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CBP officer faces federal charges over allegations he harbored an unauthorized immigrant who was also his girlfriend and niece

February 12, 2026 / 9:22 PM EST / CBS News

A U.S. Customs and Border Protection officer is facing federal criminal charges over allegations he harbored an immigrant who officials say is in the country illegally and is also the officer’s girlfriend and niece.

The Justice Department alleges that CBP officer and supervisor Andres Wilkinson was living in Laredo, Texas, with a woman who had overstayed her visa and is now in the U.S. illegally. The woman entered the U.S. on a temporary visa in August 2023, according to the criminal complaint filed earlier this month.

Wilkinson allegedly provided her “financial support, including housing, credit cards, assistance with financial obligations and access to vehicle,” the Justice Department said. The criminal complaint states they traveled together through Border Patrol checkpoints near the Texas border.

The Justice Department said Wilkinson was “aware of her unlawful immigration status yet maintained a romantic relationship with her.”

According to the complaint, officials collected information “indicating” that the woman is actually Wilkinson’s niece, and that she’s married to another man. But the complaint also says that her husband, who had filed a green card application with U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services on her behalf in January 2024, canceled the petition in April 2025. A month later, the CBP Office of Professional Responsibility observed Wilkinson, the woman and her daughter together and investigated their relationship for months.

CBP OPR investigators found that the woman was the daughter of a man named J. Santos Garcia-Moreno, whom Wilkinson had listed as his brother in his 2023 background investigation. And when CBP OPR detained the woman in February 2026, she admitted she had been living with Wilkinson since August 2024.

CBS News reached out to an attorney listed as Wilkinson’s lawyer and has yet to hear back. CBP did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

If convicted, Wilkinson, 52, could face up to 10 years in prison and potentially a $250,000 fine, the Justice Department said. He made an initial appearance and remains in custody pending a detention hearing scheduled for Friday, officials said.

Wilkinson has been with CBP for almost 25 years and was promoted in 2021 to a supervisory role, where his duties included overseeing the enforcement of immigration laws, according to the Justice Department.

US senators sharply question Trump officials about Pretti shooting, use of force

February 12, 2026 7:11 PM UTC / Reuters

U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) Commissioner Rodney Scott sits next to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) Director Joseph Edlow and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Acting Director Todd Lyons as they attend a Senate Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee hearing on Capitol Hill in… [Purchase Licensing Rights, opens new tab]Read more

• Summary

• Top Republican and Democrat play Pretti shooting video for Trump officials
• Trump officials defend enforcement actions amid scrutiny
• Public support for Trump’s immigration agenda has declined

Feb 12 (Reuters) – The top Republican and Democrat on a U.S. Senate committee played video showing the lead-up to the shooting of U.S. citizen Alex Pretti to Trump immigration officials at a hearing on Thursday, sharply questioning whether the use of force was appropriate.

The committee’s Republican chairman, U.S. Senator Rand Paul, said the video clearly showed Pretti was backing away when a border officer doused him with pepper spray at close range during the January encounter, which sparked nationwide scrutiny of Trump administration immigration tactics.

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“He is retreating at every moment. He’s trying to get away, and he’s being sprayed in the face,” Paul said, adding that the officer’s use of pepper spray was “escalatory.”

PRETTI ‘FIGHTING BACK’: CBP COMMISSIONER

U.S. Customs and Border Protection Commissioner Rodney Scott, one of the Trump officials testifying, said a full investigation would be needed to determine whether the use of force was appropriate.

“What I’m seeing is a subject that’s also not compliant. He’s not following any guidance. He’s fighting back nonstop,” Scott said.

In a later exchange, Scott and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Acting Director Todd Lyons agreed that spraying someone who is backing away was not proper procedure.

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The hearing marked the second time this week that Scott, Lyons and U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services Director Joe Edlow faced scrutiny from a congressional committee over Trump’s aggressive immigration crackdown.

