Senate Democrats aren’t ready to concede in their push for stringent reforms to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and are ready to buck Senate Republicans’ plans to avert a partial shutdown. 

Their resistance comes as Senate Republicans and the White House have floated a counteroffer to Democrats’ proposed DHS and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) reforms. But the two sides remain far apart on a deal to fund the agency, and they are quickly running out of time.

Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., the top-ranking Senate Democrat on the Homeland Security spending panel, said he would not support another short-term DHS funding extension unless Republicans made meaningful concessions on immigration enforcement.

Murphy also dismissed the White House’s proposal as a list of ‘sophomoric talking points.’

‘We had plenty of time, they wasted two weeks,’ Murphy said. ‘They still haven’t given us any meaningful answer or response.’ 

His position is shared by several Senate Democrats who have unified around a push to codify a list of 10 DHS reforms. Those include requirements that ICE agents obtain judicial warrants, unmask and display identification, provisions Republicans have labeled red lines.

The standoff follows criticism late Monday from Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., who rejected President Donald Trump’s counteroffer.

In a joint statement, the leaders said the proposal ‘is both incomplete and insufficient in terms of addressing the concerns Americans have about ICE’s lawless conduct.’ Jeffries added he would not support another short-term funding patch, known as a continuing resolution (CR), Tuesday morning. 

Schumer argued that there was plenty of time to hash out a deal. 

‘There’s no reason we can’t get this done by Thursday,’ he said. 

With Friday’s funding deadline approaching, Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., teed up a backup plan Tuesday night as the risk of a shutdown grew.

Thune and Senate Republicans have warned since Trump and Schumer finalized a broader funding agreement earlier this month that Congress did not have enough time to negotiate and pass a revised DHS funding bill in just two weeks.

‘I understand that, on the other side of the Capitol, the Democrats are already objecting to that, which is no big surprise since they haven’t voted for anything yet,’ Thune said.

‘I think there are Democrats in both the House and the Senate who do want to see this addressed,’ he added. ‘I’m hopeful the conversations lead to an outcome, but we probably won’t know by the time the current CR expires.’

As with most funding fights, both parties accuse the other of failing to negotiate in good faith.

‘I’m not for putting DHS on a CR until they show us they are serious about doing something,’ Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., the top-ranking Democrat on the Senate Appropriations Committee, told Fox News Digital.

Republicans counter that Democrats spent more than a week drafting their proposal, while the White House produced a counteroffer in less than two days.

Sen. Markwayne Mullin, R-Okla., told Fox News Digital Republicans didn’t expect their counterparts to accept their offer, ‘but we didn’t accept theirs either.’ 

‘Hopefully, this is a working footprint,’ Mullin said. ‘We can start negotiating because we’re definitely not accepting their things. But the thing is, what we’re trying to do is protect the ability for ICE and our border agents to do their job. I think it’s pretty clear, though, unless the Democrats want to shut down DHS, we’re going to have to do another CR.’

The Justice Department is signaling a broader use of federal civil rights law against protesters accused of disrupting religious worship, with officials pointing to synagogue cases as a model for future enforcement.

Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon, who leads the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division, said the department has applied the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances (FACE) Act — a law historically associated with abortion clinic protests — to cases involving disruptions at Jewish houses of worship.

‘It was our pioneering application of the FACE Act to defend Jewish synagogues that paved the way for its use to defend churches,’ Dhillon said during remarks at an antisemitism and extremism conference at George Washington University Tuesday, describing the enforcement approach as a way to draw clear legal lines between protected speech and unlawful conduct.

The FACE Act makes it a federal offense to use force, threats of force or physical obstruction to intentionally interfere with individuals because they are exercising their right to religious worship or to an abortion. Dhillon said the statute allows federal authorities to intervene when protests cross into obstruction, intimidation or trespass at places of worship.

Dhillon cited a civil lawsuit filed by the Justice Department against protesters accused of disrupting services at a synagogue in West Orange, New Jersey, calling the case a first-of-its-kind application of the law in that context. She said the department is also reviewing similar incidents elsewhere and warned that additional enforcement actions could follow.

According to Dhillon, the Civil Rights Division has shifted toward more aggressive enforcement in response to a rise in antisemitic incidents since the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attacks on Israel, including harassment, vandalism and disruptions of religious services.

‘Antisemitism is an American problem, not a Jewish problem,’ Dhillon said. ‘It strikes at the heart of who we are as a nation.’

