Lawmakers and the White House offered no signs of compromise over the holiday weekend in their battle over oversight of federal immigration officers that has led to a pause in funding for the Department of Homeland Security. A partial government shutdown began Saturday after congressional Democrats and President Donald Trump ’s team failed to reach a deal on legislation to fund the department through September.
Democrats are demanding changes to how immigration operations are conducted after the fatal shootings of U.S. citizens Alex Pretti and Renee Good by federal officers in Minneapolis last month.
Unlike the record 43-day shutdown last fall, the closures are narrowly confined, affecting only agencies under the DHS umbrella, including the Transportation Security Administration, U.S. Coast Guard, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and U.S. Customs and Border Protection. But the work of ICE and CBP will mostly continue unabated, thanks to billions in funding from Trump’s 2025 tax and spending cut law.
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The Trump administration is throwing its support behind the prediction market operators Kalshi and Polymarket in a critical legal battle between the growing prediction market industry and states that wish to ban these platforms.
Michael Selig, the chairman of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, says states cannot ban these markets because federal law gives the CFTC control.
Several states have accused the platforms of running unlicensed casinos. The most notable of the lawsuits comes from Nevada, where a federal judge has issued a temporary restraining order to prevent Kalshi from operating in the state.
Selig argues these contracts act like futures, not sportsbook bets. While customers can bet on anything, roughly 90% of Kalshi’s trading volume goes toward wagers on sports.
Any friendly decision the CFTC makes on this industry could end up financially benefiting the president’s family as well. President Trump’s son, Donald Trump Jr., has invested in Polymarket through his venture capital firm and is a strategic advisor for Kalshi.
▶ Read more about prediction markets
Late-night host Stephen Colbert said his interview with Democratic Texas Senate candidate James Talarico was pulled from Monday night’s broadcast over network fears it would violate regulatory guidance from the Trump administration on giving equal time to political candidates.
The issue came just hours before early voting opened Tuesday in Texas’ primary elections, which feature hotly-contested Senate nomination races in both parties.
Colbert says the network also told him not to mention the change, but Colbert discussed it on air and pointed viewers to the full interview posted on YouTube. Talarico also posted a clip, calling it the “interview Donald Trump didn’t want you to see.”
The FCC guidance warns talk shows to treat candidates like other broadcast programs. Colbert says the rule does not apply to streaming. Neither CBS nor the FCC commented Tuesday.
▶ Read more about the interview
Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum said her government has declined to join the U.S.-led group overseeing the Gaza ceasefire plan because of the lack of Palestinian representation on the board.
She said her country would instead act as an observer and send Mexico’s ambassador to the U.N., following encouragement from U.S. authorities.
“Given that we recognize Palestine as a state, it’s important that both states, Israel and Palestine, participate. It isn’t set up that way,” she said on Tuesday.
In Latin America, countries that have accepted the U.S. invitation are largely right-wing Trump allies, including Argentina, El Salvador and Paraguay.
Sheinbaum’s rejection comes at a time when the leader has walked a political tightrope with Trump, trying to maintain a strong relationship with him while also standing up for deeply held principles by the Mexican government.
The USS Gerald R. Ford aircraft carrier and its escort of three destroyers are now in the mid-Atlantic after being ordered to depart the Caribbean for the Middle East last week, a Navy official confirmed Tuesday.
The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity in order to discuss sensitive ship movements, said that the Ford, along with the destroyers USS Mahan, Bainbridge, and Winston Churchill, are in the mid-Atlantic and no longer with the U.S. Southern Command’s area of operations.
Given its current location, the Ford and its escorts are likely more than a week away from reaching the waters off the coast of Iran.
By Konstantin Toropin
The “Bookmark Design Challenge: Celebrating America’s 250th,” done in partnership with the National Endowment for the Arts, asks students to create an original, hand-drawn bookmark depicting what America means to them.
The contest is open to students in all 50 states, the District of Columbia and U.S. territories.
The second lady will choose three national winners — one each from grades K-2, 3-5 and 6-8 — whose designs will be featured during events commemorating the July 4 anniversary. The winners will also be invited to Washington to participate in some events.
Applications are due at the NEA website, arts.gov/bookmarks, by 5 p.m. EST on March 31.
