NationalWatch

The Trump administration announced Thursday it was easing sanctions on the Venezuelan oil industry, as the U.S. aims to ramp up production in the South American country following the capture of dictator Nicolás Maduro earlier this month.

The U.S. Treasury said it is authorizing transactions involving the government of Venezuela and state-owned oil company PdVSA that are “ordinarily incident and necessary to the lifting, exportation, reexportation, sale, resale, supply, storage, marketing, purchase, delivery, or transportation of Venezuelan-origin oil, including the refining of such oil, by an established U.S. entity.”

The new license includes significant carve-outs, with sanctions remaining fully intact for persons or entities in Russia, Iran, North Korea or Cuba.

TRUMP SIGNALS LONG ROAD AHEAD IN VENEZUELA IN HIS BOLDEST INTERVENTIONIST MOVE YET

It also excludes transactions with blocked vessels, Chinese-owned or controlled entities operating in Venezuela or the U.S., and debt swaps, gold payments, or cryptocurrency payments, including Venezuela’s petro.

The announcement came as President Donald Trump pushes for the expansion of oil production in Venezuela.

“We have the major oil companies going to Venezuela now, scouting it out and picking their locations, and they’ll be bringing back tremendous wealth for Venezuela and for the United States and the oil companies will do fine too.” Trump said during a cabinet meeting Thursday.

RUBIO SAYS US HAS NO PLAN TO USE FORCE IN VENEZUELA — BUT WARNS ‘IMMINENT THREAT’ COULD CHANGE THAT

Trump also announced during the meeting that commercial airspace over Venezuela would reopen, after the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) released an emergency notice earlier this month blocking civil flight operations by U.S. aircraft over the South American country.

“I just spoke to the president of Venezuela and informed her that we’re going to be opening up all commercial airspace over Venezuela,” Trump said. “American citizens will be very shortly able to go to Venezuela, and they’ll be safe there and be safe. It’s under very strong control.”

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 Earlier Thursday, Venezuela’s government approved opening the nation’s oil sector to privatization, with Acting President Delcy Rodríguez signing the reform into law — a move that reverses a core principle of the socialist movement that has ruled the country for more than two decades.

Fox News Digital’s Diana Stancy and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

President Donald Trump warned the U.K. Thursday against strengthening ties with China, hours after Prime Minister Keir Starmer met President Xi Jinping in Beijing to reset relations after a long period of strain.

Trump’s remarks came as Starmer and Xi had called for a renewed “strategic partnership,” highlighting the pressures facing them amid global instability.

Speaking to Fox News while traveling to Florida for the premiere of first lady Melania Trump’s documentary, Trump was asked about the U.K. “getting into business with China.”

“Well, it’s very dangerous for them to do that,” Trump said. “And it’s even more dangerous, I think, for Canada to get into business with China.”

GORDON CHANG: APPEASING CHINA WON’T SAVE EUROPE — TRUMP’S HARD POWER JUST MIGHT

Trump added that China was not the solution for Western economies despite his personal relationship with Xi. “I know China very well. I know President Xi is a friend of mine, and I know him very well, but that’s a big hurdle to get over,” he said, before joking that Beijing might ban Canada from playing ice hockey. 

“That’s not good. Canada’s not going to like that,” he added. 

Trump had previously criticized Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney after Carney’s visit to China and warned then that “China will eat Canada alive.”

Trump’s latest comments followed an 80-minute meeting in Beijing between Starmer and Xi in which the leaders sought to thaw relations after several years of diplomatic chill.

TRUMP SLAMS UK ISLAND HANDOFF DEAL THAT COULD PUT KEY US MILITARY BASE AT RISK

The Associated Press reported that neither leader mentioned Trump directly in their discussions Thursday.

“In the current turbulent and ever-changing international situation, China and the United Kingdom need to strengthen dialogue and cooperation to maintain world peace and stability,” Xi told Starmer, according to Chinese state broadcaster CCTV.

Xi also warned that if major powers failed to uphold international law, the world risked sliding into a “jungle.”

Starmer said cooperation on climate change and global stability was “precisely what we should be doing,” The Associated Press also reported.

The outlet also reported that Starmer described the meeting as “very productive,” and mentioned progress on whisky tariffs, visa-free travel to China for British citizens and cooperation on migration.

TRUMP SPEAKS WITH CHINESE PRESIDENT XI, WHITE HOUSE OFFICIAL CONFIRMS

As previously reported by Fox News Digital, Starmer sought Xi’s help to disrupt the supply of China-made small boat engines that the U.K. leader’s office says are used to smuggle people across the English Channel.

He also raised human rights concerns and the Iran nuclear program.

Starmer is the first British prime minister to visit China in eight years and the fourth U.S.-allied leader to do so this month, signaling a push by Beijing to re-engage Western partners.

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The visit also came as the U.K. navigates trade alignment with the U.S., defense cooperation in Arctic regions and negotiations over the sovereignty of the Chagos Islands.

In November, the U.S. and China reached a deal easing some tariffs and export controls, boosting U.S. agricultural exports, curbing fentanyl precursor flows and relieving pressure on American semiconductor and shipping companies.

Fox News Digital has reached out to the White House for comment.

Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison said Thursday there is no new agreement with the federal government allowing county jails to notify U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) of inmate release dates, disputing claims made earlier by border czar Tom Homan.

“I did not make, and could not have made, any agreement with him about how sheriffs share with ICE information about people in their county jails,” Ellison said in a statement.

Ellison’s office said Minnesota law requires state prisons — not county jails — to notify federal authorities when a person without legal status is convicted of a felony.

County jails, by contrast, are independently operated by sheriffs and counties, which decide on their own whether to cooperate with ICE release notifications or detainer requests.

MINNEAPOLIS MAYOR TO VISIT DC TO PUSH FOR END OF ‘UNLAWFUL ICE OPERATIONS’ AFTER TRUMP’S BLUNT WARNING

Earlier Thursday, Homan said Ellison told him that county jails may alert ICE to the release dates of criminal public safety risks.

Fox News Digital has reached out to the Department of Homeland Security for comment on the matter.

Homan was sent to Minnesota Monday and vowed to remain in the state while leading ICE operations “until the problem is gone,” referring to increased unrest in Minneapolis. He made the statement during a news conference Thursday morning, his first since President Donald Trump sent him to the region.

TIM WALZ ACCUSES TRUMP OF ‘ORGANIZED BRUTALITY’ IN IMMIGRATION CRACKDOWN, SAYS ICE TACTICS ARE ‘UN-AMERICAN’

During that news conference, Homan also said he had a “very productive” meeting with Ellison, adding that the state’s top attorney agreed to notify ICE when local jails were releasing violent illegal aliens — a major request from federal law enforcement.

“One ICE agent can arrest one bad guy when he’s behind the safety and security of a jail when he’s behind bars, and we know he doesn’t have weapons,” Homan said. “But when you release that public safety threat illegal alien back into the community, we have a job to do. We’re going to arrest him, so we’re going to find him.

MINNESOTA DRAGS TRUMP’S ICE TO COURT IN EFFORT TO PAUSE IMMIGRATION CRACKDOWN

“So, now what happens is now we’ve got to arrest somebody on his turf where he has access to who knows what weapons,” Homan explained. “Now, we’ve got to send a whole team out.”

He also demanded that the “hostile rhetoric” and threats against ICE officers stop, vowing that agents will remain in the Twin Cities to do their jobs.

“President Trump wants this fixed, and I’m going to fix it with your help,” Homan said.

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Trump deployed Homan to Minnesota after heated clashes between anti-ICE agitators and federal agents across the Twin Cities. The unrest resulted in the deaths of two U.S. citizens, Renee Nicole Good and Alex Pretti, at the hands of law enforcement.

Fox News Digital’s Anders Hagstrom contributed to this report.

House conservatives are expressing skepticism as Senate Democrats and the White House announce a deal has been reached to fund the government without a long-term Department of Homeland Security funding bill. One House member warned that Republicans should not give in to demands to “handcuff ICE.”  

With any deal reached in the Senate needing approval in the House of Representatives, Rep. Mark Harris, R-N.C., told Fox News Digital that “[Senate Minority Leader Chuck] Schumer’s current demands, compounded by a lack of conservative priorities, are an absolute non-starter” in the lower chamber.  

“With Chuck Schumer’s demands to handcuff ICE and his Democrat colleagues threatening to shut down the government over it, this is yet another example of the radical Left prioritizing criminals over American citizens,” said Harris.

