Author: Justin Jest

The coffee tastes like burnt pennies, the kind you drink under fluorescent lights while government systems hum like a beehive. That is where you learn the oldest trick in modern power: outsource the hard stuff, then act confused when nobody can tell whose badge did what.

Maryland just threw a wrench into that machine.

Emergency law blocks Maryland agencies from signing 287(g)-style ICE deals

On February 17, 2026, Gov. Wes Moore signed emergency legislation that bars the state, local governments, and county sheriffs from entering immigration enforcement agreements that authorize civil immigration enforcement. The bills are Senate Bill 245 and House Bill 444, and they took effect as an emergency measure.

The Washington Post framed the move as Maryland banning partnerships with ICE, with the governor pointing to “unaccountable” power. Maryland’s Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services also described the law as stopping jurisdictions from deputizing officers for federal civil immigration enforcement.

It targets existing agreements too, with a hard deadline

This is not just a “no new contracts” warning label. The law defines an “immigration enforcement agreement” broadly as contracts or memoranda with the federal government that authorize civil immigration enforcement. It explicitly includes agreements under federal authorities including 8 U.S.C. § 1103 and 8 U.S.C. § 1357.

Jurisdictions with an existing agreement are directed to use the termination provision immediately once the law takes effect, and that termination provision must be exercised no later than July 1, 2026.

There is still some fog around the precise count of Maryland jurisdictions that had these agreements at signing. Some reporting has described eight counties participating, while other reporting has described nine sheriff offices or nine counties. The bill sets rules rather than listing participants, but the overall picture is clear: multiple agreements existed, and the law is built to end them fast.

What 287(g) does, and why accountability becomes a mess

The basic model is simple: the federal government signs an agreement with a local agency, trains local officers, and authorizes them to perform certain immigration officer functions under ICE supervision. On paper, it looks tidy. In practice, it becomes a jurisdictional blender.

The program is pitched as a public safety partnership, but civil immigration enforcement is civil, not criminal. When that civil system fuses into local policing and jail operations, it becomes harder for the public, and for people caught in the middle, to tell which rules apply and who answers when something goes wrong.

Money and incentives, plus the next legal fight

Part of the growth story is budgets. DHS has promoted reimbursement and financial incentives for participating agencies. A September 2025 DHS release described more than 1,000 partnerships nationally and reimbursement opportunities starting October 1, 2025, including paying for salaries and benefits of trained 287(g) officers and offering performance awards tied to assistance to ICE’s mission.

Maryland’s own messaging stresses this is about civil immigration enforcement agreements, not a ban on all coordination on public safety matters. Still, the next fight is predictable: what counts as an “immigration enforcement agreement” versus “communication,” and whether sheriffs will sue to overturn the law, as Maryland Matters reported some have discussed.

At bottom, Maryland is trying to force a cleaner chain of command: real oversight, real accountability, and fewer blurred lines.

Washington runs on cold air-conditioning and hot narratives. And on February 18, 2026, the narrative took a swing at the math.

What Hassett said, and what set him off

Kevin Hassett, director of the National Economic Council, went on CNBC and tore into a Federal Reserve Bank of New York research analysis about the costs of tariffs. This was not a normal policy disagreement. Hassett suggested the researchers should face punishment or discipline for publishing it.

What the New York Fed research found

The analysis Hassett targeted argued that in 2025 the bulk of tariff incidence fell on the U.S. side, meaning U.S. firms and consumers, not foreign exporters.

The estimates varied by month, but the central point held. The Liberty Street Economics post reported tariff incidence on U.S. importers of:

• 94% from January through August 2025
• 92% in September through October 2025
• 86% in November 2025

In plain English: you can call it “strategy,” you can call it “leverage,” you can wrap it in flags and slogans, but somebody still eats the cost. The researchers’ conclusion was that Americans paid most of it.

Why the threat matters more than the disagreement

The New York Fed is a regional bank, and its research output is not a formal Federal Reserve policy statement. That is exactly why the reaction is so revealing. If you are confident in your argument, you rebut the findings. If you are trying to control the perimeter of what can be said out loud, you go after the people who ran the numbers.

Threatening discipline does not win the debate. It chills the room so fewer people want to publish the next inconvenient spreadsheet.

