Democracy Now!

ICE and CBP are using facial recognition technology to facilitate President Trump's mass deportation campaign. With a smartphone app, immigration officers can scan faces of people they encounter and quickly search those faces against 200 million images stored in several government databases that are notoriously error-filled," according to Nathan Freed Wessler, deputy director of the ACLU's Speech, Privacy, and Technology Project. It's being used on the street in ways that are dangerous, that are totally unprecedented in this country, and that are, frankly, blatantly illegal," he adds.

Democracy Now! speaks with Congressmember LaMonica McIver of New Jersey, who is facing up to 17 years in prison stemming from an incident last May when she and two other Democratic congressmembers sought to inspect Delaney Hall, a private prison run by the GEO Group under contract with ICE. The federal government claims McIver assaulted an immigration officer. I'm not going to let them bully me out of doing my job. I'm just not," says McIver, who describes conditions at the prison as dismal. There was an entire riot at the same detention center because detainees were not getting food."

Liam Ramos, the 5-year-old from Minnesota who was detained last week after coming home from preschool, is being held in the South Texas Family Residential Center in Dilley, Texas. Congressmembers who visited Liam report that has been depressed and hasn't been eating well. Javier Hidalgo, legal director at RAICES, has worked with families at the detention center for years. We often hear about food with bugs or worms in it, half-frozen food being given, guards yelling at parents if their kids are making too much noise or they're asking for an extra apple," says Hidalgo. Reform is inadequate. It just needs to be shut down."When attorney Eric Lee visited the detention center, he observed immigrant families holding a protest to demand the release of immigrant children. The Democratic Party is as equally responsible as Trump for creating the infrastructure of mass family and adult detention in this country, and it is necessary that this protest movement stay a hundred miles away from the Democratic Party and develop its orientation to the working class," says Lee, whose clients have been detained at the ICE jail since June.

DHS Places Two Agents Who Killed Alex Pretti on Administrative Leave, Trump Claims Congressmember Omar Staged Attack Against Herself, Congressmember Castro Meets with 5-Year-Old Liam Ramos and His Father at Dilley Detention Center, Autopsy Finds Cuban Immigrant in ICE Custody Died of Homicide, DHS Urges FEMA Staff to Avoid Phrases Like Watch Out for ICE" to Prevent Memes, Senate Democrats Threaten to Block Funding for DHS, FBI Raids Election Office in Georgia's Fulton County, Federal Reserve Leaves Interest Rates Unchanged, Resisting Trump's Pressure to Lower Them, Secretary of State Rubio Refuses to Rule Out Further U.S. Attacks on Venezuela, Trump Threatens Another U.S. Military Strike on Iran, Bulletin of Atomic Scientists Sets Doomsday Clock to 85 Seconds to Midnight, Russia Launches Wave of Attacks Across Ukraine, Spain Announces Amnesty for Nearly 500,000 Undocumented Immigrants, Dozens Confirmed Dead Due to Extreme Cold Weather Conditions Across the U.S., Bruce Springsteen Releases New Song Streets of Minneapolis"

We speak with Congressmember Delia Ramirez following an attack on her colleague, Congressmember Ilhan Omar, who was sprayed with an unknown foul-smelling liquid while speaking at a town hall event in Minneapolis on Tuesday. This is a direct influence of what you're seeing from this president," Ramirez says, criticizing Trump's policies and his long history of attacking Omar in particular.Ramirez also discusses her efforts in Congress to impeach Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem. Ramirez says Noem's agency is rotten from the inside out" and must be completely dismantled. You have an agency killing people, executing them, lying about it, and then talking about investigating themselves while operating with impunity."

As President Trump shakes up the leadership of his immigration crackdown in Minnesota following the killing of ICU nurse Alex Pretti by Border Patrol agents, we examine the expanding role of the agency in interior enforcement.Independent journalist Todd Miller says the Trump administration's immigration operations in U.S. cities are an extension" of policies and practices that we've been seeing in the U.S.-Mexico borderlands now for decades," characterizing Border Patrol culture as one of rampant abuse and impunity.We also speak with Jenn Budd, a former Border Patrol agent who quit in 2001 and is now an immigrant rights activist. She disputes the claim that recent violence by CBP staff is a result of insufficient training. The management of the Border Patrol has been corrupt for many generations, and then after 9/11 we just gave them money with little accountability and let them design their own accountability systems," says Budd.

