US senators on Friday approved a last-minute deal backed by President Donald Trump to avert the worst impacts of an imminent government shutdown, after Democratic anger over the killing of two protesters by immigration agents derailed funding talks.A shutdown is still set to begin Saturday because the House of Representatives is out of session until Monday, meaning it cannot ratify the upper chamber’s agreement before the midnight deadline — making a weekend funding lapse unavoidable.Senate leaders say the legislation will nonetheless greatly increase the chances that the shutdown ends quickly, potentially within days.The funding impasse has been driven by Democratic anger over aggressive immigration enforcement following the fatal shootings of protesters Alex Pretti and Renee Good, both 37, by federal agents in separate incidents this month in the northern city of Minneapolis.The deaths have become a flashpoint that has hardened opposition to approving new money for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) without changes to how immigration agencies operate.Under the deal negotiated between the White House and Senate Democratic leaders, lawmakers approved five outstanding funding bills to finance most of the federal government through the end of the fiscal year in September.Funding for DHS, which oversees immigration enforcement, was split off and extended for just two weeks under a stopgap measure intended to give lawmakers time to negotiate changes to the department’s operations.Trump publicly endorsed the deal and urged both parties to support it, signaling his desire to avoid a second shutdown of his second term, following a record 43-day stoppage last summer.Much of the US media interpreted the White House’s flexibility as a recognition that it needed to moderate its deportation approach following the Minneapolis killings.Shutdowns temporarily freeze funding for non-essential federal operations, forcing agencies to halt services, place workers on unpaid leave or require them to work without pay. Departments ranging from defense, education and transportation to housing and financial regulation would be affected in a prolonged shutdown, while pressure would mount quickly to resolve disruptions rippling through the economy.- ‘Sanctuary cities’ -Ironically, Trump’s Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) — the agency at the center of the immigration crackdown controversy — would be largely unaffected, since it was allocated some $75 billion over four years in Trump’s 2025 One Big Beautiful Bill Act.And a weekend-long stoppage, with a quick resolution in the House on Monday, would have a negligible impact on federal operations.South Carolina’s Senator Lindsey Graham had blocked the package Thursday night by withholding the unanimous consent required to fast-track the vote.He cited objections to the DHS stopgap and to House-passed language barring senators from suing the Justice Department if their phone records were seized during past investigations.On Friday morning, however, Graham announced he would allow the funding bill to advance if Senate leaders agreed to hold votes on legislation he is sponsoring to crack down on so-called “sanctuary cities” that limit cooperation with federal immigration enforcement.”The American people overwhelmingly support ending sanctuary city policies. In my view, sanctuary city policies are the root cause of the problems we face,” he said in a statement.The broader funding fight has left both parties bracing for at least a brief shutdown. Congress has already passed six of the 12 annual budget bills, but those measures cover only a minority of discretionary spending.The remaining bills fund large swaths of the government, meaning funding for roughly 78 percent of federal operations is set to lapse.Speaker Mike Johnson has said the House intends to act quickly when it returns on Monday, although divisions among Republicans could complicate the process.If enacted, lawmakers would then have just two weeks to negotiate a full-year DHS funding bill — talks that both parties acknowledge will be politically fraught, with Democrats demanding new guardrails on immigration enforcement and conservatives pushing their own policy priorities.

An AI-enhanced image depicting the moments before immigration agents shot an American nurse ricocheted across the internet — and also made its way onto the hallowed floor of the US Senate.Social media platforms are awash with graphic footage from the moment US agents shot and killed 37-year-old intensive care nurse Alex Pretti in Minneapolis, which sparked nationwide outrage.One frame from the grainy footage was digitally altered using artificial intelligence, AI experts told AFP.The manipulated image, which purports to show Pretti surrounded by officers as one points a gun at his head, spread rapidly across Instagram, Facebook, X, and Threads. It contained several digital distortions, including a headless agent.”I am on the Senate floor to condemn the killing of US citizens at the hands of federal immigration officers,” Senator Dick Durbin, a Democrat from Illinois, wrote on X Thursday, sharing a video of his speech in which he displayed the AI-enhanced image.”And to demand the Trump Administration take accountability for its actions.”In comments beneath his post, several X users demanded an apology from the senator for promoting the manipulated image. On Friday, Durbin’s office acknowledged the mistake.”Our office used a photo on the Senate floor that had been widely circulated online. Staff didn’t realize until after the fact that the image had been slightly edited and regret that this mistake occurred,” the senator’s spokesperson told AFP.- ‘Advancing an agenda’ -The gaffe underscores how lifelike AI visuals — even those containing glaring errors — are seeping into everyday discourse, sowing confusion during breaking news events and influencing political debate at the highest levels.The AI-enhanced image also led some social media users to falsely claim the object in Pretti’s right hand was a weapon, but analysis of the verified footage showed he was holding a phone.That analysis contradicted claims by officials in President Donald Trump’s administration that Pretti posed a threat to officers. Disinformation watchdog NewsGuard said the use of AI tools to enhance details of witness footage can lead to fabrications that “misrepresent reality, in service to advancing an agenda.””AI tools are increasingly being used on social media to ‘enhance’ unclear images during breaking news events,” NewsGuard said in a report.”AI ‘enhancements’ can invent faces, weapons, and other critical details that were never visible in original footage — or in real life.”The trend underscores a new digital reality in which fake images — created or distorted using artificial intelligence tools — often go viral on social media in the immediate aftermath of major news events such as shootings.”Even subtle changes to the appearance of a person can alter the reception of an image to be more or less favorable,” Walter Scheirer, from the University of Notre Dame, told AFP, referring to the distorted image presented at the US Senate.”In the recent past, creating lifelike visuals took some effort. However now, with AI, this can be done instantly, making such content available to politicians on command.”On Friday, the Trump administration charged a prominent journalist Don Lemon and others with civil rights crimes over coverage of immigration protests in Minneapolis, as the president branded Pretti an “agitator.”Pretti’s killing marked the second fatal shooting of a Minneapolis protester this month by federal agents.Earlier this month, AI deepfakes flooded online platforms following the killing of another protester — 37-year-old Renee Nicole Good.AFP found dozens of posts across social media, in which users shared AI-generated images purporting to “unmask” the agent who shot her. Some X users used AI chatbot Grok to digitally undress an old photo of Good.