CORAL GABLES, Fla. (AP) — Rong Niu's pink sequined dress shimmered under the arena lights at a recent Miami men's basketball game.
The popular halftime performer known as “Red Panda” finished her signature seven-minute set, looked up at a crowd of fans chanting her name and flashed a smile before dismounting.
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Red Panda carries her unicycle back to her dressing room after performing at halftime of an NCAA college basketball game between Miami and Stanford in Coral Gables, Fla., Wednesday, Jan. 28, 2026. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)
Miami cheerleaders react as they meet Red Panda after she performed at halftime of an NCAA college basketball game between Miami and Stanford in Coral Gables, Fla., Wednesday, Jan. 28, 2026. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)
Red Panda performs during halftime of an NCAA college basketball game between Miami and Stanford in Coral Gables, Fla., Wednesday, Jan. 28, 2026. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)
Red Panda performs during halftime of an NCAA college basketball game between Miami and Stanford in Coral Gables, Fla., Wednesday, Jan. 28, 2026. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)
Red Panda performs as Miami's mascot Sebastian the Ibis looks on during halftime of an NCAA college basketball game between Miami and Stanford in Coral Gables, Fla., Wednesday, Jan. 28, 2026. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)
Red Panda performs during halftime of an NCAA college basketball game between Miami and Stanford in Coral Gables, Fla., Wednesday, Jan. 28, 2026. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)
Cameras rose instantly. A Hurricanes band member shouted "I love you, Red Panda!" A security guard shook his head in disbelief as a nearby fan asked aloud, "How does she do that?” Members of the Hurricanes' dance team lined up for photos with her before she made her exit.
Niu has grown somewhat accustomed to the fanfare over decades performing at NBA, WNBA and college basketball games — her first halftime show was a Los Angeles Clippers game in 1993. Still, even after sports fans rallied around her following a frightening fall during a WNBA game last July, she can hardly put words to what the support means to her.
“I feel so much support," Niu said after performing at Miami’s home game against Stanford on Wednesday. "It’s beyond support — I don’t know. I don’t have a better word to describe that feeling. That was beyond appreciation.”
Niu comes from a family of performing acrobats. She's been doing it since age 7, when her father first discovered her talent by helping her balance bowls and bricks on her head at their home in China’s Shanxi province.
Her act is composed of her riding a custom-built unicycle, which stretches about 8 feet above the court, and balancing custom-made bowls on her lower leg before flipping them atop her head.
During intermission of the WNBA Commissioner’s Cup final between the Indiana Fever and the Minnesota Lynx, Niu fell off her unicycle and crashed to the court a minute into her performance. She remained down for several minutes, was eventually helped off by wheelchair and later diagnosed with a broken left wrist.
“I now realize I was disoriented. It was not just pain right here,” Niu said Wednesday, pointing to her left wrist, which she recalled being swollen and in immense pain. “I wasn’t very clear because of the impact. They said, ‘Can you walk?’ I said, ‘Yes,’ and then I tried to stand up and walk. And then, I think I was passing out."
She spent 11 hours in a Minneapolis hospital, with a pair of Lynx staffers there with her the entire time. As she lay in the hospital bed, she wondered what could have gone wrong during the act she'd performed so many times.
“I’m not saying I’m that good or anything,” she said. “I generally don’t fall. Bowls fall, because the bowls are going into the air and sometimes I’m not able to control (them). But riding the unicycle ... it shouldn’t be out of control.”
Niu returned to the arena after being released from the hospital. Her unicycle was in the same place she'd left it in her dressing room.
She began to inspect it, checking the rotation of the wheel, looking at the handle. Then she noticed one of her pedals was slightly bent. She typically wraps her equipment very carefully when she travels, but it had somehow been damaged in transit; whether during security checks or on the airplane, she's not sure.
“Normally I would set up the unicycle. I will test it. I test like this," she said, turning her wheel as she demonstrated her process of checking the equipment. “I test it. But I didn’t test (the pedal).”
Niu still shudders at the memory of the fall, which required surgery and about four months of recovery, but she received an outpouring of support on social media, including from Fever star Caitlin Clark, as well as cards and gifts.
