Federal judge who ordered no warrantless ICE arrests in Colorado asserts DOJ not complying
A federal judge in Colorado has questioned whether the Trump administration is complying with his order barring warrantless ICE arrests in the state, according to Colorado Public Radio. Senior U.S. District Judge R. Brooke Jackson, who was appointed by former President Barack Obama, said during a hearing Wednesday that the Department of Justice appeared to be falling short of his November injunction requiring flight-risk assessments and warrants before detaining people, CPR News reported. “These things shouldn’t be that difficult,” Jackson said, according to CPR. “The policy of [Immigration and Customs Enforcement] was a good policy and all they have to do is comply with their own policies, and we’re good,” he added. “But, for whatever reason, they insisted on not agreeing to that… and here we are sitting here today. I don’t get that.” JUDGE ORDERS MIGRANT DEPORTED IN ‘ERROR’ FREE FROM ICE CUSTODY WITH CRIMINAL CASE LOOMING Jackson issued the injunction on Nov. 25, 2025, in a class-action lawsuit brought by the ACLU of Colorado and partner legal groups, according to a press release from the organization. The lawsuit alleged ICE agents were making arrests without judicial warrants and without determining whether individuals were both unlawfully present and likely to flee before a warrant could be obtained. The case initially centered on four plaintiffs, including University of Utah student Caroline Dias Goncalves, who was brought to the United States from Brazil as a child, according to the ACLU. The organization said she was detained following a traffic stop and held for more than two weeks before being released. Under the order, ICE officers may not make warrantless arrests unless they have probable cause to believe a person is in violation of immigration law and likely to escape before a warrant can be secured. In granting relief, Jackson wrote that while ICE has authority to enforce immigration laws, “in carrying out these responsibilities, [ICE agents] must follow the law,” according to the ACLU. JUDGE BLOCKS ICE FROM MAKING WARRANTLESS ARRESTS IN DC WITHOUT FLIGHT-RISK PROOF During Wednesday’s hearing, ACLU attorneys argued that arrest records turned over to them show continuing violations of the injunction, CPR reported. “They are in fact detaining and arresting people before they call headquarters. The arrests are being effectuated without a warrant,” Tim Macdonald, legal director for the ACLU of Colorado, said, according to CPR. “All of the I-213s we submitted show ongoing violations of your order.” Macdonald added that the reports reviewed so far do not reflect documented flight-risk assessments or judicial warrants. “We are seeing uniform non-compliance,” he said, according to CPR. Assistant U.S. Attorney Brad Leneis acknowledged that some arrest forms did not fully reflect the requirements set out in the court’s order. “Looking at these I-213s, it doesn’t give the description of the arrest that is required by the court’s order,” Leneis said, according to CPR. However, Leneis told the judge the government has taken steps since December to implement new procedures and argued that compliance has improved. “We started with zero, we had a lot of things to get in place,” he said, according to CPR. “We think the numbers now are better than they were in December.”
Political stink: Maryland Gov. Wes Moore calls Trump’s sewage spill blame ‘absurd’
Democratic Gov. Wes Moore of Maryland says he didn’t seek a political scrap with President Donald Trump. “I don’t have any personal desire to go back and forth with the President of the United States. That’s not why I ran for office,” the Democratic governor of the solidly blue state emphasized in a Fox News Digital interview. But like it or not, that’s where Moore finds himself. Trump refused to invite Moore to a traditionally bipartisan dinner of all the nations’ governors later this week at the White House, saying Moore was “not worthy” of attending the event. DC MAYOR BOWSER DECLARES EMERGENCY OVER POTOMAC SEWAGE SPILL, ASKS FOR FEDERAL HELP And earlier this week, Trump heavily criticized Moore for a massive sewage spill in the Potomac River, blaming him and local leaders for “gross mismanagement.” The governor, a former U.S. Army officer, businessman and author, who, as a first-time candidate, overwhelmingly won election four years ago and is expected to cruise to a second term victory this year, is seen by pundits as a possible 2028 White House hopeful, even though he’s repeatedly said he’s not running for president. But Moore has not been as aggressive as other Democratic governors — such as California’s Gavin Newsom and Illinois JB Pritzker — in taking aim at Trump during his first year back in the White House. The governor said he “wanted to get away” from “these political games that we see in Washington, D.C.” TRUMP SLAMS MARYLAND GOVERNOR, LAUNCHES FEDERAL EFFORT TO PROTECT POTOMAC AFTER HISTORIC SEWAGE SPILL But Moore says it’s “absurd” that Trump is blaming him after a pipe bust on federal land resulted in an ecological disaster as hundreds of millions of gallons of sewage spilled into the Potomac River a few miles