The Dictatorship

The time for Democrats to start dismantling ICE is now

Published

4 days ago

January 28, 2026

Jan. 28, 2026, 6:00 AM EST

Even after an Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer shot and killed Renee Good earlier this month, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and her closest allies in carrying out President Donald Trump’s cruel purge of immigrants seemed untouchable. Good’s death only prompted a mediocre package of reforms to be included in the bill funding the Department of Homeland Security for the rest of the year, none of which would truly restrain federal officers from carrying out mass deportation efforts.

But the Border Patrol officer who fired round after round into Alex Pretti’s bodythe second homicide carried out in less than a month on the streets of Minneapolis, did so one week before the Senate’s deadline to pass that bill.

There’s little room for error or delay to prevent the rot within DHS from metastasizing further.

The Trump administration is now on its back foot, and even Republican lawmakers have raised questions about whether Pretti really deserved to die, as though the first inklings of shame have finally begun creeping back into their bodies. The swiftly shifting political headwinds have left Democratic lawmakerswho had seemed sure to begrudgingly fund DHS later this week, looking to press their advantage.

Given the stakes, and what is likely to be a brief window for action, there’s little room for error or delay to prevent the rot within DHS from metastasizing further.

The Homeland Security funding bill is currently tied together with five other House-passed appropriations bills as an all-or-nothing package. At least seven Democratic votes are needed to ensure passage, but Pretti’s death has made the chance that it will reach Trump’s desk unchanged low at best. Instead, Senate Democrats are now pressing their GOP counterparts to strip the DHS funding from the “minibus” to allow the other bills to pass and prevent a larger partial shutdown. (Senate Republicans are pressing ahead regardlessintending to call a potential bluff and setting the stage for a crucial vote Thursday.)

According to NBC NewsSenate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., told his caucus on a call Sunday “the message had to be to ‘restrain, reform and restrict ICE.’” It’s more of a mouthful than “abolish ICE,” but it still marks a major departure from a previous reluctance to withhold support from federal law enforcement. The move is backed by a growing number of polls showing Americans swiftly souring on ICE, with almost half of respondents in a recent YouGov poll saying that the agency should be dismantled entirely.

Exactly what Schumer and his fellow Democratic senators intend to propose was still up in the airthough, as of Tuesday evening. Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., provided a rough list of potential demands during an interview with The New Republic’s Greg Sargentincluding requiring judicial warrants for immigration arrests, effectively ending what Murphy called the “street-by-street sweeps, the ‘show me your papers’ practice, and the home-to-home confrontations.”

Also on the table, according to Murphy, are items requiring federal agents to wear identification and body cameras during enforcement operations, ensuring that states can investigate cases like Good’s and Pretti’s killings when they occur, and restricting ICE and Border Patrol from operating in schools and churches.

Those potential reforms would mostly square with a list the Congressional Progressive Caucus circulated last week, which also included barring the arrest quotas the White House has imposed on ICE and banning federal agents from wearing masks during operations. Notably, neither set of proposals specifically calls for Noem’s resignation, despite a growing swell of support for her removal from atop DHS.

An undue focus on Noem, though, would be an ironic shadow of the conservative ethos

Noem herself is an understandable target, given her visibility and callousness when confronted with evidence of DHS agents’ culpability. A resolution calling for her impeachment in the House is racking up signatures, with more than 140 Democrats now on board. Accordingly, despite being in the minority, House Democrats have launched an investigation into Noem’s conductlaying the groundwork for a future expansion should they take back a majority in this fall’s midterm elections. There’s every chance, in that case, that Noem would see articles of impeachment against her drawn up swiftly next January — if she survives in the job that long.

An undue focus on Noem, though, would be an ironic shadow of the conservative ethos, looking to solve problems at the individual level rather than taking on the system. As Republicans ignored as they targeted Noem’s predecessor, she is dutifully following orders coming from the president. Even in the highly unlikely event of her removal in a Senate trial, there’s no doubt that the overarching deportation policy would remain the same so long as Trump wills it. While two-thirds of the upper chamber voting to show Noem the door would make for a stunning political rebuke, it would be all too easy to confuse that shiny trophy as a true victory.

The reforms pushed by Murphy and other Democrats are likewise important but, as Murphy himself recognized, still only scratch the surface of how we reached this point in the first place.

True immigration reform has been desperately needed for almost 20 years now. Without a stable pathway to citizenship for the millions of undocumented people already here, the pendulum remains free to swing back toward the kind of cruelty that Trump unleashed. And simply calling for better training and oversight for ICE and other cogs in the deportation machine fails to recognize that making a squad of unaccountable kidnappers more efficient doesn’t make the country safer.

