Where things stand
• DHS shutdown: A shutdown of the Department of Homeland Security is all but certain this weekend, after senators left town for a planned recess with no funding deal in place. Republican congressional leaders have blamed Democrats, saying the White House made reasonable concessions in negotiations over changes to ICE protocols.
• Minnesota surge over: Border czar Tom Homan said the monthslong immigration enforcement crackdown that led to mass protests, thousands of arrests and the deaths of two US citizens was coming to an end.
• Heated hearing in DC: Top Minnesota officials denounced the crackdown at a Senate hearing, saying it has driven down business and left residents in fear. At one point, Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison and Republican Sen. Ron Johnson had a heated exchange after Johnson accused Ellison of contributing to the deaths of Renee Good and Alex Pretti, who were fatally shot by federal agents.
Meanwhile, Rubio says he believes he will meet Zelensky at Munich Security Conference
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said he believes he will meet with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky at the Munich Security Conference as the top US diplomat stressed the need to end the war in Ukraine.
Zelensky has said he would attend the high-level gathering if possible, depending on the security situation in Ukraine.
Asked about Russia’s continued bombardment against Ukraine, Rubio called it “terrible.”
“It’s a war. That’s why we want the war to end. People are suffering. It’s the coldest time of year. It’s unimaginable, the suffering. That’s the problem with wars. That’s why wars are bad, and that’s why we worked so hard for over a year now to try to bring this one to an end,” he said.
Rubio said he was sure “someone will raise” the issue of Greenland at the conference, but echoed that the administration is working on it and feels good about it.
Rubio, who gives a speech at the conference on Saturday, says he believes his message will be “well-received.”
Last year, Vice President JD Vance raised eyebrows and rankled allies in his speech lambasting European politicians, claiming they are suppressing free speech, losing control of immigration and refusing to work with hard-right parties in government.
“I think they want honesty. They want to know where we’re going, where we’d like to go, where we’d like to go with them. So that’s our hope,” Rubio said, noting the conference is happening “at a defining moment.”
“The old world is gone, frankly, the world I grew up in, and we live in a new era in geopolitics, and it’s going to require all of us to sort of re-examine what that looks like and what our role is going to be,” he said.
Rubio noted “Europe is important to us.”
“We’re deeply tied to Europe, and our futures have always been linked and will continue to be. We just got to talk about what that future looks like,” he said.
Mayors Frey and Mamdani met to discuss federal immigration operations
Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey and New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani met today to discuss the federal government’s immigration enforcement operations in cities nationwide.
Mamdani and Frey are “building a coalition of mayors ready to lead,” the statement added.
Big picture: The meeting came on the same day that President Donald Trump’s border czar, Tom Homan, announced a monthslong immigration enforcement crackdown in Minnesota is coming to an end.
The surge led to mass protests, thousands of arrests and the deaths of two US citizens, and is now at the center of negotiations over the impending Department of Homeland Security shutdown.
Noem on DHS shutdown: “This is a dangerous situation”
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said today that shutting down her department would leave the country vulnerable to terrorist attacks and other threats.
“This is a dangerous situation that we’re in,” Noem said during a news briefing in California, “that the Democrat Party has chosen to shut down the department that was created after 9/11.”
“This department was created recognizing that we are vulnerable to terrorist attacks, and that (the) American homeland needs to be funded and focused on keeping us safe within our own borders,” she added.
Noem said that, while Democrats have centered funding negotiations on desired reforms to immigration enforcement operations, that would count for a very small portion of the agency’s impacted funding.
She also noted that the Coast Guard, which is helping keep key shipping lanes open with icebreaking operations, would be impacted.
Some context: Lawmakers left Washington today for a scheduled recess without a deal to keep the department open, and funding is set to expire tomorrow night.
GOP leaders sent their members home after the two parties made no concrete progress toward a deal that Democrats are demanding must rein in US Immigration and Customs Enforcement operations.
CNN broke down what will be impacted by a DHS shutdown here.
From Iran talks to Venezuela: Today’s top foreign affairs headlines
As we follow the Department of Homeland Security funding fight and other domestic policy news, we’re also keeping a close eye on developments abroad, including the latest on US-Iran talks and the interim government in Venezuela.
