violations Leave 7 Palestinians Dead, Thousands Protest as Israeli President Isaac Herzog Visits Sydney, Australia, Ghislaine Maxwell Pleads the Fifth in Deposition to House Oversight Committee, 53 Are Dead or Missing After Boat Carrying Migrants Sinks Off Libyan Coast, Federal Court Strikes Down California Law to Unmask Federal Agents, Family Demands Answers After Leqaa Kordia Is Hospitalized in ICE Detention, Immigration Judge Rejects Trump Admin's Efforts to Deport Tufts University Student Rümeysa Öztürk, WSJ: Trump Admin Planning to Repeal Obama-Era Greenhouse Gas "Endangerment Finding", Nurses at Mount Sinai and Montefiore Reach Tentative Deals on New Contracts, San Francisco Public School Teachers Striking for Salary Increases and Family Health Benefits
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Feb 09, 2026
The partial reopening of Gaza's southern Rafah crossing with Egypt has been marked by chaos and severe restrictions imposed by Israel, as tens of thousands of Palestinians continue to wait for medical evacuation to receive urgent care outside the Gaza Strip. According to U.N. data, only 36 Palestinians in need of medical treatment were allowed to leave Gaza during the first four days of the crossing's reopening. Palestinians permitted to reenter Gaza have also reported abuse and hourslong interrogations. This comes amid growing skepticism over the implementation of the second phase of the Trump-brokered ceasefire, which Israel has repeatedly violated with near-daily attacks across Gaza since the truce took effect in October.
"No one inside Gaza is calling this a ceasefire," says Arwa Damon, former CNN correspondent and the founder of INARA, a nonprofit organization that supports children impacted by war. She says ongoing Israeli restrictions on medical evacuation are essentially a death sentence for many people, including children. "They are either going to end up with permanent injury or they are going to die."
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Feb 09, 2026
With the 2026 Winter Olympics underway in Italy, we speak with writer and academic Jules Boykoff, author of six books about the Olympics, who says Milan is hosting the Games despite widespread public opposition from locals. Boykoff says that while the Olympics have attempted in recent years to institute some "cosmetic" reforms, "they don't get at the core elements that really plague the Olympic Games, and that's overspending, that's the intensification of militarized policing, that's greenwashing, that's corruption, that's the displacement of local populations."
Boykoff's recent piece for The Nation, co-authored with Dave Zirin, is headlined "Get Ready for This Year's Undemocratic, Debt-Ridden, and Mobster-Infused Winter Olympics."
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Feb 09, 2026
President Donald Trump is refusing to apologize for sharing a racist video on social media that depicts former President Barack Obama and Michelle Obama as apes. The video remained available on Trump's Truth Social page for 12 hours before it was deleted around noon on Friday. It prompted rare criticism from members of his own party, including South Carolina's Tim Scott, the Senate's only Black Republican, who called it "the most racist thing" he had seen from the White House.
"This is a disgusting and despicable display of racism from President Trump," says Wisdom Cole, senior national director of advocacy for the NAACP. "Instead of unifying the nation and celebrating the achievements of Black America … he chooses to continue to perpetuate bigotry."
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Feb 09, 2026
We speak with Aliya Rahman, a U.S. citizen who was violently dragged from her car by federal immigration officers in Minneapolis last month and detained at the Whipple Federal Building, which has become the epicenter of the government's immigration crackdown in the city. Rahman says she repeatedly told agents she was disabled and had a brain injury, but they ignored her pleas for medical attention or other accommodation. "I was taken out of that place unconscious," says Rahman, who describes lasting injuries and trauma from her detention. Rahman was not charged with any crime. "What I saw in that detention center was truly horrific."
We also speak with attorney Alexa Van Brunt, director of the Illinois office of the MacArthur Justice Center, who says victims of ICE violence like Rahman can sue the federal government for violating their rights, "but they cannot sue the officers in their individual capacity."
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Feb 09, 2026
At Least 50 People Arrested in Minneapolis While Marking One Month Since Renee Good's Killing, Mexican Immigrant Whose Skull Was Broken During His Arrest by ICE Speaks Out, More Than 1,000 Google Workers Call On Company to Cancel Contracts with ICE and CBP, Federal Judge Puts Temporary Hold on Data Sharing Between IRS, Social Security Administration and ICE, Trump Refuses to Apologize for Publishing a Racist Video Depicting Barack and Michelle Obama as Apes, DOJ to Allow Congress Unredacted Access to Epstein Files, Israeli Security Cabinet Approves New Rules to Tighten Control Over Occupied West Bank, Iran Says It's Willing to Limit Uranium Enrichment for Sanctions Relief, Hong Kong Court Sentences Media Mogul Jimmy Lai to 20 Years in Prison, Drone Attack by Paramilitary Group RSF Kills at Least 24 People in Sudan, Federal Judge Orders Trump Admin to Unfreeze $16 Billion in Funds for New York Tunnel Project, U.S. Vice President Vance Booed at Opening Ceremony of Winter Olympics, Bad Bunny Makes History as First Artist to Perform Super Bowl Halftime Show in Spanish
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Feb 06, 2026
We host a debate between two former officials at the human rights organization Human Rights Watch. Omar Shakir resigned this week after more than a decade as the organization's Israel and Palestine director, over a report on the Palestinian right of return that he says was blocked from publication for ideological reasons. "I've lost faith in our new leadership's fidelity to the integrity of what we do best, which is to publish the facts that we document and consistently apply the law," says Shakir. Yet HRW's former executive director Kenneth Roth says the report was "utterly unpublishable" and questions the legal basis of the unpublished report's claim that Israel's denial of Palestinians' right of return is a crime against humanity. "Some Palestinian refugees may have this great suffering required for it to be a crime against humanity, but a lot of them clearly don't," he states. Shakir calls Roth's objections hypocritical in light of similar HRW claims about the rights of Rohingya and Chagos Island refugees. "The right of return remains this third rail even among progressive human rights institutions," he says.
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Feb 06, 2026
In the wake of deadly mass protests that have shaken the ruling Iranian government, and with U.S. leaders publicly weighing the idea of military intervention and potential regime change in Iran, American and Iranian officials are beginning renewed talks over Iran's nuclear program today. We speak to two guests, reporter Nilo Tabrizy and scholar Arang Keshavarzian, about the "very strange and contradictory situation" facing the country. "For both the Iranian state, but more importantly for Iranian people, it's very unclear what all of this portends, especially since it doesn't seem like these negotiations will go beyond the question of the nuclear program," says Keshavarzian.
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Feb 06, 2026
The Washington Post has laid off more than 300 journalists, dismantling its sports, local news and international coverage. "Everybody is grieving, and it's a loss for our readers," says Nilo Tabrizy, one of the paper's recently laid-off staff, who describes a "robotic" meeting announcing the cuts. "They didn't have the dignity to look us in the eye." The shocking staff culling has been widely attributed to the paper's leadership under Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, who bought the nearly 150-year-old institution in 2013. Karen Attiah, the former global opinion editor at the Post, was hired soon after Bezos's arrival. She recounts how the arrival of a billionaire backer initially revitalized the paper with resources and creative freedom, before souring over the next decade. "We thought [he] shared the same values that we had," says Attiah, who was fired from the Post last fall over comments she made about the death of conservative activist Charlie Kirk. "Journalism deserves better than a billionaire owner who decides that partying in Europe is more important than people's lives."
