The Latest: National Guard deploys as ICE uses increasingly combative tactics in US cities

It’s now Day 6 of the shutdown, and the Democratic minority leader has challenged the Republican House speaker to a televised debate on the impasse over reopening the federal government. Mike Johnson dismissed Hakeem Jeffries’ challenge as “theatrics.” Mutual trust between President Donald Trump and the Democrats is elusive as leaders in both parties bet that public sentiment will pressure the other side to cave.

Meanwhile, a federal judge late Sunday temporarily blocked the Trump administration from deploying any National Guard units to Oregon, after a legal whirlwind that began hours earlier when the president mobilized California troops for Portland. The same judge had blocked him from using Oregon’s National Guard the day before. Trump has also moved to deploy 300 National Guard troops to Chicago as federal immigration agents adopt increasingly combative tactics in the city.

The Latest:

Protesters and journalists in the Chicago area are suing the Trump administration over claims that federal agents’ tactics are part of an effort to “silence the press and civilians.”

There have been frequent protests since the Trump administration brought its immigration crackdown to the Chicago area last month. The most tense have been outside a federal processing center near the city, where immigration agents have used aggressive tactics, including physical force and chemical agents.

“Federal agents have responded with a pattern of extreme brutality in a concerted and ongoing effort to silence the press and civilians,” the lawsuit says.

It was filed Monday in federal court on behalf of Block Club Chicago and the Illinois Press Association, among others news groups. Several activists are also plaintiffs.

The lawsuit names Trump and several federal agencies as defendants.

Department of Justice lawyers had requested a delay in the case during the federal government shutdown.

District Court Judge Paula Xinis said Monday during a hearing in Maryland that the case was of “such importance” that she was “duty bound” to continue with the proceedings.

The Trump administration mistakenly deported Abrego Garcia to El Salvador in March. He was held in a notorious prison before being returned to the U.S. to face criminal charges.

His case, which his lawyers say is baseless, has become a rallying cry for those who oppose the Republican president’s immigration crackdown.

The U.S. deputy ambassador to the United Nations, Dorothy Shea, issued the appeal at U.N. Security Council meeting Monday, stressing that Trump’s plan has been accepted by Israel, welcomed by the Palestinian Authority, and has broad support from a number Arab and Muslim-majority countries.

The plan’s acceptance, she told the council, “will allow Gaza to begin a peaceful and prosperous future, while ensuring Hamas no longer threatens Israel.”

“We urge Hamas to accept the deal on the table, and we call on all member states to give the plan their full support and demand that Hamas immediately accept it,” she said.

Shea expressed shock that Palestinian American human rights lawyer Noura Erakat disparaged the peace deal in an earlier briefing to the council and called Israel’s war against Hamas “a genocide.”

Erakat urged the council to insist on a solution to the war doesn’t come at the expense of accountability and that the U.N. – not Israel and its allies – oversee the end of Israeli occupation.

South Carolina investigators are trying to find the cause of a fire that destroyed the home of Diane Goodstein , a state judge who has handled thousands of cases over 27 years on the bench.

The house’s first floor is elevated from the ground and three people who were hurt had to jump to the ground and then be rescued by kayaks from the backyard, the St. Paul’s Fire District said in a statement on social media.

Her caseload includes her ruling last month, now lifted, that blocked the state election commission from releasing voter data to the U.S. Department of Justice.

The former co-vice chair of the Democratic National Committee left the group earlier this year after igniting a firestorm over his push to target long-serving Democrats in safe congressional seats.

Hogg has since focused on his Leaders We Deserve PAC, which aims to support young progressives challenging party stalwarts. He announced four endorsements Monday, including Michigan state Rep. Donavan McKinney, who is running against Detroit’s incumbent Rep. Shri Thanedar.

“Shri Thanedar is exactly the kind of out-of-touch, ineffective, and out-for-himself incumbent we want to kick out of office,” Hogg said in a statement.

