NationalWatch

The Senate is again on the verge of entering into another government shutdown as Democrats rage over the fatal shooting of Alex Pretti during an immigration enforcement operation in Minnesota.

But despite Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and Senate Democrats’ demands to sideline the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) funding bill, the agency’s immigration enforcement apparatus is flush with cash thanks to Republicans’ efforts last year with President Donald Trump’s “one big, beautiful bill.” 

Still, there are other vital government functions under the DHS umbrella that, should a partial government shutdown happen come Friday, would suffer.

THUNE STEAMROLLS DEMS’ DHS REVOLT AS FETTERMAN DEFECTS, SCHUMER UNDER PRESSURE

Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin told Fox News in a statement that while Schumer and Senate Democrats “play games with Americans’ safety, they are blocking vital DHS funding that keeps our country secure and its people safe.”

The department, created in 2003 after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, has jurisdiction over a broad range of agencies, including the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), the Transportation Security Administration (TSA), the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), the U.S. Coast Guard, and the Secret Service.

That means those offices would likely be impacted by a partial government shutdown come next month.

“This funding supports national security and critical national emergency operations, including FEMA responses to a historic snowstorm that is affecting 250 million Americans,” McLaughlin said. “Washington may stall, but the safety of the American people will not wait.”

The current DHS funding bill, which is snarled in a political duel between Schumer and Senate Republicans, would provide $64 billion for the agency. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) would receive $10 billion of that. 

The largest allocation would go to FEMA at $32 billion, then TSA at $11.6 billion, and CISA at $2.6 billion. 

GOP SENATOR DEMANDS DHS IMMIGRATION CHIEFS TESTIFY AFTER FATAL SHOOTINGS IN MINNESOTA

Even if the government shuts down, immigration operations would likely be untouched.

DHS received billions as part of Trump’s marquee legislation, a move to meet his and Republicans’ desire last year to turbocharge border security and immigration operations on the heels of former President Joe Biden’s term. 

In total, the “big, beautiful bill,” added over $170 billion to DHS’ coffers. 

Notably, ICE received a total of $75 billion, split into two pots: $45 billion for detention expansion and roughly $29 billion for immigration enforcement operations.

The detention funding is set to last through FY 2029, effectively giving the agency about $10 billion per year — their average base budget — without the need for congressional approval during that period. 

Schumer and Senate Democrats contend that they want to continue negotiations on the DHS bill and strip it from a broader six-bill funding package, called a “minibus.” Doing so would almost certainly guarantee a government shutdown, given that any changes would have to go back to the House. 

“If Leader Thune puts those five bills on the floor this week, we can pass them right away,” Schumer said. “If not, Republicans will again be responsible for another government shutdown.”

WHITE HOUSE NOT BUDGING ON DEMOCRATS’ DEMANDS AS DHS FUNDING MUTINY THREATENS GOVERNMENT SHUTDOWN

Still, it would complicate matters for the remaining agencies under DHS’ purview, and create a déjà vu scenario akin to the last government shutdown, which barreled onward for 43 days. 

The shutdown saw TSA agents go unpaid for weeks — spurring massive travel delays across the country as both they and air traffic controllers were forced to call out of work and take on second jobs to make ends meet, or otherwise work without pay.

Notably, air traffic controllers would be similarly affected this time around as well. Funding for the Department of Transportation is included in the larger minibus the Senate is expected to consider this week.

The threat of missed paychecks for the U.S. Coast Guard — along with other members of the Armed Forces, because the defense funding bill is included in the minibus as well — would also rear its ugly head and become a political quagmire for lawmakers once again.

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Cuts to FEMA could also impact its ability to help everyday Americans during natural disasters, with the agency’s Disaster Relief Fund (DRF) in danger of running dry without more congressionally approved funding. A program that helps Americans in flood-prone areas secure home insurance would similarly be imperiled.

Sen. Katie Britt, R-Ala., played a vital role in ending the last shutdown, and as chair of the Senate Homeland Security Appropriations Committee, will again act as a key negotiator in averting another closure.

She noted that DHS goes beyond just immigration operations, and reminded Senate Democrats of the cost of the last shutdown. 

“We know from recent history that government shutdowns do not help anyone and are not in the best interest of the American people,” Britt said in a statement. “As we approach a government funding deadline, I remain committed to finding a pathway forward.”

The Trump administration’s quick about-face, pitching 401(k) retirement plans as a path to homeownership, was never likely to work because it ignores the deeper forces driving the housing crunch, some economists are now arguing.

Experts pointed to two key factors doing the most damage: restrictive zoning and regulatory policies that have choked supply, pushing home prices out of reach. Restrictive zoning controls what gets built; regulatory policies determine how hard it is to make it happen.

Ben Harris, vice president and director of economic studies at the Brookings Institution, said policies that don’t directly increase housing supply are unlikely to lower prices.

“Anything that doesn’t answer the question, ‘Are we going to have more homes at the end of this?’ is going to be an insufficient response,” Harris told Fox News Digital.

HASSETT REVEALS TRUMP HOUSING PLAN WOULD LET AMERICANS TAP 401(K)S FOR DOWN PAYMENTS

Harris noted that while cities in the South, for example, once saw rapid homebuilding — including places like Houston, metro areas in Florida and Phoenix — new construction has slowed sharply in recent years, contributing to rising prices.

That resistance to new construction, experts say, is why restrictive zoning and regulatory barriers sit at the top of the list of forces driving America’s housing crisis.

“There are just many, many ways to halt and stop development,” explained Joseph Gyourko, a professor of real estate and finance at the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania.

“And we’ve gotten very, very good at it in the United States.”

Jim Tobin, president and CEO of the National Association of Home Builders, added that the cost of regulations alone plays a massive role in housing affordability.

Tobin explained that roughly $94,000 of the cost of a new, single-family home is inflated by regulations at “all three levels of local, state and federal government.”

He added that some local governments intentionally restrict growth, adding time, uncertainty and cost to the process. 

THE PRICE OF BUILDING A HOME KEEPS CLIMBING — AND UNCERTAINTY ISN’T HELPING

“Time is money in real estate,” he said. “You own the land, you’re paying taxes and, while you wait for local approvals, costs keep rising. Then many communities require developers to install sewer, water, roads and electrical infrastructure and all of that gets folded into the final price of the home.”

Those mounting costs on builders, economists say, ultimately get passed on to buyers, pricing many out of the market.

California offers one of the clearest examples of how those pressures play out, where strict zoning and environmental review laws have severely limited new construction.

TRUMP’S 50-YEAR MORTGAGE MAY BURDEN AMERICANS WITH MORE DEBT, EXPERTS SAY

Wayne Winegarden, a senior fellow in business and economics at the Pacific Research Institute, told Fox News Digital that the state’s regulatory framework has created an enormous housing shortfall.

In practical terms, economists say that when housing construction fails to keep pace with population growth and demand, buyers end up competing for a limited number of homes, driving prices higher.

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Winegarden said that California’s strict zoning laws make it more difficult to build homes, like the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA), a five-decade-old law that requires builders to “look before they leap,” according to Gov. Gavin Newsom’s Office of Land Use and Climate Innovation. 

The framework requires environmental reviews that can significantly delay development and raise costs.

“And we have what is a million-home shortage, something just astronomical like that,” Winegarden said. “That’s just basic economics. When supply is inadequate to demand, prices go up. And now the median home price in California is roughly twice the median in the United States.”

Conservative immigration experts were split on whether President Donald Trump was “backing down” after Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz said the president told him he was considering reducing the number of federal agents in Minnesota after they went into the state to enforce immigration law. 

In addition to reported plans to retreat from Minnesota, the top Border Patrol official leading deportation operations around the country, including in Minnesota, will be reassigned back to his former duties as chief of Border Patrol in the El Centro, California sector as of currently, Fox News’ Bill Melugin reported.

“If the Trump Administration accedes to Minnesota’s unreasonable, unlawful demands, it will have surrendered the rule of law to thugs and brigands. Lawlessness is a choice, and it’s not a choice that the Trump administration should make, or support in any way,” Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR) Executive Director Dale Wilcox told Fox News Digital. 

“FAIR believes that Congress charged ICE with enforcing the immigration laws of the United States. And that is exactly what ICE should do. The Supreme Court has opined that the power to enforce immigration law belongs exclusively to the federal government. The mere fact that irresponsible state and local leaders in Minnesota have mistakenly led their citizens to believe that they are free to interfere with federal government operations, and have thereby incited civil unrest, is not a valid reason to keep ICE from doing its job.”

BORDER PATROL COMMANDER GREGORY BOVINO TO LEAVE MINNESOTA, AS TOM HOMAN TAKES OVER

But, Executive Director at the Center for Immigration Studies Mark Krikorian clapped back at the idea that Trump was “backing down.”  

