BAD PLAY

ICE’s brutal tactics risk undermining one of its own goals: Stopping human trafficking. A PR push linked to the Super Bowl may not fix the problem.

• President Donald Trump’s Department of Homeland Security is planning an anti-human trafficking public awareness campaign tied to this Sunday’s Super Bowl, with billboards and banners urging victims to reach out, according to a person with direct knowledge of the preparations. There won’t be any splashy TV ads, but the campaign may include signage inside the stadium.

• The agency has done this sort of thing before, under the auspices of Blue Campaign, which is tasked with raising awareness about human trafficking.

• But this time, insiders fret that all the horrible publicity surrounding Trump’s migration policies will hamstring efforts to connect with victims. After all, Blue Campaign is directly linked with ICE — which has prompted outrage and fear among vast swathes of the American public with a brutal crackdown on migrants and protestors in Minneapolis.

• Current and former officials involved in Blue Campaign worry that so much damage has been done to ICE’s public image, their own mission will take a hit.

• “With all the news about ICE arrests and moves to deport people, I’d be concerned that some victims might not come forward, and that would push human trafficking even further underground,” one former official said.

• “I feel terrible for the [investigators], because they’re in an impossible situation right now,” a second former official told me. “Their brand … is being diluted by these thugs in our community.”

• Sunday’s game will be held in Santa Clara, California, where nearly half the local population was born outside the United States. DHS Secretary Kristi Noem warned in October that ICE will be “all over” the event. But the NFL this week promised there will be “no planned ICE enforcement activities” — leaving locals wondering what to expect.

The Super Bowl Blue Campaign program will likely include digital billboards on highways and planes towing banners, a person with direct knowledge said.

• The event should be a huge opportunity to raise awareness — if victims aren’t afraid to speak up. “The association with ICE and DHS is going to make victims of trafficking reluctant to reach out for help, out of fear of deportation or disappearing to some hell hole ICE facility,” the person said.

• The Blue Campaign has posted results in the past. In 2023, there were more than 2,200 calls to the trafficking hotline, and investigators made 2,610 arrests, per government data. One former official said that some victims have reached out for help even if they hadn’t completed the immigration process. Now, the official worries that those people will think twice.

I raised these concerns with DHS. “That makes no sense. Do you know who we are arresting?” spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin responded.

WHAT ELSE? 👀

Donald Trump posted, and then deleted, an incredibly racist video of Barack and Michelle Obama, showing the couple’s faces edited onto apes. Even some Republicans erupted in disgust. Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC) blasted the post: “Praying it was fake because it’s the most racist thing I’ve seen out of this White House. The President should remove it,” he tweeted. Other GOP lawmakers also spoke out against the video.

The White House defended the post, before reversing itself. “This is from an internet meme video depicting President Trump as the King of the Jungle and Democrats as characters from the Lion King. Please stop the fake outrage and report on something today that actually matters to the American public,” Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told What A Day. Shortly after, the White House pulled the video, and blamed an aide for posting it.

A fifth-grade student from Minneapolis who went missing last month was spotted in an ICE detention center in Texas. She was noticed by brothers in the second- and fifth-grades who also went to her school and had been sent to the detention center with their mom. “It was surreal,” the school’s principal told the Washington Post. “It was like, ‘Are you kidding me?’ I wonder ... how many kids are MIA?”

A watchdog group accused the Department of Justice of shielding the emails of Attorney General Pam Bondi and FBI Director Kash Patel, despite their involvement in deliberations over releasing the Epstein files. “The Epstein Library should be replete with their communications. It is not,” Democracy Defenders Fund wrote in a letter to the DOJ. “The obvious conclusion is that these communications have been withheld, destroyed, or redacted.”

New surveillance footage released by the DOJ shows an orange blob, which experts think might be an inmate, moving up the stairs near Epstein’s cell on the night he died. Officials have said that no one entered Epstein’s housing tier that night, and “prison employees interviewed by CBS News said escorting an inmate at that hour would have been highly unusual,” the outlet wrote. Okay, this is officially getting weird.

Trump is trying to bully lawmakers into renaming two major transportation hubs after himself: Penn Station in New York City, and Washington-Dulles International Airport in Virginia. Why would Congress do that? The release of federal funds for a huge rail tunnel project between New York and New Jersey is reportedly contingent on the hubs being renamed. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer turned down the offer, according to Politico.

The State Department is planning to fund MAGA-linked think tanks and charities in Europe, the Financial Times reports. Is that where the USAID money is going???

LIGHT AT THE END… ☀️

A second federal judge blocked the IRS from sharing taxpayer info with ICE to track down migrants.

I found this New Yorker cartoon of the day hilarious, so I thought I’d share it with you all. “Donald Trump decides that he also needs the Westminster Kennel Club trophy to feel whole,” the caption reads, below a drawing of a dog tugging Trump’s sleeve as he tries to steal the trophy.

A vintage iceboat was filmed gliding over an icy lake in New York. It’s a beautiful, serene scene… even if the footage comes from Fox News.

A Serbian man and a female accomplice allegedly stole $38,000 worth of wine from a Virginia restaurant, smuggling the bottles out in a massive overcoat. “I remember thinking to myself, ‘That coat does look a little goofy,’” one of the restaurant’s sommeliers said. “I just wish I had turned that gut feeling into something useful.” The man is believed to have fled the country, while the woman is in jail. Chivalry is dead, smh.

Are you planning to be “Super Sick” on Monday? This uniquely American ailment traditionally occurs the day after the Super Bowl, when many people call out of work “sick.” This year, experts expect that 26.2 million people will feel under the weather after the game, which would break last year’s record of 22.6 people. Wow, I hope everyone gets better soon!

The Milan Winter Olympics have officially started! I’m pumped to stay inside, drink hot cocoa and watch curling while telling myself, “I could totally do that,” even though I totally could not do that. My favorite part of the Olympics so far has been these funky costumes, depicting Italian opera legends with oversized heads.

Speaking of curling, apparently Snoop Dogg can do it! He hit the ice at the Olympics alongside Team USA, dawning a “Coach Snoop” beanie and snowflake necklace. “Curling? Nuthin’ But A “G” Thang,” NBC’s sports account tweeted.

NYC Mayor Zohran Mamdani held the most adorable press conference with little kids, while they told reporters what their favorite animals are. One boy said his favorite is a “gold snake” that “has gold eyes, and it has a super-duper tail.” A reporter asked Mamdani the same question, and he responded: “Yes. It’s also the golden snake.”

At that presser, the kids also interrupted Mamdani, saying “a woo woo woo” into their microphone and laughing. The mayor handled the interruption with grace: “That’s how I felt when we came up with this [childcare] plan. Together, we will expand the idea of what is possible in our city — and what sounds and noises we can make at a press conference.”

Meet Harley! Even though he’s channeling the opposite vibes of the Winter Olympics, I’m totally here for it.

“He’s the goofiest and smiliest boy there ever was.”

— Allison