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Redistricting fight erupts as Maryland Democrats move to redraw lone GOP House seat
What's the endgame here?

EXCLUSIVE: Maryland's lone House Republican is pledging to take Democratic leaders in his state to court if they follow through on plans that could see him booted out of Congress next year.
Lawmakers in the Old Line State's House of Delegates are set to take the first step toward drawing a new congressional map on Tuesday afternoon, which, if passed, would give Democrats an edge in every district in the state.
Currently, just one House Republican represents part of Maryland — House Freedom Caucus Chairman Andy Harris, R-Md.
REDISTRICTING BATTLES BREWING ACROSS THE COUNTRY AS PARTIES COMPETE FOR POWER AHEAD OF 2026 MIDTERMS
When asked about Democrats pushing the move last week, Harris took aim at Maryland Gov. Wes Moore's Redistricting Advisory Commission.
"His partisan gerrymandering commission certainly lived up to its name," Harris told Fox News Digital with a laugh. "They literally drew the district across a five-mile-long Bay Bridge to go into two other pieces of two other different counties."
Harris pointed out that even Maryland's Senate President Bill Ferguson, a Democrat, criticized the new map when it was released last week.
DOJ URGES SUPREME COURT TO BLOCK CALIFORNIA MAP, CALLS NEWSOM-BACKED PLAN A RACIAL GERRYMANDER
"Look, the Senate president called it, and I quote, objectively unconstitutional. So Wes, we’ll see you in court," the conservative caucus leader said.
Meanwhile, Moore is set to testify before a committee in the Annapolis State House on Tuesday, after which the panel will vote on whether to send the new map to the full House of Delegates for a vote.
He met with House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., at the U.S. Capitol last week to discuss the issue.
Maryland is the latest state wading into the redistricting war that has gripped the country.
It began last year when Texas' GOP-led legislature pushed through a new congressional map that could give Republicans as many as five new seats in the House of Representatives come the November midterms.
California quickly followed suit with its own successful referendum to redraw its maps in favor of Democrats.
Democrats in Virginia are now eyeing ways to make their congressional map more favorable to Democrats, and North Carolina Republicans approved a new map late last year that would imperil the state's lone House Democrat.

Dems Slam Trump for Family Separation … and Family Preservation
This isn't complicated—it's willpower.

President Donald J. Trump is the most powerful man on Earth. World powers bow down before him. But the one thing that he cannot do is make his Democrat-Left critics happy.

If Trump wakes up tomorrow at 6:00 a.m., they will complain that he is hyperactive and endangers his own health by not getting enough sleep. If he heeds their advice and rises the following day at 7:00 a.m., they will moan that he is a lazy slacker who is lying in bed when he should be in the Oval Office.

Trump cannot satisfy these people.

For the latest example of this phenomenon, just recall his opponents’ furious howls at his policy of “family separation,” whereby Trump monstrously arrested illegal aliens and kept their children safe elsewhere. Never mind that families get separated every single time that police arrest a father or mother and keep them from their kids. Seven days a week, judges put criminal suspects in jail or sentence convicts to prison, thus pulling families apart.

Trump did not pioneer this practice. American dads and moms have been tossed behind bars while their children wept outside since July 4, 1776.

Nonetheless, remember how hard Trump’s critics hammered him on this point in 2018.

•That June 30, then-Rep. Ruben Gallego, D-Ariz., blasted Trump’s “cruel and unnecessary family separation and family incarceration policies.”

•“The President’s zero-tolerance immigration policy cruelly tore children from their parents,” Rep. Joaquin Castro, D-Texas, lamented on Nov. 30.

•That Dec. 22, Rep. Jimmy Gomez, D-Calif., denounced “the barbaric family separation policy that tore thousands of children from their parents this summer.”

Now, Trump’s enemies are pounding his head in because Immigration and Customs Enforcement did not separate a family. 

On Jan. 20, ICE agents in Minneapolis arrested Ecuadoran illegal alien Adrian Alexander Conejo Arias. He and his son—Liam Conejo Ramos, age 5—are being held jointly at a federal facility in Dilley, Texas, just as the father requested. The Trump administration’s failure to separate these two and its decision to keep them together threw these very same people into an uncontrolled rage.

•“This is f— up and it doesn’t make anyone safer,” now-Sen. Gallego bellowed.

•“I am aware of reports that five-year-old Liam Conejo Ramos may be in San Antonio,” Castro declared via X. “My staff and I are doing everything we can to locate him, check on his safety and demand his release.” Of course, this would trigger the very family separation that Castro previously excoriated.

