By REBECCA SANTANA, Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — The heads of the agencies carrying out President Donald Trump’s mass deportation agenda will testify in Congress Tuesday and face questions over how they are prosecuting immigration enforcement inside American cities.

Trump’s immigration campaign has been heavily scrutinized in recent weeks, after the shooting deaths in Minneapolis of two protesters at the hands of Homeland Security officers. The agencies have also faced criticism for a wave of policies that critics say trample on the rights of both immigrants facing arrest and Americans protesting the enforcement actions.

Todd Lyons, the acting director of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Rodney Scott, who heads U.S. Customs and Border Protection, and Joseph Edlow, who is the director of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, will speak in front of the House Committee on Homeland Security.

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The officials will speak at a time of falling public support for how their agencies are carrying out Trump’s immigration vision but as they are flush with cash from a spending bill passed last year that has helped broaden immigration enforcement activities across the country.

The administration says that activists and protesters opposed to its operations are the ones ratcheting up attacks on their officers, not the other way around, and that their immigration enforcement operations are making the country safer by finding and removing people who’ve committed crimes or pose a threat to the country.

Under Lyons’ leadership, ICE has undergone a massive hiring boom funded by Congress last summer and immigration officers have deployed in beefed-up enforcement operations in cities across the country designed to increase arrests and deportations. The appearance in Congress comes as lawmakers are locked in a battle over whether DHS should be funded without restraints placed over its officers’ conduct.

Lyons is likely to face questioning over a memo he signed last year telling ICE officers that they didn’t need a judge’s warrant to forcibly enter a house to arrest a deportee, a memo that went against years of ICE practice and Fourth Amendment protections against illegal searches.

During Scott’s tenure, his agency has taken on a significant role in arresting and removing illegal immigrants from inside the country. That increased activity has become a flashpoint for controversy and marks a break from the agency’s traditional job of protecting borders and controlling who and what enters the country.

Under the leadership of commander Gregory Bovino, a group of Border Patrol agents hopscotched around the country to operations in Los Angeles, Chicago, Charlotte and New Orleans where they were often accused of indiscriminately questioning and arresting people they suspected were in the country illegally. Bovino says his targets are legitimate and identified through intelligence and says that if his officers use force to make an arrest, it’s because it’s warranted.

A Border Patrol agent and Customs and Border Protection officer both opened fire during the shooting death of Alex Pretti, one of two protesters killed in Minneapolis in January. The other protester, Renee Good, was shot and killed by an ICE officer.

After the Pretti shooting, Bovino was reassigned and Trump sent his border czar Tom Homan to Minneapolis to assume control.

USCIS has also faced criticism for steps it has taken including subjecting refugees already admitted to the U.S. to another round of vetting and pausing decisions on all asylum cases.

By ANNE D’INNOCENZIO

Target CEO Michael Fiddelke is reshuffling his leadership team and making other changes shortly after stepping into the top job at the retailer that has struggled operationally.

Rick Gomez, the 23-year Target veteran who oversees the chain’s vast inventory of merchandise, will leave the company. And Jill Sando, the chief merchandising officer overseeing a handful of categories like apparel and home and who has been with the company since 1997, will retire.

Lisa Roath, who oversaw food, essentials and cosmetics, will take Fiddelke’s previous job as chief operating officer, the company said Tuesday. Cara Sylvester, who had been chief guest experience officer, will become the company’s chief merchandising officer.

The changes will allow Target to move with greater speed, Fiddelke said.

“It’s the start of a new chapter for Target, and we’re moving quickly to take action against our priorities that will drive growth within our business,” Fiddelke said in a release.

Gomez and Sando will remain with the company for a short time to help with the transition, but the changes become effective Sunday.

Also on Tuesday, the company reiterated its profit guidance. It is also increasing investment in store staffing at stores while eliminating about 500 jobs at distribution centers and regional offices, according to a memo sent to employees that Target shared with The Associated Press.

It is the first substantial change under Fiddelke, a 20-year company veteran who took over for Brian Cornell this month. The company’s decision to choose an insider surprised many industry analysts who believe the company needs new ideas as it tries to revive sales.

Target has struggled to find its footing as many Americans have cut back on spending. Customers have also complained of disheveled stores that are missing the budget-priced niche that long ago earned the retailer the nickname “Tarzhay.”

The company has also been buffeted by consumer boycotts and backlash after it scaled back its corporate diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives.

It has also faced protests for what some critics see as an insufficient response to President Donald Trump’s aggressive immigration enforcement tactics in Minneapolis, its hometown, where two U.S. citizens where fatally shot last month by federal agents.

Target has not commented publicly after federal agents detaining two of its employees this month — although Fiddelke sent a video message to the company’s 400,000 workers calling recent violence “incredibly painful.”

Fiddelke was one of 60 CEOs of Minnesota-based companies who signed an open letter in January calling for state, local and federal officials to find a solution after the fatal shootings.

 

By EMMA BURROWS, Associated Press

LONDON (AP) — Russian President Vladimir Putin has no desire to halt Russia’s almost 4-year-old invasion of neighboring Ukraine and thinks he can “outsmart” the United States during talks with Washington about how to end the war, a senior European intelligence official told The Associated Press.

Russian President Vladimir Putin listens to Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin during their meeting at the Kremlin in Moscow, Monday, Feb. 9, 2026. (Vyacheslav Prokofyev/Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP)

Kaupo Rosin, the head of Estonia’s foreign intelligence service, said Moscow is playing for time in the talks with Washington and “there is absolutely no discussion about how to really cooperate with the U.S. in a meaningful way.”

Rosin, who spoke at an online briefing with reporters ahead of the publication of Estonia’s annual security report on Tuesday, said the findings were based on intelligence his country gathered from “Russian internal discussions.” He did not elaborate on how the information was obtained but said the discussions showed that Russian officials believe that Washington remains Moscow’s “main enemy.”

