WASHINGTON (AP) — Operation Dirtbag in Florida. Operation Catahoula Crunch, also known as Swamp Sweep, in Louisiana. Operation Catch of the Day in Maine.
The Department of Homeland Security's approach to naming immigrant enforcement operations, accompanied by a punchy, at times mocking tone in its official statements, elicits polarizing opinions: Are the names funny or offensive? Reactions often depend on political affiliation and support for the operations that largely target Black and brown communities.
The names send a message that immigrants in the U.S. are “sub-human,” Congressman Jimmy Gomez, a California Democrat, told The Associated Press.
“That is why they have those disgusting names,” said Gomez, who sits on the House Intelligence Committee. Administration officials “don’t even use that kind of language when they conduct operations across the globe dealing with some of the worst terrorists imaginable.”
But Congressman Brandon Gill believes the names demonstrate President Donald Trump is not joking about reining in illegal immigration and securing the border.
“I think all he’s doing is letting them know we continue to be serious about that,” the Texas Republican said. "We’re serious about keeping the border secure. We’re serious about deporting illegal aliens.”
Historically, names for delicate U.S. military operations have not been catchy proper nouns but something benign. In war time, operation titles were names that could easily clue people in without drawing suspicion if overheard by spies or seen on paper, said Michael O’Hanlon, director of research in foreign policy at the Brookings Institution and the author of several books on U.S. military history and defense strategy. He cited World War II-era plans such as Operation Market Garden and Operation Torch as examples.
In the modern era, code names for operations are a chance for an administration to project an image of how a mission is going. For example, President George W. Bush often built operation names on themes of freedom. Operation names are also an opportunity to be a “victory dance.” The Trump administration named its lightning bombing campaign on Iran in 2025 Operation Midnight Hammer.
“Sometimes when they know they’re going to win and they want to brandish their political benefit, they’ll sometimes use sort of a vainglorious name like ‘absolute resolve,’ which is just meant to convey this bravado,” O’Hanlon said. “But, if you’re ever unsure of the prospects, you try to use a little bit more generic or nondescript name so that nobody can figure out what the mission’s going to look like if they happen to hear about it beforehand.”
In the case of recent immigration raids, the names communicate “their motivation, their purpose, and therefore, their justification,” he added.
The administration has also given immigration detention facilities the same treatment, including “ Speedway Slammer ” in Indiana, “Cornhusker Clink” in Nebraska, and “ Alligator Alcatraz ” and “ Deportation Depot ” in Florida. They’ve been the basis of Internet memes and online merchandise.
“It seems like they’re just trying to market their detention centers in a trolling type of way,” said Hector Diaz, a Miami immigration attorney who has represented over two dozen Hispanic clients detained in Florida.
Operation Catch of the Day, which wrapped up in Maine last month, immediately drew backlash from Democratic lawmakers when the name was first announced. Congresswoman Chellie Pingree called the branding “racist and degrading” to Mainers in general and the state’s immigrant communities in particular.
“It’s a sick joke,” Pingree said in a social media post.
Sheena Bellows, Maine's Democratic secretary of state who is also running for governor, denounced “the grotesquely named operation,” warning the Trump administration's actions and messaging have chilled business and civic life in the state.
“When ICE agents are patrolling the streets and arresting and imprisoning people, wrongly, then people are afraid to go out,” Bellows told AP.
State Democratic Sen. Joe Baldacci agreed: “This isn’t a special on a restaurant menu. This is people’s lives.”
But Jason Savage, executive director of the Maine Republican Party, said in an email that “to whine about the name of the operation is an absurd distraction from the absolute disaster these same Democrats have allowed to occur across Maine.”
Immigration operation names have also received backlash for taking inspiration from pop culture. In November, the Trump administration played on the popular 1952 children’s book “Charlotte’s Web” by E.B. White when it launched an immigration sweep in Charlotte, North Carolina, with the same title. Martha White said the author, her grandfather, would have hated the reference because he “believed in the rule of law and due process.”
The names persevere, even after some Trump officials signaled federal agents' conduct could be restrained following the fatal shootings of U.S. citizens Renee Good and Alex Pretti in Minnesota and allegations of other misconduct by federal immigration officers.
Congressional Democrats have promised investigations into the conduct of and potential abuses by Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Border Patrol officers, and have vowed to investigate the agency’s rhetoric and social media posts should they win control of either chamber this year.
The operation names are only adding to the damage caused by the administration’s “unconstitutional racial profiling and reckless, unaccountable enforcement tactics,” said Debu Gandhi, senior director of immigration policy at the Center for American Progress, a liberal think tank.
“America can have a secure border and effective immigration enforcement without the type of lawless cruelty and chaos we’ve seen from Trump,” Gandhi said.
Tang reported from Phoenix.
This story has been correct to remove erroneous information. Congresswoman Chellie Pingree is not running for governor of Maine. Her daughter, Hannah Pingree, is.
President Donald Trump waves to the media as he walks on the South Lawn of the White House, Sunday, Feb. 1, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)
People protest against U.S. Immigrations and Customs enforcement in Portland, Maine, Friday, Jan. 30, 2026. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty)
Activists are approached by federal agents for following agent vehicles, on Tuesday, Feb. 3, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Ryan Murphy)
NEW YORK (AP) — The U.S. stock market is weakening on Tuesday, while gold and silver bounce higher after their latest sell-off.