Usha Vance, who is married to Vice President JD Vance, said she hopes the winning bookmarks will “inspire kids to pick up a book and learn something new about our country.”
Immigration and Customs Enforcement cannot re-detain Kilmar Abrego Garcia because a 90-day detention period has expired and the government has no viable plan for deporting him, a federal judge ruled on Tuesday.
The Salvadoran national’s case has become a focal point in the immigration debate after he was mistakenly deported to his home country last year. Since his return, he has been fighting a second deportation to a series of African countries proposed by Department of Homeland Security officials.
Abrego Garcia has an American wife and child and has lived in Maryland for years, but he immigrated to the U.S. illegally as a teenager. In 2019, an immigration judge ruled that he could not be deported to El Salvador because he faced danger there from a gang that had threatened his family. By mistake, he was deported there anyway in March.
▶ Read more about the case
Conservation and historical organizations have sued the Trump administration over National Park Service policies that the groups say erase history and science from America’s national parks.
A lawsuit filed in Boston says orders by Trump and Interior Secretary Doug Burgum have forced park service staff to remove or censor exhibits that share factually accurate and relevant U.S. history and scientific knowledge, including about slavery and climate change.
The suit was filed Tuesday by a coalition that includes the National Parks Conservation Association, American Association for State and Local History, Association of National Park Rangers and Union of Concerned Scientists. It comes as a federal judge on Monday ordered that an exhibit about nine people enslaved by George Washington must be restored at his former home in Philadelphia.
▶ Read more about the lawsuit
Betsy Nicholas, president of the Potomac River Keeper Network, a conservation group that has monitored the river, said the organization welcomes the recent White House interest in the health of what she called “the nation’s river.”
“We’re glad to be getting that kind of attention for restoring the river,” she said.
She said it was her understanding that the federal government has been involved since the leak occurred last month, working with Maryland, Washington and DC Water to oversee the repairs. She also noted the organization is working closely with the others to test the water.
“Here is what the federal government can do: funding,” she said. “This happened because of underinvestment in repairing old infrastructure. Sixty-year-old pipe burst.”
DC Water, a utility based in Washington, said the EPA’s assistant administrator for water toured the site last week and was briefed on the repairs.
The U.S. military has killed 11 people in strikes on three boats that were allegedly smuggling drugs in the Caribbean Sea and eastern Pacific Ocean, U.S. Southern Command said in a statement Tuesday.
Like most of the military’s statements on the 40-plus strikes over the past year, Southern Command said they targeted alleged drug traffickers along known smuggling routes late Monday. Southern Command said two vessels carrying four people each were struck in the eastern Pacific, while a third boat with three people was hit in the Caribbean.
The military did not provide evidence that the vessels were ferrying drugs, but posted videos that showed boats being destroyed.
The president kept up his drumbeat against leaders in Maryland, Virginia and the District of Columbia over a sewage spill in the Potomac River that could be one of the largest in U.S. history.
A January pipe rupture sent sewage into the river that runs through the nation’s capital region. Trump demanded in a social media post Tuesday that local leaders “must get to work, IMMEDIATELY” to clean up the spill.
“If they can’t do the job, they have to call me and ask, politely, to get it fixed,” Trump said. “The Federal Government is not at all involved with what has taken place, but we can fix it.”
Trump is blaming local leaders despite a D.C.-based water authority and the federal government having jurisdiction over the broken pipe. It’s under the oversight of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
Trump also used the spill to blame Democrats for the ongoing partial shutdown, even though the EPA is fully operational. The president has said the Federal Emergency Management Agency, which is affected by the shutdown, will play a key role in coordinating the response.
It’s hard to predict whether, when or where security screening snags might pop up. Transportation Security Administration officers are expected to work without pay while lawmakers remain without an agreement on DHS’ annual funding.
But even a handful of unscheduled TSA absences could quickly lead to longer wait times at smaller airports, for example, if there’s just a single security checkpoint. Shortages of TSA officers also could slow the screening of checked luggage behind the scenes.
Experts say flight delays are also possible even though air traffic controllers are not affected by the shutdown.
What can travelers do to prepare?
▶ Read more about the partial government shutdown and air travel
In guidance issued last week to all U.S. embassies and consulates abroad, the State Department said it “strongly objects” to the proposal being discussed by the U.N. General Assembly and that its adoption “could pose a major threat to U.S. industry.”
