Sunday, February 22, 2026
■ Today's Top News
One Democrat had called the halt during the department's partial shutdown a case of "Trump and Kristi Noem purposely punishing the American people and using them as pawns for their sadistic political games."
By Jessica Corbett
After a flurry of overnight outrage, President Donald Trump’s administration reversed plans to suspend the Transportation Security Administration’s PreCheck program during a partial shutdown of the US Department of Homeland Security.
“At this time, TSA PreCheck remains operational with no change for the traveling public. As staffing constraints arise, TSA will evaluate on a case-by-case basis and adjust operations accordingly,” the agency said Sunday morning. “Courtesy escorts, such as those for members of Congress, have been suspended to allow officers to focus on the mission of securing America’s skies.”
The Washington Post reported that a DHS official who spoke on the condition of anonymity said the reversal was “based off of conversations the secretary had with the White House and TSA.”
DHS partially shut down last week amid a funding fight in Congress, with Democrats demanding reforms in response to agents with Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) openly violating the rights of immigrants and US citizens alike, and even killing Renee Good and Alex Pretti last month in Minnesota.
The department said late Saturday that it would close PreCheck lanes, which allow travelers at US airports to move through security more quickly; halt the CBP Global Entry service, which allows expedited clearance for arriving in the United States; and pause all non-disaster-related Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) response efforts.
“Shutdowns have real-world consequences, not just for the men and women of DHS and their families who go without a paycheck, but it endangers our national security,” said Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, blaming the changes on Democrats in Congress. “The American people depend on this department every day, and we are making tough but necessary workforce and resource decisions to mitigate the damage inflicted by these politicians.”
Critics in journalism, politics, the travel industry, and beyond quickly highlighted how PreCheck and Global Entry reduce the strain on not only air travelers but also federal workers across multiple DHS agencies.
“These nitwits are at it again,” said House Committee on Homeland Security Ranking Member Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.). “This is Trump and Kristi Noem purposely punishing the American people and using them as pawns for their sadistic political games. TSA PreCheck and Global Entry REDUCE airport lines and ease the burden on DHS staff who are working without pay because of Trump’s abuse of the Department and killing of American citizens.”
“Trump and Kristi are making your lives harder—and your travel less safe—all on purpose because they know you don’t trust them,” he continued. “They pulled these games with FEMA disaster response last week, now this madness. They would rather force Americans to miss their travel waiting in long lines at the airport than stop Trump’s secret police from shooting our neighbors. The American people—who want ICE reined in—will not fall for this bullshit. The administration must reverse this decision immediately.”
While the Trump administration reversed course on PreCheck, the Global Entry suspension and FEMA restrictions remain in effect as a major snowstorm hit the East Coast.
“Everyone knows Donald Trump and DHS use bullying tactics—this is another one of them,” said Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) in a Sunday statement about Global Entry. “The Trump administration is choosing to inflict pain on the public instead of adopting commonsense ICE reforms.”
“In the 43-day historic Trump government shutdown DHS never changed the Global Entry program’s status,” Schumer said, referring to the funding battle that ended in November when a short list of Democratic senators gave in. “Democrats are fighting against this exact kind of abuse.”
"It will be a no thanks from here," said the Greenlandic prime minister. "We have a public health service where treatment is free for citizens... It is not like that in the USA, where it costs money to go to the doctor."
By Jessica Corbett
Shortly after the Danish military evacuated a crew member of a US submarine off the Greenlandic coast for urgent medical care on Saturday, President Donald Trump pledged to send a “hospital boat” to the self-governing Danish territory—but officials from Greenland and Denmark declared it unnecessary, given the island’s publicly funded universal healthcare system.
“Working with the fantastic Governor of Louisiana, Jeff Landry, we are going to send a great hospital boat to Greenland to take care of the many people who are sick, and not being taken care of there. It’s on the way!!!” said Trump, who in December named the Republican governor as his envoy to Greenland while threatening to take over the island.
Trump has called the fossil fuel-driven climate emergency a “con,” but global warming is opening up potential shipping routes and access to natural resources in and around Greenland. He has claimed that if he doesn’t seize the island, China or Russia will do so—though last month he announced a “framework of a future deal” for security, temporarily easing fears of a US invasion.