Minnesota Congressmember Ilhan Omar was sprayed with an unknown liquid Tuesday during a town hall event in Minneapolis. Omar has long been a favorite target of President Donald Trump and his supporters, and the attack on her comes just days after Florida Congressmember Maxwell Frost was punched by a Trump supporter while attending the Sundance Film Festival.It's truly heartbreaking, this moment we find ourselves in," Omar said when she resumed her remarks, discussing the Trump administration's violent immigration crackdown. But if we know anything about U.S. history, it's that everything is temporary, and we will find our way out of this."

As outrage grows across the country over the Trump administration's deadly immigration crackdown in Minnesota, we speak with reporter Drew Harwell, who recently reported on the government's effort to hire thousands more ICE agents. According to an internal strategy document uncovered by The Washington Post, the federal government plans to spend $100 million over a one-year period in a wartime recruitment" push, including online targeting of UFC fans, gun-rights supporters, military enthusiasts and more. Meanwhile, the administration's online messaging has repeatedly echoed white nationalist slogans.They're spending a lot of money on it, so you're just seeing it everywhere on social media now. And the question is: Who are they trying to attract?" says Harwell.

Congressmember Ilhan Omar Attacked at Town Hall in Minneapolis, CBP Report: Two Federal Officials Fired Weapons at Alex Pretti in Fatal Shooting, Federal Judge Temporarily Blocks Trump Admin from Deporting Liam Ramos and His Father, 5-Year-Old Girl Deported to Honduras Despite Being U.S. Citizen, Dozens of Anti-ICE Protesters Arrested in Manhattan After Occupying Lobby of Hilton Hotel, ICE Agents to Join U.S. Delegation to the Winter Olympics in Italy, CNN: Trump Admin Planning to Establish a CIA Presence in Venezuela, Families of Two Trinidadian Men Killed in U.S. Strikes Sue Trump Administration, Trump: Cuba Will Be Failing Pretty Soon", Justice Department to Finish Releasing Epstein Files Soon, South Carolina Measles Outbreak Reaches Nearly 800 Cases

As calls grow to defund and abolish ICE, author Alec Karakatsanis warns that activists should take care to not fall for copaganda," which takes ordinary people who are outraged over what's happening and converts them into supporting meaningless reforms that actually don't reduce the size or power or budget of these bureaucracies." Karakatsanis is the author of Copaganda: How Police and the Media Manipulate Our News. He breaks down many of the myths about crime and policing that arose in the wake of Black Lives Matter protests over the past decade, including the reformist myth of police body cameras and the so-called crime wave. Police-tracked crime, contrary to what you have been told in the news every single day for the last several years, is actually down," says Karakatsanis, but fearmongering mainstream media narratives are designed to make people so afraid that they support repressive institutions that infringe on their own liberty, that don't make them safer, but that give people in power in our society more ability to control and manipulate."

ICE is asserting federal immigration officers have the power to forcibly enter homes without a judicial warrant. That's just not true," says legal scholar Stephen Vladeck, who says the claim directly violates the Fourth Amendment protections against unreasonable search and seizure. What we're really seeing here is an effort to twist a handful of old cases that have recognized circumstances in which the government doesn't need a judicial warrant to enter a home." Vladeck also encourages witnesses to share video evidence of federal agents' abuses to support future prosecution efforts.

A federal judge in Minnesota heard arguments Monday in a lawsuit filed by city and state officials to halt Trump's deployment of thousands of federal immigration agents to Minnesota. The federal government cannot coerce us into doing it their way," says Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison, who is part of the group that brought the lawsuit. As the Trump administration continues to obstruct local investigations into the killings of Renee Good and Alex Pretti by federal agents in Minnesota this month, we speak to Ellison and Georgetown University law professor Stephen Vladeck to discuss state and federal jurisdiction over investigations and potential prosecutions. Ellison also responds to the announcement that border czar" Tom Homan is headed to Minnesota to replace U.S. Border Patrol commander-at-large" Gregory Bovino as the public face of Trump's immigration enforcement surge.

