Axios

The Department of Homeland Security is rushing to fulfill President Trump's mass deportation goals, and its haste has led to high-profile deportation screwups.

Why it matters: The high-visibility enforcement campaign has drawn attention to every tactic from Trump's immigration enforcers, including when they're on the wrong side of the law and public opinion.

President Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu agreed during their meeting at the White House on Wednesday that the U.S. will increase the economic pressure on Iran, mostly when it comes to oil sales to China, according to two U.S. officials briefed on the issue.

Why it matters: More than 80% of Iranian oil exports go to China. If China reduces its purchases of oil from Iran, the economic pressure on Iran would increase significantly.

Latino voters aren't realigning — they're fragmenting.

• Consultants and pollsters tell Axios that after moving toward Donald Trump in 2024, the nation's fastest-growing electorate is splintering into competing political identities, with no single partisan anchor after decades as a reliably Democratic bloc.

Why it matters: This fracture helped reshape the 2024 election map — and it's one of the biggest wildcards in 2026 and 2028, even as the economy and Trump's aggressive immigration enforcement have given tailwinds to Democrats.

House Republicans who reliably vote "yes" tell Axios they're fed up with watching the same small group of colleagues repeatedly threaten rule votes — and some want payback.

Why it matters: Under Speaker Mike Johnson's one-vote majority, every Republican wields outsize power. How a few are regularly using that power to buck leadership is fueling open resentment inside the GOP conference.

President Trump promised economic relief for Black businesses and workers, but so far, analysts say his second-term policies have put them under greater strain.

The big picture: The combination of federal layoffs, tariff-related cost pressures and a weakening labor market have hurt many Black-owned small businesses. The Black unemployment rate has climbed to its highest level since 2021 during Trump's second term.

Casey Wasserman, the veteran Hollywood talent agent who also chairs the LA28 Olympic committee, is selling his agency amid a growing controversy over his ties to Jeffrey Epstein and his accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell.

Why it matters: Wasserman has seen a few high-profile celebrity clients exit in response to revelations about suggestive emails he sent to Maxwell that were revealed as part of the Epstein files.

The U.S. and Iran are expected to hold a second round of nuclear talks in Geneva next Tuesday in an effort to reach a deal that prevents war, according to a U.S. official and three sources with knowledge.

Why it matters: While President Trump said he prefers a diplomatic solution and wants to reach a deal with Iran, he has also ordered a massive military buildup in the Gulf, including sending a second aircraft carrier strike group.

Elon Musk took a victory lap Friday as a Department of Government Efficiency team released a huge trove of Medicaid spending data he said the public could use to look for fraud themselves.

Why it matters: The Trump administration often cites waste, fraud and abuse as justification for deep program cuts — including the nearly $1 trillion in reductions to federal Medicaid spending in last year's Republican budget bill.

A trio of top House Democrats wrote to Attorney General Pam Bondi demanding that the Department of Justice "immediately cease" cataloguing members' searches of the unredacted Jeffrey Epstein files.

Why it matters: The lawmakers are trying to use the blowup over what they describe as the DOJ's "spying on Members of Congress" to address other complaints they've had about access to the department's Epstein archives.

The disappearance of Nancy Guthrie, the mother of "Today" show co-host Savannah Guthrie, continues to draw national attention as the mystery extends into another week.

The big picture: The high-profile case highlights bubbling issues throughout all of America — such as tensions over surveillance tech and AI, the evolving media ecosystem and friction between federal and local law enforcement.

Four Cuban American members of Congress on Friday wrote to President Trump calling for the indictment of Cuba's de facto dictator, Raul Castro, for allegedly ordering the 1996 downing of a plane that was dropping supplies to people who were fleeing to the U.S. on rafts.

• Four members of an aid group were killed in the incident.

Why it matters: If Trump's Justice Department acts on the request and secures an indictment, it would be the latest move by his administration aimed at pressuring Cuba's struggling government to change its communist leadership.

Former South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford is considering three paths to political redemption — a run for his old House seat, a campaign for the governor's mansion he once occupied or a primary bid against Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham.

Why it matters: A critic of President Trump's who lost his congressional seat in a 2018 primary to a Trump-backed candidate, Sanford is a politician in search of an office.

Some right-wing voices are calling for Attorney General Pam Bondi's removal over her handling of the Jeffrey Epstein files and her combative congressional testimony on Wednesday.

Why it matters: The Justice Department has ended its release of documents related to Epstein, a convicted sex offender, but Americans' thirst for answers and additional prosecutions persists, cracking the conservative coalition and causing a headache for President Trump.

Journalist Don Lemon pleaded not guilty on Friday to federal charges stemming from his reporting at an anti-ICE protest in a Minnesota church, multiple outlets reported.

Why it matters: President Trump's Department of Justice brought the case against the former CNN anchor, sparking backlash over First Amendment concerns.