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Feb 06, 2026
The September 11, 2001, attack on the World Trade Center in New York City was a major polluting event. Debris from the collapse of the buildings spread toxic substances, including asbestos, lead, mercury and more, throughout the disaster zone. As New York City leaders issue new calls for the release of files detailing the extent of this pollution, we revisit the reporting of Democracy Now! co-host Juan González, the author of Fallout: The Environmental Consequences of the World Trade Center Collapse. "What I tried to warn about in the series of articles that I wrote about the dangers, the health dangers, in the future for people who were living in or working at ground zero have proven to be true," he says about his reporting on political leaders' early denials of post-9/11 health risks. "More people have died as a result of illnesses contracted after the collapse of the World Trade Center than died on that day."
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Feb 06, 2026
DHS Funding Is Set to Lapse as Top Senate Republican Rejects Restrictions on Immigration Agents, Protesters from New York to Milan Decry Trump's Immigration Crackdown, U.K. Opposition Parties Call for Vote of No Confidence in PM Starmer over Epstein-Linked Ambassador, Brad Karp, Chair of Paul Weiss Law Firm, Resigns over Ties to Jeffrey Epstein, Global Sumud Flotilla Plans Largest Humanitarian Mission Yet to Gaza, Cuban President Open to Talks with U.S. Amid Warnings of "Humanitarian Collapse" Due to Oil Blockade, Sudan's RSF Bombs Hospital as Famine Spreads in Darfur, Nigerian Army Deploys to Kwara State After Massacre Leaves 170 Dead, Bombing at Islamabad Mosque Kills 31 and Injures Scores, U.S. Economy Shed 108,435 Jobs in January, Worst Month Since 2009 Recession
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Feb 05, 2026
French prosecutors have asked Elon Musk to appear for questioning following a police raid on the offices of the social media network X in Paris. The French probe comes on the heels of a U.K. investigation into Musk's AI tool Grok over its "potential to produce harmful sexualized image and video content." Last month, the European Union also launched an investigation into sexual deepfakes created by Grok. "It's a part of a kind of a pushback that we're seeing now against Musk that's probably more forceful than anything we've seen to date," says Quinn Slobodian, professor of international history at Boston University and author of the upcoming book Muskism: A Guide for the Perplexed.
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Feb 05, 2026
U.S. citizens who have had violent encounters with federal immigration agents deployed in cities across the U.S. testified before Congress on Tuesday. Amid harrowing testimony by three victims and the brothers of Renee Good, congressional Democrats offered apologies and promises of accountability. Not a single Republican lawmaker showed up to the hearing.
Renee Good's brothers Brent and Luke Ganger both testified at the hearing, with Brent Ganger calling Good "unapologetically hopeful."
Marimar Martinez was shot multiple times by Border Patrol agents. "The mental scars will always be there as a reminder of the time my own government attempted to execute me — and when they failed, they chose to vilify me," Martinez said.
Daniel Rascon described how federal immigration agents pointed rifles at him and shot at his car. "They shattered the windows, and in that moment the whole world felt like it was the size of the inside of our pickup, and we were sitting in harm's way with nothing to do but record the horrifying experience," he said.
Aliya Rahman was stopped by federal agents and violently pulled from her vehicle — despite telling the agents that she is disabled and has a traumatic brain injury. "I now cannot lift my arms normally," said Rahman. "I was never asked for ID, never told I was under arrest, never read my rights and never charged with a crime."
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Feb 05, 2026
We continue our conversation with Congressmember Ro Khanna, who urges Democrats to demand legislation that reins in President Trump's anti-immigration raids ahead of the congressional vote on the spending bill. Khanna says the U.S. should "tear down ICE," replacing it with "a new agency that has oversight with human rights to enforce immigration law."
He also comments on Trump's multimillion-dollar cryptocurrency deal with the United Arab Emirates. "We really need a new moral vision in this country. I mean, the decline in ethics and transparency has eroded public trust," Khanna says.
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Feb 05, 2026
Democratic Congressmember Ro Khanna has called for Congress to investigate associates of Jeffrey Epstein named in the files and for the full release of the remaining documents. This comes as Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche said the review of Epstein files is over and that no further prosecutions are expected. Blanche, who was formerly President Trump's personal lawyer, told Fox News that "it isn't a crime to party with Mr. Epstein."
Meanwhile, Epstein survivors have criticized the Department of Justice for failing to redact personal information, including some of their identities, as well as email addresses and even nude photos. "They were cavalier, at best, when it comes to the survivors, and they took great lengths to protect some of the rich and powerful people who actually committed the crimes and morally heinous acts," Khanna tells Democracy Now!
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Feb 05, 2026
Minnesota Officials Demand All Federal Agents Leave as Trump Administration Announces Drawdown, 10-Year-Old Girl Seized by Federal Agents in Minnesota Freed from Texas ICE Jail, ACLU Calls for U.N. Probe into Trump's Immigration Crackdown over Human Rights Abuses, "Have ICE Surround the Polls": Steve Bannon Adds to Fears Trump Will Disrupt Midterm Elections, Supreme Court Clears Congressional Map Gerrymandered to Benefit California Democrats, Palestinians Returning to Gaza Through Rafah Crossing Report Severe Restrictions by Israel, Chuck Schumer Defends U.S. Arming Israel as Trump Admin Approves $6.7 Billion Weapons Sale, Six Palestine Action Protesters Found Not Guilty of Aggravated Burglary, Nuclear Arms Control Treaty Between U.S. and Russia Expires, Drop Site News: U.S. Military Officials Informed Middle East Ally That Trump Could Soon Attack Iran, WSJ: Abu Dhabi Royal Purchased 49% Stake in Trump Family's Cryptocurrency Firm, Washington Post Lays Off More Than 300 Journalists, Human Rights Watch: Three-Quarters of the World's Population Living Under "Autocracy"
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Feb 04, 2026
After several months of rising tension between them, Colombian President Gustavo Petro sat down with U.S. President Donald Trump in a closed-door meeting that lasted approximately two hours at the White House on Tuesday. The two leaders have exchanged threats and insults since Trump returned to office in 2025, with Petro harshly criticizing the U.S. bombing of boats at sea and for threatening the sovereignty of countries in Latin America. Both leaders took a much more conciliatory tone after their meeting, with Petro sharing a photo of them shaking hands alongside a handwritten note from Trump calling it an "honor" and adding, "I love Colombia."
Colombian Senator Clara López Obregón, speaking to Democracy Now! from Bogotá, says the White House meeting was an important "repositioning" of the relationship, and cautions that the region needs a more coordinated response to "coercion" from the U.S. "Latin America, unfortunately, has been unable to structure meaningful and permanent instruments of collective action, so each country has to negotiate on its own from a position of weakness."