Trump Admin Removes Border Patrol Commander Greg Bovino from Minnesota, Minnesota GOP Gubernatorial Candidate Drops Out of Race, Citing Trump's Immigration Crackdown, Partial Government Shutdown Likely as Senate Dems Refuse to Back Funding Bill over DHS Funding, Immigrant Families Protest Inside ICE's Detention Facility in Dilley, Texas, Immigration Agents Detain 2-Year-Old Girl in Minnesota and Her Father, Israel Recovers Remains of Last Hostage Held in Gaza, U.N. Says 37,000 Palestinians Forcibly Displaced in the Occupied West Bank in 2025, Human Rights Activists News Agency: Iranian Security Forces Killed 5,777 Protesters in Anti-Gov't Protests, ICC Rules Former Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte Can Stand Trial, South Sudan's Military Orders All Civilians and U.N. Personnel to Evacuate Jonglei State, Over 30,000 Kaiser Permanente Healthcare Workers Go on Strike

Tens of thousands of Minnesotans braved the bitter cold in Minneapolis on Friday to demand "ICE out." The march was organized by faith and labor leaders and was accompanied by calls for an economic blackout. Seven hundred businesses reportedly closed in solidarity. Democracy Now!'s John Hamilton filed a report from the streets. John Reuss, an English teacher, said his students are afraid. The fear is so tangible," said Reuss. If we do not shut it down right now, your city is next."

Civil rights attorney, minister and activist Nekima Levy Armstrong, who was arrested by federal officials for participating in an anti-ICE demonstration at Cities Church in St. Paul, was released from federal custody on Friday. They have altered the facts, just as they altered my image as a way of trying to criminalize nonviolent, peaceful protests and lawful dissent against their unlawful and unjust actions," says Armstrong, noting images posted by the Trump administration that digitally altered her to make it appear as if she was sobbing during her arrest.

Democracy Now! speaks with a former colleague of Alex Pretti, the 37-year-old ICU nurse shot dead by federal agents in Minneapolis on Saturday. Dr. Aasma Shaukat, who hired Pretti for a research job over a decade ago, says he lived with kindness, compassion and a strong sense of civic duty to help his fellow citizens."

Protests have intensified in Minnesota after federal immigration agents killed Alex Pretti, a 37-year-old ICU nurse who worked in the Minneapolis Veterans Health Care System, on Saturday. Democracy Now!'s John Hamilton reports from the scene of Pretti's killing, where protesters clashed with federal agents. We've seen everything from people that are unconscious, that have fainted, tear-gassed, bruised, bloody noses, can't breathe," said Melissa, a local resident. State Senator Omar Fateh responded to the killing with outrage: He had a camera on his hand. He was tackled, he was pummeled, and he was executed."

Federal Immigration Agents Fatally Shoot 37-Year-Old ICU Nurse Alex Pretti in Minneapolis, Attorney General Bondi Demands Access to Minnesota's Voter Rolls and Welfare Data, FBI Agent Resigns After Unsuccessfully Trying to Probe ICE Agent Who Killed Renee Good, Israel Kills Three Palestinians in Gaza, Violating U.S.-Brokered Ceasefire, U.K. Authorities Arrest 86 Protesters Demanding the Release of Palestine Action Prisoners, Venezuela Releases Dozens of Political Prisoners, Vaccine Panel Chair Says Polio and Measles Shots Should Be Optional, Marxist Scholar Michael Parenti Dies at 92

Today marks the 50th anniversary of Paul Robeson's death on January 23, 1976. The actor, singer, athlete and scholar was once famous around the world, but he was attacked, blacklisted and hounded by the government for his political beliefs. Jackie Robinson, the Brooklyn Dodgers star who had integrated the all-white major baseball leagues, was hailed as a national hero in 1949 for testifying against Robeson before the House Un-American Activities Committee associated with Senator Joseph McCarthy. For more, we speak with sports journalist Howard Bryant, author of the new book Kings and Pawns that looks at how Robeson and Robinson's paths intertwined at the height of the McCarthy era.History writes people out of the story, and it's our job to write them back in," Bryant says. Fifty years after Paul Robeson's death, it's time for a reappraisal of one of the great Americans."

Hundreds of businesses in Minnesota have closed for the day as part of an economic blackout to protest the surge of ICE agents into the state. Organizers of the strike include faith leaders and unions, who are encouraging people to stay home from work, school and shopping.Kieran Knutson, president of the Communications Workers of America Local 7250, says the strike comes after weeks of living under the heavy weight of this racist campaign of terror by ICE agents" in the Twin Cities area. Nothing runs without the working class in this country, and today we're going to show our power."

