Democracy Now!

An immigration judge has blocked the Trump administration from deporting Mohsen Mahdawi, a Columbia University graduate and green card holder who was detained last April at what he thought was a citizenship interview. Mahdawi grew up in a refugee camp in the occupied West Bank and was an outspoken critic of Israel's genocide in Gaza while attending Columbia. He spent two weeks in ICE custody before a federal judge ordered his release. Mahdawi's case is part of a broader pattern of the Trump administration targeting international students for expressing solidarity with Palestinians and demanding divestment from the Israeli government.Mahdawi says even though immigration judges are part of the executive branch, the Trump administration clearly violated the rules of law" in targeting him. The harder they come on me, the more energy and power I will have, and I will continue to work for the freedom of the Palestinian people and the right of return and equal rights and human rights for Palestinians."

Journalist Jeremy Scahill says the Trump administration's vision for the Gaza Strip is of a continued colonial apartheid regime" with Israel and U.S. interests controlling the lives of millions of Palestinians in perpetuity. Palestinians are being told that they must completely surrender," says Scahill. President Trump chaired the first meeting of his so-called Board of Peace this week, a body established for Gaza but whose remit has already expanded.

Despite chairing the first meeting of his newly formed Board of Peace on Thursday, President Donald Trump continues to threaten war against Iran as the Pentagon positions a massive fighting force in the Middle East. Trump said he would give Tehran about two weeks to reach a deal on its nuclear program, but media reports indicate that he could launch an attack within days. Iran maintains its nuclear enrichment program is for peaceful civilian purposes.Journalist Jeremy Scahill says Trump already used the veneer" of negotiations to attack Iran last year, and that despite ongoing talks between the two countries, he has essentially already decided to launch a new war that could quickly spiral out of control.I've been told by military experts who spent decades working in the Pentagon that there's a spirit of delusion that has just taken hold in the administration," says Scahill. You have elements here who are absolutely obsessed with Iran and destroying the Islamic Revolution."

British police released former Prince Andrew on Thursday after 11 hours in custody, with his shocking arrest earlier in the day making him the first senior British royal to be arrested in nearly 400 years. Police are probing his connections to the deceased sexual predator Jeffrey Epstein and whether he shared classified government information with him while serving as a U.K. trade representative from 2001 to 2011. King Charles' brother, now known as Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor after being stripped of his royal title, is the most high-profile figure in the U.K. to be implicated in a widening scandal over ties to Epstein, who died in a New York jail in 2019 awaiting trial on sex trafficking. Authorities did not reference sexual abuse allegations against Mountbatten-Windsor or Epstein's sex trafficking case; Mountbatten-Windsor settled a lawsuit with Epstein survivor Virginia Roberts Giuffre in 2022 and has denied all wrongdoing.Investigative journalist Carole Cadwalladr says this week's arrest feels like a rupture" in British society because the royals are seen as sacrosanct" and rarely subjected to such treatment. And in America, what are we seeing? We're seeing this sort of culture of complete impunity, where it appears the law is not equal, where there are people who are above it."

WSJ: Trump is Considering Limited" Strikes on Iran, With Option to Ramp Up Assault, Trump Says U.S. Will Give $10B in Funding to His U.N. Alternative, the Board of Peace", Israeli Settler Fatally Shoots Palestinian-American Teen in Occupied West Bank, Palestinian Journalists Describe Beatings, Starvation and Sexual Assault by Israeli Captors, Hallmarks of Genocide": U.N. Experts Sound Alarm Over Sudanese Paramilitary Group's Atrocities, U.K. Police Raid Former Home of Ex-Prince Andrew, Arrested Over Ties to Jeffrey Epstein, French Prosecutors Reopen Probe Into Epstein Associates Including Model Scout Jean-Luc Brunel, Trump Banner Draped over DOJ Headquarters Amid Growing Demands for Full Release of Epstein Files, Judge Rejects Trump Administration's Practice of Denying Bonds to Indefinitely Jail Immigrants, Police in Cameroon Arrest Journalists Probing Trump's Secretive Deportation Campaign, Federal Prisons Prohibit Gender-Affirming Care for Trans People, Bernie Sanders Rallies Support for California Wealth Tax Opposed by Billionaires and Gov. Newsom

U.K. police have arrested the former Prince Andrew, the brother of King Charles, on suspicion of misconduct in public office. Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor was previously sued in 2021 by Epstein survivor Virginia Giuffre, who accused him of multiple instances of sexual assault when she was underage. The lawsuit was settled out of court shortly after it was filed, but Mountbatten-Windsor was allowed to keep his royal title and privileges at the time. Those were recently stripped following revelations about the extent of his friendship with the American serial sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. Their friendship has been widely known to the public since at least 2008, when Epstein was first convicted for soliciting a minor for sex.British authorities are now reportedly investigating whether Mountbatten-Windsor shared confidential government information with Epstein in 2010 while serving as a U.K. trade representative. This is a story about sex trafficking, about the abuse of numerous women, and it seems like where justice might be brought, it's on a different charge, which is sharing confidential information with a powerful person," says Novara Media's Michael Walker.

