The Headlines - A Surge of Children in ICE Detention, and Meta’s Plans for Facial Recognition

Episode Date: February 13, 2026

Plus, your Friday news quiz. Here’s what we’re covering:5 Takeaways From Trump’s Immigration Crackdown in Minnesota, by Julie BosmanHundreds of Children Are in ICE Detention, by Miriam Jordan, Sarah Mervosh and Allison McCannThe Homeland Security Shutdown Could Affect ICE, Travelers and the Coast Guard, by Karoun Demirjian and Madeleine NgoTrump Administration Erases the Government’s Power to Fight Climate Change, by Lisa FriedmanN.Y.C. Officials Reinstate Pride Flag at Stonewall After Federal Removal, by Liam Stack and Olivia BensimonMeta Plans to Add Facial Recognition Technology to Its Smart Glasses, by Kashmir Hill, Kalley Huang and Mike Isaac2 to 3 Cups of Coffee a Day May Reduce Dementia Risk. But Not if It’s Decaf., by Pam BelluckTune in every weekday morning, and tell us what you think at: [e-mail]. Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. You can also subscribe via your favorite podcast app here https://www.nytimes.com/activate-access/audio?source=podcatcher. For more podcasts and narrated articles, download The New York Times app at nytimes.com/app. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

From the New York Times, it's the headlines. I'm Tracy Mumford. Today's Friday, February 13th. Here's what we're covering. I have proposed, and President Trump has concurred, that this surge operation conclude. A significant drawdown has already been underway this week, and we'll continue to the next week. In Minnesota, President Trump's border czar, Tom Homan, has announced that the administration is winding down its aggressive immigration operations there. The unprecedented deployment, which started late last last.

year involved thousands of immigration officers and led to widespread clashes with residents and two fatal shootings by federal agents. The Twin Cities, Minnesota, in general, are and will continue to be much safer for the communities here because of what we have accomplished under President Trump's leadership. In a press conference, Homan framed the surge as a success, saying 4,000 undocumented immigrants had been arrested, some of whom had been convicted of serious crimes. The way that life has been impacted in Minnesota, it can't be overstated. My colleague, Talia Minsberg, has been part of the team of Times reporters on the ground in the Twin Cities over the past few months.

You could see people volunteering to stand outside of daycares and elementary schools and high schools in neon vests looking out for ice. You would hear these incessant whistles anytime ice vehicles drove by. Sometimes you would see abandoned cars if ice had taken someone very abruptly. And when you go to the grocery store, you see a lot of people with really full carts because a lot of people are grocery shopping for friends, neighbors, people who may be hiding in their homes, who may not feel safe going out to the grocery store themselves. I talked to a lot of people who just, as they drove, they just felt that they were looking in their rear view mirror a whole lot. So it's both something you saw visually and something that was really felt for a lot of people for months now. We are cautiously optimistic, but the fact of the matter is they left us with deep damage, generational trauma.

They left us with economic ruin in some cases. In response to Homan's announcement yesterday, Minnesota Governor Tim Walls said the state was in a trust but verify phase, waiting to see if the operations do actually end. He told residents that in the meantime, they should remain, quote, hypervigilant. Even as the White House says it's ending the large-scale deployment in Minnesota, the government's mass deportation efforts are continuing across the country. A few weeks ago, so-called ICE surge teams fanned out across small towns in West Virginia and said they arrested more than 600 people.

In Hillsborough, Oregon, local police responded to multiple 911 calls reporting that a group of masked men with weapons drawn had approached a car filled with high school students at a drive-through. Police later determined the men were federal agents. And at a sprawling detention center in Dilley, Texas, the Times has been tracking how the number of children in federal custody has climbed sharply. Hundreds of kids, usually with a parent, have been detained there in the past year. Some are held for only a few days, but others spend months amid the jumble of trailers and tents. Families and lawyers tell the times that there's little education and inadequate medical care.

Children often lose weight and get sick. Some have had panic attacks and even become suicidal. The Department of Homeland Security has defended living conditions and education access at the facility and said that families are being offered $2,600 and a free flight to leave the U.S. voluntarily. But many families have refused the offer. Some may have pending cases in immigration court giving them hope they might be allowed to stay in the U.S. and others fear returning to their home countries. This is a big one if you're into environment.

This is about as big as it gets, they tell me. President Trump announced a major policy change yesterday that effectively erases the federal government's authority to fight climate change. That's all dead, gone over. The move repeals what's called the endangerment finding. It's a scientific determination made under the Obama administration that states that greenhouse gases are a threat to human health. Getting rid of that finding basically ends the federal government's legal authority

to cap pollution that's heating the planet. For climate change deniers, this repeal has been seen as a kind of holy grail because it has the potential to stop even future administrations from regulating some pollutants. For now, it clears the way for the White House to roll back limits on emissions from things like cars and power plants. The head of the EPA, who joined Trump for the announcement, said scrapping the finding will stop the American economy from being, quote, strangled by regulations.

But the change flies in the face of decades of scientific consensus around climate change, that emissions have supercharged heat waves, droughts, wildfires, and other extreme weather events. It also marks a major success for the oil and gas industry, which has spent years trying to be. to stop the country from transitioning to renewable energy. Leading up to the 2024 presidential election,

those groups gave Trump and his allies an estimated $75 million. So that our elected officials can get through with the flag they are going to raise. In Manhattan yesterday, a crowd gathered at the Stonewall National Monument to put a pride flag back up after it was removed following a directive from the Trump administration. The Interior Department recently issued guidance addressing the display of, quote, non-agency flags in the national park system. And earlier this week, people who work near Stonewall noticed the rainbow flag was gone. Stonewall was designated a national monument almost a decade ago in recognition of the protests and riots that happened there in 1969 between LGBTQ activists and police, after police raided the Stonewall Inn, a gay ball. Under Trump, the federal government has carried out a widespread effort to police the language and symbols displayed at parks and monuments.