The Justice Department said Thursday that it had arrested three people in Minnesota who interrupted a church service in St. Paul to protest a pastor's role as a local ICE official. The activists involved in the protest now face charges under the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act, a law written to protect abortion clinics.One of the arrestees, civil rights attorney Nekima Levy Armstrong, had her appearance digitally altered in a photo posted online by the White House to make it look like she was crying while handcuffed. Her attorney, Jordan Kushner, tells Democracy Now! that Justice Department officials refused to let Levy Armstrong turn herself in, instead demanding an arrest at the hotel where she was staying. This was their trophy," says Kushner, who adds that the government used more manipulative tactics to keep her in jail" even though no one is detained in a case like this."

As President Donald Trump formally inaugurated his so-called Board of Peace at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, on Thursday, his son-in-law Jared Kushner presented his vision of turning the Gaza Strip into an upscale seaside resort with gleaming skyscrapers and entirely new cities. The proposal is said to require an investment of at least $25 billion, and Kushner's presentation showed a map of the besieged territory divided into different zones. This all comes as Palestinians in Gaza struggle to survive with little food or shelter amid ongoing Israeli restrictions on aid.It's hard to take these people seriously. I mean, they're buffoonish. But the problem is, is that they control the largest military and economy in the world," says Sharif Abdel Kouddous, the Middle East and North Africa editor at Drop Site News. He calls the Board of Peace a parody of a colonial body" and says the plan for Gaza will result in ultimate control and subjugation" of the Palestinian population.

Economic Blackout: Businesses Close for Day in Minnesota to Protest ICE Crackdown, Minnesota Activists Arrested for Anti-ICE Church Protest; White House Posts Doctored Photo, Outrage Grows over ICE Detaining 5-Year-Old Liam Ramos, Seven Democrats Back Spending Bill to Fund DHS & ICE, Israel Kills 4 in Gaza as Kushner Lays Out Plan for Turning Gaza into Seaside Resort, Russia, Ukraine & U.S. Negotiators Hold Trilateral Talks in Abu Dhabi, WSJ: U.S. Seeks Cuban Collaborators to Help Topple Government, Public Health Advocates Decry U.S. Leaving World Health Organization, Trump Orders Review of All Federal Funding Going to Democratic-Led States, Ex-Special Counsel Jack Smith: Not Holding Trump Accountable for Trying to Steal Election Could Be Catastrophic", Larry Ellison's Oracle Part of New Deal to Own U.S. Version of TikTok, Filipino Radio Journalist Sentenced to Up to 18 Years in Prison

Deadly anti-government protests continue to rock Iran in the midst of the country's spiraling economic crisis. Thousands of civilians are believed to have been shot dead by government forces in the past few weeks. Meanwhile, President Trump continues to threaten military intervention in addition to a harsh new set of economic sanctions that the U.S. introduced this week. Although a government-instituted communications blackout has made it difficult to assess exactly how many people have been killed, we sit down with Iranian author Sahar Delijani to discuss the working-class uprising" against Iran's capitalist regime." Delijani was born in Iran's notorious Evin Prison - where her leftist activist parents were detained in the 1980s - just a few years before her uncle was executed during the 1988 massacres of Iranian political prisoners. This is part of a long struggle of Iranian people to oust this regime, against tyranny, against dictatorship, against an authoritarian, theocratic regime, a military state," she says. This has been happening, partly due to sanctions, but also partly to this rampant corruption and mismanagement."

Trump's deportation machine has touched down in Maine. As the state, home to a significant share of the Somali American community, faces a surge of ICE activity, we're joined by Safiya Khalid, the first-ever Somali American city councilmember for Lewiston, Maine's second-largest city. Lewiston's streets are completely empty" as residents of all immigration statuses fear harassment and violence from unchecked federal agents. If a white woman was shot in the face, none of us are safe," warns Khalid, referring to the recent killing of Renee Good by ICE in Minneapolis. She advises people to stay home and do not leave your home."

