They’re building it in secret because they know what it looks like.
Today we learned that DHS killed two people in Texas before Renee Good and Alex Pretti in Minnesota. A Homeland Security agent shot and killed a 23 year old U.S. citizen during a traffic detour on the Texas Gulf Coast last March. In January, a Cuban man died in an El Paso detention camp and DHS called it “medical distress.” The medical examiner called it homicide by asphyxiation. DHS quietly changed the cause of death to “spontaneous use of force.”
That’s four people killed by DHS. And the mega detention centers they’re building aren’t the 1,500 they disclosed. Leaked documents show facilities designed to hold up to 10,000 people each, with a biometric search engine to fill them after first dismantling the privacy review process. Call your representative and demand oversight of every federal immigration jail before they get any bigger.
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Trump invokes Defense Production Act to declare Roundup chemical glyphosate a national security priority one day after Bayer proposes $7.25 billion settlement in cancer lawsuits.
Today’s GovBrief News
Trump reversed support for UK's Chagos Islands deal after Britain refused to allow U.S. forces to use RAF bases for strikes against Iran.
Source: The Independent
February 20, 2026
U.S. Ambassador Huckabee tells Carlson "it would be fine" if Israel took territory from the Nile to the Euphrates, then tries to walk it back as "hyperbolic."
Source: Mediaite
February 20, 2026
South Carolina hospitals are not required to report measles hospitalizations, leaving doctors unable to tell patients how severe the outbreak is as cases approach 1,000.
Source: The Greenville Times
February 20, 2026
EPA rolls back mercury and toxic emission limits on coal plants nationwide, returning to weaker Obama-era standards the Biden administration had tightened.
Source: The Louisville Courier-Journal
February 20, 2026
NASA targets March 6 for Artemis 2 launch after successful fueling test, sending four astronauts around the moon for the first time since 1972.
Source: Space
February 20, 2026
Gov. Spanberger signs Virginia Democrats' proposed congressional map favoring 10 of 11 seats, sending it to an April referendum still blocked by a state court judge.
Source: WRIC Richmond
February 20, 2026
U.S. military kills three more people in a boat strike in the eastern Pacific, bringing the total to at least 148 dead across 43 attacks since September with no evidence released.
Source: Deutsche Welle
February 20, 2026
CIA Director Ratcliffe retracts 19 intelligence reports after a review by Trump's Intelligence Advisory Board flagged them for political bias, spanning three administrations.
Source: CNN
February 20, 2026
Deputy AG Blanche fires court-appointed U.S. attorney for Eastern District of Virginia hours after federal judges unanimously selected him, the third such firing in seven months.
Source: NBC News
February 20, 2026
Federal judge rebukes Justice Department for concealing a press freedom law when seeking a warrant to raid Washington Post reporter's home, seizing her phone, computers and records.
Source: CNN
February 20, 2026
Appeals court allows Trump administration to halt reinstallation of Philadelphia slavery exhibit one day after panels honoring nine people enslaved by George Washington were restored.
Source: The Associated Press
February 20, 2026
Fifth Circuit lifts injunction blocking Louisiana's Ten Commandments classroom law, allowing enforcement despite two prior courts ruling it unconstitutional.
Source: The Baton Rouge Advocate
February 20, 2026
Supreme Court strikes down Trump's tariff authority 6-3, ruling the law he used to impose duties on nearly every country does not authorize tariffs; Trump announces new 10% global tariff hours later.
Source: CNBC
February 20, 2026
DHS seeks to build a single biometric search engine combining face recognition, fingerprints and iris scans across all its agencies after dismantling its own privacy review process.
Source: Wired
February 20, 2026
ICE quietly changes cause of Cuban detainee's death from "medical distress" to "spontaneous use of force" weeks after medical examiner ruled it a homicide by asphyxiation during restraint.
Source: The Texas Tribune
February 20, 2026
Internal documents reveal Homeland Security agent shot and killed a 23-year-old U.S. citizen during a traffic detour on South Padre Island last March, nearly a year before the public learned of it.
Source: KSAT San Antonio
February 20, 2026
Lawmakers find ICE holding facility in Mesa designed for 12-hour stays has detained people for days and weeks with no beds, showers, medical staff or oversight policies.
Source: The Arizona Mirror
February 20, 2026
Leaked DHS document reveals plans for "mega" detention centers holding 7,000 to 10,000 people each, more than double previous estimates, with all facilities operational by November.
Source: Wired
February 20, 2026
Speaker Johnson denies Rev. Jesse Jackson's family request to lie in honor at the Capitol, months after Republicans held a vigil for Charlie Kirk in the same building's Statuary Hall.
Source: The Chicago Sun-Times
February 20, 2026
FCC chairman asks broadcasters to pledge daily Pledge of Allegiance and "patriotic, pro-America programming" while actively threatening stations' licenses over content he dislikes.
Source: Ars Technica
February 20, 2026
Ambassador Bridge owner gave $1 million to Trump's super PAC 24 days before Trump threatened to block the competing Gordie Howe Bridge from opening.
Source: The Detroit News
February 20, 2026
Kentucky Supreme Court unanimously strikes down the state's charter school law, ruling it violates the constitutional requirement for a common school system overseen by elected boards.
Source: The Kentucky Lantern
February 20, 2026