The broader pressure campaign around the Fed

The Washington Post tied Hassett’s broadside to a broader pattern of political pressure on institutions that produce inconvenient information, including economic data and research.

It also lands while the Fed’s independence is under strain. Separate reporting described a Justice Department criminal investigation involving Fed Chair Jerome Powell tied to a renovation project at the Fed’s Washington headquarters, described as costing $2.5 billion. Powell has publicly pushed back against the probe, and Hassett previously downplayed the investigation in media appearances.

And looming over all of it is leadership politics: Trump has nominated Kevin Warsh to succeed Powell as chair, with Powell’s term ending in May 2026.

If tariffs are as flawless as the sales pitch, nobody needs to talk punishment. They can publish better evidence and take the argument to the public. The moment discipline replaces debate, it is not confidence talking. It is fear of what voters learn when the facts are allowed to breathe.

I have seen government power change hands the same way a guy at a tailgate hands you a hot dog: fast, casual, and with zero warning about what is actually in it. Now it is the CDC’s turn to get passed around like a clipboard at a busted cookout.

Bhattacharya slides into CDC leadership, without leaving NIH

The White House is moving Dr. Jay Bhattacharya, the current director of the National Institutes of Health, into the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention as acting director while he keeps his NIH job. Reporting on the move says The New York Times was first, and that The Washington Post, CBS News, STAT, and NBC News confirmed the basic facts.

He replaces Jim O’Neill, who had been serving as CDC’s acting director while also holding the deputy secretary role at the Department of Health and Human Services. Reporting also says O’Neill is expected to be nominated to run the National Science Foundation. The administration has signaled it still intends to find a permanent CDC director, a Senate-confirmed role.

Yes, this is that Bhattacharya

Bhattacharya is a Stanford physician and economist who became nationally prominent during COVID-19 by criticizing lockdowns and other mitigation policies. He also co-authored the Great Barrington Declaration in October 2020.

So the guy who spent years hollering at the CDC from outside the fence just got handed an “acting” keyring to the place. If irony were propane, Washington could heat the whole East Coast.

“Acting” leadership means maximum control, minimum consent

Senate confirmation exists for a reason: nominees get grilled under bright lights and questions get put on the record. Acting appointments route around that process, not always illegally, but often strategically.

• Speed: you move fast without a confirmation fight, at least for now.
• Opacity: fewer forced answers about how guidance and advisory processes will be handled.
• Instability: even the reporting says it is not clear how long Bhattacharya will hold both roles.

Vaccine policy is the battlefield underneath the job titles

This leadership shuffle lands on top of an ongoing fight over vaccine recommendations. The CDC recently announced changes tied to a presidential memorandum about updating the childhood immunization schedule. A CDC newsroom release describes an assessment and a decision memo presented by Bhattacharya, FDA Commissioner Marty Makary, and CMS Administrator Mehmet Oz, with Acting Director O’Neill accepting recommendations and directing implementation.

The trust numbers are ugly, and everybody knows it

KFF released a poll on February 6, 2026 finding fewer than half of the public, 47%, say they trust the CDC at least a fair amount to provide reliable information about vaccines. KFF notes the trust remains at a low point after federal changes to the recommended childhood vaccine schedule, with partisan splits and declining trust among Democrats in recent months.

Bhattacharya has said he supports childhood vaccination for measles, and CBS reported he told a Senate panel he has not seen evidence that vaccines cause autism. Fine. But the real question is whether the CDC can function like an institution, or whether it keeps getting run like a rental truck with “acting” paperwork and political fingerprints all over the steering wheel.

The courthouse air always smells like burnt coffee and quiet threats. Outside, sirens braid together with talk radio static and the neon glow of a deli sign that never sleeps. Inside, somebody is always trying to rename power as procedure.

Democratic-led cities try to box out ICE, setting up a showdown with Trump

The Washington Post reports that Democratic leaders in major cities are moving together: New York, Philadelphia, Los Angeles, Chicago, Boston, Oakland, and Seattle. The goal is not to stop federal immigration law outright. Cities cannot do that. The goal is to stop federal agents from treating city life like a portable base camp.

Translation: you can show up, but you cannot sprawl.

