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Georgia visit comes after Trump’s political team met with Cabinet members on selling president’s agenda to voters facing economic concerns

By Paul SteinhauserFox News

Published February 19, 2026 5:00am EST

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President Donald Trump heads south to Georgia on Thursday, as he stops in a crucial midterm battleground state to showcase his administration’s efforts to boost the economy.

White House Press Secretary Karolina Leavitt said on the eve of the trip that Trump “will visit two local businesses and give a speech on his efforts to make life affordable for working people.”

But Trump’s visit to Rome, Georgia, in the northwest part of the state, comes with early voting underway in the special election to replace former Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene. Once a MAGA firebrand, she had a major falling out with the president before stepping down from Congress at the beginning of the year.

A jam-packed field of 18 candidates are vying to succeed Taylor Greene in Georgia’s solidly red 14th Congressional District.

WHAT THE LATEST FOX NEWS POLL SAYS ABOUT WHICH PARTY HAS THE MIDTERM EDGE

Early voting is under way in Georgia’s 14th Congressional District, in the race to fill the House seat left vacant when then-Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, a Republican, resigned from Congress in early January.(Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)

“We have a lot of people that want to take Marjorie ‘Traitor’ Greene’s place, and many, many candidates, and I have to choose one,” the president told reporters aboard Air Force One Monday, as he used a derogatory nickname for the former lawmaker.

“They say whoever I endorse is going to win. But we have a lot of good candidates that want to take her place.”

The president earlier this month did make an endorsement in the race, backing Clay Fuller, who is a former local district attorney.

TRUMP HITS ROAD TO SELL ECONOMIC WINS AS MIDTERMS HEAT UP

With so many candidates in the race, it’s likely no candidate tops 50% in the March 10 election, which would then force an April 7 runoff.

Trump’s stop in Georgia, where he’s expected to spotlight inflation, energy costs, and unemployment, comes two days after top members of the president’s political team huddled in a closed-door strategy session with Trump administration Cabinet members and their top aides on how best to sell the president’s agenda to voters in this year’s midterm elections.

President Donald Trump takes the stage to speak during a rally at the Horizon Events Center in Clive, Iowa, on Jan. 27.(Win McNamee/Getty Images)

The meeting, which sources familiar confirmed to Fox News, was hosted by White House chief of staff Susie Wiles and deputy chief of staff James Blair, who is steering Trump’s political strategy.

TRUMP CHEERS STEADY INFLATION NUMBERS AS AFFORDABILITY FIGHT SHAPES 2026 MIDTERM BATTLE

According to sources, the message during a slide presentation by chief pollster and strategist Tony Fabrizio was that the economy will be the top issue on the minds of voters, and that the White House needs to spotlight its efforts on easing affordability.

“Team Trump will deploy every resource necessary to win the midterms, protect our majorities, and ensure President Trump keeps delivering results for America’s working families,” a source in the president’s political orbit told Fox News Digital.

The meeting was held as the GOP works to defend their control of the Senate and their razor-thin House majority in November’s midterms. Republicans are facing traditional political headwinds in the midterms, when the party in power usually loses House and Senate seats.

Republicans are also dealing with the president’s continued underwater approval ratings, and a slew of surveys, including the latest Fox News polling, that indicates Americans are pessimistic about the economy and say things have not improved in the year since Trump returned to the White House.

Meanwhile, Democrats have scored a series of ballot box victories and overperformances in off-year elections and special elections during Trump’s second administration, thanks to their laser focus on affordability amid persistent inflation.

Republicans see the president as their best tool to motivate low-propensity MAGA voters, who don’t always vote when Trump’s not on the ballot, to motivated them to show up at the polls during the midterms.

AFFORDABILITY: THE ISSUE THAT BOOSTED TRUMP AND REPUBLICANS IN 2024 DEFLATED THEM IN 2025

Republican National Committee chair Joe Gruters told Fox News Digital last month that Trump was the GOP’s “secret weapon” that will help Republicans “defy history” in the midterms.