She argued that allowing unlawful conduct targeting one religious group risks eroding civil rights protections more broadly, adding that the department’s approach is meant to protect all faith communities.

Beyond the synagogue protest cases, Dhillon pointed to a series of recent Justice Department actions addressing antisemitism, including major settlement agreements with Columbia University and Northwestern University to resolve federal investigations into alleged discriminatory environments, as well as civil litigation against an Oakland, California, coffeehouse accused of refusing service to visibly Jewish customers.

Dhillon also cited federal hate crime prosecutions tied to violent antisemitic attacks, saying the department is moving quickly in cases where evidence supports criminal charges.

While emphasizing that lawful protest remains protected under the First Amendment, Dhillon said physically blocking access to religious services, trespassing on synagogue property, or defying lawful police orders fall outside constitutional protections.

‘We are not just reacting,’ she said. ‘We are proactively defending the freedoms that make this nation exceptional.’

Vice President JD Vance said Tuesday that the United States should get ‘some benefit’ from Greenland if it’s going to ‘be on the hook for protecting this massive landmass.’ 

Vance told reporters in Armenia that, ‘it’s very early in the Greenland talks,’ amid the Trump administration’s push to acquire the Danish territory.  

‘We’ve been working quite a bit on this over the last few weeks, but it’s just very simple. Greenland is very important to the national security of the United States of America,’ Vance added. 

‘I do think that some of our allies have under-invested in Arctic security, and if we’re going to invest in Arctic security, if we’re basically going to pay a lot of money and be on the hook for protecting this massive landmass, I think it’s only reasonable for the United States to get some benefit out of that, and that’s going to be the focus of the negotiations here over the next few months,’ Vance said.

President Donald Trump said in mid-January that the U.S. needs Greenland ‘for the purpose of national security.’ 

‘It is vital for the Golden Dome that we are building. NATO should be leading the way for us to get it. IF WE DON’T, RUSSIA OR CHINA WILL, AND THAT IS NOT GOING TO HAPPEN!’ Trump said at the time. 

A week later, Trump said, ‘Based upon a very productive meeting that I have had with the Secretary General of NATO, Mark Rutte, we have formed the framework of a future deal with respect to Greenland and, in fact, the entire Arctic Region.’

‘This solution, if consummated, will be a great one for the United States of America, and all NATO Nations,’ the president said on Truth Social. 

However, Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen then insisted that Denmark would not negotiate on its sovereignty despite Trump announcing the ‘framework’ of a deal. 

‘Security in the Arctic is a matter for the entire NATO alliance. Therefore, it is good and natural that it is also discussed between NATO’s Secretary General and the President of the United States. The Kingdom of Denmark has long worked for NATO to increase its engagement in the Arctic,’ Frederiksen noted in a statement, which was written in Danish. 

‘We have been in close dialogue with NATO and I have spoken to NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte on an ongoing basis, including both before and after his meeting with President Trump in Davos. NATO is fully aware of the position of the Kingdom of Denmark. We can negotiate on everything political; security, investments, economy. But we cannot negotiate on our sovereignty,’ she asserted. 

Greenlandic Foreign Minister Vivian Motzfeldt said earlier this month that, ‘We are pursuing a diplomatic solution through negotiations’ with the U.S. and that she is ‘hopeful and optimistic that we will find common ground that respect our red lines,’ according to Reuters. 

Fox News Digital’s Alex Nitzberg contributed to this report. 

Kenya will press Russia for answers after reports emerged that its citizens are being recruited to fight in Ukraine, the country’s foreign minister said.

Musalia Mudavadi told the BBC in an interview on Tuesday that the recruitment was ‘unacceptable and clandestine.’

He said the government has shut down illegal recruiters and would urge Moscow to sign an agreement barring the conscription of Kenyan citizens. 

Nairobi estimates that about 200 nationals have been recruited to fight for Russia, and Mudavadi explained that families have struggled to recover the bodies of loved ones killed in the conflict.

‘It is difficult because, remember, it depends on where the body has been found,’ the foreign minister told the BBC. ‘There some have been found in Ukraine – we are also working with the government of Ukraine to try and get the remains of those people repatriated.’

In a November post on X, Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said Kyiv estimates that at least 1,436 foreign nationals from 36 African countries have been recruited to fight for Russia in its war against Ukraine, warning the true number may be higher.

Sybiha said Russia uses a range of tactics to recruit foreigners, including financial incentives, deception and coercion.

