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Donald Trump’s border czar Tom Homan says immigration enforcement will reduce the number of officers in Minnesota but suggested during a news conference Thursday that it would happen only after ‘cooperation’ from state officials.

Homan was speaking for the first time since Trump sent him to Minneapolis after a federal immigration officer fatally shot a protester on Saturday.

Homan doubled down on the need for local jails to alert Immigration and Customs Enforcement to people in their custody whom ICE can remove from the country. Homan said that would mean fewer officers have to actually be out on the streets looking for immigrants in the country illegally, and that transferring immigrants to ICE while they’re still in jail is safer for the officers and means they aren’t out on the streets.

The Trump administration on Wednesday took a step toward rolling back a rule that limits smokestack emissions that burden downwind areas in neighboring states.

The so-called “good neighbor” rule is one of dozens of regulations that Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lee Zeldin has targeted for reconsideration or repeal. The Supreme Court ruled in 2024 that the EPA could not enforce the rule, which is intended to block coal-fired power plants and other industrial sites from adding significantly to air pollution across state lines.

The EPA said Wednesday it is proposing to approve plans by eight states to regulate ozone air pollution as they see fit. If finalized, the states “would no longer need to worry about another ‘Good Neighbor Plan’” subject to approval by the federal government, the agency said.

The Minnesota governor unexpectedly announced this month that he wouldn't run for re-election.

Walz had said this month that he would not seek re-election as governor — sending shock waves through state and national politics — but he did not go so far as to say he would not consider another elected position down the line.

In explaining his decision Wednesday, Walz talked about the scenes unfolding in Minneapolis between residents and federal officers. He said he found that there are “heroes on the streets that we don’t know their names.”

“They’re never going to run for office, and those grass-tops leaders brought this administration to their knees this week to do something about it. So there’s other ways to serve, and I’ll find them,” he said.

U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar said Thursday she is running for governor of Minnesota, promising to take on Donald Trump while unifying a state that has endured a series of challenges even before the federal government’s immigration crackdown.

Klobuchar’s decision gives Democrats a high-profile candidate and proven statewide winner as their party tries to hold onto the office occupied by Gov. Tim Walz.

Klobuchar cited Trump’s immigration crackdown in Minnesota, federal officers killing two Minnesotans who protested, the assassination of a state legislative leader and a school shooting that killed multiple children — all within the last year. She avoided direct mention of ongoing fraud investigations into the child care programs that Trump has made a political cudgel.

The Federal Reserve pushed the pause button on its interest rate cuts Wednesday, leaving its key rate unchanged at about 3.6% after lowering it three times last year.

Chair Jerome Powell said at a news conference after the central bank announced its decision that the economy’s outlook “has clearly improved since the last meeting” in December, a development that he noted should boost hiring over time. The Fed also said in a statement that there were signs the job market is stabilizing.

With the economy growing at a healthy pace and the unemployment rate appearing to level off, Fed officials likely see little reason to rush any further rate cuts. While most policymakers do expect to reduce borrowing costs further this year, many want to see evidence that stubbornly-elevated inflation is moving closer to the central bank’s target of 2%. According to the Fed’s preferred measure, inflation was 2.8% in November, slightly higher than a year ago.

Tesla's profit dropped 46% year over year, the company revealed in its earnings update Wednesday evening.

That was not exactly a surprise

in fact, it was better than most analysts had expected. Tesla had already reported sales for the quarter, which showed the continuation of a slump that stretched through much of the year. More revenue from other parts of the company, like a growing energy storage business, haven't made up for the fact that Tesla's not selling as many cars as it used to.

Tesla, once the undisputed global leader in electric vehicle sales, has lost that crown as its brand reputation has soured and competition

particularly from China

has grown more intense.

An American born in 2024 can expect to live to age 79, on average, an increase of more than half a year from 2023, according to a report from the National Center for Health Statistics released Thursday.

The average U.S. life expectancy hit an all-time high in 2024, according to the NCHS data, as the nation continued to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic and deaths from drug overdoses continued to decline.

The new high surpassesthe last peak in life expectancy in 2019, and it's the highest since the government started tracking this key measure of the nation's health and well-being in 1900.

Five firearm instructors in the Minneapolis area said sign-ups for safety training, which is required for permit holders, have grown in the past two weeks.

At the Stock & Barrel Gun Club’s two locations near Minneapolis, the classes for people seeking a permit to carry a firearm almost always draw large crowds.

“It’s usually in the hundreds,” David Taylor, the club’s CEO, said.

But since immigration enforcement agents flooded the city, sparking clashes in the streets and the killing of two protesters, interest in the classes has only grown. In just the past two weeks, Taylor said, his club has received four times the usual number of sign-ups.

That does not appear to be an anomaly. Five firearm instructors in the Minneapolis area told NBC News they have seen a similar trend. The sudden interest, they say, is a reflection of the fear and uneasiness that has gripped the region amid the ongoing turmoil in the streets.

Sen. Bernie Sanders also demanded “fundamental reforms” to Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Customs and Border Protection, saying they are “terrorizing” US communities.

US Sen. Bernie Sanders on Wednesday demanded the removal of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller—a key architect of Donald Trump’s violent mass deportation campaign—as well as concrete reforms in exchange for any new funding for Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

In remarks on the Senate floor, Sanders (I-Vt.) called ICE a “domestic military force” that is “terrorizing” communities across the country. The senator pointed specifically to the agency’s ongoing activities in Minnesota and Maine, where officers have committed horrific—and deadly—abuses.

Sanders said that “not another penny should be given” to ICE or Customs and Border Protection (CBP) “unless there are fundamental reforms in how those agencies function—and until there is new leadership at the Department of Homeland Security and among those who run our immigration policy.” The senator has proposed repealing a $75 billion ICE funding boost that the GOP approved last summer, an end to warrantless arrests, the unmasking of ICE and CBP agents, and more.

Republicans are increasingly concerned that immigration enforcement is becoming a political liability in the upcoming midterm elections after two people were killed by federal agents during Donald Trump’s crackdown in Minneapolis.

Although few are willing to publicly break with the president, there has been a crescendo of criticism as Republicans nudge the White House to change course.

A looming end-of-week funding deadline has brought the issue to a head in Congress, with Democrats vowing to block Homeland Security funding without significant changes and Republicans struggling to find their footing.

After promising to hold ICE agents accountable at an event on Tuesday, Philly District Attorney Larry Krasner is now joining a coalition of prosecutors around the country to ensure federal agents are prosecuted for any violation of state laws.

And, while going so far as to call ICE agents "wannabe Nazis," Krasner promised that any federal agent who violates those rights or breaks any state law would be held accountable.

Even, he said, if law enforcement officials needed to wait until Donald Trump was out of office to do so.

"If we have to hunt you down the way they hunted down Nazis for decades, we will find your identities. We will find you. We will achieve justice," Krasner said.

The departure of Greg Bovino has not quelled ICE’s raids – and hope that tensions are easing feels distant

In the days after the killing of the 37‑year‑old ICU nurse Alex Pretti, signs emerged that the Trump administration understood how quickly anger at federal immigration agents could ignite across Minnesota and the nation.

But the Twin Cities remain on edge following Pretti’s death – and the killing of Renee Nicole Good by an ICE agent just three weeks earlier – as federal officers continue targeting scores of people regardless of immigration status.

Despite Trump’s claims that he would “de‑escalate” the situation with a “more relaxed” operation, raids have persisted. Just two days after his supposedly cordial call with Frey, Trump lashed out at the mayor on Truth Social, accusing him of “playing with fire”, after Frey reiterated that local police should not enforce federal immigration laws.