Schumer, D-N.Y., and President Donald Trump labored over a deal from late night Wednesday until Thursday evening after the top Senate Democrat unleashed several funding demands and the White House accused Schumer of blocking a meeting with rank-and-file Democrats.

7 REPUBLICANS JOIN DEMS TO BLOCK MAJOR GOVERNMENT FUNDING PACKAGE AS SHUTDOWN LOOMS

“The separation of the five bipartisan bills the Democrats asked for + the two-week DHS [continuing resolution] has been agreed to,” Schumer said in a statement. 

In response, one House conservative remarked to Fox News Digital, “We’re still looking at what is being discussed in the deal, but 14 days is awfully short.”

“We sure think we should be getting something out of this deal when it’s Democrats who are threatening shutdown, not Republicans,” the House member said.

Not all House Republicans were against the compromise. Rep. Marlin Stutzman, R-Ind., reacted on X, “I stand with @POTUS, a shutdown will only hurt the American people. I will vote YES on this package should it make it through the Senate!” 

In a Truth Social post on Thursday evening, Trump urged the GOP to agree to the deal, saying, “Hopefully, both Republicans and Democrats will give a very much-needed bipartisan ‘YES’ Vote.”

NEW DEM PROPOSAL WOULD RESTRICT ICE’S KEY TOOL TO DETAIN CRIMINAL ILLEGAL ALIENS

The president continued that the “only thing that can slow our Country down is another long and damaging Government Shutdown.” 

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

The deal brokered between the two would see the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) funding bill stripped from the broader six-bill package. Schumer and Democrats have been adamant that if the bill were sidelined, they’d vote for the remaining five, which includes funding for the Pentagon. 

Their agreement also tees up a short-term funding extension, known as a continuing resolution (CR), for two weeks to keep the agency funded while lawmakers negotiate restrictions on Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). 

If passed in the Senate, the deal would still need to pass the House again. With lawmakers there not expected back in Washington until Feb. 2, three days after the Jan. 30 funding deadline, a brief partial government shutdown is all but certain.

HOUSE FREEDOM CAUCUS DRAWS LINE ON DHS, ICE FUNDING AS MINNEAPOLIS UNREST FUELS SHUTDOWN RISK

Tensions have been boiling over in the House over the prospect of the Senate’s compromise on DHS.

Caucus member Rep. Ralph Norman, R-S.C., told Fox News Digital via text message on Thursday, “THE HOUSE DID OUR JOB BY PASSING THE REMAINING SIX APPROPRIATION BILLS TO THE SENATE AND THERE IS NO RATIONAL REASON TO REMOVE DHS FROM THE APPROVAL PROCESS.”

Norman accused Democrats of trying to “demonize” and “bludgeon” DHS, adding, “IF THE DEMOCRATS WANT TO SHUT THE GOVERNMENT DOWN, ‘DO IT’!!”

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Meanwhile, Mark Bednar, a GOP strategist and former spokesperson for then Speaker Kevin McCarthy, told Fox News Digital that “President Trump wants to ensure that our troops, air traffic controllers, and DHS patriots are on the job and get paid, and this path will help ensure they do that.”

“It’s now on Democrats to negotiate in good faith with President Trump so that the homeland is secured with a long-term funding bill – because that’s what the American people want and deserve,” said Bedner.

Fox News Digital’s Alex Miller contributed to this report.

EXCLUSIVE: The Department of Homeland Security lodged a detainer Thursday in California in the case of an illegal immigrant accused of a crime that a top official there is calling the “most heinous one we’ve ever seen.”

DHS has been pressing sanctuary states and sanctuary cities to respect and honor ICE detainers for public safety and national security reasons, with little headway from those jurisdictions, telling Fox News Digital they hope this is the case that will change their minds.

A 20-year-old Mexican national, Enrique Bautista-Vasquez, was charged with rape, a sentence enhancement for sexual assault of a person unable to consent and sexual assault of a victim deemed to be “particularly vulnerable” and is being held in Indio after the alleged attack in nearby Cathedral City, according to NBC’s Palm Springs affiliate.

The Trump administration alerted Fox News Digital to the detainer request being filed with Sacramento Thursday, with a top DHS official characterizing the alleged crimes as among the worst they’ve seen.

DHS SLAMS DEMS FOR COMPLAINING ABOUT IMMIGRATION LAW: ‘IT IS QUITE LITERALLY THEIR JOB TO CHANGE IT’

On December 31, Bautista-Vasquez encountered the 14-year-old girl — who is autistic and who reports said habitually wanders from home due to her condition — on a nearby small college campus, where officials say he convinced her to follow him through a business park and eventually to his home, according to DHS.

There, Bautista-Vasquez allegedly sodomized the girl and had “vaginal intercourse,” according to a police official speaking with local media.

Authorities eventually zeroed in on Bautista-Vasquez’s home, where they found women’s boots and blood on bedsheets, a DHS official said.

Separately, a stolen Texas Social Security card and federal permanent residency card later found to be fraudulent were found on or with Bautista-Vasquez, Cathedral City police told the NBC affiliate; information backed up by DHS.

A top Noem deputy told Fox News Digital she hopes California Gov. Gavin Newsom will essentially break with tradition and honor the detainer her office is lodging against Bautista-Vasquez.

“This depraved illegal alien raped and sodomized a child with autism. Under Secretary Noem’s leadership, ICE took swift action to lodge a detainer with authorities to ensure this child rapist is not released onto our streets,” Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said. 

“Unfortunately, we cannot guarantee Governor Newsom and his California sanctuary politicians will cooperate and turn this scumbag over to ICE.”

ICE CONFIRMS ARREST OF SOMALI ILLEGAL IMMIGRANT SEX OFFENDER IN MINNEAPOLIS

McLaughlin said California has released 3,700 violent criminal illegal immigrants from custody to “perpetrate more crimes and victimize more Americans.”

She also noted that Bautista-Vasquez was released into the interior by the Biden administration after previously being deported at least once.

The man has a federal final order of removal dated Dec. 16, 2024, when DHS said he was ultimately booted from the U.S. But he returned Jan. 2, 2025, and was released just days before President Donald Trump’s inauguration and subsequent “securing” of the border, according to the agency.

His formal charges in Riverside County are lewd/lascivious acts with a minor and rape.

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DHS said individuals who know victims or are victims of “illegal alien crime” can receive support from the administration’s Victims of Immigrant Crime Engagement Office (VOICE) by calling 1-855-488-6423.

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

Senate Democrats and the White House reached a deal to fund the government, but lawmakers aren’t out of the woods yet in averting a partial shutdown. 

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and President Donald Trump labored over a deal from late night Wednesday until Thursday evening after the top Senate Democrat unleashed several funding demands and the White House accused Schumer of blocking a meeting with rank-and-file Democrats. 

“The separation of the five bipartisan bills the Democrats asked for + the two-week DHS [continuing resolution] has been agreed to,” Schumer said in a statement. 

Trump, in a post on Truth Social, said that the “only thing that can slow our Country down is another long and damaging Government Shutdown.” 

SENATE GOP HOLDOUTS REFUSE TO BUDGE AS SHUTDOWN TALKS CONTINUE

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

“Hopefully, both Republicans and Democrats will give a very much-needed Bipartisan “YES” Vote,” he continued. 

The deal brokered between the two would see the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) funding bill stripped from the broader six-bill package. Schumer and Democrats have been adamant that if the bill were sidelined, they’d vote for the remaining five, which includes funding for the Pentagon. 

Their agreement also tees up a short-term funding extension, known as a continuing resolution (CR), for two weeks to keep the agency funded while lawmakers negotiate restrictions on Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). 

Trump and Schumer’s bipartisan truce comes after Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., and Senate Republicans barreled ahead with a test vote on the funding package that was ultimately torpedoed by Senate Democrats and a cohort of seven Republicans earlier in the day. 

7 REPUBLICANS JOIN DEMS TO BLOCK MAJOR GOVERNMENT FUNDING PACKAGE AS SHUTDOWN LOOMS

Republicans again have the opportunity to bring the package back to the floor, but to speed up the process, they would need consent from lawmakers on both sides of the aisle.

And they are still working out the kinks on their own end through the hotline process, where the package is scrutinized by every Senate Republican before being given the go-ahead for a floor vote. 

Speedig up the process may prove tricky, given that several of the Republican defectors, including Sens. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., Rick Scott, R-Fla., and Ted Budd, R-N.C., were upset with earmarks baked into the bill. 

And Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., wants an amendment vote on his provision to strip the bill of millions in “refugee welfare money” and signaled that he may slow the process down if he doesn’t. 