“I didn’t think that’s what Trump is saying – rather, based on his Truth Social post, he was saying ICE won’t have to do at-large arrests if Minnesota changes its sanctuary policies and allows ICE into the jails and prisons to take custody of illegals once the locals have finished with them,” Krikorian told Fox News Digital. “That’s not ending enforcement – that’s returning enforcement to the ways it’s always been done and the way it’s being done even now in non-sanctuary jurisdictions.”

On Monday, President Trump said that “Tim Walz called [him] with the request to work together,” calling it a “very good call” in a post on his platform Truth social.

“I told Governor Walz that I would have Tom Homan call him, and that what we are looking for are any and all Criminals that they have in their possession. The Governor, very respectfully, understood that, and I will be speaking to him in the near future. He was happy that Tom Homan was going to Minnesota, and so am I!” Trump continued in his post, writing, “We have had such tremendous SUCCESS in Washington, D.C., Memphis, Tennessee, and New Orleans, Louisiana, and virtually every other place that we have ‘touched’ and, even in Minnesota, Crime is way down, but both Governor Walz and I want to make it better!”

Walz subsequently indicated that President Trump had agreed during the call to consider pulling out some federal agents from Minnesota, so long as Minnesota leaders follow federal immigration detainers and ensure criminal illegal aliens in state custody are transferred to federal officials. Trump’s reported consideration to pull ICE officials out of Minnesota comes after Walz and Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey used harsh language, and sometimes expletives, to tell ICE to “get the f— out” of their city and state.     

ANIT-ICE MOBS BANKROLLED BY ‘SHADOWY INTERESTS’ PUTTING LAW ENFORCEMENT IN DANGER, CEO WARNS

Minnesota’s leaders, in particular those at the state’s Department of Corrections, have been going back-and-forth with the Trump administration over whether it adheres to federal immigration detainers for illegal immigrants caught by police committing crimes. The Trump administration has claimed Minnesota officials’ do not adhere to federal immigration detainers, leading to illegal alien criminals being released back onto the streets, but the state’s Department of Corrections has challenged that assertion, arguing it does adhere to ICE detainers.

Fox News Digital reached out to Homeland Security for comment about concerns the Trump administration was “backing down” and was referred to the White House. 

“The Trump Administration remains committed to removing the worst of the worst from American streets – including in Minnesota – and President Trump wants to work with local leaders to get public safety threats out of their communities,” White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson told Fox News Digital. “Democrat leaders must stop inflaming tensions and providing sanctuary to dangerous criminal illegal aliens. The Trump Administration will always enforce the law and do what’s best for the American people.” 

Numerous congressional lawmakers on both sides of the aisle were also contacted, asking whether they thought Trump’s potential decision to pull federal agents from Minnesota was “backing down” and whether it might embolden the left in other cities, but none returned comment in time for publication.

“If I were President Trump, I would almost think about, OK, if the mayor and governor are going put our ICE officials in harm’s way and there’s a chance of losing more innocent lives, or whatever, then maybe go to another city and let the people of Minneapolis decide: Do we want to continue to have all of these illegals?” Rep. James Comer, R- Ky., said on Sunday.

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Amid news of federal agents potentially pulling out of Minnesota, questions began swirling about the status of top Border Patrol official Gregory Bovion, who was tapped by the Trump administration to lead Border Patrol’s large-scale operations like the one occurring in Minnesota.

“Chief Gregory Bovino has NOT been relieved of his duties. As press secretary Leavitt stated from the White House podium, Gregory Bovino is a key part of the President’s team and a great American,” Assistant DHS Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said Monday.

But multiple federal sources confirmed to Fox News’ Bil Melugin that Bovino’s position called “Commander of at large operations” has now ended for him. He will now return to his prior duties leading border security efforts in California’s El Centro sector. 

Trump’s border czar, Tom Homan, will be traveling to Minnesota soon to continue the border security efforts there in place of Bovino.

Fox News’ Bill Melugin contributed to this report.

A federal judge in Oregon ruled against a Trump administration request to view the state’s unredacted voter rolls on Monday.

Judge Mustafa Kasubhai said he plans to dismiss the Justice Department lawsuit and will file a final written opinion in the coming days. Oregon Attorney General Dan Rayfield hailed Monday’s ruling, arguing the DOJ was seeking a “backdoor” to grab Oregon residents’ personal information.

“The court dismissed this case because the federal government never met the legal standard to get these records in the first place,” Rayfield told NBC News in a statement. “Oregonians deserve to know that voting laws can’t be used as a backdoor to grab their personal information.”

President Donald Trump‘s administration has filed lawsuits seeking voter registration data in at least 23 states. The lawsuits request access to names, dates of birth, residential addresses, driver’s license numbers and partial Social Security numbers.

OREGON ELECTION SYSTEM FACES SCRUTINY AS STATE MOVES TO ADDRESS 800,000 INACTIVE VOTERS: ‘ASTOUNDING’

Attorney General Pam Bondi sent a letter to Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz this weekend laying out steps to quell unrest in the state, with turning over voter data being listed among them.

“You and your office must restore the rule of law, support ICE officers, and bring an end to the chaos in Minnesota,” Bondi wrote. “Fortunately, there are common sense solutions to these problems that I hope we can accomplish together.”

One of Bondi’s requests was that Minnesota state officials give the DOJ Civil Rights Division access to voter registration lists. Basic voter registration lists, also known as voter rolls, are typically publicly accessible, but the DOJ has demanded from Minnesota and many other states a wealth of sensitive data associated with the voter rolls that Minnesota has resisted giving up.

FBI DIRECTOR PATEL WARNS ELECTED OFFICIALS ‘NO ONE’ IS EXEMPT FROM FEDERAL SCRUTINY AMID MINNESOTA PROBE

Democrats framed her letter as a nefarious bargain designed to affect the battleground state’s elections.

“‘ICE will leave Minnesota if you hand over your voter rolls’ tells you everything you need to know.… It was always about rigging elections,” Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., wrote on X.

Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., misstated on X that Bondi’s letter said ICE would “leave if the state turns over its voter database to Trump.”

Murphy said the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown in Minnesota was a “pretext for Trump to take over elections in swing states.”

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In a federal court hearing Monday over ICE’s broader operations, Lindsey Middlecamp, a lawyer for Minnesota, argued to a judge that Bondi’s letter sounded like a coercive “ransom note.”

Fox News’ Ashley Oliver contributed to this report.

Democratic Rep. Ilhan Omar of Minnesota accused President Donald Trump of “deflecting” after he took aim at her in a Truth Social post on Monday.

In part of his post, Trump said, “the DOJ and Congress are looking at ‘Congresswoman’ Illhan Omar, who left Somalia with NOTHING, and is now reportedly worth more than 44 Million Dollars. Time will tell all.”

The left-wing lawmaker fired back in a post on X.

ONE YEAR, ONE CHART AND AN EYE-POPPING JUMP IN ILHAN OMAR’S PERSONAL WEALTH

“Sorry, Trump, your support is collapsing and you’re panicking. Right on cue, you’re deflecting from your failures with lies and conspiracy theories about me. Years of ‘investigations’ have found nothing. Get your goons out of Minnesota,” she wrote.

Before mentioning Omar in the Monday Truth Social post, Trump had also noted, “I am sending Tom Homan to Minnesota tonight. He has not been involved in that area, but knows and likes many of the people there. Tom is tough but fair, and will report directly to me. Separately, a major investigation is going on with respect to the massive 20 Billion Dollar, Plus, Welfare Fraud that has taken place in Minnesota, and is at least partially responsible for the violent organized protests going on in the streets.”

Omar advocates abolishing U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

MEET THE LONGTIME BIZ PARTNER OF ILHAN OMAR’S HUSBAND AS QUESTIONS SWIRL OVER HER SKYROCKETING NET WORTH

“ICE is beyond reform. Abolish it,” she declared in part of a Sunday post on X.

In a January 18 Truth Social post, Trump said that Omar should either be jailed or sent back to Somalia.

“There is 19 Billion Dollars in Minnesota Somalia Fraud. Fake ‘Congresswoman’ Illhan Omar, a constant complainer who hates the USA, knows everything there is to know. She should be in jail, or even a worse punishment, sent back to Somalia, considered one of the absolutely worst countries in the World. She could help to MAKE SOMALIA GREAT AGAIN!” the president declared in the post.

TRUMP CALLS FOR INVESTIGATION INTO ILHAN OMAR’S WEALTH, SAYS IT SHOULD START ‘NOW’

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Omar, who has served in the House of Representatives since early 2019, was born in Somalia and became a U.S. citizen in 2000.

Venezuelan dictator Nicolás Maduro’s regime was crucial to propping up America’s closest Communist neighbor, Cuba, for many years — but with the despot now in a New York prison, U.S. lawmakers and analysts are turning their attention to Mexico, a top U.S. ally and trading partner that has quietly taken Venezuela’s place.

As of January, Mexico reportedly accounted for 13,000 barrels per day or 44% of Cuba’s 2025 oil imports, the top factor keeping what some lawmakers describe as a teetering economy barely afloat. With renewed trade talks approaching in July, Republican lawmakers and conservative analysts are calling for increased pressure on Mexico to cut off Cuba’s oil lifeline. 

