This is C.I.'s "The Snapshot" for Friday:
Chaos struck at an anti-Immigration and Customs Enforcement student protest at a school in Fremont, Nebraska, when an SUV with a Trump flag attached to it struck a girl participating in the demonstration.
According to News Channel Nebraska, "Dozens of students were part of the protest and were holding signs and chanting. A boy, who appeared to be high-school aged, parked his SUV with the flag in front of the school, got out of the vehicle and exchanged words with the protesters. He then got back into the SUV, revved the engine and drove forward. A girl, who appears to be a student, was standing several feet in front of the vehicle, facing it and holding a sign toward the car. The driver accelerated and hit the protester, casting her to the side."
The deal follows widespread outrage over the fatal shootings of two U.S. citizens — Renee Nicole Good and Alex Pretti — by federal agents in Minneapolis amid an aggressive immigration crackdown led by the Trump administration.
Under the agreement, funding for the Department of Homeland Security will be extended for two weeks, while the Pentagon, the State Department, as well as the health, education, labor and transportation departments, will be funded through Sept. 30, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer's office confirmed to The Times.
While the Senate could approve the deal as early as Thursday night, it is unclear when the House will vote for the package. To avert a government shutdown, both chambers need to approve the deal by midnight EST Friday.
President Trump’s approval rating is slipping, with more than two-thirds of Americans saying they disapprove of how the president is handling his job, according to a new Pew Research Center poll.
The poll, released Thursday, found that Trump’s approval rating fell 3 percentage points from last fall and now stands at 37 percent. Trump’s support among Republicans remains high at 73 percent approval, though that figure is down slightly from a poll conducted last September.
Border Patrol chief Greg Bovino broke his silence after his abrupt axing from his Minnesota post amid intense backlash following the deaths of two protesters this month.
Speaking to a reporter at Mt. Rushmore, he addressed the men who were put on leave after the shooting death of Alex Pretti, a 37-year-old ICU nurse who was thrown to the ground, beaten and shot after attempting to defend another protester who was being pepper-sprayed by U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents.
A top immigration official was tricked by a fake news story posted by a QAnon social media account shortly before getting demoted.
The 55-year-old Border Patrol “commander-at-large” Greg Bovino was duped on Jan. 25 by a social media post that said MAGA-favored rockstar Ted Nugent had pledged $100,000 to feed ICE agents in Minnesota.
He engaged with the post on X during his last full day leading Minnesota’s federal immigration enforcement operations before he was replaced by Trump’s border czar.
The story originated from the Facebook page “America’s Last Line of Defense,” which posts conservative-leaning satire. All of their posts are watermarked with a logo reading “Nothing on this page is real.”
The phony tale includes a Nugent quote from a Fox News interview that never occurred, in which the 77-year-old singer pledged to fly in a “metric ton of barbecue” to Minnesota.
The Department of Homeland Security deleted a post after its top spokesperson was confronted by a journalist over content that had links with white supremacy.
The New York Times detailed an exchange with DHS spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin in which the journalist noted that a post seeking to recruit agents for ICE that had the phrase "we'll have our home again," also used in a white supremacist song.
McLaughlin denied that was the case, saying that if the post were actually about the song, that would be "a problem" and "morally repugnant."
"There are plenty of references to those words in books and poems," the official added, noting that she was "in charge of everything" posted on the department's social media.
However,
the article added, the actual song played in the background when the
post was opened on Instagram's mobile app. McLaughlin denied that being
the case, saying "it's not there."
However, less than an hour after the interview, the post was removed from Instagram. Those on X and Facebook, which didn't feature the song, remain online.
These are the crooks that put a five-year-old boy into ICE 'detention.' He's in a gulag and US House Rep Jasmine Crockett reports that he is not doing well.
Ecuador’s foreign ministry said it lodged a formal diplomatic protest with the United States after a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent attempted to enter the country’s consulate in Minneapolis without permission on Tuesday morning.
Employees of the consulate stopped the agent from entering, the Ecuadorean foreign ministry said in a statement Tuesday night. Under the Vienna Conventions, to which the United States is a party, foreign consular buildings are off-limits to law enforcement from the host country without authorization from consular officials.
It's a shame that Chump's gestapo doesn't understand the laws or that you're expected to follow the law.
Canadians hit President Donald Trump with failing marks as details of his administration’s secret meetings with Alberta separatists emerged.