The Trump officials defended their agencies’ actions and said the fatal shootings of Pretti and Renee Good would need to be investigated, a departure from Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and other Trump officials who quickly cast Good and Pretti as “domestic terrorists.”

Paul said the rush to judgment hurt the administration’s credibility.

“People aren’t believing there’s going to be an honest investigation,” he said.

Earlier in the day, White House border czar Tom Homan said the administration would draw down its presence in Minnesota after a surge that has led to mounting criticism. Public support for Trump’s immigration agenda fell to the lowest point in his presidency in January, according to Reuters/Ipsos polls.

Paul, a libertarian from Kentucky, criticized immigration officers drawing weapons in situations where there was no clear threat.

“I don’t think they’re living up to the same standard of the police,” Paul said. “I think the police, frankly, are better trained.”

TENSE EXCHANGES OVER IMMIGRATION ENFORCEMENT

Democratic Senator Elissa Slotkin of Michigan questioned Lyons about whether ICE officers had the authority to be deployed to U.S. polling stations, referencing a recent Trump call to “nationalize” elections.

“There’s no reason for us to deploy to a polling facility,” Lyons said.

Earlier on Thursday, the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee heard from Minnesota officials, including Attorney General Keith Ellison.

Ellison called on Congress to require the FBI to conduct a full investigation into the Good and Pretti killings and for ICE to “provide a full, transparent accounting of everyone stopped, detained, arrested and deported from Minnesota.”

Harry Niska, the top Republican in the Minnesota State House of Representatives, criticized Ellison for issuing legal opinions that made it harder for state authorities to cooperate with federal immigration enforcement.

“Arresting a suspect in the secure environment of a jail is safe and efficient,” Niska said. “Forcing that arrest to happen in a home or a workplace … drastically increases the risk to officers in the public.”

Paul Schnell, commissioner of the Minnesota Department of Corrections, said there has been “wide-scale cooperation” with ICE but that the Trump administration surge had strained that collaboration.

Reporting by Ted Hesson; Additional reporting by Kristina Cooke; Editing by Rod Nickel

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A timeline of Trump’s Minnesota immigration crackdown

February 12, 2026 8:47 PM UTC / Reuters

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Local police detain a protester against U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) outside a Target store in Richfield, Minnesota, U.S. February 11, 2026. REUTERS/Go Nakamura Purchase Licensing Rights, opens new tab

Feb 12 (Reuters) – White House border czar Tom Homan announced on Thursday that U.S. President Donald Trump had agreed to end an immigration-enforcement surge in Minnesota, drawing down thousands of federal agents whose presence provoked tumultuous protests for weeks.

Here’s a timeline of events in the operation:

December 1, 2025: The federal government launches Operation Metro Surge “to significantly increase ‘at-large’ arrests of illegal aliens in the Twin Cities metropolitan area.” The move comes after attacks by Trump and other federal officials on Minnesota’s Somali community, which they accuse of fraud involving millions of federal dollars intended for social services. Operation Metro Surge will ultimately send nearly 3,000 additional federal officers and agents to the Twin Cities.

December 18: Minneapolis police chief criticizes federal immigration officers for dragging a woman through a snowy city street and waving a firearm at onlookers, some of whom were recording the scene. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement says in a statement that agents arrested two U.S. citizens for assaulting federal officers.

January 7: Renee Good, a 37-year-old mother of three who had been observing ICE operations is shot dead in her car by an ICE agent in Minneapolis, setting off protests and a sharp debate about her killing. State investigators say they are shut out of the federal inquiry into the shooting.

January 8: As protests over the shooting of Good reverberate across Minnesota and the U.S., a U.S. border agent shoots and wounds two people in Portland, Oregon, while conducting a vehicle stop.

January 11: Tens of thousands of protesters take to the streets of Minneapolis and other U.S. cities as part of more than 1,000 rallies organized to protest the Trump administration’s deportation drive.