Following violent and indiscriminate sweeps of immigrant communities across the United States, the number of people in ICE detention has increased 75% since President Trump returned to the Oval Office. Yet, as the number of lawsuits against the Trump administration's mass deportation campaign skyrockets, the federal government has continued to jail people indefinitely. Although judges across the U.S. have handed down more than 4,400 rulings of illegal detentions of immigrants since October, very few of these rulings have been acted upon. Reuters reporter Brad Heath says the unprecedented pile-up" of tens of thousands of cases is straining the capacity of the rapidly shrinking staff at the Department of Justice and further delaying the release of immigrants from ICE jails.

We continue our conversation with attorney Laura Marquez-Garrett and victim advocates Lori Schott and Lennon Torres about their fight to hold tech giants accountable for the damaging and even deadly effects of social media addiction on children and young adults. We're also joined by Frances Haugen, a former Facebook employee who blew the whistle on several of the company's harmful and manipulative practices in 2021. Haugen says mega-rich tech oligarchs" like Mark Zuckerberg cared about teenagers only as people who could bring others onto the platform. They worried about public perception, not the actual health of the kids," says Haugen, adding that companies like Zuckerberg's Facebook under-invested in the safety of children," ignoring years of warnings about the psychological impacts of their products on child development in favor of optimiz[ing] for spending more and more time on these platforms."

Meta - the parent company of social media platforms Facebook and Instagram - and Google are on trial in Los Angeles following a lawsuit accusing them of fueling and profiting from addictive behaviors aimed at children and young adults. We speak to three people attending the landmark trial, including TIME 100 Most Influential People in Health" honoree Laura Marquez-Garret, an attorney at the Seattle-based Social Media Victims Law Center who has filed more than 1,200 complaints against tech companies throughout the country. Their work is part of a nationwide fight on behalf of victims and families, including two of our guests, parent advocate Lori Schott and Lennon Torres, a former child performer who now works to hold tech companies accountable for facilitating online child sexual abuse.Schott's daughter Analee was just 18 years old when she died by suicide in 2020, following a struggle with depression and body dysmorphia that Schott says was aggravated by predatory tech." Schott and Torres say Meta knew about the dangers of products like face augmentation filters and easily bypassed age verification, yet did nothing to improve its systems. I was receiving hundreds of messages from grown adult men trying to groom me online because they understood I was vulnerable," says Torres, now 26. The social media platforms could easily stop strangers from being able to contact kids ... [but] when I look at big tech leadership, I just see lazy. I see lack of innovation. I see a lack of accountability."

CNN: U.S. Military Planning to Strike Iran as Early as This Weekend, UK Authorities Arrest Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor Over Epstein Ties, Former Victoria's Secret CEO Les Wexner Testifies About His Links to Epstein, UN Panel Says Alleged Sex Crimes in Epstein Files Amount to Crimes Against Humanity, The Guardian: Trump Admin Planning 5,000-Person Military Base in Gaza, Trump's So-Called Board of Peace Holds Its Inaugural Meeting in Washington D.C., Lancet Medical Journal: Death Toll in Israel's Assault on Gaza Far Higher Than Reported, Palestinian Photographer Mariam Dagga Posthumously Wins 2026 Polk Award for Photojournalism, Russian President Putin Slams U.S. Oil Blockade of Cuba, MS NOW: DHS Launching Nationwide Campaign to Probe and Prosecute Naturalized Citizens for Voter Fraud, Trump Admin Planning to Roll Back Limits on Toxic Mercury Pollution From Coal-Fired Power Plants, NYU Langone Health to Close Trans Youth Health Program, South Korea's Former President Sentenced to Life in Prison, Eight Backcountry Skiers Found Dead After Avalanche in California

In a surprise victory, progressive candidate Analilia Mejia won the Democratic primary to fill the House seat left vacant by New Jersey Governor Mikie Sherrill. Mejia served as 2020 national political director for Bernie Sanders and as deputy director of the Labor Department's Women's Bureau under President Joe Biden. As a proponent of community organizing, she has pledged to refuse corporate PAC and AIPAC dollars. It is training each other, engaging each other, understanding our history, so that we can protect our democratic institutions and we could preserve the kind of self-governance that we strive for in the United States," Mejia says.Mejia won 29.3% of the vote against former Congressmember Tom Malinowski, who placed second with 27.6% of the vote. Although Mejia was the only candidate to say Israel is committing a genocide, Malinowski - who is pro-Israel but supportive of limits on aid to Israel - was the target of AIPAC ads that may have led to Mejia's victory.

The Trump administration has fired Consumer Financial Protection Bureau program manager Alexis Goldstein for documenting a meeting a year ago between the agency and Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE. I have been on admin leave ever since, until I was fired last week," says Goldstein, who says the Trump administration's gutting of the CFPB removed key oversight of the financial industry. So, essentially, no one is watching the biggest banks."Goldstein is now running to represent Maryland's 6th Congressional District.