‘Signing a contract is equivalent to signing a death sentence,’ he wrote. ‘Foreign citizens in the Russian army have a sad fate. Most of them are immediately sent to the so-called ‘meat assaults,’ where they are quickly killed.’

Mudavadi said in December that the government had received multiple emails and urgent communications from Kenyans in distress at military camps in Russia.

‘Several of them have reported injuries among our nationals and others stranded, following attempted recruitment into the violent conflicts,’ he told the Kenya News Agency, the country’s state-run news service.

Mudavadi said the government has since tightened recruitment regulations, deregistering more than 600 non-compliant agencies and strengthening job verification through the Diaspora Placement Agency to curb exploitation.

A top Iranian security official was spotted in Oman just days after Tehran and the U.S. held indirect nuclear talks in the Mideast sultanate.

Ali Larijani, a former Iranian parliament speaker who now serves as the secretary to the country’s Supreme National Security Council, was likely in the country to discuss what comes next after the initial round of talks, The Associated Press reported. The outlet noted that Larijani’s team shared photos of him with Omani Foreign Minister Badr al-Busaidi, the chief intermediary in the U.S.-Iran talks.

Iranian media reportedly said Larijani would deliver an important message, but later state television said al-Busaidi ‘handed over a letter’ to the Iranian official without elaborating on the letter’s origins, according to the AP.

While in Oman, Larijani also met with Omani Sultan Haitham bin Tariq for nearly three hours, according to the AP, which cited the Iranian state-run IRNA news agency. Additionally, the outlet said that Larijani was set to travel to Qatar, which houses the U.S. military installation that bombed Iran’s nuclear sites in 2025.

Larijani accused Israel of playing a ‘destructive role’ in the talks just before Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s expected visit to Washington, D.C.

‘Netanyahu is now on his way to the United States. Americans must think wisely and not allow him, through posturing, to imply before his flight that ‘I want to go and teach Americans the framework of the nuclear negotiations.’ They must remain alert to the destructive role of the Zionists,’ Larijani wrote on X.

Israel and Iran engaged in a 12-day war in the summer of 2025 which culminated in the U.S. bombing Tehran’s nuclear facilities. Iran, which has been grappling with mass anti-government protests, has blamed Israel and the U.S. for various grievances.

Officials from both the U.S. and Iran have said that the first round of talks went well and suggested that they would continue.

‘The Muscat meeting, which was not a long one, it was a half-day meeting. For us, it was a way to measure the seriousness of the other side, and to find out how we could continue the process. Therefore, we mostly addressed the generalities,’ Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmail Baghaei said at a news conference Tuesday in Tehran, according to the AP.

‘Our principles are clear. Our demand is to secure the interests of the Iranian nation based on international norms and the Non-Proliferation Treaty and peaceful use of nuclear energy,’ Baghaei said, according to the AP. ‘So as for the details, we should wait for the next steps and see how this diplomatic process will continue.’

Iranian foreign minister Abbas Araghchi said that indirect nuclear talks with the U.S. in Oman were ‘a good start’ and that there was a ‘consensus’ that the negotiations would continue.

‘After a long period without dialogue, our viewpoints were conveyed, and our concerns were expressed. Our interests, the rights of the Iranian people, and all matters that needed to be stated were presented in a very positive atmosphere, and the other side’s views were also heard,’ Araghchi said.

‘It was a good start, but its continuation depends on consultations in our respective capitals and deciding on how to proceed,’ he added.

President Donald Trump also expressed optimism about the indirect talks, telling reporters aboard Air Force One on Friday that ‘Iran looks like it wants to make a deal very badly. We’ll have to see what that deal is.’

When he was pressed on how long the U.S. would be willing to wait to make a deal with Iran, the president indicated some flexibility, saying he believes the two nations can reach an agreement.

‘It can be reached. Well, we have to get in position. We have plenty of time. If you remember Venezuela, we waited around for a while, and we’re in no rush. We have very good [talks] with Iran,’ Trump said.

‘They know the consequences if they don’t make a deal. The consequences are very steep. So, we’ll see what happens. But they had a very good meeting with a very high representative of Iran,’ the president added.

American and Iranian representatives held separate meetings with Omani officials on Friday amid flaring tensions between Washington and Tehran. Oman’s Foreign Ministry said the meetings were ‘focused on preparing the appropriate conditions for resuming diplomatic and technical negotiations.’