Middle East diplomacy:
- Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said US-Iran negotiations should expand beyond the nuclear issue to include Tehran’s ballistic missile program and regional proxy networks, following yesterday’s talks in Washington with President Donald Trump.
- Addressing his meeting at the White House with Netanyahu, Trump said today that the two leaders did not discuss ending talks with Iran, and that the decision is ultimately his to make. “I’ll talk to them as long as I like, and we’ll see if we can get a deal with them,” Trump said.
- The US president came to Netanyahu’s defense when asked about the prime minister’s ongoing corruption trial, calling Israel’s president “disgraceful” for not granting Netanyahu a pardon.
- Trump plans to provide details about a stabilization force and multibillion-dollar reconstruction plan in Gaza during the inaugural meeting of his Board of Peace, according to a White House official, who said at least 20 countries are expected to attend the gathering next Thursday.
Venezuela:
- Acting Venezuelan President Delcy Rodríguez told NBC News that she has been invited to visit the US. She did not provide a specific date for the invite. Rodríguez also insisted that ousted leader Nicolás Maduro remains the legitimate head of the South American country.
- Trump today described relations between the US and Venezuela as “extraordinary” — pointing to developments in Venezuela’s critical oil industry one day after Energy Secretary Chris Wright visited Caracas.
- Wright has defended the US’ involvement in the Venezuelan oil sector, despite the country’s unclear roadmap toward democracy. The Trump administration couldn’t wait until elections were held in the country to start its work there, because the US believes allowing oil income to flow in Venezuela is the best way to improve conditions for ordinary citizens, Wright told CNN’s Boris Sanchez today. The energy secretary said growing US investment gives Washington “leverage” to steer reforms there.
Upcoming summit:
- Trump will host a group of Latin American and Caribbean leaders in Miami on March 7 for a high-profile summit, a White House official told CNN.
This post has been updated to include news about the Board of Peace and additional comments from Wright.
CNN’s Kevin Liptak, Alejandra Jaramillo, Dana Karni, Mohammed Tawfeeq, Jennifer Hansler, Samantha Waldenberg, Gonzalo Zegarra and Michael Rios contributed to this report.
Democrats expected to make counterproposal on DHS funding over the weekend, Thune says
Senate Majority Leader John Thune indicated that future Department of Homeland Security funding negotiations largely depend on a counterproposal he expects Democrats to offer over the weekend.
Pressed on whether there is an effort to make these negotiations happen face-to-face between Democrats and the White House, or at least over the phone, rather than simply trading papers, Thune indicated there has been some outreach beyond trading proposals.
“There have been and there, there are conversations that are ongoing. But I think that obviously the Democrats want it all reduced to paper, because they’ve said that, ‘We’re not interested in anything that isn’t legislative language.’”
Thune argued that the White House is “giving more and more ground on some of these key issues” that Democrats are demanding be addressed, though he would not get into the specifics of the White House’s latest proposal.
Thune said he was “encouraged” that Democrats are putting together another offer.
These are the agencies that fall under DHS, as department faces funding lapse
The Department of Homeland Security could be ensnared by a partial government shutdown if Congress does not fund the agency by end-of-day tomorrow.
A large number of agencies fall under the Department of Homeland Security, including:
- US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS)
- US Coast Guard (USCG)
- US Customs and Border Protection (CBP)
- Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA)
- Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA)
- US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE)
- Transportation Security Agency (TSA)
- US Secret Service (USSS)
But overall, more than 90% of DHS’ 272,000 employees would continue working during a lapse, according to the agency’s September shutdown plan covering the first five days of an impasse. More than 93% of ICE and CBP workers would remain on the job.
Only about 44,500 staffers would continue to be paid through other appropriations, according to the shutdown plan. However, DHS Secretary Kristi Noem said last fall that 70,000 law enforcement personnel — including in CBP, ICE and other divisions — would receive their paychecks.
Trump says he has not disciplined a staffer for sharing racist video depicting Obamas as apes
President Donald Trump told reporters Thursday that he has not disciplined a staffer for sharing on social media the since-deleted racist video depicting former President Barack Obama and former first lady Michelle Obama as apes in a jungle.