As U.S. and Iranian officials continue negotiations over Iran's nuclear program, President Trump has ordered a buildup of U.S. forces in the Middle East, including two aircraft carriers. This is an extremely dangerous situation, which both sides are actually incentivized to escalate," says Trita Parsi, executive vice president of the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft. Both sides actually believe that a short, intense war may improve their negotiating position."

Tributes are pouring in from across the globe for Reverend Jesse Jackson, who died on Tuesday. The civil rights icon and two-time presidential candidate was 84 years old. Democracy Now!'s Juan Gonzalez recounts his experience as a reporter visiting Cuba and Puerto Rico alongside Jackson. Jesse was always there when people were fighting for some form of social justice," says Gonzalez. Of all the U.S. leaders of the past half-century, I believe none had a more international view and a commitment to worldwide social justice as Jesse Jackson did."Bishop William Barber, president and senior lecturer of Repairers of the Breach, met Jackson 40 years ago as a student when he asked to work with Jackson's student campaign during his 1984 presidential run. Jackson was somebody that was serious about people uniting to save humanity - PUSHing - that he was serious about an agenda of uplift," says Barber.

U.S. Military Says It Carried Out Strikes on Three Boats in the Caribbean and Pacific, Killing at Least 11 People, Iran's Foreign Minister: U.S. and Iranian Negotiators Have Agreed on Guiding Principles" on Iran's Nuclear Program, Mehdi Mahmoudian, Oscar-Nominated Co-Writer of It Was Just an Accident," Released from Iranian Prison, Peru's Congress Impeaches Interim Peruvian President Jose Jeri, Federal Judge Blocks Efforts by Trump Administration to Rearrest Kilmar Abrego Garcia, Immigration Judge Blocks Trump Administration from Deporting Mohsen Mahdawi, DHS Spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin Announces Her Resignation, Two-Month-Old Baby Detained at ICE Jail in Dilley, Texas, Deported Along with His Family, Tarique Rahman Sworn In as Bangladesh's New Prime Minister, Independent Journalist Georgia Fort and Activist Trahern Crews Plead Not Guilty in Federal Court in Minnesota, Late Show" Host Colbert Blasts Trump Admin After CBS Pulls Interview with Texas Democrat Talarico

Two ICE officers have been placed on administrative leave and are accused of lying under oath about an incident in Minneapolis last month involving two Venezuelan immigrants, one of whom was shot in the leg by an agent. After the incident, the two Venezuelan men, Alfredo Alejandro Aljorna and Julio Cesar Sosa-Celis, were charged with felony assault, falsely accused of beating an ICE officer with a broom and snow shovel. Sosa-Celis was shot in the right thigh. While the Department of Homeland Security originally claimed the two men had attacked the agent, video evidence and witness testimonies contradicted the accusations. Federal prosecutors in Minneapolis last week dropped the felony assault charges against Aljorna and Sosa-Celis.Criminal defense attorney Frederick Goetz, who represents Aljorna, says the admission of wrongdoing is unusual" given that the Justice Department has been zealous in carrying out President Trump's anti-immigration agenda. It was not only a dismissal, but a dismissal with prejudice, meaning that my client can never be charged again for anything to do with this incident," says Goetz.

We look back on the life and legacy of civil rights icon Reverend Jesse Jackson, who died Tuesday at the age of 84. From marching with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. to building the Rainbow Coalition in his two presidential runs and beyond, Jackson's life contributed to making this country more democratic, more inclusive, more fair," says Howard University political science professor Clarence Lusane.We also speak with activist Larry Hamm, who co-chaired Jackson's 1988 presidential campaign in New Jersey. Hamm first met Jackson in 1971 and says he was audacious" above all else. Jesse knew his place in history," says Hamm.

As we remember the life and legacy of civil rights icon Reverend Jesse Jackson, who died Tuesday at the age of 84, we air remarks by Senator Bernie Sanders from a 2024 tribute held during the Democratic National Convention. Sanders, whose own two runs for president galvanized progressives across the United States, hailed Jackson's campaigns in 1984 and 1988 for building a broad coalition for social justice. Jesse Jackson is one of the very most significant political leaders in this country in the last 100 years," Sanders said. Jesse's contribution to modern history is not just bringing us together; it is bringing us together around a progressive agenda."

Civil rights icon Reverend Jesse Jackson died Tuesday at the age of 84. Jackson is known for working closely with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference during the civil rights movement, and he later ran two groundbreaking presidential campaigns in 1984 and 1988, when he pushed to cut the Pentagon budget while increasing domestic spending on education, housing and healthcare. Jackson was also involved in international campaigns from the anti-apartheid struggle in South Africa to supporting Palestinian self-determination. We remember his legacy and air interviews from his many appearances on Democracy Now! over the years.