In his Truth Social post late Saturday, Trump shared an illustration of a Navy hospital ship, the USNS Mercy.
“As of late January, the 1,000-bed hospital ship was firmly in drydock at Alabama Shipyard in Mobile, where it has been undergoing scheduled maintenance since July 2025,” according to the maritime industry news website gCaptain. “The USNS Mercy, commissioned in 1986, departed San Diego last July for a one-year scheduled maintenance period at Alabama Shipyard under an $18.7 million firm-fixed-price contract for a 153-calendar day mid-term availability, including drydocking.”
Responding to the US leader on social media Sunday, Greenlandic Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen said: “It will be a no thanks from here. President Trump’s idea of sending an American hospital ship here to Greenland has been noted. But we have a public health service where treatment is free for citizens. It is a conscious choice. And a fundamental part of our society.”
“It is not like that in the USA, where it costs money to go to the doctor,” he added. “We are always open to dialogue and cooperation. Also with the USA. But now talk to us instead of just making more or less random outbursts on social media. Dialogue and cooperation require respect for decisions about our country being made here at home.”
Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen somewhat indirectly pushed back against Trump with a social media post, saying that she is “happy to live in a country where there is free and equal access to health for all. Where it’s not insurances and wealth that determine whether you get proper treatment. You have the same approach in Greenland. Happy Sunday to you all.”
Denmark’s defense minister, Troels Lund Poulsen, similarly told Danish broadcaster DR: “The Greenlandic population receives the healthcare it needs. They receive it either in Greenland, or, if they require specialized treatment, they receive it in Denmark.”
“It’s not as if there’s a need for a special healthcare initiative in Greenland,” he added.
The Nordic Council and the Nordic Council of Ministers website states that in “a number of services are provided, which are free at point of use to everyone with permanent residence in Greenland. If a doctor has prescribed treatment, and the service is not available nearby, you have the right to have the transport covered to the nearest hospital.”
The site also notes that island’s health service is “challenged by a shortage of staff, particularly in the most sparsely populated areas.”
Aaja Chemnitz, one of the two Greenlandic politicians in the Danish Parliament, said on social media: “Another day. Another crazy news story. Donald Trump wants to send a poorly maintained hospital ship to Greenland. It seems rather desperate and does not contribute to the permanent and sustainable strengthening of the healthcare system that we need.”
“Since the last election, where I campaigned for closer healthcare cooperation... we have succeeded in allocating DKK 35 million annually, and this year an additional DKK 185 million, for treatment of Greenlanders in Denmark,” she continued. Those figures in US dollars are roughly $5.5 million and $29 million, respectively.
Chemnitz added:
I believe there is one thing we are missing in our understanding of health and welfare in Greenland. We should have equal access to doctors, cancer treatment pathways, and healthcare assistance like those available in Denmark. Our healthcare system is deeply challenged—more so than what is seen in Denmark.
And this is best solved together with Denmark, as one of the richest and most highly educated countries, for example in the healthcare sector. Not the United States, which has its own problems with healthcare.
This requires closer and more committed efforts from Denmark in the field of healthcare in Greenland.
More doctors from the Danish regions taking a turn in Greenland. Faster access to treatment in Denmark. And a crystal-clear prioritization of children and young people, cancer and heart diseases, and a significant improvement in psychiatry.
Is Denmark ready for that?
The United States has often ranked dead last among peer nations on metrics such as access to care and health outcomes, fueling Americans’ demands for a transition from the current for-profit healthcare system to one that is publicly funded and universal.
Massive cuts to the social safety net in the so-called One Big Beautiful Bill Act signed by Trump last July and federal Republicans’ failure to extend Affordable Care Act subsidies that helped tens of millions of people afford health insurance premiums—before they expired at the end of December—have further fueled calls for Medicare for All.
"The individual was observed by the north gate of the Mar-a-Lago property carrying what appeared to be a shotgun and a fuel can," according to US Secret Service.
By Common Dreams Staff
This is a developing story… Please check back for updates…
The US Secret Service announced Sunday that its agents fatally shot a man armed with a shotgun overnight at President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago Club in Palm Beach, Florida, while the president and first lady were at the White House.