We speak to Greek economist Yanis Varoufakis about the United States under Donald Trump and its attempts to reshape the post-World War II international consensus. Trump has all his work done for him by placid European centrists who went along with the policy of trashing international law and creating the circumstances for him to create his private company and say, 'Right, I'm taking over the world,'" laments Varoufakis as he draws a connection between Trump's pay-to-play diplomacy and the mercantalist policies of European colonial powers. Varoufakis comments on plans for the reoccupation of Gaza by the U.S.-led Board of Peace," which signed its founding charter this week; Trump's designs on the Danish territory of Greenland; and European leaders' ineffectual, largely symbolic resistance to Trump's assertion of U.S. supremacy on the world stage.

Trump Backs Down on Threats to Take Greenland - at Least for Now, Trump Launches Board of Peace; Critics Warn It Could Undermine U.N., Israel Kills Three Journalists in Gaza Working with Egyptian Humanitarian Group, ICE Claims Right to Forcibly Enter Homes Without Warrant: Leaked Memo, Federal Agents Detain 5-Year-Old Coming Home from Preschool in Minnesota, U.S. Moves to Deport 2 Men Who Witnessed Cuban Man Killed Inside ICE Facility in Texas, Trump Administration Launches New Immigration Crackdown Targeting Somali Communities in Maine, Supreme Court Appears to Oppose Trump Efforts to Fire Lisa Cook from Federal Reserve, House Committee Votes to Hold Bill & Hillary Clinton in Contempt in Epstein Probe, Uvalde Officer Acquitted in Trial over Response to 2022 School Shooting, Chile's Far Fight President-Elect Names Two Pinochet Lawyers to Cabinet

The largest nurses' strike in New York City history has reached its 10th day, as negotiations stall. Nearly 15,000 New York City nurses are fighting for a contract that includes higher pay, a staffing increase to manage patients, improved benefits and workplace protections against violence. Senator Bernie Sanders and Mayor Zohran Mamdani joined the picket line at Mount Sinai West Tuesday with the New York State Nurses Association. This is a fight for our patients," says Michelle Gonzalez, a nurse at Montefiore Medical Center in New York City, who notes one of the nurses' priorities in contract negotiations is to have ICE officers not be allowed into our facilities."

World leaders are gathered in Davos, Switzerland, site of the World Economic Forum - which has turned into an emergency summit over President Trump's threats to take over Greenland, a semiautonomous territory of Denmark. This comes as Oxfam International has released a report finding economic inequality creates fertile ground for increased authoritarianism." Amitabh Behar, executive director of Oxfam International, says the entire multilateral structure seems not just fragile, it's broken."

We speak with activist, civil rights attorney and ordained minister Nekima Levy Armstrong about her role in a protest at a St. Paul church on Sunday, where one of the pastors, David Easterwood, also leads a local ICE field office in the Twin Cities area. I believe that if someone professes to represent the Gospel of Jesus Christ and to preach it, that they should not be allowing ICE agents to drag people out of their homes," Levy Armstrong tells Democracy Now! She spoke from an undisclosed location after Trump officials vowed to investigate and possibly arrest the demonstrators.

Federal Prosecutors Issue Subpoenas to Five Democratic Officials in Minnesota, You'll Find Out": Trump Teases Takeover of Greenland, U.S. Seizes Another Venezuelan Oil Tanker in the Caribbean, Russian Attack on Kyiv Leaves Ukrainian Parliament Without Power, UAE and Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu Commit to Joining Trump's Board of Peace" in Gaza, NYC Mayor Mamdani and Vermont Senator Sanders Join Striking Nurses, Trump Admin Acknowledges DOGE Employees Accessed and Shared Social Security Data, Public Health Groups Sue CDC and RFK Jr. over Vaccine Recommendations, Trump Pardons California Woman After Commuting Her Sentence During His First Term, Trump Asks Federal Judge to Block DOJ from Releasing Fmr. Special Counsel Jack Smith's Report, Fed Chairman Powell Set to Attend SCOTUS Oral Arguments on Trump's Attempts to Fire Fed Governor Cook, NYT Editorial Board: Trump Used Office to Make at Least $1.4 Billion, Bruce Springsteen Dedicates Performance of Song Promised Land" to Renee Good

Tensions are escalating between the United States and Europe after President Trump threatened to impose tariffs on eight European allies that oppose his push to take over Greenland, a semiautonomous territory of Denmark. Thousands took part in protests in Greenland and Denmark over the weekend to oppose Trump's annexation threats.Julie Rademacher, chair of Uagut, an organization for Greenlanders in Denmark, tells Democracy Now! that Trump's rhetoric is a threat to everyone. This is not only Greenland being attacked. This is democracy, freedom and the world order as we know it that's being attacked."