TENSIONS BOIL IN HOUSE OVER EMERGING SENATE DEAL TO AVERT GOVERNMENT SHUTDOWN

Many Senate Republicans recognize that stripping the DHS bill is not the best outcome but contended that it was better than not funding the government and entering into yet another shutdown.

“That’s the only way we’re going to get through this without a long government shutdown,” Sen. Steve Daines, R-Mont., said. 

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To his point, despite lawmakers reaching an agreement that will likely see the remaining bills passed and keep DHS funded for a month, the House will have to agree. They don’t return until next week, and fiscal hawks are already publicly panning the plan.

FIRST ON FOX: With the future of Congress and President Donald Trump’s legislative agenda on the line in this midterm election, the Honest Elections Project is warning of critical loopholes in the voting system, including the expansion of noncitizen voting and foreign influence.

With many state legislatures convening their final sessions before the 2026 midterms, HEP believes they have “one last opportunity” to pass the “critical reforms” needed to close loopholes breaking down legitimacy and trust in the electoral process.

In a report shared first with Fox News Digital, HEP identifies 14 key electoral integrity vulnerabilities it says must be remedied ahead of the midterms.

Among these vulnerabilities is hundreds of millions in foreign-linked money that have helped shape ballot measures in 26 states, according to HEP.

HOUSE OVERSIGHT PROBE PUTS MINNESOTA ELECTIONS UNDER SCRUTINY OVER NONCITIZEN VOTING CONCERNS

The report says that while foreign individuals are banned from donating to political candidates, bad actors have found a legal loophole by contributing both directly and indirectly to ballot measure campaigns that can include initiatives changing constitutions and election laws. The report refers to these campaigns as a “Trojan Horse for foreign influence,” including from “hostile foreign powers like China and Russia.”

To combat this, HEP laid out model legislation called the “Prohibiting Foreign Funding from Ballot Measures Act” to bar direct and indirect foreign funding, including through intermediary nonprofits, of ballot initiatives. In addition to this, the legislation requires that donors and ballot committees affirm they are free of foreign money in order to qualify and imposes strict penalties for violations.

The report also warns of a “growing number” of blue cities, including Washington, D.C., and New York, that it says have been working to enfranchise noncitizens and illegal aliens. HEP said that most state constitutions grant voting rights to “any” or “every” citizen, open-ended language that it says allows “liberal activists [to] argue permits localities to authorize noncitizen and even illegal alien voting.”

KANSAS MAYOR HIT WITH CRIMINAL CHARGES FOR ALLEGEDLY VOTING AS NONCITIZEN IN SEVERAL ELECTIONS

According to HEP, this problem is further compounded by current federal law that allows dishonest individuals to simply check a box to claim they are citizens on the National Mail Voter Registration Form.

To push back on this, HEP urges states to amend their constitutions to explicitly permit only citizens to vote. The group said that such language was passed by wide margins in 15 states: Alabama, Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Louisiana, North Dakota, Ohio, Iowa, Idaho, Kentucky, Missouri, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina and Wisconsin.

Additionally, HEP is urging states to pass the Documentary Proof of Citizenship Act, requiring voters to provide proof of citizenship in order to participate in state and local elections. The bill also makes it a criminal offense for noncitizens to apply to register to vote or for election officials to register a voter without proof of citizenship or to count illegal votes. This is an approach HEP believes is “consistent with Federal law and serves to protect the integrity of state-level voting processes.”

HEP lays out another five pieces of model legislation: The Interstate Voter Assistance Act, the Never Resided Act, the Procedural Election Audits Act, the Uniform Election Dates Act and a bill to prohibit government entities from using donations or in-kind goods or services from a private or non-governmental entity for election administration.

BOMBSHELL CENSUS PROJECTIONS SHOW REPUBLICANS COULD WIN WHITE HOUSE WITHOUT RUST BELT ‘BLUE WALL’

Addressing the issues, HEP Executive Director Jason Snead said that “many states have made tremendous strides in making it easy to vote and hard to cheat in recent years, but there is still more work to be done.”

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“State lawmakers have one last opportunity to shore up their election laws ahead of the extremely important 2026 midterms,” Snead went on, adding, “Honest Elections Project is proud to provide a roadmap for lawmakers to continue promoting election integrity across the country.”

FIRST ON FOX: The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) announced a massive rollout of $2.2 billion in public assistance funding that will be dispersed to a number of states across the country. 

The move comes as a winter storm ripped across the U.S., spanning from the Southwest to Northeast, claiming dozens of lives and leaving hundreds of thousands without power. 

“This investment will repair and restore critical public infrastructure across the country, including schools, public safety facilities, utilities and community services,” Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Kristi Noem told Fox News Digital in a statement. 

FEMA PREPARATIONS FOR ‘MASSIVE WINTER STORM’ SET TO IMPACT MORE THAN 30 STATES REVEALED IN MEMO

“American communities are rebuilding stronger, and today’s approvals show this administration’s commitment to cutting red tape and getting recovery dollars out the door faster.”

The relief dollars are not solely tied to the winter storm and will support 1,721 recovery projects for previous disasters.

Sources at FEMA tell Fox News Digital the resources will be used for repairs to educational centers, restoration of critical infrastructure, debris removal and costs incurred during emergencies.

The $2.2 billion will be distributed among 25 states, with the largest portion of the funding going to North Carolina Emergency Management for Hurricane Helene, which will provide temporary facilities and the mobilization of base camps. The total contribution to North Carolina surpasses $200 million. 

More than $114 million will be sent to the Kentucky Division of Emergency Management to remove debris caused by severe storms and flooding.

FEMA EMPLOYEES PLACED ON LEAVE AFTER CLAIMING TRUMP LEADERSHIP COULD SPARK NEXT HURRICANE KATRINA

The Office of Risk Management in Louisiana will receive over $84 million for costs to perform work on the West Belle Pass Barrier Headland Restoration project and more than $66 million for waterline replacement work in Grand Isle Jefferson Parish, Louisiana, as a result of the damages caused by Hurricane Ida.

“There has been a lot of back and forth about the future of FEMA, but no one can deny that this is an historic public assistance announcement,” a source at the agency told Fox News Digital. “Americans are going to notice this seismic shift.”

FEMA regularly issues funds to states that apply for disaster relief assistance, but the agency says this amount is significant and will have a direct impact on critical projects.

Noem’s responsibilities as overseer of a multitude of agencies include FEMA, one agency that has been heavily criticized by President Donald Trump. Noem has previously said the U.S. should “get rid of FEMA the way it exists today.” 

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While Noem has been a lightning rod in the news about DHS operations in Minneapolis, Trump expressed his support for her when questioned by reporters whether she would remain as the head of the agency, which includes her role leading the disaster assistance agency.

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

A likely emerging deal in the Senate aimed at averting a prolonged government shutdown could face significant headwinds in the House of Representatives.

Senate Democrats are demanding that funding for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) be removed from a larger package of six spending bills needed to finish funding the government for fiscal year (FY) 2026. A growing number of senators on both sides appear to be warming to do so, while passing a short-term extension of current funding levels for DHS called a “continuing resolution” (CR).

Any changes to the current legislation would need to pass the House again. With lawmakers there not expected back in Washington until Feb. 2, three days after the Jan. 30 funding deadline, a brief partial government shutdown is all but certain.

Meanwhile, a number of House Republicans are already balking at the prospect of funding DHS through a short-term CR.

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

The conservative House Freedom Caucus sent President Donald Trump a letter earlier this week signaling that its members would reject attempts to get DHS funding through the House again.

Caucus member Rep. Ralph Norman, R-S.C., told Fox News Digital via text message on Thursday, “THE HOUSE DID OUR JOB BY PASSING THE REMAINING SIX APPROPRIATION BILLS TO THE SENATE AND THERE IS NO RATIONAL REASON TO REMOVE DHS FROM THE APPROVAL PROCESS.”

Norman accused Democrats of trying to “demonize” and “bludgeon” DHS, adding, “IF THE DEMOCRATS WANT TO SHUT THE GOVERNMENT DOWN, ‘DO IT’!!”

7 REPUBLICANS JOIN DEMS TO BLOCK MAJOR GOVERNMENT FUNDING PACKAGE AS SHUTDOWN LOOMS

Two sources told Fox News Digital that Democrats and Republicans in the Senate are trying to bridge the divide between a two-week CR for DHS, which Democrats want, and Republicans’ preference for six weeks.