January 12: Minnesota sues the Trump administration in an effort to block the surge of immigration-enforcement officers, accusing the Republican administration of racially profiling its citizens and of targeting Minnesota because of its Democratic leanings. Democratic stronghold Illinois, where an immigration crackdown named “Operation Midway Blitz” began in 2025, files a similar lawsuit.

January 13: At least a dozen federal prosecutors indicate plans to leave the U.S. Justice Department over the Trump administration’s handling of Good’s shooting and other civil rights cases.

January 16: Minnesota Governor Tim Walz and Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey accuse Trump of weaponizing the Justice Department against his enemies after it is reported that the agency has opened a criminal investigation into them and other state officials over an alleged conspiracy to impede immigration agents.

January 20: ICE agents detain five-year-old Liam Conejo Ramos and his father, Ecuadoreans who both entered the U.S. legally as asylum applicants, as they arrive home from preschool. Both are taken to a family detention facility in Texas. ICE agents apprehend three other students from Conejo Ramos’ school district in the same week.

January 22: Federal agents arrest three Minnesotans who took part in a demonstration inside a church against a pastor they say has a leadership role with ICE. Eventually nine people, including former CNN host Don Lemon who had been covering the protest, will face federal charges of violating religious rights in connection with the demonstration, alarming First Amendment proponents.

January 24: Federal immigration officers fatally shoot Alex Pretti, an intensive-care nurse trying to help other protesters. Video of the encounter verified by Reuters shows Pretti holding a cellphone as he was wrestled to the ground by agents, and an officer removing a gun from Pretti’s body shortly before the first shots were fired.

January 26: The Trump administration confirms that Homan is taking over Operation Metro Surge from Gregory Bovino, a top U.S. Border Patrol official who has drawn heavy criticism from Democrats and civil liberties proponents. After a private phone call, Trump and Walz signal a thaw in their relationship and a mutual effort to defuse tensions.

February 4: The Trump administration withdraws some 700 federal immigration-enforcement agentsfrom Minnesota, leaving about 2,000 agents in place.

Reporting by Julia Harte; Editing by Cynthia Osterman

Trump nomination for senior diplomatic post in doubt over ‘insensitive’ remarks

February 12, 2026 10:40 PM UTC / Reuters / By Patricia Zengerle

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A general view of a U.S. State Department sign outside the U.S. State Department building in Washington, D.C., U.S., July 11, 2025. REUTERS/Annabelle Gordon/File Photo

• Summary

• Republican concerned about nominee’s ‘anti-Israel views’
• Objection likely to sink nomination
• Democrats raised concerns about past comments seen as racist
• Trump’s Republicans back almost all of his nominees and policies

WASHINGTON, Feb 12 (Reuters) – President Donald Trump’s pick to be assistant secretary of state for international organizations hit a major stumbling block on Thursday when a Republican on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee said he would oppose the appointment.

Republican Senator John Curtis of Utah said he did not believe Jeremy Carl is the right person to represent the country’s best interests at international organizations. The position manages the U.S. relationship with international organizations including the United Nations.

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Carl is currently a senior fellow at the conservative Claremont Institute think tank. He was a deputy assistant secretary of the interior during Trump’s first term.

“I find his anti-Israel views and insensitive remarks about the Jewish people unbecoming of the position for which he has been nominated,” Curtis said in a statement after Carl’s nomination hearing.

Curtis’ decision was first reported by the Deseret News.

A White House official said that Carl remained the nominee.

At the hearing, Curtis asked Carl about past comments about Jewish people, including an appearance on a podcast in which he responded, “Right, right yeah,” when the host criticized them for “claiming special victim status” because of the Holocaust.

Curtis’ objection leaves Carl unlikely to win the approval of the foreign relations panel, which could sink his nomination.

That would be a departure in the Republican-majority Senate, which to date has backed the vast majority of Trump’s nominations and policies.

There are 12 Republican and 10 Democratic members of the committee, which oversees the State Department. Every Democrat is expected to object to Carl.