In the last year, the Park Service has ordered multiple sites to take down materials related to slavery and Native Americans. The Times has learned that Meta, the parent company of Facebook, is planning to add a facial recognition feature to its smart glasses. after scrapping previous plans amid privacy concerns. The glasses have been around for a few years. They're made with Rayban and Oakley and have a camera built into the frame. According to four people involved with the plans, who were not authorized to speak publicly, the glasses would be able to identify people

and provide information about them via META's AI assistant. The company's still exploring what pool of people the glasses would identify. Options include only IDing people you're connected with on meta platforms like Instagram, or IDing everyone who has a public account on those sites. This isn't the first time meta has experimented with this technology. Five years ago, Facebook shut down a facial recognition system for tagging people in photos after it fueled privacy concerns, government investigations, and a class action lawsuit. It also considered putting the tech in one of its first versions of smart glasses back in 2021,

but nixed that over technical challenges and ethical questions. Now the company's looking to try again. The Times reviewed an internal document from May, which said that the current political turmoil in the U.S. was good timing for releasing the feature. It said, quote, we will launch during a dynamic political environment where many civil society groups that we would expect to attack us

would have their resources focused on other concerns. In response to questions from the time, Mehta said it's building products that will help enrich people's lives and wrote that it will take a thoughtful approach if and before we roll anything out. And finally, if you are having your morning cup of coffee right now, drink up, it might be sharpening your mind. And not just in a making sure you're not a bleary-eyed zombie kind of way, but in the long term. A large new study published this week provides evidence of cognitive benefits from caffeinated coffee and tea. It followed over 100,000 participants for a long time, in some cases more than 40 years, and found that people who consistently drank two to three cups of coffee a day, or one to two cups of tea,

had lowered chances of developing dementia than people who drank little to no caffeine. To be clear, it doesn't prove caffeine is what causes those beneficial effects, But scientists say it can reduce inflammation, which might protect brain health, and research also suggests caffeine improves insulin sensitivity, helping protect against diabetes, which is a dementia risk factor. In terms of drinking a lot of coffee, the study found the results pretty much plateau at a certain point. No need to chug more than about two and a half cups a day. Overall, this may be one of those rare moments where you learn something you do every day might not be terrible for you. So, enjoy it. Those are the headlines.

If you'd like to play the Friday News quiz, it is just after these credits. Today on the Daily, how the fight over President Trump's immigration policy will almost certainly cause a limited government shutdown starting at midnight tonight. This show is made by Will Jarvis, Jan Stewart, and me, Tracy Mumford, original theme by Dan Powell. Special thanks to Isabella Anderson, Larissa Anderson, Miles McKinley, Zoe Murphy, and Paula Schumann. Now, time for the quiz. Got a few questions for you about story.

the Times has been covering, can you get them all? Here we go. At the White House this week, President Trump rolled out the red carpet for a group from a specific industry, some executives and suits, some workers in their safety gear and helmets. At one point, we are going to present you an award, sir. Oh, it's great. Thank you very much.

One of the execs got up on stage to give the president a trophy, celebrating his commitment to their industry. Sir, to show our appreciation, the, uh, The trophy says the undisputed champion. What did they say Trump is the champion of? If you need a hint, they said he's the champ of beautiful, clean. What? The answer?

The undisputed champion of beautiful clean coal. The Trump administration has been focused on boosting fossil fuels, including coal. This year, the Interior Department's even been promoting a mascot. An illustrated lump of coal, they say, will be the quote, spokespiece of coal for their energy policy. It is named Coley. I really dug deep for that one. Next question. It may be all about the winter games right now, but in just a few months in Las Vegas... Our goal is not to break a world record. Our goal is actually to break all the world records. A different competition called the enhanced games will pit athletes from all of the world record.

over the world against each other with one major twist. Human potential. What is that potential? Where is the max? Where is the limit? Your question. What makes it the enhanced games? The answer? The competitors are allowed to use performance-enhancing drugs. The organizers say they're working closely with doctors to keep athletes safe, but it has sparked widespread condemnation over health concerns. Still, that hasn't stopped dozens of athletes from signing up, they've been promised up to a million dollars for every world record they break. We'll just say branding-wise, enhanced games is descriptive, I guess. Let me throw this one out there. The Swol Olympics? And last question,

tomorrow is Valentine's Day. Don't worry. You absolutely still have time to pretend that you remembered. In honor of the holiday, we're going to test your love song knowledge, but there's a catch. I, an AI bot, will read the lyrics because I cannot feel love. Can you name these famous songs? If I should stay, I would only be in your way. So I'll go, but I know. I'll think of you every step of the way. I will help you out here. The answer? Whitney Houston, I will always love you. Okay, next song.

Take it away, but. Like a river flows. Surely to the sea. Darling, so it goes. Some things, you know, are meant to be. Your clue. The answer? That's can't help falling in love by Elvis Presley.

And last one, which is from this. This century. Yellow diamonds in the light. Now we're standing side by side. As your shadow crosses mine, what it takes to come alive. A few notes to help you out. That is. Rihanna's mega hit, we found love. Wait, maybe. Maybe I'm starting to feel something. That's it for the news quiz. Our email as always is the headlines at NYTimes.com. I'm Tracy Mumford. The show will be back on Monday.