But House Freedom Caucus Chairman Andy Harris, R-Md., told Fox News Digital, “The Democrats’ desire to keep millions of illegal aliens in the United States will not suddenly disappear in a week or a month with a Continuing Resolution. Delaying full year funding for the Department of Homeland Security any further is a bad idea.”

And a senior GOP aide close to House conservatives said a two-week CR “hands more leverage to Democrats to derail immigration enforcement” and that “we’d be right back here again in two weeks with more crazy demands from the radical Left.”

DEMOCRAT WHO BROKE WITH PARTY SAYS HIS DHS FUNDING VOTE A ‘MISTAKE’ AFTER 2ND MINNEAPOLIS ICE SHOOTING

It’s not just the House’s rightmost flank criticizing the emerging deal, however.

House Appropriations Committee Chairman Tom Cole, R-Okla., told Fox News Digital on Wednesday that a CR, though he did not specify length, “would be very unlikely to pass the House.”

Rep. Stephanie Bice, R-Okla., another appropriator and a member of the pragmatic Republican Main Street Caucus, said Thursday that spinning the DHS bill off from the larger package as a CR was the “wrong strategy.”

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

“We’ve negotiated these bills in a bipartisan fashion. They should pass the [legislation] as packaged by the House. And again, we can negotiate changes that they feel are necessary if that’s their demand. But not funding,” Bice said.

Democrats have been up in arms over Trump’s immigration crackdown in Minneapolis, demanding stricter guardrails on Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE), part of DHS, in any federal funding bill. The original DHS funding bill, which passed the House, included some of those wins for Democrats, like mandating body-worn cameras on ICE agents and enhanced training for crisis management and public engagement.

But Democrats balked at that bipartisan deal after federal officers in Minneapolis shooting and killing nurse Alex Pretti caused an uproar among progressives. He’s the second of two U.S. citizens killed by federal law enforcement during demonstrations in the Midwest city.

SCHUMER ROLLS OUT LIST OF ICE DEMANDS AS WHITE HOUSE SAYS DEMS ‘BLOCKED’ DEAL-MAKING SESSION

Bice pointed out that risking the fate of the DHS funding bill would risk more than just funding for ICE — which Republicans’ ‘big, beautiful bill’ injected billions of dollars into last summer — and affect other agencies in DHS’ purview.

“They are threatening to potentially not fund [Transportation Security Administration] agents again, not fund our air traffic controllers again. These folks have already spent 43 days not getting paid under the last shutdown. Holding them hostage because you’re upset about how DHS is operating is not, is, is, it’s ridiculous in my opinion,” Bice said.

Air traffic controllers are under the purview of the Department of Transportation, one of the five other bills being held up during Senate negotiations.

House Democrats, on the other hand, could be willing to back a short-term CR for DHS.

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., told Fox News Digital on Thursday that such a bill would “have to be evaluated” but said his caucus would reject anything that did not put DHS “on a path for dramatic, immediate, transformative change.”

Jeffries also told Fox News Digital that he’s been in “close communication” with Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., as he’s been negotiating with the White House.

“The White House also knows that the only group of people who speak for House Democrats are House Democrats,” he said.

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The current circumstances put any compromise out of the Senate on shaky ground in the House. Even if the Senate did pass something before the Jan. 30 federal funding deadline, how long any shutdown goes on will heavily depend on how long it takes Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., to corral House lawmakers on a vote.

And while the legislation itself could likely survive a House-wide vote, Johnson could run into trouble with a procedural mechanism called a “rule vote” needed to allow for debate and final consideration of a given measure.

Rule votes traditionally fall along partisan lines, and Johnson wields just a razor-thin majority of House Republicans. Appropriators like Bice and Cole have not shown any willingness to vote against their own party on rule votes, but House Freedom Caucus members have done exactly that on multiple occasions in recent years in order to block legislation they did not deem conservative enough.

The other option would be to fast-track the bill via a process called suspension of the rules, though it would require raising the threshold for passage from a simple majority to two-thirds, meaning significant support would be needed from House Democrats.

Newly minted New Jersey Democratic Gov. Mikie Sherrill ducked a question from Fox News Digital over an illegal alien in her state who allegedly fractured an 8-year-old girl’s skull by throwing a rock at a school bus.

Sherrill, who was inaugurated on Jan. 20 and expressed support for sanctuary-type policies during her campaign, declined to comment on the attack or the girl’s injuries. Instead, a spokesperson for Sherrill’s office referred Fox News Digital to the office of Acting Attorney General Jennifer Davenport.

In turn, a spokesperson for Davenport’s office told Fox News Digital that “nothing in New Jersey’s state laws would have prevented New Jersey law enforcement from cooperating with federal immigration officials to deport Mr. Garcia-Morales”

Though the spokesperson did not address the child’s injuries, they said “our office’s number one priority is keeping New Jerseyans safe.”

COLLEGE SOCCER STAR, GIRLFRIEND DEAD AS ILLEGAL IMMIGRANT’S RECORD IGNITES LAWMAKER FURY STATEWIDE

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has lodged a detainer against the illegal immigrant allegedly behind the attack, 40-year-old Mexican national Hernando Garcia-Morales.

The Department of Homeland Security said in a Monday statement that Garcia-Morales, whom the agency called a “monster,” has an extensive criminal history. The agency said he entered the U.S. at an unknown date and location.

DHS said Garcia-Morales threw a baseball-sized rock at a school bus traveling on the New Jersey Turnpike in Teaneck Township, breaking a window and hitting a third-grade student. The student, an 8-year-old girl, suffered a fracture on her skull and had to undergo surgery.

The agency said the bus was returning to Yeshivat Noam, a local Jewish day school, from a field trip at Liberty Science Center in Jersey City. According to the Jewish Standard, the 8-year-old girl underwent surgery at Hackensack University Medical Center and is now back home in recovery.

The outlet reported that Garcia-Morales is a “serial rock-thrower,” who authorities have linked to multiple similar incidents.

According to the Bergen County Sheriff’s Office, Garcia-Morales has a long list of prior charges beginning July 13, 2025. He has several charges for aggravated assault on a law enforcement officer, aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, criminal mischief and several other charges.

‘SCOURGE’ OF SEXUAL PREDATORS, VIOLENT CRIMINALS BEING REMOVED FROM MINNEAPOLIS STREETS DESPITE BACKLASH

Garcia-Morales was arrested on Jan. 9 by New Jersey Turnpike State Police for aggravated assault, resisting arrest and possession of a weapon. The Bogota Police Department also charged him with aggravated assault, criminal trespassing, criminal trespassing peering, and criminal mischief damage property. He is currently in law enforcement custody at Bergen County Jail.

According to DHS, Garcia-Morales was also arrested for burglary in 2023 and for possession of a weapon and theft in 2006.

DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin commented that “violently targeting a school bus full of children is extremely wicked and heinous.”

McLaughlin knocked New Jersey’s sanctuary policies, saying, “Hernando Garcia-Morales should have never been in this country, let alone released after multiple arrests into New Jersey communities.”

“ICE has lodged an arrest detainer against this monster, and we hope New Jersey’s sanctuary politicians will help us keep him off American streets for good,” she said, adding, “Under President Trump and Secretary Noem, criminal illegal aliens have no place in the U.S.”

The Bergen County Sheriff’s Office did not reply to Fox News Digital’s request for comment on whether it will honor ICE’s detainer request.

TRUMP URGES DHS, ICE TO PUBLICIZE ARRESTS, SAYS CRACKDOWN IS ‘SAVING MANY INNOCENT LIVES’

A spokesperson for Davenport’s office told Fox News Digital that “nothing in New Jersey’s state laws would have prevented New Jersey law enforcement from cooperating with federal immigration officials to deport Mr. Garcia-Morales” and that “state law allows for cooperation with ICE in regard to anyone charged with a violent crime or convicted of any indictable offense.”

The spokesperson said that “if ICE wishes to detain an individual, it is incumbent on ICE to notify the state correctional facility. If it does not file a detainer request with the facility, our state correctional officers cannot hold the detainee past the time they must be released on their state criminal charges.”

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“State law ensures that our police officers can effectively tackle violent crime, gun violence, [and] drug trafficking, while ensuring that victims and witnesses can safely come forward to report crimes regardless of their immigration status,” the spokesperson went on, adding, “Our office’s number one priority is keeping New Jerseyans safe.”

This comes as DHS and ICE face mounting opposition from pro-sanctuary politicians over immigration enforcement operations, especially in Minneapolis. The Justice Department announced last year it was suing four New Jersey cities, accusing local officials of obstructing federal law and undermining efforts to enforce immigration laws through their sanctuary city policies.