During the hearing, Democratic Senator Cory Booker of New Jersey asked Carl what he meant when he said he believed in the “Great Replacement” theory, which fosters the belief that non-white immigrants will replace white citizens.

Carl responded that the theory referred to the “international demographic replacement of Europeans in Europe.” Booker asked if Carl believed there is currently “an effort to replace Americans” and Carl said, “I think the Democratic party, through its immigration policies, has certainly sent signs of that.”

Questions about Carl’s nomination have existed for months. In September, CNN reported that Carl had tried to delete at least 5,000 of his comments on X.com, including many that were inflammatory about racial issues.

Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer of New York opposed Carl’s nomination in a Senate speech this week, saying he had a “long history of racist, white supremacist and antisemitic views.”

A nomination can be sent for a vote by the full Senate if the committee does not vote in his favor, but this is extremely rare. Trump’s Republicans have just a 53-47-seat majority in the chamber.

Asked for comment, a spokesperson for Jim Risch of Idaho, the committee’s Republican chairman, said he supported all of the president’s nominees.

Reporting by Patricia Zengerle; Editing by Sonali Paul

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

American snowboarder Chloe Kim takes silver in women’s halfpipe, falls short of Olympic three-peat

February 12, 2026 / 5:12 PM EST / CBS/AP

Chloe Kim fell short in her bid to become the first Olympic snowboarder to win three consecutive gold medals, finishing second to Choi Gaon of South Korea in the women’s halfpipe on Thursday.

Choi dethroned the two-time defending champion after she bounced back from an ugly crash that had silenced the crowd. The 17-year-old drew another collective gasp when she jumped into the lead with a score of 90.25 on her final run.

USA’s Chloe Kim during run two of the Women’s Half Pipe at the Livigno Snow Park, on day six of the Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics, Italy. David Davies/PA Images via Getty Images

Kim had one more shot to get back on top, but the 25-year-old American wiped out on her final run and settled for silver. Japan’s Mitsuki Ono claimed bronze.

Kim, whose parents emigrated to the U.S. from South Korea, had encouraged Choi throughout her young career. Now she has handed over the Olympic title to the teenager she inspired.

“It’s all about passing the torch, so there’s no one else I would have rather stood next to on the podium than her,” Kim said. “I’m so proud of her and I’m so excited to see what she does next.”

Choi’s chances in the final looked to be in jeopardy when she slammed into the incline of the halfpipe and slid to the middle of the course, where she remained for several minutes. After being attended to by medical staff, she rode off the course unassisted.

It wasn’t clear that she would even come back for her second run, but she did and got it down. Then came her turn down the halfpipe that was good for gold.

USA’s Chloe Kim with her silver medal (left), Republic of Korea’s Choi Ga-on with her gold medal (middle) and Japan’s Mitsuki Ono with her bronze medal (right) on the podium after the Women’s Half Pipe on day six of the Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics, Italy. David Davies/PA Images via Getty Images

Choi became the youngest X Games winner in 2023 at age 14. Now the first-time Olympian is first non-American woman to win gold in snowboarding’s premier event since Torah Bright of Australia in 2010. Kaitlyn Farrington won for the U.S. in 2014 at the Sochi Olympics, and Kim triumphed in Pyeongchang and Beijing.

Kim injured her shoulder four weeks ago, disrupting her lead-in to the Games. She competed wearing a brace, which didn’t stop her from dominating the field in qualifying.

“Obviously, I’m really disappointed that I can’t snowboard until right before the Olympics, which is going to be hard,” Kim said last month in an Instagram post.

But after Thursday’s final, the California native said she would need surgery on her shoulder — and that winning an Olympic medal of any color was a victory given that she was riding hurt.

“I think that there was a lot of conversation happening about the three-peat,” she said. “I was thinking about it before, but I think the minute I injured myself I was like, that doesn’t matter anymore. So this feels like a win to me because a month ago it didn’t seem too possible.”

Another gold-medal celebration had looked likely after Kim scored 88 points on her first run, while Choi and most of the other finalists wiped out.