What the cities are doing, in ink and ordinance

• New York City: Mayor Zohran Mamdani signed Executive Order No. 13 on February 6, 2026, barring non-city law enforcement from using city lots and property as staging, processing, or operations bases, with limited exceptions.
• Los Angeles: Mayor Karen Bass signed Executive Directive 17 in February 2026, framed as barring city property from being used as staging, processing, or bases of operation for immigration enforcement. The city also pointed to California masking and identification laws, and noted a preliminary injunction affecting application of part of one state law to federal agents.
• Boston: Mayor Michelle Wu announced an executive order barring federal immigration enforcement from using city property for enforcement operations, and directing local police to investigate allegations of criminal conduct, including by federal agents.
• Oakland: Mayor Barbara Lee signed executive orders on January 29, 2026, including one prohibiting federal officials from using Oakland city property as immigration enforcement staging, plus a city task force.
• Seattle: Mayor Bruce Harrell signed executive orders in October 2025 tied to prohibiting federal law enforcement from staging on or conducting immigration enforcement on city property. In January 2026, Seattle Mayor Bruce Wilson announced steps including an executive order immediately prohibiting civil federal immigration authorities from using city-owned and city-controlled property, including parks and lots, for civil immigration enforcement.
• Chicago: Mayor Brandon Johnson signed an executive order in October 2025 prohibiting ICE and other federal agencies from using city property (parking lots, vacant lots, garages) as staging, processing, or operations bases for civil immigration enforcement.
• Philadelphia: Councilmembers Rue Landau and Kendra Brooks rolled out an “ICE Out” legislative package in late January 2026, described as including restrictions on masks and unmarked vehicles and prohibiting use of city-owned property for raids.

The legal hinge: property lines and anti-commandeering

This fight lives in the boring parts of civics class: the 10th Amendment and the anti-commandeering doctrine. Cities argue they cannot be forced to turn workers, databases, and property into support infrastructure for federal enforcement. The Post notes limits too, including that a city cannot simply declare federal officers cannot enter public space open to everyone. That is where lawsuits and injunctions breed.

Prosecutors raise the temperature

The Post also describes local prosecutors, led by Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner, warning ICE agents may be prosecuted under local law if they commit crimes while carrying out duties. Krasner’s office announced a coalition called the Project for the Fight Against Federal Overreach (F.A.F.O.), with founding participants including prosecutors from Minneapolis, Austin, Dallas, Fairfax, Arlington and Falls Church, and Pima County, among others.

AP connected the prosecutors project to deadly incidents involving federal officers, including the killings of Alex Pretti in Minneapolis on January 24, 2026, and Renée Nicole Good in Minneapolis. The reporting notes investigation and dispute over details, including federal claims of self-defense in Good’s case and local disputes about that account.

Even supportive legal framing stresses a boundary: federal agents are shielded from state prosecution only when actions are authorized by federal law and objectively reasonable.

What breaks next

Expect court fights over access to property, the meaning of “public,” whether rules are generally applicable or designed to target federal agents, and whether cities are regulating their own spaces or obstructing enforcement.

The scanner on my phone hisses like a bad confession. Sirens bounce off courthouse marble. Neon from the hallway exit sign turns everyone the color of old money. My coffee tastes like a FOIA request that came back “heavily redacted.”

And in the middle of that stale caffeine theater, the Department of Homeland Security was marching toward a shutdown on Friday, February 13, 2026. Not a weather event. A choice.

Verified: DHS was headed for a shutdown Feb. 13

The Associated Press “Latest” item dated Feb. 13 laid it out: a DHS shutdown looked certain that night because negotiations stalled and lawmakers were leaving Washington for a 10-day break. The dispute was not framed as a simple funding-number fight. It was framed as a fight over immigration-enforcement restraints after a fatal Minneapolis shooting in January, with Democrats pushing limits and the White House resisting.

The guardrails Democrats wanted, as described there, were basic oversight plumbing: better identification for federal immigration officers, a code of conduct, more use of judicial warrants, and related oversight measures. The AP also emphasized this was a DHS-only lapse, not a full government shutdown.

Translation: “border security” is the hostage note

Translation for humans: when Washington says “national security,” it often means “who gets to wield the badge without consequences.” Identification. Standards. Warrants. Oversight. That is what set off the tripwire.