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Feb 04, 2026
As the last major nuclear arms treaty between the United States and Russia expires this week, we speak with arms control expert Dr. Ira Helfand, a steering committee member of Back from the Brink, a national coalition organizing communities across the United States to call for the abolition of nuclear weapons. Helfand is a longtime member of the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons, or ICAN, which received the 2017 Nobel Peace Prize. He is also the immediate past president of the International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War, awarded the 1985 Nobel Peace Prize, and a co-founder of Physicians for Social Responsibility.
"We are in a very, very dangerous moment," says Helfand, who urges major powers to reduce their nuclear arsenals rather than potentially starting a new arms race. "Strength and safety are not the same thing. … If you allow these weapons to continue to exist, it is not a question of if we have a nuclear war — it's just a question of when."
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Feb 04, 2026
President Donald Trump has called to "nationalize" voting in the United States, alarming state leaders who oversee the process, as well as legal experts who say his takeover demand violates the Constitution. This comes as he continues to falsely claim he won the 2020 election, with Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard overseeing an FBI raid last week to seize ballot boxes and other voting records in Fulton County, Georgia.
Gabbard, as spy chief, "has no statutory authority to be involved in a domestic election investigation," says David Becker, director of the Center for Election Innovation & Research. He says that since the failed effort to overturn the results of the 2020 election, "an ecosystem of grift" has grown around Trump that profits from continuing to spread election denial even as courts have repeatedly thrown out their claims.
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Feb 04, 2026
As President Trump suggests the federal government should "nationalize" and take over the elections process from the states, we speak with Arizona Secretary of State Adrian Fontes. He is the former county recorder for Maricopa County, Arizona, and oversaw elections there in 2020. The Justice Department has sued Arizona and over 20 other states for their full voter registration lists. "No means no," Fontes says in response to the Trump administration's encroachment on state authority. "We should not be handing over any of our personal identifying information to the president. Not only should we not be doing it, but it's against the law for me to fulfill the request from the Department of Justice."
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Feb 04, 2026
Trump Doubles Down on Calls for GOP to "Nationalize" Voting in the U.S., Renee Good's Brothers Urge Congress to Restrain Federal Immigration Crackdown, New York Attorney General James Announces Legal Observers to Document Federal Immigration Raids, Trump Signs Consolidated Funding Bill, Ending Partial Government Shutdown, Colombian President Gustavo Petro Meets With Trump at the White House, U.S. Military Announces It Shot Down Iranian Drone in the Arabian Sea, Israeli Airstrikes Kill at Least 21 Palestinians in Gaza, Trump Insults CNN Reporter Kaitlan Collins for Not Smiling as She Asked About Epstein Survivors, Hearst Magazines Union Stages Walkout Calling for a Fair Contract
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Feb 03, 2026
ProPublica has identified the two Border Patrol agents who shot Alex Pretti, the Minneapolis man killed January 24 while observing immigration enforcement in the city. The outlet says the agents are Jesus Ochoa, 43, and Raymundo Gutierrez, 35. "This is in the public interest," says reporter J. David McSwane. "This country has a tradition and norm of being able to identify law enforcement officers, both for their safety and the safety of the public."
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Feb 03, 2026
Activists in Maine are resisting ICE immigration raids in Portland and Lewiston that the Trump administration dubbed "Operation Catch of the Day." The immigrant community in Maine has grown in recent years, with an influx of asylum seekers and Somali immigrants in particular. "As a small state, community means a lot," says Mufalo Chitam, executive director of the Maine Immigrants' Rights Coalition, adding that her organization has received thousands of phone calls to their immigrant support hotline in recent weeks.
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Feb 03, 2026
At least 15 Philadelphia city councilmembers have backed a package of "ICE Out" legislation aimed at combating ICE and federal immigration enforcement operations in Philadelphia, including codifying sanctuary protections and prohibiting federal immigration agents from concealing their identities or covering their faces. "We heard the cries from the community calling for something to be done," says Kendra Brooks, a member of the Philadelphia City Council, where she serves as minority leader. "Our goal was to make sure that something is in place to prevent any undue harm." Councilmembers will vote on the legislation in the coming weeks, and it is expected to pass with a veto-proof majority.
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Feb 03, 2026
Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson has signed an executive order directing Chicago police to investigate reports of illegal activity conducted by ICE and other federal immigration agents. The move came in the aftermath of Trump's so-called Operation Midway Blitz in Chicago late last year, when masked agents flooded neighborhoods, snatching residents off the streets as part of Trump's mass deportation campaign. "What this executive order is doing is showing up for the people of Chicago, … creating a model for the rest of the country," Johnson tells Democracy Now!
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Feb 03, 2026
Fulton County to Sue Over FBI Ballot Seizures as Trump Says GOP Should "Nationalize" Elections, Tulsi Gabbard Arranges Call Between Trump and FBI Agents Who Seized Ballots from Atlanta, Measles Cases Confirmed at Texas ICE Jail Housing Hundreds of Children, Pentagon Quietly Takes Active-Duty Troops Off Standby to Deploy to Minnesota, Federal Court Blocks Trump Administration Bid to End Protected Status for Haitian Immigrants, Israeli Strikes on Gaza Kill 4 Palestinians, Including 30-Month-Old Child, U.S. Firm Seeks 300% Profits from Monopoly Over Gaza Trucking and Logistics, Biden Admin Officials Killed Memo Warning Israeli Attacks Turned Gaza into "Apocalyptic Wasteland", Trump Envoy Plans Talks in Istanbul with Iranian Officials Over Nuclear Program, Russian Drones and Missiles Strike Ukraine's Cities and Infrastructure Ahead of Peace Talks, Right-Wing Populist Laura Fernández Elected President of Costa Rica, Bill and Hillary Clinton Agree to Testify in House Investigation of Epstein , Paris Prosecutor Raids French Offices of Social Media Platform X, Civil Liberties Groups Sue NYPD for Targeting Black and Latino Drivers
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Feb 02, 2026
We speak with Mother Jones voting rights correspondent Ari Berman about the shocking FBI raid on an elections hub in Fulton County, Georgia. Federal agents were seeking records related to the 2020 presidential election, which President Donald Trump continues to falsely claim he won despite his loss to Joe Biden that year. During his efforts to overturn the election results, Trump pressured local officials to "find" him an additional 11,780 votes. Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard was on the scene Friday despite having no domestic law enforcement authority. The raid comes amid an ongoing federal probe into the 2020 election.
"The fact that they seized 700 boxes of ballots was incredibly disturbing and sets a chilling precedent for how Trump might try to interfere in the 2026 election," says Berman, who ties the raid in Georgia to the administration's pressure on Minnesota to hand over voter rolls. "This is now a multifront, concerted effort to try to interfere in the midterm elections."
