Federal

Sep 8

Capital & Main investigation revealed ICE and CoreCivic denied an asylum seeker medical care for a kidney infection at Otay Mesa

A September 8, 2026 Capital & Main investigation revealed that a Colombian asylum seeker held at the CoreCivic-run Otay Mesa Detention Center in San Diego went undertreated for a worsening kidney infection over roughly ten months, from a November 2025 report of heavy bleeding through an August 2026 flare-up. Her medical records document repeated denials and delays: a recommended ultrasound went unperformed for months, a May 2026 emergency-room visit found an abnormal urinalysis but recorded "no acute disease," and she was later hospitalized and diagnosed with pyelonephritis. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement did not respond to requests for comment, and CoreCivic said only that it takes "any allegation" about medical care "seriously."

Denial of custodial medical care

Sep 7

U.S. Southern Command destroyed Ecuadorian vessel over unproven Los Choneros ties, fifth such strike in under two weeks

On September 7, 2026, U.S. Southern Command's Joint Task Force Western Hemisphere intercepted and sank an Ecuadorian vessel in international waters of the eastern Pacific, alleging without independently disclosed evidence that it was a "floating refueling station" supporting Los Choneros, a group the U.S. has designated a foreign terrorist organization. Unlike most strikes in SOUTHCOM's broader anti-cartel campaign, the vessel's occupants were removed before it was sunk and transferred to Ecuadorian authorities rather than killed. It was the fifth such vessel SOUTHCOM has destroyed under this pattern since August 28, 2026, in under two weeks.

Extrajudicial actions

Sep 7

Washington Post revealed Defense Department stripped slavery context from Arlington's Confederate memorial marker

The Washington Post reported on September 7, 2026, that the Trump administration had removed language critical of Confederate history from a marker and Defense Department website describing the Confederate Memorial at Arlington National Cemetery; the exact date the text changed is not established in the reporting. The removed passages described the 32-foot bronze statue as presenting a "nostalgic, mythologized vision of the Confederacy, including highly sanitized depictions of slavery," and the replacement marker states only that the statue will return to the site in 2027 after conservation. The Defense Department referred questions to Arlington National Cemetery, which did not respond to the newspaper.

Historical revisionism

Sep 5

U.S. Central Command struck three Iranian oil tankers after Iran fired missiles at Navy warships, continuing war-powers-defiant Iran campaign

On September 5, 2026, U.S. Central Command struck three Iranian oil tankers — near Kharg Island, near Jask, and in the Gulf of Oman — after Iran fired ballistic missiles at a U.S. aircraft carrier and destroyer patrolling the region; both U.S. ships evaded the missiles and no personnel were hurt. CENTCOM permanently disabled two of the tankers and destroyed the third, with CENTCOM commander Adm. Brad Cooper saying on the record the U.S. would "destroy Iran's limited and exposed oil fleet" if necessary. The strikes continued a military campaign against Iran that has proceeded without new congressional authorization since Congress's June 2026 War Powers Resolution directed the president to end hostilities.

Sep 5

U.S. Southern Command destroyed multi-vessel Ecuadorian refueling station over unproven Los Choneros ties, fourth such strike in eight days

On September 5, 2026, U.S. Southern Command's Joint Task Force Western Hemisphere interdicted and destroyed a multi-vessel floating refueling station -- a main vessel and its attached support boats -- in international waters of the eastern Pacific, again alleging without independently disclosed evidence that it supported Los Choneros, a group the U.S. has designated a foreign terrorist organization. U.S. forces removed the main vessel's occupants and transferred them to Ecuadorian authorities before sinking it and the support vessels. It was the fourth of five such interdictions SOUTHCOM carried out under this capture-and-transfer pattern between August 28 and September 7, 2026, and the only one to destroy more than one vessel in a single operation.

Extrajudicial actions

Sep 4

Education Department stripped nonbinary-student data from civil rights collection, dropped decade-old summary report

On September 4, 2026, the U.S. Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights released its 2023-24 Civil Rights Data Collection with nonbinary-student data stripped from all 37 published files, citing President Trump's January 2025 executive order recognizing only two sexes. The department also eliminated the nonbinary-student category from the next collection cycle and discontinued the "First Look Report," the simplified public-summary format it had published for over a decade, leaving only raw data files for release.