Civil Rights Icon Rev. Jesse Jackson Dies at 84, Second Round of Indirect Talks Between U.S. and Iranian Officials Underway in Geneva, Ukrainian and Russian Officials Meet in Geneva Today for U.S.-Brokered Peace Talks, Drop Site News: Senior Hamas Leader Says Group Will Not Follow Calls to Unilaterally Disarm, Trump Calls Cuba a Failed Nation" and Refuses to Rule Out Military Action, Minnesota Investigators Say FBI Refusing to Share Evidence in Alex Pretti's Killing, AG Bondi Faces Bipartisan Criticism After Telling Congress All Epstein Files Have Been Released

Three activists - Robert Earl Council, Melvin Ray and Raoul Poole - featured in the Oscar-nominated documentary The Alabama Solution were placed in solitary confinement last month in what advocates believe is retaliation for their role in exposing the abuses of the state's prison system and for helping to organize a prison labor strike. We're joined by three guests who worked on the documentary: director Andrew Jarecki, investigative journalist Charlotte Kaufman and Tiffany Johnson Cole, a childhood friend of and attorney for Robert Earl Council. Johnson Cole has filed a lawsuit against her client's transfer. She says Council, Ray, Poole and other incarcerated activists have put themselves in harm's way in an effort to bring about change in a system that is truly cruel and inhumane."The Alabama Solution features footage clandestinely shot on contraband cellphones wielded by men incarcerated by the fifth-largest state prison system in the United States. The footage includes the apparent cover-up of the beating death of an incarcerated man by prison guards. Any authoritarian administration does not want you to see what's going on inside," says director Andrew Jarecki. They can't really continue to do what they're doing if there's enough public pressure, which is one of the reasons why Alabama is so anxious about this film." Kaufman adds that the problem extends throughout the country. We spend $80 billion a year on prisons and jails and incarcerate 2 million people, and yet the public's not allowed to see in and evaluate whether the system is fulfilling its mandate."

Thirty-three-year-old Palestinian activist Leqaa Kordia will soon mark one year trapped in ICE detention. Kordia, who was born in East Jerusalem, first came to police attention when she was arrested during the 2024 Gaza solidarity protests at Columbia University. Those charges were dropped, but Kordia was later detained at routine immigration check-in in New Jersey. Federal immigration officers said her student visa had expired, and sent her to an ICE detention center in North Texas, where she's been incarcerated ever since. Under what she describes as torturous conditions, she suffered her first-ever seizure, which led to a multiday hospitalization. For three days, ICE refused to inform her family and legal team about her status and whereabouts. She's been a relatively healthy person physically until she was detained ... [but] her health is at great risk if she remains in custody," says Kordia's attorney Sarah Sherman-Stokes.Kordia has lost more than 200 family members to Israel's genocide in Gaza, and a judge has ruled that she cannot be repatriated to Israel because of risk of persecution there, but the U.S. government has refused to release her on bond while her legal battle crawls along. Leqaa should never have been detained," in the first place, says Sherman-Stokes.

Reuters: U.S. Military Preparing for Possible Strikes on Iran If Trump Orders Attack, Israel Kills at Least 11 Palestinians in Gaza Over the Past 24 Hours, Oscar-Winning Palestinian Director of No Other Land" Says His Family Has Been Attacked by Israeli Settlers, U.S. Military Strikes Boat in the Caribbean, Killing Three People, Ukraine Launches Drone Strike on Russian Black Sea Port Ahead of Peace Talks with the U.S., AOC and Secretary of State Rubio Offer Competing Visions of U.S. Foreign Policy at Munich Security Conference, Trump Admin Planning to Spend Over $38 Billion to Buy Warehouses and Convert Them into ICE Jails, Two ICE Agents Face Criminal Probe over Lying to a Jury After Shooting a Venezuelan Immigrant in Minnesota, DHS Enters Partial Shutdown After Senate Democrats Refuse to Support Funding Bill, Federal Judge Orders Return of Deported Babson College Student Any Lucia Lopez Belloza Back to the U.S., RFK Jr. Says He Used to Snort Cocaine Off of Toilet Seats", Barack Obama Blasts Clown Show" After Trump Posts Racist Video Depicting Obamas as Apes, Russell Vought Uses $15M from Foreign Aid Agency He Gutted to Pay for Security Detail, San Francisco Educators End Strike with Tentative Deal to Fully Fund Family Healthcare

Cuba is facing a growing humanitarian crisis due to a U.S.-imposed oil blockade. The Trump administration has also threatened new tariffs against any nation that sends fuel to Cuba, which has been under a U.S. trade embargo since 1962. These measures have caused fuel shortages and widespread blackouts, while the cost of food and transportation has skyrocketed. This is a massive violation of human rights," says Ernesto Soberon Guzman, Cuban ambassador to the United Nations. It's a massive violation of international law."

Faith leaders in North Carolina are leading a three-day trek from Wilson to Raleigh in an event aimed at supporting unabridged voting rights; living wages and ending poverty; welcoming immigrants," and more. Reverend Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove spoke with Democracy Now! from the march, saying that love is the power that can overcome fear in this moment." As North Carolina faces a President Trump-led gerrymandering effort, Wilson-Hartgrove hopes that the event will mobilize voters across the state.