Secret Service spokesperson Anthony said the suspect is from North Carolina and was recently reported missing by his family. Citing a person familiar with the matter, the Associated Press reported that investigators have identified him as 21-year-old Austin Tucker Martin.
A statement posted on social media by Guglielmi says:
On February 22, around 1:30 am, a male in his early 20s was shot by US Secret Service agents and a deputy from the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office (PBSO) following an unauthorized entry into the secure perimeter at Mar-a-Lago.
The individual, whose identity is being withheld pending notification of next of kin, was pronounced deceased. The individual was observed by the north gate of the Mar-a-Lago property carrying what appeared to be a shotgun and a fuel can.
US Secret Service agents and a PBSO deputy confronted the individual and shots were fired by law enforcement during the encounter. No US Secret Service or PBSO personnel were injured. There were no Secret Service protectees present at the location at the time of the incident.
The incident, including the individual’s background, actions, potential motive, and the use of force, is under investigation by the FBI, the US Secret Service, and the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office. In accordance with agency policy, the involved Secret Service agents will be placed on routine administrative leave pending the outcome of the investigation.
During a press conference, Palm Beach County Sheriff Rick Bradshaw said that the suspect, a white man, “was ordered to drop those two pieces of equipment that he had with them, at which time he put down the gas can, raised the shotgun to a shooting position. At that point in time, the deputy and the two Secret Service agents fired their weapons and neutralized the threat.”
Trump has faced multiple security incidents during his two terms and three campaigns, including an assassination attempt during a July 2024 rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, and another the following September at Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach, Florida.
"Donald Trump is a gangster with no respect for the rule of law and no understanding of economics," said former Democratic presidential candidate Tom Steyer.
By Jessica Corbett
Shortly after the US Supreme Court on Friday ruled against President Donald Trump’s use of emergency powers to impose sweeping tariffs, the Republican announced plans for a 10% global import tax under another law. By Saturday, he’d hiked it to 15%.
In a 6-3 decision penned by Chief Justice John Roberts, the high court found that “nothing” in the text of the 1977 International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) “enables the president to unilaterally impose tariffs.” Trump responded by not only lashing out at the justices but also invoking Section 122 of the Trade Act of 1974 for a 10% global tariff beginning February 24.
Then, in a Saturday morning Truth Social post, Trump said:
Based on a thorough, detailed, and complete review of the ridiculous, poorly written, and extraordinarily anti-American decision on tariffs issued yesterday, after MANY months of contemplation, by the United States Supreme Court, please let this statement serve to represent that I, as President of the United States of America, will be, effective immediately, raising the 10% Worldwide Tariff on Countries, many of which have been ‘ripping’ the US off for decades, without retribution (until I came along!), to the fully allowed, and legally tested, 15% level. During the next short number of months, the Trump Administration will determine and issue the new and legally permissible Tariffs, which will continue our extraordinarily successful process of Making America Great Again GREATER THAN EVER BEFORE!!! Thank you for your attention to this matter.
Critics across the country swiftly blasted the announcement. Democratic strategist Jon Cooper argued that “Trump CANNOT legally impose a 15% global tariff because the US doesn’t meet the clear emergency economic conditions envisioned by Section 122. If Trump tries to invoke it, it would certainly face immediate legal challenges, economic pushback, and potential congressional scrutiny.”
Former Democratic presidential candidate Tom Steyer declared that “Donald Trump is a gangster with no respect for the rule of law and no understanding of economics. This is a 15% tax out of YOUR pockets to feed HIS deranged ego.”
California Gov. Gavin Newsom, who’s expected to seek the Democratic presidential nomination in 2028, similarly said that “Donald Trump just announced a NEW 15% TAX on the American people. He does not care about you.”
Another California Democrat, Congressman Ted Lieu, quipped that “crybaby Trump woke up this morning and still feels hurt from the Supreme Court slapping him. So he’s taking it out on the American people by increasing his 10% tax increase to 15%. These temporary tariffs will be challenged in court and Democrats will kill them when they expire.”