The draft resolution sponsored by Vanuatu is being circulated among the 193-member General Assembly and stems from a landmark advisory opinion by the U.N.’s top court last July.
The International Court of Justice said countries could be in violation of international law if they fail to take measures to protect the planet from climate change, and nations harmed by its effects could be entitled to reparations.
The proposal includes adopting a national climate action plan to limit global temperature rise to below 1.5 degrees Celsius; phasing out subsidies for fossil fuel exploration, production and exploitation; and urging those in violation to “provide full and prompt reparation for damage.”
▶ Read more about the proposal
The partial government shutdown began Saturday, with Congress scheduled to be out of Washington until Feb. 23, as Democrats and the White House remain dug in over funding for DHS.
Late Monday, Senate Democrats delivered their latest counteroffer to the White House and Republicans, according to a spokesperson for Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer. No additional details were released.
The move follows a White House counterproposal earlier this month that Schumer dismissed as not being serious, offered in response to Democrats’ own 10-point plan outlining their priorities for a funding agreement.
The pledges will be formally announced when board members gather in Washington on Thursday for their first meeting, he said.
He did not detail which member nations were making the pledges for reconstruction or would contribute personnel to the stabilization force.
Rebuilding the Palestinian territory will be a daunting endeavor. The United Nations, World Bank and European Union estimate that reconstruction of the territory will cost $70 billion. Few places in the Gaza Strip were left unscathed by more than two years of Israeli bombardment.
The ceasefire deal calls for an armed international stabilization force to keep security and ensure disarmament of the militant Hamas group, a key demand of Israel. Thus far, few countries have expressed interest in taking part in the proposed force.
The Oct. 10 U.S.-brokered ceasefire deal attempted to halt a more than 2-year war between Israel and Hamas. While the heaviest fighting has subsided, Israeli forces have carried out repeated airstrikes and frequently fired on Palestinians near military-held zones.
It is not clear how many of the more than 20 members of the Board of Peace will attend the first meeting.
▶ Read more about the Board of Peace and its upcoming meeting
It was the first time Iran has announced the closure of the key international waterway, through which 20% of the world’s oil passes, since the U.S. began threatening Iran and rushing military assets to the region. It marks a further escalation in a weekslong standoff that could ignite another war in the Middle East.
As the talks began, Iran’s state media announced that it had fired live missiles toward the Strait and would close it for several hours for “safety and maritime concerns.”
Iranian state TV later said the talks wrapped up after almost three hours.
Iranian state TV reported earlier that negotiations would be indirect and would focus only on Iran’s nuclear program and not domestic policies.
U.S. President Donald Trump has repeatedly threatened to use force to compel Iran to agree to constrain its nuclear program. Iran has said it would respond with an attack of its own. Trump has also threatened Iran over the killing of protesters.
▶ Read more about the talks between Iran and the US
The partial shutdown began Saturday after congressional Democrats and the White House failed to reach a deal on legislation to fund DHS through September.
Congress is on recess until Feb. 23, and both sides appear dug into their positions. The impasse affects agencies such as the Transportation Security Administration, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, U.S. Coast Guard, the Secret Service, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and U.S. Customs and Border Protection.
Democrats want changes to how immigration operations are conducted after the fatal shootings of two U.S. citizens by federal officers last month. They also want to require immigration agents to wear body cameras and mandate judicial warrants for arrests on private property.
White House border czar Tom Homan said the administration was unwilling to agree to Democrats’ demands that federal officers clearly identify themselves, remove masks during operations and display unique ID numbers.
The work at ICE and CBP goes on unabated because Trump’s tax and spending cut law from 2025 provided billions more to those agencies that can be tapped for deportation operations.
▶ Read more about what’s happening with the shutdown
Trump remembered Jackson in a social media post, calling him a “good man, with lots of personality, grit, and ‘street smarts.’”
The Republican president also described Jackson as “very gregarious -Someone who truly loved people!”
“He loved his family greatly, and to them I send my deepest sympathies and condolences. Jesse will be missed! Trump wrote.
It’s up to each federal agency to designate which of its employees are “essential” or “excepted,” both of which mean the same thing in this case. They keep working during a shutdown, typically without being paid until government funding is restored.
