Partial Government Shutdown Begins Amid Immigration Debate
WASHINGTON D.C. - The federal government entered a partial shutdown just after midnight on Friday, a lapse that lawmakers from both parties anticipated would likely last only through the weekend, according to Time. The shutdown occurred even as the Senate moved Friday evening to pass a bipartisan spending package that would keep most of the government funded through the end of the fiscal year while buying two more weeks to negotiate new limits on the Administration's immigration enforcement tactics, Time reported.
The immediate cause of the shutdown was the House being out of session until Monday. Lawmakers acknowledged there was no practical way to send the bill to President Donald Trump before the deadline, making a short shutdown unavoidable, according to Time. The pressure now shifts to the House, where lawmakers will have to decide whether to swiftly ratify the Senate plan or reopen a deeper fight over immigration policy, Time noted.
The shutdown coincided with protests held in cities across the U.S. against the Trump Administration's immigration crackdown, Time reported. The protests followed the killings of two people by federal agents amid an aggressive enforcement operation in Minneapolis, Minnesota, according to Time. Organizers called for a national shutdown day of no school, work, or shopping, with tens of thousands of demonstrators expected to take to the streets from Los Angeles to New York, Time reported. Minnesotans held a similar state-wide general strike the previous week to demand an end to what Minneapolis leaders described as an invasion of federal immigration enforcement officers in the Administration's Operation Metro Surge campaign, according to Time.
In other news, Democratic California Gov. Gavin Newsom filed a civil rights complaint against Dr. Mehmet Oz, the Administrator for the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), Time reported. The complaint was filed after Oz accused Armenian crime groups of being responsible for health care fraud in Los Angeles, according to Time. "My office is filing a civil rights complaint seeking an investigation into Dr. Oz's baseless and racist allegations against Armenian Americans in California," Newsom said, according to Time. In a letter addressed to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Newsom's office alleged that Oz spewed baseless and racially charged allegations targeting the Armenian community in Los Angeles in a video he posted on Jan. 27, Time reported. The complaint stated that false public statements by anyone involved in administering these critical federal health care programs are unacceptable, according to Time.
Also, a report published by the Williams Institute at UCLA School of Law revealed that 53% of transgender youth between the ages of 13 and 17 in the U.S. reside in states with restrictive laws or policies, Phys.org reported. The report indicated that this figure represents approximately 382,800 young individuals, according to Phys.org. In 2025, 24 states enacted or expanded at least one type of restrictive legislation, the report's authors said, according to Phys.org.
Finally, Catherine O'Hara, the comedy icon, died on Friday at 71, Time reported. O'Hara's career spanned more than half a century, during which she inhabited dozens of outsize personalities, according to Time.
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