The Trump administration is also weighing instituting a maritime blockade on oil imports to Cuba, according to Politico. The outlet noted that the move would be an escalation of its previously-stated plan to cut off imports from Venezuela, where Maduro’s former Vice President Delcy Rodríguez is now acting president. Such a blockade could spur crisis in the country, and lead to the economic collapse of the Castro/Diaz-Canel regime for which much of the U.S. diaspora has long hoped.

“The Cuban government was, even before this action with Maduro, probably at the weakest point that the regime has been in the last 65 years,” said Rep. Carlos Gimenez, R-Fla., the only Cuban-born member of Congress.

AS TRUMP URGES DEAL, CUBAN PRESIDENT WARNS THAT THE COUNTRY WILL DEFEND ITSELF ‘TO THE LAST DROP OF BLOOD’

“This just makes them weaker. My one concern is that it appears that Mexico is now trying to prop them up. And so, the oil that they were receiving from Venezuela is now being supplanted by oil being received by Mexico.”

The Florida Republican said Mexico is in such a position in part because it is “governed by a Marxist,” casting criticism of socialist-party-aligned President Claudia Sheinbaum.

“The oil that they were receiving from Venezuela is now being supplanted by oil being received by Mexico,” he said.

“It doesn’t matter that [the Miguel Diaz-Canel] regime [in Cuba] has been suppressing and oppressing its people for 65 years, as long as they have the right ideology.”

MARCO RUBIO EMERGES AS KEY TRUMP POWER PLAYER AFTER VENEZUELA OPERATION

Gimenez said that Congress could use upcoming intracontinental trade talks over the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) to pressure Sheinbaum to stop supporting the dictatorship just 90 miles from Fort Zachary Taylor, at the southern tip of his district.

Cuba is already experiencing rolling blackouts, inability to feed its people, medical shortages and a nosedive in tourism due to those developments, he said.

“Would it be okay for us to kind of nudge them over the edge? I don’t know a problem with that,” he quipped.

SENATE REPUBLICAN PREDICTS THE FALL OF THE CUBAN REGIME

Andres Martinez-Fernandez, a Latin America and national security policy analyst who leads the Heritage Foundation’s research on the region, told Fox News Digital that U.S. tolerance for Mexico’s new position may not last.

“It’s a major issue,” he said, adding the Mexico-Cuba relationship got to “worrying levels” under Sheinbaum’s predecessor and now involves a Cuban medical program he called “forced slavery for revenue” involving Cuban doctors arriving in Mexico and sending remittances home – much of which can get funneled to the regime.

If Mexico City wants to continue aiding Havana, it had better prepare for “severe pushback,” he said, similarly citing the USMCA negotiations that Gimenez mentioned.

CUBA’S PRESIDENT DEFIANT, SAYS NO NEGOTIATIONS SCHEDULED AS TRUMP MOVES TO CHOKE OFF OIL LIFELINE

Those aspects, along with President Donald Trump’s discontent with Sheinbaum’s resistance to U.S. action against cartels could come to a head, he suggested, calling Mexico’s attitude “mendacious and duplicitous.”

“It says nothing good if they decide, to maintain this overt support for the Cuban regime as we continue to see this inadequate action on the cartel front.”

Trump declared earlier this month that there will be “no more oil or money going to Cuba – Zero” and the Department of War has been seizing sanctioned “shadow-fleet” oil tankers.

A White House official said Cuba is failing of its own volition and that its rulers suffered a major setback in losing support from the ousted Maduro regime. Trump believes Cuba should make a deal “before it is too late.”

Meanwhile, the aforementioned USMCA talks are scheduled to take place in July, when the trilateral trade deal undergoes a scheduled review.

The U.S. is likely to seek additional concessions from Mexico and Canada amid trade disputes, the Center for Strategic and International Studies predicted last year, with the interceding Mexico-Cuba development likely to further invigorate such demands.

VENEZUELA’S ACTING LEADER WAS ONCE A DEA ‘PRIORITY TARGET’: REPORT

The Sheinbaum administration, which did not respond to a request for comment, has reportedly painted its shipments as “humanitarian aid” for the Cuban people.

If Mexico continues oil shipments, it may lead to additionally tense relations between the U.S. and its southern neighbor, already frayed by Trump’s disdain for Sheinbaum’s steadfast refusal to allow American intercession against drug cartels.

If the shipments slacken, that may portend well for the aforementioned upcoming trade negotiations.

As for Cuba, many pro-democracy voices, particularly among the South Florida diaspora hope the 66-year Castro/Diaz-Canel regime is not long for this world.

Martinez-Fernandez added the regime is likely facing one of the most difficult moments in its history; Mexico’s role aside.

RUBIO LAYS OUT THREE-PHASE PLAN FOR VENEZUELA AFTER MADURO: ‘NOT JUST WINGING IT’

In the 1990s, Cuba lost its larger “patron,” the Soviet Union, he said, and hit a rough patch until Hugo Chavez took power in 1999.

He added that while there has been Western concern about a Chinese foothold there, Beijing appears to have largely have “cut ties” and “said there’s nothing new here.”

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“I do think that there is a likely need for additional developments before we see… That kind of next step collapse of the regime itself,” he said.

Fox News Digital reached out to the White House, Commerce Department and the Palacio Nacional for comment.

Venezuela’s acting president Delcy Rodríguez said Sunday she’s had “enough” of U.S. interference in the country’s politics, delivering a sharp rebuke of Washington during a speech to oil workers broadcast on state television.

“Enough already of Washington’s orders over politicians in Venezuela,” she said during an address to oil workers in Puerto La Cruz, Venezuela, broadcast by state-run channel Venezolana de Televisión.

“Let Venezuelan politics resolve our differences and our internal conflicts,” she said. “This Republic has paid a very high price for having to confront the consequences of fascism and extremism in our country.”

Rodríguez’s defiant rhetoric raises questions about how far she is willing — or able — to push back against Washington. While the Venezuelan government has long used anti-U.S. language to rally domestic support, the comments come as Caracas remains heavily constrained by U.S. sanctions and dependent on U.S. decisions over oil licenses.

STATE DEPT CONFIRMS ‘LIMITED NUMBER’ OF PERSONNEL IN CARACAS WORKING TO RESUME VENEZUELA DIPLOMATIC RELATIONS

After capturing former dictator Nicolás Maduro, the Trump administration made clear it had allowed Rodríguez to stay in power in an interim capacity because it believed Washington had significant influence over her decision-making. 

Trump had said the U.S. would “run” Venezuela before backing Rodríguez. Trump spoke with Rodríguez recently by phone and earlier in January met with opposition leader Maria Corina Machado. 

“We obviously have maximum leverage over the interim authorities in Venezuela right now,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters Jan. 7.

TRUMP SIGNS ORDER TO PROTECT VENEZUELA OIL REVENUE HELD IN US ACCOUNTS

Any decisions by the new government will “continue to be dictated by the United States of America,” she said. 

It remains unclear whether Rodríguez has the political or economic leverage to translate her public defiance into policy, or whether the remarks are aimed primarily at a domestic audience wary of U.S. influence.

The White House could not be reached for comment in light of the Venezuelan leader’s most recent comments.

Earlier Saturday, Rodriguez made an overture to the Venezuelan opposition to reach “agreements” on the nation’s political future and said there should be “no political or partisan differences when it comes to peace in Venezuela.”

Rodríguez’s rebuke comes as the United States has moved to assert control over Venezuela’s oil resources, long a centerpiece of Caracas’ economy. In early January, the White House announced an energy arrangement under which Venezuela would provide 30 million to 50 million barrels of oil to the United States at market price.

So far, the U.S. has completed at least one sale of Venezuelan crude valued at around $500 million, and more transactions are expected as part of the broader agreement.

Venezuela’s legislature recently approved an initial vote to loosen state control over Venezuela’s vast oil reserves, a move that would represent the first major overhaul of the industry since former leader Hugo Chavez nationalized large swaths of the industry in 2007. The legislation, which seems aimed at appeasing the U.S. government, would make room for private companies to invest in the oil industry.

Some supporters of the U.S. move to capture Maduro have been left scratching their heads by the decision to leave Rodriguez in power for an undisclosed amount of time. 

After meeting with Trump earlier in January, Machado said she believed the goal was to hold new elections after a transition period, but did not say how long that would take.

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 In words that seemed a cautionary warning, Machado called Rodríguez “a communist” and “the main ally and representation of the Russian regime, the Chinese and the Iranians,” while arguing that Rodríguez “does not represent the Venezuelan people” or the armed forces.

Trump told reporters in the past week Rodriguez had “shown very strong leadership so far,” and “had done a very good job.”

The White House appears to be rejecting Democrats’ demands in the burgeoning government funding fight, as the chances of a partial shutdown grow larger by the day.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., is threatening that Democrats will vote against the massive federal spending bill set to get a vote this week unless funding for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is stripped out and renegotiated.