One month after the deadline set by Congress for the Justice Department to release all files on the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, the Trump administration has made available less than 1% of the files. This comes as President Trump has dramatically expanded immigration operations in Minnesota while attacking Venezuela, threatening to bomb Iran and maintaining that the United States will annex Greenland.Trump's campaign promised that the files would be released, all of the files. Now, that's not happened," says legal expert Michele Goodwin, calling it a travesty."

Federal agents carrying out the Trump administration's sweeping immigration actions in Minnesota have been widely accused of using excessive force, arresting U.S. citizens, denying people access to legal counsel and other violations. Now President Trump has put 1,500 U.S. military troops on standby for possible deployment to Minnesota under the Insurrection Act, which would mark another major escalation in his attack on dissent.The federal government is not above the law," says legal expert Michele Goodwin, who says the administration's violent crackdown in Minnesota marks a reversal" of how federal force was used during the civil rights movement to protect peaceful protest. It's quite horrific."

Democracy Now! producer John Hamilton reports from Minneapolis, where residents say ICE agents are violently targeting legal observers and community members as part of the Trump administration's crackdown on immigrants. Patty O'Keefe, who was arrested while monitoring ICE activity in her vehicle, said agents broke our two front windows and dragged us out," then taunted her in custody. She said one agent told her, You guys got to stop obstructing us. That's why that lesbian bitch is dead," referring to Renee Good, the mother of three shot dead earlier this month by an ICE agent.Indigenous residents have also been detained. Nobody is more American than the American Indian," Oglala Sioux attorney Chase Iron Eyes told Democracy Now!, adding ICE's actions against Native Americans are a legal impossibility."This comes as the Pentagon has placed 1,500 soldiers on standby for a possible deployment to Minnesota, just days after President Trump threatened to invoke the Insurrection Act. The Trump administration has also reportedly opened criminal investigations into Minnesota Governor Tim Walz and Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey, all while declining to investigate Good's killing.

Trump Threatens to Impose Tariffs on 8 European Countries Opposing His Push to Take Over Greenland, Pentagon Prepares 1,500 Soldiers to Be Possibly Deployed to Minnesota, Trump Calls for Regime Change in Iran, Israeli Forces Start Demolishing UNRWA Headquarters, Trump Invites Putin, Xi and Netanyahu to Join Board of Peace to Oversee Gaza Ceasefire, U.N. Human Rights Chief Volker Turk Visits Sudan, Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni Reelected to a Seventh Term, At Least 19 People Killed in Chile Wildfires, Guatemala Declares State of Emergency After 10 Police Officers Killed, Hundreds Protest in Davos Ahead of Trump's Visit, WaPo: DOJ Looking to Weaken Gun Laws to Appeal to Second Amendment Supporters, Top Catholic Cardinals in the U.S. Issue Statement Denouncing U.S. Foreign Policy, Rev. Al Sharpton Denounces ICE Killing of Renee Good at MLK Day Rally, Coalition of Activist Groups Calls for a Nationwide Walkout to Protest Trump Admin

Today is the federal holiday that honors Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. He was born January 15, 1929. He was assassinated April 4, 1968, at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee. He was just 39 years old. While Dr. King is primarily remembered as a civil rights leader, he also championed the cause of the poor and organized the Poor People's Campaign to address issues of economic justice. Dr. King was also a fierce critic of U.S. foreign policy and the Vietnam War. We play his Beyond Vietnam" speech, which he delivered at New York City's Riverside Church on April 4, 1967, as well as his last speech, I've Been to the Mountaintop," that he gave on April 3, 1968, the night before he was assassinated.

All That's Left of You is a new feature film that looks at 70 years of Palestinian history through the lens of one family's experience over three generations. Democracy Now! speaks with Palestinian American director and actress Cherien Dabis, who says the film is about looking for meaning in grief and choosing humanity even in the most difficult of circumstances, which Palestinians have done and do every single day."

