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Minnesota Made Trump Blink
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Politics

/ February 13, 2026

Minnesota Made Trump Blink

But Tom Homan is a lying liar, and the work’s not done. Plus, Gallup’s sketchy new polling policy (is the analytics firm in the Trump tank?), the law for deepfakes, and more in this week’s Elie v. US.

Elie Mystal

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Demonstrators take part in an anti-ICE march in Minneapolis, Minnesota, US, on January 31, 2026.

(Madison Thorn / Anadolu via Getty Images)

 

This is a preview of Nation Justice Correspondent Elie Mystal’s new weekly newsletter. Click here to receive this newsletter in your inbox each Friday.

On Thursday, Tom Homan, the corrupt, fascist, “border czar” the media insists on treating as respectable, announced an end to “Operation Metro Surge,” which is the Trump administration’s name for its unconstitutional invasion of Minnesota. Homan declared “success,” shared some data on the numbers of immigrants who’ve been deported or sent to concentration camps, didn’t list the numbers of people his goons have assaulted, injured, or murdered, and scuttled off. I assume the next time he receives an envelope stuffed with cash it will be wrapped in a “Mission Accomplished” banner.

I’m also forced to assume that Homan is either outright lying about ending the occupation of Minnesota or trying to throw the media off the scent in some fashion. That’s because the only thing this administration does is lie or misdirect, and taking its people at their word is something only fools and corporate media publications do. Ever since Homan replaced SS-cosplayer Greg Bovino in Minnesota, the media has lost interest in the ongoing horrors in Minneapolis/St.Paul. Declaring an “end” to the operation doesn’t necessarily mean ICE will leave the Gopher State.

I must also point out that Homan’s alleged ending of the great Northern occupation coincides with the budget showdown over DHS funding in Congress. Trying to make nice just long enough to secure another year of funding for their goon squads seems like exactly the kind of thing Republicans would do—and Democrats would fall for.

Luckily, some Democrats in Minnesota don’t seem to be too eager to trust. On Thursday, St. Paul Mayor Kaohly Her signed an ordinance requiring federal agents to identify themselves. When asked about Homan’s comments, she said, “Any announcement of a drawdown or end to Operation Metro Surge must be followed by real action.” Minnesota Governor Tim Walz noted that Homan has not told people when the governments’ goons will be leaving, but Walz offered to help them “pack their bags.” 

Senator Amy Klobuchar, who is running for governor but has not exactly covered herself in resistance glory, said, …

ICE Melts in the Minneapolis Winter
Who's accountable for the results?

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ICE Melts in the Minneapolis Winter

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Activism

/ February 13, 2026

ICE Melts in the Minneapolis Winter

Now it’s time to abolish the agency and impeach Kristi Noem.

John Nichols

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Protesters march during a “Nationwide Shutdown” demonstration against ICE enforcement on January 30, 2026, in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
(Stephen Maturen / Getty Images)

The people of Minneapolis raised their voices in glorious opposition to the federal occupation of their city with such energy, and such beauty, that the whole world heard their cry for justice. And they never let up. Just days before Donald Trump’s “border czar” Tom Homan formally announced that the Department of Homeland Security’s deadly surge of thousands of armed and masked Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents into their city would end, 1,600 Minnesotans had filled the cavernous Central Lutheran Church in downtown Minneapolis with the chorus of their singing resistance:

Hold on Hold on My dear one
Here comes the dawn…

When the dawn came on Thursday, after more than two months of violence and cruelty—which included thousands of arrests, detentions and deportations, and the killing of poet and mother of three Renee Good and intensive care nurse Alex Pretti—Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey came as close as a Minnesotan can to declaring victory.

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“They thought they could break us, but a love for our neighbors and a resolve to endure can outlast an occupation. These patriots of Minneapolis are showing that it’s not just about resistance—standing with our neighbors is deeply American,” said the mayor, who in January announced, “To ICE, get the fuck out of Minneapolis!”