Sep 4

ICE agents drove vehicles onto sidewalks and struck observers with batons during a Frederick, Maryland raid

On the evening of September 4, 2026, Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents drove vehicles onto sidewalks and struck observers with batons in Frederick, Maryland's Taskers Chance neighborhood, where agents had staked out a residence for roughly 40 hours pursuing a man ICE described as a "criminal illegal alien" who fled a vehicle stop. City Council President César Díaz and Vice President Katie Nash, both on scene, said observers formed a human barrier in front of the targeted home but were not violent; no arrests were made and it was not clear anyone inside the home was detained.

Sep 4

Trump threatened to halt trade with U.S. deficit countries unless the Federal Reserve lowered interest rates

President Trump posted on Truth Social on September 4, 2026, that he would halt trade with countries running a deficit with the United States -- including Canada, Mexico, European Union nations, and China -- unless the Federal Reserve cut interest rates, citing a Supreme Court tariff ruling as giving him "an absolute right" to condition trade this way. The threat extended a monthslong pressure campaign against the Fed's independence that has already included the removal of a Fed governor and a criminal probe of the former Fed chair. Trump said he speaks regularly with Kevin Warsh, the Fed chair he selected to succeed Jerome Powell.

Executive overreach

Sep 4

DHS retained unqualified contractor GardaWorld for court-ordered environmental review of Surprise, AZ ICE facility

On September 4, 2026, DHS attorneys disclosed in a federal court filing that ICE had retained GardaWorld -- the same contractor already paid $313.4 million to build and operate the planned Surprise, Arizona ICE detention facility -- to conduct the environmental review DHS agreed to complete before housing anyone there. The disclosure came in a status update required under a July 2026 agreement with Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes that paused her lawsuit alleging DHS fast-tracked the facility in violation of the National Environmental Policy Act. Federal procurement records show GardaWorld's roughly 70 prior federal contracts are almost entirely for security, food service and transportation work, and neither DHS nor GardaWorld would answer questions about the company's environmental-review qualifications.

Ignoring statutory requirements

Sep 4

DOJ opened investigation into Nevada Secretary of State Aguilar over refusal to share unredacted voter data

On September 4, 2026, the U.S. Department of Justice's Civil Rights Division, in a letter from acting voting-section chief Eric Neff, told Nevada Secretary of State Cisco Aguilar (D) that his office was under federal investigation for refusing to hand over the state's complete, unredacted voter registration list, and separately ordered Nevada to preserve all 2024 election records beyond the retention period federal law requires. The letter arrived about three weeks after a federal judge dismissed a DOJ lawsuit seeking the same voter data, a ruling DOJ is appealing. Aguilar, whose office is in Carson City, called the letter "a pretty direct threat" meant to intimidate him into complying.

Sep 4

DOJ pressured Mount Sinai Health System into ending gender-affirming care for minors in fourth hospital settlement

On September 4, 2026, the U.S. Department of Justice announced an agreement with Mount Sinai Health System requiring the New York City hospital system to stop providing gender-affirming care to transgender minors. Mount Sinai agreed to pay a monetary penalty and dedicate $2 million to free medical care for patients DOJ said were harmed by the care, while denying all of DOJ's allegations. DOJ said the agreement is the fourth it has reached with a hospital system over pediatric gender-affirming care, following Texas Children's Hospital, the Cleveland Clinic Foundation, and Connecticut Children's Hospital.

Targeting marginalized communities

Sep 3

Treasury and IRS proposed stripping tax-exempt status from 18,000 private schools over race-conscious policies

On September 3, 2026, the U.S. Department of the Treasury and the Internal Revenue Service issued proposed regulations (IR-2026-103) that would end Section 501(c)(3) tax-exempt status for private schools, colleges, and universities that adopt, maintain, or enforce race-conscious policies in admissions, scholarships, athletics, or other programs, including policies framed as diversity, equity, or inclusion. Treasury estimated the rule could affect as many as 18,000 institutions and cited Bob Jones University v. United States and Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard as legal basis; the rule would take effect for taxable years beginning May 31, 2027 or later.

Sep 3

Interior Secretary Burgum announced arch groundbreaking without final D.C. planning approval or congressional authorization

On September 3, 2026, Interior Secretary Doug Burgum announced that the National Park Service would begin excavation work within two weeks at Memorial Circle, near Arlington National Cemetery, for President Trump's proposed 250-foot "triumphal arch," even though the project has only preliminary approval from the National Capital Planning Commission, an incomplete FAA review, and no congressional authorization, which opponents say federal law requires for a commemorative work. Three Vietnam War veterans and an architectural historian, represented by Public Citizen, sued to block the project and sought an emergency restraining order. Government lawyers then told the court the imminent work was limited archaeological survey testing rather than construction, and a federal judge ordered the administration to give 48 hours' notice before any further work at the site.

