Democracy Now!

At least 15 Philadelphia city councilmembers have backed a package of "ICE Out" legislation aimed at combating ICE and federal immigration enforcement operations in Philadelphia, including codifying sanctuary protections and prohibiting federal immigration agents from concealing their identities or covering their faces. We heard the cries from the community calling for something to be done," says Kendra Brooks, a member of the Philadelphia City Council, where she serves as minority leader. Our goal was to make sure that something is in place to prevent any undue harm." Councilmembers will vote on the legislation in the coming weeks, and it is expected to pass with a veto-proof majority.

Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson has signed an executive order directing Chicago police to investigate reports of illegal activity conducted by ICE and other federal immigration agents. The move came in the aftermath of Trump's so-called Operation Midway Blitz in Chicago late last year, when masked agents flooded neighborhoods, snatching residents off the streets as part of Trump's mass deportation campaign. What this executive order is doing is showing up for the people of Chicago, ... creating a model for the rest of the country," Johnson tells Democracy Now!

Fulton County to Sue over FBI Ballot Seizures as Trump Says GOP Should Nationalize" Elections, Tulsi Gabbard Arranges Call Between Trump and FBI Agents Who Seized Ballots from Atlanta, Measles Cases Confirmed at Texas ICE Jail Housing Hundreds of Children, Pentagon Quietly Takes Active-Duty Troops Off Standby to Deploy to Minnesota, Federal Court Blocks Trump Administration Bid to End Protected Status for Haitian Immigrants, Israeli Strikes on Gaza Kill 4 Palestinians, Including 30-Month-Old Child, U.S. Firm Seeks 300% Profits from Monopoly Over Gaza Trucking and Logistics, Biden Admin Officials Killed Memo Warning Israeli Attacks Turned Gaza into Apocalyptic Wasteland", Trump Envoy Plans Talks in Istanbul with Iranian Officials over Nuclear Program, Russian Drones and Missiles Strike Ukraine's Cities and Infrastructure Ahead of Peace Talks, Right-Wing Populist Laura Fernandez Elected President of Costa Rica, Bill and Hillary Clinton Agree to Testify in House Investigation of Epstein, Paris Prosecutor Raids French Offices of Social Media Platform X, Civil Liberties Groups Sue NYPD for Targeting Black and Latino Drivers

We speak with Mother Jones voting rights correspondent Ari Berman about the shocking FBI raid on an elections hub in Fulton County, Georgia. Federal agents were seeking records related to the 2020 presidential election, which President Donald Trump continues to falsely claim he won despite his loss to Joe Biden that year. During his efforts to overturn the election results, Trump pressured local officials to find" him an additional 11,780 votes. Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard was on the scene Friday despite having no domestic law enforcement authority. The raid comes amid an ongoing federal probe into the 2020 election.The fact that they seized 700 boxes of ballots was incredibly disturbing and sets a chilling precedent for how Trump might try to interfere in the 2026 election," says Berman, who ties the raid in Georgia to the administration's pressure on Minnesota to hand over voter rolls. This is now a multifront, concerted effort to try to interfere in the midterm elections."

The Justice Department on Friday released an additional 3 million pages of documents related to the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. The Trump administration says it was the final release of Epstein files, even though some 2 million more documents remain unreleased. The latest batch reveals new details about Epstein's connections to the rich and powerful, including Hollywood figures, tech billionaires, public officials and more. Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche said it is unlikely anyone else would be prosecuted.Attorney Arick Fudali, who represents 11 Epstein survivors, says the release of the files has been a perfect storm" of incompetency and an active cover-up" by the Trump administration. It's so mind-boggling, because they're withholding documents that they shouldn't be withholding ... but, on the other hand, they're showing documents that they shouldn't be showing because they contain unredacted names of survivors," says Fudali.Investigative journalist Vicky Ward, who has covered the Epstein case for many years, says despite the flawed release of the files, they continue to shine light on a world of elite impunity and excess. We just see over and over again in these documents, this was just one big billionaires boys club that treated women like objects," says Ward.

Tens of thousands of people took to the streets in hundreds of demonstrations across the United States this weekend as protests continue against the Trump administration's anti-immigrant crackdown. Democracy Now! was in the streets of Minneapolis on Friday speaking with protesters who marched in subzero temperatures.

As protests continue in Minnesota over the federal government's immigration crackdown, former CNN anchor Don Lemon and independent journalist Georgia Fort now face federal charges stemming from their reporting on a January 18 demonstration at a St. Paul church, where a senior ICE official works as a pastor. The two journalists were released Friday without bail following initial court hearings and could face fines or prison time if convicted. Their charges stem from the FACE Act, a 1994 law intended to protect access to abortion clinics which also prohibits interference with religious worship. Seven activists who took part in the demonstration also face charges.We're having a constitutional crisis," Fort tells Democracy Now! What we're seeing here in Minnesota is the people are continuing to stand. They are continuing to demand that our Constitution be upheld. I believe that journalism is not a crime."

