Most DHS departments shut down at midnight because Democrats say ICE’s abuses must be halted.
ICE suspended two agents for lying under oath about the shooting of a man in Minneapolis. But suspending federal agents who shoot someone and lie about it is not enough.
Agents are following protesters home and rousting them where they live. ICE subpoenaed top tech companies today demanding the identities of hundreds of social media users criticizing them online.
Their detention facilities are inhumane, according to Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD), who made a surprise visit to one in Baltimore where 60 men were packed into a single room with one toilet and no showers. The room set aside for dangerous criminals was empty.
Things may soon get worse with ICE spending $38 billion to convert industrial spaces like warehouses into 92,000 detention cells.
Your senators are at home in their states now and don’t return for nine more days. Call them, show up at their offices. Write if nothing else. They need to hear from you that ICE needs to be corralled now.
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Columbia protest detainee Leqaa Kordia says she was chained to a hospital bed for 72 hours after a seizure, nearly a year into detention without criminal charges.
Today’s GovBrief News
Trump calls regime change in Iran "the best thing that could happen" as the U.S. repositions a second aircraft carrier to the Middle East.
Source: BBC
February 13, 2026
U.S. military kills three more people in Caribbean boat attack, bringing the death toll from at least 38 operations since September to 133.
Source: Deutsche Welle
February 13, 2026
Two top RFK Jr. aides leave HHS in a White House-driven shakeup to sharpen health messaging ahead of midterm elections, including the acting CDC director who rarely visited the agency.
Source: CNN
February 13, 2026
WHO formally condemns a CDC-funded trial that would withhold a proven hepatitis B vaccine from 7,000 newborns in Guinea-Bissau, calling the study unethical and scientifically unjustified after two months of global backlash.
Source: Ars Technica
February 13, 2026
Affordable housing residents ask federal judge to restrict DHS chemical munitions near Portland ICE facility, saying tear gas seeping into units caused heart failure and breathing problems.
Source: KATU Portland
February 13, 2026
Congressman Raskin confirms a whistleblower's account of inhumane conditions at a Baltimore ICE facility after a surprise inspection found 55 detainees packed into a single room.
Source: WUSA Washington
February 13, 2026
ICE agents followed Minnesota protesters to their homes, shouted their addresses, aimed rifles at them and mocked the death of Renee Good, according to nearly 100 sworn statements filed in federal court.
Source: The New York Times [gift link]
February 13, 2026
Two Washington golfers sue to block Trump's overhaul of a century-old public golf course where crews are dumping White House demolition debris on historic parkland.
Source: The Associated Press
February 13, 2026
DHS deployed a federal voter citizenship tool before adding key databases, causing persistent errors that temporarily banned hundreds of citizens from voting in at least five states.
Source: ProPublica
February 13, 2026
Trump declares voter ID requirements will be in place for midterm elections "whether approved by Congress or not," promising an executive order after the Senate stalled his SAVE America Act.
Source: Politico
February 13, 2026
Virginia Supreme Court allows Democrats to hold an April 21 special election on a proposed 10D-1R congressional map while a legal challenge to the redistricting effort continues.
Source: WRIC Richmond
February 13, 2026
DHS sends hundreds of subpoenas to Google, Meta, Reddit and Discord demanding names and personal data of Americans who criticize or track ICE agents online.
Source: TechCrunch
February 13, 2026
Don Lemon, civil rights attorney Nekima Levy Armstrong, and three activists plead not guilty to federal charges for protesting ICE enforcement at a St. Paul church.
Source: Mediaite
February 13, 2026
University of North Texas silently removes an art exhibit critical of ICE, covering its windows and erasing it from university channels without explanation to the artist, students or faculty.
Source: The Denton Record-Chronicle
February 13, 2026
Pentagon used Anthropic's Claude AI in the military operation to capture Maduro despite the company's policy prohibiting use of its tools to facilitate violence.
Source: The Wall Street Journal
February 13, 2026
Trump tells Fort Bragg soldiers "we are feared" while praising the Maduro capture and outlining plans for U.S. oil companies to rebuild Venezuela's energy industry.
Source: The Independent
February 13, 2026
Justice Department sues Harvard for withholding race-related admissions records, escalating a retaliation campaign that has already targeted $2 billion in research grants.
Source: Courthouse News Service
February 13, 2026
Department of Homeland Security shuts down as Democrats and White House trade offers on ICE reforms, with Congress gone until Feb. 23 and no deal in sight.
Source: NBC News
February 13, 2026
ICE places two agents on administrative leave for lying under oath about the shooting of a Venezuelan man in Minneapolis, one week after an agent killed Renee Good in the same city.
Source: CBS News
February 13, 2026
ICE plans to spend $38.3 billion to convert warehouses into eight large-scale detention centers and 16 processing sites, expanding capacity to 92,600 beds using funds from the OBBBA.
Source: The Wall Street Journal
February 13, 2026
Social Security Administration workers are told to share in-person appointment details with ICE agents, turning offices designed as safe spaces into potential immigration enforcement traps.
Source: Wired
February 13, 2026
Texas DMV unanimously votes to require proof of legal status for vehicle registration, a rule one county tax assessor refuses to enforce because state law requires residency, not citizenship.
Source: The Hill
February 13, 2026
Trump administration ends temporary protected status for roughly 1,380 Yemeni nationals despite the State Department's own "do not travel" designation for Yemen due to terrorism, unrest and landmines.
Source: The Guardian
February 13, 2026
State Department orders roughly 1,400 nonprofit public libraries to stop processing passport applications, threatening closures and layoffs in states where most libraries are nonprofit entities.
Source: The Independent
February 13, 2026
Trump administration releases $30 million of $205 million in frozen funding for the Hudson Tunnel Project after two states sued and an appeals court upheld the order to pay.
Source: Reuters
February 13, 2026
Federal judge orders ICE to allow Catholic priests into a Chicago-area detention facility for Ash Wednesday, ruling the agency violated religious freedom law by ending a decade of weekly visits.
Source: The Hill
February 13, 2026