Some examples of “essential” employees are military personnel, airport security screeners and law enforcement officers. There can be a wide range, from positions deemed critical for public safety to those authorized by law to continue even without new funding.
Most of the more than 270,000 people employed by DHS are deemed essential, meaning that they stay on the job even during a shutdown. For the fall 2025 shutdown, more than 258,000 DHS employees were in that category, and about 22,000 — or 5% of the agency’s total employee base — were furloughed.
Other agencies affected are the Secret Service and the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
The vast majority of employees at the Secret Service and U.S. Coast Guard will continue their work, though they could miss a paycheck depending on the shutdown’s length.
At FEMA, the shutdown will disrupt the agency’s ability to reimburse states for disaster relief costs. Some workers will be furloughed, limiting the agency’s ability to coordinate with state and local partners. Training for first responders at the National Disaster and Emergency Management University in Maryland will be disrupted.
Essentially, it’s because Trump acquiesced to Democrats’ request that Homeland Security funding be stripped from a broader spending package to allow more time for negotiation over demands for changes to immigration enforcement, such as a code of conduct for federal agents and a requirement that officers show identification. DHS was temporarily funded only through Friday.
The rest of the federal government is funded through Sept. 30. That means most federal programs are unaffected by the latest shutdown, including food assistance, and pay for most federal workers and for service members will continue uninterrupted.
The U.S. Capitol is seen Friday, Feb. 13, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Mariam Zuhaib)
Many people who knew and worked with the Rev. Jesse L. Jackson Sr. are vowing to ‘keep hope alive’ in honor of his legacy. Jackson, who led the U.S. Civil Rights Movement for decades, died Tuesday. The protege of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and two-time presidential candidate was 84.
Jackson led a lifetime of crusades in the United States and abroad, advocating for the poor and underrepresented on issues from voting rights and job opportunities to education and health care. He scored diplomatic victories with world leaders, and through his Rainbow/PUSH Coalition, he channeled cries for Black pride and self-determination into corporate boardrooms, pressuring executives to make America a more open and equitable society.
And when he declared, “I am Somebody,” in a poem he often repeated, he sought to reach people of all colors. “I may be poor, but I am Somebody; I may be young; but I am Somebody; I may be on welfare, but I am Somebody,” intoned America’s best-known civil rights activist since King.
Santita Jackson confirmed that her father died at home in Chicago, surrounded by family.
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United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called Rev. Jesse Jackson “a giant of the civil rights movement in the United States and a longtime champion of human rights, equality and justice around the world,” his spokesman said.
“The Reverend Jackson lent his powerful voice to the U.N. to work against racism, against apartheid, and for human rights, including taking part in a number of events here at U.N. headquarters,” Guterres said, according to his spokesman Stephane Dujarric.
From the moment the Rev. Jesse Jackson stepped forward as torchbearer to what was then a largely Southern civil rights struggle — a movement with much unfinished business — he created a bridge.
From the South’s fight with Jim Crow to the North’s battle with systemic racial inequality, from the buttoned-up, conservative generation of King’s circle to the dashiki-wearing Black Power leaders and the activists of the hip-hop generation, Jackson forged a link between improbable dreams and political power.
“From Martin Luther King to Barack Obama, there’s a bridge called Jesse Jackson,” the Rev. Al Sharpton said.
▶ Read more from AP’s deeper take on Jackson’s life
In 1971, Jackson formed Operation PUSH, originally named People United to Save Humanity. The organization based on Chicago’s South Side declared a sweeping mission, from diversifying workforces to registering voters nationwide. Using lawsuits and threats of boycotts, Jackson pressured executives of top corporations to spend millions and publicly commit to hiring more women and people of color.
“His tireless push for supplier diversity and equity in the auto industry ensured that Black-owned businesses and minority entrepreneurs had a real seat at the table in one of America’s most powerful industries,” Detroit Mayor Mary Sheffield’s statement said. “Detroit felt that work directly, in our businesses, in our communities, and in the opportunities created for generations of families who called this city home.”
Jackson, with his lifelong vision of a more equitable nation, “embodied what it means to be a true public servant,” says a statement from the grassroots organization, which works to educate, register and empower young Latinos.