• Gomez roared: “Trump, ICE and CBP don’t see these families as people, and that’s exactly how they’re treating them.”

Beyond Democrats’ Olympic-grade talent for self-contradiction, there also seems to be far less to this story than the Trump-hating Left wants Americans to believe.

As the Department of Homeland Security explained Thursday via X, when ICE agents tried to arrest the father as he sat in his car, he “fled on foot—abandoning his child.” ICE officers then tried to deliver the son to his mother. “She refused to accept custody of the child,” DHS continued. “The father told officers he wanted the child to remain with him.”

DHS added: …

The press says that Trump is walking back ICE practices in Minnesota, but this is NOT TRUE. He has not said that ICE has made mistakes. Never.
This affects the entire country.

Saying "mistakes can happen" is certainly not an apology.
Trump always lies to cover up his misdeeds. This is something he has done every time he tries to hide his terrible behavior.
Unless I see any proof he actually has apologized, I will not believe statements from his enablers or the press that he has actually done so.

Federal judge rules ICE in Iowa illegally detained man, tried to 'cover its tracks'
This isn't complicated—it's willpower.

A federal judge ruled that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) illegally detained a man in Iowa after a court ordered his release, finding the agency had no legal authority at the time and later attempted to "cover its tracks."
In a Jan. 2 order, U.S. District Judge Stephen Locher said ICE violated federal law when it detained Jorge Eliecer Gonzalez Ochoa on Dec. 23 because it had not yet issued a valid "Notice to Appear," a document the court said is required to start removal proceedings and justify detention.
"It is undisputed that ICE had an arrest warrant and order to detain as of that time, but that a Notice to Appear was not issued until some unspecified time later in the day," Locher wrote.
Although ICE later issued a Notice to Appear and thereby "cured" the initial defect, the court said the agency’s actions at the time of the arrest were unlawful and inconsistent with federal regulations.
FEDERAL JUDGE LIMITS ICE ARRESTS WITHOUT WARRANT, PROBABLE CAUSE
Locher sharply criticized ICE for mailing the Notice to Appear later that day rather than serving it in person while Gonzalez Ochoa was already in custody.
"In context, it appears that ICE served the Notice to Appear by regular mail to obfuscate the timing of events and suggest that it might have been issued at the same time as the arrest warrant and order to detain. In other words, ICE knew it should not have issued the arrest warrant and order to detain in the absence of a Notice to Appear but sought to ‘cover its tracks,’" the judge wrote.
"This is unacceptable. With no pending removal proceeding, and no Notice to Appear, ICE was required to allow Gonzalez Ochoa to be released at 10:00 a.m., period — not to arrest him and then scramble around later to backfill crucial missing documents in a misleading way," he added.
FEDERAL JUDGE TEMPORARILY BLOCKS DHS TERMINATION OF FAMILY REUNIFICATION PAROLE PROGRAMS OVER NOTICE CONCERNS
The court declined to order Gonzalez Ochoa’s immediate release but ruled he is entitled to an individualized bond hearing in the Immigration Court within seven days.
WASHINGTON DEM PUSHES BILL TO BAR RECENT ICE HIRES FROM FUTURE POLICE JOBS, SLAMMING TRUMP'S ‘OCCUPYING FORCE’
Court documents reviewed by Fox News Digital show that Gonzalez Ochoa is a native of Colombia who entered the United States after fleeing what he said were threats against him and his family. He was initially placed into immigration removal proceedings in late 2024, but they were dismissed in October 2025 at the request of the Department of Homeland Security.
Gonzalez Ochoa was separately …

Mike Lawler urges Congress to devise ‘path to legal status’ for illegal immigrants post Minnesota unrest
This affects the entire country.

Rep. Mike Lawler (R-NY) is calling on President Donald Trump and Congress to work together and change immigration policies after the deaths of two U.S. citizens at the hands of immigration officers in Minneapolis this month, urging Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Customs and Border Protection to “reassess their current tactics.”

In an op-ed to the New York Times, the centrist congressman wrote that after tensions raised by Minnesota have calmed, Congress should devise a “realistic plan” to provide a “path to legal status — not citizenship — for long-term illegal immigrants without criminal records.”

“This path would be rigorous and fair, and it would aim to keep families together,” wrote Lawler. “Fair means those who benefit would face mandatory work requirements, forgo public assistance and pay fines and any back taxes they might owe.”