Fox News Digital’s Michael Sinkewicz contributed to this report.

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., called White House deputy chief of staff for policy and Homeland Security advisor Stephen Miller a “hateful bigot,” but the White House fired back, labeling the lawmaker a “buffoon.”

“Stephen Miller is one of the malignant architects of the violence and brutality DHS has unleashed on the American people,” Jeffries asserted in a Wednesday post on X. 

“He slandered hero nurse Alex Pretti as a would-be assassin. Why is this hateful bigot still Donald Trump’s chief immigration adviser?” Jeffries asked.

SENATE DEMOCRAT DEMANDS TRUMP FIRE ‘CREEP’ STEPHEN MILLER IN EXCHANGE FOR HIS DHS FUNDING VOTE

In a statement provided to Fox News Digital, White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson slammed Jeffries.

“Hakeem Jeffries is a buffoon who has repeatedly lied about and smeared federal law enforcement officers, including inciting violence against them by encouraging his supporters to ‘fight’ President Trump’s agenda ‘in the streets.’ No one should take anything he says seriously,” Jackson said in the statement.

A senior DHS official told Fox News Digital that Miller “has been instrumental in delivering on the President’s agenda.”

“At neck-breaking speed, President Trump has achieved the most secure border in American history — Stephen has been a lynchpin in those efforts,” the official added.

HAKEEM JEFFRIES SAYS DEMS WILL NOT BACK FUNDING BILL FOR ‘KILLING MACHINE’ DHS EVEN IF NOEM IS FIRED

The official went on to say that Miller’s “passion, patriotism and persistence helps fuel this administration in our efforts to carry out the largest deportation of criminal illegal aliens in the history of our republic.”

The Trump administration has been conducting a crackdown on illegal immigrants in the U.S. 

Alex Pretti, a U.S. citizen, was fatally shot in Minneapolis on Saturday.

CBP/BORDER PATROL AGENTS PLACED ON ADMINISTRATIVE LEAVE AFTER DEADLY CONFRONTATION WITH ALEX PRETTI

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“A would-be assassin tried to murder federal law enforcement and the official Democrat account sides with the terrorists,” Miller asserted in a Saturday post on X.

Longtime Democratic consultant James Carville says Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker could potentially be his party’s best choice to lead Democrats to victory in the 2028 presidential election.

And Carville, who first gained national attention over three decades ago as the chief strategist for former President Bill Clinton’s 1992 White House victory, argues that former Vice President Kamala Harris doesn’t have a shot at winning the next Democratic presidential nomination.

The 2028 Democratic nomination battle in the race to succeed term-limited President Donald Trump is expected to draw a crowded and competitive field.

“If I had to say one guy… I’d take JD Pritzker,” Carville said this week in a sit-down interview with Fox News contributor Raymond Arroyo on his ‘Arroyo Grande’ podcast. Carville was asked which Democrat he could see carrying the flag into 2028.

WE’RE JUST A MONTH INTO 2026, BUT THE 2028 WHITE HOUSE RACE IS WELL UNDER WAY

The billionaire governor, a member of the Pritzker family that owns the Hyatt hotel chain and who has started several of his own venture capital and investment startups, is running this year for a third term to steer Illinois.

And Pritzker, who has become a leading voice in the Democrats’ opposition to Trump and has taken steps to Trump-proof his solidly blue state, has made a handful of trips in recent years to the key early voting states in the race for the White House.

Carville noted that Pritzker “campaigns hard.”

DEMOCRATIC HEAVYWEIGHTS TURN HEADS, SPARK 2028 SPECULATION

Asked about whether he could see Harris as the party’s standard-bearer in 2028, Carville responded, “She has no chance.”

Harris replaced then-President Joe Biden as the Democrats’ 2024 presidential nominee after Biden dropped his bid in July of that year, a month after a disastrous debate performance against Trump. Harris ended up losing the general election to Trump, who narrowly swept all seven key battleground states.

“No Democrat wants anything to do with anybody that had anything to do with 2024,” Carville emphasized, as he reasoned why Harris couldn’t win the 2028 nomination. He also questioned whether Harris, the nation’s first female and first Black vice president, had the ability to energize the Black community if she launched another White House run.

Carville said that the Democrats’ mantra heading into 2028 is “just win,” and argued that “if we nominate two white males, nobody’s going to give a s—.”

VANCE AMPLIFIES HIS 2026 MESSAGE WHILE LANDING KEY 2028 BACKING

He also doubted whether Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York would be a good 2028 nominee for the party.

Carville said the progressive champion and rising Democratic Party star “has talent, and she’s very smart.”

But he said that “the reason she is not going to work” is because “there’s a large part of the Democratic Party that like to feel smug.” Carville argued that Ocasio-Cortez and others on the progressive left of the party have alienated male voters.

“Democratic culture became very feminized and very judgmental and that’s why we pushed so many of the males away,” Carville said.

Asked by Fox News Digital if there’s anyone else he thinks is worth watching as a potential 2028 Democratic presidential contender, Carville mentioned former Louisiana Lt. Gov. and former New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu.

Landrieu mulled but ultimately decided against a 2020 White House and later served in the Biden administration.

Carville, pointing to “two huge mistakes that the Democratic Party made,” also blamed former President Barack Obama and Biden for Trump’s 2016 and 2024 White House wins.

Obama continued and implemented the unprecedented $700 billion Troubled Asset Relief Program, known as TARP, which was initiated by then-President George W. Bush at the very end of his White House tenure to stabilize the nation’s financial system after the 2008-2009 crisis.

The program prevented a total economic collapse, but was widely unpopular with voters.

“The mistake they made was not going after these bankers,” Carville said, as he pointed to moves by Obama and his administration. “We bailed them out.”

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And Carville emphasized that “there is one person who is responsible for the election of Donald Trump in 2024, and it’s not Donald Trump, it’s Joe Biden.”

Carville argued that if Biden “would have gotten out in September of 2023, it wouldn’t have been close.”

Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey is heading to Washington, D.C. on Thursday to push for an end to “unlawful ICE operations,” his office announced. 

Frey’s trip to the nation’s capital comes as White House border czar Tom Homan vowed Thursday to remain in Minnesota leading Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) operations there “until the problem is gone.” It’s unclear if Frey will meet with the White House while he is in Washington, but he is expected to address the U.S. Conference of Mayors at 1:45 p.m. ET, before heading back home later Thursday evening.

“Mayor Jacob Frey is traveling to Washington, D.C. today to attend the U.S. Conference of Mayors, where he will meet with mayors and federal lawmakers from across the country to advocate for an end to Operation Metro Surge and other unlawful ICE operations,” his office said in a statement. 

“During the visit, Mayor Frey will also participate in national discussions focused on how cities can work together to keep communities safe while upholding the rule of law,” it added. “Since Operation Metro Surge began in Minnesota, families have been torn apart, small businesses have suffered economic losses, and local law enforcement agencies have experienced increased strain.”

BORDER CZAR TOM HOMAN VOWS TO STAY IN MINNESOTA ‘UNTIL THE PROBLEM’S GONE’

Frey said in his own statement that, “Minneapolis may be where we’ve seen one of the largest ICE deployments in the country, but it will not be the last if we fail to act.” 

Homan said Thursday morning that the Trump administration is working on a “drawdown plan” to decrease the presence of federal agents in Minnesota. 

In a Truth Social post on Wednesday, President Donald Trump said, “Surprisingly, Mayor Jacob Frey just stated that, ‘Minneapolis does not, and will not, enforce Federal Immigration Laws.’ This is after having had a very good conversation with him.” 

“Could somebody in his inner sanctum please explain that this statement is a very serious violation of the Law, and that he is PLAYING WITH FIRE!” Trump warned. 

KLOBUCHAR LAUNCHES MINNESOTA GOVERNOR BID AFTER WALZ ENDS RE-ELECTION RUN AMID MASSIVE FRAUD SCANDAL

Frey responded to the president’s comments. 

“The job of our police is to keep people safe, not enforce fed immigration laws. I want them preventing homicides, not hunting down a working dad who contributes to MPLS & is from Ecuador. It’s similar to the policy your guy Rudy had in NYC. Everyone should feel safe calling 911,” the mayor asserted in a post on X, making an apparent reference to former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani.

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The president issued the warning on Wednesday after Frey, who met with Homan on Tuesday, declared in a Tuesday post on X that the city will not enforce federal immigration law. 

Fox News Digital’s Alex Nitzberg and Anders Hagstrom contributed to this report. 