As much as Pretti’s death has rattled the powers that be, the fever gripping the country didn’t suddenly break after a year of Trump’s mass deportation campaign. But opponents of the violence, chaos and cruelty on display now find themselves on more solid footing than what seemed possible only days ago, to begin dismantling a system designed to dehumanize and oppress anyone caught in its crosshairs. It is imperative, then, that the moment not be lost and that the first bricks in ICE’s eventual crypt be laid before the foundation has a chance to crack.

Hayes Brown is a writer and editor for MS NOW Daily.

The Dictatorship

AP Explains: What impact would Trump’s order to punish countries that sell oil to Cuba have?

Published

2 hours ago

February 1, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

AP Explains: What impact would Trump’s order to punish countries that sell oil to Cuba have?

HAVANA (AP) — Relying on his tough narrative against Cuba, US President Donald Trump signed an executive order that would impose tariffs on countries that dare to sell or send oil to the Caribbean nation.

The threat fell like a bucket of cold water on the streets of the country where many ordinary citizens are already greatly affected by a deep economic crisis.

Some experts even warn that the measure could be internally so serious as to cause a “humanitarian crisis.”

What does Trump’s executive order say?

The document establishes the imposition of a tariff on goods from countries that “directly or indirectly” supply Cuba with “any oil,” thus blocking the island’s possibilities of obtaining the vital fuel to drive its economy.

The US president’s argument is based on the fact that the Caribbean nation “constitutes an unusual and extraordinary threat” to “the national security and foreign policy of the United States,” which is why the president declared a “national emergency” with respect to said alleged danger.

According to official figures, Cuba produces only 40% of the fuel it needs, but given the technical conditions, this can barely be used for the eight large thermoelectric plants, obsolete facilities – with more than 30 years of use; The rest is generated by smaller plants that consume diesel, which must be imported. The government has had a nascent solar energy program reinforced since last year.

International experts estimate that until the beginning of the month, when Venezuela still sent its crude oil to the island —new shipments are unknown—and by virtue of a close commercial and ideological proximity, Cuba received about 35,000 barrels per day from the South American country and 5,500 barrels per day from Mexico, adding 7,500 barrels per day from Russia.

Even so, blackouts have already occurred for the last three years with cuts lasting more than eight hours, affecting the water supply and disrupting the lives of Cubans who mostly depend on light for cooking.

Dramatic impact: a humanitarian crisis

“This is devastating because the Cuban economy has been working at a minimum and by announcing this order (Trump) is using a more lethal weapon than different forms of military action because the impact is widespread,” economist Arturo López Levy, researcher at the Institute of Comparative Regional Studies at the University of Denver, told The Associated Press.

“It is not difficult to predict a significant increase in migration and those who have advocated for this policy (must) see that a humanitarian crisis is being created here,” said López Levy, alarmed. “This path leads (the) Cuban population to conditions of hunger because if there is no oil, there is not even a way to move food to the cities.”

Cuba had a 15% drop in its Gross Domestic Product in the last six years, a multifactorial crisis produced by the paralysis of the COVID-19 pandemic. a radical increase in US sanctions and an internal financial reform that triggered inflation.

Ricardo Torres, a Cuban economist at the American University of Washington, for his part highlighted that in the end “fuel is horizontal” to all sectors of society and nothing moves without it, from transportation and locomotives, to irrigation or industry.

Help from friends.

What several experts consulted by the AP question is how long the battered economy could last without oil supplies.

“The question we have and there is no answer is the number of days that Cuba has fuel available,” said Jorge Piñon, of the Energy Institute at the University of Texas. “This is worse than a hurricane approaching Cuba,” added the specialist.

Piñon considered that after the departure of Venezuela from the supply equation and the pressure that Mexico is receiving to stop providing crude oil to the island from the United States, there is hardly any Russia left.

China, another friend of the island, is not an oil producer – and the credits would be of no use – although there are among Cuba’s historical allies – and they are producers – Algeria, Angola and eventually Brazil, which has not spoken out, Piñon reflected.

What does Cuba say?

The reaction of the authorities and media on the island was immediate and the first thing they highlighted is that there is no evidence that the small nation – of barely nine million inhabitants –, beyond its ideological distance from the American political model, is really a “threat” to the neighboring country.

“Under a mendacious pretext devoid of arguments, sold by those who engage in politics and enrich themselves at the expense of the suffering of our people, President Trump intends to suffocate the Cuban economy,” Cuban president Miguel Díaz-Canel wrote on his X account.