She returned to action on Oct. 23 for an Amazon Prime event, then back to the NBA court on Nov. 1 for a game between Chicago and Philadelphia.
Returning to the court hasn't been easy.
“I still have the thoughts,” she said. “I still have the thoughts when I start pedaling.”
But as fans chant her name, foregoing halftime trips to concession stands and restrooms to watch her perform, Niu is filled with both gratitude and motivation.
“I want to show that I can do this,” she said. “But (when) I couldn’t do it, they still chanted for me. I feel I owe them something. I feel very appreciative. I don’t have the best words to describe that feeling, but it’s a lot of support. It goes in my heart.”
AP sports: https://apnews.com/sports
Red Panda carries her unicycle back to her dressing room after performing at halftime of an NCAA college basketball game between Miami and Stanford in Coral Gables, Fla., Wednesday, Jan. 28, 2026. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)
Miami cheerleaders react as they meet Red Panda after she performed at halftime of an NCAA college basketball game between Miami and Stanford in Coral Gables, Fla., Wednesday, Jan. 28, 2026. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)
Red Panda performs during halftime of an NCAA college basketball game between Miami and Stanford in Coral Gables, Fla., Wednesday, Jan. 28, 2026. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)
Red Panda performs during halftime of an NCAA college basketball game between Miami and Stanford in Coral Gables, Fla., Wednesday, Jan. 28, 2026. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)
Red Panda performs as Miami's mascot Sebastian the Ibis looks on during halftime of an NCAA college basketball game between Miami and Stanford in Coral Gables, Fla., Wednesday, Jan. 28, 2026. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)
Red Panda performs during halftime of an NCAA college basketball game between Miami and Stanford in Coral Gables, Fla., Wednesday, Jan. 28, 2026. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — The Trump administration could reduce the number of immigration enforcement officers in Minnesota, but only if state and local officials cooperate, the president's border czar said Thursday, noting he has “zero tolerance” for protesters who assault federal officers or impede the ongoing Twin Cities operation.
Tom Homan addressed reporters for the first time since the president sent him to Minneapolis following last weekend's fatal shooting of protester Alex Pretti, the second this month by federal officers carrying out the operation. His comments came after President Donald Trump seemed to signal a willingness to ease tensions in the Minneapolis and St. Paul area and as the administration ended its “enhanced operations” in Maine.
Homan emphasized that the administration isn't relenting on its immigration crackdown and warned that protesters could face consequences if they interfere with federal officers.
But he seemed to acknowledge there had been missteps.
“I do not want to hear that everything that’s been done here has been perfect. Nothing’s ever perfect,” he said.
Homan hinted at the prospect of pulling out many of the roughly 3,000 federal officers taking part in the operation, but he seemed to tie that to cooperation from state and local leaders and a reduction in protester interference.
“The drawdown is going to happen based on these agreements," he said. "But the drawdown can happen even more if the hateful rhetoric and the impediment and interference will stop.”
He also said he would oversee internal changes in federal immigration law enforcement, but he gave few specifics.
“The mission is going to improve because of the changes we’re making internally,” he said. “No agency organization is perfect. And President Trump and I, along with others in the administration, have recognized that certain improvements could and should be made.”
Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey told reporters in Washington on Thursday he was “hopeful” that the number of federal officers in the city would be reduced. He said police would do their jobs but not “somebody else's,” referring to federal law enforcement.
Despite Trump softening his rhetoric about Minnesota officials — he said this week they were on a “similar wavelength” — there has been no visible sign of any big changes to the operation. On Thursday, as the Justice Department charged a man accused of squirting vinegar on Democratic Rep. Ilhan Omar, a smattering of protesters braved the frigid temperatures to demonstrate outside of the federal facility that has been serving as the operation's main hub.
Pretti, 37, was fatally shot Saturday during a scuffle with the Border Patrol. Earlier this month, 37-year-old Renee Good was shot in her vehicle by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer.
Homan doubled down on the need for jails to alert ICE to inmates who could be deported, saying that transferring such inmates to the agency while they’re still in jail is safer because it means fewer officers have to be out looking for people who are in the country illegally. ICE has historically relied on cooperation from local and state jails to notify the agency about such inmates.