Elected Democrats have often spoken out against Trump’s legally dubious duties, but the GOP-controlled Congress hadn’t forcefully countered them. As Politico detailed Friday:
Before the ruling, while congressional Republicans had occasionally grumbled about the policy, they had largely fallen in line when actually required to vote on it. Now, the Supreme Court’s decision could put more pressure on them to break with the president...
Six House Republicans voted alongside Democrats last week to condemn Trump’s tariffs on Canada, sending the measure to the Senate, which has already seen significant GOP defection in other votes on the duty measures. Senior House Democrats have vowed to bring up at least three more similar resolutions that will force GOP members to choose between their adherence to free trade principles and their MAGA base.
Last week, Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.), ranking member of the Senate Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship, released a report laying out how Trump’s economic policies, particularly the tariffs, “are making life unaffordable for millions of American small businesses, their workers, and their customers.”
Markey held a virtual press conference with Massachusetts small business owners celebrating the Supreme Court’s Friday ruling. The senator said that “for the last year, Trump has created Pain on Main with an affordability crisis plaguing communities across the country. At the heart of it are Trump’s tariff taxes.”
“The Supreme Court did what was right and struck down these illegal tariffs. Trump said the small businesses who brought this case hate our country. He’s wrong. Small businesses are our country,” Markey continued. “I will keep fighting until every cent illegally collected from small businesses, consumers, and families in Massachusetts and across the country has been returned.”
"Demand Congress take action against these strikes now!" said Amnesty International USA.
By Jessica Corbett
President Donald Trump’s “summary executions continue,” Princeton University visiting professor Kenneth Roth said early Saturday after the US military announced its 43rd bombing of boaters whom the administration claimed were smuggling drugs.
Sharing a 16-second clip of the strike on social media, US Southern Command said late Friday that “Joint Task Force Southern Spear conducted a lethal kinetic strike on a vessel operated by designated terrorist organizations. Intelligence confirmed the vessel was transiting along known narco-trafficking routes in the eastern Pacific and was engaged in narco-trafficking operations. Three male narco-terrorists were killed during this action. No US military forces were harmed.”
Roth, the former longtime director of Human Rights Watch, noted that “the strike raised the death toll in Trump’s campaign against people accused of drug smuggling at sea to at least 147—each a murder.” Some tallies put the death toll at 148 or 149.
Since Trump started bombing boats in September, critics have condemned the strikes as “war crimes, murder, or both.” The administration has tried to justify the operation by arguing that it is in an “armed conflict” with drug cartels in Latin America, including Venezuela—whose president, Nicolás Maduro, was abducted by US forces last month and subsequently pleaded not guilty to narco-terrorism charges in a federal court in New York.
Various human rights advocates and legal experts, including Democrats and even some Republicans in Congress, have rejected that argument. However, both the GOP-controlled Senate and House of Representatives have declined to pass recent war powers resolutions intended to stop Trump’s boat bombings.
“Three more people have been killed. This is murder. Demand Congress take action against these strikes now!” Amnesty International USA said on social media Saturday, sharing a form constituents can use to contact their representatives.
Multiple journalists highlighted that in this case, and others, the targeted boat appeared to be stationary when the US bombed it.
The Friday bombing came after the US Department of Defense announced that it had killed 11 people on three boats in the Caribbean Sea and the eastern Pacific late Monday.
“The US military has carried out strikes every three or four days since the new leader of the Southern Command, Gen. Francis L. Donovan of the Marine Corps, took over last month after the previous commander, Adm. Alvin Holsey, abruptly retired,” the New York Times reported. “Defense Department and congressional officials said Adm. Holsey had expressed concerns about the strikes.”
"Americans deserve immediate answers and an independent investigation of the shooting," said Congressman Greg Casar.
By Jessica Corbett
Demands for accountability are mounting after internal records revealed this week that an officer with Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations fatally shot Ruben Ray Martinez, a 23-year-old US citizen, almost a year ago in South Padre Island, Texas.
“While Martinez’s death was reported in local media at the time, the reports did not identify HSI involvement or disclose that a federal agent fired the shots through the driver-side window,” Newsweek reported, citing publicly available information and records obtained by American Oversight through the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA).