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Russia’s military has been badly battered by its failure to conquer Ukraine, but Moscow is now rebuilding its war machine for the long haul, according to a new assessment from Estonia’s foreign intelligence service, even as the force it is fielding relies more on mass and attrition than military quality. 

The report says Russia has suffered catastrophic losses since its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, with an estimated 1 million soldiers killed or severely wounded, draining its ranks and forcing the Kremlin to rely on mass mobilization rather than professional military strength.

Despite those losses, Estonian intelligence says the Kremlin is compensating by shifting toward mass and attrition, dramatically expanding weapons production and reorganizing its military around volume rather than quality, even as fighting in Ukraine continues.

Taken together, the assessment portrays a Russian military that has failed to defeat Ukraine, suffered historic manpower losses, and rebuilt around quantity over quality — leaving its true combat effectiveness increasingly in question.

Russia’s military-industrial complex has increased artillery ammunition production more than 17 times that of 2021, a surge the report says points to preparation for future conflicts rather than short-term battle needs, including the rebuilding of strategic stockpiles depleted during the war. Russia produced roughly 7 million artillery rounds in 2025 alone, according to the assessment.

The assessment cautions that Russia remains a diminished force compared with pre-war expectations — reliant on poorly trained recruits, convicts, foreign nationals and aging equipment — but warns that a degraded military rebuilt around attrition still poses a long-term challenge for Ukraine, NATO and European security.

Estonia, a frontline NATO state bordering Russia, has built one of Europe’s most detailed intelligence pictures of Russian military activity through its proximity, regional expertise and intelligence sharing with allies. Its annual assessments are closely read within NATO for its granular focus on Russia’s capabilities, limitations and long-term planning.

Nearly four years into the war, Estonia’s intelligence service says Russia has failed to achieve its core objective of subjugating Ukraine, which it describes as ‘more determinedly independent than ever before.’

President Donald Trump recently mocked Moscow’s performance, calling Russia a ‘paper tiger’ in a Truth Social post and questioning how a superpower could spend ‘four years fighting a war that should have taken a week.’

President Vladimir Putin has dismissed Western assessments of Russian military exhaustion as ‘wishful thinking.’ Speaking in Minsk, Belarus, Putin claimed Russia is actually preparing to ‘reduce defense spending’ starting in 2026, framing the surge in production as a completed objective rather than a sign of desperation. 

‘We keep moving, keep advancing, and feel confident,’ Putin retorted to ‘paper tiger’ claims. ‘If we are a paper tiger, then what is NATO?’

But, the report concludes, ‘Russia remains dangerous despite its incompetence.’

The intelligence service also stresses that Russia is not expected to launch a military attack against Estonia or any other NATO member in the coming year, a judgment it says is likely to remain unchanged if current levels of deterrence are maintained.

According to the report, Russia is ‘merely feigning interest in peace talks,’ using negotiations to buy time, ease pressure on its economy and reset conditions for a longer confrontation rather than to end the war on terms acceptable to Ukraine.

To offset its manpower losses, Russian authorities have built a nationwide recruitment system that increasingly relies on coercion and desperation rather than voluntary service, with regional governments under pressure to meet monthly enlistment quotas at any cost, the report says. 

Recruitment efforts now focus heavily on ‘socially vulnerable groups,’ including the unemployed, chronic debtors, detainees, individuals under judicial supervision, and those suffering from alcohol or drug addiction, according to the assessment. Labor migrants and foreign nationals have also been swept up into the system as traditional recruitment pools dry up.

The report ties Russia’s military strategy to mounting economic and social strain at home, saying the prolonged war has hollowed out civilian sectors of the economy while pushing the state to prioritize defense spending at the expense of living standards. Nearly all nonmilitary sectors are either in recession or stagnation, the assessment says, increasing the risk of social instability in the years ahead.

The intelligence service also documents the use of foreign students — particularly from African countries — who are lured with promises of employment or residency extensions, then redirected into military training and sent to the front. Hundreds of foreign nationals from countries including Zambia, Tanzania, Cameroon and Nigeria have been deployed to Russian combat units, often with little training and limited understanding of the terms they agreed to.

These foreign recruits are frequently assigned to units used to absorb heavy losses, shielding better-trained formations and underscoring what the report describes as Russia’s growing reliance on expendable manpower rather than professional soldiers.

The assessment describes widespread lawlessness inside the armed forces, citing abuse of power, corruption, theft, alcoholism and drug use as persistent problems that have eroded discipline and combat effectiveness. Frontline units, the report says, are increasingly composed of individuals who ‘under normal circumstances should not be entrusted with weapons.’

