Center Square

Student school walkouts in Minnesota protesting the presence of Immigrations and Customs Enforcement agents are entirely planned by teenagers and have connections to broader progressive activism, according to messages obtained by an education organization.
Director of Research for Defending Education Rhyen Staley told The Center Square that “the current school walkouts” are “organized by groups like the Sunrise Movement.”
Defending Education says it is a nonprofit focused on restoring education from what it describes as harmful agendas, while the Sunrise Movement is a progressive advocacy group.
Staley told The Center Square that student-led protests being organized by political advocacy groups “prove that it is part of a larger leftwing protest movement that uses any issue to advance a political agenda.”
As The Center Square reported: “Hundreds of students from high schools in St. Paul, Minnesota, walked out of class” in mid-January “to protest the presence of Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents in the Twin Cities.”
In its latest report, Defending Education revealed the connections between the Sunrise Movement and protesting Minnesota youth.
The report stated that “group messages and training documents shared with Defending Education suggest” that the Twin Cities Student ICE Response group, which is composed of K-12 students, is “receiving training from the Sunrise Movement and its members.”
Message chats obtained by Defending Education from the Sunrise Movement to the Twin Cities Student ICE Response group “include timelines of upcoming trainings and protests as well as calling for the recruitment of friends,” as shown in the report.
Defending Education stated that one member of the Sunrise Movement “influencing Minnesota students” is a Brown University student “who has past ties to campus encampments.”
The Sunrise Movement did not respond to The Center Square’s requests for comment.
Staley from Defending Education told The Center Square that the protests affect “Minnesota students and families in a multitude of ways, from student safety to loss of academic time.”
“Many of these students already struggle to read and do math, these walkouts take critical time away from academics and structured learning opportunities,” Staley said. “Not only are students not getting the education they deserve, but they are being encouraged to forgo class time to protest,” Staley said. “The school to activist pipeline must come to an end.”

President Donald Trump on Wednesday proposed a 10% bonus for residents in Los Angeles County who are rebuilding after deadly wildfires.
The president suggested several changes to override state and local permits as residents rebuild.
Trump offered Lee Zeldin, EPA administrator, a new role to lead efforts in overriding state and local rebuilding permits. His offer follows an executive order announced on Tuesday to expedite permits and remove state and local delays in Los Angeles County, as reported previously by The Center Square.
“Now, more than a year later, they don’t have permits,” Trump said. “Almost no one is building.”
In January 2025, the Palisades Fire struck the Pacific Palisades neighborhood in Los Angeles, as well as nearby Malibu and Topanga Canyon. The fire killed 12 people, burned 23,448 acres and destroyed 6,837 buildings.
Additionally, the Eaton Fire killed 17 people, burned 14,021 acres and destroyed 9,418 structures further inland in the Pasadena/Altadena area.
Along with expedited permits, Trump floated the proposal to give a 10% bonus for residents who are rebuilding their homes. It was immediately unclear where funding for the bonus would come from.
“They can build a house 10% larger than they had before if they want for all the suffering they’ve been caused,” Trump said.
Trump rebuked proposals for the area to be developed into low-income housing.
“I don’t want a big section of the area built into low-income housing,” Trump said. “This is one of the richest neighborhoods in the world.”
In May 2025, the California Senate passed a bill to develop low-income housing in the areas affected by the wildfires. The bill was paused in The California House in July 2025 after fierce opposition.
In early January, Gov. Gavin Newsom announced a $107.3 million investment dedicated to “new, affordable rental homes” for families impacted by the fires. The new homes would not be built in burn areas.
“By creating affordable homes in multiple communities across the county, the state is instead relieving the pressure on housing supply without concentrating all new housing in burn areas,” Newsom’s office wrote.
Trump’s executive order on Tuesday pointed to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and the Small Business Administration as agents to preempt local authorities. Zeldin’s role in permit expedition was not immediately clear at the time of Trump’s announcement.
“I think we’re going to override the local authorities because they’re never going to have it,” Trump said.
The president appeared to reference the Supremacy Clause of the U.S. Constitution, which allows federal law to override conflicting state measures during an emergency.