Republicans have already signaled they’re not inclined to do so, which White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt reaffirmed during her Monday afternoon press conference.

Leavitt also pointed out that all the bills wrapped into the massive spending package are the product of bipartisan negotiations between the House and Senate — meaning Democrats already had a say in the legislation they are now rejecting.

DHS FUNDING FIGHT DRIVES SENATE SCRAMBLE TO AVOID GOVERNMENT SHUTDOWN

“At this point, the White House supports the bipartisan work that was done to advance the bipartisan appropriations package, and we want to see that passed,” President Donald Trump’s spokeswoman said. 

“Policy discussions on immigration in Minnesota are happening. Look, the president is leading those discussions, as evidenced by his correspondence with Governor Walz this morning. But that should not be at the expense of government funding for the American people.”

Democrats are coming out against the DHS funding bill en masse in the wake of another deadly federal law enforcement-involved shooting in Minneapolis. A Border Patrol agent shot Alex Pretti, a nurse who worked with veterans at the Minneapolis Veterans Affairs Medical Center, during a wider protest against Trump’s immigration crackdown in the city.

Both Republicans and Democrats have called for investigations into the fatal encounter, but only Democrats are threatening to put federal funding at risk.

7 HOUSE DEMOCRATS BREAK WITH JEFFRIES TO PASS DHS FUNDING DESPITE ICE BACKLASH

Leavitt pointed out that the DHS funding portion would also allocate dollars to the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), not just the Border Patrol and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) spending that Democrats object to.

“We are in the midst of the storm that took place over the weekend, and many Americans are still being impacted by that. So we absolutely do not want to see that funding lapse,” she said. “We want the Senate to move forward with passing the bipartisan appropriations package that was negotiated on a bipartisan basis.”

DHS AT CENTER OF PROGRESSIVE REVOLT AS HOUSE ADVANCES $80B SPENDING PACKAGE

The legislation negotiated between Republicans and Democrats already includes guardrails for ICE, including mandating body-worn cameras and more training on public engagement and de-escalation.

But Pretti’s killing and DHS’s handling of it infuriated Democrats — at least several of whom will be needed to meet the Senate’s 60-vote threshold to advance the legislation.

Senate Republicans had wanted to pass the package as early as Thursday and send it to Trump’s desk just before the Jan. 30 shutdown deadline.

Senate Democrats held a private, caucus-wide call on the matter on Sunday, after which a source familiar told Fox News Digital that Schumer’s plan was to reject any DHS bill without several reforms, but that the broader, five-bill funding package could move ahead. 

“Basically, DHS is the problem and should be split from the package,” they said.

But with Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., taking the first procedural step to set up this week’s vote on the larger package on Monday, Democrats’ prospects of strong-arming the GOP are thin.

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Even if Senate Democrats did prevail, it’s virtually guaranteed that Congress would miss the Friday shutdown deadline at this point.

Any changes to the spending package would require it to return to the House to be considered again, despite it passing the lower chamber last week.

But a House GOP leadership source told Fox News Digital of that prospect on Saturday, “We passed all 12 bills over to the Senate, and they still have six in their possession that they need to pass to the president. We have no plan to come back next week.”

Fox News Digital reached out to Schumer’s office for a response.

Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz is facing pushback from a prominent holocaust remembrance museum after suggesting children in Minnesota today are fearful in the same way Anne Frank was before she was killed by Nazis.

“Anne Frank was targeted and murdered solely because she was Jewish,” the U.S. Holocaust Museum posted on X on Monday. 

“Leaders making false equivalencies to her experience for political purposes is never acceptable. Despite tensions in Minneapolis, exploiting the Holocaust is deeply offensive, especially as antisemitism surges.”

During a recent press briefing, Walz said some children in the state felt scared to go outside because of aggressive tactics being employed by federal agents cracking down on illegal immigration. 

MEET THE MINNESOTANS KILLED BY ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS THAT WALZ, DEMS NEVER HELD NEWS CONFERENCES OR VIGILS FOR

“We have got children in Minnesota hiding in their houses, afraid to go outside. Many of us grew up reading that story of Anne Frank,” Walz said on Sunday after the shooting day of Alex Pretti during an encounter with federal agents, referring to the German-Jewish teenager who documented her life in hiding during the Nazi persecution in World War II.

“Somebody is going to write that children’s story about Minnesota, and there’s one person who can end this now,” he said, referring to President Donald Trump. 

The comment sparked criticism from many on social media, President Donald Trump’s antisemitism envoy, and a Republican congressional candidate who spoke to Fox News Digital. 

DOJ TORCHES DEMOCRATS FOR ‘SHAMELESSLY LYING’ ABOUT MINNESOTA VOTER ROLL REQUEST

“Governor Tim Walz’s decision to compare federal immigration enforcement in Minnesota to Anne Frank and the Holocaust is dangerous, disgusting, and profoundly irresponsible,” retired Minnesota State Patrol Lt. John Nagel, running for Congress as a Republican against Democratic Rep. Ilhan Omar, told Fox News Digital. 

“No matter where people stand on immigration policy or recent enforcement actions, invoking the Holocaust — one of the darkest chapters in human history — has no place in responsible public leadership. These comparisons do not clarify the debate. They distort it.”

Nagel went on to call Walz’s comment a “troubling pattern” rather than an “isolated remark.”

“Governor Walz has repeatedly reached for extreme historical analogies — including references to Nazis and the Gestapo — when discussing law enforcement and political opponents,” Nagel added. “That kind of rhetoric matters. When elected officials portray police or federal agents as Nazis, they create an environment where protesters can convince themselves that violently confronting law enforcement is not only justified, but morally required. That is how words turn into real-world danger.”

Fox News Digital reached out to Walz’s office for comment. 

Numerous activists across the country have used Nazi comparisons while blasting the Trump administration’s crackdown on illegal immigrants, including Mexican-American journalist Maria Hinojosa compared Latino children in the U.S. to Jewish children during the Holocaust, saying some fear abduction and death like Anne Frank, Fox News Digital previously reported.

On Monday, Walz appeared to be striking a less inflammatory tone, speaking with Trump on the phone in a call his office told Fox Digital on Monday was a “productive” call where he was making the “case that we need impartial investigations of the Minneapolis shootings involving federal agents, and that we need to reduce the number of federal agents in Minnesota.”

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Trump announced Monday that he was deploying White House border czar Tom Homan to Minnesota and that he will report directly to the president. 

Fox News Digital’s Emma Colton and Louis Casiano contributed to this report.

Senate Republicans are moving ahead with a behemoth funding package in their bid to keep the government open and hope to blast through Democratic opposition in the process. 

Senate Appropriations Chair Susan Collins, R-Maine, on Monday teed up the first procedural step for the six-bill funding package, which includes the politically divisive Department of Homeland Security (DHS) spending bill, despite warnings from Senate Democrats that they would block the legislation. 

Monday’s action is just the first of several hurdles lawmakers will have to overcome, but important nonetheless given the extreme weather that rocked much of the country and threatened to delay the process altogether. 

SENATE DEMOCRATS THREATEN SHUTDOWN BY BLOCKING DHS FUNDING AFTER MINNESOTA ICE SHOOTING

Senate Majority Leader John Thune’s, R-S.D., gamble comes as a Friday deadline to fund the government is bearing down on the Senate. Passing the package and sending it to President Donald Trump’s desk would fully fund the government until September, when lawmakers will again need to have passed a dozen spending bills to keep the lights on.

But the immediate fight and one that threatens to derail the GOP’s plan to avert yet another shutdown is over DHS funding. 

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and his caucus have come out en masse against the broader package, including the Homeland funding bill, following the fatal shooting of 37-year-old Alex Pretti by a Border Patrol agent in Minneapolis on Saturday. 

Schumer and Senate Democrats rapidly mobilized their opposition to the funding bill, despite maintaining a fragile truce with the GOP in their bipartisan government funding negotiations over the last two days.

KEY SENATOR WON’T FUND DHS AS ICE, FEDERAL AGENTS ENTER HIS STATE

Despite shoring up a largely unified front, including several moderate Senate Democrats who crossed the aisle to help Republicans reopen the government last year, Schumer does have one perennial defector.

Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pa., has consistently opposed any attempt to shut down the government. He notably joined Senate Republicans over a dozen times last year to reopen the government as his colleagues resisted. 

And like those times before, Fetterman is not keen on shutting the federal government down, despite agreeing with Senate Democrats that the DHS bill should be stripped from the broader package. 

He noted in a statement that even shutting down the government would affect Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) funding, given that the GOP’s colossal, “one big, beautiful” bill injected over $170 billion over the next several years into DHS.

SENATE DEMS REVOLT AGAINST DHS FUNDING BILL AMID MINNEAPOLIS CHAOS, HIKING GOVERNMENT SHUTDOWN RISK

“I reject the calls to defund or abolish ICE. I strongly disagree with many strategies and practices ICE deployed in Minneapolis, and believe that must change,” Fetterman said. “I want a conversation on the DHS appropriations bill and support stripping it from the minibus.”