“This operation has been catastrophic for our neighbors and businesses, and now it’s time for a great comeback,” said Frey. “We will show the same commitment to our immigrant residents and endurance in this reopening, and I’m hopeful the whole country will stand with us as we move forward.”

Frey added, “The people that deserve the credit for this operation ending is the 435,000 residents that call Minneapolis home.” He’s right. The peaceful resistance to the Department of Homeland Security’s surge of 3,000 ill-trained and irresponsible ICE and Customs and Border Patrol agents into the city—with mass marches, neighborhood watches, and mutual aid networks to support threatened neighbors—was as resilient as it was beautiful. And it forms a model for resistance in the cities that may next be targeted.

Yet Frey was also correct to describe the damage that had been done by more than two months of federal occupation as “catastrophic.”

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The NFL Owners and Olympic Organizers in Epstein’s Inbox
This framing isn't accidental.

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The NFL Owners and Olympic Organizers in Epstein’s Inbox

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Society

/ February 13, 2026

The NFL Owners and Olympic Organizers in Epstein’s Inbox

The sports media is ignoring the story, but wealthy sports figures are all over the Epstein files.

Dave Zirin

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Chairman of the 2028 LA Olympics organizing committee Casey Wasserman speaks as President Donald Trump looks on during an executive order signing ceremony on August 5, 2025, in Washington, DC.
(Win McNamee / Getty Images)

Child sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein did not want to ingratiate himself only to billionaires. He wanted to spend time with people who shaped the culture, and as we saw during Bad Bunny’s Super Bowl halftime show, nothing shapes the culture quite like the athletic industrial complex.

The website Front Office Sports went through the latest tranche of hurriedly redacted Epstein files, and it is shocking just how many NFL franchise owners are in these e-mails and assorted documents. They include—and this is a partial list—Robert Kraft, owner of the New England Patriots; Steve Tisch, co-owner of the New York Giants and first cousin of Jessica Tisch, the current New York City police commissioner; Stephen Ross, owner of the Miami Dolphins; Zygi Wilf, owner of the Minnesota Vikings; and Arthur Blank, owner of the Atlanta Falcons. There are more NFL owners in the Epstein files than attended the Super Bowl.

Denials have already been sputtered, and the owners’ public relations machines are working in overdrive to deny that they are anything more than incidental acquaintances of Epstein. But how many were actually friends with Epstein is less relevant than the fact that everyone who associated with Epstein ignored and excused what was often happening in plain sight around them. And as hard as their PR mavens are working to deflect attention, the sports media is working just as hard to ignore it all.

After all, who could possibly imagine that Kraft would be involved in anything illicit when it comes to exercising power over young women? ESPN has essentially not covered the sports figures involved with Epstein. There are scant few articles under the byline “ESPN News Services,” which draws from the Associated Press. There has been no investigative journalism or televised commentary on one of their yak-fests. When one considers that the NFL now owns a portion of ESPN, not to mention that the NFL is central to much of its programming, the network’s blasé attitude toward the story is odious.

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Even more damning in the released files is the repeated presence of LA 2028 Olympic chairman Casey Wasserman. He says he did nothing wrong, though two Los Angeles …

How 2 University Freshman Are Tracking ICE Enforcement Actions Across the Country
Who's accountable for the results?

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How Two University Freshman Are Tracking ICE Enforcement Actions Across the Country

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Activism

/

StudentNation

/ February 13, 2026

How Two University Freshman Are Tracking ICE Enforcement Actions Across the Country

With ICE Map, Rice University students Jack Vu and Abby Manuel hope to help communities understand where immigration enforcement activity is happening and how it unfolds in real time.

Arman Amin

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Left: Rice University students Jack Vu and Abby Manuel. Right: A screenshot of ICE Map.

(Jack Vu and Abby Manuel)

This story was produced for StudentNation, a program of the Nation Fund for Independent Journalism, which is dedicated to highlighting the best of student journalism. For more StudentNation, check out our archive or learn more about the program here. StudentNation is made possible through generous funding from The Puffin Foundation. If you’re a student and you have an article idea, please send pitches and questions to [email protected].

