Homan clashes with AOC over effort to shield migrants from ICE: ‘Thought I educated her’
FIRST ON FOX: President Donald Trump’s border czar Tom Homan on Friday clashed with Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., over a webinar she hosted advising migrants about how to handle an encounter with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
“Let’s pray that she is not ‘educating’ the next murderer of a young college nursing student on how to evade arrest by ICE,” Homan told Fox News Digital on Friday. “How many more young women have to be raped, murdered and burned alive until she wakes up?”
Homan had first said on “The Ingraham Angle” that he had emailed the deputy attorney general asking whether Ocasio-Cortez’s hosting of a “Know Your Rights with ICE” event on her Facebook page could count as an impediment to federal law enforcement.
ILLEGAL IMMIGRANT ARRESTS SKYROCKET UNDER TRUMP ICE COMPARED TO BIDEN LEVELS LAST YEAR
“Is that impeding our law enforcement efforts?” Homan said. “If so, what are we going to do about it? Is she crossing the line? So I’m working with the Department of Justice and finding out. Where is that line that they cross? So maybe AOC is going to be going to be in trouble now.”
During the event, viewers were informed of how to deal with ICE search requests. Migrants were also warned of “ruses” they allege ICE agents employ to get people to comply with searches, while the hosts also touted “trends” in how ICE conducts its searches, which have ramped up in recent weeks under the Trump administration. People were also recommended to record such searches and how to differentiate between different warrants ICE agents are likely to carry.
Ocasio-Cortez did not take part in the webinar but did upload tips to Instagram — via posters in both English and Spanish — and called on her followers to share the posters widely and study them. She also called on her followers to print out the posters and “tape them up in your workplace or keep them by your door.”
“So if ICE comes to your workplace or home, whether you are a citizen or noncitizen – YOU can defend your community and our constitution by exercising your right,” she wrote.
On Thursday, Ocasio-Cortez took to X to mock Homan for suggesting she could be in trouble.
“MaYbe shE’s goiNg to be in TroUble nOw,” she posted.
“Maybe he can learn to read. The Constitution would be a good place to start,” she said.
AOC’S OFFICE ADVISES MIGRANTS ON HOW TO AVOID DEPORTATIONS IN LIVE WEBINAR
In comments to Fox News Digital, Homan said that he was asking the Justice Department for their interpretation of the law regarding impeding and obstruction, and that he is “well aware of the Constitution, but I am also aware that DOJ gives legal interpretations on issues like this to ensure ICE acts in accordance of the law.”
He then suggested Ocasio-Cortez read Title 8 USC 1324 and 8 USC 1325, “statutes enacted by Congress, of which she is a part of.”
“It’s not OK to be in the U.S. illegally. It’s a violation of federal law to enter this country illegally. It is not OK to assist those in the U.S. illegally in furtherance of their illegal entry and unlawful presence. I thought I educated her on this several years ago during congressional testimony.,” he said, referencing a viral clash from the first Trump administration at a congressional hearing.
“She can call it ‘advising those who are illegally in the U.S. of their constitutional rights.’ But we all know it’s really about evading ICE and how not to get arrested and how not to adhere to a federal judge’s order to leave after receiving due process at great taxpayer expense,” he said.
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“She obviously believes that we should not enforce laws enacted by Congress. By working against ICE, she is putting those that committed a crime entering this country illegally and those that committed asylum fraud and those who ignored a federal court order of deportation over those that enforce our laws and risk their lives every day trying to keep our communities safe.”
Ocasio-Cortez responded, telling Fox News Digital: “I am glad Mr. Homan is checking with the Department of Justice to familiarize himself with the limits of his agency’s authority in entering the homes of everyday Americans without a warrant. And I am proud to offer civil education to everyday Americans to ensure ICE’s compliance with the law, given the numerous reports of agents providing incorrect paperwork in their attempts to enter and search private homes.”
“Since Mr. Homan seems to be vaguely familiar with U.S. immigration law, we also remind him that according to Congressional statute, becoming undocumented in the United States is a civil offense and not a criminal one. I look forward to continuing our work in ensuring the safety of everyday New Yorkers while keeping families together,” she said.
The clash comes as many left-wing Democrats continue to raise objections to the mass deportation operation launched by the Trump administration. However, some Democrats have also expressed support, with New York City Mayor Eric Adams meeting with Homan on Thursday and agreeing to let ICE agents on to Rikers Island. While New York City is a “sanctuary” city, Adams has expressed openness to deporting criminal illegal immigrants.