Lawler wrote that Congress should also “change the legal immigration system.”

“Lawmakers should create a system in which applicants’ merit matters more than it does now, better accounting for the country’s economic needs,” he wrote. “I will always fight to provide opportunity to others who have the potential and desire to contribute to America’s success.”

His opinion piece comes after the deaths of Renee Good and Alex Pretti, who were fatally shot by an ICE officer and Border Patrol agent, respectively. The administration has insisted that the two individuals were impeding federal investigations.

Lawler said an independent investigation, including collaboration with the FBI and state and local departments, should “start now” to “bolster the public’s confidence in immigration enforcement and our justice system.”

House Homeland Security Committee Chairman Andrew Garbarino (R-NY) requested the heads of ICE, Border Patrol, and U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services to testify before his panel. Senate Homeland Security Chair Rand Paul (R-KY) has similarly called for immigration officials to testify before his panel.

Lawler praised the Trump administration’s efforts to crack down on illegal immigrants at the southern border, but noted that the current strategy is not working. The deployments have resulted in clashes between protesters and immigration officials, and Lawler said the agencies need to rethink their “forceful operations.”

DEMOCRATS’ ICE FUNDING HALT COULD LEAVE FEMA STRANDED AFTER MONSTER SNOWSTORM

“Americans demanded action, electing Donald Trump in 2024,” Lawler wrote. “Now, just months from …

Minnesota fraud whistleblower says 'lack of guardrails was pretty shocking'
How is this acceptable?

A Minnesota woman employed by the state’s Department of Human Services is speaking out against what she describes as incompetence within the department following the discovery of rampant fraud in the state’s healthcare system.
Faye Bernstein told the City Journal in an interview that she first began to realize the high risk of fraud at Minnesota’s DHS in 2018 and 2019 following a promotion to a lead position.
"Over the years, I had often thought that DHS is sloppy," she said. "But 2018 and 2019 are when I saw, oh gosh, this is beyond normal. If we don’t have fraud today, we’re going to have fraud soon."
Bernstein has been a DHS employee for two decades, working in contract management and as a compliance officer, she told the outlet. In her lead position, she said she was able to see all the contracts being worked on by those in her division and witnessed conflicts with the contracts that could be deemed risky.
MINNESOTA 'ON THE CLOCK' AS HHS THREATENS PENALTIES OVER CHILDCARE FRAUD SCANDAL
"I was aware that our contracting processes were leaving us completely open to fraud," Bernstein said. "But to realize the lack of guardrails was pretty shocking."
Federal prosecutors estimate that up to $9 billion was stolen through a network of fraudulent fronts posing as daycare centers, food programs and health clinics. The majority of those charged, so far, in the ongoing investigation are part of Minnesota's Somali population.
When she tried to report the issues at the time to her deputy director, Bernstein said she was told to stop asking questions. Bernstein said she felt retaliated against after most of her duties were reassigned and was eventually "shuffled from one job to another."
HOUSE REPUBLICANS CALL MINNESOTA FRAUD PROBE 'TIP OF THE ICEBERG' AS MORE BLUE STATES FACE SCRUTINY
"Even our human resources people would tell us, ‘If your supervisor tells you to do something, you must do it.’ And when you didn’t, the word ‘insubordination’ came up," she said. "They considered it insubordinate if you resisted an unlawful direction."
Bernstein told the outlet that she has been going through emails received beginning in 2024 from members of the public warning about the alleged fraud.
"I was really surprised at how much notification we had," she told the outlet. "Did we really ignore all those people writing in? Members of the public had advised us of this [alleged fraud] in email after email after email."
TRUMP ADMIN PUTS MINNESOTA ON NOTICE, MOVES TO AUDIT MEDICAID AND CLAW BACK FUNDS TO PROTECT TAXPAYERS
The state’s DHS on Friday said that recently released …

Nuclear Weapon or Fentanyl–Both Accomplish Same Goal, Congressman Warns  
This affects the entire country.

Adversaries of the U.S. could launch a nuclear weapon at America, or they can achieve the same goal by flooding the nation with fentanyl, says a congressman who has introduced a bill cracking down on fentanyl imports.  

“If you’re one of our adversaries, you have the option: you can either launch a nuclear weapon that would kill half a million people, and then you have a war that we’re obviously going to get into because you nuked us, or you can do this,” Rep. Addison McDowell, R-N.C., said, referring to the trafficking of fentanyl into the U.S.

