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CBP Chief Brags They’re “Experts” in Detaining Small Children
New Republic • Jan 23, 2026

CBP Chief Brags They’re “Experts” in Detaining Small Children

A top Homeland Security official is insisting that the American public trust the Trump administration with their children—even as reports circulate that ICE and Customs and Border Protection have detained multiple children in Minnesota.Greg Bovino, a senior tactical commander for the U.S. Border Patrol, practically boasted about his agency’s ability to deal with children during a press conference Friday on the department’s Minneapolis operations, attempting to brush reports of child detentions under the rug by sharing anecdotes about officers playing soccer with locked-up kids.“Here in the U.S. Border Patrol, I will say unequivocally that we are experts in dealing with children,” Bovino said. “Not because we want to be, but because we have to be.”Later in the press conference, while crowing that both CBP and Immigration and Customs Enforcement were “probably the most experienced [law enforcement agencies] anywhere in the United States” when dealing with children, the Border Patrol chief suggested that circumstances are not so dire for children in detention centers.“I know that in my particular Border Patrol sector—that saw thousands of individuals coming across the border during that last administration, including hundreds of children—I remember our agents in the back parking lot playing soccer matches with those children.“I would challenge any law enforcement agency to show me the fantastic care that ICE and U.S. Border Patrol provide children,” he added, before warning people to not commit crimes lest they have to deal with his agency.Bovino further compared the family separations to those experienced by U.S. citizens when parents are arrested by local law enforcement—though the difference there is that police are constitutionally required to have probable cause that an individual committed a crime before they arrest them. Reports emerged Thursday that ICE had also detained at least four Minnesota children, one of whom was a 5-year-old preschooler, Liam Ramos, who was abducted by masked agents in his driveway shortly after he and his father arrived home. ICE also detained a 2-year-old at a traffic stop in Minneapolis.Just hours after Bovino recounted his dystopian, rather than feel-good, story about detained children, another report emerged that immigration agents had grabbed a child. ICE detained a family of three, including a 7-year-old girl, outside a hospital in Portland, Oregon, last week. The girl’s parents had been rushing her to emergency medical care after she had a nosebleed that wouldn’t stop.ICE’s violent and relatively untrained militias, meanwhile, have been expressly permitted to operate with impunity by the Trump administration, allowing them to harass, batter, and kill their neighbors with little recourse.It has become glaringly obvious over the course of the last year (or even just this last week) that the Trump administration’s pledge to focus on deporting violent criminals was little more than centrist lip service. In reality, immigration agents have arrested practically anybody in order to meet Homeland Security adviser Stephen Miller’s quota of 3,000 or more arrests per day.

Freakonomics’ Stephen Dubner On Why Long-Form Podcasting Isn't Dead Yet
52:09
Semafor Podcasts • Jan 23, 2026

Freakonomics’ Stephen Dubner On Why Long-Form Podcasting Isn't Dead Yet

FEMA Can’t Say “Watch Out for Ice” in Storm Warnings for Fear of Memes
New Republic • Jan 23, 2026

FEMA Can’t Say “Watch Out for Ice” in Storm Warnings for Fear of Memes

A winter storm is set to hit much of the country this weekend, and naturally, the Federal Emergency Management Association is sending out warnings to make sure people are safe.But they aren’t allowed to use the word “ice” in any of their messaging because their superiors at the Department of Homeland Security are worried about internet mockery thanks to the actions of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, CNN reports.DHS, which oversees both ICE and FEMA, told workers at the latter agency Thursday that phrases like “watch out for ice” could be misunderstood or turn into viral memes, considering the negative headlines ICE agents are producing in Minnesota and across the country.“If FEMA says, ‘Keep off the roads if you see ice,’ it would be easy for the public to meme it,” an unnamed source told CNN. “I think it’s a dangerous precedent to set. If we can’t use clear language to help prepare Americans, then people may be left vulnerable and could suffer.”FEMA staff have been told to use words like “freezing rain” instead, according to the source, although a FEMA spokesperson denied the report Friday in a statement.“‘Reporting’ like this reads like a desperate ploy for clickbait rather than real journalism that actually gives Americans disaster preparedness information that could save lives. FEMA will use correct and accurate descriptors of weather conditions to communicate clearly to the American people,” the spokesperson said in a statement.It’s hilarious that the Trump administration is worried about using the word “ice,” showing some degree of self-awareness about the negative attention its immigration crackdown is creating. Ice is a major hazard created by winter weather, and the public should still receive warnings regardless of whether they’ll be turned into jokes mocking ICE. If officials are that worried, perhaps the problem lies with ICE.