EXCLUSIVE: The electric grid kept the lights on for much of the country hit by the weekend’s massive snowstorm chiefly because the Trump administration broke from Biden-era plans, including keeping five major coal-fired power plants online and allowing grid providers to draw in more fossil fuel-based energy in vulnerable areas.

The Energy Department made the claims in exclusive comments to Fox News Digital, as officials said multiple megawatts of power were made additionally available from otherwise taboo hydrocarbons.

Secretary Chris Wright issued several emergency orders over the weekend and through Tuesday that permitted power plants to operate beyond levels set by EPA regulations and considered the ceiling prior to President Donald Trump’s second term, a source familiar with the situation told Fox News Digital.

LIZ PEEK: TRUMP WHITE HOUSE FIRED UP ABOUT KING COAL’S RETURN TO POWER

Five such plants were on track to be closed under the Biden-era push to pivot from fossil fuels to green energy, the official said, adding that the Trump administration was prepared to give energy producers leeway to push more power online to reduce risks of blackouts. The Trump administration saved 17 gigawatts of coal power that was going to be forcibly shut down as well, Fox News has learned.

“We told grid providers: if your energy demand reaches a critical level… let us know,” the official said, adding that there is a direct correlation between the power being saved up and what was needed to keep the lights on as states from Alabama to Vermont were hammered with wintry weather and deep freezes.

As the storm approached, Wright informed grid operators to be prepared to use more than 35 gigawatts of unused backup generation nationwide, sourced from anywhere from data centers to big-box stores, bypassing prior environmental regulations by emergency order.

That gave a wide buffer against blackouts and hundreds of millions in emergency costs for Americans — as 1 gigawatt is enough to power Wright’s hometown Denver metro area alone.

TRUMP ADMIN RELAUNCHES KEY COUNCIL AFTER BIDEN ADMIN SHUTTERED IT: ‘IGNORANCE AND ARROGANCE’

“How power sources perform during peak electricity demand reveal their true value,” Energy Department Press Secretary Ben Dietderich told Fox News Digital.

“Across the country, wind and solar generation plummeted while natural gas, coal and oil plants did the majority of the work keeping the lights on during the storm. According to DOE data, the Biden administration’s support for forcibly closing reliable coal and natural gas plants had America on track to see blackouts increase 100 times over by 2030.”

“Thankfully, President Trump was elected and has already prevented the forced closure of five coal plants and more than 17 gigawatts of reliable coal power,” Dietderich added.

CONGRESS REPEALED THE GREEN NEW DEAL. CAN TRUMP FINISH THE JOB?

Dietderich said the Trump administration and Wright continue to be committed to “unleashing” affordable and reliable energy that works — “whether the wind is blowing or the sun is shining,” a common administration reference to the unreliability of those forms of green energy when those natural power sources aren’t present.

As the storm approached, Wright remarked that the Trump administration “will not stand by and allow the previous administration’s reckless energy subtraction policies and bureaucratic red tape put American lives at risk.”

The structure of the department’s emergency preparations is also meant to save American lives, he said.

TRUMP MOCKS ‘ENVIRONMENTAL INSURRECTIONISTS’ AS AMERICANS BRACE FOR MASSIVE WINTER STORMS: ‘GLOBAL WARMING?’

In that regard, wind and solar power only accounted for 10% of the energy utilized across the storm’s path.

Hydrocarbons and coal, by contrast, provided 68% of the power in those same areas, a power source often maligned on the left.

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The department noted that in New England — where renewable and green energy sources are often put on the proverbial pedestal — nearly two-thirds of the energy utilized was sourced from hydrocarbon-based or coal-fired power.

American coal power itself provided enough electricity for 30 million homes across the storm’s path, the department said.

EXCLUSIVE: Iowa Republican Sen. Joni Ernst is introducing legislation Thursday targeting fraud in federal programs — a proposal that would set early-warning tripwires to flag suspected scams and push agencies to claw back taxpayer dollars, Fox News Digital has learned.

“It’s absolutely unacceptable that the fraud running rampant in Minnesota could end up costing taxpayers more than $9 billion,” Ernst told Fox News Digital. “My Putting an N to Learing about Fraud Act will ensure this never happens again by putting more safeguards in place to detect scams early and require the recovery of any money ripped off from taxpayers.”

Ernst’s office said the bill is designed to hit fraud on two fronts: tightening rules around child care payments and creating new spike alerts in health care programs to flag suspicious surges early, while also pushing the federal government to recover improper payments.

If passed, the bill would force state plans tied to federal child care dollars to pay providers based on documented attendance — not just enrollment — to prevent taxpayer money from going out for care that never happened.

MINNESOTA FRAUD CASE IS ‘CANARY IN THE COAL MINE’ FOR GOVERNMENT SYSTEMS — INCLUDING ELECTIONS, LAWYER WARS

It also underlines that states can reimburse providers after services are delivered rather than paying upfront. Providers taking federal funds would have to track attendance and keep those records for seven years, making them available for audits by the Department of Health and Human Services, the attorney general and the comptroller general.

On the healthcare front, the legislation would create new notification requirements tied to abrupt jumps in health billings and costs. States would be required to notify the Department of Health and Human Services when the amount being paid for a service increases by more than 100% in a year, or if the number of providers seeking payment increases by 100% in a year. 

GOP SENATORS LAUNCH TASK FORCE TO CRACK DOWN ON FRAUD TIED TO MINNESOTA SCANDAL

Beyond early detection, the bill aims to force agencies to claw back funds either swindled from taxpayers or received in error.

It would direct the Office of Management and Budget to issue guidance to federal agencies to ensure improper payments are recovered and require inspectors general to report annually the amount of improper payments recovered by each agency.

MINNESOTA FRAUD WHISTLEBLOWER SAYS ‘LACK OF GUARDRAILS WAS PRETTY SHOCKING’

The legislation follows the sweeping fraud scandal that continues to plague Minnesota. Dozens of arrests have been made, most of whom are from the state’s large Somali population, as investigators uncover hundreds of millions of dollars in fraud swindled from taxpayers through welfare and social services programs. Federal prosecutors have said the fraud could total $9 billion. 

“The swindlers in Minnesota and everywhere else soon are going to ‘lear’ the hard way that in the era of DOGE, crime no longer pays,” Ernst added in a comment to Fox Digital, referring to the viral “Quality Learing Center.” 

Fox News Digital learned that Ernst will also name Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz as the January recipient of her office’s “Squeal Award” for “failing to stop the runaway fraud in his own backyard.” Ernst awards various lawmakers and government fraud scandals themselves the Squeal Award each month to spotlight “out of control waste.”

The governor dropped out of his re-election effort earlier in January amid the fallout of the fraud scandal. Walz, who has served as governor since 2019, took ownership of the fraud as it occurred under his watch, but argued multibillion-dollar figures were “sensationalized” by Republicans. 

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Ernst has long positioned herself as a leading Senate watchdog on waste and fraud, working with both Congress and the Trump administration to flag questionable spending. 

She launched and leads the Senate DOGE caucus as President Donald Trump readied to reclaim the Oval Office, which works to snuff out government spending, reduce bureaucracy, and enforce transparency, producing more than $15.1 billion in real savings.

A federal appeals court ruled late Wednesday that Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Kristi Noem acted unlawfully when she ended legal protections allowing hundreds of thousands of Venezuelans to live and work in the United States.

The decision by a three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a lower court ruling that found she exceeded her authority when she ended temporary protected status (TPS) for Venezuelans under the Biden-era Venezuela TPS designations, according to The Associated Press. All three judges on the panel were nominated by Democratic presidents.

The ruling comes as the Trump administration has argued that TPS for Venezuela created a “magnet effect” for illegal migration and undermined border enforcement. TPS shields eligible migrants from deportation and allows them to work legally in the United States while conditions in their home country are deemed unsafe. 

The panel also upheld the lower court’s finding that Noem exceeded her authority when she moved to end TPS early for hundreds of thousands of people from Haiti.

TRUMP ADMIN ENDS TEMPORARY PROTECTED STATUS FOR BURMESE MIGRANTS

The judges ruled that the TPS legislation passed by Congress did not give the secretary the power to vacate an existing TPS designation.

“The statute contains numerous procedural safeguards that ensure individuals with TPS enjoy predictability and stability during periods of extraordinary and temporary conditions in their home country,” Ninth Circuit Judge Kim Wardlaw, who was nominated by President Bill Clinton, wrote for the panel.