President Trump says he did not fire any staffer over a racist video of the Obamas that was posted on his Truth social account.
The president has refused to apologize for posting and then deleting the racist video. Instead, Trump has insisted that he hadn’t seen the final frames containing the offensive content and blamed a staffer for the mistake.
The video was posted late last week and remained online for nearly 12 hours before the White House took it down amid bipartisan outrage, including from close Trump allies.
Johnson blames Democrats for imminent DHS shutdown
Speaker Mike Johnson called the White House proposal in the negotiations for Department of Homeland Security funding “eminently reasonable” and criticized some Democrats for wanting “to impose pain.”
“I saw the last proposal sent over from the White House. It is eminently reasonable and gives on us on some very meaningful provisions that were part of the discussions,” he told CNN, adding “It seems to me, the appearance here is that some Democrats, House and Senate, want a government shutdown. They want to impose more pain on the American people. For what? I have no idea.”
Johnson maintained his hardline stance against requiring judicial warrants, saying it would “shut down the deportation of virtually all illegal immigrants.”
“You can’t do that. You can’t have an Immigration and Customs Enforcement program if you have to get a judicial warrant every time you go to arrest someone. That’s not how it works. It’s not how it can work. It’s not workable.”
Trump says he hasn't spoken with Lutnick about the Commerce secretary's newly revealed Epstein visits
President Donald Trump said Thursday that he hasn’t yet spoken with Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick about the revelations that the Cabinet official visited Jeffrey Epstein’s private island — and hadn’t been aware of the extent of the contact between Lutnick and the convicted sex offender.
“I wasn’t aware of it,” Trump said during an event at the White House. “I actually haven’t spoken about it.”
Lutnick acknowledged this week that he and his family visited Epstein, the disgraced financier and sex offender, for lunch on his island in 2012. Documents released by the Justice Department had indicated hat Lutnick had more contact with Epstein than he’d previously acknowledged.
But Trump on Thursday offered little indication he was troubled by the new information.
“From what I hear, he was there with his wife and children, and I guess in some cases some people were,” Trump said. “I wasn’t. I was never there.”
DHS shutdown all but certain after Senate Democrats block funding bill
Democratic senators voted to block a funding bill for the Department of Homeland Security ahead of Friday night’s funding deadline, making a shutdown of the agency that handles FEMA, TSA and the Coast Guard all but certain.
The vote was 52 to 47. It needed 60 to advance.
Senators are leaving town after the vote for a pre-planned week-long recess, with GOP Leader John Thune saying he’ll call them back to Washington if there is a deal between Democrats and the White House on changes to federal immigration enforcement tactics.
Democrats later blocked a two-week funding extension. GOP Sen. Katie Britt, the lead GOP Senate negotiator, offered the stopgap bill on the floor, but Democratic Sen. Chris Murphy objected, just after Senate Democrats voted to block the earlier DHS funding package.
This post has been updated to note that Democrats blocked the two-week extension.
Senators leaving town now with DHS set to shut down
After each casts a final vote of the week, senators are leaving town for their Presidents Day recess.
The funding vote – which is not expected to pass – is not yet final, but the Department of Homeland Security is on track to shut down on Saturday after funding lapses Friday at midnight.
Both chambers could return next week to cast votes if a deal is reached.
ICE has opened more than 3 dozen investigations into excessive use of force over past year
Immigration and Customs Enforcement has opened more than three dozen internal investigations into allegations of excessive use of force by its agents from January 2025 to January 2026, the agency’s acting director, Todd Lyons, said during a hearing today.
“We look at every incidence, no matter what it is,” he said in front of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee.
Lyons said that 18 of those investigations have been closed, 19 remain pending and one has been “referred for further action.” He did not specify which incident has been referred for further action.
“We do hold our individuals accountable,” he said.
Lyons has faced tough questioning from senators over the tactics of his agents during their operations in Minnesota and other states across the country, especially the killing of Renee Good by an ICE agent in Minneapolis last month.
Meanwhile, Trump praises Bondi after heated House hearing on Epstein files
President Donald Trump showered Attorney General Pam Bondi with praise, after she sparred with House Judiciary members yesterday over the Justice Department’s release of its Jeffrey Epstein files.