The Estonian report says Russia is unlikely to attack NATO this year or next but that Moscow remains dangerous as it tries to build up its armed forces.

Russian officials have publicly insisted they want a negotiated deal, but they show little willingness to compromise and remain adamant their demands must be met.

U.S.-brokered talks between envoys from Russia and Ukraine in recent weeks have been described by officials from both sides as constructive and positive, but there has been no sign of any progress on key issues in the discussions.

Russian President Vladimir Putin, “in his head, still thinks that he can actually militarily win (in Ukraine) at some point,” Rosin said.

A White House official responded to the Estonian intelligence chief’s comments and said the president’s negotiators had made “tremendous progress” on the talks to end the war in Ukraine. Although prisoner exchanges have happened sporadically since May, they pointed in particular to a recent agreement in Abu Dhabi among the U.S., Ukraine and Russia to release more than 300 prisoners.

That agreement was evidence that efforts to end the war are advancing, said the official, who was granted anonymity because they did not have permission to speak publicly.

In an indication that U.S. President Donald Trump wants to accelerate the momentum of peace efforts, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said last week that Washington has given Ukraine and Russia a June deadline to reach a settlement. Trump over the past year has set several deadlines that have come and gone without apparent consequences.

Fiona Hill, a Russia expert and adviser to Trump in his first term, said Trump and his officials are spinning a story that depicts the U.S. president as a peacemaker and, for that reason, they are not interested in changing their assessment that Putin wants to end the war.

Both leaders, she told the AP, “need their version of events to play out” and are hanging on to their version of the truth — Putin as the victor in Ukraine and Trump as the dealmaker.

It’s unclear why US officials believe Putin wants peace

Russian bombardments of Ukraine have continued unabated.

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On Tuesday morning, Russian glide bombs killed an 11-year-old girl and her mother in the eastern Donetsk region, regional chief Vadym Filashkin said. Seven others, including a 7-year-old girl, were injured.

During the night, at least five people were wounded, including a toddler and two children, in Russian drone attacks across Ukraine, regional authorities said.

Although Trump has repeatedly suggested that Putin wants peace, he has sometimes appeared frustrated with the Russian leader’s lukewarm approach to talks.

From an intelligence perspective, Rosin said he doesn’t know why U.S. officials believe the Russian leader wants to end the war.

Hill, who served as a national intelligence officer under previous U.S. administrations, said it’s unclear what intelligence information Trump gets on Russia — or if he reads it.

He relies heavily on his lead negotiators, special envoy Steve Witkoff and son-in-law Jared Kushner, who Hill said may struggle to believe that the damage to the Russian economy caused by the war is a price Putin is willing to pay for Ukraine.

Referring to reports that Witkoff has attended meetings with Putin without a U.S. State Department translator, she questioned if Trump’s envoys understood what was being said in meetings and suggested officials may be “selectively” looking for what they want to hear.

Being told what they want to hear

Putin is fixated on controlling all of Ukraine and the idea “is so deep in his head” that it takes priority over anything else, including economics, Rosin said, suggesting that the conflict will continue in some form for several years.

He said Putin’s position may change only if the situation in Russia, or on the front line, becomes “catastrophic,” threatening his power. For now, the Russian leader still believes he can take Ukraine and “outsmart everybody,” Rosin said.

One reason Putin thinks he can win militarily in Ukraine is because he is “definitely” getting some incorrect information from his officials, the Estonian intelligence chief said.

Not all Russian officials, however, believe they are winning the war in Ukraine, Rosin said.

“The lower you go in the food chain,” the more people understand “how bad it is actually on the ground,” he said, whereas higher up, officials are more optimistic because they are given more positive reports. Rosin cited examples of officials being told Russian forces had captured Ukrainian settlements when that was not true.

The reports that arrive at Putin’s desk may be “much more optimistic” than the situation on the ground because Putin only wants to see success, Rosin said.

Hill said both Trump and Putin are probably being told what they want to hear by people who want to please them.

White House reporter Seung Min Kim in Washington D.C. and Illia Novikov in Kyiv, Ukraine, contributed to this report. 

By DAVE SKRETTA, Associated Press Sports Writer

MILAN (AP) — U.S. figure skater Amber Glenn says she has smoothed out copyright concerns with the artist behind one of the pieces of her free skate music, and that the Olympic team gold medalist may have struck up a new friendship with him because of it.

Team USA’s Amber Glenn celebrates with her gold medal after the figure skating team event at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Milan, Italy, Sunday, Feb. 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Ashley Landis)

Canadian artist Seb McKinnon, who produces music under the name CLANN, had taken to social media after Glenn performed her free skate to conclude the team event Sunday and expressed surprise that his song, “The Return,” was used as part of the program.

“So just found out an Olympic figure skater used one of my songs without permission for their routine. It aired all over the world … what? Is that usual practice for the Olympics?” McKinnon posted to X, eventually congratulating Glenn on her gold medal.

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Figure skaters are required to obtain copyright permission for the music they use. But the process is confusing and prone to mistakes, and several skaters have changed programs at the last minute for the Milan Cortina Games because problems have arisen.

“The issue of music rights can be complex and confusing,” Glenn said in a statement. “Seems like there was a hiccup in that whole process. I’m glad we cleared things up with Seb and I look forward to collaborating with him.”

Glenn has been performing her free skate to “The Return” for the past two years without any issues.

“It was a dream come true to perform at the Olympic Games and to have Seb acknowledge my performance and congratulate me afterward made the moment even more special,” Glenn said. “It’s my sincere hope that I was able to help create new fans of both figure skating and Seb. We will move forward and continue supporting both artists and the skating community.”