“There’s a provision where you can override the local authority to get things done in case of a national emergency,” Trump said. “What they’ve done to these people is horrible.”
In a statement to The Center Square on Tuesday, Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass argued Trump had no authority to control local permit processes. She called on the president to speed up Federal Emergency Management Agency funding to the city.
“In fact, I’m calling on the President to issue a new Executive Order to demand the insurance industry pay people for their losses so that survivors can afford to rebuild, push the banking industry to extend mortgage forbearance by three years, tacking them on to the end of a 30-year mortgage, and bring the banks together to create a special fund to provide no-interest loans to fire survivors,” Bass said.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s press office responded to the executive order in a post on social media. He also called for further release of federal funds, rather than overriding the permitting process.
“Mr. President, please actually help us. We are begging you,” Newsom’s office said. “Release the federal disaster aid you’re withholding that will help communities rebuild their homes, schools, parks, and infrastructure.”
Trump criticized Bass and Newsom on their responses to the wildfires. He called Bass a “grossly incompetent person.”
“These people are incompetent,” Trump said. “Between the mayor and the governor, they’re incompetent. They’ll never get approved.”

Seattle-based Amazon announced on Wednesday morning that it’s laying off approximately 16,000 corporate employees globally as part of the multinational technology company’s restructuring efforts to streamline operations and reduce bureaucracy.
Amazon Senior Vice President of People Experience and Technology Beth Galetti confirmed the layoffs in a message shared with staff.
Her message was similar to what she said in October, when the company laid off 14,000 employees.
“As I shared in October, we’ve been working to strengthen our organization by reducing layers, increasing ownership and removing bureaucracy,” Galetti said in Wednesday’s announcement. “While many teams finalized their organizational changes in October, other teams did not complete that work until now.
“The reductions we are making today will impact approximately 16,000 roles across Amazon, and we’re again working hard to support everyone whose role is impacted,” Galetti said. “That starts with offering most US-based employees 90 days to look for a new role internally (timing will vary internationally based on local and country level requirements). Then, for teammates who are unable to find a new role at Amazon or who choose not to look for one, we’ll provide transition support including severance pay, outplacement services, health insurance benefits (as applicable), and more.”
During the initial phase of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, Amazon hired 175,000 new employees to keep up with increased delivery demand and support its operations network.
As of late 2025, Amazon employed approximately 65,000 corporate and tech employees in Washington state, with roughly 50,000 in Seattle and 14,300 in Bellevue.
The Center Square reached out to Amazon to inquire about the number of planned layoffs in Washington state cities.
“We aren’t breaking down by city, so [we] would point you back to Beth’s letter,” Amazon spokesperson Zoë Hoffmann emailed The Center Square.
Downtown Seattle Association President and CEO Jon Scholes noted the impact the layoffs will have on Seattle.
“A workforce change of this scale has ripple effects on the community – on individual employees and families and businesses that rely on the foot traffic,” he said in a statement to The Center Square. “The tech ecosystem has been a key driver to our city’s growth and bolstered the tax coffers, which helped fuel our city’s investments in housing, public safety and economic development the last 20 years or so.”
He remains cautiously optimistic.
“As companies grapple with emerging trends, we hope this pain is short-term,” Scholes said. “It would be unwise to bet against Seattle in the long run – the talent pool and fundamental assets are in our favor. The health of our city requires that downtown must be a competitive and attractive place to not only visit and live, but also to locate a business and to grow jobs. That’s the best way to ensure we have an economically resilient urban core.”

A significant U.S. naval presence is heading toward Iran as President Donald Trump warns the Islamic Republic to “make a deal.”
In a Truth Social post Wednesday, the president said that a “massive armada” is deploying to the region.
“It is moving quickly, with great power, enthusiasm, and purpose. It is a larger fleet, headed by the great Aircraft Carrier Abraham Lincoln, than that sent to Venezuela. Like Venezuela, it is ready, willing, and able to rapidly fulfill its mission, with speed and violence, if necessary,” Trump wrote.
The president is calling on Iran to “come to the table and negotiate a fair and equitable deal,” underscoring that the Islamic Republic cease trying to rebuild its nuclear program.