The S&P 500 fell 1.1% and pulled further from its all-time high set last week. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 270 points, or 0.5%, with less than an hour remaining in trading, and the Nasdaq composite was 1.9% lower.
Several influential Big Tech stocks weighed on the market, including drops of 3.2% for Nvidia and 3.9% for Microsoft. Such giants have been hampered by worries that their stock prices shot too high and became too expensive following their yearslong dominance of the market.
Such drops dragged the S&P 500 toward its fourth loss in the last five days, even though the majority of stocks in the index rose. That includes a 6.2% climb for Palantir Technologies, which reported bigger profit for the latest quarter than analysts expected. Its forecast for 61% growth in revenue this year also topped analysts’ expectations.
Some of the day's strongest action remained in the metals markets. Gold’s price climbed 6.1% to settle at $4,935.00 per ounce in its latest swing since its jaw-dropping rally suddenly halted last week. Silver’s price, which has been whipping through even wilder moves, rallied 8.2%.
Gold and silver prices had been climbing for more than a year as investors looked for safer places to park their cash amid worries about everything from tariffs to a weaker U.S. dollar to heavy debt loads for governments worldwide. Their prices took off in particular last month, and gold’s price at one point had roughly doubled over 12 months.
But those rallies suddenly gave out last week, and gold’s price dropped from close to $5,600 to less than $4,500 on Monday. Silver plunged 31.4% on Friday alone.
Many traders say that what turned the momentum was expectations that President Donald Trump’s nominee to lead the Federal Reserve will keep interest rates high to fight inflation, though some disagree. Most agree that simple gravity took over afterward.
After gold and silver prices had shot up so much, so quickly, they were bound to fall back at some point, particularly with so many investors piling in to use gold as a way to bet on continued weakness for the U.S. dollar.
“The move underscored how stretched anti-USD positioning had become,” according to volatility strategists at Barclays.
On Wall Street, PayPal dropped 19.6% after reporting weaker results for the latest quarter than analysts expected. It also named a new CEO after it said “the pace of change and execution” over the last two years “was not in line” with the board of directors’ expectations.
Pfizer fell 3.1% even though it reported stronger profit for the latest quarter than analysts expected. The pharmaceutical company gave a forecasted range for profit in 2026 whose midpoint was below analysts’ expectations.
The Walt Disney Co. slipped 0.6% after it said Josh D’Amaro, head of the company’s parks business, will become its next CEO in March.
On the winning side of the market was PepsiCo, which rose 5.2% after the snack and beverage giant’s profit and revenue for the latest quarter nudged past analysts’ expectations. It also said it would cut prices this year on Lay’s, Doritos and other snacks to try and win back inflation-weary customers.
DaVita rallied 20% after the provider of dialysis and other health care services likewise delivered a better profit for the latest quarter than analysts expected.
In the bond market, the yield on the 10-year Treasury eased to 4.27% from 4.29% late Monday.
In stock markets abroad, indexes bounced back in Asia from sharp losses the prior day.
South Korea’s Kospi surged 6.8% for its best day since the wild days of the COVID crash and recovery in early 2020. Just a day earlier, it had tumbled 5.3% from its record for its worst day in almost 10 months. The Kospi is home to many tech stocks, including Samsung Electronics, which surged 11.4%.
Japan’s Nikkei 225 rallied 3.9%, while stocks rose 1.3% in Shanghai and 0.2% in Hong Kong.
Indexes nudged lower in Europe, with France's CAC 40 edging down by less than 0.1%.
AP Business Writers Yuri Kageyama and Matt Ott contributed.
Trader Ryan Falvey works on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, Tuesday, Feb. 3, 2026. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)
Specialist Joseph Maguire works at his post on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, Tuesday, Feb. 3, 2026. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)
Specialists, from left, Dilip Patel, Glenn Carell, and Michael Pistillo work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, Monday, Feb. 2, 2026. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)
Options trader Phil Fracassini, center, works on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, Monday, Feb. 2, 2026. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)
A board above the trading floor of the New York Stock Exchange displays the closing number for the Dow Jones industrial average, Monday, Feb. 2, 2026. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)
People walk near an electronic stock board at a securities firm in Tokyo Tuesday, Feb. 3, 2026. (Masanori Kumagai/Kyodo News via AP)
A person walks in front of an electronic stock board at a securities firm in Tokyo Tuesday, Feb. 3, 2026. (Masanori Kumagai/Kyodo News via AP)
Specialist Anthony Matesic works at his post on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, Monday, Feb. 2, 2026. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)
A currency trader reacts near a screen showing the Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI), right, and the foreign exchange rate between U.S. dollar and South Korean won at the foreign exchange dealing room of the Hana Bank headquarters in Seoul, South Korea, Tuesday, Feb. 3, 2026. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)
Currency traders watch monitors near a screen showing the Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI), right, and the foreign exchange rate between U.S. dollar and South Korean won at the foreign exchange dealing room of the Hana Bank headquarters in Seoul, South Korea, Tuesday, Feb. 3, 2026. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)
Currency traders watch monitors near a screen showing the Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI), right, and the foreign exchange rate between U.S. dollar and South Korean won at the foreign exchange dealing room of the Hana Bank headquarters in Seoul, South Korea, Tuesday, Feb. 3, 2026. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)
Currency traders work near a screen showing the Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI), top center, and the foreign exchange rate between U.S. dollar and South Korean won, top left, at the foreign exchange dealing room of the Hana Bank headquarters in Seoul, South Korea, Tuesday, Feb. 3, 2026. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)