“It is unlikely that will happen, and our country will suffer another shutdown,” he continued. “We must find a way forward, and I remain committed to being a voice of reason and common sense.”

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Fetterman and his colleagues want the DHS bill stripped from the broader package and say that they would support those remaining five bills. But doing that would open up a procedural nightmare in the process and likely lead to a partial government shutdown, given that the House would have to return from a week-long break to weigh in. 

And like the last foray into a possible shutdown, Schumer argued that the onus was on Thune and Senate Republicans, despite Senate Democrats having negotiated the current funding package on a bipartisan basis. 

“The responsibility to prevent a partial government shutdown is on Leader Thune and Senate Republicans,” Schumer said in a statement. “If Leader Thune puts those five bills on the floor this week, we can pass them right away. If not, Republicans will again be responsible for another government shutdown.”

FIRST ON FOX: Republican senators are hitting the road to sell the Working Families Tax Cuts Act in meetings with local business owners and families, Senate Majority Leader John Thune highlighted.

More than a dozen senators, including Thune, have held events in multiple states during separate trips, including to Texas, West Virginia, Arkansas, Pennsylvania, Oklahoma, Nebraska, Ohio, Florida and Louisiana.

“When Joe Biden and Democrats had unified control of government, they created open borders and high prices,” Thune told Fox News Digital. “Republicans, on the other hand, have delivered safe streets, more money in pockets, and new opportunities to get ahead through the historic Working Families Tax Cuts.”

“Now we need to make sure the American people know it. Republicans will be hitting the ground hard in 2026 to sell our accomplishments and continue building on our work with the Trump-Vance administration to create a safe, strong, and prosperous America,” Thune added.

BIG BEAUTIFUL BILL IMMEDIATELY HITS THE CAMPAIGN TRAIL IN BATTLE FOR CONGRESS

The GOP senators who have held events are John Cornyn of Texas, John Barrasso of Wyoming, Bill Cassidy of Louisiana, Jim Justice of West Virginia, Pete Ricketts of Nebraska, Shelley Moore Capito of West Virginia, John Boozman of Arkansas, Dave McCormick of Pennsylvania, Dan Sullivan of Arkansas, James Lankford of Oklahoma, Katie Britt of Alabama, Ashley Moody of Florida, Jon Husted 9of Ohio and Rick Scott of Florida.

Senate candidates Mike Rogers and Michael Whatley also joined Thune, Cornyn, Barrasso and Husted during a trip to the southern border in early January to see progress made on improving national security. The Working Families Tax Cuts Act, also known as the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, included a roughly $165 billion investment for immigration and border security efforts, including $46.5 billion for funding for the border wall.

Other senators met with local businesses in their respective states to discuss how the bill could benefit local communities.

BESSENT BLASTS DEMOCRAT-LED STATES FOR BLOCKING TRUMP TAX RELIEF IN OBBBA

“This week, I visited Kamp A Demics Learning Center, one of Montgomery’s child care centers, where I toured the facility and read to some of the precious children,” Britt posted to X. “I also participated in a roundtable discussion on the updated child care tax credits I secured in the Working Families Tax Cuts Act and my continued work to address our child care crisis.”

“I’m grateful for the opportunity to speak with restaurant owners and community leaders about Republicans’ Working Families Tax Cuts Act—a law that will eliminate taxes on tips and overtime,” Husted posted to X with photos highlighting the event that took place in Ohio. 

The bill passed the Senate on July 1, 2025, and Trump signed it into law on July 4, 2025.

THE BATTLE OVER THE ‘BIG, BEAUTIFUL BILL’ MOVES FROM CAPITOL HILL TO THE CAMPAIGN TRAIL

The Tax Foundation estimates that the legislation includes $3,752 in tax cuts for the average taxpayer in the U.S. in 2026, with the highest savings in Teton County, Wyoming seeing an estimated $37,373 per taxpayer in 2026. 

The basis for the tax cuts come from an extension of provisions in the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, which was signed into law by Trump during his first term. The TCJA doubled the standard deduction for single and married jointly filing households, and reduced income tax rates, with the top rate falling from 39.6% to 37%.

The One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA) also extended a Child Tax Credit that was part of the TCJA, which reduces how much income tax a family owes for each qualifying child, up to $2,000 per child, per year.

CONGRESS DELIVERS ONE BIG, BEAUTIFUL WIN FOR THE MIDDLE CLASS

Thune joined Cassidy at a restaurant in Louisiana to talk with servers and employees about how the “no tax on tips” portion of the OBBBA would put more money in their pockets.

The main portion of the OBBBA that is new from the TCJA extensions excludes qualified tip income from federal income tax up to $25,000 per year, and excludes qualified overtime income from federal income tax up to $12,500 for single filers and $25,000 for marriages filing jointly. Payroll taxes still apply to tips and overtime, and benefits will eventually be phased out in 2028.

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Critics of the legislation point to a reduction in federal income, thus increasing national debt in the short term, and the shifting of Medicaid costs to states rather than the federal government.

The Tax Foundation also estimates that the bill will create roughly 938,000 full-time equivalent jobs over the long run.

Preston Mizell is a writer with Fox News. Story tips can be sent to Preston.Mizell@fox.com and on X @MizellPreston

One of the seven House Democrats who voted with Republicans to advance a Department of Homeland Security (DHS) spending bill last week is now characterizing his vote as a mistake, highlighting growing unrest among moderate Democrats over the department’s funding even as lawmakers look to escape a looming government shutdown.

In the wake of a deadly clash between immigration enforcement and agitators in Minnesota over the weekend, Rep. Tom Suozzi, D-N.Y., apologized publicly for his vote in a post to Facebook.

“I failed to view the DHS funding vote as a referendum on the illegal and immoral conduct of ICE in Minneapolis,” Suozzi said, referring to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), a key agency in President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown efforts.

DEMS RELENT, SENATE SENDS $174B SPENDING PACKAGE TO TRUMP’S DESK AS SHUTDOWN LOOMS OVER DHS FUNDING

“I hear the anger from my constituents and I take responsibility for that. I have long been critical of ICE’s unlawful behavior, and I must do a better job demonstrating that,” he added.

The other six Democrats contacted by Fox News Digital did not respond to inquiries about their votes.

Suozzi’s comments come as Democrats in the Senate are signaling growing opposition to passing the DHS bill and funding the government ahead of a possible shutdown on Jan. 30. The DHS bill, which includes funding for ICE, is part of a four-bill package that the House of Representatives passed last week.

The political outlook of the DHS funding bill changed over the weekend with the death of Alex Pretti.

According to DHS, ICE officers shot and killed Pretti, 37, in a confrontation on Saturday when Pretti attempted to disrupt law enforcement activities while in possession of a firearm. DHS Secretary Kristi Noem has said agents acted in self-defense.

Pretti is the second civilian shot by ICE in the past month.

The Friday before Pretti’s death, Suozzi and six other Democrats broke with the rest of their party to advance a DHS funding bill that the majority of the party had condemned as inadequate in its provisions on ICE.

GOP SEN. CASSIDY BREAKS WITH TRUMP OVER DEADLY SHOOTING BY BORDER PATROL AGENT IN MINNEAPOLIS

Even with new body camera requirements, additional training mandates and some reductions in funding, Democrats saw the package as unlikely to prevent future deadly clashes between ICE and agitators.

Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., and the Congressional Progressive Caucus, a group of over 70 lawmakers, said they wouldn’t support a spending bill that didn’t include greater guardrails for ICE.

“I am glad to announce that the Congressional Progressive Caucus has adopted an official position to hold ICE accountable. Our caucus members will oppose all funding for immigration enforcement in any appropriations bills until meaningful reforms are enacted to end militarized policing practices,” Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., said at a press event shortly before Republicans unveiled their DHS bill last week.

Their calls were soon adopted by party leadership in the chamber.

Now, with the death of Pretti, what little support the DHS funding had among Democrats is dwindling further. 

Suozzi, who had highlighted his role as one of seven Democrats to support the bill on his website, called on Trump to end his ICE deportation campaign.

“The senseless and tragic murder of Alex Pretti underscores what happens when untrained federal agents operate without accountability. President Trump must immediately end ‘Operation Metro Surge’ and ICE’s occupation of Minneapolis that has sown chaos, led to tragedy and undermined experienced local law enforcement,” Suozzi said.

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The Senate is expected to vote on the bundle of four bills in the coming days. Questions remain whether negotiators will modify the DHS package to avoid a shutdown if Democrats remain united in their opposition.

If modified, the package would have to be taken up again in the House. U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., has said he has no intention of bringing the House back in the coming week.

Democratic Pennsylvania Sen. John Fetterman is calling for an immediate end to the Minnesota immigration crackdown after the fatal shooting of Alex Pretti Saturday by federal law enforcement, he said in comment to Fox News Digital. 

