TRUMP’S BORDER CHIEF VOWS ‘IMPROVEMENTS’ FOR ICE OPERATIONS BUT DOESN’T MENTION FATAL SHOOTINGS OF US CITIZENS – LIVE
By Guardian - Marina Dunbar/George Chidi/Sarah Haque-Thu 29 Jan 2026 16.32 GMT
Border czar Tom Homan in Minneapolis says ‘no agency is perfect’ and acknowledges improvements that need to be made to federal immigration enforcement. ‘Nothing has changed’: Minneapolis on edge despite Trump’s de-escalation vow.
Homan doesn’t specify ‘improvements’ to be made in federal immigration crackdown
Shrai Popat
During Thursday’s press conference, Tom Homan noted that the administration has “recognized that certain improvements could and should be made” in the ongoing immigration enforcement operation in Minnesota, but didn’t specify what those looked like or when they would be implemented.
The border czar also refused to comment on the newly published video footage of Alex Pretti earlier this month, which appears to show officers grabbing Pretti and bringing him to the ground during intense protests that have gripped Minneapolis.
“We’ll let the investigation play out and let it go where it goes,” Homan added.
Richard Luscombe
There’s news of shifting sands in Florida, where Alex Vindman, a key player in Donald Trump’s first impeachment, announced Tuesday he was running as a Democrat for a US Senate seat.
The army veteran’s campaign says it raised a record $1.7m in the 24 hours after launching his candidacy, and it was given a further lift Thursday when Sabato’s Crystal Ball, the respected political forecasting arm of the University of Virginia’s Center for Politics, nudged the race in his favor.
Vindman still has a mountain to climb to topple the incumbent Republican, Ashley Moody, in November. But the shift from “safe” Republican to “likely” Republican is still a notable development in the former swing state that has become reliably red in recent election cycles.
It follows other small but significant Democratic advances during the second Trump administration, including pushing two Republican candidates close in a special congressional election in April, and Eileen Higgins’s stunning upset win in Miami’s mayoral run-off last month.
Vindman, a retired Lt Col, and his brother Eugene, now Democratic congressman for Virginia, served the national security council in Trump’s first term, and raised concerns that sparked an investigation into the president’s demands for Ukraine to investigate Joe Biden.
Florida has not elected a Democratic senator since Bill Nelson in 2012.
US defense secretary Pete Hegseth is not expected to attend a meeting of Nato defence ministers in Brussels next month, a US official and a Nato diplomat told Reuters.
If Hegseth does not attend the regular gathering, he will be the second US cabinet secretary in a row to skip a Nato ministerial meeting. Secretary of state Marco Rubio did not attend the last Nato foreign ministers’ meeting in December.
The US standing in Nato has been on shaky ground since Trump set aggressive sights on obtaining Greenland. Earlier this month, Trump rattled Nato allies after threatening to impose tariffs on a group of European members of the alliance that opposed his bid for Greenland, prompting outrage from EU leaders.
Moderate Democrat Matt Mahan announces bid for California governor
Lauren Gambino
Matt Mahan, the moderate Democrat and mayor of San Jose, California, announced on Thursday that he would run for governor, joining a sprawling but stagnant field to succeed Gavin Newsom.
In a series of interviews on Thursday, Mahan suggested he saw an opening as a candidate focused less on the national politics dominated by Donald Trump and more on the problems facing the state, including homelessness and the soaring cost-of-living.
“We have a lot of candidates following a tired playbook,” Mahan told Politico. “They’re either running against Trump or they’re running in his image. I’m running for the future of California.”
Mahan, 43, is a former tech entrepreneur who was first elected mayor of Silicon Valley’s largest city in 2022. Since then, he has drawn support for his pragmatic approach that he touts for helping make San Jose the safest big city in the nation.
For weeks, he has signaled an interest in running for governor. His entrance into the race, months before the June primary, reflects the unsettled nature of the field, which has so far failed to produce a front-runner.
Mahan is a frequent critic of Newsom, who is term-limited and cannot run again, over the governor’s approach to homelessness, crime reduction and even his social media taunting of the president.
The Democrats running for governor include former congresswoman Katie Porter, congressman Eric Swalwell, former health and human services secretary Xavier Becerra, former Los Angeles mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, and billionaire climate activist Tom Steyer.
Welcoming Mahan to the race, Steyer said in a statement: “California needs a governor who will stand up to powerful interests, not carry their water.”
Mexican president Claudia Sheinbaum said today she had a “productive and cordial” conversation with her US counterpart Donald Trump.
“We continue to make progress on trade issues and the bilateral relationship. We agreed that both teams will continue working together,” Sheinbaum said in a post on X.