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Feb 02, 2026
The Justice Department on Friday released an additional 3 million pages of documents related to the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. The Trump administration says it was the final release of Epstein files, even though some 2 million more documents remain unreleased. The latest batch reveals new details about Epstein's connections to the rich and powerful, including Hollywood figures, tech billionaires, public officials and more. Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche said it is unlikely anyone else would be prosecuted.
Attorney Arick Fudali, who represents 11 Epstein survivors, says the release of the files has been a "perfect storm" of "incompetency and an active cover-up" by the Trump administration. "It's so mind-boggling, because they're withholding documents that they shouldn't be withholding … but, on the other hand, they're showing documents that they shouldn't be showing because they contain unredacted names of survivors," says Fudali.
Investigative journalist Vicky Ward, who has covered the Epstein case for many years, says despite the flawed release of the files, they continue to shine light on a world of elite impunity and excess. "We just see over and over again in these documents, there's just one big billionaires boys club that treated women like objects," says Ward.
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Feb 02, 2026
Tens of thousands of people took to the streets in hundreds of demonstrations across the United States this weekend as protests continue against the Trump administration's anti-immigrant crackdown. Democracy Now! was in the streets of Minneapolis on Friday speaking with protesters who marched in subzero temperatures.
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Feb 02, 2026
As protests continue in Minnesota over the federal government's immigration crackdown, former CNN anchor Don Lemon and independent journalist Georgia Fort now face federal charges stemming from their reporting on a January 18 demonstration at a St. Paul church, where a senior ICE official works as a pastor. The two journalists were released Friday without bail following initial court hearings and could face fines or prison time if convicted. Their charges stem from the FACE Act, a 1994 law intended to protect access to abortion clinics which also prohibits interference with religious worship. Seven activists who took part in the demonstration also face charges.
"We're having a constitutional crisis," Fort tells Democracy Now! "What we're seeing here in Minnesota is the people are continuing to stand. They are continuing to demand that our Constitution be upheld. I believe that journalism is not a crime."
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Feb 02, 2026
Federal Judge Denies Request by Minnesota Officials to Temporarily Block Surge of Immigration Agents, Former CNN Anchor Don Lemon and Independent Journalist Georgia Fort Released from Federal Custody, 5-Year-Old Liam Conejo Ramos and His Father Reunited with Family Members in Minnesota, More Than 300 Anti-ICE Protests Held Across the Country, NYT: Former Border Patrol Chief Gregory Bovino Said to Have Mocked Prosecutor's Jewish Faith, Chicago Orders Local Law Enforcement to Probe Illegal Activity by Federal Immigration Agents, Justice Department Release Over 3 Million Pages of the Epstein Files, Israeli Forces Partially Reopen Gaza's Rafah Crossing into Egypt, Iranian Authorities Arrest Oscar-Nominated Screenwriter Mehdi Mahmoudian, Democrats Flip State Senate Seat and Pick Up Congressional Seat in Texas, President Trump Announces Kennedy Center Will Close for Two Years for Renovations, Bad Bunny Denounces ICE During Grammy Awards Acceptance Speech
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Jan 30, 2026
The latest reliable estimates of the death toll in Iran's recent nationwide protests are growing, potentially reaching the tens of thousands. Some estimates place the number of civilians killed by government forces at 30,000 or more. We play a rare eyewitness account of the deadly massacre of protesters in Rasht, Iran, and speak to the Iranian filmmaker and political dissident Sepideh Farsi, who says U.S. military intervention "would only worsen the situation." She warns that President Trump's interest in U.S. military action on the country is "for business," and "not for Iranian people."
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Jan 30, 2026
An estimated 350,000 Haitian immigrants are set to lose their temporary protected status, or TPS, on February 3, 2026, after President Trump signed an executive order to revoke their TPS shortly after coming into office. TPS holders live and work in the United States legally. During the 2024 presidential election, candidates Donald Trump and JD Vance spread racist invective about Haitian immigrants in Springfield, Illinois. Now ICE is reportedly planning to begin extensive raids on Haitian American communities like Springfield. "We are living under a cloud of terror," says Guerline Jozef, the co-founder and executive director of Haitian Bridge Alliance. Her organization is mounting a legal challenge against the Trump administration's revocation of TPS.
"I'm anxious every day," says Maryse Balthazar, a former journalist in Haiti who fled the country after its devastating 2010 earthquake. She now works as an elder care nurse in Florida. She worries about being separated from her U.S. citizen daughter, and for the safety of her son, also a TPS holder, if he were deported to Haiti, a country currently struggling with organized crime and political unrest. Balthazar says that if she were to lose her TPS, "it will be like another earthquake to me."
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Jan 30, 2026
The families of two men from Trinidad killed in an October U.S. missile strike in the Caribbean are suing the Trump administration for wrongful death and extrajudicial killing. The families of 26-year-old Chad Joseph and 41-year-old Rishi Samaroo say the two men were returning home from fishing and farming in Venezuela, not smuggling drugs as the Trump administration has claimed without evidence. Four others on the same boat were also killed. In all, at least 125 people have been killed in the unprecedented U.S. bombings of civilian boats in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific Ocean. It's "the latest example of the Trump administration's total mockery of, contempt for the post-World World II human rights consensus, where nations are constrained by law and not mere might," says attorney Baher Azmy, who is representing the Joseph and Samaroo families in their lawsuit. He calls their deaths "killings for sport and spectacle," adding that they are part of a wider pattern of federal overreach that can be seen in the administration's domestic crackdown on protesters and journalists. Azmy warns that the excessive use of force by federal agents in Minneapolis may be "a dry run" for "deployment of troops during elections."
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Jan 30, 2026
In the aftermath of the abduction of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and his wife Cilia Flores, Venezuela has agreed to submit a monthly budget to the Trump administration, which will release money from an account funded by oil sales. It's a deal for the interim government led by Delcy Rodriguéz that historian Greg Grandin calls "governing under the blade." In a further shift away from the nation-building foreign policy of the past several decades of U.S. power, "what the United States is planning for Venezuela is basically to run the country as a vassal state," he says. "This is an arrangement with transactional details that we've never seen before."
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Jan 30, 2026
Senate Democrats & Trump Reach Deal to Split Off Funding DHS to Avert Shutdown, Minneapolis Mayor Calls for Nationwide End to "ICE Siege", "No, No. Not at All": Trump Denies He Plans to Pull Back Federal Agents from Minnesota, Protesters Call for National Shutdown Today to Protest ICE, Sen. Collins Claims DHS Has Paused Operation Catch of the Day, Financial Times: Private Companies Reaped $22B in Contracts with ICE & CBP Last Year, Iran's Top Diplomat in Turkey as Trump Keeps Threatening to Attack Iran, U.S. Lifts Some Sanctions on Venezuela After Interim Leader Signs Bill Opening Door for Private Oil Firms, Trump Threatens to Impose Tariffs on Nations Who Provide Oil to Cuba, Trump Claims Russia Will Pause Attacks on Ukrainian Cities, Illinois Sheriff's Deputy Sentenced to 20 Years in Prison for Shooting Sonya Massey, Trump Taps Kevin Warsh to Be Federal Reserve Chair, Trump & Sons Sue IRS & Treasury for $10B over Tax Return Leaks, Journalists Don Lemon & Georgia Fort Arrested for Covering Church Protest in St. Paul
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Jan 29, 2026
ICE and CBP are using facial recognition technology to facilitate President Trump's mass deportation campaign. With a smartphone app, immigration officers can scan faces of people they encounter and quickly search those faces against 200 million images stored in several government databases that are "notoriously error-filled," according to Nathan Freed Wessler, deputy director of the ACLU's Speech, Privacy, and Technology Project. "It's being used on the street in ways that are dangerous, that are totally unprecedented in this country, and that are, frankly, blatantly illegal," he adds.