Wardlaw said Noem’s “unlawful actions have had real and significant consequences” for Venezuelans and Haitians in the United States who rely on TPS.

“The record is replete with examples of hard-working, contributing members of society — who are mothers, fathers, wives, husbands, and partners of U.S. citizens, pay taxes, and have no criminal records — who have been deported or detained after losing their TPS,” she wrote.

The decision, however, will not have any immediate practical effect after the U.S. Supreme Court in October allowed Noem’s decision to take effect pending a final decision by the justices.

Fox News Digital contacted DHS for comment.

DHS TERMINATES TEMPORARY PROTECTED STATUS FOR AROUND 76K HONDURAN, NICARAGUAN MIGRANTS

Noem’s termination meant that 268,156 Venezuelan nationals currently in the U.S. lost their status and were no longer legally allowed to reside in the United States, according to figures shared with Fox News Digital from U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS).

The TPS designation expired on Sept. 10, 2025, with termination effective 60 days after the publication of the Federal Register notice. The Federal Register notice set the termination’s effective date as Nov. 7, 2025.

In September, 3,738 pending initial applications that were to be eligible for TPS and 102,935 pending renewal applications were also terminated.

“Given Venezuela’s substantial role in driving irregular migration and the clear magnet effect created by Temporary Protected Status, maintaining or expanding TPS for Venezuelan nationals directly undermines the Trump Administration’s efforts to secure our southern border and manage migration effectively,” a DHS spokesperson told Fox News Digital in September.

“Weighing public safety, national security, migration factors, immigration policy, economic considerations, and foreign policy, it’s clear that allowing Venezuelan nationals to remain temporarily in the United States is not in America’s best interest,” the spokesperson added.

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The agency also announced in November that approximately 353,000 Haitian nationals currently holding TPS will see their protections expire in February.

Ninth Circuit Judge Salvador Mendoza, Jr. wrote separately that there was “ample evidence of racial and national origin animus” that reinforced the lower court’s conclusion that Noem’s decisions were “preordained and her reasoning pretextual.”

“It is clear that the Secretary’s vacatur actions were not actually grounded in substantive policy considerations or genuine differences with respect to the prior administration’s TPS procedures, but were instead rooted in a stereotype-based diagnosis of immigrants from Venezuela and Haiti as dangerous criminals or mentally unwell,” he wrote.

Fox News’ Preston Mizell and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Longtime Democratic Sen. Amy Klobuchar on Thursday formally jumped into the 2026 race for Minnesota governor, three weeks after the stunning move by Gov. Tim Walz to drop his re-election bid amid political fallout from a massive fraud scandal.

Klobuchar, who just 15 months ago was handily re-elected to a fourth six-year term in the U.S. Senate, spotlighted the federal immigration crackdown in Minnesota in a video released on social media.

“These times call for leaders who can stand up and not be rubber stamps of this administration, but who are also willing to find common ground and fix things in our state,” she said.

Klobuchar’s campaign launch comes as Minnesota is firmly in the national spotlight, because of the ongoing fraud scandal, which has been described as the nation’s largest COVID-era scheme. 

And over the past month, the state has become the epicenter in the heated battle over President Donald Trump’s aggressive crackdown on illegal immigration, following the fatal shootings by federal agents of two U.S. citizens in Minneapolis who were protesting deportation operations.

WALZ ON GOP CALLS FOR HIM TO RESIGN OVER FRAUD SCANDAL: ‘OVER MY DEAD BODY’

Klobuchar’s campaign launch gives Democrats a high-profile candidate with fundraising prowess to defend the governor’s office as Republicans aim to end a two-decade-long losing streak in the blue-leaning state.

The move by Klobuchar was expected, after the senator two weeks ago filed preliminary paperwork with the Minnesota Campaign Finance Board in what sources in her political orbit told Fox News Digital was a “preliminary step.”

And since last month’s announcement by Walz, a fellow Democrat, that he was scrapping his bid for an unprecedented third term as Minnesota governor, Klobuchar had been receiving calls urging her to run, Democratic sources confirmed to Fox News Digital.

The senator has won all four of her Senate elections by healthy margins, including a nearly 16-point re-election in 2024.

But Klobuchar, who is currently number three in Senate Democratic leadership, faced hurdles to rise higher in party leadership in the chamber.

FRAUD FALLOUT FORCES WALZ TO ABANDON GUBERNATORIAL RE-ELECTION BID

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York is the top Democrat in the upper chamber and isn’t expected to leave his post.

Senate Minority Whip Dick Durbin of Illinois, the number two Democrat in the chamber, is retiring from Congress, leaving an opening to fill in the leadership pecking order. But Sen. Brian Schatz of Hawaii is the expected heir apparent for that position.

Before serving in the Senate, Klobuchar was elected twice as county attorney in Hennepin County, Minnesota’s most populous. 

She also ran unsuccessfully for the Democratic Party’s 2020 presidential nomination. And a trip by Klobuchar last summer to the first-in-the-nation presidential primary state of New Hampshire sparked speculation that Klobuchar may be mulling another White House run in 2028.

Walz launched his re-election bid in September, but in December started facing a barrage of incoming political fire from Trump and Republicans, and some Democrats, over the large-scale theft, under his watch as governor, in a state that has long prided itself on good governance.

More than 90 people — most from Minnesota’s large Somali community — have been charged since 2022. 

How much money has been stolen through alleged money laundering operations involving fraudulent meal and housing programs, daycare centers and Medicaid services is still being tabulated. But the U.S. attorney in Minnesota said the scope of the fraud could exceed $1 billion and rise to as high as $9 billion.

INSIDE THE RISE AND FALL OF TIM WALZ

Prosecutors said some of the dozens that have already pleaded guilty in the case used the money to buy luxury cars, real estate, jewelry and international vacations, with some of the funds also sent overseas and potentially into the hands of Islamic terrorists.

“This is on my watch, I am accountable for this and, more importantly, I am the one that will fix it,” Walz told reporters in December, as he took responsibility for the scandal.

But the scandal went viral late last year following the release of a video by 23-year-old YouTube content creator Nick Shirley, who alleged widespread fraud at Somali-run daycare centers. Days later, the Trump administration froze federal childcare funding to Minnesota.

A defiant Walz vocally pushed back against calls by Republican state lawmakers to resign amid the state’s sweeping fraud scandal.

“I’m not going anywhere. And you can make all your requests for me to resign. Over my dead body will that happen,” the governor told reporters.

Nearly a dozen Republicans are vying to be the GOP’s gubernatorial nominee, including Minnesota House Speaker Lisa Demuth, state Rep. Kristin Robbins, former state Sen. Scott Jensen, and healthcare technology executive Kendall Qualls, a past congressional and gubernatorial candidate. And they’ve made the fraud scandal central to their campaigns.

But one of those candidates, a Republican outsider and Minneapolis lawyer who represented the federal immigration agent who fatally shot Renee Good in early January, ended his Republican bid for Minnesota governor after nurse Alex Pretti was shot and killed by federal agents a week and a half ago.

“I cannot support the national Republicans’ stated retribution on the citizens of our state,” Chris Madel said in a message posted on social media, as he announced he was dropping his outsider bid for the GOP gubernatorial nomination. “Nor can I count myself a member of a party that would do so.”

It’s been 20 years since Republicans have won a gubernatorial election in Minnesota. You have to go back to then-Gov. Tim Pawlenty’s 2006 re-election victory.

But Minnesota Republicans entered the new year “feeling assured of Republican wins in 2026 because of the fraud issue,” Amy Koch, a Minnesota-based Republican strategist and former state senator told Fox News Digital.

FALLOUT FROM MINNESOTA SHOOTINGS BY FEDERAL AGENTS PUT REPUBLICANS ON DEFENSE 

That was before the massive deployment of federal agents to Minneapolis as part of the Trump administration’s efforts to deport millions of undocumented migrants, and the fatal shootings of Good and Pretti.

“I think it’s going to make things more difficult… The images and the energy behind the ICE out movement will definitely play against Republicans,” said Koch, the first and only woman elected as Minnesota Senate majority leader. “Four weeks ago, I would have told you Republicans were going to do incredibly well statewide in Minnesota, and now I have a lot of questions.”

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Republican Governors Association communications director Courtney Alexander said in a statement last month that “Walz’s failed leadership is emblematic of Minnesota Democrats’ agenda and whoever Democrats choose to replace Walz with at the top of the ticket will need to defend years of mismanagement and misplaced priorities.”