“It shouldn’t take 11 months and a FOIA lawsuit to learn that the government killed someone,” American Oversight said on social media late Friday. Separately, the watchdog noted that “the details sound similar to the death of Renee Good,” a 37-year-old US citizen and mother of three fatally shot by officer Jonathan Ross last month in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
Good’s killing, and two Customs and Border Protection agents’ subsequent fatal shooting of 37-year-old US citizen and nurse Alex Pretti in Minneapolis, have fueled outrage over President Donald Trump’s mass deportation agenda, resulting in a congressional funding fight that has partially shut down the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS), which oversees both agencies.
ICE’s internal report on the Texas shooting states that HSI agents were helping redirect traffic at the site of a major accident early on March 15, 2025. Martinez and his passengers aren’t named, but the document claims that the driver of a blue four-door Ford “failed to follow instructions,” including verbal commands to stop and exit the vehicle.
Instead, the driver “accelerated forward, striking a HSI special agent who wound up on the hood of the vehicle. Upon observing this, HSI group supervisory special agent utilized his government-issued service weapon, discharging multiple rounds at the driver through the open driver’s side window,” according to the ICE report—a version of events that a DHS spokesperson echoed in a Friday statement added to the Newsweek article, which was initially published Wednesday.
The DHS spokesperson also said that the incident remains under investigation by the Texas Department of Public Safety’s Ranger Division, whose press secretary, Sheridan Nolen, confirmed that “this is still an active investigation by the Texas Rangers, and no other information is currently available.”
Charles Stam, a lawyer for the Martinez family, told the New York Times that the 23-year-old was the driver in the ICE report. Stam and another attorney, Alex Stamm, also said in a statement that eyewitness accounts of the scene don’t match the document.
“It is critical that there is a full and fair investigation into why HSI was present at the scene of a traffic collision and why a federal officer shot and killed a US citizen as he was trying to comply with instructions from the local law enforcement officers directing traffic,” the lawyers said.
The Times also reached Martinez’s mother, Rachel Reyes, who said her son worked at an Amazon warehouse in San Antonio and was out to celebrate his birthday. According to her: “He was a good kid. He doesn’t have a criminal history... He never got in trouble. He was never violent.”
Reyes challenged the federal government’s narrative about her son, telling the newspaper: “What they’re saying is different from what they told the family, so that’s adding insult to injury... They are making it sound different. I don’t appreciate their language.”
In a Friday interview with the Texas Tribune, American Oversight executive director Chioma Chukwu also called out the government: “What they’re telling the public is very different than what they’re doing behind closed doors. The only reason why we’re able to make these connections and really call into question the public statements that they’re making to mislead the public is because we’re able to get our hands on these documents... That should deeply concern everyone.”
The revelations this week have generated concern. André Treiber, the Democratic National Committee’s Youth Coordinating Council chair, wrote on social media Friday evening that “ICE murdered a Texan last March and we are only just learning about it now. They are once again offering the excuse that this was done in self-defense, but forgive me if I am extremely skeptical after they’ve been caught lying about that exact same thing multiple times already.”
Federal lawmakers also sounded the alarm on Friday. Congressional Progressive Caucus Chair Greg Casar (D-Texas) declared that “Americans deserve immediate answers and an independent investigation of the shooting.” Another Texas Democrat, Congressman Joaquin Castro, similarly called for “a full investigation,” including into the monthslong “cover-up.”
US Rep. Delia Ramirez (D-Ill.), whose Chicagoland district has also faced a recent ICE invasion, pointed to other deaths tied to the agency, including those of Silverio Villegas Gonzalez, who was shot by ICE in the Chicago suburb of Franklin Park last September; Keith Porter Jr., who was shot by an off-duty agent on New Year’s Eve in Los Angeles, California; and Linda Davis, a special education teacher in Savannah, Georgia, who was killed in a Monday car crash that involved a man fleeing ICE.
“For a whole year, DHS hid that they murdered Ruben, a young man in Texas, after a traffic stop. Just like they did with Silverio, Renee, Keith, Alex, and Linda, they lied and avoided accountability,” said Ramirez, who supports abolishing ICE. “How many more people have to be executed before my colleagues realize that reforms are not enough?”
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