A survey by the Canadian nonprofit Angus Reid Institute, conducted from Jan. 23 to 27, found that two-thirds of Canadians gave the 79-year-old American leader a failing mark for his first year back in office.
Sixty-six percent of Canadians gave Trump’s first year an ‘F,’ while 15 percent gave him an ‘A’ or a ‘B’ and 16 percent gave him a ‘C’ or a ‘D.’
[. . .]
The poll came out on Wednesday, just as the Financial Times
reported that “very, very senior” officials in the State Department
covertly met with the Alberta Prosperity Project, a fringe group of
far-right separatists who want the oil-rich province to become
independent.
Jeff Rath, the group’s legal counsel who attended the meetings in Washington, told the outlet that “the U.S. is extremely enthusiastic about a free and independent Alberta.”
Jeff Bezos’s e-commerce giant Amazon said it will cut 16,000 roles across the organization in its latest round of layoffs.
The news was confirmed in a blog post on Wednesday by Beth Galetti, senior vice president of people experience and technology at Amazon. Corporate roles are those affected by the new cuts. Back in October, Amazon had cut 14,000 corporate roles. The layoffs are Amazon’s biggest since 2023, when the company cut 27,000 jobs.
The ostensible reason for the layoffs is that the Post, like many other newspapers, is losing money. But unlike other newspapers, the Post is also in the midst of a demoralizing destruction of its brand that has alienated hundreds of thousands of subscribers and left even its staff unsure of what the paper is trying to do, both journalistically and business-wise. “I’m increasingly finding it hard to justify the cuts from a journalistic perspective,” said one staffer. “Of course, financially, the Post is in a deep hole and I understand that. But some of that hole, if not a lot of it, is because of Jeff Bezos.”
,
The Post was once known for its independent accountability journalism, dating back to the Pentagon Papers and Watergate and running all the way through to January 6. It was also once known for being the foremost authority on goings-on in the nation’s capital. Now it no longer has a clear identity, a crucial component for any paper’s success, whether it’s the New York Times or the Wall Street Journal. The Post finds itself in this no man’s land largely because of a series of editorial and business decisions made outside the newsroom, at the highest level of the company — most notably, Bezos’s 11th-hour decision to pull the editorial board’s endorsement of Kamala Harris in 2024, which led to 250,000 digital readers cancelling their subscriptions in protest of Bezos’s apparent kowtowing to Trump.
Ghislaine Maxwell, the accomplice of Jeffrey Epstein, may be serving time in a cushy Texas federal prison, but the convicted child sex trafficker just detonated a political time bomb from behind bars, according to a new Daily Beast report Tuesday.
In a recent habeas petition, Maxwell dropped a bombshell claim that four potential "co-conspirators" and "25 men" scored "secret settlements" tied to Epstein's abuse — without facing any indictment.
The report said Attorney General Pam Bondi and the Justice Department are doing everything possible to avoid one glaring question: "Who are these men, and why are they still being protected?"
Congress passed the Epstein Files Transparency Act, which President Donald Trump signed into law in November, forcing the Justice Department to release unclassified records. Yet the DOJ has toiled along, redacting, delaying, and otherwise slow-walking compliance "like it’s trying to outlast public attention."
“Donald Trump wants us to write him another blank check and let ICE keep rolling in the dough…I’m a hell no…We cannot give one more penny to Trump’s ICE while its masked, poorly-trained agents terrorize people all across this country.”
Video of Floor Speech (YouTube)
Washington, D.C. — Today, U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) spoke on the floor of the Senate calling for a complete overhaul of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency and said she would be voting against any additional funding for the agency until serious constraints are included to stop ICE’s violence.
Senator Warren condemned the brutal killings of Alex Pretti and Renee Good by ICE agents. She highlighted the arrests of five year old Liam in Minneapolis and Marcelo Gomes da Silva in Massachusetts.
“The people ICE grabbed up, the people they shot, are not threats to you and me…The risk is not from them. The risk increasingly comes from out-of-control ICE agents who can’t follow the basic training…This invasion by ICE is not making any of us safer,” said Senator Warren.
“I want to be clear: If it were up to me, Congress would completely overhaul ICE, strip the agency down to its studs, repeal billions in Trump’s bloated spending, and end these abuses entirely,” Senator Warren continued.
She called on her colleagues in the Senate to stand up to these abuses of power and reject the DHS funding bill in front of the Senate this week, along with clawing back Congress’ previous funding for ICE.
