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NPR's Up first is at the 2026 Winter Olympics, bringing you a video podcast straight from the Games, the biggest storylines on the ground, perspectives, the Internet's favorite moments. Join us from Milan and Cortina each afternoon as we cover the competition so you can catch up on what you missed last night and learn what you need to watch today. Up first, winter games starting February 6th at 1pm Eastern on NPR's YouTube channel.
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Live from NPR News, I'm Lakshmi Singh. White House border czar Tom Homan says more than two months of a federal immigration enforcement surge in Minnesota will soon be over. Estelle Tumar Wilcox of Minnesota Public Radio has the latest.
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Homan said agents are now leaving and the drawdown will continue through the next week. He said the operation resulted in more than 4,000 arrests.
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I'm very pleased to report that this surge operation and our work here with state and local officials to improve coordination and achieve mutual goals, as well as our efforts to address issues of a concern here on the ground have yielded the successful results we have came here for.
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Homan said a, quote, small footprint of personnel will remain for a period and continue immigration enforcement. Local leaders called this the start of a hard recovery from community distrust and the economic impact that the operation caused in the state. For NPR News, I'm Estelle Tmar Wilcox in Minneapolis.
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Polls suggest a majority of Americans favor deportation for those in the US Illegally. But Democratic Governor Tim Waltz warns of long lasting trauma for communities that have witnessed immigration raids, mass protests and the deaths of two Americans when they encountered federal agents. Two US Senators are raising issues of Justice Department surveillance as they examine the unredacted files related to the lay convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. South Carolina's Nancy Mays, one of four Republicans who defied President Trump and the GOP to force the disclosures, spoke to npr. After spending two hours in a small room the DOJ set up to access the documents on computers.
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There is someone or two people from the DOJ monitoring you as you sit on those computers. There is a tech person who logs you into the computer. They log you into the computer because they're giving you your own identification. They're tracking all of the documents that members of Congress open, and they're tracking everything that you do in that room.
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Democrat Pramila Jayapal questioned the DOJ surveillance process and Attorney General Pam Bondi's true intentions before she was set to testify on Capitol Hill yesterday.
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I think she probably opened it up to us on Monday, two days before the hearing, so she could see what we were going to search and ask her about Jaya.
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Paul and may speaking to NPR's Morning Edition. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is not attending today's meeting of NATO defense ministers in Brussels. NPR's Lauren Freyr says it's another sign the administration's pulling back from its leadership role in the alliance.
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The United Kingdom is joining NATO's arms buying scheme for Ukraine. The UK's sending Kyiv a new air defense package that includes 1,000 new missiles and is worth more than $680 million. UK Defense Secretary John Healy says this is part of an effort to build a, quote, new deal for European security within NATO.
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It's NPR. The U.S. military says two of its vessels collided in the Caribbean yesterday. One was a Navy destroyer, the other was a supply ship. It says two people sustained minor injuries. No word yet on what led to the collision. Existing home sales in the US Fell sharply in January, according to the national association of Realtors. It's a reversal from the strong sales figures at the end of 2025, the that seem to be signaling an improving housing market. NPR's Stephen Basaha reports. Many renters remain locked out of homeownership.
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Though existing home sales fell almost eight and a half percent compared with December. Some of that could be blamed on bad weather, but also on consumers feeling down about the economy making them less likely to move. The median sales price was about $397,000, up just a bit less than a percent compared with a year ago. The good news is wages have grown faster, and the national association of Realtors says housing affordability is the best it's been in about four years. But homeowners and will be buyers are not looking back four years, but five. Back when mortgage rates were half what they are today. They have declined a bit over the last year, but homeowners are still reluctant to move and give up their old lower rate. Stephen Messaha, NPR News.
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Earlier in the newscast, we reported that two US Senators are raising issues of Justice Department surveillance. And as they examine the unredacted files related to the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, we intended to say to U.S. representatives, U.S. stocks are trading lower this hour with the Dow down 514 points. This is NPR News.
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Listen to this podcast sponsor, free on Amazon Music with a Prime membership or any podcast app by subscribing to NPR NewsNow +@plus.NPR.org that's plus.NPR.org.