Over the past decade, roughly 500,000 U.S. lives have been lost to synthetic opioid overdoses, mainly fentanyl, according to the National Institutes of Health. 

“As the, the Biden administration just let all of these criminals and drugs into our country and they weren’t doing anything about it, I wanted to do something about it,” McDowell told The Daily Signal.  

“Our adversaries don’t just use the southern border, and we’re naive to think that that’s the case.”

Since President Donald Trump returned to office and took action to secure the U.S. border with Mexico, Customs and Border Protection reported a dramatic decline in the amount of fentanyl entering the U.S. The agency seized nearly half the amount of fentanyl in fiscal year 2025 as it had the previous year.

In December, Trump declared fentanyl a weapon of mass destruction.

McDowell has now served as a member of Congress for just over a year, and says he would not have run for office if not for his brother Luke who died 12 years ago from fentanyl poisoning at the age of 20.  

“I decided that I wanted his legacy to continue to live on through me and through the service that I provide,” he told The Daily Signal. 

Every time McDowell walks out of his office to the U.S. Capitol to cast a vote, he passes a photo of his brother Luke as a reminder of why he chose to serve in Congress.  

Painting of Luke McDowell. (Courtesy of Rep. McDowell)

McDowell on Wednesday introduced a bill aimed at blocking drug traffickers from bringing a tool called a pill press into the U.S.  

The process of fentanyl entering the U.S. is “coordinated,” McDowell explains.

China, for example, “will ship a pill presser” to a drug dealer in the U.S. to cut “pure fentanyl,” he said, which results in “something that looks like a pill.”

McDowell’s bill, the Preventing Rogue Equipment for Synthetic Substances, or PRESS, Act, criminalizes the “intentional importation of unlisted precursor chemicals and related equipment, including tableting machines, encapsulating machines, press punches, die systems, and gelatin capsules, that will be used to manufacture controlled substances,” according to the congressman’s office.  

If, through his work in Congress, McDowell says he can save even one family from the heartache his own family has endured through Luke’s death, it will all be “worth it.”  

The post Nuclear Weapon or Fentanyl–Both Accomplish Same Goal, Congressman Warns   appeared first on The Daily Signal.

Buffalo mayor signs order prohibiting coordination with ICE ahead of sanctuary city funding deadline 
Who's accountable for the results?

As President Donald Trump’s federal funding suspension for sanctuary cities looms, Buffalo Mayor Sean Ryan signed an executive order Monday barring any city employees from cooperating with federal immigration enforcement. 

Trump said earlier this month that starting Feb. 1, the government will not be making any payments to cities that offer sanctuary to illegal immigrants because “it breeds fraud and crime.”

Although Buffalo is not on the list of sanctuary jurisdictions published by the Department of Justice, New York is. 

In a news release, Ryan said the order will take effect immediately and is in the interest of public safety to counteract fear around Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Border Patrol operations. 

“This executive order makes clear that the City of Buffalo will not participate in federal civil immigration enforcement, so that no one is afraid to report a crime, call the fire department, or walk into City Hall for help,” Ryan said. “Anyone who lives in Buffalo has a right to our services, and our city government will never be used to intimidate or target residents.” 

Under the new executive order, city employees are prohibited from engaging in or supporting federal civil immigration enforcement activities conducted by federal agencies such as ICE or DHS.

The directive also limits the collection of immigration status information by city workers, except where required by law, and restricts access to non-public city facilities by federal immigration authorities without a valid judicial warrant. 

A portion of the national immigration debate centers on administrative warrants used by DHS and its agencies. Unlike judicial warrants, which are signed by a judge and authorize both arrest and search, administrative warrants are issued by immigration officials.

Ryan also said in his executive order that city departments must now report all requests from federal civil immigration authorities to the mayor annually. Ryan added mandatory training to ensure city personnel understand and implement the policy. 

While the order sharply limits Buffalo’s role in immigration enforcement, it does not curtail cooperation with criminal law enforcement. 

Trump has called on Congress to pass legislation ending sanctuary city policies, like the one in Buffalo, following the fatal shooting of Alex Pretti by federal agents in Minneapolis.

SCHUMER CALLS ON SENATE GOP TO SCRAP DHS FUNDING BILL TO AVOID SHUTDOWN

He also called on Democratic leaders, …

Acting ICE director Todd Lyons ordered to testify Friday after judge questions handling of detainee
Every delay has consequences.