Since President Trump’s second inauguration last year, federal immigration enforcement by ICE agents has expanded dramatically. Agents have been deployed in major cities with sweeping crackdowns. Controversial and violent methods of targeting and detainment have been deployed that have drawn broad scrutiny and widespread protests, particularly since the fatal shootings of Renee Good and Alex Pretti in Minneapolis. 

Amid this escalating tension, two Rice University freshmen, Jack Vu and Abby Manuel, developed an online platform, called ICE Map, which tracks local reporting about ICE enforcement actions and consolidates verified incidents. The project aims to help users better understand where immigration enforcement activity is happening and how it unfolds in real time. 

Vu and Manuel’s map has drawn greater attention in recent months, including amplification by prominent activists such as Greta Thunberg, who shared the project on Instagram. The students have also presented their work at the 2025 New(s) Knowledge Symposium at MIT. 

We spoke with Vu and Manuel about how they developed this project, what kind of reception they have received, and where they see it going from here. The conversation has been edited for length and clarity. 

Arman Amin: What inspired you to develop this project?

Jack Vu: We’re both from Houston. I had this volunteer project with immigrants at an apartment complex in East Houston. We would go out there every week and we would play games and read books, do hopscotch, and we would teach them American football. In April of 2025, they stopped showing up one Saturday, and we were like, “what is going on?”

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Someone with the program goes …

Trump admin rips Mamdani, local Dems as activists override gov't move at NYC monument: 'Focused on theatrics'
This is why trust is collapsing.

A battle between elected Democrat officials and the Trump administration is developing in New York City involving a Pride flag being flown at a government monument outside the historic Stonewall Inn.
Earlier this week, the Trump administration removed a Pride flag from the national monument outside the Stonewall Inn, the site of a clash between police and patrons of a gay bar seen by many as the start of the gay rights movement in the 1960s, in a move it says is in accordance with decades-old federal code. 
The administration says that only the American flag, Department of Interior flag, or POW flags are permitted to fly on national monuments rather than political flags, and Pride flags have continued to be displayed around the monument at the Stonewall Inn itself, located nearby. 
The move sparked outrage from activists and Democrat leaders in New York City, including the city’s socialist mayor, Zohran Mamdani, who posted on X that he was "outraged" and "our city has a duty not just to honor this legacy, but to live up to it."
MAMDANI’S ANTISEMITISM CZAR ONCE SLAMMED POST CONDEMNING HAMAS TERROR ATTACKS
On Thursday, hundreds of protesters watched as local officials re-raised the Pride flag at the national monument, Fox 5 New York reported, prompting a scathing response from the Department of Interior, which manages the country’s national parks. 
"Instead of addressing the basic needs of their constituents, city leaders seem more focused on theatrics than solutions," a Department of Interior spokesperson told Fox News Digital. "Residents are left wondering why their elected officials are prioritizing headlines over heating. Every day that these issues go unresolved is another day families are forced to live with the consequences of mismanagement and neglect."
"Hundreds of families in New York City went without power during this year’s severe cold weather, people are being found dead on the streets, and trash has piled up so high it towers over city residents. This is Mayor Mamdani and city officials' New York City. While today's political stunt is a distraction from their recent deadly failures, it would be a better use of their time to get the trash buildup off city streets, ensure there are no more avoidable deaths, and work to keep the power on for the people of New York City."
HOUSE GOP LEADER RIPS 'SOCIALIST' ZOHRAN MAMDANI AFTER 18 PEOPLE FREEZE TO DEATH IN NYC
Fox News Digital reached out to Mamdani’s office for comment. 
The Department of Interior maintains that recent adjustments to flag displays at the monument are part of "longstanding …

Trump says he’ll be personally involved in DHS funding talks
Every delay has consequences.