Ignoring statutory requirements

Sep 3

DOJ issued seven FBI subpoenas for Nevada voter data amid its separate court fight for the same records

On September 3, 2026, the Nevada Secretary of State's office confirmed it had received seven U.S. Department of Justice subpoenas, issued through the FBI, seeking voter-related information over the preceding three months. The disclosure came about three weeks after a federal judge dismissed a separate DOJ lawsuit that had sought Nevada's complete, unredacted voter registration list -- the department's 22nd consecutive district-court loss in a nationwide campaign for state voter rolls -- which DOJ has since appealed to the Ninth Circuit. Nevada's office did not disclose what specific information the subpoenas sought.

Improper collection or dissemination of personal data

Sep 3

Politico revealed Kennedy and Hegseth had installed vaccine-skeptic Army doctor at HHS to probe vaccine deaths, a theory Pentagon data contradicted

Politico reported on September 3, 2026 that HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth had installed Army physician Col. Theresa Long inside HHS in Washington, D.C. as Kennedy's previously undisclosed "senior medical military adviser," tasked with investigating whether COVID-19 vaccines caused the deaths of 2,544 service members. Long, a long-standing vaccine skeptic, testified in an August 14, 2026 deposition that she is pursuing the claim even though a 2026 Pentagon report found no vaccine-linked deaths and only a short-term, non-sustained rise in heart-inflammation cases after vaccination. Kennedy has repeatedly called the vaccines "the most deadly vaccines in history," a characterization public health experts say is false.

Sep 3

U.S. Department of Justice fired career prosecutor who sought a stronger civil-rights charge against ICE officer in Minneapolis shooting

The U.S. Department of Justice fired career Assistant U.S. Attorney Matthew Evans on September 3, 2026, a day after ProPublica published an email in which he objected "in the strongest possible terms" to DOJ leadership's decision to charge ICE officer Christian Castro only with false statements, rather than a civil-rights offense, over the January 14, 2026 shooting of Venezuelan immigrant Julio Cesar Sosa-Celis in Minneapolis. Evans had told Sosa-Celis's attorneys the lesser charge was being "directed by the Main Justice and the US Attorney" despite his objections. The Justice Department disputed Evans's characterization of the investigation as concluded and said the civil-rights probe into Castro remains ongoing, while multiple news organizations separately reported that Evans is under investigation over the email's disclosure.

Sep 3

New York Times investigation revealed DHS interrogated and sidelined an ICE whistleblower who exposed hiring-vetting failures, he alleges

Reporting by The New York Times, published September 3, 2026, revealed that a 17-year ICE unit chief in the agency's Office of Professional Responsibility filed a complaint with the Department of Homeland Security's inspector general in August 2025 warning that ICE's hiring surge was making job offers before fingerprint, identity, and credit checks were complete. According to the whistleblower and his attorney, roughly ten days after he filed it, a DHS lawyer questioned him for four hours, confiscated his laptop, and placed him on leave for ten months over unspecified misconduct allegations; he was reinstated with no finding of wrongdoing and retired immediately after, in July 2026. ICE said the whistleblower was no longer with the agency and that it "diligently applies the proper personnel vetting regulations."

Retaliation against whistleblowers

Sep 2

DOJ legal opinion expanded welfare-reporting mandate to all state agencies, tying future TANF/SSI funding to reporting immigrants to DHS

On September 2, 2026, the U.S. Department of Justice's Office of Legal Counsel issued a legal opinion, authored by Deputy Assistant Attorney General Joshua Craddock, concluding that all state agencies -- not only those administering welfare benefits -- must report individuals a state believes are unlawfully present to the Department of Homeland Security as a condition of continued Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) and Supplemental Security Income (SSI) funding. The opinion reverses a narrower 1998 OLC interpretation that limited the reporting duty to the specific agencies administering those programs; DOJ said states will not lose funding already disbursed but risk losing future TANF and SSI dollars if they do not comply.

Coercive funding leverage

Sep 2

U.S. Southern Command destroyed Ecuadorian vessel over unproven Los Choneros ties, second such strike in five days

On September 2, 2026, U.S. Southern Command's Joint Task Force Western Hemisphere intercepted and sank a second Ecuadorian vessel in international waters of the eastern Pacific, five days after a first, again alleging without independently disclosed evidence that it was a "floating refueling station" supporting Los Choneros, a group the U.S. has designated a foreign terrorist organization. U.S. forces removed the vessel's occupants and transferred them to Ecuadorian authorities before sinking it. It was the second of five such vessels SOUTHCOM destroyed under this capture-and-transfer pattern between August 28 and September 7, 2026.