Thanedar, who did not immediately respond to a request for comment, introduced articles of impeachment against Trump earlier this year. First elected in 2022, he survived a 2024 primary challenge after his opponent was kept off the ballot for failing to submit enough valid signatures.

Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson has barred federal agents from using city-owned property as staging areas.

The Democrat signed an executive order Monday aimed at federal immigration agents who have stepped up operations in the nation’s third-largest city. It applies to parking lots, garages and vacant lots.

Chicago already has some of the country’s strongest so-called sanctuary laws, which generally bar local police from cooperating with federal immigration agents. Johnson says the federal government cannot “disregard our local authority.”

He says the city will also provide official signage to private property owners and leaseholders if they “wish to protect their spaces from being used for civil immigration enforcement.”

A food aid program that helps more than 6 million low-income mothers and young children will run out of federal money within two weeks unless the government shutdown ends, forcing states to use their own money to keep it afloat or risk it shutting down, experts say.

The $8 billion Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children, also known as WIC, provides vouchers to buy infant formula as well as fresh fruits and vegetables, low-fat milk and other healthy staples that are often out of financial reach for low-income households.

The shutdown, which began Wednesday, coincided with the beginning of a new fiscal year, meaning programs like WIC, which rely on annual infusions from the federal government, are nearly out of money. Currently, the program is being kept afloat by an $150 million contingency fund, but experts say it could run dry quickly.

After that, states could step in to pay for the program and seek reimbursement when a budget finally passes, but not all states say they can afford to do so.

Democrat Amy McGrath is running for Senate again in Kentucky, aiming to be a “bulwark against authoritarianism and threats to our democracy.” The comeback bid by McGrath, who was trounced by Republican Sen. Mitch McConnell in 2020, grows the field of Republicans and Democrats competing to replace the retiring McConnell. McGrath flew in 89 combat missions against al-Qaida and the Taliban during her 20-year Marine career and was seen as a rising Democratic star before losing two general elections in the GOP-dominated state. With a reputation for blunt talk, McGrath condemned Trump her campaign announcement video Monday, saying: “What we’re seeing in this country, from this president, not normal. Dangerous for Kentuckians and for all Americans.”

Illinois and Chicago filed a lawsuit Monday aiming to stop the Trump administration from sending hundreds of National Guard troops to Chicago.

Trump moved to expand National Guard deployments on Saturday by authorizing 300 troops to protect federal officers and assets in Chicago. Sending troops to the city has long been among Trump’s threats, but it was not immediately clear when or exactly where they would be deployed.

The lawsuit alleges that “these advances in President Trump’s long-declared ‘War’ on Chicago and Illinois are unlawful and dangerous.”

“The American people, regardless of where they reside, should not live under the threat of occupation by the United States military, particularly not simply because their city or state leadership has fallen out of a president’s favor,” the lawsuit says.

The lawsuit filed Monday accuses Trump, DHS, ICE, Border Patrol and several of these agencies’ national and local leaders of unleashing a campaign of violence and intimidation against peaceful protesters and journalists during weeks of demonstrations outside an ICE detention facility in Broadview, Illinois.

Federal agents have repeatedly fired tear gas, pepper balls and other projectiles at crowds, and arrested at least seven people on federal charges as some protesters have tried to block vehicles from going in or out, part of growing pushback to the immigration enforcement surge.

Joining the protesters as plaintiffs is a coalition of news outlets and media associations. They include the Illinois Press Association, Block Club Chicago and the Chicago Headline Club. They allege that federal agents interfered with

The lawsuit alleges that federal agents interfered with First Amendment rights to speech and a free press by using “indiscriminate” and “violent force,” including tear gas, rubber bullets, pepper balls and flash grenades.

“Look, my friend Hakeem had his shot. We debated all on this on the House floor,” Johnson said about House deliberations over the GOP’s continuing resolution to fund the government. “He had all of his colleagues lined up. They gave it their best shot and they argued and they stomped their feet and screamed at us and all that. And still, we passed the bill in bipartisan fashion and sent it over to the Senate,” Johnson said.

“The House has done its job. I’m not going to let Hakeem try to pretend for these theatrics.”