A federal judge in Minnesota on Monday ordered Acting Immigration and Customs Enforcement Director Todd Lyons to appear personally in court this week, warning that he could be held in contempt over what the judge described as repeated failures by the Trump administration to comply with court orders in immigration cases.

In a Monday evening order, Chief U.S. District Judge Patrick Schiltz directed Lyons to testify in person at a Friday hearing in Minneapolis concerning the detention of Juan Tobay Robles, who was arrested by federal immigration agents earlier this month amid the administration’s Operation Metro Surge in the Twin Cities.

Schiltz said the Trump administration failed to comply with a Jan. 14 order requiring ICE to either provide Tobay Robles with a bond hearing within seven days or release him from custody. According to the judge, neither occurred.

“This is one of dozens of court orders with which respondents have failed to comply in recent weeks,” Schiltz, a George W. Bush appointee, wrote in a three-page order issued Monday night.

He added that the court’s patience had run out, saying that while ordering the head of a federal agency to appear personally is an extraordinary step, ICE’s conduct warranted it, in his view.

“The Court acknowledges that ordering the head of a federal agency to personally appear is an extraordinary step,” Schiltz wrote. “But the extent of ICE’s violation of court orders is likewise extraordinary, and lesser measures have been tried and failed.”

The hearing is scheduled for Friday at 1 p.m. Schiltz ordered Lyons to “appear in person to show cause why he should not be held in contempt of Court” for violating the court’s Jan. 14 order.

The judge notably said the hearing would be canceled only if the parties file a notice showing that Tobay Robles has been released from custody before Friday. Otherwise, Lyons must attend.

The order comes amid a surge of immigration litigation in Minnesota following President Donald Trump’s rollout of a coordinated enforcement push that has sharply increased immigration arrests in and around Minneapolis.

Federal courts in the state have been flooded in recent weeks with emergency filings from detainees alleging unlawful arrests, prolonged detention, or failure to receive court-ordered bond hearings. Judges have repeatedly ordered ICE to release detainees or comply with strict timelines, according to court records.

Schiltz accused ICE and other Trump administration officials of …

Florida GOP Rep Vern Buchanan to retire, adding to wave of House exits
This is performative politics again.

A longtime House Republican who sits on Congress' powerful tax-writing committee is retiring after 20 years on Capitol Hill.
Rep. Vern Buchanan, R-Fla., announced on Tuesday that he will not be seeking re-election, ending a two-decade-long career in Washington at the age of 74.
He's the 28th Republican to join what appears to be a mass exodus from the House of Representatives after the current term. Twenty-one House Democrats will also not seek re-election to the chamber.
Buchanan said in a statement that it was the honor of a lifetime to serve his southwest Florida congressional district.
GOP UNVEILS PLAN TO CUT DEFICIT BY $1 TRILLION WITH SECOND 'BIG, BEAUTIFUL BILL'
"Every achievement worth doing began with listening to my constituents and fighting for their priorities. I came to Congress to solve problems, to fight for working families and to help ensure this country remains a place where opportunity is available to everyone willing to work for it," Buchanan said.
"After 20 years of service, I believe it’s the right time to pass the torch and begin a new chapter in my life."
Buchanan spent nearly all of his time in Congress as a member of the House Ways & Means Committee, a powerful panel that oversees a variety of issues including tax policy.
HEADED FOR THE EXITS: WHY 3-DOZEN HOUSE MEMBERS AREN'T RUNNING FOR RE-ELECTION
He was in contention to chair the committee after Republicans retook the House of Representatives in November 2022 but ultimately lost the gavel to current Chairman Jason Smith, R-Mo.
Since then, Buchanan has served as the committee's vice chair and chairman of its subcommittee on health.
Before he leaves office, he's still likely to play a key role as Republicans in Congress eye another "big, beautiful bill" via the budget reconciliation process.
REP. LAMALFA'S DEATH FURTHER SHRINKS REPUBLICAN HOUSE MAJORITY
Budget reconciliation allows the party controlling both the House and Senate to pass massive policy overhauls by dropping the Senate's requirement for passage to be in line with the House's own simple majority threshold.
While the first bill was a vast compilation of President Donald Trump's campaign promises, Republicans are hoping a second round would more narrowly focus on making Americans' lives more affordable — including tackling soaring healthcare costs.
The nonpartisan Cook Political Report rates Buchanan's district as solidly Republican, meaning it's not likely to flip in the 2026 midterms.
But his retirement comes at a time when House Republicans are expected to face an uphill battle to keep their razor-thin majority …