The Republican-controlled House of Representatives voted on Wednesday to require proof of U.S. citizenship in the November midterm elections. If it becomes law, it would be the worst voter suppression bill ever passed by Congress," according to Ari Berman, national voting rights correspondent for Mother Jones. The bill really combines a lot of the worst things that Republicans want to do with regards to voting, and it comes at a time when Trump appears dead set to try to interfere in the midterm elections," he adds.Wednesday's vote sends the legislation on to the Republican-led Senate, where it is expected to receive a vote but unlikely to garner the 60-vote, filibuster-proof majority needed for passage.

Trump Halts Endangerment Finding" That Gave EPA Power to Regulate Greenhouse Gases, Senate Rejects Homeland Security Funding Bill, Teeing Up Partial Government Shutdown, Trump Administration Says It's Ending Surge of Immigration Agents to Minnesota, Marine Vet Says Feds in Minneapolis Sampled His DNA and Cloned His Phone Without Warrant, IRS Improperly Shared Taxpayer Data with DHS as Part of Trump's Immigration Crackdown, Federal Judge Orders Return of Venezuelans Deported to Notorious Prison in El Salvador, I Felt Like an Animal": Palestinian Activist Leqaa Kordia Describes Abuse in ICE Custody, High Court Rules U.K. Government's Ban on Palestine Action Unlawful, Mexico Sends Humanitarian Aid to Cuba as U.S. Tightens Blockade, Venezuela's Interim Leader Takes U.S. Energy Secretary Chris Wright on Tour of Oil Facilities, Rep. Ro Khanna Demands DOJ Unredact Name of Politician Who Wrote 2016 Email to Jeffrey Epstein, Epstein Files Set Off Political Storm in Norway, Prompt Resignations at Goldman Sachs & DP World, Judge Rules Hegseth Trampled" Sen. Mark Kelly's First Amendment Rights in Retribution Effort, LGBTQ+ Activists Raise Pride Flag Over Stonewall After Its Removal by Trump Administration

As we continue to look at Wednesday's contentious hearing of the House Judiciary Committee, we speak with Vermont Congressmember Becca Balint, who walked out after Attorney General Pam Bondi accused her of supporting antisemitism. Balint, who is Jewish and whose grandfather died in the Holocaust, had just asked Bondi to meet with survivors of Jeffrey Epstein - a demand that Bondi repeatedly ignored during the hearing.It was just heartbreaking to watch the attorney general act in this way, especially when survivors have waited, over the course of decades, for justice," Balint tells Democracy Now!

Authorities in Iran have arrested the Oscar-nominated screenwriter Mehdi Mahmoudian in Tehran. Mahmoudian co-wrote the film It Was Just an Accident with dissident director Jafar Panahi, and their film is nominated for Best Original Screenplay and Best International Feature at this year's Academy Awards. Mahmoudian was arrested after signing a public statement condemning Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, as well as the brutal crackdown on anti-government protesters, calling it an organized state crime against humanity." Panahi, who also signed the statement alongside 15 others, recently spoke with Democracy Now! host Amy Goodman at the Santa Barbara International Film Festival.Panahi described meeting Mehdi when they were both imprisoned, which led to their creative partnership. Because he had spent nine years of his life in prison, I knew that he had a deep understanding of different people in the society, and for that reason, I invited him to this film to help with writing the dialogues, because he knew the different characters of this film very well," Panahi said.

President Donald Trump held a lengthy meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu Wednesday at the White House, where the two leaders discussed ongoing nuclear talks with Iran. Trump has said he wants to reach a deal with Iran about the country's nuclear program, which Tehran insists is only for peaceful civilian purposes but which the U.S. and Israel claim is aimed at developing nuclear weapons. In recent weeks, Trump has repeatedly threatened to attack Iran after the Iranian government crushed a wave of anti-government protests, killing thousands of people. The Pentagon is also reportedly preparing to move a second aircraft carrier strike group to the Middle East, raising pressure on Iran's leadership.What Netanyahu is seeking to do with this visit is to inject poison pills into the negotiations in order to ensure that they fail, and thereby set the stage for a new armed conflict with Iran," says Middle East analyst Mouin Rabbani.

Attorney General Pam Bondi testified Wednesday before the House Judiciary Committee, where she repeatedly refused to answer questions about her handling of the Jeffrey Epstein case. She also refused to apologize to Epstein survivors over the botched release of files, some of which contained survivors' personal information and even uncensored nude photographs. During the hearing, Bondi was photographed consulting a binder that appeared to show the search history of lawmakers who visited the Justice Department to examine the unredacted Epstein files in person.Essentially, they were spying on us," says Democratic Congressmember Pramila Jayapal. It's certainly not going to stop me from continuing to review the files, but it is absolutely outrageous."Jayapal also condemns the Justice Department for refusing to open new investigations into Epstein's associates listed in the files. These were rich, powerful, wealthy people, mostly men, who groomed, raped, abused, manipulated young girls," she says.