But Kim couldn’t stay upright on either of her remaining runs, and her score from the first wasn’t good enough.

In 2018, Kim became the youngest woman snowboarder ever to win an Olympic gold medal. After taking almost two years off to focus on her studies and mental health, she returned to competition and won her second straight Olympic gold in women’s halfpipe in Beijing.

Kim is not alone in letting the milestone of golds in three consecutive Winter Olympics slip away at these Games. Czech Ester Ledecka fell short in Alpine snowboarding’s parallel giant slalom, as did Austria’s Anna Gasser in big air. Both were also two-time defending champions.

American snowboarding great Shaun White won three gold medals on the halfpipe, but not consecutively. He won in 2006, 2010 and 2018. He finished fourth in 2014.

White was in the crowd Thursday and cringed after Kim fell on her final run. Kim’s boyfriend, Cleveland Browns defensive end Myles Garrett, was also in her cheering section, along with Snoop Dogg. Like many in the crowd, they had gathered to watch one of the biggest names in snowboarding go for Olympic history.

Instead, they watched Choi wipe away tears as she held up her medal, one step up on the podium from the rider who has been her idol.

Trump cannot end deportation protections for South Sudanese nationals, US judge rules

February 12, 2026 7:22 PM UTC / Reuters

BOSTON, Feb 12 (Reuters) – A federal judge on Thursday blocked U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration from ending temporary protections from deportation that had allowed hundreds of South Sudanese nationals to live and work in the United States.

U.S. District Judge Patti Saris in Boston concluded that U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem had likely acted unlawfully by providing a “pretextual” reason for terminating South Sudan’s Temporary Protected Status designation and not disclosing the real factor motivating her action.

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That status is available to people whose home countries have experienced natural disasters, armed conflicts or other extraordinary events. It provides eligible migrants with work authorization and temporary protection from deportation.

Noem in November published a notice terminating TPS for conflict-ridden South Sudan, saying the country no longer met the conditions for the designation, which was first issued in 2011.

Saris said that notice failed to acknowledge the “real reason” for Noem’s action, which was that she had adopted a “preordained pattern and practice” of terminating TPS designations for all countries.

Saris, who was appointed by Democratic President Bill Clinton, noted that since Noem took office, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security has moved to end TPS designations for 11 other countries, including Haiti, Venezuela and Ethiopia.

“It is highly likely that no country will pass muster, no matter how dire its conditions,” Saris said.

The Department of Homeland Security did not respond to a request for comment.

The ruling came in a lawsuit by a group of South Sudanese nationals and the non-profit African Communities Together. Another judge earlier in the case had delayed the end of TPS for South Sudan to provide time for Saris to hear the case.

Conflict has ravaged South Sudan since it won independence from Sudan in 2011. Fighting has persisted in much of the country since a five-year-long civil war that killed an estimated 400,000 people ended in 2018. The U.S. State Department advises citizens not to travel there.

About 232 South Sudanese nationals have been beneficiaries of TPS and have found refuge in the United States, and another 73 have pending applications, according to the lawsuit.

Reporting by Nate Raymond in Boston; Editing by Bill Berkrot

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

A federal judge on Thursday ruled the Pentagon cannot punish Sen. Mark Kelly, D-Ariz., a retired Navy pilot, for taking part in a video that called on U.S. military members to defy “illegal orders.”

U.S. District Judge Richard Leon, appointed by former President George W. Bush, found the Pentagon violated Kelly’s First Amendment right to free speech and those of “millions of military retirees” by censuring him Jan. 5.

Leon’s ruling blocks the Pentagon from demoting Kelly’s retired military rank of captain or reducing his pay during an ongoing lawsuit he brought against War Secretary Pete Hegsesth, the Department of War, the U.S. Navy and Navy Secretary John Phelan.