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Jan 29, 2026
Democracy Now! speaks with Congressmember LaMonica McIver of New Jersey, who is facing up to 17 years in prison stemming from an incident last May when she and two other Democratic congressmembers sought to inspect Delaney Hall, a private prison run by the GEO Group under contract with ICE. The federal government claims McIver assaulted an immigration officer. "I'm not going to let them bully me out of doing my job. I'm just not," says McIver, who describes conditions at the prison as dismal. "There was an entire riot at the same detention center because detainees were not getting food."
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Jan 29, 2026
Liam Ramos, the 5-year-old from Minnesota who was detained last week after coming home from preschool, is being held in the South Texas Family Residential Center in Dilley, Texas. Congressmembers who visited Liam report that has been depressed and hasn't been eating well. Javier Hidalgo, legal director at RAICES, has worked with families at the detention center for years. "We often hear about food with bugs or worms in it, half-frozen food being given, guards yelling at parents if their kids are making too much noise or they're asking for an extra apple," says Hidalgo. "Reform is inadequate. It just needs to be shut down."
When attorney Eric Lee visited the detention center, he observed immigrant families holding a protest to demand the release of immigrant children. "The Democratic Party is as equally responsible as Trump for creating the infrastructure of mass family and adult detention in this country, and it is necessary that this protest movement stay a hundred miles away from the Democratic Party and develop its orientation to the working class," says Lee, whose clients have been detained at the ICE jail since June.
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Jan 29, 2026
DHS Places Two Agents Who Killed Alex Pretti on Administrative Leave, Trump Claims Congressmember Omar Staged Attack Against Herself, Congressmember Castro Meets with 5-Year-Old Liam Ramos and His Father at Dilley Detention Center, Autopsy Finds Cuban Immigrant in ICE Custody Died of Homicide, DHS Urges FEMA Staff to Avoid Phrases Like "Watch Out for ICE" to Prevent Memes, Senate Democrats Threaten to Block Funding for DHS, FBI Raids Election Office in Georgia's Fulton County, Federal Reserve Leaves Interest Rates Unchanged, Resisting Trump's Pressure to Lower Them, Secretary of State Rubio Refuses to Rule Out Further U.S. Attacks on Venezuela, Trump Threatens Another U.S. Military Strike on Iran, Bulletin of Atomic Scientists Sets Doomsday Clock to 85 Seconds to Midnight, Russia Launches Wave of Attacks Across Ukraine, Spain Announces Amnesty for Nearly 500,000 Undocumented Immigrants, Dozens Confirmed Dead Due to Extreme Cold Weather Conditions Across the U.S., Bruce Springsteen Releases New Song "Streets of Minneapolis"
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Jan 28, 2026
We speak with Congressmember Delia Ramirez following an attack on her colleague, Congressmember Ilhan Omar, who was sprayed with an unknown foul-smelling liquid while speaking at a town hall event in Minneapolis on Tuesday. "This is a direct influence of what you're seeing from this president," Ramirez says, criticizing Trump's policies and his long history of attacking Omar in particular.
Ramirez also discusses her efforts in Congress to impeach Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem. Ramirez says Noem's agency is "rotten from the inside out" and must be completely dismantled. "You have an agency killing people, executing them, lying about it, and then talking about investigating themselves while operating with impunity."
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Jan 28, 2026
As President Trump shakes up the leadership of his immigration crackdown in Minnesota following the killing of ICU nurse Alex Pretti by Border Patrol agents, we examine the expanding role of the agency in interior enforcement.
Independent journalist Todd Miller says the Trump administration's immigration operations in U.S. cities are an "extension" of "policies and practices that we've been seeing in the U.S.-Mexico borderlands now for decades," characterizing Border Patrol culture as one of rampant abuse and impunity.
We also speak with Jenn Budd, a former Border Patrol agent who quit in 2001 and is now an immigrant rights activist. She disputes the claim that recent violence by CBP staff is a result of insufficient training. "The management of the Border Patrol has been corrupt for many generations, and then after 9/11 we just gave them money with little accountability and let them design their own accountability systems," says Budd.
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Jan 28, 2026
Minnesota Congressmember Ilhan Omar was sprayed with an unknown liquid Tuesday during a town hall event in Minneapolis. Omar has long been a favorite target of President Donald Trump and his supporters, and the attack on her comes just days after Florida Congressmember Maxwell Frost was punched by a Trump supporter while attending the Sundance Film Festival.
"It's truly heartbreaking, this moment we find ourselves in," Omar said when she resumed her remarks, discussing the Trump administration's violent immigration crackdown. "But if we know anything about U.S. history, it's that everything is temporary, and we will find our way out of this."
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Jan 28, 2026
As outrage grows across the country over the Trump administration's deadly immigration crackdown in Minnesota, we speak with reporter Drew Harwell, who recently reported on the government's effort to hire thousands more ICE agents. According to an internal strategy document uncovered by The Washington Post, the federal government plans to spend $100 million over a one-year period in a "wartime recruitment" push, including online targeting of UFC fans, gun-rights supporters, military enthusiasts and more. Meanwhile, the administration's online messaging has repeatedly echoed white nationalist slogans.
"They're spending a lot of money on it, so you're just seeing it everywhere on social media now. And the question is: Who are they trying to attract?" says Harwell.
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Jan 28, 2026
Congressmember Ilhan Omar Attacked at Town Hall in Minneapolis, CBP Report: Two Federal Officials Fired Weapons at Alex Pretti in Fatal Shooting, Federal Judge Temporarily Blocks Trump Admin from Deporting Liam Ramos and His Father, 5-Year-Old Girl Deported to Honduras Despite Being U.S. Citizen, Dozens of Anti-ICE Protesters Arrested in Manhattan After Occupying Lobby of Hilton Hotel, ICE Agents to Join U.S. Delegation to the Winter Olympics in Italy, CNN: Trump Admin Planning to Establish a CIA Presence in Venezuela, Families of Two Trinidadian Men Killed in U.S. Strikes Sue Trump Administration, Trump: "Cuba Will Be Failing Pretty Soon", Justice Department to Finish Releasing Epstein Files Soon, South Carolina Measles Outbreak Reaches Nearly 800 Cases
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Jan 27, 2026
As calls grow to defund and abolish ICE, author Alec Karakatsanis warns that activists should take care to not fall for "copaganda," which "takes ordinary people who are outraged over what's happening and converts them into supporting meaningless reforms that actually don't reduce the size or power or budget of these bureaucracies." Karakatsanis is the author of Copaganda: How Police and the Media Manipulate Our News. He breaks down many of the myths about crime and policing that arose in the wake of Black Lives Matter protests over the past decade, including the reformist myth of police body cameras and the so-called crime wave. Police-tracked crime, "contrary to what you have been told in the news every single day for the last several years, is actually down," says Karakatsanis, but fearmongering mainstream media narratives are "designed to make people so afraid that they support repressive institutions that infringe on their own liberty, that don't make them safer, but that give people in power in our society more ability to control and manipulate."