President Donald Trump, just hours before funding for the Department of Homeland Security is set to lapse, said he will soon be personally involved in ongoing funding negotiations on Capitol Hill.

The Senate failed to advance a stand-alone DHS funding package on Thursday afternoon, all but ensuring a partial government shutdown will start Saturday.

DHS has been operating under a stopgap measure after funding was previously stripped from a full government appropriations package. That was part of Democratic lawmakers’ demands to reform immigration operations in the wake of the Renee Good and Alex Pretti killings in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

Trump spoke to reporters before departing the White House on Friday afternoon for an event with special forces operators at Fort Bragg in North Carolina.

“Well, I will,” he responded when asked if he’d been personally involved in the negotiations between the White House and leaders on Capitol Hill.

“If you look at Homeland Security, if you look at what they’ve done, if you look at what ICE has done and Border Patrol, we have the safest border in the history of our country. Nobody comes in, other than if they come in legally,” Trump continued, claiming his immigration policies resulted in historic drops in violent crime rates in 2025. “I am here to protect law enforcement: our great police, and ICE, and Border Patrol, and everybody. I’m here to protect them because they’re protecting us.”

CHINESE-OWNED POWER TOOL COMPANY BASED IN WISCONSIN TARGETED BY TRUMP ADMINISTRATION FOR TARIFF EVASION

Still, the president voiced some doubt that a deal with Democrats to refund DHS can soon be reached.

“We’ll see what happens,” he stated. “We always have to protect our law enforcement.”

Democrat claims SAVE Act would block married women from voting; Republicans say that's wrong
Transparency shouldn't be controversial.

Rep. Hillary Scholten, D-Mich., is claiming that under Republican-led voter integrity legislation, married women would find themselves unable to vote unless they changed their birth certificate to match other government-issued ID.
"Nearly 70 million married women in this country have changed their last name, but their birth certificates don’t reflect that," Scholten said at a press event, explaining her opposition to the SAVE America Act.
"In Michigan’s third district alone, 167,000 women could find themselves unable to register simply because when they got married, they didn’t change both their ID and their birth certificate."
SCHUMER FACES BACKLASH AFTER CALLING SAVE ACT 'JIM CROW' DESPITE PREVIOUS ALLEGATION FALLING FLAT
However, under Michigan law, marriage isn’t listed as one of the reasons to correct a birth certificate.
According to the state’s Department of Health and Human Services, citizens may only change their birth certificate to correct a birth record, change a sex designation, correct a place of birth, or amend a parental record.
Scholten, like many Democrats, has voiced opposition to the SAVE America Act — a bill that would require federal voter registrants to present government-issued photo ID to verify their citizenship.
The bill would also require a photo ID to vote.
HAKEEM JEFFRIES PRESSED ON DEMOCRAT OPPOSITION TO VOTER ID
In their view, the bill creates too many obstacles for voters to participate in federal elections.
"Republicans are trying to sell the SAVE Act as a way to stop non-citizens from voting, but we know that’s already illegal. What this bill really does is make it harder for citizens to vote, especially women," Scholten said when the House considered an earlier version of the legislation last year.
Although the bill lists a birth certificate as one way voters can confirm their identity, it does not specify a last-name match requirement in the manner Scholten described.
Instead, voters can use "a certified birth certificate issued by a state in which the applicant was born … [that] includes the full name, date of birth, and place of birth of the applicant" to supplement other forms of identification.
A senior GOP staffer confirmed that the SAVE Act does not come with the requirements Scholten described.
"That is not right at all and simply another Democrat propaganda talking point," the staffer said. "Every married woman should have their marriage license."
The office of Rep. Keith Self, R-Texas, one of the many who has helped champion the SAVE Act, pointed to an analysis of the bill laid out by the Federalist Society, …

Texas’s ban on ballot harvesting upheld by appeals court
Transparency shouldn't be controversial.

A federal appeals court ruled that a Texas law banning ballot harvesting is constitutional, reversing a lower court’s ruling and handing the Lone Star State a key victory for one of its major election integrity laws.