upstream from the nation’s capital. Trump, on Monday, took to social media to warn of a “massive Ecological Disaster” that he blamed on “Gross Mismanagement of Local Democrat Leaders, particularly, Governor Wes Moore, of Maryland.” A day later, the president argued that “Maryland, Virginia, and Washington, D.C., who are responsible for the massive sewage spill in the Potomac River, must get to work, IMMEDIATELY.” “If they can’t do the job, they have to call me and ask, politely, to get it fixed. The Federal Government is not at all involved with what has taken place, but we can fix it,” Trump added. And on Wednesday, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt highlighted that the “federal government wants to fix it,” and added “we hope that the local authorities will cooperate with us in doing so.” The sewage pipes are managed by D.C. Water, an independent utility based in the District of Columbia, which has made emergency repairs, but says it will take four to six weeks to completely fix what’s known as a broken interceptor. “This is a Washington, D.C., pipe on federal land. Maryland has nothing to do with this. In fact, the only thing Maryland did was when we saw a neighbor who was in need. That’s why I ordered people, our people to go support them, and that’s what we’ve been doing the past month,” Moore told Fox News Digital. And he argued, “We’ve been doing essentially the federal government’s job, because it’s the federal government’s job to be able to protect the Potomac interconnector, because that’s federal land.” JEFFRIES VOWS PRESSURE ON DEMOCRATIC MARYLAND SENATE PRESIDENT URGING AGAINST PARTY’S REDISTRICTING PUSH “For the president now to come and attack me on this, I find that to be … absurd,” Moore charged. Moore was interviewed a couple of hours after meeting with House Minority Leader Rep. Hakeem Jeffries in Annapolis as Democrats continue to push for mid-decade congressional redistricting to counter efforts by Trump and Republicans in other states to draw more right-leaning districts. Jeffries held a meeting with Maryland Senate President Bill Ferguson, a fellow Democrat, who is opposed to redrawing Maryland’s map in order to create another left-leaning congressional district. REDISTRICTING FIGHT ERUPTS AS MARYLAND DEMOCRATS MOVE TO REDRAW LONE GOP HOUSE SEAT Moore has led the push for redistricting in Maryland, and the effort has already passed through the state House. But Ferguson, to date, has declined to put the measure up for a vote in his chamber, saying that legal repercussions could cause the redistricting push in Maryland to backfire. And the meeting with Jeffries didn’t change his mind. The governor says his “ask” is “to simply vote.” “And as someone who fought for this country and someone who fought for democracy, I just believe in fighting for democracy, and I think that requires a vote, no matter how the vote turns out, it frankly, doesn’t matter, but just vote.” Republicans have blasted as “partisan gerrymandering” the move by Moore, which, if passed, could result in Rep. Andy Harris, the lone Republican in Maryland’s congressional delegation, losing his seat through redistricting. Asked if what he’s advocating is partisan gerrymandering, Moore said, “The reason we’re even having this conversation about mid-decade redistricting is it is because the president has introduced this, that the president when he first started calling Texas and then Florida and then Missouri and Ohio and North Carolina saying, ‘I want you all to look at the maps in the middle of a decade.’ I just don’t see how a real or responsible answer for anyone else to be well, that’s okay, just let them do it.” “We’re just asking for the Maryland Senate to just do your democratic duty and debate, discuss, make changes if necessary, but then vote,” the governor insisted.
Coast Guard caught as ‘collateral damage’ in Democrats’ DHS shutdown as China, Russia press US waters
EXCLUSIVE: Republican lawmakers tasked with oversight of the Coast Guard said the lone military branch not under Pentagon authority is being wrongly hurt by Democrats holding up funding for the Department of Homeland Security. Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., is demanding “three basic objectives” to come back to the table, according to CBS News: prohibiting ICE agents from certain properties, unmasking agents in public while mandating bodycams, and addressing use-of-force concerns. However, ICE and other immigration-related agencies within DHS remain funded through the One Big Beautiful Bill Act and other appropriations, leaving FEMA, the Merchant Marine, the Coast Guard and other agencies in the lurch, Republicans say. “Many young Coast Guard families and personnel live paycheck to paycheck. Asking them to continue protecting our waters without the stability they deserve places a real burden on the very people who keep Alaska safe,” said Rep. Mark Begich, R-Alaska, who serves on the House Transportation Subcommittee overseeing maritime and Coast Guard operations. NOEM RIPS DEMS FOR USING FAMILIES AS ‘POLITICAL WEAPONS’ AS DHS FUNDING FIGHT THREATENS LIFE BEYOND ICE “I have stood with the Coast Guard, and I will continue to stand with them.” Begich said the guard