A key immigration enforcement measure could be on track for passage thanks to Democrats crossing party lines to support it.

The failure of the Democratic Party’s leadership and standard-bearers to present a winning message on immigration reform in 2024 is coming back to bite outgoing President Joe Biden.

With days left of his presidency and the fight to define his legacy begun, his allies in Congress are seemingly prepared to compromise with the GOP on a bill that would direct immigration authorities to detain any undocumented person charged with theft.

John Bowden, Eric Garcia, and Andrew Feinberg report from Washington, D.C.

Katie Hawkinson reports.

Donald Trump says Venezuela freedom fighters democracy activist Maria Corina Machado and President-elect Edmundo Gonzalez must not be harmed as they demonstrate ahead of the swearing in of President Nicolas Maduro who has claimed the nation’s highest office.

Gonzalez believes he won the election last year.

The US President-elect wrote on Truth Social this afternoon:

Venezuelan democracy activist Maria Corina Machado and President-elect Gonzalez are peacefully expressing the voices and the WILL of the Venezuelan people with hundreds of thousands of people demonstrating against the regime. The great Venezuelan American community in the United States overwhelmingly support a free Venezuela, and strongly supported me. These freedom fighters should not be harmed, and MUST stay SAFE and ALIVE!

A federal judge has thrown out rule changes designed to protect LGBT+ students from discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity.

The rules proposed by President Joe Biden’s administration expanded the scope of Title IX rules that block sex-based discrimination in schools that receive federal funding.

Alex Woodward has the details.

The mother of Ashli Babbit, the Capitol rioter killed during the attack on Congress in 2021 said she received a call from President-elect Donald Trump this week and he had a message for the January 6 defendants.

Micki Witthoeft, Ashli Babbit’s mother, said at a nightly vigil outside of the D.C. jail in support of Jan. 6 defendants on Wednesday that Trump had called her when she was in the back of an Uber with two other supporters of Jan. 6 defendants, coming back from laying down flowers in honor of her daughter.

“Tell them I love them, to keep their chins up,” Trump said when asked if he had a message for Jan. 6 defendants, according to Witthoeft.

"I know that he is still thinking about these guys, and I have a feeling it is going to be a happy day for us," when Trump is sworn in on Jan. 20, Witthoeft said.

“Obviously, the Gulf of Mexico is a name recognized by the United Nations,” Sheinbaum, speaking in Spanish, said during her daily press conference, according to Politico.

She then pointed to a historic map of North America, on which parts of what is now the U.S. the map said, “America Mexicana.”

“Why don’t we call it Mexican America?” she said with a heavy tinge of sarcasm. “It sounds nice, no?”

Gustaf Kilander has the story.

Vice President-elect JD Vance will resign his Senate seat at midnight Thursday, clearing the way for his Jan. 20 swearing-in alongside President-elect Donald Trump.

The Ohio Republican notified Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine, who will choose his successor, of his plans in a Thursday afternoon letter.

“To the people of Ohio, I extend my heartfelt gratitude for the privilege of representing you in the United States Senate,” Vance, who has served in the chamber for two years, said in a statement shared first with NBC News. “When I was elected to this office, I promised to never forget where I came from, and I’ve made sure to live by that promise every single day.”

Vance added that voters had issued “an undeniable mandate to put America first, both at home and abroad” and pledged to work with Trump to “enact his agenda” over the next four years.

A New York state appeals court on Thursday rejected Fox's bid to dismiss a $2.7 billion defamation lawsuit by voting machine company Smartmatic over statements made on air following the 2020 U.S. presidential election.

The decision was issued by a five-judge panel of the Appellate Division in Manhattan.

The UK should take back British members of Isis being held in Syrian prison camps, Donald Trump‘s incoming counter-terrorism chief has said, indicating that a failure to do so could damage the special relationship.

Sebastian Gorka said any nation which wishes to be seen as a “serious ally” of the US should commit to the international fight against the extremist group by repatriating citizens currently languishing in the north east of the country.

Millie Cooke and Nina Lloyd report.