To stave off the threat of tariffs, the Mexican government has already helped the Trump administration with aspects of its security agenda – the US-Mexico border – by suppressing the number of migrants arriving there and receiving deportees. Earlier this month, Sheinbaum defended the transfer of 37 Mexican cartel operatives to the US as a “sovereign decision”, as her government strives to alleviate pressure from the Trump administration to do more against drug-trafficking groups.
Homan: undocumented immigrants are ‘never off the table’ as enforcement surge continues
Shrai Popat
Earlier, Homan said that the immigration enforcement surge in the Twin Cities is “targeted”.
“We know exactly who we’re looking for,” Trump’s border czar said, despite many people who have minor or no criminal convictions being caught in the dragnet.
When a reporter asked whether undocumented immigrants — who have not committed a crime — would be affected by the ongoing operation, Homan was resolute.
“If you’re in the country illegally, you’re never off the table,” he said.
A reminder that living in the US without legal status is a civil offense.
Homan said if the “message” that the Trump administration sends to undocumented immigrants is “don’t worry, unless you commit a serious crime, you’re good to go” they are “never going to fix this problem”.
A man attempted to raise the American flag in Greenland’s capital, Nuuk, on Wednesday and was stopped by bystanders, according to Danish television channel TV 2.
When police later questioned the person, he identified himself with a German satire program called Extra 3, broadcast on the German television station Norddeutscher Rundfunk. Extra 3 is working on a satirical film about the U.S. posture toward Greenland, the station said.
A fine was issued “on the spot” for the act.
Officials in Springfield, Ohio, are bracing for an immigration enforcement surge next week as Temporary Protected Status for Haitian immigrants expires.
Reporting by the Springfield News-Sun cited messages within the city’s school system expecting that a federal immigration enforcement operation may begin in Springfield lasting at least 30 days.
”Federal authorities signaled an enforcement window of at least 30 days,” said an email obtained by the News-Sun from Springfield City School District Superintendent Bob Hill, citing a meeting with Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine. “A federal list of individual removal orders has been identified in Springfield as an initial focal point for enforcement activity, with discretion to detain additional individuals encountered who lack lawful status.”
Donald Trump falsely claimed that Haitian immigrants in Springfield, Ohio, were eating residents’ pets during a 2024 debate. The fabrication had been pushed by a neo-Nazi group in Ohio. Trump’s amplification of the lie made the city a focal point for national immigration debates and threats against immigrants there.
ICE agents have been instructed not to engage with “agitators” following the arrival of Tom Homan amid the fallout after federal agents shot two U.S. citizens in Minneapolis, Reuters reports.
The new orders instruct agents to focus on “targeted enforcement,” as Homan described in a press conference this morning, while refraining from random seizures in street stops in Minneapolis.
“DO NOT COMMUNICATE OR ENGAGE WITH AGITATORS,” said an email disseminated by a top ICE official. “It serves no purpose other than inflaming the situation. No one is going to convince the other. The only communication should be the officers issuing commands.”
ICE officers will receive megaphones so that they can issue commands to the public and “need to verbalize every step of the arrest process”, Reuters reported.
13.57 GMT
Homan says that immigration crackdown in Minnesota could ease up with ‘cooperation’ from local officials
Shrai Popat
Homan didn’t answer a reporter’s question about the specific number of federal immigration agents that are currently in Minneapolis.
“There’s been some rotations,” he said.
This comes after reports that, after Gregory Bovino left the state, a number of border patrol officers were directed to also leave.
Homan also noted that “cooperation” from local officials in Minnesota, specifically access a to jails, could lead to the federal immigration crackdown easing up, and a reduction of agents throughout the state.
“As we see that cooperation happen, then redeployment will happen, he said.
Homan doesn’t specify ‘improvements’ to be made in federal immigration crackdown
Shrai Popat
During Thursday’s press conference, Tom Homan noted that the administration has “recognized that certain improvements could and should be made” in the ongoing immigration enforcement operation in Minnesota, but didn’t specify what those looked like or when they would be implemented.
The border czar also refused to comment on the newly published video footage of Alex Pretti earlier this month, which appears to show officers grabbing Pretti and bringing him to the ground during intense protests that have gripped Minneapolis.
“We’ll let the investigation play out and let it go where it goes,” Homan added.
Tom Homan, border czar for the Trump Administration, is appealing for politicians and the public for a shift in tone.
“The hostile rhetoric and dangerous threats must stop,” Homan said. “I said in March that if the rhetoric didn’t stop, there would be bloodshed. I wish I wasn’t right. … “If you want certain laws reformed, take it up with Congress.”
“God bless Minnesota. We can do better,” he said.
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Lauren Gambino -Guardian Journalist
Shrai Popat -Guardian Journalist