ICE is preparing to spend $38 billion this year on a "new detention center model" that will hold nearly 100,000 people.

Why it matters: Expanding immigration detention is a major part of the deportation pipeline and will fuel President Trump's pledge to deport millions of people. But the plans are facing local pushback.

Two senior Trump administration health officials — including one who was running the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention — are leaving their posts as part of a staff shakeup by Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. ahead of the midterm elections, two sources confirmed to Axios.

Why it matters: The departures of deputy health secretary Jim O'Neill and general counsel Mike Stuart coincide with Kennedy's public emphasis on top administration priorities like cleaning up the food supply and lowering drug prices.

The Virginia Supreme Court is allowing a redistricting referendum to move forward, with early voting starting March 6.

Why it matters: It's still weighing the case that tried blocking state Democrats from redrawing congressional maps mid-decade — meaning the court could void the referendum after Virginians have cast their ballots.

Gail Slater on Thursday resigned as the Justice Department's top antitrust cop, after less than a year on the beat.

Why it matters: This suggests a rift within the White House on how to regulate companies, and that the laissez-faire faction is winning.

The Consumer Price Index rose 2.4% in the year through January, the government said on Friday.

Why it matters: Inflation eased notably last month, despite warnings that businesses are passing tariff costs to consumers.

The "Make America Healthy Again" movement has the potential to boost Republicans in the midterms — as long as it avoids politically toxic vaccine rhetoric, which could be tough for Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

Why it matters: Embracing Kennedy on the campaign trail could either boost Republicans' chances of keeping one or both chambers of Congress in November, or further alienate voters increasingly wary of President Trump's tenure.

The White House's gutting of the legal foundation of climate regs will spill into U.S. elections, global diplomacy, C-suites, and litigation that's on a collision course with the Supreme Court.

Catch up quick: On the off-off chance you missed it, EPA on Thursday repealed the "endangerment finding" — the formal 2009 conclusion that greenhouse gases threaten humans.

President Trump ordered the Pentagon to send the USS Gerald R. Ford aircraft carrier and its strike group to the Middle East to boost U.S. forces in the region amid tensions with Iran, two U.S. officials confirmed.

Why it matters: The move will increase the pressure on Tehran during the nuclear negotiations with the Trump administration, making the U.S. military threat even more menacing.

Little by little, week after week, a subtle but significant shift is unfolding in American politics: Institutions and even a small but growing number of Republicans are standing up to President Trump.

Why it matters: This is hardly COVID, where everyone seemed to resist everything — or even a return to Normal Times, when CEOs and Republicans said something when they saw something alarming.

An AI safeguards advocacy group tied to various super PACs is calling on candidates to make clear where they stand on the technology.

Why it matters: Millions of dollars are up for grabs ahead of the midterms for the politicians that get AI right — and what that means depends on which rival super PAC you ask.

The Department of Labor on Friday will announce a voluntary framework officials say will help workers adapt to an AI-driven economy.

Why it matters: As AI rapidly changes how work gets done across industries, the administration's guidance is focused on literacy and best practices.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer is one of the only Democrats in Washington who can work with President Trump, leaning on their common New York ties, mutual allies and the residuals of their long-ago alliance.

Why it matters: There's deep mistrust between the two and their aides. But Schumer and Trump have each other's numbers literally and figuratively, and have been known to talk on the phone like the longtime acquaintances they are.

Goldman Sachs' top lawyer Kathryn Ruemmler resigned Thursday night after her name appeared in Epstein files documents the Department of Justice recently released.

The big picture: The ex-White House counsel to former President Obama and co-chair of Goldman's reputational risk committee is the latest high-profile figure to resign or be ousted following the DOJ's Jan. 30 release of 3 million documents related to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

A Trump-appointed federal judge said immigration enforcement agencies "violated noncitizen detainees' constitutional" rights at a Minnesota facility in a scathing ruling on Thursday.

Why it matters: U.S. District Judge Nancy Brasel's ruling that "policies and practices" at the Bishop Henry Whipple Federal Building "all but extinguish a detainee's access to counsel" marked the 45th time that a judge nominated by President Trump had ruled against his mass detention agenda, per a Politico review.

Congress is sliding toward a "no-pressure" shutdown, with both parties content to claim political wins as a department backfilled with billions of dollars experiences a funding lapse.

Why it matters: The lack of urgency to try to prevent the Department of Homeland Security shutdown at day's end Friday underscores how routine funding interruptions have become.

• It also reveals the lowered political stakes both sides see in allowing the latest one to take hold.

A partial government shutdown is looming as a Department of Homeland Security congressional funding fight over Immigration and Customs Enforcement reforms shows no signs of abating by the Friday night deadline.

The big picture: Democratic leaders are demanding reforms to ICE, but the agency is set to be among the least affected by a potential DHS partial shutdown that would disrupt air travel, disaster response and cyber monitoring.