Minnesota officials and leaders of major immigration agencies testified before the Senate Homeland Security Committee on Thursday, while the EPA announced it was revoking the "endangerment finding" on greenhouse gases, and a Ukrainian Olympian was banned from the Winter Games. Additionally, a CBS News analysis revealed a record number of detained immigrants are voluntarily leaving the country, and video analysis suggests the Department of Homeland Security exaggerated claims about a shooting in Chicago.
The Senate Homeland Security Committee hearing in Minnesota featured testimony from state officials and heads of immigration agencies. Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison, Rep. Tom Emmer, state Rep. Harry Niska, and Paul Schnell, the commissioner of the Minnesota Department of Corrections, testified in the first panel. The second panel included Todd Lyons, the acting head of Immigration and Customs Enforcement; Rodney Scott, the commissioner of Customs and Border Protection; and Joseph Edlow, the director of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. The hearing followed increased scrutiny over the administration's recent immigration crackdown in Minneapolis, according to CBS News.
Meanwhile, the Environmental Protection Agency, under President Trump and Lee Zeldin, announced the revocation of the "endangerment finding" on greenhouse gases. This finding, which provided the legal and scientific basis for regulating emissions like carbon dioxide and methane, will no longer be in effect. Zeldin called it "the largest act of deregulation in the history of the United States," according to CBS News. Environmentalists, however, condemned the move, with Dr. Gretchen Goldman, CEO of the Union of Concerned Scientists, calling it a dangerous setback for the planet and human health.
In other news, a CBS News analysis of decades of court records found that a record number of detained immigrants are giving up their cases and voluntarily leaving the country. Last year, 28% of completed immigration removal cases among those in detention ended in voluntary departure, a higher share than in any year prior. The percentage of voluntary departures among those detained grew nearly every month of 2025, reaching 38% in December. This trend appears to be climbing as the Trump administration's immigration crackdown widens.
In sports, Ukrainian skeleton athlete Vladyslav Heraskevych was banned from the Milan Cortina Games after refusing to use a helmet other than the one honoring athletes killed in Russia's war on his country. International Olympic Committee President Kirsty Coventry spoke with Heraskevych before the men's skeleton race, but was unable to change his mind. Heraskevych said, "It's hard to say or put into words. It's emptiness," and added, "This is price of our dignity," according to CBS News. He plans to appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport.
Finally, video analysis suggests the Department of Homeland Security exaggerated claims about the shooting of Marimar Martinez in Chicago. Last October, DHS claimed that federal agents were "forced to deploy their weapons and fire defensive shots at an armed US citizen" after their SUV was "rammed by vehicles and boxed in by 10 cars." However, analysis of body-camera footage and videos verified by nearby businesses and bystanders suggests that those claims were exaggerated, according to ABC News. The analysis found that "at no point in the video footage is a driver seen ramming the agents' vehicle."
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