“Congress has the power to claw back those funds. Congress needs to use that power and take back that money so that Congress has meaningful oversight over an out-of-control ICE,” she said.
“Democrats are ready to rein in this rogue agency, but we need Republicans in Congress to stop this violence as well…Being ‘disturbed’ doesn’t change anything—and the ICE agents who are waving around loaded guns know that. Republicans in the Senate have the power to do something and start righting these wrongs,” she continued.
Senator Warren ended with reading into the record a statement from Alex Pretti’s final medical student, saying the statement gave her a “sliver[] of hope.”
“[I]f we don’t speak up, we are complicit in this violence…If we don’t speak up, we are giving up on our democracy and our country…It is time to make meaningful change. And that change starts right here in the United States Senate,” said Senator Warren.
Transcript: Speech on ICE’s Actions Across America
Floor of the U.S. Senate
January 28, 2026
Senator Elizabeth Warren: “Please get the truth out about our son. He was a good man.”
Those are the words of Michael and Susan Pretti, the parents of Alex Pretti, who over the weekend was killed by masked federal agents in Minneapolis.
I am here to be part of getting the truth out.
Masked federal agents shot and killed Alex Pretti, an American citizen, in broad daylight.
Alex was an ICU nurse at the Minneapolis VA hospital. A nurse for veterans.
He was a son. A brother. A friend. A caretaker.
And he was killed while he was trying to help a woman who had been pushed to the ground by a federal agent.
The last words that Alex spoke on this earth were, “Are you all right?” Those are the words of a good man trying to help someone who had been knocked down by an out-of-control ICE agent.
Do not let anyone tell you otherwise.
And Mr. Pretti was not the first.
17 days earlier, ICE agents shot and killed Renee Good, a 37-year-old American citizen and mom dropping off her kid at school. She had stuffed animals in her glove compartment. While ICE agents cursed at her, her last words on this earth were: “I’m not mad at you.”
There have been more incidents. ICE agents detained Liam, a five-year-old boy, who was literally ripped off the streets by the strap of his Spiderman backpack. A preschooler.
In Massachusetts, Marcelo Gomes da Silva, a high schooler, was arrested by ICE on his way to volleyball practice. And Rumeysa Ozturk, a student at Tufts University was cornered by six masked agents, shoved into an unmarked van, and taken to a detention facility in Louisiana.
And it goes on and on and on, story after story after story.
The people ICE grabbed up, the people they shot, are not threats to you and me. They are not violent criminals that Trump promised to go after. They are not, as Trump said, “the worst of the worst.” No. These are our neighbors, they are our friends, they are our colleagues, they are people who treat us when we are sick.
The risk is not from them. The risk increasingly comes from out-of-control ICE agents who can’t follow the basic training manual that our local police, our state police and our National Guard are all trained to follow. This invasion by ICE is not making any of us safer.
And if we don’t put a stop to it, these masked agents are going to kill more people.
We are at a turning point in our country.
And what we do next is a question now in front of the United States Senate — in front of my colleagues here today.
This week, we are tasked with funding the government, and one part stands out. Last summer, Trump and the Republicans lavished ICE with $75 billion. That’s more than their annual budget for seven years. And maybe that is why ICE is handing out $50,000 recruiting bonuses.
Now, in this budget, Trump and the Republicans want to reward ICE with $10 billion an additional in funding.
That’s right: Donald Trump wants us to write another check, hand it over to ICE, and let them keep rolling in the dough.
But here’s my view: I am a NO. I am a hell no.
We cannot give one more penny to Trump’s ICE while its masked, poorly-trained agents terrorize people all across this country.
It is time for the Senate to step up and stop ICE’s violence.
We must stand united and we must fight back and we must do it now.
I want to be clear: If it were up to me, Congress would completely overhaul ICE, strip the agency down to its studs, repeal billions in Trump’s bloated spending, and end these abuses entirely. And I’m going to keep fighting for that.
There are also some immediate, common sense steps we can take right now.
Here’s some of what I’m fighting for.
One: End ICE’s violence. No more roving patrols and profiling people on the street. No more treating people like they’re guilty just because of their skin color or because they speak with an accent. No more threatening people with guns just because they are recording what is going on.
Two: Follow the law. ICE must follow the same rules as everyone else in law enforcement: get a warrant from an independent judge before barging into people’s homes and snatching people from their families. And make no mistake: there should be real consequences for anyone who knocks down someone’s door without a real warrant. This is the United States of America, and last I checked, the Constitution still matters. We must enforce it.