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Jan 27, 2026
ICE is asserting federal immigration officers have the power to forcibly enter homes without a judicial warrant. "That's just not true," says legal scholar Stephen Vladeck, who says the claim directly violates the Fourth Amendment protections against unreasonable search and seizure. "What we're really seeing here is an effort to twist a handful of old cases that have recognized circumstances in which the government doesn't need a judicial warrant to enter a home." Vladeck also encourages witnesses to share video evidence of federal agents' abuses to support future prosecution efforts.
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Jan 27, 2026
A federal judge in Minnesota heard arguments Monday in a lawsuit filed by city and state officials to halt Trump's deployment of thousands of federal immigration agents to Minnesota. "The federal government cannot coerce us into doing it their way," says Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison, who is part of the group that brought the lawsuit. As the Trump administration continues to obstruct local investigations into the killings of Renee Good and Alex Pretti by federal agents in Minnesota this month, we speak to Ellison and Georgetown University law professor Stephen Vladeck to discuss state and federal jurisdiction over investigations and potential prosecutions. Ellison also responds to the announcement that "border czar" Tom Homan is headed to Minnesota to replace U.S. Border Patrol "commander-at-large" Gregory Bovino as the public face of Trump's immigration enforcement surge.
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Jan 27, 2026
Trump Admin Removes Border Patrol Commander Greg Bovino from Minnesota, Minnesota GOP Gubernatorial Candidate Drops Out of Race, Citing Trump's Immigration Crackdown, Partial Government Shutdown Likely as Senate Dems Refuse to Back Funding Bill over DHS Funding, Immigrant Families Protest Inside ICE's Detention Facility in Dilley, Texas, Immigration Agents Detain 2-Year-Old Girl in Minnesota and Her Father, Israel Recovers Remains of Last Hostage Held in Gaza, U.N. Says 37,000 Palestinians Forcibly Displaced in the Occupied West Bank in 2025, Human Rights Activists News Agency: Iranian Security Forces Killed 5,777 Protesters in Anti-Gov't Protests, ICC Rules Former Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte Can Stand Trial, South Sudan's Military Orders All Civilians and U.N. Personnel to Evacuate Jonglei State, Over 30,000 Kaiser Permanente Healthcare Workers Go on Strike
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Jan 26, 2026
Tens of thousands of Minnesotans braved the bitter cold in Minneapolis on Friday to demand "ICE out." The march was organized by faith and labor leaders and was accompanied by calls for an economic blackout. Seven hundred businesses reportedly closed in solidarity. Democracy Now!'s John Hamilton filed a report from the streets. John Reuss, an English teacher, said his students are afraid. "The fear is so tangible," said Reuss. "If we do not shut it down right now, your city is next."
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Jan 26, 2026
Civil rights attorney, minister and activist Nekima Levy Armstrong, who was arrested by federal officials for participating in an anti-ICE demonstration at Cities Church in St. Paul, was released from federal custody on Friday. "They have altered the facts, just as they altered my image as a way of trying to criminalize nonviolent, peaceful protests and lawful dissent against their unlawful and unjust actions," says Armstrong, noting images posted by the Trump administration that digitally altered her to make it appear as if she was sobbing during her arrest.
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Jan 26, 2026
Democracy Now! speaks with a former colleague of Alex Pretti, the 37-year-old ICU nurse shot dead by federal agents in Minneapolis on Saturday. Dr. Aasma Shaukat, who hired Pretti for a research job over a decade ago, says he lived with "kindness, compassion and a strong sense of civic duty to help his fellow citizens."
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Jan 26, 2026
Protests have intensified in Minnesota after federal immigration agents killed Alex Pretti, a 37-year-old ICU nurse who worked in the Minneapolis Veterans Health Care System, on Saturday. Democracy Now!'s John Hamilton reports from the scene of Pretti's killing, where protesters clashed with federal agents. "We've seen everything from people that are unconscious, that have fainted, tear-gassed, bruised, bloody noses, can't breathe," said Melissa, a local resident. State Senator Omar Fateh responded to the killing with outrage: "He had a camera on his hand. He was tackled, he was pummeled, and he was executed."
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Jan 26, 2026
Federal Immigration Agents Fatally Shoot 37-Year-Old ICU Nurse Alex Pretti in Minneapolis, Attorney General Bondi Demands Access to Minnesota's Voter Rolls and Welfare Data, FBI Agent Resigns After Unsuccessfully Trying to Probe ICE Agent Who Killed Renee Good, Israel Kills Three Palestinians in Gaza, Violating U.S.-Brokered Ceasefire, U.K. Authorities Arrest 86 Protesters Demanding the Release of Palestine Action Prisoners, Venezuela Releases Dozens of Political Prisoners, Vaccine Panel Chair Says Polio and Measles Shots Should Be Optional, Marxist Scholar Michael Parenti Dies at 92
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Jan 23, 2026
Today marks the 50th anniversary of Paul Robeson's death on January 23, 1976. The actor, singer, athlete and scholar was once famous around the world, but he was attacked, blacklisted and hounded by the government for his political beliefs. Jackie Robinson, the Brooklyn Dodgers star who had integrated the all-white major baseball leagues, was hailed as a national hero in 1949 for testifying against Robeson before the House Un-American Activities Committee run by Senator Joseph McCarthy. For more, we speak with sports journalist Howard Bryant, author of the new book Kings and Pawns that looks at how Robeson and Robinson's paths intertwined at the height of the McCarthy era.
"History writes people out of the story, and it's our job to write them back in," Bryant says. Fifty years after Paul Robeson's death, "it's time for a reappraisal of one of the great Americans."
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Jan 23, 2026
Hundreds of businesses in Minnesota have closed for the day as part of an economic blackout to protest the surge of ICE agents into the state. Organizers of the strike include faith leaders and unions, who are encouraging people to stay home from work, school and shopping.
Kieran Knutson, president of the Communications Workers of America Local 7250, says the strike comes "after weeks of living under the heavy weight of this racist campaign of terror by ICE agents" in the Twin Cities area. "Nothing runs without the working class in this country, and today we're going to show our power."
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Jan 23, 2026
The Justice Department said Thursday that it had arrested three people in Minnesota who interrupted a church service in St. Paul to protest a pastor's role as a local ICE official. The activists involved in the protest now face charges under the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act, a law written to protect abortion clinics.