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Fox News Digital reported earlier on Friday that ICE interior arrests have skyrocketed under the Trump administration compared to the same period during the Biden administration last year, with a 137% increase over last year. Arrests of aliens with criminal histories have soared by nearly 100% from 4,526 in the same period in 2024 to 8,993 under Trump this year.
Former Biden press secretary calls on Democrat Party to ‘break some s—’
MSNBC host and former Biden press secretary Jen Psaki declared she has “retired from the world of Democratic messaging” and lectured the party on how they failed to reach voters in 2024 and continue to fail.
“I feel like when Democrats, and including people who are on television in a variety of ways, were saying things like, ‘Authoritarianism is under threat and democracy is on the ballot,’ I think we were speaking in a manner that was so academic and Ivory Tower, it wasn’t talking about a lot of the things people actually care about,” Psaki argued while appearing on comedian Jon Stewart’s “The Weekly Show” podcast.
She went on to say, “So, I don’t know that people voted against democracy, I think they voted in some ways against protection of status-quo and kind of the disconnected academic Ivory Tower elite language that is too often used by Democrats, sometimes on cable television.”
Psaki added that one of her takeaways going forward was to “cross authoritarianism and oligarchy out of every script. Nobody talks this way.”
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Psaki also expressed frustration that Democrats aren’t pushing back enough on the Trump administration cutting programs and explaining how it will directly affect the lives of even people who want to downsize the government.
“But that seems obvious, Jen! So why are they not doing it?” Stewart replied.
Psaki responded with a sigh and said, “I wish I knew the answer to that question.”
“That is the most painful sigh I’ve ever heard,” Stewart said.
“I’ve retired from the world of Democratic messaging in some ways,” Psaki said.
After wondering about whether the current state of affairs is a “punishment” from the voters against the Democrats, Stewart said that he still does not see an “understanding” from the party “of how they ended up in this position.”
“I don’t see that yet, either,” Psaki replied.
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Stewart later noted he leans towards progressive politicians like Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., and argued, “I’ve been shocked by how un-democratic the Democratic Party can be,” such as by “putting their foot on the scales” to help Hillary Clinton against Sanders in 2016.
Psaki said after Democrats “lost everything,” are out of power and in control of nothing, the time has come for the party to “break some s—.”
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Trump, Musk shut down media attempts to ‘drive us apart’ as DOGE efforts intensify
President Donald Trump is shutting down the latest criticism from mainstream media and the punditry class regarding his relationship with Department of Government Efficiency head Elon Musk.
“It’s just so obvious. They’re so bad at it. I used to think they were good at it. They’re actually bad at it because if they were good at it, I’d never be president,” Trump said on “Hannity” during an exclusive interview airing Tuesday, Feb. 18.
FORMER DEMOCRATIC PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE SAYS HIS PARTY IS ACTING ‘PATHETICALLY’ TO THWART MUSK’S DOGE
The Republican executive is no stranger to criticism from the media and liberal pundits, but his second-term alliance with Musk has ignited a new wave of outrage.
Several media outlets and Democratic voices have targeted Musk, accusing him of usurping presidential powers through DOGE and labeling the Tesla co-founder “President Elon Musk.”
Hannity reasoned the criticism is an attempt to “divorce” the executive partnership and get the pair to “start hating each other.”
Trump responded to the attempts to “drive us apart,” saying, “Isee it all the time… Actually, Elon called me — he said, you know, ‘They’re trying to drive us apart.’ I said, ‘Absolutely.’”
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Despite the narrative, Trump and Musk agreed the American people are “smart” and “get” what the administration and DOGE are doing with efforts to cut costs and downsize the scope of the federal government.
For the full interview, watch “Hannity” on Tuesday, Feb. 18, for an exclusive sit-down with Trump and Musk.
Actress tells voters under 30 they’ve been ‘cheated’ into ‘pledging fealty’ to a party
“Family Ties” star Justine Bateman implored young voters to think for themselves in elections rather than pledging themselves to a “political team.”
“If you’re under 30, you’ve most likely been convinced that you need to politically ‘resist the other side.’ You’ve been cheated,” Bateman wrote in a post on X Wednesday.
Instead, she said voters should “insist” candidates “audition for your vote” and that voters “examine their actions objectively and decide if, in the big picture, this is benefiting America as a whole.”
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“This is not about parties or pledging fealty to a ‘political team.’ This is about your right as an American adult to not be told by the media or the oldest people in either party how you should be interpreting policies and actions,” Bateman wrote.
She added people need to ignore the “ridiculous insistence that you give yourself a heart attack over nothing” and tell anyone who insists otherwise to “zip it.”