AG Bondi Hurls Insults at Lawmakers as She Defends Handling of Epstein Files, Trump Says Nothing Definitive" Decided on Iran After Hourslong Meeting with Israeli PM Netanyahu, Thousands Protest in Melbourne as Israeli President Herzog Wraps Australia Tour, Video Shows ICE Agents Breaking Into Home of Pennsylvania Family, St. Paul Mayor Demands ICE Leave Minnesota After Federal Agents' Pursuit Ends in Multi-Car Crash, ICE Jailing Immigrants at Previously Undisclosed Floor of Manhattan Federal Building, New Body-Camera Footage and Emails Released in CBP Shooting of Marimar Martinez, FAA Closed El Paso Airspace After CBP Fired Anti-Drone Laser at Party Balloon, House Passes Bill to Repeal Trump's Tariffs on Canada, Trump Accepts Washington Coal Club's Inaugural Award, Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Fires Alexis Goldstein for Documenting DOGE Meeting, Argentina's Senate Approves Sweeping New Labor Bill Pushed by Far-Right President Milei

In a victory for the fossil fuel industry, a set of Obama-era rules that required the federal government to regulate the emissions of six greenhouse gases is being reversed by the Trump administration. The changes would undo the legal basis of the fight against global warming, as well as remove industrial reporting obligations and roll back emissions standards for cars and trucks. Environmental engineer Gretchen Goldman helped author those emission standards while working for the Department of Transportation under the Biden administration. Now as the president of the Union of Concerned Scientists, she says their repeal will not only increase what drivers pay at the pump but also set U.S. innovation back on the world stage. We're really seeing the abdication of U.S. leadership on climate, and that has huge implications, both for our immediate ability to reduce heat-trapping emissions globally ... but also in terms of our standing and contribution in the world."

We continue our conversation with Texas Congressmember Al Green as he plans to reintroduce impeachment proceedings against President Trump over infusing his hate into policy." Green currently represents Texas's 9th Congressional District, which was recently redistricted by the Texas state Legislature in favor of Republican voters. He says his seat, which he has held for over two decades, was targeted for redistricting in part because of his opposition to Trump. Green is now running for reelection in Texas's neighboring 18th Congressional District.

House Democrats grilled the heads of ICE, CBP and USCIS at a hearing Tuesday over their role in the Trump administration's brutal campaign to carry out mass deportations. These three directors are responsible for what we are seeing around the country, whether it's in detention, whether it's in the streets or even in the courts," says Illinois Congressmember Delia Ramirez, who is calling for her fellow Democrats to suspend funding for the Department of Homeland Security unless Republicans agree to their demands to rein in federal immigration agents. We play excerpts from Ramirez and other representatives' remarks about the killings of U.S. citizens Renee Good and Alex Pretti in Minneapolis, the deaths of immigrants in ICE custody and the fear and terror experienced by civilians confronted daily by masked federal agents. This is more than authoritarianism. This is a de facto dictatorship," says Texas Congressmember Al Green, who also spoke at the hearing.

Democratic Lawmakers Grill the Heads of ICE, CBP and USCIS on Trump's Mass Deportation Campaign, Immigrant Family Files a Lawsuit Claiming Their Toddler Was Returned to an ICE Jail Amid a Measles Outbreak, ACLU Files Lawsuit Against Law Enforcement for Mass Immigration Raid in Idaho, Democratic Congressmember Khanna Accuses the DOJ of Improperly Redacting Names of Wealthy Men in the Epstein Files, Former Palm Beach Police Chief Says Trump Told Him in 2006 That Everyone" Knew of Epstein's Behavior, Commerce Secretary Lutnick Testifies He Visited Epstein's Island, Trump Admin Removes Pride Flag from Stonewall National Monument in New York City, Trump Admin Plans to Cut $600 Million in Public Health Funds, Trump Threatens to Send Another Aircraft Carrier to Strike Iran, WSJ: Pentagon to Send 200 U.S. Troops to Nigeria, UNICEF Warns More Than Half of All Children in North Darfur Are Acutely Malnourished, FAA Reopens El Paso Airport After Abruptly Halting Flights, At Least Nine People Killed in a Mass Shooting in British Columbia, Canada, FBI Raid of Fulton County Election Office Based on Debunked Claims from Election Deniers, Federal Grand Jury Declines to Indict Six Democratic Lawmakers for Urging Service Members to Refuse Unlawful Orders, Progressive Analilia Mejia Wins House Democratic Primary in New Jersey

A new ProPublica investigation reveals new details about a sprawling ICE detention complex where families describe horrific conditions inside, such as being served contaminated food, with children and parents at times finding worms in their meals. Lights are reportedly left on for 24 hours a day. South Texas Family Residential Center, in the town of Dilley a few dozen miles from the southern border with Mexico, detains an estimated 3,500 people, more than half of them children. I have never felt so much fear to go to a place as I feel here. ... Once I go back to Honduras, a lot of dangerous things could happen to my mom and I," a 14-year-old detained at Dilley, Ariana Velasquez, told ProPublica. There are also mounting reports of psychological abuse by guards, some of whom have allegedly threatened families with separation. Many of the children who are now being sent there are being arrested by ICE around the country, and some of them, like Ariana, have been living [in the U.S.] for years," says Mica Rosenberg, investigative reporter at ProPublica.