should never be treated as “collateral damage in Washington’s political fights.” Both he and fellow Last Frontier lawmaker Dan Sullivan told Fox News Digital the USCG is on the front lines of protecting America’s north from ongoing Chinese and Russian aggression. Sullivan warned of foreign military traffic near Alaska climbing sharply, a trend he says has gone largely unnoticed outside the region even as Moscow and Beijing coordinate more closely. “Let’s just say the world’s largest fleet of oceanographic survey ships wasn’t off the coast of Alaska to ‘save the whales,’” Sullivan told Fox News Digital in a recent interview. DEMOCRATS’ DHS SHUTDOWN HALTS ICE OVERSIGHT THEY DEMANDED Begich noted Alaska itself comprises half the nation’s entire coastline mileage and three-fifths of its seafood fisheries — both of which interests rely on the Coast Guard. Rep. Jimmy Patronis, R-Fla., represents that coastline on the other side of the country. Within Patronis’ district is NAS Pensacola, where he said the USCG has a presence. He, along with fellow Floridian and Coast Guard subcommittee member Brian Mast, lamented that servicemembers could soon go without pay as they participate in dangerous drug interdictions to protect the U.S. While the Pentagon’s strikes on drug boats make much of the news, Patronis said the Coast Guard’s role in interdictions is vital. “Those guys will be in an M-60 helicopter, they will track down the drug runner, they will then continue to fly over, flag them down, try to get them to stop before the drug runners feel like they will be able to outrun. Going almost 100 miles an hour … in a helicopter chase after the boat, they will literally shoot the motor out from a moving target and bring the vessel to a dead halt. And then the [USCG] vessels will come in and do the arrest,” he said. “The role the Coast Guard plays in the Gulf of America is huge. [The shutdown] is a gut punch to morale.” Patronis said Democrats are in a tough spot because they have a base that is “rabid” about ICE, quipping that the Tom Homan they are upset at is the same Tom Homan whom President Barack Obama presented the Presidential Medal of Freedom. “[Homan] is not a hardliner … he’s a doer, he’s a public servant and Trump recognizes that — so you know [the situation] has been de-escalated.” Schumer’s demand to unmask, he said, is a “non-starter” — given that agitators will continue to shield their own identities and use untoward means to disrupt operations. DHS SHUTDOWN LEAVES LOCAL EMERGENCY RESPONDERS ON THEIR OWN AMID EXTREME WEATHER, EXPERT WARNS Rep. Salud Carbajal of California, the top Democrat on that chamber’s panel, said that Republicans have the power to restore Coast Guard funding while they control all houses of government. “I urge the White House and Republican leaders to work across the aisle and support the common-sense guardrails the American people are demanding,” Carbajal said. “In the wake of the murders of Renee Nicole Good and Alex Pretti, the American people are rightfully concerned that ICE is operating with too little oversight. Democrats are united in calling for reasonable safeguards to protect communities.” Mast, whose district falls along the Atlantic coast near Port St. Lucie, said that he has Coast Guard servicemembers “up and down my district” and a USCG station about a mile from his house. “I think this is something that a lot of people aren’t thinking about. We just went through what was the longest government shutdown, and it left a lot of people reeling to include, of course, Coast Guardsmen-and-women.” Mast said the servicemembers in his district are finally catching up on mortgages and other payments from the October shutdown and are now “prepping for the exact same thing.” “A lot of people don’t realize it’s like them going from one [government] emergency to the next while they’re still expected to go out there and respond to emergencies.” Fox News Digital reached out to the House and Senate Democrats who serve as ranking members on the two relevant subcommittees for comment. Sen. Lisa Blunt Rochester, D-Del., the ranking member of the Senate Commerce Committee’s Coast Guard subcommittee, agreed that Coast Guard families “do not deserve to miss a paycheck.” But, she told Fox News Digital that DHS could easily reallocate funding to ensure servicemembers remain paid. “Instead, millions are being spent expanding ICE operations that sow fear in communities across the country,” she said. “We can and must guarantee that our Coast Guard members receive their pay on time. That is why I’ve supported bipartisan safeguards like the Pay Our Coast Guard Act, so Coast Guard families are fully accounted no matter what happens in Washington.” Blunt Rochester, whose state has a prominent coastline and fishery, said Congress needs to pass a
Federal judge holds DOJ attorney in contempt over ICE case