“Give us access to illegal aliens, public safety threats in the safety and security of a jail,” he said.
The border czar, whose arrival followed the departure of the Trump administration’s on-the-ground leader of the operation, Border Patrol chief Greg Bovino, also seemed to suggest a renewed focus on what ICE calls “targeted operations” focused on apprehending immigrants who have committed crimes. Homan said the agency would conduct “targeted strategic enforcement operations” prioritizing “public safety threats.”
It remains to be seen whether ICE's renewed focus on “targeted operations” might reduce tensions.
ICE and Homan have long said the Trump administration's primary focus is to arrest people in the country illegally who have a criminal history or pose a threat to public safety. But they acknowledge they'll also arrest anyone else found to be in the U.S. illegally.
They argue that ICE operations target specific people, as opposed to carrying out indiscriminate raids where officers round up everyone and demand their papers.
Sameera Hafiz, policy director with the Immigrant Legal Resource Center, said Homan's comments seemed to reflect a recognition that public opinion has turned against ICE, but she questioned his argument that carrying out targeted operations would make the country safer.
“His comments still seem to be based on the false premise that deporting people or deportation will make our community safer,” she said. “All the evidence and data has shown that deportations don’t make our communities safer. They destabilize families, they tear communities apart, they hurt our economy.”
Homan didn't give a specific timeline for how long he would stay in Minnesota.
“I’m staying until the problem’s gone,” he said, adding that he has met with community, law enforcement and elected leaders in the hopes of finding common ground and suggested that he’s made some progress.
Santana reported from Washington. Associated Press reporters Tim Sullivan in Minneapolis, Mike Catalini in Trenton, New Jersey, and Steven Sloan in Washington contributed.
Posters depicting Alex Pretti and Renee Nicole Good are displayed inside a bus shelter across the street from the site where Pretti, a 37-year-old ICU nurse, was fatally shot by federal immigration agents, in Minneapolis, Minn., Thursday, Jan. 29, 2026. (Kerem Yücel/Minnesota Public Radio via AP)
Posters depicting Alex Pretti and Renee Nicole Good are displayed on a wall near the site where Pretti, a 37-year-old ICU nurse, was fatally shot by federal immigration agents, in Minneapolis, Minn., Thursday, Jan. 29, 2026. (Kerem Yücel/Minnesota Public Radio via AP)
People participate during a noise demonstration outside the Graduate by Hilton Minneapolis hotel on Wednesday, Jan. 28, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Adam Gray)
A pair of volunteer observers patrol south Minneapolis neighborhoods Tuesday, Jan 27, 2026, looking for signs of activity by federal immigration officers. (AP Photo/Tim Sullivan)
People hold up photos during a vigil for Alex Pretti, who was shot and killed by federal immigration enforcement in Minneapolis, Wednesday, Jan. 28, 2026, in Henderson, Nev. (AP Photo/John Locher)
Federal agents try to clear demonstrators near a hotel, using tear gas during a noise demonstration protest in response to federal immigration enforcement operations in the city Sunday, Jan. 25, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Adam Gray)
White House border czar Tom Homan holds a news conference as Marcos Charles and Rodney Scott, listen, at the Bishop Whipple Federal building on Thursday, Jan. 29, 2026 in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)
Law enforcement officers prepare to make arrests after declaring an unlawful assembly during a noise demonstration outside the Graduate by Hilton Minneapolis hotel on Wednesday, Jan. 28, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Adam Gray)
White House border czar Tom Homan holds a news conference at the Bishop Whipple Federal building on Thursday, Jan. 29, 2026 in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)
White House border czar Tom Homan holds a news conference as Marcos Charles and Rodney Scott, listen, at the Bishop Whipple Federal building on Thursday, Jan. 29, 2026 in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)
White House border czar Tom Homan holds a news conference at the Bishop Whipple Federal building on Thursday, Jan. 29, 2026 in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)
White House border czar Tom Homan holds a news conference at the Bishop Whipple Federal building on Thursday, Jan. 29, 2026 in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)
