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Trump’s immigration data dragnet
“I’ve seen the apps and I don’t like them,” says a DHS official who left this year. “It’s rife for abuse. I imagine they’re being used in ways they were not intended.”
He highlighted the risks of misidentification, noting that facial recognition often has elevated error rates for people of colour. “I have no confidence that there’s any oversight from people who are serious and understand” the tech, he adds.
In September, ICE renewed its access to a facial recognition search engine called Clearview AI, which has been banned in some states. Earlier contracts and privacy documents state that it would be used for “child sexual exploitation cases”, but this year’s contract added “assaults against law enforcement” — which former officials fear might extend to protestors. The company declined to comment.
Clearview AI
ICE and Customs and Border Protection also collect DNA from detainees and asylum applicants, according to a privacy disclosure. One attorney says he was representing a US citizen who was given a cheek swab while incorrectly detained. Samples are stored in an FBI database where they are queryable by a range of law enforcement agencies.
ICE has also signed a contract with BI² Technologies, a vendor selling handheld eye scanners. Former officials questioned the need for the devices, noting that the agency held few, if any, iris scans to search. “My first question is why?” a former privacy official says. “What do you expect to get out of this? If they’re just out there collecting irises and biometrics, that’s a problem for me.”
BI²’s registered lobbyist, Ballard Partners, has close ties to the Trump administration, raising money for its campaign and previously employing Attorney General Pam Bondi and White House chief of staff Susie Wiles.
BI² Technologies
Lobbying disclosures show that Ballard also works on behalf of a host of other tech firms doing business with ICE, including Palantir; DNA testing firm SNA International; cell-phone intercept vendor L3Harris; open-source data broker Babel Street; and the Thomson Reuters subsidiary selling Clear. Ballard declined to comment.
“They’re spending a lot of money on things they might not even use, to benefit people who are maybe close to the administration,” says Dave Maass, director of investigations at the Electronic Frontier Foundation, a digital privacy nonprofit monitoring ICE’s surveillance purchases. “They’re moving very fast.”
Procurement records also show that ICE has obtained tools previous administrations found problematic.
In August, ICE removed a hold on a $2mn contract with the Israeli spyware firm Paragon Solutions, which sells a phone-hacking tool called Graphite. It has been used by the Italian government to target European journalists with iMessage and WhatsApp attacks, according to researchers at CitizenLab.
The contract was paused by the Biden White House, which had banned the use of spyware sold by foreign companies with human rights concerns. Paragon was subsequently acquired by US-based private equity firm AE Industrial Partners, which also controls Department of Defense contractor REDLattice.
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Video: Snowstorm Causes 100-Vehicle Pileup in Michigan
new video loaded: Snowstorm Causes 100-Vehicle Pileup in Michigan
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transcript
Snowstorm Causes 100-Vehicle Pileup in Michigan
More than 100 vehicles slipped and crashed into one another in a chain-reaction pileup on a Michigan interstate on Monday.
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“I seen it way ahead and I had to go. I had to go out. I went off the edge.” “This guy got hit too.”
By Jackeline Luna
January 19, 2026
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Top U.S. archbishops denounce American foreign policy
From right, U.S. Cardinals, Joseph Tobin of Newark, and Blase Cupich of Chicago, attend a press conference at the North American College in Rome on May 9, 2025. Along with Cardinal Robert McElroy, archbishop of Washington (not pictured), the men issued a strongly worded statement on Monday criticizing the Trump administration’s foreign policy.
Gregorio Borgia/AP
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Gregorio Borgia/AP
The three highest-ranking heads of Roman Catholic archdioceses in the United States issued a strongly worded statement on Monday criticizing the Trump administration’s foreign policy — without mentioning President Trump by name.
Cardinals Blase Cupich, archbishop of Chicago, Robert McElroy, archbishop of Washington, and Joseph Tobin, archbishop of Newark, say America’s actions raise moral questions.
“Our country’s moral role in confronting evil around the world, sustaining the right to life and human dignity, and supporting religious liberty are all under examination,” the statement reads. “And the building of just and sustainable peace, so crucial to humanity’s well-being now and in the future, is being reduced to partisan categories that encourage polarization and destructive policies.”

They continued, “We seek a foreign policy that respects and advances the right to human life, religious liberty, and the enhancement of human dignity throughout the world, especially through economic assistance.”
The senior leaders cited the recent events in Venezuela, Ukraine and Greenland, which they said “have raised basic questions about the use of military force and the meaning of peace.”

The White House did not immediately respond to NPR’s request for comment.
The statement by the American cardinals was inspired by a recent speech Pope Leo XIV gave to ambassadors to the Holy See. In it, he criticized the weakening of multilateralism.
“A diplomacy that promotes dialogue and seeks consensus among all parties is being replaced by a diplomacy based on force, by either individuals or groups of allies. War is back in vogue and a zeal for war is spreading,” Leo said in his Jan. 9 address. “Peace is sought through weapons as a condition for asserting one’s own dominion. This gravely threatens the rule of law, which is the foundation of all peaceful civil coexistence.”

Cupich said in a comment explaining the reasoning behind the archbishops’ statement, “As pastors entrusted with the teaching of our people, we cannot stand by while decisions are made that condemn millions to lives trapped permanently at the edge of existence,” he said. “Pope Leo has given us clear direction and we must apply his teachings to the conduct of our nation and its leaders.”

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Woman died after riding Revenge of the Mummy coaster at Universal Orlando, report says
A 70-year-old woman died in November after riding the Revenge of the Mummy roller coaster at Universal Studios in Orlando, according to a report from the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services.
The woman became unresponsive while riding the attraction on Nov. 25, the state agency said in its latest quarterly report on injuries at theme parks, which covers the last three months of 2025. She later died at a hospital, it said. The report did not provide additional details about the circumstances surrounding her death.
CBS News has reached out to Universal Orlando.
Revenge of the Mummy is an elaborate-looking indoor ride that incorporates elements of a typical roller coaster, strapping riders into conjoined carts that whisk them along a dimly-lit track filled with jerks and jump scares, as promotional materials for the experience show.
According to a description of the ride published in a Universal Studios safety guide, Revenge of the Mummy “is a high-speed roller coaster ride that includes sudden and dramatic acceleration, climbing, tilting, and dropping.” At times, the ride reaches speeds of up to 45 mph, CBS affiliage WKMG reported.
The ride has a minimum height requirement of 4 feet tall and isn’t suitable for passengers with a variety of medical conditions, including those who are susceptible to motion sickness or dizziness, or who have histories of heart conditions, abnormal blood pressure, back issues, neck issues, medical sensitivities to strobe effects, medical sensitivities to fog effects and any “other conditions which may be aggravated” by the ride, the safety description says.
This was the second death linked to a Universal Studios ride last year, Florida’s previous theme park injury report showed. On Sept. 17, a 32-year-old man died after riding the park’s Stardust Racers roller coaster. Citing a medical examiner’s report, WKMG reported that the man’s cause of death was determined to be “multiple blunt impact injuries.”
Earlier, in August, a 32-year-old woman was injured on the Revenge of the Mummy ride, according to the report, which said she suffered neck pain and motion sickness.
Florida law requires theme parks in the state to report ride-related injuries that require hospital stays of at least 24 hours.
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