The Louisiana Republican sent House lawmakers home two weeks ago, and is not expected to call them back to work in Washington any time soon. With the House having passed its bill, Johnson said it’s up to the Senate to act.

“There’s nothing for us to negotiate,” Johnson said. “The ball is in the Senate’s court.”

Democrats are demanding that Republicans act now to prevent the expiration at year’s end of insurance subsidies that some people use to purchase policies.

Republicans say the health care funding issue can be discussed later, after the government reopens.

Voting opened statewide Monday on whether to dramatically reshape California’s congressional districts to add as many as five Democrat-held seats in Congress – a possible offset to Trump’s moves in Texas and elsewhere to help Republicans in the 2026 election.

The outcome of the 70-word, “yes” or “no” question could determine control of the closely divided House, and whether Democrats will be able to blunt Trump’s power in the second half of his term on issues from immigration to reproductive rights.

The proposal is “a starting point for the 2026 race,” said Democratic consultant Roger Salazar. “2026 is the whole ball game.”

A top Trump aide is calling the protests in Portland an “organized terrorist attack.”

Stephen Miller accused the demonstrators of seeking to “overturn votes with violence” and insisted it’s part of a campaign to overturn the 2024 election results with “violence.”

“It is the absolute moral and constitutional duty of the federal government to stop this terrorism, defend the lives and safety of federal officers, and protect the American citizen and nation by ensuring the full and unrestricted enforcement of federal immigration law in all fifty states,” Miller wrote on the social media site X.

Hakeem Jeffries said he and Mike Johnson should go head-to-head on the House floor.

Jeffries dared Johnson to debate the impasse over a government funding plan “any day this week in prime-time, broadcast live to the American people.”

The Democrat blamed the shutdown on the unwillingness of Trump and congressional Republicans to negotiate a bipartisan deal on health care programs.

Republicans, who need the votes of Senate Democrats to reopen the government, argue that health care talks can only happen later, when their majorities will again enable them to pass laws without any Democratic input.

A televised debate, Jeffries said, would allow Johnson to “explain your ‘my way or the highway’ approach to shutting the government down, when Democratic votes are needed to resolve the impasse that exists.”

Sending the National Guard to a states despite a governor’s objections is not a new idea in Trump’s inner circle.

Miller, the White House deputy chief of staff, said in November 2023 that a second Trump administration would order the Guard from sympathetic Republican-led states deployed to Democrat-run states that refuse to cooperate with his drive for mass deportations.

“The Alabama National Guard is going to arrest illegal aliens in Alabama and the Virginia National Guard in Virginia. And if you’re going to go into an unfriendly state like Maryland, well, there would just be Virginia doing the arrest in Maryland, right, very close, very nearby,” Miller said on “The Charlie Kirk Show.”

While the U.S. economy has continued to grow this year, hiring has slowed and inflation remains elevated as the Republican president’s import taxes have created a series of disruptions for businesses and hurt confidence in his leadership. At the same time, there is a recognition that the nearly $2 trillion annual budget deficit is financially unsustainable.

The Trump administration sees the shutdown as an opening to wield greater power over the budget, with multiple officials saying they will save money as workers are furloughed by imposing permanent job cuts on thousands of government workers, a tactic that has never been used before.

Even though it would be Trump’s choice to cut jobs, he believes he can put the blame on the Democrats.

The Supreme Court on Monday rejected an appeal from Ghislaine Maxwell, the imprisoned former girlfriend of Jeffrey Epstein. As is their custom, the justices did not explain why.

On the first day of their new term, the justices declined to take up a case that would have drawn renewed attention to the sordid sexual-abuse saga after the Trump administration sought to tamp down criticism over its refusal to publicly release more of its investigative files.

Lawyers for Maxwell, a British socialite, argued that she never should have been tried or convicted for her role in luring teenage girls to be sexually abused by Epstein, a New York financier. She is serving a 20-year prison term, though she was moved from a low-security federal prison in Florida to a minimum-security prison camp in Texas after she was interviewed in July by Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche.