“Time is running out, it is truly of the essence! As I told Iran once before, MAKE A DEAL! They didn’t, and there was ‘Operation Midnight Hammer,’ a major destruction of Iran. The next attack will be far worse! Don’t make that happen again,” Trump wrote.
Iran’s delegation to the UN hit back at the president’s latest warning, pointing to the U.S. involvement in Afghanistan and Iraq – indicating another war could be costly for American taxpayers and lives.
“Last time the U.S. blundered into warns in Afghanistan and Iraq, it squandered over $7 trillion and lost more than 7,000 American lives. Iran stands ready for dialogue based on mutual respect and interests – BUT IF PUSHED, IT WILL DEFEND ITSELF AND RESPOND LIKE NEVER BEFORE!” the Iran delegation posted on X.
The warning comes amid multiple reports within Iran that the regime is continuing its brutality against anti-regime protesters.
Trump has expressed support for the protesters, offering help if the regime fails to cease executions of protesters.
“Iranian Patriots, KEEP PROTESTING – Take OVER YOUR INSTITUTIONS!!! Save the names of the killers and abusers. They will pay a big price,” Trump wrote on Truth Social earlier this month. “I have cancelled all meetings with Iranian Officials until the senseless killing of protesters STOPS…MIGA [Make Iran Great Again].”
In recent weeks, Trump has told reporters that the U.S. is weighing “strong options” against the Islamic Republic’s regime, inching closer to striking the country for a second time within a year.
Earlier in January, the president issued another stern warning to the regime if it retaliated against protesters.
“If Iran shoots and violently kills peaceful protesters, which is their custom, the United State of America will come to their rescue. We are locked and loaded and ready to go,” the president posted on his Truth Social account.
Retaliation against protesters in Iran adds more fuel to the fire as the president is eyeing the Islamic Republic’s nuclear program.
During the last week of December, Trump hosted Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, when the two leaders reportedly discussed the potential of future strikes on Iran if the Islamic Republic attempts to rebuild its nuclear capabilities, after U.S. strikes in June that targeted the country’s nuclear sites.
“I hear Iran is looking to rebuild its facilities again, and if they do we will have to knock them down again,” the president told reporters during a news conference in late December. “We’re going to have no choice but very quickly to eradicate that build up. So I hope Iran is not trying to build up, as I’ve been reading.”
The civil uprising in Iran follows a pattern of Iranian citizens protesting the brutal regime’s grip on its citizens.

U.S. Rep. Ilhan Omar was attacked at a town hall event in Minneapolis on Tuesday night.
During a call for the abolishment of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and for the resignation of U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem, a man stood up and yelled at Omar. He also sprayed an unknown substance on her with a syringe.
It is unclear from the video what the man said or what the substance was, but Omar did continue with the speech after he was tackled by security and arrested by the Minneapolis Police Department.
“I’m ok. I’m a survivor so this small agitator isn’t going to intimidate me from doing my work,” Omar posted on social media following the attack. “I don’t let bullies win. Grateful to my incredible constituents who rallied behind me. Minnesota strong.”
Omar was not hurt in the attack, according to her office.
Police identified the man as 55-year-old Anthony Kazmierczak, who was booked in Hennepin County Jail on assault charges.
The attack came the day after President Donald Trump announced that the federal government is investigating Omar for fraud.
“The DOJ and Congress are looking at ‘Congresswoman’ Illhan Omar, who left Somalia with NOTHING, and is now reportedly worth more than 44 Million Dollars,” Trump posted on social media on Monday. “Time will tell all.”
Omar is a Minnesota Democrat born in Somalia. A member of the far-left congressional group “The Squad,” she has been outspoken against the Trump administration since it began its investigations into Somali immigrant-linked welfare fraud.
“Almost all Somalis in Minnesota are citizens,” she posted recently. “That’s why ICE is angry and is killing white citizens who want to document their illegal stops asking for proof of papers. None of this is normal.”

Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey and the Trump administration remain at odds as Border Czar Tom Homan reiterated President Donald Trump’s commitment to removing criminals from the street.
While Homan and Frey described their initial meeting Tuesday as productive, the two leaders aren’t in agreement over Operation Metro Surge, as Frey underscored his desire for the operation “to end as quickly as possible.”