“They disrespect your intelligence and innate wisdom,” Bateman wrote. “Their weird panic frenzy is an anomaly, birthed in 2016. It’s not the norm, and you intuitively know it. You don’t need them. Make up your own mind. And then let it go, so you can so all those things that have nothing to do with politics.”
Bateman made a similar declaration in a viral X thread after President Donald Trump’s election in November, describing the last four years as “walking on eggshells.”
“I have found the last four years to be an almost intolerable period. A very un-American period in that any questioning, any opinions, any likes or dislikes were held up to a very limited list of ‘permitted positions’ in order to assess acceptability,” Bateman posted on X.
‘FAMILY TIES’ STAR JUSTINE BATEMAN SLAMS ‘UN-AMERICAN PERIOD’ OVER THE LAST 4 YEARS: ‘COMMON SENSE DISCARDED’
“I am neither one extreme or the other, but am one of the millions of people who believe in common sense, and that everyone should be free to live their lives however they want, unless that freedom interferes with someone else’s freedom to live their own life. That’s it,” she concluded.
Bateman also described Trump’s election as a “kind of suffocating cloud” being lifted on free speech.
“Regular people who had questions about decisions that were being made were threatened subtly or obviously into silence. And I feel like that’s been broken, that sort of suppression has been kind of broken,” Bateman told Fox News Digital.
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Dancer gets brutally honest about her love life after divorcing former child star
Former “Dancing with the Stars” pro Cheryl Burke is opening up about her love life.
During a recent episode of iHeartRadio’s “I Do, Part 2” podcast, Burke reflected on her relationship and divorce from actor Matthew Lawrence and the changes she made in her life after her marriage ended.
“I’m not dating, and I’m choosing not to date. Like, forget the marriage,” she said when discussing what’s next for her. “How about just meeting somebody? I’m like, ‘I am perfectly content in this home, with these four walls. I never have to leave.’”
When asked if it’s been “over 365 days” since her last date, Burke said, “Oh, for sure,” adding she has “zero interest” in meeting anyone at the moment.
FORMER ‘DANCING’ PRO CHERYL BURKE SAYS BEING ‘BREADWINNER’ IN MARRIAGE WITH MATTHEW LAWRENCE DIDN’T WORK
The professional dancer later admitted she is walking around with “blinders on,” and although she “still think[s] guys are hot,” she recognizes that “that doesn’t mean … that they deserve” her.
Lawrence and Burke first dated for a year, from 2007 to 2008, reuniting almost a decade after their split in February 2017. The couple got married two years later, in May 2019. After three years of marriage, Burke filed for divorce in February 2022. Burke explained it was her idea to get married because, at the time, her singular “goal was to get married.”
“Now, I’m a different woman, and I’m like, it’s just so interesting how we put so much pressure, especially women, because we think that there’s this schedule that we need to follow as far as getting married and having kids,” she explained.
“It’s like, it’s the conventional way, right? It’s what society expects from you. But it doesn’t have to be in any order or at any time — amen — or does it ever have to happen, period?”
Upon reflection, Burke recognizes her decision to get married had “nothing to do with the person I married” but more to do with her lack of love for herself and seeking something external to “fill my cup up.”
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“No one is going to fill your cup up. Shopping’s not going to fill your cup up. You are,” the former “Dancing with the Stars” pro said. “You need to do the internal work, and that did not make any sense to me until recently.”
After her divorce, one of the decisions Burke made was to become celibate, a decision she chose to share in an August 2024 Instagram reel in which she revealed she had been celibate for three years.
“I’m not dating, and I’m choosing not to date. Like, forget the marriage. How about just meeting somebody? I’m like, ‘I am perfectly content in this home, with these four walls. I never have to leave.’”
She went on to explain that she “fall[s] in love fast,” which “is not a good thing” when it comes to being intimate with someone, sharing that is something she is “working through.”
Burke said after being intimate with others in the past, “this person and the fantasy of this person” would “completely take over,” which wasn’t good for her because “none of it was real.”
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“The only thing that was real with whatever happened physically [is] that you allowed for it to happen,” she said. “And I think a lot of that maybe back in the day when I would have casual maybe relationships or intimacy, it really just continued to chip away at my soul because, at the end of the day, that says a lot about me.”
Top Trump official teases 2026 bid for California governor if Harris jumps in race
One of President Donald Trump’s top aides is floating a potential bid for California governor if former Vice President Kamala Harris also runs.