Voto Latino counted on Jackson as an ally who shared its commitment to ensuring all voices — “particularly those often ignored, marginalized, or unheard — are represented in the democratic process. At a time where our voting rights are once again under attack, we are called to carry forward his legacy and ‘Keep Hope Alive.’"
Former President Barack Obama and his wife, Michelle Obama, expressed deep sadness over the death of someone they regard as a “true giant.”
Barack Obama said Jackson inspired countless numbers of people through his work organizing boycotts and sit-ins, registering people to vote and advocating for freedom and democracy around the world. Among those he inspired were the Obamas themselves, the first Black president and first lady in U.S. history.
“Michelle got her first glimpse of political organizing at the Jacksons’ kitchen table when she was a teenager,” the former president said. “And in his two historic runs for president, he laid the foundation for my own campaign to the highest office of the land.”
“Michelle and I will always be grateful for Jesse’s lifetime of service, and the friendship our families share. We stood on his shoulders,” he said. “We send our deepest condolences to the Jackson family and everyone in Chicago and beyond who knew and loved him.”
Sharing condolences with the Jackson family, the Chicago congressman and former Black Panther said “the Reverend taught me so many things through the enormity of his leadership, his passion, and his endless sacrifices for “the least of these.”
“He literally saved my life on the stage of Operation Breadbasket — later to become Operation PUSH — on Saturday, December 6, 1969,” Rush recalled in a statement. “A warrant had been issued for my arrest after the FBI assassinated Fred Hampton. I turned myself in that day, and Reverend Jackson said they’d better return me in the same condition I was in on that stage. If it were not for Reverend Jackson, Renault Robinson, and others, I would have been dead.”
“Since then, Reverend Jackson has been a constant presence in both my public and private life,” Rush said. “He taught everybody that we are SOMEBODY, and his spirit will endure forever.”
Jackson did better running for president than any Black politician had before Barack Obama, winning 13 primaries and caucuses for the Democratic nomination in 1988, four years after his first failed attempt. The efforts left supporters chanting another Jackson slogan, “Keep hope alive.”
“I was able to run for the presidency twice and redefine what was possible; it raised the lid for women and other people of color,” Jackson once told the AP. “Part of my job was to sow seeds of the possibilities.”
And when Jackson joined the jubilant crowd in Chicago’s Grant Park to greet Obama on election night, he had tears streaming down his face.
“I wish for a moment that Dr. King or (slain civil rights leader) Medgar Evers ... could’ve just been there for 30 seconds to see the fruits of their labor,” he told the AP years later. “I became overwhelmed. It was the joy and the journey.”
“Our father was a servant leader — not only to our family, but to the oppressed, the voiceless, and the overlooked around the world,” the Jackson family said in a statement posted online Tuesday. “We shared him with the world, and in return, the world became part of our extended family.”
Jackson’s constant campaigns often left his wife, Jacqueline Lavinia Brown, the college sweetheart he married in 1963, taking the lead in raising their five children: Santita Jackson, Yusef DuBois Jackson, Jacqueline Lavinia Jackson Jr., and two future members of Congress, U.S. Rep. Jonathan Luther Jackson and Jesse L. Jackson Jr., who resigned in 2012 but is seeking reelection in the 2026 midterms.
Jackson lost his ability to speak towards the end, communicating with family and visitors by holding their hands and squeezing.
“I get very emotional knowing that these speeches belong to the ages now,” Jesse Jackson Jr., told the AP in October.
Dominique Ross has lived across from the Jackson home for nine years on Chicago’s South Side. She remembered Jackson for his open smile and welcoming attitude whether he was taking a walk or participating in the Bud Billiken Parade celebrating Black youth and community in Chicago each fall before the school year begins.
“I don’t know who will come up behind him, who will have as much of an impact as he has had on the Black community and just the world as a whole,” Ross said. “I mean, he’s an icon. They’re not going to make another man like him.”
Harold Hall, who once lived in the neighborhood where Jackson’s home sits, slowly walked along the sidewalk and up the steps Tuesday morning to leave a small bouquet of flowers outside the Jackson family’s door.
Hall told reporters that Jackson helped local street organizations in the late 1960s and early 1970s. “Rev. Jackson was one of the ones that would come out and shoot ball and try to change the minds of many of our young folk,” Hall told reporters. “And in many instances, it happened. It worked.”