Federal Judge Denies Request by Minnesota Officials to Temporarily Block Surge of Immigration Agents, Former CNN Anchor Don Lemon and Independent Journalist Georgia Fort Released from Federal Custody, 5-Year-Old Liam Conejo Ramos and His Father Reunited with Family Members in Minnesota, More Than 300 Anti-ICE Protests Held Across the Country, NYT: Former Border Patrol Chief Gregory Bovino Said to Have Mocked Prosecutor's Jewish Faith, Chicago Orders Local Law Enforcement to Probe Illegal Activity by Federal Immigration Agents, Justice Department Release Over 3 Million Pages of the Epstein Files, Israeli Forces Partially Reopen Gaza's Rafah Crossing into Egypt, Iranian Authorities Arrest Oscar-Nominated Screenwriter Mehdi Mahmoudian, Democrats Flip State Senate Seat and Pick Up Congressional Seat in Texas, President Trump Announces Kennedy Center Will Close for Two Years for Renovations, Bad Bunny Denounces ICE During Grammy Awards Acceptance Speech

The latest reliable estimates of the death toll in Iran's recent nationwide protests are growing, potentially reaching the tens of thousands. Some estimates place the number of civilians killed by government forces at 30,000 or more. We play a rare eyewitness account of the deadly massacre of protesters in Rasht, Iran, and speak to the Iranian filmmaker and political dissident Sepideh Farsi, who says U.S. military intervention would only worsen the situation." She warns that President Trump's interest in U.S. military action on the country is for business," and not for Iranian people."

An estimated 350,000 Haitian immigrants are set to lose their temporary protected status, or TPS, on February 3, 2026, after President Trump signed an executive order to revoke their TPS shortly after coming into office. TPS holders live and work in the United States legally. During the 2024 presidential election, candidates Donald Trump and JD Vance spread racist invective about Haitian immigrants in Springfield, Ohio. Now ICE is reportedly planning to begin extensive raids on Haitian American communities like Springfield. We are living under a cloud of terror," says Guerline Jozef, the co-founder and executive director of Haitian Bridge Alliance. Her organization is mounting a legal challenge against the Trump administration's revocation of TPS.I'm anxious every day," says Maryse Balthazar, a former journalist in Haiti who fled the country after its devastating 2010 earthquake. She now works as an elder care nurse in Florida. She worries about being separated from her U.S. citizen daughter, and for the safety of her son, also a TPS holder, if he were deported to Haiti, a country currently struggling with organized crime and political unrest. Balthazar says that if she were to lose her TPS, it will be like another earthquake to me."

The families of two men from Trinidad killed in an October U.S. missile strike in the Caribbean are suing the Trump administration for wrongful death and extrajudicial killing. The families of 26-year-old Chad Joseph and 41-year-old Rishi Samaroo say the two men were returning home from fishing and farming in Venezuela, not smuggling drugs as the Trump administration has claimed without evidence. Four others on the same boat were also killed. In all, at least 125 people have been killed in the unprecedented U.S. bombings of civilian boats in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific Ocean. It's the latest example of the Trump administration's total mockery of, contempt for the post-World World II human rights consensus, where nations are constrained by law and not mere might," says attorney Baher Azmy, who is representing the Joseph and Samaroo families in their lawsuit. He calls their deaths killings for sport and spectacle," adding that they are part of a wider pattern of federal overreach that can be seen in the administration's domestic crackdown on protesters and journalists. Azmy warns that the excessive use of force by federal agents in Minneapolis may be a dry run" for deployment of troops during elections."

In the aftermath of the abduction of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and his wife Cilia Flores, Venezuela has agreed to submit a monthly budget to the Trump administration, which will release money from an account funded by oil sales. It's a deal for the interim government led by Delcy Rodriguez that historian Greg Grandin calls governing under the blade." In a further shift away from the nation-building foreign policy of the past several decades of U.S. power, what the United States is planning for Venezuela is basically to run the country as a vassal state," he says. This is an arrangement with transactional details that we've never seen before."

Senate Democrats & Trump Reach Deal to Split Off Funding DHS to Avert Shutdown, Minneapolis Mayor Calls for Nationwide End to "ICE Siege", No, No. Not at All": Trump Denies He Plans to Pull Back Federal Agents from Minnesota, Protesters Call for National Shutdown Today to Protest ICE, Sen. Collins Claims DHS Has Paused Operation Catch of the Day, Financial Times: Private Companies Reaped $22B in Contracts with ICE & CBP Last Year, Iran's Top Diplomat in Turkey as Trump Keeps Threatening to Attack Iran, U.S. Lifts Some Sanctions on Venezuela After Interim Leader Signs Bill Opening Door for Private Oil Firms, Trump Threatens to Impose Tariffs on Nations Who Provide Oil to Cuba, Trump Claims Russia Will Pause Attacks on Ukrainian Cities, Illinois Sheriff's Deputy Sentenced to 20 Years in Prison for Shooting Sonya Massey, Trump Taps Kevin Warsh to Be Federal Reserve Chair, Trump & Sons Sue IRS & Treasury for $10B over Tax Return Leaks, Journalists Don Lemon & Georgia Fort Arrested for Covering Church Protest in St. Paul

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.