A Justice Department attorney has been ordered to pay a $500 daily fine after a federal judge found him in civil contempt of court. On Wednesday, Judge Laura Provinzino, who was appointed by former President Joe Biden, found Special Assistant U.S. Attorney Matthew Isihara in civil contempt, hitting him with a daily fine. The judge reportedly said that her goal was to ensure the government complies with her orders regarding Rigoberto Soto Jimenez, a detained Mexican immigrant living in Big Lake, Minn., KMSP-TV reported. Soto Jimenez has reportedly lived in the U.S. since 2018 and has no criminal history or final orders of removal, according to KMSP-TV. Additionally, the outlet noted that Soto Jimenez’s attorney stated that he is “years into the process of obtaining lawful immigration status.” TRUMP BORDER CZAR LEAVES DOOR OPEN TO ICE DEPLOYMENT IN OTHER SANCTUARY CITIES AS FEDS LEAVE MINNEAPOLIS Soto Jimenez was arrested by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) personnel on Jan. 14, and as of a Feb. 9 order, was not given “a warrant that justifies his detention,” according to the judge’s order. Soto Jimenez was also allegedly denied a bond hearing, something the judge demanded be held. Additionally, Provinzino ordered that Soto Jimenez be released from custody by 5:00 p.m. on Feb. 13. FEDERAL JUDGE RULES AGAINST DHS ON WARRANTLESS IMMIGRATION ARRESTS IN OREGON ICE met the release deadline, but let Soto Jimenez out of detention without any of his identification paperwork, according to KMSP-TV. This appeared to violate Provinzino’s Feb. 9 order, which said that the government was ordered to release Soto Jimenez “without imposing any conditions of release and to return all property to him.” Isihara reportedly admitted that Provinzino’s order had fallen “through the cracks,” according to KMSP-TV. The outlet noted that the attorney blamed a massive caseload and lack of staff to handle the civil litigation related to Operation Metro Surge. “I don’t think it is acceptable,” Ishihara told the court, according to KMSP-TV. “I believe the volume of work over the last few weeks has exceeded the capacity of any one AUSA [Assistant U.S. Attorney].” The daily fines will begin accruing on Thursday and will remain in place every day that Soto Jimenez does not have his identification, KMSP-TV reported. Fox News Digital reached out to the ICE, the Department of Homeland Security and the Justice Department for comment.
Epstein probe leader Comer says ‘no one is above the law’ after ex-Prince Andrew arrest
The senior lawmaker leading the U.S. House of Representatives investigation of Jeffrey Epstein is the latest high-profile official to sound off on the arrest of former British royal Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor. House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer, R-Ky., reiterated the need for accountability and lauded the Trump administration’s commitment to releasing its own information on Epstein. “There must be accountability for anyone who was involved in Jeffrey Epstein’s horrific crimes,” Comer told Fox News Digital. “The Justice Department’s transparency is ensuring that no one is above the law — even British royalty.” News first broke of the former Prince Andrew’s arrest on suspicion of misconduct in public office in the early hours of Thursday morning on the U.S. East Coast. LONDON POLICE LAUNCH CRIMINAL INVESTIGATION INTO FORMER UK AMBASSADOR TO US WITH ALLEGED EPSTEIN TIES It comes after a British police department said it was looking into a complaint that Andrew shared confidential information with Epstein, according to the BBC. While he has denied any wrongdoing in relation to Epstein, Andrew was one of the late pedophile’s most well-known associates through the years. Virginia Giuffre, one of Epstein’s earliest and most vocal accusers, alleged in a memoir that Andrew had sex with her when she was a minor. STARMER CALLS ON EX-PRINCE ANDREW TO TESTIFY BEFORE CONGRESS AFTER LATEST EPSTEIN RELEASE Giuffre died of suicide in April of last year. Epstein died of suicide in a Manhattan jail while awaiting trial in 2019. Rep. Nancy Mace, R-S.C., one of the earliest U.S. lawmakers to call for Andrew’s arrest in October 2025, told Fox News Digital, “If you’re watching a former prince get arrested today, remember: four Republicans refused to flinch, refused to fold, and forced the Epstein files into the light.” “Courage has consequences. So does corruption,” said Mace, also a House Oversight Committee member. EX-PRINCE ANDREW IGNORES US EPSTEIN PROBE REQUESTS AS EXPERTS WARN OF ‘GHASTLY’ OPTICS FOR ROYAL FAMILY She was one of four House Republicans who voted with Democrats to force a vote on mandating that the Department of Justice (DOJ) release all of its files related to Epstein’s case. The subsequent House vote was nearly unanimous, with just one GOP lawmaker voting against it. Meanwhile, Democrats on the House Oversight Committee sounded off with renewed calls for accountability for other alleged Epstein associates. Rep. Suhas Subramanyam, D-Va., said Andrew “appears repeatedly in the documents we have uncovered as having knowledge of Jeffrey Epstein’s crimes and is specifically named by victims as someone who engaged in wrongdoing.” “We hope today’s arrest will lead to answers and show that there will be accountability even if you hide, regardless of how rich and powerful you are,” he said in a statement. Rep. Pramila Jayapal, D-Wash., wrote on X, “This is exactly the kind of accountability we need from the Department of Justice. It’s time to bring the perpetrators to justice.”