Bondi had a notable exchange during the hearing with Rep. Tom Massie, a Trump foe and one of the Republicans who led the charge for the full release of Epstein files.
Trump said Massie “made a total fool of himself yesterday, fighting aimlessly against a hopeless agenda of Hate and Stupidity.”
There was no mention of the victims of Epstein’s crimes in Trump’s lengthy post, some of whom were seated in the hearing room. Bondi did not acknowledge them during the hearing, either.
Victims of Epstein’s crimes have called for transparency for years across several administrations. As CNN reported, they have also criticized the Trump administration for its rollout of the files, including releasing sensitive information regarding victims and over-redacting certain names.
Watch key moments from Bondi’s hearing below:
Attorney General Pam Bondi’s testimony in front of the House Judiciary Committee on Wednesday was some of the tensest and most combative testimony we’ve seen to date from a Trump Cabinet official. CNN's Paula Reid breaks down some of the critical moments.
Thune: White House moving closer to Democrats' demands, but DHS shutdown all but certain
Senate Majority Leader John Thune told reporters the White House’s latest counteroffer on changes to ICE protocols is moving closer to Democrats’ demands, despite Democrats rejecting the offer outright this morning and signaling they will not extend funding for DHS ahead of Friday’s shutdown deadline.
Democrats are expected to block a House-passed funding package this afternoon. Republicans and Democrats are also planning to block each other’s proposed stopgap funding bills, meaning the Senate will leave town for a recess week without funding DHS.
“I think the White House is pretty close with this offer, to get into a kind of an agreement zone,” Thune maintained. “I mean, I think the deal space is there, so I think it’s going to be up to the Dems to react to this and say, ‘Okay, we can’t do this or that,’ and maybe there’s some more ground the White House can give on a couple of fronts.”
Thune acknowledged that a shutdown is a real threat at this point.
“I think if they block a CR, hopefully negotiations continue. Obviously, that means that starting at midnight tomorrow night, there are certain agencies of government that won’t be funded, which would be unfortunate,” he said.
“They’re posturing right now, I think, but, but I do think the progress has been real. I think the concessions on the part of the administration have been real,” the GOP leader insisted.
Thune, however, won’t keep the Senate in DC through the long weekend or next week’s scheduled recess, and will only bring them back early if there’s a deal.
“I don’t know that there’s any value to or benefit to keeping everybody here, as long as the White House and the Senate Democrats are continuing that discussion,” he said.
Asked whether senators would be able to go on planned diplomatic trips, as some plan to attend the Munich Security Conference, Thune said that’s up to each senator to decide for themselves — though he’s previously encouraged senators not to go while schedules are up in the air.
Walz wants federal compensation for economic damage during immigration enforcement surge
In his first public comments since the White House border czar announced Operation Metro Surge in the Minneapolis area was ending, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz said the crackdown did serious economic damage to the state.
The governor spoke at a news conference announcing state plans for subsidized loans to small businesses Walz says suffered reduced foot traffic because of the immigration enforcement crackdown.
“The investments that need to come back,” Walz said. “They need to show — ‘they’ being the federal government and ‘they’ being this administration — they need to do more.”
Walz said he was in touch with Minnesota’s congressional delegation to discuss funding, but did not give specifics on how he wants the Trump administration to compensate the state.
CNN has asked the White House for comment about Walz’s statements.
Walz is “cautiously optimistic” about the drawdown in immigration officers in the Twin Cities, he said, adding it won’t end outrage over the surge that resulted in the detention of families and the deaths of two protesters.
“They left us with many unanswered questions: Where are our children? Where and what is the process of the investigations into those that were responsible for the deaths of Renee (Good) and Alex (Pretti)?” Walz asked.
“We’re certainly not going to celebrate something that should have never happened,” he added.
This post has been updated.
Jeffries says latest White House offer on ICE talks "falls short"
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries said that he and other top Democrats are not satisfied by the White House’s latest proposal in the ongoing negotiations over ICE, adding the Department of Homeland Security funding bill would fail on the Senate floor later Thursday.
Jeffries said Democrats need to see policy changes to ICE’s immigration enforcement that are “bold, meaningful, and transformational” — and that the White House’s latest offer did not meet that bar.