Richard Grenell, a longtime Trump loyalist who is serving as U.S. envoy for special missions in the president’s second administration, ended a gaggle with reporters at the Munich Security Conference in Germany on Friday by teasing, “I’ll make a little news.”
Grenell then pointed to the 2026 race to succeed term-limited Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom of California.
“If Kamala Harris runs for governor, I believe that she has such baggage and hundreds of millions of dollars in educating the voters of how terrible she is, that it’s a new day in California and that the Republican actually has a shot,” Grenell said.
SOURCES TELL FOX NEWS THIS TRUMP SUPPORTING CALIFORNIA SHERIFF WILL RUN FOR GOVERNOR
There has been plenty of speculation since Harris’ defeat last November, regarding her next political move, with the two potential options likely being launching a 2026 gubernatorial run in her home state of California or seeking the presidency again in 2028.
Harris served as San Francisco district attorney and California attorney general and U.S. senator before becoming vice president.
MAJOR CALIFORNIA DEMOCRAT PREEDICTS FORMER VICE PRESIDENT KAMALA HARRIS WOULD CLEAR GUBERNATORIAL FIELD
Sources in the former vice president’s political orbit say no decisions have been made about any next steps.
The Democrats’ field for governor in the heavily blue-leaning state is already crowded.
Among the more than a half-dozen candidates already running for governor are Lt. Gov. Eleni Kounalakis, a Harris ally, and former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa.
Former Rep. Katie Porter, who unsuccessfully ran for the Democratic Senate nomination last year, has expressed interest in launching a campaign.
Former Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra, who served in Congress and as California attorney general before joining the Biden administration, is also seen as a potential contender.
But pundits predict that Harris could clear the Democrats’ field if she decides to launch a gubernatorial campaign.
It’s been nearly two decades since a Republican won statewide office in California. You have to go all the way back to former Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s 2006 re-election victory.
Grenell considered a run for California governor during the 2021 recall election that Newsom eventually ended up easily winning, but he ultimately decided against launching a campaign.
Grenell served as ambassador to Germany and as acting director of national intelligence during Trump’s first term.
In his role as U.S. envoy for special missions in Trump’s second administration, he took part in a mission to Venezuela that led to the release of six hostages.
Grenell also joined the president in Los Angeles last month to survey the horrific wildfire damage in the area. Grenell, who along with Trump blasted state and local Democratic leaders for their performance handling the wildfire crisis, returned to Los Angeles last week as he accompanied EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin on a recovery tour.
Grenell isn’t the only California Republican considering or moving toward a gubernatorial campaign in 2026 in the race to succeed Newsom.
Fox News confirmed earlier this week that Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco is planning to announce his candidacy at a scheduled event Monday in Riverside, California.
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And former Fox News Channel host and conservative commentator Steve Hilton is considering a Republican run for California governor.
In California, unlike most other states, the top two finishers in a primary, regardless of party affiliation, advance to the general election.
Lawmakers take matters into their own hands after state refuses to follow Trump order
After California took a stance refusing to follow President Donald Trump’s executive order banning trans athletes from girls’ and women’s sports, state Republicans are taking matters into their own hands.
On Friday, California lawmakers introduced three bills in the state legislature aimed to combat trans inclusion. One bill, which was introduced by Assemblymember Bill Essayli, focused specifically on sports. His bill would require that students use all school facilities only play on sports teams based on their biological sex and not their gender identity.
“We know the state of California is going to do everything it can to resist and avoid compliance with federal law, so it’s our role to try to force change at the state and local level,” Essayli said at a press conference outside the state capital building in Sacramento Friday.
Former San Jose State University volleyball coach, who was suspended and then let go from the program after filing a Title IX complaint over the school’s handling of a trans player last season, spoke at Friday’s press conference just days after her home was shot at. Batie-Smoose told Fox News Digital she believes she was “targetted.” Police have not determined a suspect or motive.
“We need to make sure there’s DNA testing and moving forward there’s only women playing in women’s sports,” Batie-Smoose said at the press conference. “We definitely need to continue this fight and make sure that laws and legislation is changed so that we can have safe spaces for women and women in sports.”
Essayli’s bill would reverse a current law in California that protects trans athletes in girls’ and women’s sports.
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A law called AB 1266 has been in effect since 2014, and gives California students at scholastic and collegiate levels the right to “participate in sex-segregated school programs and activities, including athletic teams and competitions, and use facilities consistent with his or her gender identity, irrespective of the gender listed on the pupil’s records.”
The California Interscholastic Federation (CIF) said it will continue to follow that law, even after Trump’s executive order went into effect, in a previous statement provided to Fox News Digital.