HHS wipes out 36,000 pages of ‘regulatory dark matter’ in sweeping child welfare office purge
EXCLUSIVE: The Administration for Children and Families (ACF), an agency within the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) overseeing the well-being of children, eliminated thousands of pages of regulatory guidance that had been languishing on the books as far back as 1976, Fox News Digital learned. The Administration for Children and Families is a Health and Human Services agency charged with promoting the economic and social well-being of kids and their families via overseeing programs such as the Head Start school readiness program, child support enforcement, foster care and adoption services, and managing unaccompanied minors. The office rescinded 35,781 pages of guidance documents after an agencywide review found 74% of its “sub-regulatory footprint” was obsolete. The documents included technical bulletins, program instructions, action transmittals and dear colleague letters — letters from federal agencies or members of Congress that typically inform colleagues on new guidance or legislation — that had accumulated across the past 50 years. The Administration for Children and Families emphasized that the rescinded documents were not erased, but instead archived online along with a detailed list of current guidance documented on the Department of Health and Human Services’ website. DOGE ERA OVERHAUL: GSA TOUTS $60B IN SAVINGS AS TRUMP SHRINKS GOV’T FOOTPRINT: ‘RESULTS SPEAK FOR THEMSELVES’ The Administration for Children and Families was officially established in 1991, but its origins and work stretch back decades, inheriting programs and guidance from earlier Health and Human Services offices — including major initiatives that date to the mid-1970s. “President Trump’s regulatory reform agenda is unparalleled in U.S. history,” the Administration for Children and Families Assistant Secretary Alex J. Adams said in a statement to Fox News Digital. “ACF is proud to do our part to advance the President’s agenda by taking the first of many planned actions, namely removing 36,000 pages of obsolete sub-regulatory guidance that had quietly accumulated over decades and shining a brighter spotlight on what remains,” he added. “In essence, ACF has brought our regulatory dark matter to light.” SMALL BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION UNVEILS NEW INITIATIVE TO ROLL BACK FEDERAL REGULATIONS The rescinded guidance included program-specific documents such as a memo on filing the June 1999 Child and Family Services Plan and Final Report, 2005 avian flu guidance and a 2010 staffing-change notice for the now-defunct Division of Energy Assistance. The Administration for Children and Families directed its Office of Legislation and Budget to compile a comprehensive list of guidance documents considered active — a process that took three weeks just to catalog the files, the agency said. The inventory produced more than 4,000 documents totaling about 55,776 pages, dating back to 1976. TRUMP ADMINISTRATION BANS ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS FROM TAXPAYER-FUNDED SERVICES, INCLUDING HEAD START Each program office was required to justify whether the individual documents were still needed, and ordered to provide written rationale if guidance was deemed obsolete or necessary. Obsolete documents were considered ones that related to old funding cycles, guidance superseded by newer rules, duplicate statutes or documents related to programs that no longer list, Fox News Digital learned. The Administration for Children and Families said the goal of cleaning up the office with outdated guidance is to reduce confusion and allow grant recipients to focus resources on “delivering outcomes for American children and families,” rather than navigating tens of thousands of pages of outdated documentation. The move aligns with the Trump administration’s broader push to pare back regulations and cut what it calls bureaucratic red tape. The Federal Communications Commission, for example, took a hatchet to outdated policies in a sweeping deregulation effort in 2025, including doing away with outdated guidance on the use of telegraphs, rabbit-ear TV receivers and phone booth rules in July 2025.
Trump’s ‘no-nonsense’ DC crackdown tops 10k arrests as DOJ declares era of ‘unchecked violence is over’
EXCLUSIVE: President Donald Trump‘s Make D.C. Safe and Beautiful Task Force has made more than 10,000 arrests since it launched in August 2025, and recovered more than 1,000 illegal firearms from the streets of the nation’s capital, Fox News Digital has learned. “President Trump’s federal surge in Washington, D.C. has saved lives and helped restore our Nation’s beautiful capital city for all Americans to enjoy,” Attorney General Pamela Bondi said in a comment to Fox News Digital. “Thanks to the brave work of Gady Serralta’s Marshals, our other DOJ components, and our great federal partners, we have proven that tolerating crime is a policy choice — we choose public safety.” As of Thursday morning, the task force has carried out 10,018 arrests and recovered 1,036 illegal firearms, Fox News Digital has learned. Officials with the Metropolitan Police Department, as well as the National Guard and personnel from federal agencies such as the FBI, Drug Enforcement Administration, Capitol Police and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, have taken to the streets of D.C. to conduct sweeps and root out crime since August 2025 as