Video

“We got to make sure we turn our voters out, and we got to make sure that we have people energized. And there’s nobody that can energize our base more than President Trump,” Gruters said.

Trump made stops in December and last month in the key battleground states of Pennsylvania, North Carolina and Michigan to highlight his accomplishments on the economy.

And after Wiles said that Trump would start making weekly stops, he rallied supporters late last month in Iowa, a one-time Midwestern battleground turned red-leaning state the president carried by double digits in 2024 where Republicans are now playing defense as they defend open Senate and gubernatorial seats and three competitive GOP-controlled House districts.

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But Trump’s stop in Georgia on Thursday is his first campaign-style event since the Iowa trip three weeks ago.

The Democratic National Committee, in a statement ahead of Trump’s visit, argued, “Because of Donald Trump, tens of thousands of Georgians have lost their jobs, hardworking families are paying over $1,000 more per year for the basics, and thousands of GA-14 residents are facing skyrocketing health care premiums. While Trump tries to spin his record and lie about the state of his economy, Democrats won’t stop fighting to lower costs for Georgia families and protect their healthcare.”

Paul Steinhauser is a politics reporter based in the swing state of New Hampshire. He covers the campaign trail from coast to coast.”

巴基斯坦一居民楼燃气泄漏爆炸致12人死亡

发布/2026年2月19日 17:25

2月19日，巴基斯坦卡拉奇一栋居民楼发生燃气泄漏爆炸，救援人员在倒塌建筑物的废墟中找到一名遇难者的遗体。 （法新社）

巴基斯坦南部信德省首府卡拉奇一栋居民楼发生燃气泄漏爆炸，已造成至少12人死亡和14人受伤。

新华社引述巴基斯坦官方紧急救援组织“救援1122”救援队官员说，星期四（2月19日）发生的爆炸位于一栋三层居民楼的一层，导致建筑物部分坍塌。遇难者中包括四名儿童和两名妇女。救援队接报后立即赶往现场展开搜救行动，从废墟中救出多名伤者并将他们送往附近医院接受治疗。救援队将继续进行清理作业，以确保无人被困在废墟之下。

当地警方说，初步调查显示燃气泄漏源可能是煤气罐或燃气压缩机。

美联储内部对利率展望分歧扩大 部分官员不排除升息

发布时间 / 来源：2026年2月19日 17:57 / 联合早报

通胀居高不下的风险仍然存在，部分美联储官员因此对调高利率的选项持开放态度。 （路透社）

（华盛顿综合电）美国联邦储备局的会议纪要显示，官员对利率展望的分歧扩大，有几人认为若通货膨胀持续居高不下，当局或须调高利率。这可能导致它与强力主张降息的特朗普总统冲突加剧，让联储主席提名人选沃什上任后的任务更加复杂。

根据美联储星期三（2月18日）发布的1月底政策会议纪要，负责表决利率政策的联邦公开市场委员会（FOMC）多数成员都认为，就业市场在去年呈现疲弱走势后，下行风险已在今年1月趋缓，但通胀居高不下的风险则继续存在，当中有几人因此对调高利率的选项保持开放。

会议纪要说：“几位成员警惕，在通胀数据仍居高的前提下进一步放宽利率政策，可能会被错误解读为暗示决策者对维持2%通胀目标的承诺已动摇。”

美联储内部追踪的通胀指标，目前比2%的目标高出约1个百分点。虽然大部分官员都认为通胀放缓的进度比预期慢，但还是有几人表态，若通胀走低符合预期，他们对进一步降息保持开放。

战略咨询机构安永—博智隆首席经济师达科在发给客户的分析报告中说：“会议纪要显示了官员更加趋向鹰派的立场，这会在沃什被确认为美联储主席后形成一个有趣的互动局面。”

针对最新发布的美联储会议纪要，白宫发言人德赛周三称，由于特朗普刺激经济供给侧的政策奏效，最新的价格数据证明通胀如今已“冷却并平稳下来”。他说：“美联储是时候承认这个再明显不过的事实，削减利率为美国购房者和商家带来更多经济上的舒缓。”