A three-judge panel on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit ruled in favor of Texas over the portion of Senate Bill 1, a 2021 law with various election provisions, that banned paid canvassers from submitting mail-in ballots for voters. The panel’s opinion, written by U.S. Circuit Judge Edith Jones, an appointee of President Ronald Reagan, stated that the lower federal district court erred by ruling the law was unconstitutional on its face.

“Shoddy hypothetical analysis is not what our federalist system requires. ‘Under the federalist structure of the United States, the states are responsible for regulating the conduct of their elections,'” Jones wrote. “A federal district court’s intrusion on a state’s constitutional prerogative cannot be supported by mere speculation.”

“A challenger bears the weighty burden of demonstrating that the law is ‘impermissibly vague in all of its applications,'” Jones added. “The plaintiffs’ vagueness challenge fails this threshold test. As the district court conceded, applying the statute to ‘prevent paid partisans from haranguing Texas citizens while they fill out their mail ballots’ is not vague or unconstitutional.”

The panel also found the law is constitutional under the First Amendment, ruling it is “narrowly tailored to advance Texas’s compelling interests in election integrity.”

The appeals court panel had halted the district court’s ruling in October 2024 pending appeal, roughly two weeks after the lower court had struck down Texas’s ballot harvesting ban.

Gov. Greg Abbott (R-TX) celebrated the legal victory by saying the state “will win the fight to stop illegal voting & cheating at the ballot box,” while Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, who is running for Senate in the GOP primary, called it a “major victory for election integrity.” The Republican National Committee, which intervened in the lawsuit supporting Texas, also celebrated the ruling.

“Voters should not have to fear coercion or abuse when receiving assistance casting their ballot. This ruling is another big win for statewide secure elections and for all Texas voters,” RNC chairman Joe Gruters said in a statement after the ruling.

SUPREME COURT URGED TO WEIGH IN ON PENNSYLVANIA’S MAIL BALLOT DATING LAW

The ruling marks the …

Transgender lawmaker teams up with Hillary Clinton for girls’ rights forum
Is this competence or optics?

America’s first transgender member of Congress and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton are joining forces to highlight girls’ fundamental rights at the Munich Security Conference.

Rep. Sarah McBride (D-DE), a transgender woman, will speak on a panel moderated by Clinton on Saturday, labeled “Girls Just Want to Have Fundamental Rights: Fighting the Global Pushback.”

McBride’s office confirmed to the Washington Examiner that the first-term representative would be in attendance, even though official congressionally-paid travel to the conference was canceled due to a looming funding lapse of the Department of Homeland Security.

Both McBride and Clinton have pushed legislative agendas that support women’s rights. Clinton has a longtime track record of advocacy on the topic across her time as first lady, senator from New York, secretary of state, and 2016 Democratic Party presidential nominee.

“Women’s rights are human rights,” Clinton said at the Fourth World Conference on Women in China in 1995.

DEMOCRATS WANT INVESTIGATION OF BONDI’S ‘SPYING’ ON LAWMAKERS’ EPSTEIN SEARCH HISTORY

Since being sworn into Congress last year, McBride has co-sponsored legislation to expand access to abortion, including the Women’s Health Protection Act, the Access to Reproductive Care for Service Members Act, and the My Body, My Data Act.

A handful of lawmakers from both chambers are expected at the Munich Security Conference, despite the partial government shutdown that will begin Saturday after Congress failed to reach a deal on DHS funding.

Trump's CDC is canceling $600M in HIV and STD funds to four Democrat-led states
This deserves loud pushback.

A judge issued a temporary block on these cuts on the grounds that the states' attorneys general claims that these cuts had "arbitrary, capricious, or unconstitutional rationales" were likely to be upheld in court.

The Trump Administration claims the cuts were because those "states [are] fraught with waste and mismanagement," but haven't presented substantive evidence supporting that this claim justifies an action of this magnitude and impact.