A federal appeals court on Thursday delivered the Trump administration a victory in its efforts to deport Palestinian activist Mahmoud Khalil, opening the door for his rearrest. Khalil was a graduate student at Columbia University when he was arrested in March and detained for months. He missed the birth of his son, Deen, while in detention. The Trump administration is trying everything in its power to come after me, to put the full weight of the government to actually make an example out of me," Khalil tells Democracy Now! The U.S. government has not brought a shred of evidence that I broke any laws."The appeals court did not weigh in on the constitutional merits, instead saying Khalil should have appealed his removal order in immigration court before going to a federal judge. What people need to understand is the immigration courts are not real courts," says Baher Azmy, a member of Khalil's legal team. They're part of the executive branch."

Following Minneapolis protests in response to the ICE killing of Renee Good, President Trump threatened to invoke the Insurrection Act Thursday, a move that would allow him to send military forces to the city. Trump's comments came after a second person was shot by ICE following a traffic stop. Trump probably sees this as a civil war," says Baher Azmy, legal director for the Center for Constitutional Rights. This, as we all know, is being leveraged as part of an autocratic power grab."

A new investigation by ProPublica finds over 40 cases of immigration agents using potentially fatal chokeholds and other moves that can cut off breathing. These arrests are playing out around the country, and often in full view of cameras and witnesses," says ProPublica reporter Nicole Foy. She also reports that at least 170 U.S. citizens have been arrested by immigration agents.

Trump Threatens to Invoke Insurrection Act to Suppress Protests Against Federal Agents' Abuses, ACLU Lawsuit Seeks to Halt Unprecedented Level of Violence" Committed by Immigration Agents, Records Reveal Minneapolis Mother Renee Good Was Struck Multiple Times by ICE Agent's Bullets, Medical Examiner: Cuban Immigrant's Death in Texas ICE Jail Was from Asphyxia Due to Neck and Chest Compression", Pentagon Orders Carrier Strike Group to Middle East as Trump Threatens to Attack Iran, U.S. Seizes Another Oil Tanker as Venezuela's Interim President Proposes Opening Oil Sector, Cuba Repatriates Remains of 32 Officers Killed in U.S. Attack on Venezuela, Maria Corina Machado Gives Nobel Peace Prize to Donald Trump, NATO Members Deploy Soldiers to Greenland Amid Trump's Threat to Seize Territory, Israeli Forces Kill 10 Palestinians in Latest Violations of U.S.-Brokered Ceasefire Deal, Appellate Court Overturns Ruling That Freed Palestinian Activist Mahmoud Khalil, Trump Says 2026 Midterm Elections Should Be Canceled, CBS News Exclusive" That ICE Officer Suffered Internal Bleeding" Draws Huge Internal Concern"

With Iran gripped by nationwide protests that activists say have left at least 2,600 people dead, we recently spoke with renowned Iranian filmmaker Jafar Panahi, whose latest film, It Was Just an Accident, was shot entirely in secret inside Iran and won the Palme d'Or at the 2025 Cannes Film Festival. The film has since been shortlisted for an Oscar in the international feature category. Panahi dedicated a recent New York Film Critics Circle Award to Iranian protesters.It Was Just an Accident centers on a group of former prisoners who kidnap a man they believe was their interrogator and grapple with whether to exact revenge, and Panahi says the film drew directly from his own experience with state violence and repression. Panahi has been repeatedly arrested in Iran, served prison sentences, and was recently sentenced in absentia to an additional year in prison and a two-year travel ban.In an extended interview, Pahani discussed the protests in Iran, fighting against censorship, and the risk of prolonged cycles of violence. I have always said this regime will fall. It is impossible for it to not fall, because it's a failed state in every sense," he said. What I care about is the future of my country. I want the country to stand. I want there to be peace, and I want our children and the children of our children to not be facing bullets." He was interpreted by Sheida Dayani.

The FBI raided the home of Washington Post reporter Hannah Natanson this week and seized her electronic devices, part of a leak probe into a government contractor accused of mishandling classified government materials. Natanson has reported extensively on the Trump administration's changes to the federal bureaucracy, including mass layoffs of government workers. This comes amid a broader pattern of attacks on the media, including lawsuits, funding cuts, and increasing media and technology consolidation.It's hard not to see [the FBI raid] as an effort to intimidate not just journalists, but the sources that would communicate with them," says Jameel Jaffer, director of the Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University. It's a terrible time for press freedom. ... We need the press to inform the public about the government's actions and decisions and to help us hold government officials to account."