特朗普已多次公开表态，要下任美联储主席降息。他是在FOMC的1月份会议后两天，于1月30日宣布提名沃什。FOMC当时以10票对2票，通过维持联邦基金利率在3.5%至3.75%的区间，只有理事沃勒和米兰主张降息0.25个百分点。

美联储主席鲍威尔当时在记者会的正式发言，其实已透露了FOMC内部对未来利率走向的分歧扩大，预示沃什在5月中接过棒子后，要说服官员同意降息，或面对不小的挑战。

鲍威尔任内还将主持3月和4月的两次政策会议，根据芝加哥商品交易所（CME）的观察工具FedWatch，市场仍大概率预测两次会议都会继续保持利率不变。

至于沃什预期上任后首次主持的6月份会议，市场预测当局有49%的概率会降息0.25个百分点，高于预测维持不变的40%。

Commission voting on East Wing concept has few members with arts experience, little time for public comment

2026-02-19T09:00:34.142Z / CNN Politics

By Sunlen Serfaty

3 hr ago

PUBLISHED Feb 19, 2026, 4:00 AM ET

Donald Trump

The Commission of Fine Arts, an independent federal agency that advises the president and Congress on design plans for monuments, memorials, coins and federal buildings, is usually made up of experts in architecture, art and urban and landscape design.

But when the commission meets on Thursday to evaluate President Donald Trump’s sweeping new East Wing renovation plans, the seven-member group may be more notable for its political loyalties.

The commission’s vote on Trump’s design – a key step before its final sign off – would likely take place only after two of the president’s allies are sworn in as members.

It will mark the first time the panel fully filled with Trump’s appointees is meeting. Since last year, the president has worked hard to install loyalists on the committee, gutting the board completely in October as East Wing demolition got underway.

In January, he appointed four new officials. “The commission is stacked with loyalists who will rubber stamp all of the president’s projects,” a source familiar with the workings of the commission predicted.

“It’s sad that a majority of the commissioners lack expertise in art and architecture,” the person told CNN. “There is only one architect, yet he recused himself from reviewing the ballroom. This means that not a single architect will be reviewing the White House project. [And] unlike in the past, the commission also lacks an artist and a landscape architect.”

And just this week, Trump announced he would appoint his executive assistant, Chamberlain Harris — a 26-year-old without any extensive arts experience — as a new member. Harris is set to be sworn in Thursday along with Pamela Hughes Patenaude, former deputy secretary of Housing and Urban Development during the first Trump administration.

The White House told CNN in a statement: “President Trump has an incredible eye and appreciation for the arts, and only selects the most talented people possible. These individuals possess a wealth of experience that reflects the values of everyday Americans and President Trump’s vision to Make America Great Again.”

Other current members include Mary Anne Carter, chair of the National Endowment for the Arts who is a close friend of White House chief of staff Susie Wiles; art critic and conservative commentator Roger Kimball; architect James McCrery, who was previously hired to helm the ballroom construction; and Matthew Taylor, a White House official who is working on Trump’s proposed National Garden of American Heroes.

Last month, James McCrery recused himself from reviewing the White House ballroom.

“I am obligated to and also just a sense of propriety, McCrery told the committee in January, “I’m obligated to recuse myself from discussion in any action that takes place both in this meeting and in any of the feature meetings regarding this particular project.”

Although commission chairman Rodney Cook previously said he wanted the commission to meet in person to allow Shalom Baranes, the architect, to present to the committee with a physical model of the ballroom, Thursday’s gathering is happening virtually on Zoom.

An in-person commission meeting would have allowed the public to make statements in support of or in opposition to the projects being discussed, but instead, according to the commission, comments can be submitted to be shared with the Commission members before the meeting and read or summarized at the discretion of the CFA chairman.

The lack of more opportunity for public comment is highly unusual, said the source familiar with the commission, who also noted other drawbacks of the virtual meeting, including lack of access for media and presentation material to be submitted.

“No project as significant as the ballroom has ever been reviewed by the commission meeting virtually,” they said. “It’s outrageous.”