“I’m so hurt this morning,” Hall said. “It’s just hard for many of us. He was a trailblazer. He will be missed. We loved him.”
“Throughout our decades of friendship and partnership, I’ve known Reverend Jackson as history will remember him: a man of God and of the people. Determined and tenacious. Unafraid of the work to redeem the soul of our Nation,” former President Joe Biden said.
“I’ve seen how Reverend Jackson has helped lead our Nation forward through tumult and triumph. He’s done it with optimism, and a relentless insistence on what is right and just. Whether through impassioned words on the campaign trail, or moments of quiet courage, Reverend Jackson influenced generations of Americans, and countless elected leaders, including Presidents,” Biden’s statement said.
“Reverend Jackson believed in his bones the promise of America: that we are all created equal in the image of God and deserve to be treated equally throughout our lives. While we’ve never fully lived up to that promise, he dedicated his life to ensuring we never fully walked away from it either.”
The Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies, a Washington-based think tank that deals with issues facing communities of color, said in a statement that it was “honored to walk alongside Reverend Jackson across the decades — and our histories are deeply intertwined.”
The Center noted that its voter mobilization efforts, “including our support of Operation Big Vote,” complemented Jackson’s own efforts on expanding the electorate. “Together, Jackson, the Joint Center, and partners across the movement helped build the architecture of Black political power that endures today.”
The Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies said Jackson proved with his 1984 presidential campaign “that a Black candidate could compete at the highest level” by winning Democratic primaries and caucuses. He earned more than 3.2 million votes, a total Jackson more than doubled four years later, winning presidential primaries in more than a dozen states and becoming a “preeminent force in Democratic politics.”
“These were not merely campaigns — they were movements that registered millions of new voters, built a Rainbow Coalition, and laid the groundwork for every Black candidate who followed, including President Barack Obama,” the Washington-based center said.
“Jackson championed human dignity and helped create opportunities for countless people to live better lives. Throughout it all, he kept marching to the music of his conscience, his convictions, and his causes, said a statement from former President Bill Clinton and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
“Reverend Jackson never stopped working for a better America with brighter tomorrows, including his historic campaigns for the Presidency in 1984 and 1988 in which he championed the concerns of Black, Latino, Asian, and lower income white Americans. I will always be grateful for the friendship he gave Hillary, Chelsea and me; proud to have nominated him as my Special Envoy for the Promotion of Democracy in Africa; and honored to present him with the Presidential Medal of Freedom.”
“Hillary and I loved him very much,” the statement said. “Our hearts and prayers go out to Jackie, their children and grandchildren, and all the people across America and around the world who were inspired by his service to humanity.”
At press conference in New York on Tuesday, the Rev. Al Sharpton spoke about their long friendship. They met when Sharpton was 13 and first becoming involved in civil rights activism through the church. Sharpton said Jackson’s tireless work was not only an inspiration to his career, it was also vital to keeping the civil rights movement alive.
“I always wondered how much trauma that must have been for him to witness Rev. King’s assassination. He never would talk about it too much, but it drove him. He said ‘We’ve got to keep Dr. King’s legacy alive.’”
Jackson, perhaps more than any other civil rights advocate, pushed for diversity, equity and inclusion in corporations whose leadership was overwhelmingly white and male. Now, of course, DEI is targeted by the Trump administration for elimination.
“Everything he fought for is at risk, and if we want to mourn him we’ve got to preserve what he fought for,” Sharpton said.
“The indelible mark he left on our university and indeed, on all of us, is deeply felt this morning. Our hearts and prayers go out to the Jackson family and to all who knew him and benefitted from his life’s work,” North Carolina A&T Chancellor James R. Martin II said in a news release.
The university noted that “Jackson quickly established himself as a campus leader, ultimately becoming student government president, even as he quarterbacked the Aggie football team,” before graduating in 1964 with a B.S. in sociology. It also celebrated his wife Jacqueline L.B. Jackson, who graduated from NCA&T in 1967, and returned with generations of her family to receive an honorary doctorate.