In a social media post Tuesday night, Frey reiterated the city’s commitment to sanctuary policies, indicating his unwillingness to cooperate with federal immigration officials.
“I also made it clear that Minneapolis does not and will not enforce federal immigration laws, and that we will remain focused on keeping our neighbors and streets safe,” Frey posted on X.
However, he concluded his post by leaving the door open, saying that he and city leaders “will continue to stay in conversation” with Homan.
Meanwhile, Homan took a more diplomatic approach in his response to meetings with Minnesota and Minneapolis officials, saying they all agreed on supporting law enforcement while “getting criminals off the street.”
“While we don’t agree on everything, these meetings were a productive starting point and I look forward to more conversations with key stakeholders in the days ahead. President Trump has been clear: he wants American cities to be safe and secure for law-abiding residents – and they will be,” Homan posted on X.
After the meetings, the Department of Homeland Security appears not to be backing down from Operation Metro Surge, posting a message saying they are “putting Minnesotans FIRST and getting violent criminals” out of communities.
DHS included a series of social media posts highlighting criminal aliens recently arrested in Minnesota.
The talks come amid rising tensions between the Trump administration and Democratic leaders in the state following the recent deaths of two demonstrators involving immigration officials.
While the White House appears to want to tone down the temperature by engaging Minnesota Democratic leaders, it is not backing down from the demands it has made clear to Gov. Tim Walz and Frey.
While House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt made it clear during a White House briefing on Monday that the administration has set a list of demands for the Democratic leaders to “turn over all criminal illegal aliens currently incarcerated in their prisons and jails,” in addition to “any illegal aliens with active warrants or known criminal history of immediate deportation.”
The second demand is that local and state law enforcement “must agree to turn over all illegal aliens who are arrested by local police.” The third calls on local law enforcement to assist federal authorities in “apprehending and detaining illegal aliens who are wanted for crimes.”
“If Governor [Tim] Walz and Mayor Frey implement these commonsense cooperative measures that I would add have already been implemented in nearly every single other state across the country, Customs and Border Patrol will not be needed to support ICE on the ground in Minnesota. Ice and local law enforcement can peacefully work together, as they are effectively doing in so many other states and jurisdictions,” Leavitt said during the briefing.

Legislation “ending sanctuary cities,” as President Donald Trump again called for on Sunday, has been introduced before in Congress, with varying degrees of success.
In fact, there are versions of such a bill that were introduced just last year, but – despite the Republican majority in both the House of Representatives and the Senate – neither have made it out of their chambers’ committees.
In February, Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, reintroduced his Stop Dangerous Sanctuary Cities Act, a bill that prohibits sanctuary jurisdictions from receiving certain federal grants if they don’t cooperate with Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
The legislation defines sanctuary jurisdictions as states or localities that withhold information about a person’s immigration status from ICE or don’t comply with ICE detainers.
A few months later, Rep. Nick Langworthy, R-N.Y., introduced an identical bill in the House of Representatives.
Both pieces of legislation were immediately sent to their chambers’ judiciary committees for review. The House also referred its bill to two other relevant committees. And there, the legislation has stayed – in the Senate since late February and in the House since June.
Cruz first introduced the bill in 2023, where it followed the exact same path, though Democrats then held a narrow majority in the Senate.
During Trump’s first term, others tried to do what Cruz and Langworthy have championed this time around.
In 2017, Virginia Rep. Bob Goodlatte introduced a bill that similarly aimed to withhold certain federal grants from states or localities that didn’t comply with ICE efforts. That year, Republicans also enjoyed a trifecta even stronger than the current one, with a more-than 45-seat majority in the House.
Goodlatte’s No Sanctuary for Criminals Act passed the House mostly along party lines, 228-195, with three Democrats joining 225 Republicans to send the bill to the Senate. However, nothing happened after it crossed over.
Trump has repeatedly tried to withhold funding from sanctuary cities through executive action, but those efforts have largely been blocked by courts so far, saying the president lacks the authority to withhold congressionally approved funds.