Last week, the most detailed renderings yet of the ballroom project were briefly made available.

The renderings from Shalom Baranes Associates — which were posted by the National Capital Planning Commission on its website and then swiftly taken down — show the new East Wing could span approximately one street block, significantly longer than the West Wing. It also appears to be more than half the length of the Treasury Building.

The renderings are now posted on the CFA website.

Trump’s project requires a review from the CFA and approval from the National Capital Planning Commission, where the president has also already installed a number of loyalists.

The National Capital Planning Commission is set to meet next on March 5 to discuss the proposal.

The CFA will also meet again on March 19. The president has indicated that he wants above ground construction on the East Wing to begin by April.

CNN’s Kaanita Iyer, Betsy Klein and Devan Cole contributed to this report.

Federal tax dollars subsidize health care plans in ways you may not realize

February 19, 2026 / 5:00 AM EST / CBS News

Subsidies. Love ’em or hate them, they dominated the news during the Affordable Care Act’s sign-up season, and their reduction is now hitting many enrollees in the pocketbook.

While lawmakers continue to disagree on a way forward, and the politics of affordability keeps the issue front and center, it would be understandable to think these are the only taxpayer-funded health insurance subsidies in the U.S. system.

But that would be wrong.

“The vast majority of people with health insurance get some kind of federal subsidy for it, from Medicaid to Medicare to the ACA to employer-sponsored insurance,” said Larry Levitt, executive vice president for health policy at KFF, a health information nonprofit that includes KFF Health News.

These broad taxpayer supports are rarely discussed, though, as they apply to work-based coverage. So, let’s take a look.

Adding up the tax breaks

Nearly half of the more than $1.1 trillion annual spending on Medicare, the second-largest program in the federal budget behind Social Security, comes from general federal funds. The rest comes from payroll taxes and the monthly premiums paid by enrollees, who number more than 66 million.

Medicaid — the nation’s largest health insurer, covering more than 70 million low-income people — costs more than $918 billion annually. It’s jointly financed by the federal government (65%) and states (35%).

For both programs, expenses are partially funded with taxpayer dollars. A less obvious form of federal support comes through employer-sponsored health coverage. Here, the impact on the federal bottom line is less visible, as hundreds of billions of dollars never reach the U.S. Treasury because it takes the form of tax breaks for employers and workers.

“It’s a world apart from Medicare, Medicaid, and Obamacare — from the government writing checks to people,” said Michael Cannon, director of health policy studies at the libertarian Cato Institute.

Job-based insurance provides coverage for at least 154 million people under age 65. (By comparison, about 22.9 million people enrolled in Affordable Care Act plans for this year, generally because they don’t have job-based insurance. Extending the enhanced ACA subsidies that expired at the end of 2025 would cost about $350 billion over a decade, or roughly $35 billion annually.)

In fact, contributions to employer-sponsored health plans are the single-largest “exclusion” — a tax policy that allows certain income to be exempt from taxes — in the federal budget. For this fiscal year, the estimated amount is $451 billion, according to the Joint Committee on Taxation and the Congressional Budget Office.

The money employers spend to offer health coverage to their employees can be written off as a business expense. And workers who receive this benefit don’t have to pay income or payroll taxes on its value.

Those tax savings can be worth hundreds or even thousands of dollars a year for workers. The amount varies, with the biggest breaks going to those with the most expensive health plans and those whose wages put them in the upper tax brackets. Contributions to health savings accounts are among other tax breaks related to health insurance.

But the exclusion can be a difficult concept for insured workers to wrap their heads around, as most employees still contribute a portion of their pay to health coverage.

Even though they’re not taxed on that, “it doesn’t necessarily feel like a subsidy to people,” Levitt said. “They do feel like they’re paying.”

Baked into the tax system

The tax treatment evolved along with work-based health insurance policies in the U.S., fueled during World War II, when wage and price controls spurred interest in offering health coverage to lure workers. It was enacted into tax law in 1954.

