February 16

Rubio visits Budapest and endorses Orban ahead of Hungary elections

Secretary of State Marco Rubio traveled to Budapest on February 16 and publicly endorsed Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán's bid for a fifth consecutive term ahead of April 2026 elections. At a joint press conference, Rubio declared "President Trump is deeply committed to your success" and pledged U.S. financial assistance if Hungary faced economic instability. The two countries also signed a civilian nuclear cooperation pact. EU and NATO partners criticized the endorsement as an unprecedented intervention in an allied nation's democratic election.

Pentagon plans weeks-long sustained Iran air campaign, not single strike

U.S. defense officials briefed congressional leaders that military planning for Iran envisioned a sustained air campaign lasting several weeks rather than a single punitive strike, modeled on combined arms doctrine developed after the 1991 Gulf War. The USS Gerald R. Ford carrier strike group was confirmed en route to the Persian Gulf on February 13, creating a two-carrier deployment alongside the USS Harry S. Truman. Pentagon planners designed the campaign to sequentially destroy Iran's air defenses, nuclear facilities, missile production sites, and naval assets in the Strait of Hormuz.

Pentagon reports 133 killed in 39 drug-boat strikes under Operation Southern Spear

The Pentagon disclosed that U.S. Special Operations forces had conducted 39 airstrikes on boats suspected of drug trafficking in the Caribbean Sea and Eastern Pacific since September 2025 under Operation Southern Spear, killing at least 133 people. The Defense Department declined to release evidence or identities of those killed, citing operational security. Critics in Congress and human rights organizations questioned whether any of the dead were confirmed narcotics traffickers or civilians, noting no independent verification had been allowed.

Fifth Circuit rules immigrants can be detained indefinitely without bond hearings

A divided Fifth Circuit panel ruled 2-1 on February 6, 2026 in Buenrostro-Mendez v. Bondi that any immigrant present in the U.S. without formal admission qualifies as an "applicant for admission" under 8 U.S.C. § 1225(b)(2)(A), triggering mandatory detention with no bond hearing — regardless of how long they have lived in the country. Judge Edith Jones wrote the majority opinion, joined by Trump-appointee Judge Kyle Duncan; Biden-appointee Judge Dana Douglas dissented, warning that under the majority's logic "the border is now everywhere" and ICE agents in Texas, Louisiana, or Mississippi could detain any long-term resident with no judicial review. The ruling reversed three decades of immigration court practice, contradicted over 350 federal judges' prior rulings, and was issued just three days after oral argument. An estimated 15,000 immigrants in the Fifth Circuit region faced immediate risk of indefinite detention without a bond hearing.

Virginia and Washington race to protect kids from AI chatbots before federal preemption

Virginia and Washington state advanced companion AI chatbot safety bills in February 2026 as lawmakers rushed to enact child protections before potential federal preemption. Virginia's SB 796 cleared the Senate 39-1, applying to chatbot operators with 500,000 or more monthly active users. Washington's HB 2225 passed the House 69-28, with a Senate companion also advancing. A January 2026 Trump executive order established a DOJ AI Litigation Task Force to challenge state AI laws in federal court, threatening to strip BEAD broadband funding from states with laws deemed overly burdensome, though the order explicitly exempted child safety protections from preemption.