Furthermore, officials emphasized that Trump sought to put the governments of third countries in the position of having to choose sides.

On the streets along with some expressions of nationalism over the harm caused by a foreign country, many citizens worried about the impact on their lives.

“It is an unfair measure by this president, he is half crazy and stubborn,” Eddy Porto, a 70-year-old street vendor, told the AP. “What is our fault… for that ambition that (Trump) has for power?

________

Correspondent Dánica Coto contributed to this report

________

Follow Andrea Rodríguez on X: https://x.com/ARodriguezAP

The Dictatorship

There’s more to the Beckham family fallout than public pettiness

Published

6 hours ago

February 1, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

There’s more to the Beckham family fallout than public pettiness

Feb. 1, 2026, 6:00 AM EST

ByRachel Simon

In the days since 26-year-old Brooklyn Beckham posted a lengthy statement on his Instagram Stories criticizing his famous parents David and Victoria for their allegedly “controlling” behavior and “countless lies,” public reaction has ranged from shock to skepticism.

And as the fallout continues from this viral celebrity schism, family, friends and strangers alike have dissected Brooklyn’s claims, with predictably differing opinions. Some of the allegations are impossible (at least for the public) to confirm. Others, such as Victoria’s attention-grabbing dance at her son’s wedding to model Nicola Peltz, involve more potential witnesses. Notably, neither of Brooklyn’s parents have commented directly on the matter. But in a sign that the story has yet to cool down, the BBC has already released a new documentary tackling the biggest claims, asking whether “brand Beckham” can possibly survive the scandal.

There may indeed be truth behind some of Brooklyn’s many passionate accusations, but plenty of people appear to be struggling to feel significant pity for a highly privileged “no baby” whose fame and financial success stem, at least originally, from the family he now publicly condemns. Even the name of Brooklyn’s hot sauce businessCloud 23, is a nod to one of his father’s jersey numbers. This lack of sympathy is likely due to a combination of factors. But there’s something deeper at play here than mere jealousy or pettiness.

Brooklyn clearly feels enough hurt and anger toward his family to cut them out of his life — at least for now. That’s a hugely difficult choice for anyone to make, regardless of their net worth. But Brooklyn’s seeming defensiveness hasn’t helped win over critics. And then there’s the fact that he’s asking for privacy in a post shared with 17 million followers.

Indeed, this sort of lose-lose situation — with its emotional complexity and global response — mirrors that of another royal couple: Prince Harry and Meghan. Although there’s no question — to many — that the Duke and Duchess of Sussex faced injustice at the hands of their fellow nobles, the couple’s complaints over the years have not always been well-received. Between Meghan’s at-times-tone-deaf instincts and Harry’s not-so-necessary awardsthe duo have struggled to shake their reputation as entitled millionaires who keep getting opportunities in business and Hollywood they don’t fully deserve.

This sort of lose-lose situation — with its emotional complexity and global response — mirrors that of another royal couple.

The eldest of the Beckhams’ four children, Brooklyn has cultivated his own eclectic collection of short-lived business ventures. As a teenager, he was hired to work on a Burberry campaign and published an infamous book of photography. In 2022, he rebranded himself as a chef with his very own cooking seriesbut a perceived lack of qualifications — again — and the show’s odd stylings seemed to doom the concept. There was also an ill-advised Uber Eats collaboration.

Undeterred, Brooklyn continues to cook across his social media channels.

The Beckham controversy is also complicated by Brooklyn’s relatively new marriage. His wife Nicola is a billionaire’s daughter and Razzie-nominated actress with her own perceived baggage, fair or not (and a controversial father to boot). The idea that Nicola could have helped drive some sort of wedge between Brooklyn and his mom has added another layer to the family drama.

Just like with Harry and Meghan, it’s obvious that wealth and fame can’t shield you from family tragedy or suffering. Nor does it give random people on the internet extra license to anonymously bully strangers online.

I don’t believe Brooklyn deserves to be vilified, and I truly hope he finds peace. If that means spending time away from his family, who am I — or anyone on the internet — to say otherwise. He’s certainly not the first adult child to find the confidence later in life to draw some much-needed healthy boundaries. Family estrangement is no longer a taboo topic, especially among young adultsand that’s not necessarily a bad thing.

“I’m standing up for myself for the first time in my life,” Brooklyn wrote in his statement. And that may very well be true. But as the divide between the haves and the have-nots also continues to widen, celebrities who seem to lack self-awareness may find their personal grievances aren’t garnering the same public support they might have even a few years ago. Instead, their problems and familial resentments — no matter how justified — are far more likely to become fuel for a culture increasingly frustrated by the brazen beneficiaries of societal inequality.