The U.S. Department of Education announced earlier this week that it is launching a Title IX investigation into the CIF over potential Title IX violations for its refusal to comply with Trump’s order.
In addition, residents have held protests and threatened lawsuits in response to the CIF’s current stance.
Essayli’s bill is the second proposal that California has seen to address the issue in 2025 alone.
California State Assembly member Kate Sanchez announced on Jan. 7 that she is introducing a bill to ban trans athletes from competing in girls’ and women’s sports.
Sanchez will propose the Protect Girls’ Sports Act to the state legislature. Currently, 25 states have similar laws in effect.
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“Young women who have spent years training and sacrificing to compete at the highest level are now forced to compete against individuals with undeniable biological advantages. It’s not just unfair – it’s disheartening and dangerous,” Sanchez said in a statement announcing the bill.
California’s enabling of trans athletes to compete with girls and women in the state has resulted in multiple controversies over the issue over the last year alone. Martin Luther King High School in Riverside, California, is currently embroiled in one of the most contentious local controversies on the issue.
A school board meeting by the Riverside Unified School District on Dec. 19 featured a parade of parents berating the board for allowing a trans athlete on the Martin Luther King girls’ cross-country team. A lawsuit filed by two girls on the team alleges that their T-shirts in protest of that player were compared to swastikas simply because they said “Save Girls Sports.”
The father of a girl who lost her varsity spot to the trans athlete previously told Fox News Digital that his daughter and other girls at the school were told “transgenders have more rights than cisgenders” by school administrators when they protested the athlete’s participation.
In San Diego, a middle school was recently thrust into local controversy because of a transgender student using the girls’ locker room. San Elijo Middle School previously provided a statement to Fox News Digital, crediting its enabling of the transgender student to access the girls’ locker room to the school’s obligation of following state law.
The San Diego County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday voted against a measure to carry out the Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act, which would prevent trans athletes from competing in girls’ sports or entering girls’ locker rooms, despite pleas from multiple parents at the meeting to take action to protect the girls at the school.
Meanwhile, Stone Ridge Christian High School’s girls’ volleyball team was scheduled to face San Francisco Waldorf in the Northern California Division 6 tournament but forfeited in an announcement just before the match over the presence of a trans athlete on the team.
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Before that, a transgender volleyball player was booed and harassed at an Oct. 12 match between Notre Dame Belmont in Belmont, California, against Half Moon Bay High School, according to ABC 7. Half Moon Bay rostered the transgender athlete.
The two other bills that were introduced Friday, by Essayli and freshman Assemblymember Leticia Castillo, focus on empowering parents to remove their children from settings and situations that promote transgender ideology in public schools.
“Reestablishing the primacy of parental rights over dangerous indoctrination is a critical first step in reestablishing trust in our schools and educators,” Castillo said Friday.
Multi-car pileup inside quarter-mile mountain tunnel leaves multiple people dead
A fiery pileup inside a tunnel on Interstate 80 in Wyoming left at least two dead with five others injured late Friday morning.
Fire and smoke billowed from the tunnel as people ran for safety.
Several outlets reported that its structural integrity had been threatened.
WHAT WE KNOW ABOUT THE VICTIMS OF THE PHILADELPHIA CRASH
The Wyoming Department of Transportation said on social media that geologists and bridge engineers with its team were “en route to assess the tunnel infrastructure.”
The crash happened around 11:37 a.m. in the westbound Green River Tunnel, which caused a fire inside the tunnel, according to the Wyoming Highway Patrol.
COLLEGE STUDENTS KILLED IN FIERY CYBERTRUCK ACCIDENT DAY BEFORE THANKSGIVING
The smoke and an exploding tire inside the tunnel made it difficult for first responders to access it after the crash, Wyoming Highway Patrol Tpr. Nicholas Warren said.
“My heart is broken for the families and loved ones of the victims of this terrible crash,” WYDOT Director Darin Westby said in a statement. “My thoughts and prayers go out to all who are involved. WYDOT and WHP remain on scene to assist local emergency responders and provide additional support and traffic control.”
Fox News Digital has reached out to the Sweetwater County Sheriff’s Department for more information.
“We want to express our sincerest appreciation to first responders in Sweetwater County for their support and assistance in responding to this tragic crash,” Wyoming Highway Patrol Lt. Col. Karl Germain said in a statement.
“Motorists are reminded to obey posted speed limits through the detour, and delays are likely.”
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The highway remained closed in both directions Friday evening, with the eastbound lanes of the tunnel being used for first responder staging.