If Congress does act on the president’s appeal, it’s unclear whether they’d attempt to resurrect last year’s sanctuary city legislation – and how it would fare if they did. The narrow majorities in the House and Senate would make passing such legislation difficult. The Center Square sought clarification from some House Republicans on how they plan to move forward, but did not receive a response by the time of publication.
Brandon Smith, a former Chief of Staff and Assistant Solicitor General in the Tennessee Attorney General’s Office, spoke to The Center Square about the president’s renewed call to Congress.
“It’s very strategic for the administration to put the onus on Congress,” Smith said. “It creates a much more durable policy win for the administration – one that will outlast this president and have a sense of a legacy behind it.”
A law would “allow [Trump] to sidestep the strongest arguments that have gotten the most traction against him doing this now,” according to Smith, though opponents could still challenge the law in court.
Smith said that a lack of clear guidance from Congress is a key reason sanctuary jurisdictions continue to be a source of conflict between the federal government and local governments.
“Sanctuary policies exist largely because Congress hasn’t spoken clearly on this,” Smith said. “Congress hasn’t spoken much on the subject in a long time.”

Colorado lawmakers considered controversial new legislation Tuesday that would expand the state’s Extreme Risk gun laws.
The Colorado Senate State, Veterans and Military Affairs Committee heard from dozens of concerned citizens, experts and organizations over Senate Bill 26-004, or the Extreme Risk Protection Order.
The five-senator committee had not voted on 26-004 as of late Tuesday afternoon. If the bill passed, it would expand the Extreme Risk Protection Order in Colorado, which allows personal and professionally related individuals to petition for the removal of firearms from somebody. The bill was introduced early into the 2026 legislative session, which began Jan. 14.
“Teachers spend a lot of time with our children and are aware of their potential for violence,” said former Colorado state Sen. Evie Hudak on behalf of the Colorado PTA at the Tuesday meeting.
“In many cases, the people who commit school shootings are connected with the school, and they nearly always exhibit warning signs,” the Democrat said.
Large portions of the debate between speakers at the committee hearing centered around the role teachers could play in issuing ERPOs, often referred to as a Red Flag law.
Under current law, family members, law enforcement, district attorneys, medical and mental health providers, and educators can petition for ERPOs. The petition then goes through a process to temporarily remove an individual’s right to own a firearm, which is designed to prevent harm to oneself and others.
SB 26-004’s expansion would allow “institutional petitioners” to petition for ERPOs. This includes health care facilities, behavioral health facilities, schools and colleges/universities.
Some opponents to the law said it puts an added burden on educators.
“One of my most important roles as a teacher is recognizing when a student is in crisis,” said Michelle Gray, a retired high school math teacher. She said she worried ERPO expansion would corrode the trust between her and her students.
“More than anything, trust manners,” said Gray. “Students only come forward when they believe their teachers are there to help them, not to report them or to trigger legal action. 004 is being presented as mental health in a public safety bill – It’s neither … What it does is expand government authority to confiscate firearms and restrict the constitutional right to keep their arms.”
ERPO was introduced in Colorado in 2019 and expanded in 2023. As of 2023, 21 states and Washington D.C. have some version of ERPO, according to the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment.
The Colorado Office of Gun Violence Prevention reported 164 ERPO petitions were filed in 2024, with 80% granted.
The Senate State, Veterans and Military Affairs Committee next meets Jan. 29.

The Utah House Health and Human Services Committee heard comments Tuesday for and against a ban on gender-changing procedures for minors.
Introduced by state Rep. Rex P. Shipp, R-Iron County, House Bill 174 prohibits giving cross-sex hormones and puberty blockers to minors unless specific circumstances are met. HB 174 would also require health care professionals to initiate treatment plans for minors that want to end cross-sex hormones or puberty blockers.
Those testifying before the committee included patient advocate Chloe Cole. A native of California, Cole began to transition to a male at the age of 12 and later changed her mind. Now a young adult working for Do No Harm, Cole has been traveling the country to speak against surgeries and medications for people with gender dysphoria.
“That last time I was here, I spoke about some of the consequences for my health,” Cole told lawmakers. “Almost none of those complications have gone away since. Some have even worsened over the years.”
