Votes will be counted in the GOP’s Nevada caucuses late Tuesday night. Whatever the outcome—Donald Trump is favored to notch another win, building momentum heading into the delegate-rich Super Tuesday in early March--the contest has reopened fault lines on immigration in the state, suggesting the campaign may have a similar dynamic in other states ahead on the primary calendar.  Ted Cruz’s finish may or may not benefit from his sharp turn to the right on Monday, when he announced that he would favor deportation of some 11 million undocumented immigrants currently living in the country. He has previously said he opposed granting such individuals legal status, but had not openly advocated deportation before.

Univision joined an effort to register and turnout more Latino voters, announcing it would supplement an advertising and education blitz with grass-roots organizing efforts in an attempt to register an additional 3 million Latinos this cycle. Reports estimate that there as many as 22 million eligible Latino voters, of which about half cast their ballots in the 2012 presidential race. 

Apple has until Friday to file a brief opposing the FBI’s request for cooperation in unlocking an iPhone belonging to one of the shooters in the San Bernardino terrorist attacks. News analyses gamed out how successful the bureau’s strategy might be; Director Comey has sought to tailor the request narrowly—confining it to this one phone—and rallied other law enforcement voices, including NYPD chief Bill Bratton, to his cause, while the company, along with civil liberties and privacy groups, believe the case could establish a damaging precedent, as well as open back doors that could be exploited in less sympathetic settings.  “If this decision is upheld, it would mean the FBI could get a judicially mandated back door into any device to get access to its content, and it would mean a weakening of encryption in all those devices,” Gregory Nojeim of grantee the Center for Democracy and Technology told The Los Angeles Times.  Silicon Valley largely stood by Apple (Mark Zuckerberg offered his support), though Bill Gates notably broke ranks, urging tech companies to cooperate with law enforcement in terrorism investigations.

In another response to the San Bernardino attacks, the Homeland Security Department said at a congressional hearing that it was developing new ways to monitor the social media outputs of potential terrorist suspects, focusing in on applicants for visas and refugee or asylum status.

President Obama announced his plan for closing Guantanamo Bay, holding out hope of a deal with Congress in accomplishing a key goal he has been pursuing since the dawn of his presidency. The facility “undermines our standing in the world,” Obama said. “It is viewed as a stain on our broader record of upholding the highest standards of rule of law.” Republican reaction to the proposal, which bills closure as a means of saving federal funds (35 detainees are schedule to be relocated to other countries, while the remaining 60-odd would be moved to upgraded secure locations within the U.S.) was swift and negative, which will doubtless complicate the task of winning the support needed to change the law so that the administration can spend money to bring detainees to the U.S. Grantee Human Rights First publicized a letter from former Marine Corps commandant, Gen. Charles Krulak, who wrote that “closing Guantanamo is in our national security interest.” But the Center for Constitutional Rights criticized the plan as “too little, too late.” The debate may be further complicated by news reports that a former Gitmo detainee was among a group of 4 arrested in Spain and Morocco for suspected ties to ISIS.

Republicans on the Senate Judiciary Committee met to decide that they would decline to meet with, let alone hold hearings on, anyone President Obama might nominate to fill the Scalia vacancy, taking an unprecedented stand against the customary courtesy extended a high court nominee. Grantee the Center for American Progress blasted the decision as “a complete abdication of their constitutional responsibility,” while other advocates commissioned polls aimed at ramping up pressure, particularly on Senate Republicans in close re-election contests. A Pew Research Center sounding found a majority of those surveyed believe the Senate should hold hearings on Obama’s eventual nominee.

New York City’s Commission on Human Rights became the first agency of its kind in the country to allow undocumented crime victims to seek legal certification, allowing them to remain in the U.S. while their cases are under investigation.

As Donald Trump made headlines for threatening to punch a protester in the face, advocates cheered another protester’s sign at the rally: “Veterans to Trump: End Hate Speech Against Muslims.”

Among other grantee activities:

--the National Immigration Forum helped place an op-ed by Bishop Jaime Soto, urging the Supreme Court to approve President Obama’s immigration executive actions and bear in mind the values espoused by Pope Francis during his recent trip to the U.S.-Mexico border.

--ThinkProgress, a publication of the Center for American Progress, published an article reporting that between 5 and 10 children deported by the U.S. back to their home country of Honduras have been murdered thus far in February, part of the ongoing human toll of violence in the Northern Triangle of Central America and the challenges for US policymakers confronting an ongoing surge of minors seeking refuge here.