The U.S. Justice Department has charged 30 additional people in connection with a January 18 protest that disrupted a church service at Cities Church in St. Paul, Minnesota, bringing the total number of defendants to 39. All are charged with conspiracy against the right of religious worship and obstructing access to a house of worship, with Attorney General Pam Bondi stating that 25 had already been arrested. The protest, which included former CNN anchor Don Lemon among the original nine defendants, targeted the church because organizers believed a senior pastor was an ICE official, and took place amid a broader federal immigration enforcement operation in the region. Several defendants, including Lemon, have pleaded not guilty and argue the charges are politically motivated and violate First Amendment rights.
Family members, clergy, and immigrant rights advocates held a press conference at a Trenton church one week after a February 20 law enforcement operation at an auto-repair shop, during which U.S. Marshals arrested a man wanted on criminal warrants and federal authorities detained two additional individuals. Advocates raised concerns about the conduct of the arrest, citing surveillance footage showing boxes placed in front of security cameras, and called for a transparent review of coordination between local and federal agencies. The wife of one detained man, who has no criminal record, described her family's hardship and her young daughter asking for her father. Separately, Governor Mikie Sherrill sent a letter opposing a federal plan to convert a Roxbury warehouse into an ICE detention facility for up to 1,500 people, citing concerns about transparency, infrastructure, environmental impact, and conditions in existing detention centers.
Representative Joaquin Castro has been repeatedly visiting the South Texas Family Residential Center in Dilley, Texas, a privately-run ICE detention facility holding immigrant families, and is calling conditions there a "national scandal." Castro has described a range of alleged problems at the facility, including a measles outbreak, inadequate food and water, delayed medical care for pregnant women, and an alleged sexual assault, while the Department of Homeland Security maintains the facility provides comprehensive care. The facility, reopened under the Trump administration after being closed under Biden, holds up to 2,400 people, many of whom Castro says entered the U.S. legally through official CBP channels. Castro recently escorted viral figure 5-year-old Liam Conejo Ramos and his father back to Minnesota after a federal judge ruled their detention was unconstitutional, and plans to return to Dilley with other members of Congress to continue drawing attention to conditions there.
A recently released DHS document reveals that the planned ICE processing center in Upper Bern Township, Berks County, is one of 16 such facilities nationwide, each designed to hold 1,000–1,500 detainees for an average of three to seven days, with all facilities expected to be operational by December as part of a new $38 billion detention model. The federal government claims the Hamburg facility will create over 1,300 jobs and contribute $146.7 million to local GDP, but local officials dispute these projections, noting the figures are based on income and sales taxes rather than property taxes, which fund county, municipal, and school district budgets. Berks County Commissioner Christian Leinbach and Upper Bern Township officials say they have not been provided access to community impact studies referenced by DHS, and have raised concerns about the facility's strain on local sewer systems, water supply, emergency services, and loss of property tax revenue. Township officials noted that the facility could more than double the township's population of 1,600 and that the additional load on its wastewater treatment plant could exceed capacity.
Families released from the Dilley Immigration Processing Center in South Texas face significant hardships after leaving detention, including being dropped at a shelter in Laredo with few resources, no money for travel, and sometimes missing medications and key documents. About 45% of families detained at the 2,400-bed facility are released to await immigration court proceedings, often hundreds or thousands of miles from where they were arrested or where they live. Advocates and lawyers note that many detainees were originally arrested while complying with immigration court requirements, and are released with their cases unchanged but in far worse physical, psychological, and financial condition. Medical experts warn that even brief detention causes lasting trauma in children, with accounts from released families describing symptoms including severe anxiety, behavioral changes, and fear of uniformed individuals.
Former U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Jerome Adams argues that recent changes to the federal childhood immunization schedule — removing universal recommendations for flu, hepatitis, RSV, and other vaccines — eliminate a clear national standard and increase health risks for children and vulnerable populations. He points to surging flu hospitalizations, a 33-year high in measles cases exceeding 2,000 in 2025, and rising pediatric deaths as consequences of declining vaccine uptake. While criticizing the rollbacks, Adams also acknowledges that public health institutions damaged their own credibility during the COVID-19 pandemic through poor communication and dismissiveness toward parental concerns. He calls for rebuilding trust through transparency, state-level policy leadership, empowering parents with honest information, and supporting local healthcare providers in vaccine conversations.