Backers, which often include labor unions and employers, say it encourages companies to offer health insurance, as most large companies do. Because of the cost, smaller companies are less likely to do so, even with the tax incentive. Also, for workers, getting $1 of health care coverage is worth more than an extra dollar in wages, which would be taxed and, thus, worth less.

Opponents of the tax break, however, note the lost revenue to the Treasury and that the tax exclusion, according to some economists, leads employers and workers to choose the most generous — and expensive — health insurance offered, which they say drives up health care spending. The tax break benefits wealthier workers more than those in lower-income tax brackets, and economists also say the amounts employers pay for health insurance might otherwise be spent on boosting workers’ wages.

While there is currently no pending legislation to modify the tax break, the growing federal deficit has some employer groups worried the policy will change. Benefit experts say the outcome would vary.

“It’s not clear that it would wind up in increased wages for everyone,” said KFF’s Levitt. “Some workers have more negotiating leverage than others.”

Decades of efforts to cap or eliminate the exclusion have all failed.

“It’s had a bipartisan target on its back for 40 years,” said Paul Fronstin, a director at the Employee Benefit Research Institute, a private, nonprofit, nonpartisan organization.

Any change, however, “would raise some revenue, but it’s also a tax increase for workers,” Fronstin noted. “What would that mean, if their taxes go up? Do wages go up because they’re not getting the same tax breaks? There will be winners and losers in that equation.”

Still, because job-based coverage is the way so many Americans get health insurance, some policy experts warn that eliminating or even lowering the exclusion could remove an incentive for employers to offer coverage. While some employers would likely keep offering coverage even without the tax break — because it is a benefit that helps attract and retain workers — it is a huge expense, so others might drop it. Average family premiums cost an employer nearly $27,000 last year, according to KFF.

“These are businesses, which weigh the costs of offering insurance, which have gone up dramatically,” said Elizabeth Mitchell, CEO of the Purchaser Business Group on Health, an organization of large public and private employers that offer health insurance to their workers. “If there’s not some sort of tax incentive, I would expect them to revisit whether they would bear those costs.”

Cannon, of the Cato Institute, considers the tax policy bad because it takes choice away from workers, who might rather have increased wages, even if they are taxed. Those additional wages, he argues, could then be invested in tax-advantaged health savings accounts, used to pay medical costs.

Under the current tax break approach, “you are effectively saying let the employer control a huge chunk of your earnings and enroll in the plan the employer chooses,” he argues.

Employers counter by saying they are better able to negotiate higher-quality, lower-cost health insurance packages than individuals could on their own.

Mitchell, at the employer group, said, “It is challenging for an enormous employer to negotiate fair prices with the large consolidated systems. So it’s hard to imagine how an individual would be able to navigate our current system.”

She also disputes arguments that the tax break leads to higher health care prices, driven by overly generous employer plans that lead insured workers to use more health services.

“That’s a tired economic theory that doesn’t apply in health care,” she said. “People don’t shop for health care because they want more of it. They use health care because they need it. It’s fundamentally different.”

KFF Health News is a national newsroom that produces in-depth journalism about health issues and is one of the core operating programs at KFF — the independent source for health policy research, polling, and journalism.

Edited by Paula Cohen

In:

• Affordable Care Act
• Taxes
• Health Care

美联储内部对利率展望分歧扩大 部分官员不排除升息

2026年2月19日 17:57 / 联合早报

通胀居高不下的风险仍然存在，部分美联储官员因此对调高利率的选项持开放态度。 （路透社）

（华盛顿综合电）美国联邦储备局的会议纪要显示，官员对利率展望的分歧扩大，有几人认为若通货膨胀持续居高不下，当局或须调高利率。这可能导致它与强力主张降息的特朗普总统冲突加剧，让联储主席提名人选沃什上任后的任务更加复杂。

根据美联储星期三（2月18日）发布的1月底政策会议纪要，负责表决利率政策的联邦公开市场委员会（FOMC）多数成员都认为，就业市场在去年呈现疲弱走势后，下行风险已在今年1月趋缓，但通胀居高不下的风险则继续存在，当中有几人因此对调高利率的选项保持开放。