Jeffries’ public comments come after the minority leader told CNN earlier Thursday that he was “skeptical” the White House offer would satisfy Democrats but said his team was still reviewing the legislative text from the White House.
CBP chief says he never told Noem that Pretti was a domestic terrorist
Customs and Border Protection Commissioner Rodney Scott told a Senate committee that he never described Alex Pretti as a domestic terrorist to Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem – nor was he aware of anyone in his agency doing so.
Almost immediately after Pretti’s killing last month, Noem and other top administration officials rushed to describe Pretti as a terrorist who was intent on massacring law enforcement.
But after video was released showing that Pretti was holding a phone and never drew the firearm he was carrying in a holster in his waistband, both Noem and top White House aide Stephen Miller said they were relying on information from Border Patrol officials on the ground for their premature initial assessments.
During today’s hearing, Sen. Gary Peters asked Scott whether that description of Pretti had come from him.
“No, sir,” Scott responded.
Asked whether someone in his staff told Noem that, Scott responded: “Not to my knowledge.”
Asked how Noem could come to that conclusion, Scott said:“I can’t speculate on what someone else would say or why, sir.”
House expected to leave Washington today but members will be on 48-hour notice to return
House GOP leaders are expected to send members home on Thursday and will provide 48-hours notice to members if forcing them to return to Washington, according to multiple GOP sources.
The House has a pre-planned recess scheduled for next week.
Speaker Mike Johnson has said he hopes to bring members back as soon as possible to back a Department of Homeland Security funding bill — either another temporary funding patch or a full-year bill. But Senate Democrats have told CNN that they will oppose the Senate’s plans for a DHS funding vote later Thursday.
This means a DHS funding shutdown is likely to happen Friday at midnight and will not be resolved until the White House and Democrats can reach a deal on their ongoing negotiations over federal immigration enforcement.
Meanwhile, Melania Trump announces return of Russian and Ukrainian children
First lady Melania Trump has helped secure the release of five Ukrainian children allegedly abducted by Russia and one Russian child, a top Russian official said, with the first lady’s office touting it as her third unification effort.
Trump’s engagement with Russian President Vladimir Putin, which began in August, “helped accelerate these reunifications and lays the groundwork for a faster process going forward,” Maria Lvova-Belova, presidential commissioner for children’s rights in Russia, said in a statement.
“Today, five children—four boys and one girl, aged 4 to 15—are being reunited with their families in Ukraine, and one child is returning to Russia,” Lvova-Belova added.
Lvova-Belova and Putin are wanted by the International Criminal Court for the forced deportation and transfer of Ukrainian children to Russia.
The first lady previously announced the return of eight Ukrainian children in October and seven more in December. Her office announced the additional release on Thursday but did not specify the number of children. CNN has reached out to her office for more information. It was not immediately clear whether the one Russian child is being returned to Russian-occupied territory that was originally part of Ukraine at the start of the war.
“I appreciate that Russia and Ukraine are dedicated to bringing back the children who have been displaced because of the circumstances surrounding this conflict,” Trump said in a statement, urging both countries to “intensify their efforts.”
Some advocates who have lauded the return of Ukrainian children have also raised concerns about Trump’s involvement — and especially her passive-voice characterization of how the children ended up in Russia, fearing that it will only end up playing to Putin, CNN previously reported.
CBP chief says bodycam of Pretti killing will be made public when "appropriate"
Customs and Border Protection Commissioner Rodney Scott told a Senate committee today that body-worn camera footage of the killing of Alex Pretti will be made public “when it’s appropriate.”
Scott’s comments during a Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs hearing came as the panel’s chairman, Republican Sen. Rand Paul, played video of the encounter that ended in Pretti’s death.
In response to several questions about what the video showed – including federal officers pushing a woman to the ground and spraying Pretti in the face while he held a phone in his hand – Scott said he would not be able to “jump to a conclusion in either direction.”
Asked by Paul whether the footage would be released, Scott responded: “yes.”
Paul said some of the conduct of Border Patrol officers was “inexcusable.”
Right now, he added, “I don’t know that the American public believes there can be an honest assessment.”
Correction: An earlier version of this post gave the wrong title for Rodney Scott. He is the Customs and Border Protection commissioner.