The Supreme Court is hearing arguments in a case challenging a federal law that makes it a crime for drug users to possess firearms, specifically as it applies to Ali Danial Hemani, a marijuana user who legally purchased a gun. The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals previously struck down the indictment against Hemani, ruling the law violated his Second Amendment rights, prompting the Justice Department to appeal. The case has drawn an unusual coalition of both conservative gun rights groups and liberal civil liberties organizations in opposition to the law, while gun-safety advocates warn that weakening it could disrupt the national background check system. A ruling is expected by summer.
As measles spreads across the U.S. — with over 1,100 cases reported in 2026 and more than 2,200 last year — anti-vaccine groups with ties to Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. are actively working to eliminate school vaccine mandates in more than 20 states, including at least six with active measles outbreaks. The effort is led by organizations including the Health Freedom Defense Fund, Stand for Health Freedom, and Kennedy-affiliated groups like Children's Health Defense and Maha Action, which are backing legislation modeled on a 2025 Idaho law prohibiting medical mandates. Public health experts warn that weakening these mandates will lower vaccination rates and lead to more illness, hospitalizations, and deaths, with Yale modeling projecting a sustained 1% annual decline in MMR vaccination rates could cost the U.S. $7.8 billion by 2030. The anti-vaccine coalition has disputed these warnings and characterized measles outbreaks as exaggerated, while promoting claims about vaccine safety that experts say are false or misleading.
Texas Biomedical Research Institute CEO Dr. Larry Schlesinger has publicly criticized recent federal changes to the childhood vaccine schedule, stating he sees no legitimate scientific basis for reevaluating long-established vaccines. Under HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the recommended number of childhood disease immunizations was reduced from 17 to 11, $500 million in mRNA vaccine research funding was cut, and the CDC removed its statement that vaccines do not cause autism — changes that 15 states have since sued to reverse. Schlesinger warned that adding complexity to vaccination guidelines reduces compliance, contributing to rising outbreaks of measles and other preventable diseases. He noted that Texas Biomed has remained largely insulated from federal funding cuts by diversifying its revenue sources, and has recently taken on contracts to develop measles therapeutics in response to growing case numbers.
President Trump signed an executive order invoking the Defense Production Act to boost domestic production of phosphorus and glyphosate, and offered producers of glyphosate-based pesticides immunity from litigation, citing agricultural and national security needs. HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. publicly supported the order, drawing sharp criticism from MAHA movement allies who view it as a reversal of his decades-long opposition to glyphosate, which the International Agency for Research on Cancer has classified as "probably carcinogenic to humans." Prominent MAHA supporters, including podcast host Tom Renz and wellness advocate Jillian Michaels, called Kennedy's stance a betrayal, while some called for his resignation. Kennedy defended his position by arguing that reducing reliance on foreign nations requires maintaining current chemical production systems, framing reform as a gradual process.
Past statements from Trump administration officials are resurfacing in light of U.S. and Israeli military strikes against Iran, with critics noting apparent contradictions between current actions and prior rhetoric. Trump, JD Vance, Tulsi Gabbard, and Stephen Miller all made statements emphasizing opposition to war with Iran and portraying Trump as a peace candidate during the 2024 campaign. Gabbard's past remarks are particularly striking, as she previously warned that war with Iran "would make the Iraq War look like a cakewalk" and even sold anti-war merchandise, before later endorsing Trump as the pro-peace candidate. The strikes, part of "Operation Epic Fury," have drawn mixed reactions in Congress, with some lawmakers seeking a war powers resolution while others, including Sen. Lindsey Graham and Sen. John Fetterman, praised the operation.
President Trump drew sharp criticism after responding to the deaths of three U.S. servicemembers in a joint U.S.-Israeli military operation against Iran — dubbed "Operation Epic Fury" — by saying "that's the way it is" and acknowledging that more casualties are expected. Democratic officials, including California Gov. Gavin Newsom, Sen. Tammy Duckworth, and Rep. Pat Ryan, condemned Trump's remarks as callous and lacking empathy for fallen soldiers and their families. Trump also reportedly declined to answer reporters' questions about whether he had a message for the families of the deceased upon returning to the White House. The president told The New York Times he plans to sustain the assault on Iran for "four to five weeks," saying the U.S. and Israel can maintain the offensive's intensity.