Senate Democrats have reportedly begun tentative negotiations with the White House just days before funding for the Homeland Security Department is set to expire at midnight on Friday, threatening another partial government shutdown. Joaquin Castro, a Democratic congressmember from Texas, visited the family immigration detention center in Dilley where 5-year-old Liam Ramos was held. Kids have been traumatized by the experience," says Castro.

Lawmakers on Capitol Hill are accusing the Justice Department of covering up the names of co-conspirators of the deceased sex offender Jeffrey Epstein as fallout from the Epstein files grows across the globe. Millions of pages remain unreleased. As many prominent U.S. figures evade accountability following mentions in the Epstein files, a number of European figures have resigned for their relationships with Epstein. The most extraordinary and worrying thing of what is going on in the United States is the scale of normalization that is happening, in which the press is absolutely a structural part of this," says Carole Cadwalladr, award-winning investigative journalist. I have been shocked - deeply, deeply shocked - by the absence of headlines."

Pentagon Says It Killed 2, Leaving 1 Survivor, in Attack on Boat in Eastern Pacific, Airlines Suspend Flights as Cuba Runs Out of Jet Fuel Amid U.S. Oil Blockade, Israel's Security Cabinet Expands Control Over Illegal West Bank Settlements, Israel's Latest Gaza Ceasefire Violations Leave 7 Palestinians Dead, Thousands Protest as Israeli President Isaac Herzog Visits Sydney, Australia, Ghislaine Maxwell Pleads the Fifth in Deposition to House Oversight Committee, 53 Are Dead or Missing After Boat Carrying Migrants Sinks Off Libyan Coast, Federal Court Strikes Down California Law to Unmask Federal Agents, Family Demands Answers After Leqaa Kordia Is Hospitalized in ICE Detention, Immigration Judge Rejects Trump Admin's Efforts to Deport Tufts University Student Rumeysa Ozturk, WSJ: Trump Admin Planning to Repeal Obama-Era Greenhouse Gas Endangerment Finding", Nurses at Mount Sinai and Montefiore Reach Tentative Deals on New Contracts, San Francisco Public School Teachers Striking for Salary Increases and Family Health Benefits

The partial reopening of Gaza's southern Rafah crossing with Egypt has been marked by chaos and severe restrictions imposed by Israel, as tens of thousands of Palestinians continue to wait for medical evacuation to receive urgent care outside the Gaza Strip. According to U.N. data, only 36 Palestinians in need of medical treatment were allowed to leave Gaza during the first four days of the crossing's reopening. Palestinians permitted to reenter Gaza have also reported abuse and hourslong interrogations. This comes amid growing skepticism over the implementation of the second phase of the Trump-brokered ceasefire, which Israel has repeatedly violated with near-daily attacks across Gaza since the truce took effect in October.No one inside Gaza is calling this a ceasefire," says Arwa Damon, former CNN correspondent and the founder of INARA, a nonprofit organization that supports children impacted by war. She says ongoing Israeli restrictions on medical evacuation are essentially a death sentence for many people, including children. They are either going to end up with permanent injury or they are going to die."

With the 2026 Winter Olympics underway in Italy, we speak with writer and academic Jules Boykoff, author of six books about the Olympics, who says Milan is hosting the Games despite widespread public opposition from locals. Boykoff says that while the Olympics have attempted in recent years to institute some cosmetic" reforms, they don't get at the core elements that really plague the Olympic Games, and that's overspending, that's the intensification of militarized policing, that's greenwashing, that's corruption, that's the displacement of local populations."Boykoff's recent piece for The Nation, co-authored with Dave Zirin, is headlined Get Ready for This Year's Undemocratic, Debt-Ridden, and Mobster-Infused Winter Olympics."

President Donald Trump is refusing to apologize for sharing a racist video on social media that depicts former President Barack Obama and Michelle Obama as apes. The video remained available on Trump's Truth Social page for 12 hours before it was deleted around noon on Friday. It prompted rare criticism from members of his own party, including South Carolina's Tim Scott, the Senate's only Black Republican, who called it the most racist thing" he had seen from the White House.This is a disgusting and despicable display of racism from President Trump," says Wisdom Cole, senior national director of advocacy for the NAACP. Instead of unifying the nation and celebrating the achievements of Black America ... he chooses to continue to perpetuate bigotry."

We speak with Aliya Rahman, a U.S. citizen who was violently dragged from her car by federal immigration officers in Minneapolis last month and detained at the Whipple Federal Building, which has become the epicenter of the government's immigration crackdown in the city. Rahman says she repeatedly told agents she was disabled and had a brain injury, but they ignored her pleas for medical attention or other accommodation. I was taken out of that place unconscious," says Rahman, who describes lasting injuries and trauma from her detention. Rahman was not charged with any crime. What I saw in that detention center was truly horrific."We also speak with attorney Alexa Van Brunt, director of the Illinois office of the MacArthur Justice Center, who says victims of ICE violence like Rahman can sue the federal government for violating their rights, but they cannot sue the officers in their individual capacity."