part of Trump’s crackdown on rampant crime. TRUMP TASK FORCE RACKS UP 500 ARRESTS IN JANUARY AS PRESIDENT BRANDS CARTELS ‘ISIS OF THE WESTERN HEMISPHERE’ Trump signed the Making the District of Columbia Safe and Beautiful executive order in March 2025, which established a task force. U.S. Marshals Service Director Gadyaces S. Serralta leads the law enforcement partnership of the task force that brings together 3,100 personnel from 28 agencies to carry out the crime crackdown in the city. Trump took a hard line against a spate of high-profile attacks and killings that unfolded in the city earlier in 2025, which followed the District reeling from sky-high crime trends from the COVID-19 pandemic era, including a disturbing wave of young adults carrying out violent crimes such as armed carjackings. Now, crime has fallen as the administration champions Trump’s law and order crackdown. All in, murders in the district have fallen by 68% compared to the same time period in 2025, robberies by 47%, sexual abuse down by 64%, and violent crime across the board is down by 31%, according to data provided to Fox News Digital. The task force notably recovered or located 19 missing children amid the crackdown. The “era of unchecked violence is over,” U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro said in a statement to Fox News Digital. “President Trump’s decisive no-nonsense strategy to restore law and order, the federal surge of law enforcement resources, combined with aggressive prosecution of violent offenders, is delivering real, measurable results,” Pirro said. “I came here to fight street crime in the nation’s capital and since then homicides have fallen to historic lows, and violent crime has dropped dramatically. Those who prey on our communities are being arrested, prosecuted, and convicted.” TRUMP MAKES GOOD ON TROOP PULLOUT PROMISE, VOWS RETURN IF DEMOCRAT CITY CRIME WORSENS The task force’s arrests include 28 for homicide, 1,693 for narcotics, 874 for weapons offenses, 34 for sex offenses and arrests of 52 known gang members. Democrats, such as Maryland Rep. Jamie Raskin and Maryland Sen. Chris Van Hollen, blasted Trump’s August 2025 federalization of the D.C. police and the multiagency task force crackdown as an attack on D.C. self-governance. Van Hollen, for example, called it an “abuse of power” and a “raw power grab,” while Raskin argued it was part of a broader plan to “militarize and federalize” cities that voted against Trump. Among top arrests include nabbing a trio of teenagers who allegedly shot and killed 21-year-old congressional intern Eric Tarpinian-Jachym in June 2025. Tarpinian-Jachym was shot while walking near the D.C. Convention Center when he was hit by a bullet not intended for him, according to investigators. His shocking death served as a catalyst ahead of Trump’s crime crackdown. Another pair of teenagers, Laurence Cotton-Powell, 19, and Anthony Taylor, 18, were arrested in October 2025 for the alleged attempted carjacking, robbery and beating of a former Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) staffer in August 2025. TRUMP DEFENDS MINNEAPOLIS FEDERAL ENFORCEMENT, SAYS CRIME PLUNGED AFTER ‘THOUSANDS OF CRIMINALS’ REMOVED Task force leader Serralta said in a statement to Fox News Digital that the 10,000th arrest marks a “monumental achievement.” “By removing 1,000 illicit firearms from D.C. streets and making 10,000 arrests, we have achieved unprecedented results, not just for the Task Force, but for all the residents, commuters, students, and visitors to Washington, D.C.,” Serralta said. “But rest assured, our work is not done. Washington, D.C is the beating heart of our great Nation, and we will not stop until we fulfill President Trump’s promise to make its communities safe again.” Other arrests include the apprehension of Alvin Young, 47, who was charged with first-degree murder while armed following a fatal shooting in March 2022. There also was the December 2025 arrest of a man named Christopher Watts, who had a warrant out of Florida for cruelty toward a child, promoting sexual performance and solicitation of a child via computer, Fox News Digital learned. WHITE HOUSE SAYS MURDER RATE PLUMMETED TO LOWEST LEVEL SINCE 1900 UNDER TRUMP ADMINISTRATION Another man, Richard Brown, was arrested earlier in February for a lengthy list of alleged offenses, including possession of a machine gun, carrying a pistol without a license, possession of an unregistered firearm and ammunition, possession of a large-capacity feeding device, unauthorized use of a vehicle, two counts of receiving stolen property, unlawful entry of a vehicle, fleeing from a law enforcement officer in a vehicle and reckless driving, Fox News Digital learned. Brown fled task force members during a routine traffic stop, drove to Maryland while being pursued and jumped out of his car before he was ultimately nabbed by officials, according to details on the task force. Removing 1,000 guns from the violent offenders “is not symbolic, it is decisive action to restore law and order in our nation’s capital,” Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives Deputy Director Rob Cekada told Fox News Digital. “President Trump made it clear
DC Mayor Bowser declares emergency over Potomac sewage spill, asks for federal help