Rachel Simon

Rachel Simon is a writer and editor based in Raleigh, North Carolina. She is the author of “Pickleball for All: Everything but the ‘Kitchen’ Sink.” Her work has been published in The New York Times, Glamour, Vulture, Teen Vogue and more. You can find her at @rsimon113.

The Dictatorship

I watched the Georgia 2020 recount. Here’s what the FBI raid in Fulton County is really about.

Published

6 hours ago

February 1, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

Feb. 1, 2026, 6:00 AM EST

The moment the media declared Joe Biden the winner of the 2020 presidential election, I was on a flight from Washington, D.C., to Atlanta — deployed in my role as counsel to the Biden campaign to defend the will of Georgia voters as the state ballot counting process unfolded. For most Americans, the election was over. But my work was just getting started.

Beyond a shadow of a doubt, Joe Biden won the 2020 presidential election in Georgia by nearly 12,000 votes.

Under Georgia law, the close margin required election officials to carry out not only the regular counting process, but also a “risk limiting audit” — a hand recount of all five million ballots cast. Our legal team, and that of the Trump campaign, observed as each of Georgia’s 159 counties counted the ballots, certified the count and then counted them again by hand. After all of this, the Trump campaign demanded a third count in the form of a statewide machine recount. Georgia’s dedicated election workers counted every ballot a third time, often working overnight in shifts while contending with threats of violence and an unprecedented global pandemic. Watching it unfold, I was awed by the election staff’s dedication and their commitment to the integrity of the process.

After three counts, the results remained unchanged. Beyond a shadow of a doubt, Joe Biden won the 2020 presidential election in Georgia by nearly 12,000 votes. Republican Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger and Republican Gov. Brian Kemp certified the results despite intense pressure from then-President Donald Trump. Courts rejected every attempt by the Trump campaign and the president’s allies to overturn the results.

And yet, more than five years later, President Trump has taken his most extreme step to overturn the 2020 election results in Georgia. On Wednesday, a phalanx of FBI agents descended on the Fulton County election operations center and seized hundreds of boxes of ballots, tabulator tapes, ballot images and other documents related to the 2020 vote.

Americans who believe in free and fair elections should be terrified. But not because the president and his cronies at the FBI and the Justice Department might find some “smoking gun” in those five-year-old boxes that finally validates years of lies and conspiracy theories. They won’t. It doesn’t exist. But Americans should be terrified because of what this portends for the 2026 midterms.

Americans should be terrified because of what this portends for the 2026 midterms.

The Trump administration dispatched federal officers to remove ballots and voting equipment from the hands of state election officials — where they belong — and placed them under federal control. This is a threat to the very foundation of free and fair elections: that ballots are cast and counted through impartial, statutorily mandated state election processes without interference by candidates on the ballot.

Let’s be clear about where our society could be headed. This fall, we are increasingly likely to see a president commanding the federal law enforcement apparatus to seize ballots and voting equipment, prosecute election workers, intimidate voters and election officials and interfere with the counting of ballots and the certification of election results.

Public officials cannot afford to wait until it’s too late to act or speak out. Governors, secretaries of state, attorneys general and other state and local election officials know that elections are a state function protected by the Constitution. As Georgia officials did in the face of threats and heavy criticism in 2020, they must continue to honor the law and the truth. Judges must scrutinize every federal intrusion brought before the courts.

Members of Congress swore an oath when they took office to defend the Constitution against all enemies, foreign and domestic. What threat to our Constitution is greater than the demolition of impartial elections?

The FBI raid in Fulton County is only a preview of what might come if Trump remains unchecked.

The FBI raid in Fulton County is only a preview of what might come if Trump remains unchecked. There is still time for Republicans in the U.S. House and Senate to do their duty and protect free and fair elections for future generations of Americans — but it is running short.

As a voter protection lawyer who worked on the two largest recounts in American history, I know that state processes to count ballots are thorough, secure and accurate. I also know that staying silent while the Trump administration takes matters, and ballots, into its own hands would irreparably harm our democracy.

“It’s meant to sow fear,” Fulton County Commissioner Mo Ivory said in the wake of the FBI search. “People who normally would stand up to exercise their free and fair right to vote get afraid to do that. And that’s exactly what [Trump] hopes will happen.”

She’s right. And we can’t let fear win.

Jacquelyn Lopez is a partner at Elias Law Group and served as voter protection counsel for the Biden-Harris campaign during the 2020 Georgia recount. She also helped lead the 2018 Florida recount team for Sen. Bill Nelson.