会议纪要说：“几位成员警惕，在通胀数据仍居高的前提下进一步放宽利率政策，可能会被错误解读为暗示决策者对维持2%通胀目标的承诺已动摇。”

美联储内部追踪的通胀指标，目前比2%的目标高出约1个百分点。虽然大部分官员都认为通胀放缓的进度比预期慢，但还是有几人表态，若通胀走低符合预期，他们对进一步降息保持开放。

战略咨询机构安永—博智隆首席经济师达科在发给客户的分析报告中说：“会议纪要显示了官员更加趋向鹰派的立场，这会在沃什被确认为美联储主席后形成一个有趣的互动局面。”

针对最新发布的美联储会议纪要，白宫发言人德赛周三称，由于特朗普刺激经济供给侧的政策奏效，最新的价格数据证明通胀如今已“冷却并平稳下来”。他说：“美联储是时候承认这个再明显不过的事实，削减利率为美国购房者和商家带来更多经济上的舒缓。”

特朗普已多次公开表态，要下任美联储主席降息。他是在FOMC的1月份会议后两天，于1月30日宣布提名沃什。FOMC当时以10票对2票，通过维持联邦基金利率在3.5%至3.75%的区间，只有理事沃勒和米兰主张降息0.25个百分点。

美联储主席鲍威尔当时在记者会的正式发言，其实已透露了FOMC内部对未来利率走向的分歧扩大，预示沃什在5月中接过棒子后，要说服官员同意降息，或面对不小的挑战。

鲍威尔任内还将主持3月和4月的两次政策会议，根据芝加哥商品交易所（CME）的观察工具FedWatch，市场仍大概率预测两次会议都会继续保持利率不变。

至于沃什预期上任后首次主持的6月份会议，市场预测当局有49%的概率会降息0.25个百分点，高于预测维持不变的40%。

朝鲜炫耀核火箭炮 射程可覆盖全韩国

发布时间：2026年2月19日 18:19 / 来源：联合早报

朝中社发布的照片显示，朝鲜军工部门工人阶级周三在平壤为即将召开的朝鲜劳动党第九次代表大会献上600毫米大口径火箭炮。 （路透社）

（首尔综合电）朝鲜领袖金正恩星期三（2月18日）在平壤展示了一款可携带核弹头的大口径火箭炮，在五年一度的劳动党代表大会即将召开之际，此举或意在炫耀朝鲜军事实力。

朝中社周四（19日）报道，朝鲜军工部门的工人阶级周三把近期增产的50门600毫米大口径火箭炮献给朝鲜劳动党第九次代表大会。赠送仪式在平壤“四·二五”文化会馆广场举行，这里也是来临党大会的会场。

金正恩在仪式上致辞时说，这款火箭炮适合执行战略使命，并引入人工智能（AI）技术和复合制导体系，完全改变了炮兵在现代战争中的作用和概念。韩联社指出，所谓“执行战略使命”暗指实施核攻击。

朝鲜600毫米火箭炮射程接近400公里，可覆盖整个韩国，并具备制导功能，韩美情报部门把它归类为短程弹道导弹。

朝中社发布的照片显示，大批600毫米火箭炮搭载于发射车辆，意味着这种武器或已进入实战部署阶段。

韩国统一研究院分析员洪敏（音译）说，朝鲜600毫米火箭炮旨在中和韩国和美国的联合空中力量，“如果配合战术核弹头，单个炮台发射四五枚就足以摧毁整个空军基地”。

金正恩近期下令加快导弹生产与测试，并大力宣传朝鲜各项目取得的进展。他说，本月下旬召开的劳动党九大将阐明朝鲜自卫力量建设的下一阶段构想和目标。

朝鲜未公布大会日期，但一些代表已陆续抵达平壤参会。洪敏认为，大会最快或于本周四或周五（20日）举行。

Trump administration expands ICE’s ability to detain legal refugees in latest memo

By Matthew Rehbein
1 hr 23 min ago
PUBLISHED Feb 19, 2026, 5:38 AM ET

Federal agents conduct immigration enforcement operations earlier this month in Minneapolis.