Russia also has relied heavily on convicts to replenish its ranks. Between 150,000 prisoners and 200,000 prisoners were recruited from Russian detention facilities between 2022 and 2025, many of them convicted of serious violent crimes and granted pardons in exchange for frontline service, according to the report.

Despite the erosion of professionalism across its ranks, Estonian intelligence cautions against interpreting Russia’s military shortcomings as a reduction in threat. Instead, it says Moscow has adapted by embracing a model built around attrition, firepower and expendability, rather than maneuver warfare or elite units.

For NATO planners, the concern is that a Russia rebuilt around mass firepower and expendable manpower lowers the threshold for prolonged, high-casualty conflicts, even if Moscow struggles with complex operations.

The report emphasizes that Russia has exhausted much of the military stockpiles it inherited from the Soviet Union and exposed systemic problems within its armed forces, yet continues to invest heavily in rebuilding ammunition reserves and unmanned systems that could be used beyond Ukraine.

Not all analysts agree that ‘mass’ is Russia’s only path. A recent report from the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI) suggests 2026 will instead be the ‘year of hybrid escalation.’ With conventional options ‘foreclosed by economic constraints,’ researchers William Dixon and Maksym Beznosiuk argue the Kremlin is pivoting to a ‘thousand cuts’ strategy of cheaper, deniable sabotage across Europe.

‘We must prepare not for a resurgent Russia but for a desperate one,’ the report warns. 

This shift replaces traditional combat with an agile network of ‘disposable’ saboteurs— recruited via encrypted apps for arson and infrastructure attacks — designed to fracture Western support for Ukraine from within.

An association representing governors from across the country will not be holding a formal meeting with President Donald Trump after the White House reportedly snubbed Democrats, only inviting Republican governors to attend.

‘The bipartisan White House governors meeting is an important tradition, and we are disappointed in the administration’s decision to make it a partisan occasion this year. To disinvite individual governors to the White House sessions undermines an important opportunity for federal-state collaboration,’ Bandon Tatum, CEO of the National Governors Association, said in a statement provided to Fox News Digital. 

‘At this moment in our nation’s history, it is critical that institutions continue to stand for unity, dignity, and constructive engagement,’ he added.

‘NGA will remain focused on serving all governors as they deliver solutions and model leadership for the American people. Traditionally, the White House has played a role in fostering these moments during NGA’s annual meeting. This year, they will not,’ Tatum added.

Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt, a Republican who is the chairman of the NGA, said in a Monday letter to fellow governors that the association was ‘no longer serving as the facilitator’ for an event scheduled for Feb 20, according to The Associated Press, which obtained Stitt’s letter. Stitt said the NGA was meant to represent all governors — those of the 50 states as well as the governors of American Samoa, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands.

In response to the reported snub, Democratic governors from across the country said they would not be attending White House events. The statement was issued by Democratic Governors Association (DGA) Chair Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear, DGA Vice Chair Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers, Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul, Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly, Connecticut Gov. Ned Lamont, New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham, Rhode Island Gov. Dan McKee, Maryland Gov. Wes Moore, Delaware Gov. Matt Meyer, Maine Gov. Janet Mills, California Gov. Gavin Newsom, Colorado Gov. Jared Polis, Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker, Pennsylvanie Gov. Josh Shapiro, New Jersey Gov. Mikie Sherrill and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz.

‘Democratic governors have a long record of working across the aisle to deliver results, and we remain committed to this effort. But it’s disappointing this administration doesn’t seem to share the same goal. At every turn, President Trump is creating chaos and division, and it is the American people who are hurting as a result,’ the statement read. ‘If the reports are true that not all governors are invited to these events, which have historically been productive and bipartisan opportunities for collaboration, we will not be attending the White House dinner this year. Democratic governors remain united and will never stop fighting to protect and make life better for people in our states.’

The White House did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.

The NGA was scheduled to meet in Washington from Feb. 19-21, according to the AP.

During last year’s meeting, Trump and Maine’s then-Gov. Janet Mills traded barbs, showing signs of tensions between the White House and Democrats, the AP noted. At the time, Trump singled out Mills over his administration’s push to bar transgender athletes from girls’ and women’s sports. Mills retorted, ‘We’ll see you in court.’ Trump then predicted that opposing the order would end Mills’ political career. She is now runing for U.S. Senate.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.