Paramount said Monday that it has bought the commentary website The Free Press and installed its founder, Bari Weiss, as the editor-in-chief of CBS News.

The announcement is a bold move for the venerable television news network, initiated by new corporate leader David Ellison, who said “I am confident her entrepreneurial drive and editorial vision will invigorate CBS News.”

Weiss’ experience is in print journalism, particularly in commentary. Ellison said in the news release that the move fits Paramount’s vision to modernize “the way it connects – directly and passionately – to audiences around the world.”

No purchase price was announced for The Free Press. Some at CBS News have been concerned it is a sign that the news division was moving in a direction more friendly to President Donald Trump.

Scott Bessent named Frank Bisginano, the current commissioner of the Social Security Administration, as the new CEO of the IRS.

Bessent made Monday’s announcement of the unusual decision on the social media site X.

It is a newly created position at the IRS and Bisignano will remain head of SSA in addition to his new role at the federal tax collection agency.

Bessent said Bisignano will bring his expertise to the IRS “as we sharpen our focus on collections, privacy, and customer service.”

The House is not expected to be in session this week, focusing attention on the Senate to take the lead on any deal in the Republican-led Congress. Both Republican and Democratic leaders have been holding almost daily briefings as they frame their arguments and seek to shift blame for the shutdown.

Democrats insist on extending the subsidies that have enabled millions of households to afford health insurance. Otherwise they will be eliminated at the end of the year, spiking premiums for millions.

Trump wants to preserve the budget changes Republicans made, and figures Democrats will fold under his pressure to end federal infrastructure and energy projects.

Police and Federal officers stand guard an area by the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility in Portland, Ore. on Sunday, Oct. 5, 2025. (AP Photo/Ethan Swope)

Portland has reduced crime under a new mayor and police chief, with fewer homeless camps and livelier foot traffic downtown. But protests have increased in size since Sept. 28, when the Trump administration mobilized the Oregon National Guard over Gov. Tina Kotek’s wishes. About 400 people gathered outside the ICE facility Saturday before federal agents shot tear-gas canisters into the crowd.

This weekend, about 200 federalized members of the California National Guard who had been on duty around Los Angeles landed in Portland on Sunday, a Pentagon spokesperson said. The state of Oregon also submitted a memo written by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth ordering up to 400 Texas National Guard personnel activated for deployment to Oregon, Illinois and possibly elsewhere.

Small protests have been going on outside the Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility since Trump’s second term began in January, with occasional flare-ups, but the nightly demonstrations have attracted only a few dozen people on one city block, far from downtown, in a city that covers 45 square miles (376 square kilometers).

Trump has turned his attention to the city calling Portland “war ravaged,” and “burning down” and like “living in hell.”

Local officials say many of his claims and social media posts appear to rely on images from 2020, when unrest that grew out of the Black Lives Matter protests roiled the city for several months.

U.S. District Judge Karin Immergut, who was appointed by President Trump in his first term, seemed incredulous that the president moved to send National Guard troops to Oregon from neighboring California and then from Texas on Sunday, just hours after she had ruled the first time.

She ultimately blocked the Trump administration from deploying any National Guard units to Oregon at all.

“How could bringing in federalized National Guard from California not be in direct contravention to the temporary restraining order I issued yesterday?” she questioned the federal government’s attorney during a hastily called evening telephone hearing. “Aren’t defendants simply circumventing my order?” she said later. “Why is this appropriate?”

The White House did not immediately comment on the judge’s decision.

The high court has begun its new term Monday with a sharp focus on Trump’s robust assertion of executive power.

The judges will hear pivotal cases on the president’s restrictions on birthright citizenship, the legality of many of his sweeping tariffs, and his power to fire independent agency members at will.

The Israeli and Hamas officials hope their meeting Monday will lead to a potential ceasefire in Gaza on the eve of the devastating war’s second anniversary.

This latest push for peace comes after Hamas accepted some elements of the U.S. peace plan, a move welcomed by Trump. Israel has said it supported the new U.S. effort.