In the language of power, those aren’t reforms. They are insults. Oversight gets treated like sabotage. Rules get treated like weakness. So the machine does what it always does when it’s asked to accept constraints. It breaks something public. Loudly. A shutdown is the kind of punishment that looks like governance.

Here is the mechanism: essential workers become shock absorbers

Here is the mechanism: the state keeps operating where it must, then shifts the cost onto workers who cannot invoice their suffering.

The Washington Post described the blunt reality: TSA keeps operating because most employees are deemed essential, but they work without pay during a lapse. A TSA official warned Congress that the longer a shutdown drags on, the more unscheduled absences can rise and passenger wait times can worsen.

Outside the Capitol bubble, counties and emergency managers read this like a threat letter. The National Association of Counties warned that a DHS funding lapse can disrupt planning, training, and coordination, and it flagged potential delays to key cybersecurity work at CISA.

The quiet part: “leave town” is the tell

The AP’s detail that lawmakers were set to leave for a 10-day break while DHS careened toward shutdown is not a side note. It’s the tell. This town can sprint when donors call. But when the question is whether federal officers should be identifiable and constrained by enforceable standards, suddenly the calendar becomes sacred.

So treat shutdown brinkmanship like the corruption vector it is. Audit the damage. Demand a public accounting of who missed pay, what stalled, and who used the crisis to dodge oversight. Then do the only non-magical thing that still scares power: organize, litigate, vote, and unionize until hostage-taking stops working.

The coffee tastes like burned tires and regret, and my radio is spitting static like it knows something. Then I read the Justice Department press release from February 17, 2026, and buddy, it reads like a nightmare written in government font.

What DOJ says happened

DOJ says an indictment was unsealed in the Northern District of Georgia charging two Honduran nationals who were allegedly in the United States illegally at the time of the conduct:

• Luis Adolfo Mendoza Fonseca, 30, listed as being in Raleigh, North Carolina
• Rosmery Yamibel Castillo Fonseca, 25, listed as being in Lawrenceville, Georgia

The alleged victim is described as an unaccompanied alien child, a then-15-year-old Nicaraguan girl.

DOJ says Mendoza Fonseca allegedly met the girl online in spring 2024 and began what DOJ calls a romantic relationship. DOJ says he encouraged and paid for her to leave Nicaragua and travel to the United States using the identity of another minor, described as a purported Honduran national. Castillo Fonseca allegedly coached the girl to tell immigration authorities that Castillo Fonseca was her cousin.

DOJ says the child crossed into the United States at the Texas border. Then, DOJ says Castillo Fonseca submitted a sponsorship application to the Department of Health and Human Services Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR), falsely claiming the child was her Honduran cousin.

DOJ says both defendants later admitted to staff of an HHS-funded care provider that the child was not the person identified in the sponsorship application, and that Mendoza Fonseca had a romantic online relationship with the child.

The charges and potential penalties

• Conspiracy to encourage and induce an alien to come to, enter, and reside in the United States (max 10 years, if convicted)
• Aiding and abetting that encouragement and inducement for the purpose of commercial advantage and private financial gain (max 10 years, if convicted)
• Aiding and abetting making a false, fictitious, or fraudulent statement (max 5 years, if convicted)

DOJ says Homeland Security Investigations and HHS-OIG are investigating, with assistance mentioned from HSI’s Center for Countering Human Trafficking and ORR. DOJ also ties the case to Joint Task Force Alpha and to an initiative DOJ calls Operation Take Back America.

And the part everybody forgets on purpose

This is still America, so here’s the legal reality: an indictment is an allegation, and the defendants are presumed innocent unless proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.

But if DOJ’s allegations are true, this was not a clerical oops. This was identity fraud, coaching, and an alleged plan to abuse a child-protection process like it was a vending machine with a busted lock.

Live free, tighten the safeguards, and stop letting the grifters treat children like paperwork.

I had the kind of coffee this morning that makes your eyeballs idle at a red light, revving. Then reality hit my inbox: a multi-state drug operation, stacks of cash, and the polite little word that keeps the whole circus funded, laundering.