Ryan Murphy/AP/File

The Department of Homeland Security is broadening federal immigration authorities’ ability to detain legal refugees who have not yet obtained green cards, citing national security concerns and the need to ensure refugees undergo additional screening, according to a DHS memo obtained by CNN.

Immigration officers may “arrest and detain” refugees “who have failed to adjust” to lawful permanent resident status one year after being admitted to the US, according to the Wednesday memo, which was submitted by Justice Department attorneys as part of a federal court filing.

“When a refugee is admitted to the United States, the admission is conditional and subject to a mandatory review after one year,” the memo reads, noting refugees who are detained may remain in custody “for the duration of the inspection and examination process.”

The memo, issued by US Citizenship and Immigration Services Director Joseph Edlow and Acting US Immigration and Customs Enforcement Director Todd Lyons, rescinds previous government policy regarding refugees who have been in the country for one year.

Failure to obtain a green card after one year was not grounds for detention or removal from the US under previous policy, and refugees who were arrested had to either be released within 48 hours or the DHS was required to initiate removal proceedings.

“Refugees may be considered to have voluntarily returned to custody” by submitting application paperwork and appearing at scheduled appointments with immigration services, according to the new memo.

Courtesy of Grace Cancelled citizenship ceremonies and interviews are another part of Trump’s immigration crackdown 12 min read

Previous department policy “created a population of conditional refugees who had not been fully re-screened, with associated public safety and national security risks,” the memo says, and the new “detain-and-inspect requirement ensures that refugees are re-vetted after one year.”

Refugee resettlement groups promptly decried the new policy.

“This memo was done in secret, with zero coordination with the organizations that serve refugees,” said Beth Oppenheim, CEO of refugee agency HIAS. “This policy is a transparent effort to detain and potentially deport thousands of people who are legally present in this country, people the US government itself welcomed after years of extreme vetting,” she added.

The government court filing that included the DHS memo is part of a federal case in Minnesota in which a judge has temporarily blocked the Trump administration from targeting an estimated 5,600 lawful refugees in the state who are awaiting green cards. A hearing in that case is scheduled for Thursday afternoon.

The International Refugee Assistance Project, one of the plaintiffs in the federal Minnesota case, says it is challenging the new refugee policy. CNN reached out to the group for comment.

CNN has reached out to DHS, USCIS and ICE for comment.

President Donald Trump has largely halted refugee admissions during his second term – with the narrow exception of White South Africans – amid his administration’s broader crackdown on illegal immigration. Last fall, the Trump administration set the number of annual refugee admissions at 7,500 – a fraction of what the US has historically allowed. In 2024, more than 100,000 refugees were admitted.

In November, the administration moved to reinterview some refugees admitted under President Joe Biden, and the killing of two National Guard members in Washington, DC, by an Afghan national that month prompted the administration to re-examine green cards issued to people from Afghanistan and 18 other countries “of concern.”

Democrats in Congress press National Park Service on Trump ballroom donors

February 19, 2026 / 6:00 AM EST / CBS News

If at first you’re stonewalled by the Trump administration, try, try again.

That’s the approach Democratic Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts and Rep. Robert Garcia of California appear to be taking in trying to exercise oversight over President Trump’s $400 million ballroom project.

In a letter first obtained by CBS News, Warren and Garcia reiterated their plea for answers about the National Park Service’s role in the project and how donor money collected by a nonprofit organization was funneled through the agency to a White House office overseeing construction.

The lawmakers wrote to the Park Service “with questions about whether NPS…has facilitated corruption in connection with President Trump’s White House ballroom project.”

Garcia and Warren’s previous attempts to extract information from the administration about the ballroom’s finances have yielded few answers from the White House or other federal agencies.

“The Park Service can try to dodge Congress, but we won’t stop pressing for answers,” Warren said.

Democrats lack subpoena power to compel witness testimony or document production. The lawmakers’ letter to the park service amounts to a nonbinding request for information.