“Personally, I am grateful for Rev. Jackson’s mentorship and example to me and so many others. He reinforced in me that speaking the truth is always the right thing to do in real time,” said Michigan Lt. Gov. Garlin Gilchrist, who could become the state’s first Black governor if he wins this year’s race to succeed term-limited Gov. Gretchen Whitmer.
Whitmer said Jackson had a “special connection” to Michigan and especially Detroit. “He visited often, standing with labor, working with local leaders, and inspiring the next generation of changemakers,” her statement said. “As we heed Rev. Jackson’s tireless call to ‘Keep hope alive,’ let’s also continue to do the hard work of building a freer, fairer Michigan for all.”
“He showed us that change is possible when we have the courage to demand it,” said the association’s president, Mayor Van R. Johnson II of Savannah, Georgia.
“His two historic presidential campaigns opened the door to what is possible for Black leaders in America and became a direct inspiration for so many of us; as he said, ‘if our minds can conceive it, if our hearts can believe it, then we know that we can achieve it,’” the statement said. “We will honor his memory by continuing the work he started, and recommitting ourselves to the fight for a better, more just nation.”
Jackson was “a transformative leader whose life’s work is deeply woven into the history, mission, and enduring impact of our Association and the nation,” an NAACP statement said.
“He challenged this nation to live up to its highest ideals, and he reminded our movement that hope is both a strategy and a responsibility,” said the joint statement by NAACP Chairman Leon W. Russell, NAACP Vice Chair Karen Boykin Towns and NAACP President & CEO Derrick Johnson.
“Now, more than ever, we honor his legacy by continuing the work he championed: protecting the right to vote, expanding economic opportunity, and fighting for the freedom and dignity of Black people everywhere,” they said. “The Rev. Jackson’s passing marks the loss of a towering moral voice, but the movement he helped build will carry his light forward. His legacy calls each of us to stay committed, stay organized, and remain faithful to the pursuit of justice.
“Of course, we have known that he was ill for quite some time, and that ultimately it would come,” Rep. Danny K. Davis’ statement said. “The work, the spirit, what he has meant, not only to the city, the state, country and this world will continue to live on.”
“I extend condolences to his family. Mrs. Jackie Jackson, all of his children, and the work that he has done will continue, because they are all seriously involved in public decision-making. And so though he will be gone, he will continue to live on.”
“I join the people of Atlanta mourning the passing of an American icon,” Mayor Andre Dickens said. "Rev. Jackson showed up for us consistently. He never stopped challenging leaders to do better by Americans, especially when it comes to economic justice. And that’s a fight that we will continue.”
“Here in Atlanta, as well as around the country, we would be wise to heed Rev. Jackson’s words and ‘keep hope alive.’ We intend to,” his statement said.
Gov. JB Pritzker ordered flags to half-staff across Illinois in honor of the Rev. Jesse Jackson.
Pritzker, a Democrat, called Jackson a “giant of the civil rights movement.”
“He broke down barriers, inspired generations, and kept hope alive,” Pritzker said in social media posts. “Our state, nation, and world are better due to his years of service.”
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Kelley Robinson, president of the Human Rights Campaign, praised Jackson for embodying “courage, hope, and a relentlessness that will not be denied.”
“His historic presidential campaigns paved the way for generations of Black leaders to imagine ourselves in rooms we were once told were closed to us,” Robinson said in a statement.
“Reverend Jackson also stood up when it mattered; when it wasn’t easy and when it wasn’t popular. His support for marriage equality and for LGBTQ+ people affirmed a simple, powerful truth: Our liberation is bound together.”
Jackson’s impact “can be felt in virtually every aspect of American life,” said Kristen Clarke, former Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights, U.S. Department of Justice during the Biden administration.
“A tireless and extraordinary public servant, his charge to all of us was to stay hopeful, keep up the good fight and respect the dignity and humanity of all people,” Clarke said in an emailed statement on Tuesday. “Jackson has been, and will always be, a central part of the story regarding America’s ongoing quest for justice and equality.”
“Jackson was more than a civil rights advocate—he was a living bridge between generations, carrying forward the unfinished work and sacred promise of the Civil Rights Movement,” Martin Luther King III and his wife Andrea King said in a statement.
“He walked with courage when the road was uncertain, spoke with conviction when the truth was inconvenient, and stood with the poor, the marginalized, and the forgotten when it was not popular to do so. His life was a testament to the power of faith in action—faith that justice could be won, that dignity belongs to every person, and that love must always have the final word.”