19 years in federal prison

The U.S. Department of Justice says Joathan Colula, 33, was sentenced on February 10, 2026 to 228 months in federal prison for conspiracy to distribute controlled substances and conspiracy to commit money laundering. After prison, he will also serve 60 months of supervised release. The press release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Wisconsin was dated February 17, 2026.

A jury found Colula guilty on July 17, 2025 after a nine-day trial. That is not a misunderstanding. That is a long, bright walk through the evidence.

Not a street-corner problem

DOJ describes Colula as a source of supply for an organization with distribution hubs across the Midwest, including:

• Milwaukee
• Minneapolis and St. Paul
• The greater Chicago area
• Northern Indiana

That is not a neighborhood problem. That is a logistics problem.

The money moved like it had a boarding pass

The laundering was not a side hustle. Prosecutors say Colula disguised proceeds through various business bank accounts. DOJ also says he coordinated the receipt of hundreds of thousands of dollars in cash payments that were flown from the Midwest to California.

What the organization distributed, and what was seized

DOJ says the organization distributed kilogram quantities of cocaine, thousands of fentanyl pills, and pounds of methamphetamine.

On November 29, 2022, agents arrested 15 individuals associated with the organization and executed search warrants in Wisconsin, Minnesota, Illinois, and California. DOJ lists seizures including: over 10 kilograms of fentanyl, about 7.5 kilograms of cocaine, more than a kilogram of methamphetamine, nearly 2 kilograms of heroin, plus ecstasy, oxycodone, marijuana and edibles, over $450,000 in cash, and 19 firearms.

The court called it what it was

Chief U.S. District Judge Pamela Pepper called it a large-scale, multi-state, multi-drug operation and said Colula played an integral role. She also noted he was one of the longest-running members of the group.

Co-defendant Michael Williams was also found guilty at the July 2025 trial. DOJ says he operated the organization’s primary stash location in Minneapolis, where controlled substances were mixed, tested, and packaged, including kilogram quantities of fentanyl. He was sentenced to 240 months in prison for his role.

It took a pile of agencies to unwind this

The investigation involved multiple agencies, including the DEA, Milwaukee Police, multiple Wisconsin departments, Homeland Security Investigations, and IRS participation, and it was supported by the North Central High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area program.

Colula got 19 years. Good. Now quit acting shocked that crime scales when the money can dress up like “business”. Live free, grill hard, and choke off the dirty money.

I am staring into a cup of coffee strong enough to jump-start a dead pickup, and this DOJ press release hits like AM radio in a lightning storm. You can smell the government hallway in it: old carpet, hot toner, cold indifference. Somewhere in that bureaucratic sauna, somebody trusted a checkbox like it was a lie detector.

What DOJ says happened

On February 17, 2026, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of North Carolina announced that a federal grand jury indicted Roberto Almeida-Santos, 56, described as an illegal alien born in Mexico, charging him with perjury and immigration fraud.

• DOJ says the case centers on a 2021 non-immigrant visa application submitted to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS).
• DOJ alleges he answered “No” under penalty of perjury to questions about crimes he had committed and participation in certain sexual conduct categories described on the form.
• DOJ includes the standard reminder: an indictment is an accusation, and the defendant is presumed innocent unless proven guilty.

The North Carolina convictions DOJ describes

DOJ says Almeida-Santos was later indicted in North Carolina in 2023 for sex offenses against children and then convicted in 2024 in both Guilford County and Randolph County, with sex offender registration ordered.

• Guilford County Superior Court: DOJ states he was convicted on August 14, 2024 of two counts of sex offense with a child by an adult involving an 8-year-old victim, sentenced to 18 to 26 years, and required to register as a sex offender. DOJ says he confessed to offenses spanning the date ranges in the indictments.
• Randolph County Superior Court: DOJ states he was convicted on December 17, 2024 of two counts of statutory sex offense with a child under 15, sentenced to 16 to 25 years, and required to register as a sex offender. DOJ says he confessed there too.

Why the feds are involved, and what still looks sloppy

DOJ frames the federal prosecution as about alleged fraud in the immigration benefits process. It says ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations investigated under Operation False Haven, described as targeting people who fraudulently obtain immigration benefits, including child molesters and other serious felons.