ICE Detains 2-Year-Old Girl Days After Using 5-Year-Old as Bait
New Republic • Jan 23, 2026

ICE Detains 2-Year-Old Girl Days After Using 5-Year-Old as Bait

ICE detained a 2-year-old girl in Minneapolis on Thursday, just two days after using a 5-year-old as bait—once again proving that claims that federal agents are only going after the worst of the worst are outright lies.A district court judge ordered that the child be released by 9:30 p.m. on Friday after she and her father were detained by ICE at a traffic stop. They have been identified as Elvis Joel Tipan Echeverria and Chloe Renata Tipan Villacis, following a GoFundMe effort to bring them home.“Respondents have taken a 2-year-old into custody—an escalation of violence that is unspeakable, cruel and without any legal basis or justification,” their attorneys said in court filings.Their attorneys claim that their clients, both from Ecuador, are asylum-seekers who were arrested without warrants.“On January 22, 2026, Chloe who is 2 years of age, and Elvis who is her father, were detained in South Minneapolis by ICE. They were driving back home from the grocery store when immigration officials decided to detain them,” the father and daughter’s GoFundMe reads. “With the permission of the mother, we are reaching out to community to help us raise funds for lawyer fees, food, bond requests, rent, livability, and resources to keep this family together. She would appreciate the help from community in reuniting their family.”While the judge’s ruling raises hope that the toddler will return home soon, her arrest only adds to the bleak deluge of news coming out of Minnesota. ICE continues to terrorize people, often brutalizing and wrongfully detaining them in the process. And they’re preparing to potentially move on to Maine, Wisconsin, and maybe your town next.

Police Arrest Huge Group of Faith Leaders in Minneapolis ICE Protest
New Republic • Jan 23, 2026

Police Arrest Huge Group of Faith Leaders in Minneapolis ICE Protest

Dozens of faith leaders were arrested during a massive peaceful protest Friday at the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport.A group of clergy members were among thousands who gathered at the airport to urge airlines working with ICE to stand with them against the Trump administration’s sweeping deportation operation in the Twin Cities. One video shared to X by Workday Magazine’s Sarah Lazare showed a line of clergy members assembled in the road outside of Terminal 1 departures, singing. “Before this campaign fails, we’ll all go down to jail, everybody’s got a right to live,” the clergy members sang. Another video showed the large crowd of protesters—including striking workers and union members—cheering: “Our streets!”A third video shared on X by Labor Notes’ Luis Feliz Leon showed faith leaders kneeling in the road, saying a prayer for the immigrants arrested by ICE as police officers assembled behind them. Organizers of the action said that “roughly 100” clergy members were arrested during the protest, according to CBS News. Protesters specifically called on Delta Airlines and Signature Aviation to stop contracting deportation flights to the Department of Homeland Security. Organizers claimed that roughly 2,000 people had been deported through the airport.Around 200 clergy members, hailing from a range of faiths and traditions, dispersed across Minneapolis Thursday in order to monitor federal agents’ interaction with protesters and civilians. Tensions between residents and law enforcement in Minneapolis continued to mount this week as ICE agents proceeded to violently arrest protesters, carry out warrantless raids, and chase down immigrants who are already in custody. Earlier this week, ICE agents used a 5-year-old boy as bait for one of his relatives after arresting the child’s father—who had no criminal record. The father and son were then both removed to Texas for deportation.

CDC Vaccines Chief Says Every Single Vaccine Should Be Optional
New Republic • Jan 23, 2026

CDC Vaccines Chief Says Every Single Vaccine Should Be Optional

The Trump-appointed head of the federal panel that recommends vaccines is saying that polio and measles vaccines—and perhaps every vaccine—should be optional. Dr. Kirk Milhoan, who heads the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said on a podcast Thursday that possibly every shot should be optional, saying that while he had “concerns” that some children might die of measles or become paralyzed from polio, a person’s right to refuse a vaccine supersedes all medical concerns. “If there is no choice, then informed consent is an illusion,” Milhoan said. “Without consent, it is medical battery.”Milhoan made the comments in an episode of Why Should I Trust You? released Thursday, claiming that polio and measles are not the threats they used to be because of medical advances and sanitation, not vaccination. His comments are in line with Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy’s anti-vaccination views and his recent decision to reduce the number of recommended vaccines from 17 to 11.Kennedy’s decision, however, is not being followed by leading medical organizations, such as the American Academy of Pediatrics, and every single state plus the District of Columbia still requires most, if not all 17 vaccinations, for an individual to attend public schools. But the measles and polio vaccines have prevented countless deaths and injuries in the United States and worldwide for the past several decades, and changing that could lead to more dangerous and deadly outbreaks. Medical experts told The New York Times that Milhoan’s decision was completely unfounded and dangerous.“These vaccines protect children and save lives,” said Dr. Sean O’Leary, chair of the infectious disease committee at the American Academy of Pediatrics. “It’s very frustrating for those of us who spend our careers trying to do what we can to improve the health of children to see harm coming to children because of an ideological agenda not grounded in science.”

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