Three: Accountability. It’s about time Border Patrol and ICE wear a damn badge. No more masked secret police. Let me say it again: no more masked secret police.
And real accountability means accountability for Renee Good, it means accountability for Alex Pretti, it means accountability for every other victim of these federal agents. DHS must cooperate with state and local officials for real, independent investigations of these shootings. End these cover-ups. We need transparency and accountability for victims of ICE’s violence.
Part of the reason that ICE officers can act like they have no oversight is that Donald Trump and the Republicans in Congress pre-funded ICE for years in their “Big Beautiful Bill.” As things stand right now, ICE can skate by for years without getting a budget—and without any oversight—from Congress. And you know those health care cuts that are closing hospitals and causing people’s health insurance premiums to spike? That is the money that is now being used by ICE to terrorize our communities. That is wrong. Congress has the power to claw back those funds. Congress needs to use that power and take back that money so that Congress has meaningful oversight over an out-of-control ICE.
And that should just be the start.
I am urging every single Senator – Democrat and Republican – to vote no on this budget bill and stop bankrolling ICE’s abuses.
And I want to put a finer point on this: Republicans control the White House. Republicans control the Senate. Republicans control the House of Representatives.
Democrats are ready to rein in this rogue agency, but we need Republicans in Congress to stop this violence as well. I know that there are Republicans right now who are seeing what we’re seeing in Minnesota, and they know it is wrong. It is time to speak out. Silence is complicity.
Grow a spine. Show some backbone. Being "disturbed" doesn’t change anything—and the ICE agents who are waving around loaded guns know that. Republicans in the Senate have the power to do something and start righting these wrongs. Help the Democrats put meaningful constraints on ICE. Help our people be safe.
To everyone who is angry, I’m angry too. I’m furious, and I’m here in the Senate to fight back for you. But it’s in moments like this that we must resist the urge for that anger and fear to take over. It is time to turn our anger into action.
So I want to end with this.
I saw a post by Alex Pretti’s student that I want to read excerpts from into the record. This is all a direct quote.
“I was Alex Pretti’s final nursing student. For the past four months, I stood shoulder to shoulder with him during my capstone preceptorship at the Minneapolis VA Hospital. There he trained me to care for the sickest of the sick as an ICU nurse. He taught me how to care for arterial and central lines, the intricacies of managing multiple IVs filled with lifesaving solutions, and how to watch over every heartbeat, every breath, and every flicker of life, ready to act the moment they wavered.
“Alex carried patience, compassion and calm as a steady light within him. Even at the very end, that light was there. I recognized his familiar stillness and signature calm composure shining through during those unbearable final moments captured on camera.
“It does not surprise me that his final words were, ‘Are you okay?’ Caring for people was at the core of who he was. He was incapable of causing harm.
“He spoke out for justice and peace whenever he could, not only out of obligation, but out of a belief that we are more connected than divided, and that communication would bring us together.
“Please honor my friend by standing up for peace, preferably with a cup of black coffee in hand and a couple of pieces of candy in your pocket, just as he would. Step outside with your dog, breathe in the world, hike or bike as he loved to do, and let yourself find peace in the quiet moments within nature. Stand up for justice and speak with those whose views differ from your own. Hold your beliefs with strength, but always extend love outward, even in the face of adversity.
“Take one step, no matter how small, to help heal our world. Through these acts, carry his light forward in his name. Let his legacy continue to heal.”
Like many of you, I see the video of his death, and I am gutted. I see him lying on the ground as two ICE agents pump a total of ten bullets into him. I see his lifeless body on that cold Minneapolis street and I feel sadness and anger and horror down to my bones.
But here's what's given me slivers of hope: It's every single person who’s speaking out and refusing to stay silent in the face of these injustices. It is the post from his last student. It’s the hundreds of thousands of Minnesotans who haven’t been baited into violence, but who instead continue to show up and peacefully protest.
They are a reminder that now is the time to dig deep, stand up, and say clearly: What ICE is doing is wrong and we can stop it. We must stop it. It’s time to get ICE out.
Because if we don’t speak up, we are complicit in this violence. If we don’t speak up, we are giving our OK to a federal agency that is openly and aggressively violating the Constitution. If we don’t speak up, we are giving up on our democracy and our country.
It is time to speak up. It is time to make meaningful change. And that change starts right here in the United States Senate.
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