Cole said “there have been multiple instances over the years” where her scars burst into open wounds with no explanation or help from medical professionals.
“I’m not just a one-off experience,” Cole told lawmakers. “There is a rapidly growing community of thousands of men and women and boys and girls who end up regretting their transition, and drugs have destroyed their bones and their joints.”
According to Cole, “no amount of terribly conducted studies or institutionally abused children being used as pawns for an ideology is going to refute reality.” In her opinion, the “very basis of so-called gender affirming care is a lie.”
Cole also called it fraudulent.
“Male and female are not feelings,” Cole told lawmakers. “Sex is not a feeling, but an immutable and born characteristic, and it cannot be changed by mutilation or chemical castration. And there is no such thing as a transgender child because no child is born in the wrong body. But if you try to change a child’s sex through cruel and experimental drugs and butchery, you are going to leave them scarred for life.”
Dr. Kurt Miceli, chief medical officer with Do No Harm, also appeared before lawmakers.
In his remarks, Miceli spoke against a 2025 report from the Department of Health and Human Services of Utah that was called for in 2023 when Senate Bill 16 was passed and set a moratorium on pediatric medical transition for minors who had not yet been diagnosed with gender dysphoria.
“One part of that piece of legislation was to have a systematic evidence review done of the state of evidence related to hormones being used as sex change procedures in minors, and I must say it’s just terribly unreliable,” Miceli told The Center Square prior to Tuesday’s committee hearing. “If folks are going to be making determinations of how to proceed with pediatric medical transition, it really makes a lot more sense to look at the Cass Review or the U.S. HHS review in November of last year.”
On its website, Do No Harm has referred to the Cass review as “an exhaustive review of gender medical services in the United Kingdom that found “remarkably weak evidence” to support the use of puberty blockers and hormone treatments for gender-distressed children.
Many who are committed to so-called “gender-affirming care” have attempted to downplay its findings, according to Do No Harm.
HHS, meanwhile, has called gender surgeries and medications “unnecessary procedures” that carry “long-term health risks.”
Pointing to these reports in the hearing, Miceli told lawmakers Tuesday that they provide a “far more methodologically sound and transparent assessment of the evidence.”
Among those urging committee members not to pass HB 174 were David Torrey of Salt Lake City.
“These bills tell me the care I rely on can be questioned, restricted, or taken away at any time,” said Torrey. “They force me to live with uncertainty and fear about whether the state will interfere with decisions I make with my doctors about my own body. That fear is constant. It affects my mental health, my sense of safety and my ability to plan my life here in Utah.”
Dr. Collin Kuhn, a clinical child and adolescent psychologist, also urged lawmakers to not approve HB 174.
“What we see with the anti-trans laws, and what they cause, is up to a 72% increase in suicide attempts,” Kuhn told lawmakers.

The U.S. Department of Education and the Department of Health and Human Services are referring alleged Title IX violations by the Minnesota Department of Education and the Minnesota State High School League to the U.S. Department of Justice after the agencies declined to comply with federal demands.
In September, the Education Department launched an investigation into MDE and MSHSL for allowing transgender athletes to compete in girls’ sports, including Alpine ski, Nordic skiing, lacrosse, track and field, volleyball and softball.
Federal officials gave MDE and MSHSL 10 days to resolve the alleged Title IX violations through a proposed Resolution Agreement. Both agencies declined to accept the agreement.
This “referral to DOJ underscores the state’s ongoing failure to safeguard its citizens and uphold the rule of law,” U.S. Secretary of Education Linda McMahon said. “The Trump Administration will not stop until accountability is delivered for Minnesota’s students.”
This follows President Donald Trump’s executive order, “Keeping Men Out of Women’s Sports,” which states that it will cut funding from educational programs that “deprive women and girls of fair athletic opportunities,” citing Title IX of the Education Amendments Act of 1972.
Since stepping into office, the Trump administration has investigated, frozen federal funding and sued various school districts, education departments and universities over allegations of federal law violations.
The Center Square requested comments from MDE and DOJ, but has not received a response.
“Minnesota is violating Title IX, and we will not look the other way,” U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said. “When states allow males to compete in girls’ sports, they deny young women and girls the protections the law guarantees.”