“The operation in Minneapolis should stand down and immediately end,” Fetterman said Monday in a comment to Fox News Digital. “It has become an ungovernable and dangerous urban theatre for civilians and law enforcement that is incompatible with the American spirit.” 

“As a very pro-immigration Democrat and Ranking Member of the Subcommittee on Border Management, I believe our nation deserves a secured border and that we should deport all criminal migrants,” he continued. “I also believe there needs to be a path to citizenship for those hardworking families who are here.” 

Fetterman’s comments on the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) operation follow his vocal support of federal law enforcement officers, breaking with many Democrat colleagues who have called for the end to the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown and for ICE overall to be defunded. 

FORMER ICE AGENT CALLS POLICE NON-COOPERATION ‘FORMULA FOR DISASTER’ AFTER SECOND MINNEAPOLIS SHOOTING DEATH

“Secure the border. Deport all the criminals. Stop targeting the hardworking migrants in our nation,” Fetterman posted to X earlier in January. 

Fetterman added in his statement Monday that he continues to buck calls to defund ICE. 

Fox News Digital reached out to Fetterman’s office Monday morning inquiring about his wife’s X post blasting the Trump administration’s immigration policies, even as her husband has publicly backed federal immigration officers.

“For more than a decade, I lived undocumented in the US. Every day carried the same uncertainty and fear lived in my body – a tight chest, shallow breaths, racing heart,” the senator’s wife, Gisele Barreto Fetterman, wrote Sunday. “What I thought was my private, chronic dread has now become a shared national wound.”

“This now-daily violence is not ‘law and order.’ It is terror inflicted on people who contribute, love and build their lives here,” she continued. “It’s devastatingly cruel and unAmerican.”

Gisele Barreto Fetterman previously has discussed moving to the U.S. from Brazil as a child, including as an illegal immigrant for a decade.  

Alex Pretti, 37, was fatally shot Saturday by Border Patrol agents in Minnesota while filming federal officers on a Minneapolis street. Federal officials say Pretti approached agents with a 9 mm handgun and resisted disarmament, while witnesses have cast doubt on if Pretti, an ICU nurse, posed a threat to agents. 

President Donald Trump told The Wall Street Journal Sunday that his administration is “reviewing everything,” surrounding the case, but did not say whether the agent who shot Pretti acted appropriately.

The fatal shooting, which follows the Jan. 7 fatal ICE shooting of Renee Good, has sparked outrage among Democrats and critics of the president who say Trump administration immigration policies are causing chaos for communities, while describing the shooting deaths of the two Americans as “murder.”

ANTI-ICE AGITATORS CLASH WITH FEDERAL AGENTS AT MINNEAPOLIS HOTEL, AS AGENTS DEPLOY TEAR GAS, FLASHBANGS

Former President Bill Clinton, for example, issued a searing rebuke of the immigration crackdown following Pretti’s death, calling it an “unacceptable” tragedy that “should have been avoided.”

Fetterman said in comment to Fox News Digital that “Ms. Good and Mr. Pretti should still be alive” and that his “family grieves for theirs.” 

“I’ve also spent significant time hearing many different positions on the funding bills and maintain that I will never vote to shut our government down, especially our Defense Department.

“Additionally, a vote to shut our government down will not defund ICE. DHS has $178B in funding from the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, which I did not vote for,” he said. “I reject the calls to defund or abolish ICE. I strongly disagree with many strategies and practices ICE deployed in Minneapolis, and believe that must change.”

“I want a conversation on the DHS appropriations bill and support stripping it from the minibus,” he continued. “It is unlikely that will happen and our country will suffer another shutdown. We must find a way forward and I remain committed to being a voice of reason and common sense.” 

JD VANCE SHARES ‘CRAZY’ STORY OF ICE AND CBP OFFICERS BEING MOBBED IN MINNEAPOLIS

Trump announced Monday that he was deploying White House border czar Tom Homan to Minnesota, and that he will report directly to the president. 

“Tom Homan will be managing ICE operations on the ground in Minnesota and coordinating with others on the ongoing fraud investigations,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told Fox Digital Monday. 

Leavitt said Monday during a White House press briefing that the administration is calling on Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz and Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey to agree in order to bring peace to the Twin Cities. 

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“Number one, Governor Walz, Mayor Frye and all Democrat leaders should turn over all criminal illegal aliens currently incarcerated in their prisons and jails to federal authorities, along with any illegal aliens with active warrants or known criminal histories for immediate deportation,” Leavitt said. “Number two, state and local law enforcement must agree to turn over all illegal aliens who are arrested by local police. And then thirdly, local police must assist federal law enforcement in apprehending and detaining illegal aliens who are wanted for crimes, especially violent crimes.”

Walz and Trump shared what was described as a productive phone call Monday morning, with the state calling on the president to work together to quell the chaos, Trump said on Truth Social. 

President Donald Trump said he had a “very good” call with Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey and announced that border czar Tom Homan will meet with him, as riots continue to erupt in the city amid a federal immigration enforcement operation.

Trump shared the update in a post on Truth Social, signaling increased federal engagement with city leaders as authorities respond to the unrest.

“I just had a very good telephone conversation with Mayor Jacob Frey, of Minneapolis,” the president wrote. “Lots of progress is being made! Tom Homan will be meeting with him tomorrow in order to continue the discussion. Thank you for your attention to this matter!”

Frey offered his own account of the call later Monday, outlining his position on the federal immigration enforcement operation and the conditions under which the city will continue cooperating with state and federal authorities.

JUDGE BLOCKS TRUMP ADMIN FROM ‘DESTROYING OR ALTERING’ EVIDENCE IN DEADLY MINNEAPOLIS SHOOTING

“I spoke with President Trump today and appreciated the conversation. I expressed how much Minneapolis has benefited from our immigrant communities and was clear that my main ask is that Operation Metro Surge needs to end,” Frey wrote. “The president agreed the present situation can’t continue.

“Some federal agents will begin leaving the area tomorrow, and I will continue pushing for the rest involved in this operation to go,” he continued. “Minneapolis will continue to cooperate with state and federal law enforcement on real criminal investigations — but we will not participate in unconstitutional arrests of our neighbors or enforce federal immigration law.”

Frey said violent criminals should be held accountable for the crimes they commit, not based on where they are from.

ICE SAYS VIOLENT MOB HELPED CRIMINAL ESCAPE AND LEFT ICE AGENT PERMANENTLY MAIMED

“I will continue working with all levels of government to keep our communities safe, keep crime down, and put Minneapolis residents first,” he wrote, confirming he also plans to meet with Homan on Tuesday to discuss next steps.

The social media posts came hours after Trump spoke with Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz about the unrest gripping Minneapolis in the wake of federal immigration enforcement actions.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt addressed the call during her Monday briefing, saying Trump wants to “let cops be cops” as authorities respond to the unrest.

TRUMP DEPLOYS BORDER CZAR TOM HOMAN TO MINNESOTA AS ICE OPERATIONS FACE VIOLENT CHAOS

She criticized Walz and Frey for what she described as encouraging anti-ICE agitators, which she argued contributed to the deaths of Renee Good and Alex Pretti, who were killed by law enforcement this month.

Leavitt said Trump wants the unrest to end immediately and outlined what she called a clear path to restoring law and order in Minnesota, beginning with a demand that state and local officials turn over illegal aliens who are incarcerated or have active warrants or known criminal histories.

Trump is also calling on local law enforcement to assist federal authorities by transferring custody of arrested illegal aliens and helping locate suspects wanted for crimes.

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“We want to let cops be cops,” Leavitt said.

A federal appeals court sided with the Trump administration Monday in a ruling that blocks restrictions on tactics being used by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents while dealing with anti-ICE agitators in Minnesota. 

The ruling by the three-judge panel 8th US Circuit Court of Appeals put a stay on a lower court ruling that prevented officers from arresting, detaining, pepper-spraying or retaliating against protesters in Minneapolis without probable cause as anti-ICE agitators continue to confront authorities carrying out enforcement operations. 

“We accessed and viewed the same videos the district court did,” the appeals court said in the ruling. “What they show is observers and protesters engaging in a wide range of conduct, some of it peaceful but much of it not. They also show federal agents responding in various ways.”

GO BIG, THEN GO SMART: TRUMP, ICE AND THE LAW. HOW TO SKIP THE LEFT’S PR TRAP

The lawsuit alleged that federal authorities violated the civil rights of six protesters. 

Last week, the court temporarily lifted restrictions on ICE agents’ use of force against protesters in Minnesota. Monday’s ruling grants a “FULL STAY,” U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi said. 

WHITE HOUSE BLAMES DEMOCRATS FOR ICE VIOLENCE AS MINNEAPOLIS ERUPTS, INSURRECTION ACT THREAT LOOMS

“Liberal judges tried to handcuff our federal law enforcement officers, restrict their actions, and put their safety at risk when responding to violent agitators,” she wrote on X. “The DOJ went to court. We got a temporary stay. NOW, the 8th Circuit has fully agreed that this reckless attempt to undermine law enforcement cannot stand.”

