Closing summary
This concludes out live coverage of the second Trump administration for the day. Here are the latest developments:
Tens of thousands of Minnesotans marched in Minneapolis and otherwise participated in an economic blackout on Friday to protest against the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) surge in the state.
As much of the nation braces for a potentially deadly winter storm, CNN reports the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has warned officials at the Federal Emergency Management Agency (Fema) to avoid using the word “ice” in its alerts to the public, out of concern that doing so could provide fodder for online memes.
The decision by the justice department to conduct no investigation into the deadly use of force by Jonathan Ross, the ICE agent who shot and killed Renee Good, distressed federal prosecutors and a leader of the FBI’s Minneapolis field office, according to reporting from MSNOW and the New York Times.
The Minneapolis civil rights lawyer Nekima Levy Armstrong posted video of her arrest on Thursday on the Facebook page of her nonprofit Racial Justice Network. The video offers further proof that a digitally altered image of her arrest posted online by the White House, manipulated to make it look like Levy Armstrong was sobbing, was fake.
The image of Liam Ramos, a five-year-old preschooler in Minneapolis being detained by ICE agents this week, and allegedly used “as bait” to try to trap other members of his household, has reverberated nationwide. On Friday, one protester in the large anti-ICE march making its way through the streets of the city, held up a handmade poster with a drawing of the young boy’s blue bobbled winter hat above the words: “Don’t Look Away”.
Fema officials warned not to use the word 'ice' in storm warnings - report
As much of the nation braces for a potentially deadly winter storm, CNN reports the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has warned officials at the Federal Emergency Management Agency (Fema) to avoid using the word “ice” in its alerts to the public, out of concern that doing so could provide fodder for online memes about the danger posed by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers.
Both Fema and ICE are agencies overseen by DHS, which has a hyperactive social media team that uses memes to drive anti-immigrant messages on a daily basis. On Friday, for instance, the department posted a video in support of its mass deportation program on social media that was adapted from what’s known as the “nihilistic penguin meme” that remixes a segment from a Werner Herzog documentary.
According to CNN, the guidance, delivered to Fema on Thursday comes as states across the US South brace for potentially hazardous ice accumulations.
The DHS social media team is no doubt aware of the viral popularity of video, photographs and drawings of officers from ICE and border patrol slipping on ice in Minneapolis during their reviled immigration crackdown in the city.
Facebook video released earlier on Friday by the Minneapolis civil rights lawyer Nekima Levy Armstrong of her arrest on Thursday, which proves that a White House image of her sobbing as she was led away is fake, also shows her joking as she walked outside and the arresting agents warned her to be careful because the sidewalk was covered in ice. “I definitely don’t like ICE,” she replied. The agents laughed. One said, “That was a good one.” The other added: “That was funny. That was actually pretty funny.”
Updated