One of the arrestees, civil rights attorney Nekima Levy Armstrong, had her appearance digitally altered in a photo posted online by the White House to make it look like she was crying while handcuffed. Her attorney, Jordan Kushner, tells Democracy Now! that Justice Department officials refused to let Levy Armstrong turn herself in, instead demanding an arrest at the hotel where she was staying. "This was their trophy," says Kushner, who adds that the government "used more manipulative tactics to keep her in jail" even though "no one is detained in a case like this."
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Jan 23, 2026
As President Donald Trump formally inaugurated his so-called Board of Peace at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, on Thursday, his son-in-law Jared Kushner presented his vision of turning the Gaza Strip into an upscale seaside resort with gleaming skyscrapers and entirely new cities. The proposal is said to require an investment of at least $25 billion, and Kushner's presentation showed a map of the besieged territory divided into different zones. This all comes as Palestinians in Gaza struggle to survive with little food or shelter amid ongoing Israeli restrictions on aid.
"It's hard to take these people seriously. I mean, they're buffoonish. But the problem is, is that they control the largest military and economy in the world," says Sharif Abdel Kouddous, the Middle East and North Africa editor at Drop Site News. He calls the Board of Peace "a parody of a colonial body" and says the plan for Gaza will result in "ultimate control and subjugation" of the Palestinian population.
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Jan 23, 2026
Economic Blackout: Businesses Close for Day in Minnesota to Protest ICE Crackdown, Minnesota Activists Arrested for Anti-ICE Church Protest; White House Posts Doctored Photo, Outrage Grows over ICE Detaining 5-Year-Old Liam Ramos, Seven Democrats Back Spending Bill to Fund DHS & ICE, Israel Kills 4 in Gaza as Kushner Lays Out Plan for Turning Gaza into Seaside Resort, Russia, Ukraine & U.S. Negotiators Hold Trilateral Talks in Abu Dhabi, WSJ: U.S. Seeks Cuban Collaborators to Help Topple Government, Public Health Advocates Decry U.S. Leaving World Health Organization, Trump Orders Review of All Federal Funding Going to Democratic-Led States, Ex-Special Counsel Jack Smith: Not Holding Trump Accountable for Trying to Steal Election Could Be "Catastrophic", Larry Ellison's Oracle Part of New Deal to Own U.S. Version of TikTok, Filipino Radio Journalist Sentenced to Up to 18 Years in Prison
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Jan 22, 2026
Deadly anti-government protests continue to rock Iran in the midst of the country's spiraling economic crisis. Thousands of civilians are believed to have been shot dead by government forces in the past few weeks. Meanwhile, President Trump continues to threaten military intervention in addition to a harsh new set of economic sanctions that the U.S. introduced this week. Although a government-instituted communications blackout has made it difficult to assess exactly how many people have been killed, we sit down with Iranian author Sahar Delijani to discuss the "working-class uprising" against Iran's "capitalist regime." Delijani was born in Iran's notorious Evin Prison — where her leftist activist parents were detained in the 1980s — just a few years before her uncle was executed during the 1988 massacres of Iranian political prisoners. "This is part of a long struggle of Iranian people to oust this regime, against tyranny, against dictatorship, against an authoritarian, theocratic regime, a military state," she says. "This has been happening, partly due to sanctions, but also partly to this rampant corruption and mismanagement."
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Jan 22, 2026
Trump's deportation machine has touched down in Maine. As the state, home to a significant share of the Somali American community, faces a surge of ICE activity, we're joined by Safiya Khalid, the first-ever Somali American city councilmember for Lewiston, Maine's second-largest city. Lewiston's "streets are completely empty" as residents of all immigration statuses fear harassment and violence from unchecked federal agents. "If a white woman was shot in the face, none of us are safe," warns Khalid, referring to the recent killing of Renee Good by ICE in Minneapolis. She advises "people to stay home and do not leave your home."
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Jan 22, 2026
We speak to Greek economist Yanis Varoufakis about the United States under Donald Trump and its attempts to reshape the post-World War II international consensus. "Trump has all his work done for him by placid European centrists who went along with the policy of trashing international law and creating the circumstances for him to create his private company and say, 'Right, I'm taking over the world,'" laments Varoufakis as he draws a connection between Trump's pay-to-play diplomacy and the mercantalist policies of European colonial powers. Varoufakis comments on plans for the reoccupation of Gaza by the U.S.-led "Board of Peace," which signed its founding charter this week; Trump's designs on the Danish territory of Greenland; and European leaders' ineffectual, largely symbolic resistance to Trump's assertion of U.S. supremacy on the world stage.
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Jan 22, 2026
Trump Backs Down on Threats to Take Greenland — at Least for Now, Trump Launches Board of Peace; Critics Warn It Could Undermine U.N., Israel Kills Three Journalists in Gaza Working with Egyptian Humanitarian Group, ICE Claims Right to Forcibly Enter Homes Without Warrant: Leaked Memo, Federal Agents Detain 5-Year-Old Coming Home from Preschool in Minnesota, U.S. Moves to Deport 2 Men Who Witnessed Cuban Man Killed Inside ICE Facility in Texas, Trump Administration Launches New Immigration Crackdown Targeting Somali Communities in Maine, Supreme Court Appears to Oppose Trump Efforts to Fire Lisa Cook from Federal Reserve, House Committee Votes to Hold Bill & Hillary Clinton in Contempt in Epstein Probe, Uvalde Officer Acquitted in Trial over Response to 2022 School Shooting, Chile's Far Fight President-Elect Names Two Pinochet Lawyers to Cabinet
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Jan 21, 2026
The largest nurses' strike in New York City history has reached its 10th day, as negotiations stall. Nearly 15,000 New York City nurses are fighting for a contract that includes higher pay, a staffing increase to manage patients, improved benefits and workplace protections against violence. Senator Bernie Sanders and Mayor Zohran Mamdani joined the picket line at Mount Sinai West Tuesday with the New York State Nurses Association. "This is a fight for our patients," says Michelle Gonzalez, a nurse at Montefiore Medical Center in New York City, who notes one of the nurses' priorities in contract negotiations "is to have ICE officers not be allowed into our facilities."
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Jan 21, 2026
World leaders are gathered in Davos, Switzerland, site of the World Economic Forum — which has turned into an emergency summit over President Trump's threats to take over Greenland, a semiautonomous territory of Denmark. This comes as Oxfam International has released a report finding economic inequality creates "fertile ground for increased authoritarianism." Amitabh Behar, executive director of Oxfam International, says "the entire multilateral structure seems not just fragile, it's broken."
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Jan 21, 2026
We speak with activist, civil rights attorney and ordained minister Nekima Levy Armstrong about her role in a protest at a St. Paul church on Sunday, where one of the pastors, David Easterwood, also leads a local ICE field office in the Twin Cities area. "I believe that if someone professes to represent the Gospel of Jesus Christ and to preach it, that they should not be allowing ICE agents to drag people out of their homes," Levy Armstrong tells Democracy Now! She spoke from an undisclosed location after Trump officials vowed to investigate and possibly arrest the demonstrators.