Sen. Mark Kelly, D-Ariz., speaks to members of the media outside federal court in Washington, D.C.(Graeme Sloan/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

[STEPHEN A SMITH GETS INTO SLUGFEST ON ‘THE VIEW’ OVER SEN KELLY’S VIDEO URGING TROOPS TO IGNORE ILLEGAL ORDERS]

After the judge’s decision, Hegseth took to X saying the administration will appeal.

“This will be immediately appealed,” he wrote in the post. “Sedition is sedition, ‘Captain.’”

His response echoed that of President Donald Trump, who previously accused the group of “sedition at the highest level,” further suggesting they should be executed.

The 90-second video, first posted by Sen. Elissa Slotkin, D-Mich., also featured military veteran Reps. Jason Crow of Colorado, Chris Deluzio of Pennsylvania, Maggie Goodlander of New Hampshire and Chrissy Houlahan of Pennsylvania.

After the ruling, Kelly said the case sends a message to millions of retired veterans.(Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)

[MORE DEMOCRAT REPS INVOLVED IN ‘REFUSE ILLEGAL ORDERS’ VIDEO REPORT RECEIVING INQUIRY FROM US ATTORNEY]

Hegseth said an investigation was launched into Kelly’s actions because he was the only lawmaker formally retired from the military and under the Pentagon’s jurisdiction.

In his ruling, Leon said Kelly is “likely to succeed” in his free speech argument and has shown irreparable harm.

“Rather than trying to shrink the [First Amendment liberties] of retired servicemembers, Secretary Hegseth and his fellow Defendants might reflect and be grateful for the wisdom and expertise that retired servicemembers have brought to public discussions and debate on military matters in our Nation over the past 250 years,” Leon wrote.

“To say the least, our retired veterans deserve more respect from their Government, and our Constitution demands they receive it!”

War Secretary Pete Hegseth is named in the lawsuit along with other defendants.(Julia Demaree Nikhinson/AP)

[MARK KELLY AVOIDS SAYING ARRESTING MADURO, VENEZUELA STRIKES WERE ‘ILLEGAL’]

After the decision, Kelly said the case was sending a message to millions of retired veterans that “they too can be censured or demoted just for speaking out.”

“This might not be over yet because [this president and this administration] do not know how to admit when they’re wrong,” he added.

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A grand jury in Washington, D.C., on Tuesday refused the Department of Justice’s attempt to indict the group of lawmakers.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Lawmakers are jetting from Washington, D.C., without a deal to prevent a partial government shutdown.

Their departure comes after the Senate was unable to send a full-year funding bill for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to President Donald Trump’s desk.

Senate Democrats doubled down on their demands for stringent reforms to immigration enforcement and bucked multiple attempts Thursday to keep the agency open.

DHS FUNDING BILL FAILS AFTER SCHUMER REJECTS TRUMP’S ICE REFORM OFFER

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and Senate Democrats blocked an attempt to fund DHS for a full year, ramping up the likelihood of another partial government shutdown.(Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)

With both chambers now on their way to a weeklong recess, the agency is expected to shutter at midnight Friday. Unless a deal is struck before lawmakers return, DHS will be shut down for at least that period of time.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., made the call to send lawmakers home and noted that if negotiations made a breakthrough, they would be on 24-hour notice to return. But talks, for now, are somewhere between baby steps and stuck.

“What it appears to me, at least at this point, is happening is the Democrats, like they did last fall, they really don’t want the solution,” Thune said. “They don’t want the answer. They want the political issue.”

SCHUMER, DEMS CHOOSE PARTIAL SHUTDOWN AS NEGOTIATIONS HIT IMPASSE

Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., failed to splinter Senate Democrats from their unified front in his bid to fund DHS for a full year.(Bill Clark/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and his caucus blocked an attempt to pass the original DHS funding bill and a subsequent two-week funding extension.

Their resistance comes after the White House unveiled the legislative text of the administration’s counteroffer, which several Senate Democrats balked at Thursday morning.

“The administration doesn’t actually want to reform ICE,” Schumer said. “They never do it on their own. That is why we need — we are fighting for — legislation to rein in ICE and stop the violence.”

