The Daily Populous Friday February 20th, 2026 night edition
Authored by latintimes.com and submitted by plz-let-me-in

State Rep. James Talarico said he would support not granting additional funding to ICE, saying the agency is "out of control."

"ICE shot a mom in the face. ICE kidnapped a 5-year-old boy, Liam Ramos, and brought him all the way from Texas. ICE executed Alex Pretti in the street in broad daylight," Talarico recalled.

James Talarico: “ICE shot a mom in the face. ICE kidnapped a 5-year-old boy. ICE executed Alex Pretti in the street in broad daylight. This agency is out of control. We have to impeach Kristi Noem. We’ve got to haul these masked men before Congress so the world can see their… pic.twitter.com/IrTTpJ0Nz0 — Marco Foster (@MarcoFoster_) February 18, 2026

He went on to support impeaching Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, adding: "We've got to haul these masked men before Congress so the world can see their faces. I would not vote to give this agency any more money. I would take that money and put it back into our healthcare where it belongs."

Over a hundred House Democrats have publicly supported an initiative to impeach Noem. Introduced by Rep. Robin Kelly, accuse Noem of three counts: Obstruction of Congress, Violation of public trust and Self-dealing.

The first one involves cases when lawmakers were prevented from entering DHS facilities and withheld congressionally appropriated disaster relief funding. The second is in regards ICE's denial of due process and violation of First and Fourth amendments to detainees. And the third involves reports that Noem awarded $220 million in contracts to a firm run by the husband of her top spokesperson.

The initiative seems to have lost some steam, as it has not made headlines since late January. Back then, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries said Democrats won't rush to introduce the articles, saying "we don't want a show vote, we want a successful vote."

In the meantime, the parties continue failing to reach an agreement on funding for the agency. The White house slammed Democrats over their on Tuesday. "They're saying right now, OK, we're going to close DHS until you basically stop enforcing immigration law in this country. We're not going to do that," said White House deputy chief of staff James Blair. "This is just the Democrats' grandstanding," he added.

The Hill noted that an initial proposal from Democrats featured 10 demands for immigration enforcement, including three ones considered by Republicans as red lines: the tightening of warrant requirements, removing masks from agents engaging in field operations and the end of roving patrols. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt called the offer "unserious."

Historical_Bend_2629 on February 19th, 2026 at 16:49 UTC »

The GOP is afraid of Talarico. The evangelical MAGA not fully immersed in the cult might start to see him as an off-ramp.

LouisWinthorpeIII on February 19th, 2026 at 15:44 UTC »

Talarico is viewed by most as the moderate choice in the Texas Senate primary. While I guess that's true vs Crockett, he's actually a pretty progressive Democrat. He's just religious.

He has at least half the Kamala problem fixed. Moderates think he's one of them. I don't know if most progressives also think he belongs, but I do, and I think they should.

Beneficial-Long-7033 on February 19th, 2026 at 15:43 UTC »

If you want to help make this possible, vote for Talarico.