Washington, D.C., Mayor Muriel Bowser declared a disaster emergency over the Potomac sewage spill on Wednesday and requested federal assistance with the cleanup. The sewage spill has now become the largest in U.S. history, dumping over 240 million gallons of raw sewage into the Potomac River. President Donald Trump has already lashed out at Maryland Gov. Wes Moore for his handling of the spill, saying he is concerned the river winding around the nation’s capital will still stink when America250 celebrations kick off this summer. Bowser wrote a letter to Trump on Wednesday formally requesting that he issue an emergency disaster declaration, freeing up federal resources to help deal with the spill. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt emphasized Trump’s concerns in a press conference on Wednesday. Fox News’ Peter Doocy asked Leavitt if Trump is concerned the nation’s capital will “smell like poop.” TRUMP EPA SLASHES 12 YEARS OFF SEWAGE CLEANUP CRISIS THAT HAS ROCKED CALIFORNIA FOR DECADES “Yeah, he is worried about that,” Leavitt said. “Which is why the federal government wants to fix it. And we hope that the local authorities will cooperate with us in doing so.” Leavitt called on leaders in Maryland, Virginia and D.C. to “step forward and to ask the federal government for help and to ask for the Stafford Act to be implemented here so that the federal government can go and take control of this local infrastructure that has been abandoned and neglected by Gov. Moore in Maryland for far too long.” “It’s no secret that Maryland’s water and infrastructure have been in dire need of repair,” Leavitt said. “Their infrastructure has received a nearly failing grade in the 2025 report card from the American Society of Civil Engineers. This is the same grade they’ve received, five years earlier. There has been no improvement under the leadership of Gov. Moore. He’s clearly shown he’s incapable of fixing this problem, which is why President Trump and the federal government are standing by to step in.” TRUMP SAYS HE COULD SEND THE NATIONAL GUARD TO MARYLAND TO ADDRESS CRIME Moore’s office has pushed back on the administration’s rhetoric surrounding the leak, claiming the federal government has oversight over DC Water, the District’s water and sewer utility. “Since the last century, the federal government has been responsible for the Potomac Interceptor, which is the origin of the sewage leak. For the last four weeks, the Trump Administration has failed to act, shirking its responsibility and putting people’s health at risk,” a representative from Moore’s office said on Monday. “Notably, the president’s own EPA explicitly refused to participate in the major legislative hearing about the cleanup last Friday.” Leavitt continued Wednesday that environmentalists should “pray” that local jurisdictions call on Trump to step in and shore up infrastructure and carry out cleanup. “For all of the environmentalists in the room and across the District of Columbia, let’s all hope and pray that this governor does the right thing and ask President Trump to get involved, because it will be an ecological and environmental disaster if the federal government does not step in to help,” she said. “But of course, we need the state and local jurisdictions to make that formal request.”
RNC sues to stop Democrats’ Virginia redistricting push
The Republican National Committee (RNC) and two GOP members of Congress sued Virginia election officials Wednesday in an effort to block Democrats’ push to redraw the state’s congressional map, arguing a proposed constitutional amendment and upcoming special election violate Virginia’s Constitution. In a 48-page complaint filed in Tazewell County Circuit Court, the RNC, the National Republican Congressional Committee, and Reps. Ben Cline and Morgan Griffith of Virginia contend that legislation passed by the Democratic-controlled General Assembly would allow lawmakers to temporarily take over congressional redistricting from the state’s voter-approved independent commission. The lawsuit challenges House Bill 1384, which sets a special election on April 21 for voters to decide whether to amend the Virginia Constitution to allow the General Assembly to temporarily redraw the state’s congressional districts to “restore fairness in the upcoming elections.” Early voting for the special election is scheduled to begin March 6. LATINA HOUSE REPUBLICAN ASKS SUPREME COURT TO BLOCK DEMS’ BID TO ‘RACIALLY GERRYMANDER’ HER OUT OF CONGRESS The plaintiffs argue the measure was not properly adopted by two separate General Assemblies with an “intervening election,” as required under Article XII of the Virginia Constitution. The Republicans also allege the ballot language is misleading and that holding the special election less than 90 days after the amendment’s final passage violates constitutional timing requirements. MIDTERM ELECTIONS: GOP REDISTRICTING SETBACKS PROMPT LAWSUITS, GERRYMANDERING ACCUSATIONS The suit asks the court to block state officials from conducting the special election, transmitting ballots, or submitting the proposed amendment to voters, on the grounds that it fails to comply with the state constitution’s amendment process. Virginia Democrats’ redistricting push comes as other blue states have pursued mid-decade map changes in response to Republican-led states, including Texas, ahead of the 2026 midterms. PARTY OF ‘CRAZIES’: DEMS COMPLY WITH OUTRAGEOUS REDISTRICTING STUNTS DUE TO PRIMARY THREATS, STATE REP SAYS California voters approved Proposition 50 in November, a measure that could give Democrats the opportunity to gain up to five additional U.S. House seats, according to the Public Policy Institute of California.