“May his memory be a wellspring of strength and courage for all who continue the sacred work to which he gave his life. As he so often reminded us, “Keep hope alive.”
“Jesse Jackson was a gift from God and a witness that God exists in the ways he cared for and lifted all people, the way he called forth a rainbow coalition of people to challenge economic and social inequality from the pulpit to a historic presidential run, the way he dared to keep hope alive whenever the nation struggled with being who she says she is and yet ought to be,” said Bishop William J. Barber II, who co-founded the Poor People’s Campaign.
“When I was a college student, he was a gift to me as a mentor, and it has been my great privilege to have him walk alongside me through my whole public ministry,” Barber said. “May we all take up his hope for the America that has never yet been but nevertheless must be.”
“America has lost one of its great moral voices. Reverend Jesse Jackson spent his life working to ensure our nation lives up to its highest ideals. From his early days as a young staffer with Dr. King onto the national stage, he fought for freedom, racial justice, equality, and for the human dignity of the marginalized and the poor,” said Warnock, the Georgia Democrat who doubles as senior pastor at Ebenezer Baptist Church, the ‘spiritual home’ of the King family.
“With an eloquence and rhythmic rhetoric all his own, Jesse Jackson reminded America that equal justice is not inevitable; it requires vigilance and commitment, and for freedom fighters, sacrifice. His ministry was poetry and spiritual power in the public square. He advanced King’s dream and bent the arc of history closer to justice,” Warnock said.
Jackson, who first travelled to South Africa in July 1979, just after Steve Biko’s passing, vigorously advocated for American sanctions on the apartheid regime and supported Nelson Mandela’s anti-apartheid struggle.
“His campaigns for an end to apartheid included disinvestment from the apartheid economy and challenging the support the regime enjoyed in certain circles and institutions internationally,” President Cyril Ramaphosa said.
“We are deeply indebted to the energy, principled clarity and personal risk with which he supported our struggle and campaigned for freedom and equality in other parts of the world.”
“Today, I lost the man who first called me into purpose when I was just twelve years old. And our nation lost one of its greatest moral voices. The Reverend Jesse Louis Jackson was not simply a civil rights leader; he was a movement unto himself. He carried history in his footsteps and hope in his voice,” Sharpton said.
“One of the greatest honors of my life was learning at his side. He reminded me that faith without action is just noise. He taught me that protest must have purpose, that faith must have feet, and that justice is not seasonal, it is daily work.”
“He was a gifted negotiator and a courageous bridge‑builder, serving humanity by bringing calm into tense rooms and creating pathways where none existed,” the Rev. Bernice King said.
“My family shares a long and meaningful history with him, rooted in a shared commitment to justice and love. As we grieve, we give thanks for a life that pushed hope into weary places.”
Jackson led a lifetime of crusades in the United States and abroad, advocating for the poor and underrepresented on issues from voting rights and job opportunities to education and health care. AP photo editors curated a gallery.
Trump remembered Jackson in a social media post that called him a “good man, with lots of personality, grit, and ‘street smarts.’”
The Republican president also described Jackson as “very gregarious -Someone who truly loved people!”
“He loved his family greatly, and to them I send my deepest sympathies and condolences. Jesse will be missed!” Trump wrote.
FILE - The Rev. Jesse Jackson, top right, is consoled by Rev. Marvin Winans, as Martin Luther King Jr.'s daughter Yolanda King, front from left, civil rights leader Rep. John Lewis, D-Ga., wiping his tears, former Labor Secretary Alexis Herman, Martin Luther King Jr.'s sister Christine King Farris and Darryl R. Matthews, President of the Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity and Bill Walton, top left, take part in the ground breaking ceremony for the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial on the National Mall, Nov. 13, 2006 in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci, File)
FILE - Coretta Scott King holds hands while singing with the Rev. Jesse Jackson and Christine Farris, the sister of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., as they parade on Peachtree Street in Atlanta on Monday, Jan. 19, 1987 to honor King's birthday. At left in Mrs. Alveda king Beall and at right is Lupita Aquino Kashiwahara. (AP Photo/Charles Kelly, File)