At Least 50 People Arrested in Minneapolis While Marking One Month Since Renee Good's Killing, Mexican Immigrant Whose Skull Was Broken During His Arrest by ICE Speaks Out, More Than 1,000 Google Workers Call On Company to Cancel Contracts with ICE and CBP, Federal Judge Puts Temporary Hold on Data Sharing Between IRS, Social Security Administration and ICE, Trump Refuses to Apologize for Publishing a Racist Video Depicting Barack and Michelle Obama as Apes, DOJ to Allow Congress Unredacted Access to Epstein Files, Israeli Security Cabinet Approves New Rules to Tighten Control Over Occupied West Bank, Iran Says It's Willing to Limit Uranium Enrichment for Sanctions Relief, Hong Kong Court Sentences Media Mogul Jimmy Lai to 20 Years in Prison, Drone Attack by Paramilitary Group RSF Kills at Least 24 People in Sudan, Federal Judge Orders Trump Admin to Unfreeze $16 Billion in Funds for New York Tunnel Project, U.S. Vice President Vance Booed at Opening Ceremony of Winter Olympics, Bad Bunny Makes History as First Artist to Perform Super Bowl Halftime Show in Spanish

We host a debate between two former officials at the human rights organization Human Rights Watch. Omar Shakir resigned this week after more than a decade as the organization's Israel and Palestine director, over a report on the Palestinian right of return that he says was blocked from publication for ideological reasons. I've lost faith in our new leadership's fidelity to the integrity of what we do best, which is to publish the facts that we document and consistently apply the law," says Shakir. Yet HRW's former executive director Kenneth Roth says the report was utterly unpublishable" and questions the legal basis of the unpublished report's claim that Israel's denial of Palestinians' right of return is a crime against humanity. Some Palestinian refugees may have this great suffering required for it to be a crime against humanity, but a lot of them clearly don't," he states. Shakir calls Roth's objections hypocritical in light of similar HRW claims about the rights of Rohingya and Chagos Island refugees. The right of return remains this third rail even among progressive human rights institutions," he says.

In the wake of deadly mass protests that have shaken the ruling Iranian government, and with U.S. leaders publicly weighing the idea of military intervention and potential regime change in Iran, American and Iranian officials are beginning renewed talks over Iran's nuclear program today. We speak to two guests, reporter Nilo Tabrizy and scholar Arang Keshavarzian, about the very strange and contradictory situation" facing the country. For both the Iranian state, but more importantly for Iranian people, it's very unclear what all of this portends, especially since it doesn't seem like these negotiations will go beyond the question of the nuclear program," says Keshavarzian.

The Washington Post has laid off more than 300 journalists, dismantling its sports, local news and international coverage. Everybody is grieving, and it's a loss for our readers," says Nilo Tabrizy, one of the paper's recently laid-off staff, who describes a robotic" meeting announcing the cuts. They didn't have the dignity to look us in the eye." The shocking staff culling has been widely attributed to the paper's leadership under Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, who bought the nearly 150-year-old institution in 2013. Karen Attiah, the former global opinion editor at the Post, was hired soon after Bezos's arrival. She recounts how the arrival of a billionaire backer initially revitalized the paper with resources and creative freedom, before souring over the next decade. We thought [he] shared the same values that we had," says Attiah, who was fired from the Post last fall over comments she made about the death of conservative activist Charlie Kirk. Journalism deserves better than a billionaire owner who decides that partying in Europe is more important than people's lives."

The September 11, 2001, attack on the World Trade Center in New York City was a major polluting event. Debris from the collapse of the buildings spread toxic substances, including asbestos, lead, mercury and more, throughout the disaster zone. As New York City leaders issue new calls for the release of files detailing the extent of this pollution, we revisit the reporting of Democracy Now! co-host Juan Gonzalez, the author of Fallout: The Environmental Consequences of the World Trade Center Collapse. What I tried to warn about in the series of articles that I wrote about the dangers, the health dangers, in the future for people who were living in or working at ground zero have proven to be true," he says about his reporting on political leaders' early denials of post-9/11 health risks. More people have died as a result of illnesses contracted after the collapse of the World Trade Center than died on that day."

DHS Funding Is Set to Lapse as Top Senate Republican Rejects Restrictions on Immigration Agents, Protesters from New York to Milan Decry Trump's Immigration Crackdown, U.K. Opposition Parties Call for Vote of No Confidence in PM Starmer over Epstein-Linked Ambassador, Brad Karp, Chair of Paul Weiss Law Firm, Resigns over Ties to Jeffrey Epstein, Global Sumud Flotilla Plans Largest Humanitarian Mission Yet to Gaza, Cuban President Open to Talks with U.S. Amid Warnings of Humanitarian Collapse" Due to Oil Blockade, Sudan's RSF Bombs Hospital as Famine Spreads in Darfur, Nigerian Army Deploys to Kwara State After Massacre Leaves 170 Dead, Bombing at Islamabad Mosque Kills 31 and Injures Scores, U.S. Economy Shed 108,435 Jobs in January, Worst Month Since 2009 Recession