But the Democratic Governors Association (DGA) chair, Gov. Andy Beshear of Kentucky, said last month,”No matter who decides to run or how much national Republicans want to spend, the DGA remains very confident Minnesotans will elect another strong Democratic governor this November.””

Democratic Sen. Tammy Duckworth of Illinois fired back at Vice President JD Vance after he likened her sparring session with Secretary of State Marco Rubio during a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing about America’s Venezuela policy to an argument between the fictional character Forrest Gump and Isaac Newton.

“Watching Tammy Duckworth obsessively interrupt Marco Rubio during this hearing is like watching Forest Gump argue with Isaac Newton,” Vance quipped in a Wednesday post on X.

Duckworth responded, “Forrest Gump ran toward danger in Vietnam. Your boss ran to his podiatrist crying bone spurs. Petty insults at the expense of people with disabilities won’t change the fact that you’re risking troops’ lives to boost Chevron’s stock price. It’s my job to hold you accountable.”

RUBIO SAYS US HAS NO PLAN TO USE FORCE IN VENEZUELA — BUT WARNS ‘IMMINENT THREAT’ COULD CHANGE THAT

Other Democrats also responded to Vance.

Democratic Rep. Shri Thanedar of Michigan shared Vance’s post and wrote, “Imagine watching Forrest Gump and your takeaway is to mock people with disabilities.”

“That’s a U.S. Senator doing her job. This is a random troll tweeting at her,” Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker wrote in a post on X.

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“Comparing @SenDuckworth to Forrest Gump is classless and disgraceful. She’s a veteran who lost her legs fighting for this country. If you had any honor, you’d take this post down. But you work for Trump, so clearly you have none,” Democratic Rep. John Garamendi of California declared in a post.

Duckworth served in the Illinois Army National Guard and was deployed to Iraq in 2004, according to a biography on her Senate website, which notes that “On November 12, 2004, her helicopter was hit by an RPG and she lost her legs and partial use of her right arm.”

She noted in 2022 social media posts that an RPG “tore through the cockpit of the helicopter I was co-piloting. The blast cost me my legs, partial use of my right arm and nearly my life,” she noted.

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Vance added in another post, “Thank God we have a Secretary of State who knows his facts AND has the patience of Job. Great job, @SecRubio.” 

Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, a potential 2028 Democratic presidential contender, is criticizing former President Joe Biden and his administration for failing to deliver results for Americans.

“The Biden-Harris administration didn’t provide those specific tangible things that people could see or feel,” Shapiro said this week during an appearance on the “Raging Moderates” podcast that comes amid a slew of interviews the governor’s giving as part of the rollout of his new memoir, “Where We Keep the Light: Stories From a Life of Service.”

Shapiro, who is running for re-election this year in the crucial northeastern battleground state, has taken some jabs at Biden and former Vice President Kamala Harris, who may end up being a rival for the 2028 Democratic presidential nomination.

The governor, in his interview, gave what he called “a very specific, concrete example” of the Biden-Harris administration’s failing optics.

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“One of the biggest things holding back our rural communities is a lack of high-speed, affordable internet,” Shapiro said as he pointed to his home state.

The governor added that he “was incredibly proud of President Biden when they got that infrastructure bill passed to provide the billions of dollars that were needed to plug everybody in, connect everybody in Pennsylvania.

But, he added, “Do you know how many people … this many years later, have been connected to high-speed affordable internet thanks to President Biden’s law in Pennsylvania? Zero. Because the dollars were never driven out.”

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Shapiro used the episode to contrast the former president’s style of governing with his own.

“That broadband example is just one where I think there’s a real difference in approach. I’m about concrete, get s— done, show your work and not just talking about it,” the governor added.

Fox News Digital reached out to the former president’s spokesperson for comment but hadn’t received a response by the time this story published.

But a longtime Democratic strategist and veteran of the Biden-Harris 2024 presidential campaign told Fox News Digital he found Shapiro’s comments “pretty weird and bizarre.”

“Every Democrat, including Josh Shapiro, has a long record of praising and defending Joe Biden and the same legislation that Shapiro is now taking issue with,” the strategist, who asked to remain anonymous to speak more freely, said.

Broadband funding for Pennsylvania was delayed in part due to federal rules changes, administrative bottlenecks and shifting technology focus.

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Shapiro, in his book, shared new details about briefly considering challenging Harris for the 2024 Democratic presidential nomination after Biden dropped out of the race one month after a disastrous debate performance against President Donald Trump.

But he wrote that he ultimately agreed with his wife that it wasn’t the right time to seek the presidency.

Shapiro was among a handful of top Democrats that Harris considered as a running mate before she chose Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz.

The former vice president alleged in “107 Days,” her memoir published last year, that, during the running mate vetting process, Shapiro insisted on being “in the room for every decision” if he were to become vice president.

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Shapiro in an interview late last year rejected her claims as “bulls—” and “blatant lies.”

And Shapiro’s book includes critiques of Harris, including the accusation that, during the Harris team’s vice-presidential vetting process, Shapiro was asked if he had ever been an agent of the state of Israel.

Fox News’ Alexander Hall contributed to this story.

The White House invited rank-and-file Senate Democrats to discuss government funding options, but they declined, instead opting to unveil a list of demands to rein in Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents in exchange for their votes to avert a shutdown. 

“The White House hopes to avoid another debilitating government shutdown, and invited Democrats for a listening session to better understand their position,” a senior White House official told Fox News Digital in a statement. “It’s unfortunate their leadership blocked the meeting.”

Meanwhile, Senate Democrats unveiled their laundry list of demands to rein in the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) immigration operations in exchange for their support to keep the government open. 

Democrats in the upper chamber have been quietly formulating a list of legislative demands to bring Republicans to corral DHS and ICE after another deadly shooting in Minnesota over the weekend. 

That incident, where Alex Pretti was fatally shot during an immigration operation in Minneapolis, spurred Democrats to reject the forthcoming six-bill funding package teed up for a key test vote on Thursday. 

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Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., laid out three requirements for Democrats as the upper chamber hurtles toward a Friday deadline to fund the government. He noted that his entire caucus was unified on the “set of common sense and necessary policy goals that we need to rein in ICE and end the violence.”

Schumer’s first demand was an end to roving patrols, tightening the rules governing the use of warrants, and requiring that ICE coordinate with state and local law enforcement. 

Second on the list was a uniform code of conduct and accountability for federal agents, akin to the same standards applied to state and local law enforcement. Schumer contended that when those policies are broken, there should be independent investigations. 

And third, Democrats want “masks off, body cameras on,” and for federal agents to carry proper identification.

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“These are common sense reforms, ones that Americans know and expect from law enforcement,” Schumer said. “If Republicans refuse to support them, they are choosing chaos over order, plain and simple. They are choosing to protect Ice from accountability over American lives.”

Over the last few days, Senate Republicans have signaled their willingness to negotiate reforms to the agency beyond those baked into the existing DHS funding bill, but they have added the caveat that Senate Democrats have to actually produce a list, first. 

And Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., has made clear that Republicans would plow ahead with the current six-bill funding package, which among other bills includes funding for the Pentagon, for Thursday’s vote. However, he hasn’t entirely closed the door on stripping the DHS bill as Democrats have called for.

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Though conversations are ongoing at the rank-and-file level across the aisle, Thune said that Schumer and Senate Democrats should bring their asks to the White House and President Donald Trump.  

“If there’s a way that the Democrats have things that they want the White House could accommodate, short of having to modify the bill, that would be, I think the best way to do what we need to do here, and that is to make sure the government gets funded,” Thune said. 

Plus, if the DHS bill were stripped from the broader package and advanced through the Senate as Schumer has promised Democrats would do, it would still need to return to the House. Lawmakers in the lower chamber are still on their week-long recess and aren’t slated to return until next week.

There is a possibility that Democrats’ demands could also be split into a separate bill, similar to what Republicans offered during the previous shutdown when Schumer and company demanded a clean, three-year extension to the expiring Obamacare subsidies. 

When asked if he would be amenable to that option, Schumer charged that the “White House has had no specific, good, concrete ideas.”

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“In terms of what we want, there’s two simple things to do to get this done, and we want to get it done, and we want to get it done quickly,” Schumer said. “Number one, Leader Thune has to separate the Homeland Security bill out from the other five. He can simply put an amendment on the floor to do that.” 

“So it’s simple to do, and I am quite confident it would pass overwhelmingly,” he continued. “Already I’ve seen 6 or 7 Republicans say they would vote for it. So that’s what we should do. And then we should sit down and go and come up with strong proposals to reform ICE and rein in ICE and end the violence.”