Two details in the published release should make any taxpayer squint: it briefly refers to the subject as “Sanchez” in a couple places, and it points to PACER with a case number field that appears as a placeholder shown as “[insert]”.

DOJ says Almeida-Santos faces a maximum penalty of 15 years in prison if convicted on the federal counts. If the government cannot keep its own forms straight, the rest of us do not have to pretend the status quo is working. Live free, grill hard, and demand verification like it matters.

I have seen a lot of American “accountability,” and it usually shows up the way decaf shows up: weak, late, and poured by a lawyer. But every now and then, somebody actually gets handed a receipt for the smoke.

What DOJ announced

On February 17, 2026, the U.S. Department of Justice announced that an Upland-based grading, concrete, and pipeline contractor, Garrett J. Gentry General Engineering Inc., and its owner, Garrett John Gentry, paid $2.5 million to resolve federal claims tied to the South Fire in the San Bernardino National Forest.

The fire ignited on August 25, 2021. The government’s allegation is straightforward: the work allegedly threw sparks, the vegetation was dry, and the consequences were brutal.

The alleged ignition: predictable physics

The United States alleged the South Fire started when the steel treads of an excavator struck rocks in a rocky area, generating sparks that ignited dry vegetation. That is not a plot twist. That is what happens when metal meets rock and tinder is waiting like it has been praying for a match.

The damage DOJ describes

• The fire destroyed residences and other structures.
• It triggered evacuations.
• It burned more than 680 acres total, including about 450 acres of National Forest System land in the San Bernardino National Forest.

And the cost was not symbolic. The complaint alleged the U.S. Forest Service fire suppression costs exceeded $2.2 million. That is the kind of number that comes from crews, aircraft, overtime, and the federal government doing what everyone expects when the hillside is on fire.

The lawsuit timeline, and the “no admission” fog

DOJ filed the lawsuit on August 22, 2024, alleging the company and its owner were negligent in starting the South Fire and failing to prevent it from spreading.

DOJ also said the settlement money led to the court dismissing the lawsuit on January 22. The press release does not specify the year for that dismissal date.

And yes, the classic American footnote shows up right on time: the settlement does not include an admission of liability. Money changed hands. The magic words did not.

Still, I will take the receipt over the shrug. Public lands are not a free burn pit for private negligence, and when the government comes back for the bill, that is at least the start of consequences.

The coffee’s burnt, the police scanner’s spitting static, and a federal press release is doing that classic D.C. two-step: deliver hard facts with one hand, then slap a shiny slogan on them with the other.

What DOJ says happened

The U.S. Department of Justice announced that Bobby Cobb, 55, of Buckhannon, West Virginia, was sentenced on February 17, 2026 to 120 months (10 years) in federal prison for making interstate threats and unlawfully possessing a firearm.

• DOJ says Cobb spent several weeks sending text messages and emails to one individual.
• Those messages allegedly threatened to injure and kill the victim, plus the victim’s family members and friends.
• Law enforcement executed a search warrant at Cobb’s home and seized a shotgun.
• DOJ says Cobb had a previous domestic violence conviction that prohibited him from possessing firearms.

Chief U.S. District Judge Thomas S. Kleeh presided. The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Andrew Cogar. DOJ lists the investigators as ATF, the Upshur County Sheriff’s Office, and the Mountain Region Drug Task Force, which DOJ notes is HIDTA-funded.

Where the press release starts flexing for the cameras

Then comes the branding layer. DOJ ties this case to Operation Take Back America, described in the release as a nationwide effort aimed at eliminating cartels and transnational criminal organizations, protecting communities from violent crime, and repelling illegal immigration.

That’s a whole fireworks show of national messaging stapled onto a specific West Virginia case about threats delivered by text and email and a seized shotgun. The conduct is already serious without turning it into a roaming political banner.

DOJ’s underlying memo about Operation Take Back America is dated March 6, 2025. It frames the initiative as supporting policy objectives established by President Trump and the Attorney General, including immigration enforcement priorities and using OCDETF and Project Safe Neighborhoods resources.

The bottom line

Ten years is real. The fear created by weeks of threats is real. The shotgun seizure is real. What isn’t necessary is the performance layer that tries to make every courtroom outcome sound like a campaign jingle. Justice should be a gavel, not a slogan stapler.