In a Jan. 16 ruling, U.S. District Judge Kate Menendez sided with the protesters and issued the preliminary injunction. The plaintiffs sued the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and ICE over their treatment during immigration enforcement operations.

In her ruling, Menendez found the plaintiffs were likely to succeed on claims that federal agents violated their First and Fourth Amendment rights during protests and observation of ICE activity tied to Operation Metro Surge in the Twin Cities.

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She cited incidents in which ICE agents allegedly used pepper spray, pointed weapons, made arrests and conducted traffic stops against individuals who were peacefully observing or protesting immigration enforcement.

A top Senate Republican is demanding that the heads of several immigration-focused units at the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) testify publicly before the Senate. 

Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., called on the heads of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) and the U.S. Citizenship and Immigrations Services (USCIS) to come before his panel, the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, next month. 

In three separate letters to acting ICE Director Todd Lyons, CBP Commissioner Rodney Scott and USCIS Director Joseph Edlow, Paul noted that DHS had received “an exceptional amount of funding to secure our borders and enforce our immigration laws.”

THUNE STEAMROLLS DEMS’ DHS REVOLT AS FETTERMAN DEFECTS, SCHUMER UNDER PRESSURE

“Congress has an obligation to conduct oversight of those tax dollars and ensure the funding is used to accomplish the mission, provide proper support for our law enforcement, and, most importantly, protect the American people,” Paul wrote.

“I write to request your testimony before the U.S. Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs at an open hearing by February 12, 2026,” he continued. “Please provide your availability to appear before the Committee by the close of business on January 28, 2026.”

SENATE DEMOCRATS THREATEN SHUTDOWN BY BLOCKING DHS FUNDING AFTER MINNESOTA ICE SHOOTING

Paul’s request comes on the heels of the second fatal shooting involving a border patrol agent and U.S. citizen in the last month since the Trump administration ordered DHS to enter Minnesota. 

Alex Pretti and Renee Nicole Good were both fatally shot by border patrol agents, which has prompted pushback from Senate Democrats and some Republicans on the Trump administration’s activity in the state. 

KEY SENATOR WON’T FUND DHS AS ICE, FEDERAL AGENTS ENTER HIS STATE

But Paul’s request is more focused on the funding element of the situation.

Senate Democrats are gearing up to block the upcoming DHS funding bill, which could thrust the government into another shutdown. And Paul wants to know how the billion already allocated to the agency, likely through President Donald Trump’s “one, big beautiful bill,” are being used. 

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Paul’s request also comes as DHS Secretary Kristi Noem is set to appear before the Senate Judiciary Committee in early March after several months of not responding to a pair of requests from Senate Judiciary Chair Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa.

As this weekend’s blizzard blew through the Empire State, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul received blowback for her response to an offer of federal assistance from Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, whose office oversees FEMA.

State snowfall totals topped 22 inches in West Shokan, Ulster County, outside Saugerties, while New City received 17.5 inches, Golden’s Bridge near the Connecticut line in Westchester County received 16.5 inches, Huguenot on Staten Island received 14 inches, and Levittown on Long Island received 13 inches, according to the National Weather Service.

Instead of confirming she accepted DHS’s offer to help, Hochul indicated she took the opportunity to criticize federal immigration enforcement:

“Secretary Noem offered assistance to New York ahead of the impending snowstorm,” Hochul said over the weekend.

POTENTIAL GOP CHALLENGER WARNS HOCHUL THAT A CORPORATE TAX HIKE WOULD BE A ‘DISASTER’ FOR NEW YORK’S ECONOMY

“I shared that the fastest way to help is for ICE to back off so people feel safe accessing warming centers, shelters, hospitals, and houses of worship.”

Her response was not well received by several prominent New Yorkers and New York entities.

“Worst governor in history,” the Staten Island Young Republicans said in a statement on X.

TRUMP BRIEFED ON BORDER PATROL-INVOLVED SHOOTING AS MINNEAPOLIS MAYOR DEMANDS END TO ENFORCEMENT OPERATION

NYC Scoop, a popular account sharing events and happenings in New York City, similarly fumed at the governor.

“You literally just told a U.S. Cabinet Secretary offering FREE blizzard relief to f— off because ICE might make your illegal alien constituents feel ‘unsafe’,” NYC Scoop said.

“You’re not a governor. You’re a border checkpoint for cartels. Resign, you treasonous ice queen.”

LARA TRUMP SLAMS TIM WALZ, JACOB FREY FOR ‘FANNING FLAMES’ WHILE RED STATES COOPERATE WITH ICE

Conservative strategist and former Ted Cruz staffer Steve Guest said the governor is “prioritizing politics over her constituents, and people are already dying.”

Guest included a screenshot of a WNBC report of three New Yorkers who had died from the sub-freezing temperatures during the storm.

When asked about the tweet, White House spokesman Kush Desai rebuked the governor:

“What a surprise — while President Trump and his entire Administration have taken steps to ensure all Americans have the resources they need to recover from this historic winter storm, Democrats instead are, once again, prioritizing the well-being of criminal illegal aliens.”

Republican Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman responded in a statement, saying that the governor — who he is challenging this year — “actually rejected federal assistance that was offered to help keep people safe.”

MILLIONS BRACE FOR ‘CATASTROPHIC’ ICE AS 18 STATES DECLARE EMERGENCY AMID HISTORIC WINTER STORM

“When lives are at risk, you don’t turn down help,” Blakeman said.

Another X critic compared the situation to New York’s underuse of military medical ships docked off Manhattan during COVID-19, saying that Democrats did not want to dignify them because President Donald Trump sent them.

However, a source familiar with the situation said Hochul never rejected federal assistance and that all storm-related requests from local governments were supported by Albany.

Hochul later tweeted a call for U.S. Border Patrol Cmdr. Gregory Bovino to be fired and for Noem to resign.

HOCHUL CONFRONTED ICE AGENT, SAID HE WAS ‘TERRORIZING PEOPLE’ BY WEARING A MASK

“[Noem] has forfeited her right to lead,” Hochul said, further suggesting Bovino is acting as if he is “above the law.”

Later Monday, she also said that President Donald Trump’s dispatch of Border Czar Tom Homan to Minnesota won’t undo “harm” done by his administration.

In a lighter message, Hochul quipped that as a “governor from Buffalo,” she knows how to handle a snowstorm.

The eyes of the nation often see the kind of hefty snowfall that accumulates in the western New York area during televised Buffalo Bills games in the NFL playoffs.

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“Push it out of the way — no strain on the back doing that… don’t lift much; smaller bits, OK — don’t do a big pile and fill this up because that can lead to a heart attack,” Hochul said in the clip.

In response to Blakeman’s retort, Hochul campaign spokesperson Ryan Radulovacki told Fox News Digital, “After blaming Renée Good for her own killing by ICE, Bruce Blakeman is showing New Yorkers yet again that there’s no low he won’t stoop to for Donald Trump – no matter how far he goes to trample over Americans’ rights.”

“New Yorkers want a governor with a backbone who will protect our state from Trump’s abuses of power, not a spineless coward who defends violence against Americans when it suits him politically,” Radulovacki said.

Fox News Digital reached out to Hochul for comment on the criticisms, and to DHS for comment on the situation.

Border Patrol commander Gregory Bovino, the face of the Trump administration’s campaign to arrest and deport criminal illegal immigrants, will be leaving Minnesota, along with some border agents, amid violent, and sometimes deadly, clashes between federal authorities and anti-ICE agitators.

Bovino and an unspecified number of U.S. Border Patrol agents will be leaving the state as soon as Tuesday, multiple federal sources told Fox News. 

The news came the same day that President Donald Trump announced that he would be deploying border czar Tom Homan to take point in Minnesota. 

White House Press secretary Karoline Leavitt on Monday defended Bovino, calling him a “wonderful man, and he’s a great professional.”

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“He is going to very much continue to lead Customs and Border Patrol, throughout and across the country,” Leavitt said. “Mr. Homan will be the main point of contact on the ground in Minneapolis to follow up.” 

Fox News Digital has reached out to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP).

Before leading operations throughout the country, Bovino was chief of the Border Patrol’s El Centro Sector in Southern California, which is responsible for 70 miles of the U.S.-Mexico border and covers Imperial and Riverside counties. 

Bovino has been criticized by opponents of Trump’s deportation campaign over tactics used by federal immigration authorities to apprehend criminal illegal aliens. 

News of Bovino’s departure came after a deadline weekend in which 37-year-old nurse Alex J. Pretti was fatally shot by a U.S. Border Patrol agent. Pretti, who was armed with a handgun, was filming federal officers on a Minneapolis street. 

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Authorities said Pretti was resisting disarmament when he was shot. 

At the time, authorities were targeting Jose Huerta-Chuma, an illegal immigrant with a criminal history including domestic assault for intentional conflict with bodily harm, disorderly conduct and driving without a valid license.