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Jan 21, 2026
Federal Prosecutors Issue Subpoenas to Five Democratic Officials in Minnesota, "You'll Find Out": Trump Teases Takeover of Greenland, U.S. Seizes Another Venezuelan Oil Tanker in the Caribbean, Russian Attack on Kyiv Leaves Ukrainian Parliament Without Power, UAE and Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu Commit to Joining Trump's "Board of Peace" in Gaza, NYC Mayor Mamdani and Vermont Senator Sanders Join Striking Nurses, Trump Admin. Acknowledges DOGE Employees Accessed and Shared Social Security Data, Public Health Groups Sue CDC and RFK Jr. Over Vaccine Recommendations, Trump Pardons Florida Woman After Commuting Her Sentence During His First Term, Trump Asks Federal Judge to Block DOJ from Releasing Fmr. Special Counsel Jack Smith's Report, Fed Chairman Powell Set to Attend SCOTUS Oral Arguments on Trump's Attempts to Fire Fed Governor Cook, NYT Editorial Board: Trump Used Office to Make At Least $1.4 Billion, Bruce Springsteen Dedicates Performance of Song "Promised Land" to Renee Good
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Jan 20, 2026
Tensions are escalating between the United States and Europe after President Trump threatened to impose tariffs on eight European allies that oppose his push to take over Greenland, a semiautonomous territory of Denmark. Thousands took part in protests in Greenland and Denmark over the weekend to oppose Trump's annexation threats.
Julie Rademacher, chair of Uagut, an organization for Greenlanders in Denmark, tells Democracy Now! that Trump's rhetoric is a threat to everyone. "This is not only Greenland being attacked. This is democracy, freedom and the world order as we know it that's being attacked."
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Jan 20, 2026
One month after the deadline set by Congress for the Justice Department to release all files on the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, the Trump administration has made available less than 1% of the files. This comes as President Trump has dramatically expanded immigration operations in Minnesota while attacking Venezuela, threatening to bomb Iran and maintaining that the United States will annex Greenland.
Trump's campaign promised "that the files would be released, all of the files. Now, that's not happened," says legal expert Michele Goodwin, calling it a "travesty."
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Jan 20, 2026
Federal agents carrying out the Trump administration's sweeping immigration actions in Minnesota have been widely accused of using excessive force, arresting U.S. citizens, denying people access to legal counsel and other violations. Now President Trump has put 1,500 U.S. military troops on standby for possible deployment to Minnesota under the Insurrection Act, which would mark another major escalation in his attack on dissent.
"The federal government is not above the law," says legal expert Michele Goodwin, who says the administration's violent crackdown in Minnesota marks a "reversal" of how federal force was used during the civil rights movement to protect peaceful protest. "It's quite horrific."
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Jan 20, 2026
Democracy Now! producer John Hamilton reports from Minneapolis, where residents say ICE agents are violently targeting legal observers and community members as part of the Trump administration's crackdown on immigrants. Patty O'Keefe, who was arrested while monitoring ICE activity in her vehicle, said agents "broke our two front windows and dragged us out," then taunted her in custody. She said one agent told her, "You guys got to stop obstructing us. That's why that lesbian bitch is dead," referring to Renee Good, the mother of three shot dead earlier this month by an ICE agent.
Indigenous residents have also been detained. "Nobody is more American than the American Indian," Oglala Sioux attorney Chase Iron Eyes told Democracy Now!, adding ICE's actions against Native Americans are "a legal impossibility."
This comes as the Pentagon has placed 1,500 soldiers on standby for a possible deployment to Minnesota, just days after President Trump threatened to invoke the Insurrection Act. The Trump administration has also reportedly opened criminal investigations into Minnesota Governor Tim Walz and Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey, all while declining to investigate Good's killing.
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Jan 20, 2026
Trump Threatens to Impose Tariffs on 8 European Countries Opposing His Push to Take Over Greenland, Pentagon Prepares 1,500 Soldiers to Be Possibly Deployed to Minnesota, Trump Calls for Regime Change in Iran, Israeli Forces Start Demolishing UNRWA Headquarters, Trump Invites Putin, Xi and Netanyahu to Join Board of Peace to Oversee Gaza Ceasefire, U.N. Human Rights Chief Volker Türk Visits Sudan, Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni Reelected to a Seventh Term, At Least 19 People Killed in Chile Wildfires, Guatemala Declares State of Emergency After 10 Police Officers Killed, Hundreds Protest in Davos Ahead of Trump's Visit, WaPo: DOJ Looking to Weaken Gun Laws to Appeal to Second Amendment Supporters, Top Catholic Cardinals in the U.S. Issue Statement Denouncing U.S. Foreign Policy, Rev. Al Sharpton Denounces ICE Killing of Renee Good at MLK Day Rally, Coalition of Activist Groups Calls for a Nationwide Walkout to Protest Trump Admin
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Jan 19, 2026
Today is the federal holiday that honors Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. He was born January 15, 1929. He was assassinated April 4, 1968, at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee. He was just 39 years old. While Dr. King is primarily remembered as a civil rights leader, he also championed the cause of the poor and organized the Poor People's Campaign to address issues of economic justice. Dr. King was also a fierce critic of U.S. foreign policy and the Vietnam War. We play his "Beyond Vietnam" speech, which he delivered at New York City's Riverside Church on April 4, 1967, as well as his last speech, "I've Been to the Mountaintop," that he gave on April 3, 1968, the night before he was assassinated.
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Jan 16, 2026
All That's Left of You is a new feature film that looks at 70 years of Palestinian history through the lens of one family's experience over three generations. Democracy Now! speaks with Palestinian American director and actress Cherien Dabis, who says the film is about "looking for meaning in grief and choosing humanity even in the most difficult of circumstances, which Palestinians have done and do every single day."
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Jan 16, 2026
A federal appeals court on Thursday delivered the Trump administration a victory in its efforts to deport Palestinian activist Mahmoud Khalil, opening the door for his rearrest. Khalil was a graduate student at Columbia University when he was arrested in March and detained for months. He missed the birth of his son, Deen, while in detention. "The Trump administration is trying everything in its power to come after me, to put the full weight of the government to actually make an example out of me," Khalil tells Democracy Now! "The U.S. government has not brought a shred of evidence that I broke any laws."
The appeals court did not weigh in on the constitutional merits, instead saying Khalil should have appealed his removal order in immigration court before going to a federal judge. "What people need to understand is the immigration courts are not real courts," says Baher Azmy, a member of Khalil's legal team. "They're part of the executive branch."
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Jan 16, 2026
Following Minneapolis protests in response to the ICE killing of Renee Good, President Trump threatened to invoke the Insurrection Act Thursday, a move that would allow him to send military forces to the city. Trump's comments came after a second person was shot by ICE following a traffic stop. "Trump probably sees this as a civil war," says Baher Azmy, legal director for the Center for Constitutional Rights. "This, as we all know, is being leveraged as part of an autocratic power grab."
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