Senate Democrats have demanded a stringent list of reforms to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). They weren’t persuaded by border czar Tom Homan that operations in Minneapolis would be drawn down as negotiations continue.

It was a déjà vu moment from months earlier, when Thune repeatedly tried to peel Democrats away from Schumer during the longest government shutdown in U.S. history but failed to break their blockade.

SHUTDOWN CLOCK TICKS AS SCHUMER, DEMOCRATS DIG IN ON DHS FUNDING DEMANDS

President Donald Trump speaks to reporters and members of the media at Mar-a-Lago Feb. 1, 2026, in Palm Beach, Fla.(Al Drago/Getty Images)

While there was optimism that negotiations were moving in a positive direction earlier this week, those hopes appeared to have shattered.

“At this point, it seems clear that the Democrats are going to walk away from that bipartisan conversation,” a senior White House official said. “They’re going to shut the department down. They’re going to deprive Americans of critical services such as FEMA, such as TSA and what will be the third partial government shutdown of this Congress.”

Senate Democrats received the legislative version of Republicans and the White House’s counteroffer Wednesday night, but many said it was “not sufficient,” and several Democrats leaving a closed-door meeting Thursday morning said a deal remained out of reach.

Given the stagnation in talks, Thune opted to go ahead with the scheduled recess, but made clear to lawmakers that if there was a breakthrough they would need to return.

“Obviously, we’ve made it clear to people that they have to be available to come back and vote,” Thune said.

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Talks of another counteroffer to the White House are in the works. Some Senate Democrats hope that the upcoming recess and likely closure of DHS will serve as a wake-up call to Republicans.

Complicating matters is that several members of the House and Senate are expected to travel to Germany for the annual Munich Security Conference.

“I still think the Republicans are in a bubble and do not understand the depth of the anger out there in the world,” Sen. Brian Schatz, D-Hawaii, told Fox News Digital.

“And maybe this break will allow them to go home and get yelled at, not just by people who are progressive, but everybody who thinks that this agency is out of control and needs to be reined in.”

Alex Miller is a writer for Fox News Digital covering the U.S. Senate.

Trump administration moves to end

US Congress names press gallery for abolitionist Frederick Douglass

February 12, 2026 8:57 PM UTC / Reuters

WASHINGTON, Feb 12 (Reuters) – Leaders of the U.S. House of Representatives on Thursday named its press gallery after Frederick Douglass, 150 years after the famed 19th-century orator and abolitionist became the first Black member of the congressional press corps.

Republican House of Representatives Speaker Mike Johnson unveiled a new sign reading “Frederick Douglass Press Gallery” over the door to rooms where reporters work. Johnson was flanked by a handful of guests and some lawmakers who had pushed to honor Douglass.

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“Perhaps more successfully than any American of his time, Douglass built a life and legacy off the power of his pen, and his powerful voice, and he wielded that power to great effect in this institution,” Johnson said.

The ceremony took place on February 12, the birth date of President Abraham Lincoln, who signed the Emancipation Proclamation ending slavery in the United States, and two days before February 14, the date Douglass celebrated his birthday.

Douglass was born into slavery and his exact birth date is unknown.

Douglass escaped in 1838 and became known as an author, speaker and social reformer, including speaking tours in England, Ireland and Scotland. He was a member of the U.S. House and Senate press galleries from 1871 to 1875.

Political leaders often honor Douglass during February, which is Black History Month in the U.S.

The event on Thursday was unusual for the second presidential term of Donald Trump, a Republican who has pushed U.S. cultural and historical institutions to remove what he calls “anti-American” ideology.

The campaign has led to the dismantling of exhibits focusing on the legacy of slavery and the restoration of statues of Confederate leaders who fought against the United States in the Civil War that ended slavery.

However, Trump has praised Douglass before. In 2017, during his first term, Trump called Douglass “an example of somebody who’s done an amazing job and is being recognized more and more.”

Reporting by Patricia Zengerle; Editing by Cynthia Osterman

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.