How ICE went from post-9/11 counterterror agency to center of the immigration fight
As Democrats continue to withhold funding for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), former agency leaders argue their demands for new guardrails would mark the most direct congressional intervention in the agency’s operations — a turn for a post-9/11 agency that has largely defined its own operations. John Sandweg, a former acting director of Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and a former general counsel for DHS, said Congress has occasionally given ICE instruction but stayed away from managing its operations. “There had been some congressional mandates, some of them through appropriations, some through authorizing statutes that compelled the creation of this system,” Sandweg said. Sarah Saldaña, former director of ICE from 2014 to 2017, believes it’s unusual for Congress to get into the weeds of how any agency carries out its mission. FETTERMAN BUCKS DEMOCRATS, SAYS PARTY PUT POLITICS OVER COUNTRY IN DHS SHUTDOWN STANDOFF “Congress has a legitimate role in oversight in the expenditure of any taxpayer funds, including ICE’s expenditure, whether it’s proper or not. It has nothing to do with dictating specific operations or tactics,” Saldaña said, while noting she’s not surprised by the attention the agency’s recent tactics have received from lawmakers. “But Congress doesn’t operate anything. They pass statutes.” ICE’s operational autonomy has led to its enforcement looking different through the years since its founding in 2003. Especially at its outset, this allowed the agency to wander from its focus, according to Sandweg. But it’s also that flexibility that he believes has allowed President Donald Trump to aggressively push its immigration enforcement operations. In response to Trump’s ICE crackdown and two deadly encounters between immigration enforcement and civilians, Democratic demands include an end to roving patrols, a ban on mask use and visible identification for agents. Democrats say they won’t vote to fund DHS, which includes ICE, until those changes are made. DHS funding lapsed at the end of last week. ICE originally stemmed from the Homeland Security Act of 2002 — the bill that created DHS in response to the Sept. 11 terror attacks. Although the agency and its operations were new, the laws ICE was tasked with enforcing had been on the books long before that. “We’re statutory,” Saldaña said. “We were created after Sept. 11 as a part of all that confusion with respect to intelligence regarding the visa overstays that ended up blowing up the World Trade Center.” That law charged DHS with assuming many of the country’s existing immigration functions: the Border Patrol program, detention and removal, intelligence, investigations and inspections. But it also came without any operational framework and didn’t even mention ICE by name. DHS FUNDING BILL FAILS AFTER SCHUMER REJECTS TRUMP’S ICE REFORM OFFER In 2004 spending legislation, lawmakers gave the agency $2.1 billion in funding along with its first congressional directives. ICE was told to set aside $100,000 for public awareness of a child pornography tipline, $500,000 for reimbursing other federal agencies and their work on recovering smuggled illegal aliens, $3 million for enforcing laws against child labor and a handful of other instructions. Jessica Vaughan, director of policy studies at the Center for Immigration Studies, a conservative immigration policy group, explained that ICE officials back then wanted to stay clear of immigration enforcement. “They wanted to devote resources to child sex trafficking and counterfeit goods and gangs and things like that while not doing routine immigration enforcement,” Vaughan said. “The ex-customs people in charge, they were like, ‘Yeah, we’re not doing this immigration stuff anymore.’ They wanted to do stuff that was not as politically sensitive,” she said. Sandweg agreed and described the culture as a kind of internal conflict that stretched into the Obama years. “It was a bit of a culture war, right?” Sandweg said. “Is it going to be more of this immigration-focused stuff, looking at worksite enforcement and employers who might be cheating? Or is it gonna be more investigating banks for not having adequate money laundering controls and things like that?” “That second culture took over, the customs culture,” Sandweg recalled. However, Saldaña disagrees that the agency really ever had another focus other than immigration enforcement. “There’s always been a clear mandate,” Saldaña said. “Now, every administration has its own enforcement priorities, which it’s entitled to do. And so there will be memos, executive orders, et cetera, et cetera to shape the mission,” she added. But it was a frustration with ICE’s operations that eventually got Congress a little more involved. SHUTDOWN CLOCK TICKS AS SCHUMER, DEMOCRATS DIG IN ON DHS FUNDING DEMANDS Frustrated with the lack of enforcement, lawmakers began filling in some of the blanks of what they wanted to see. In 2009, for instance, Congress passed a mandate that ICE had to accommodate no fewer than 34,000 beds for detainees when lawmakers grew concerned the agency was releasing too many people. In Vaughan’s view, the agency has only recently been asked to flex its muscles to pursue its original goal. “There has never been a president before Donald Trump who openly valued the immigration enforcement mission as much as he does,” Vaughan said. “There’s no question that ICE has been allowed to do its job the way Congress wrote the laws for them to be able to do it. And they have not had that kind of support and backing before.” For now, portions of DHS remain unfunded as lawmakers wrestle over the 10 Democratic demands. ICE itself, which received $75 billion in funding when Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act was signed into law in July, is continuing operations in the midst of the government shutdown.