U.S. Pulls Back from Some Middle East Bases Amid Trump's Threats to Attack Iran, State Department to Halt Processing Visas for Immigrants from 75 Countries, ICE Shoots Man in Minneapolis After Gov. Walz Decries Federal Campaign of Organized Brutality", ICE Jails Oglala Sioux Members at Fort Snelling, Site of 19th-Century Concentration Camp, Protester in Santa Ana Is Left Permanently Blind by Less Lethal" Round Fired by Federal Agent, ProPublica: ICE Agents Used Potentially Fatal Chokeholds in 40+ Cases, Maine Officials Warn ICE Is Preparing Surge into Lewiston and Portland, Danish Foreign Minister: Fundamental Disagreement" with Trump over Greenland, Trump's Middle East Envoy Witkoff Says Gaza Truce Has Entered Its Second Phase, Senate Republicans Kill War Powers Resolution to Limit Trump on Venezuela, FBI Agents Raid Home of Washington Post Reporter Hannah Natanson, Democratic Lawmakers Say DOJ Is Investigating Them over Video to U.S. Service Members, Trump Flips Middle Finger to Autoworker Who Called Him a Pedophile Protector"

When Becky Pepper-Jackson started middle school, she wanted to join her school's track and field team. Like many girls her age, she was excited to make new friends and cultivate a passion for a sport. But unlike the other girls on her school's track and field team, Pepper-Jackson is trans. And because she lives in West Virginia, a state which has banned transgender girls from participating in public school sports, Pepper-Jackson was excluded from what for her classmates is a normal childhood experience. Pepper-Jackson sued, and her case is now before the conservative-majority Supreme Court - which, after oral arguments Tuesday, appears likely to uphold similar laws throughout the country. The states have attempted to justify these things in terms of some sort of alleged sex-based athletic advantage," says Karen L. Loewy of the LGBTQ+ legal advocacy organization Lambda Legal. It's really about whether the court is going to uphold trans people's equal opportunity in all aspects of public life."

A new report finds the number of people in ICE detention has nearly doubled in Trump's first year back in office, driven by indiscriminate arrest policies that have locked up more and more people without criminal records, an unprecedented situation for immigration detention." We break down the numbers with Aaron Reichlin-Melnick, a senior fellow at the American Immigration Council, which published the report. Reichlin-Melnick explains that ICE's annual budget has approximately quintupled, even as 2025 marked the agency's deadliest year so far. Four more people have already died in detention in just the first two weeks of 2026. Crucially, all of this has been slower than they wanted," he adds. Their hope was to have over 100,000 people in detention by today; they've hit 70,000."

Reporter Ken Klippenstein's latest investigation into the inner workings of the Trump regime finds that immigration enforcement agencies ICE and Border Patrol have relaxed recruitment and deployment guidelines in an effort to fill the administration's sweeping deportation goals. There's splits within the agency about the shooting [of Renee Good] and the general mission," says Klippenstein, whose reporting is based on leaked documents and interviews with officials from the Department of Homeland Security. Because they're worried about sending more experienced agents there who might not agree with the mission," he explains, DHS is heavily recruiting volunteers with little vetting or training to carry out its deportation mandate. They have more money than they know what to do with, and they need to fill those roles, and they're doing everything they can to create them so that the actual personnel head count can match the resources that they now have."

They didn't ask very many questions." Independent journalist and U.S. military veteran Laura Jedeed recounts how she was hired as a deportation officer by Immigration and Customs Enforcement after a six-minute interview at a job fair in Texas, despite never signing any paperwork, not having completed a background check, likely failing a drug test, and publicly sharing her opposition to the Trump administration and its anti-immigrant crackdown. It seems like the answer to the question, 'Who are they hiring?' is: They don't know."

Trump's immigration enforcement surge continues to rock Minnesota, just a week after the ICE shooting of Renee Good, a mother of three and U.S. citizen in Minneapolis. The Minnesota Star Tribune reports that the number of federal agents now in Minneapolis and Saint Paul outstrips the 10 largest Twin Cities metro police departments combined. We don't want ICE in our neighborhoods. They are violent, they are creating chaos and terrorizing our immigrant neighbors, and they are not keeping anyone safe," says vice president of the Saint Paul City Council, Hwa Jeong Kim, who comments on the city's new lawsuit against the Trump administration, the loss of temporary protected status for thousands of Somali immigrants in the United States, plans for a general strike in Minneapolis and more.