Trump said Homan will report “directly to me” and will help lead the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) operations in Minneapolis and St. Paul.

“I am sending Tom Homan to Minnesota tonight. He has not been involved in that area, but knows and likes many of the people there. Tom is tough but fair, and will report directly to me,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform.

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“Separately, a major investigation is going on with respect to the massive 20 Billion Dollar, Plus, Welfare Fraud that has taken place in Minnesota, and is at least partially responsible for the violent organized protests going on in the streets,” he continued.

Funding for the Department of Homeland Security was already a question for some Democrats before the killing of Alex Pretti.

But Saturday’s killing by ICE agents gave Democrats who were on the fence about supporting the upcoming government funding plan a reason to solidify their opposition. And the killing only hardened those who were opposed to funding DHS before.

From a political standpoint, Democrats are compelled to fight this. Otherwise, their base will balk. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., endured brickbats from the liberal base last March when he and a group of other Democratic senators helped Republicans clear a filibuster to avoid a shutdown.

Progressives raged at Schumer. And the Senate’s top Democrat suddenly found himself crossways with House Democratic leaders who expected him to mount more of a fight over government funding.

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The liberal base certainly got that this fall as Democrats withheld their votes to fund the government and fought over expiring Obamacare subsidies. The government shuttered for 43 days. But Democrats never earned a restoration of Obamacare subsidies. The Senate took a vote related to restoring the subsidies. Nothing happened. The House actually passed a bill re-upping the subsidies for three years. But the issue remains at an impasse.

Despite the fall brawl, Democratic congressional leaders faced a narrow path to walk for this funding round. They still felt pressure from the left to oppose money for DHS, long before the killing of Renee Good and Pretti. But Schumer and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., did not go to the mat to oppose funding this time. They wanted to finesse this, believing that a shutdown was bad politics for them after the fall experience. After all, Democrats never scored precisely what they wanted. By the same token, Schumer and Jeffries didn’t wade deeply into the funding fight, perhaps afraid of breaking a fragile truce on spending bills.

That all changed Saturday. Democrat after Democrat published statements that they wouldn’t vote to fund DHS. Sen. Angus King, I-Maine, caucuses with the Democrats. He was one senator instrumental to helping re-open the government last fall. King said he couldn’t support funding this time around.

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So unless something changes by 11:59:59 p.m. ET on Friday, Jan. 30, 78% of the federal government will lack money to operate. The six-bill, $1.2 trillion spending package doesn’t only fund the Department of Homeland Security, but it also provides money for the Pentagon, Health and Human Services, Labor & Housing programs, Transportation and Education.

The DHS bill was radioactive in the House. So the House broke that bill off from the rest of the package. The House approved the DHS funding measure 220-207 with seven Democratic yeas. The House approved the remaining bills 341-88.

The House then married the six bills together in one package, sent it to the Senate and left town.

There was some grumbling from senators that this was a “take it or leave it” package.

And after the shooting, all bets were off. On Saturday, Schumer declared that “Senate Democrats will not provide the votes to proceed to the appropriations bill if the DHS funding bill is included.”  

Democrats implored Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., to break off the DHS funding bill from the rest of the spending package and handle that separately. Otherwise, they would oppose the entire plan.

On Monday, Schumer signaled that “Senate Democrats have made clear we are ready to quickly advance the five appropriations bills separately from the DHS funding bill before the January 30th deadline.” He also said that “Republicans will again be responsible for another government shutdown.”

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Well, this is an amalgamated appropriations bill sent over from the House. Not a Kit-Kat bar. You just can’t break off one piece of it.

In short, what Schumer is proposing would spark a government shutdown. It’s not clear that there are the votes to do what Schumer is suggesting. And doubtful that the Senate would have the time. That’s to say nothing of getting the House on the same page before the deadline. Moreover, the House would just have to magically accept the new Senate position. That’s probably not going to happen considering what the House went through just to pass that minibus spending bill.

And we have not even mentioned that most of the money that Democrats are crowing about for DHS is already out the door. In the One Big Beautiful Bill, Republicans approved $75 billion for border security and ICE through 2029. In that measure, Republicans converted “discretionary spending” (which Congress controls) into a “mandatory appropriation” through 2029. Yes, this tactic agitates Members of the Appropriations Committee. But this has been done before, notably by Democrats when approving Obamacare.

So going after DHS right now would have little impact on the funding for ICE. However, Democrats could demand certain “guardrails” and changes in policy for ICE.

From a parliamentary standpoint, ripping the six-bill package apart is a mess. First of all, the Senate must agree on a “motion to strike” the DHS section from the six-bill combo package. The Senate would have to vote on this. Or, in the interest of time, do this via unanimous consent. But because the “motion to strike” by itself is debatable, the issue could set up a possible filibuster. Sixty votes are needed to cut off debate on just that question alone – stripping the DHS provision from the rest of the overall bill.

It’s important that a motion to strike the DHS money from the rest of the bill does not mean that the remaining five bills are ready to go. The Senate would have to agree that this is the new bill. Senators would then have to overcome a filibuster once and then vote to pass the bill. Those floor mechanics get you well past the early Saturday morning deadline.

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Then the Senate must tangle with passing the standalone DHS funding bill by itself. That certainly isn’t going to be done by Saturday morning.

Moreover, none of these scenarios even addresses the House. If the Senate did approve the revamped five-bill spending package and the solitary DHS bill, the measures must return to the House. The House would have to vote on a “motion to concur” on the five-bill minibus. And then separately, on the solo DHS measure. That’s probably untenable in the House. Anything under this plan wouldn’t meet the early Saturday morning deadline. In addition, the House could glue the bills together another way and send it back to the Senate. Or, the House could even move to go to a conference committee and try to blend the bills into one.

There is no easy way out of this at such a late date. And that’s why you likely have a partial government shutdown at 12:00:01 a.m. ET on Saturday.

Even though ICE is funded thanks to the One Big Beautiful Bill, there’s a big penalty and disruption and other services. TSA agents are unpaid again. That’s a major problem considering what they went through this fall – and coming on the heels of the monster winter storm which swept across the country in the past few days. Air traffic controllers would again face the lack of a paycheck as part of the transportation spending bill.

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Then, there are the politics. Who gets blamed? Republicans are concerned about losing support from voters based on the tactics of ICE. That’s why some Republicans are searching for some changes – but not ready to nuke the spending bill. Meantime, if the government shuts down thanks to Democrats withholding their votes, that may resonate with progressives. But it may hurt the party if Democrats are viewed as the party responsible for another shutdown.

This is a tough situation all around. And there’s not an obvious off-ramp.

This story discusses suicide. If you or someone you know is having thoughts of suicide, please contact the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline at 988 or 1-800-273-TALK (8255).

EXCLUSIVE: The Department of Homeland Security on Monday released an expletive-laden, sexually-explicit voicemail that a Minnesota-based ICE agent received from an apparent agitator amid unrest in Minneapolis.

Fox News Digital is not posting the clip due to its content, but the caller told the agent he is a fascist and that he should commit suicide.

“I hope your wife dies. I hope your mom and dad die. I hope everything wrong that could go [on] in your life happens. I hope you have the most miserable life,” the caller said.

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“You are a traitor to the American people, to the values that made our country.”

The caller then wishes that the agent is hit by a transit vehicle, and faces a divorce after his apparent wife cheats on him due to medical complications.

The caller then wishes that the agent be hit by a transit vehicle and face a divorce after his apparent wife cheats on him due to medical complications.

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In response, DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin blamed local “sanctuary politicians” for inciting such “threatening rhetoric and unprecedented violence” through their “repeated vilification” of federal law enforcement.

She cited repeated comparisons between ICE and the Geheime Staatspolizei — the German Nazi “Gestapo” secret state police — and 1800s-era slave patrols.

“The men and women of ICE are fathers and mothers, sons and daughters. They get up every morning to try and make our communities safer,” McLaughlin said.

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“Like everyone else, we just want to go home to our families at night. The violence and dehumanization of these men and women who are simply enforcing the law must stop.”

McLaughlin said ICE has faced an 8,000% increase in death threats and 1,300% increase in assaults during the second Trump administration despite the fact that they are conducting operations to remove “rapists, terrorists and gang members from American neighborhoods.”

She added that Secretary Kristi Noem’s message to agitators and people who threaten violence on ICE remains that “you will not stop us or slow us down.”

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The agency said that assaulting and obstructing law enforcement is not only dangerous but is a federal crime and a felony. “And if you lay a hand on a law enforcement officer or dox our officers, you will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law,” it said in a statement.

In light of the voicemail, the agency urged the public to report threats, doxxing, harassment and other infractions against ICE agents by calling 1-866-DHS-2-ICE.

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Democrats have in turn floated impeachment proceedings against Noem over ICE’s operations, with Rep. Troy Carter of Louisiana confirming such in a hearing Monday called by the minority caucus of the House Homeland Security Committee.

Fox News Digital reached out to Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz and Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey for comment.