Warren and Garcia raised ethics questions about whether ballroom donors were promised favorable treatment by the administration in exchange for their contributions. They also seek answers about the “amount, source, or terms of the donation[s],” which the administration has so far declined to disclose in detail.

“We need answers now as to which billionaire corporations are shoveling money to Trump’s vanity projects and what favors they may be seeking in return. Americans deserve to know whether the National Park Service is being used to help facilitate Trump’s corruption,” Warren added.

A federal judge is expected to rule this month on whether ballroom construction can proceed, though the case is expected to be appealed, regardless of the outcome. The lawsuit, brought against the administration by the Trust for Historic Preservation, alleges the administration failed to obtain requisite approvals prior to construction, in violation of existing law.

Justice Department officials have argued the administration is on the right side of the law even though the project has been on a fast track.

Warren and Garcia asked Park Service officials whether they “agree with President Trump’s assertion…that ‘IT IS TOO LATE!’ to stop the ballroom project even if a judge rules that it violates the law and orders it stopped.”

The roughly 90,000 square-foot East Wing renovation, which includes the ballroom, office space and a double decker colonnade connecting the new space to the executive residence, faces two review boards in the coming weeks.

The National Capital Planning Commission and the Commission of Fine Arts are expected to soon render their verdicts on Mr. Trump’s ballroom. The CFA will hear the administration’s final presentation Thursday. Both panels are stacked with Trump allies.

The president recently added White House aide Chamberlain Harris to the Commission of Fine Arts, completing a total overhaul of the board since he fired the previous members in October. The Washington Post was first to report Harris’ appointment.

According to its website, CFA “is composed of seven members with expertise in the arts” and includes an architect and others experienced in the arts and urban planning.

Harris’ relevant expertise was not immediately clear. Her official biography cites her work “managing President Trump’s Presidential Portrait Project,” which now lines the colonnade leading to the West Wing. Harris worked for Mr. Trump during part of his first administration and after he left office.

“Chamberlain Harris has spent several years as a loyal, trusted, and highly respected advisor to President Trump. She understands the President’s vision and appreciation of the arts like very few others, and brings a unique perspective that will serve the Commission well,” said White House communications director Steven Cheung.

朝鲜炫耀核火箭炮 射程可覆盖全韩国

发布时间 / 来源：2026年2月19日 18:19 | 联合早报

朝鲜领袖金正恩星期三（2月18日）在平壤展示了一款可携带核弹头的大口径火箭炮，在五年一度的劳动党代表大会即将召开之际，此举或意在炫耀朝鲜军事实力。

朝中社周四（19日）报道，朝鲜军工部门的工人阶级周三把近期增产的50门600毫米大口径火箭炮献给朝鲜劳动党第九次代表大会。赠送仪式在平壤“四·二五”文化会馆广场举行，这里也是来临党大会的会场。

金正恩在仪式上致辞时说，这款火箭炮适合执行战略使命，并引入人工智能（AI）技术和复合制导体系，完全改变了炮兵在现代战争中的作用和概念。韩联社指出，所谓“执行战略使命”暗指实施核攻击。

朝鲜600毫米火箭炮射程接近400公里，可覆盖整个韩国，并具备制导功能，韩美情报部门把它归类为短程弹道导弹。

朝中社发布的照片显示，大批600毫米火箭炮搭载于发射车辆，意味着这种武器或已进入实战部署阶段。

韩国统一研究院分析员洪敏（音译）说，朝鲜600毫米火箭炮旨在中和韩国和美国的联合空中力量，“如果配合战术核弹头，单个炮台发射四五枚就足以摧毁整个空军基地”。

金正恩近期下令加快导弹生产与测试，并大力宣传朝鲜各项目取得的进展。他说，本月下旬召开的劳动党九大将阐明朝鲜自卫力量建设的下一阶段构想和目标。

朝鲜未公布大会日期，但一些代表已陆续抵达平壤参会。洪敏认为，大会最快或于本周四或周五（20日）举行。