Extrajudicial actions

Sep 2

DHS Secretary Mullin asked DOJ to investigate voter-data nonprofits ERIC and CEIR over disputed privacy-law claims

On September 2, 2026, Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin sent Attorney General Todd Blanche a letter asking the Justice Department to investigate the Electronic Registration Information Center (ERIC) and the Center for Election Innovation & Research (CEIR) for allegedly violating the federal Driver's Privacy Protection Act by sharing state motor-vehicle and voter data. The letter, released publicly by the White House on September 4, also asked DOJ to review whether certain ballot-marking devices comply with federal law. CEIR's executive director denied the allegations, and a federal judge had already dismissed a similar civil suit against the group as frivolous in June 2026.

Politicized investigations

Sep 1

U.S. Central Command struck roughly 100 Iranian targets under new 'tanker for tanker' policy, continuing war-powers-defiant Iran campaign

On September 1, 2026, U.S. Central Command struck roughly 100 Iranian military targets — including two Iranian government tankers, IRGC air-defense sites, radar systems, and anti-ship missile launchers — under a newly approved "tanker for tanker" policy aimed at deterring Iranian attacks on Gulf shipping. The strikes continued a military campaign against Iran that has proceeded without new congressional authorization since lawmakers passed a bicameral War Powers Resolution in June 2026 directing the president to end hostilities. Iran retaliated with roughly 25 ballistic missiles and drone attacks on U.S. bases in Jordan, Bahrain, and Kuwait, most of which were intercepted.

Sep 1

DHS launched criminal voter-fraud investigation surge across nine states ahead of midterms

On September 1, 2026, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, through Secretary Markwayne Mullin, directed Homeland Security Investigations -- an ICE component that ordinarily handles trafficking, smuggling, and child-exploitation cases -- to begin a coordinated criminal voter-fraud investigation surge in nine states: Washington, Wisconsin, Missouri, Georgia, California, Pennsylvania, Nevada, New York, and Connecticut. Internal DHS guidance reviewed by CNN directs field interviews and investigative leads through mid-October, timed to the run-up to the 2026 midterm elections, even as the department's own internal records show it substantiated only 185 of the roughly 16,000 noncitizen voter registrations it had publicly claimed to find in Nevada.

Politicized investigations

Sep 1

Guardian investigation revealed Pentagon AI chief Emil Michael's millions in disclosed Perplexity and Brex stock sales

On September 1, 2026, the Guardian reported that Emil Michael, the Pentagon's Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering and the official who oversees the department's dealings with AI firms, sold his shares in AI search company Perplexity in June 2026 for between $5 million and $25 million, having kept the equity and a $250,000-$500,000 personal loan from the company after resigning its advisory board on entering government. The same disclosures showed Michael sold Brex LLC holdings for at least $5 million in April 2026, a gain of at least 473%, around the time Brex was acquired by Capital One. Former White House ethics lawyer Richard Painter said Michael "should have sold all interest in the company before he started working"; a Pentagon spokesperson said Michael is in full compliance with ethics laws.

Self-dealing

Sep 1

U.S. Department of Justice sued Kansas City, Kansas Public Schools over transgender-student privacy policy, first such suit filed nationally

On September 1, 2026, the U.S. Department of Justice's Civil Rights Division, joined by the U.S. Attorney for the District of Kansas, filed a federal lawsuit against Kansas City, Kansas Public Schools (USD 500), seeking an injunction against the district's internal guidance directing staff to help students socially transition at school without notifying or obtaining parental consent. DOJ called it the first such lawsuit it has filed nationally, following a July 2026 threat to sue and freeze the district's federal funding over the same policy. KCKPS said it is in full compliance with federal law and declined further comment given the pending litigation.

Sep 1

San Francisco Chronicle investigation revealed CBP held dozens of SFO detainees, including green-card holders, beyond 72-hour legal limit

A San Francisco Chronicle investigation published September 1, 2026 found that U.S. Customs and Border Protection has held at least 25 people beyond its own 72-hour detention limit at San Francisco International Airport through July 2026, 19 of them lawful permanent residents; one detainee spent eight days without a bed or shower, and another went without diabetes medication for eight days until paramedics were called. Rep. Kevin Mullin, whose district includes SFO, conducted an unannounced oversight visit the same day and said CBP officers acknowledged the extended holds reflect "a definitive policy shift from the Trump administration."

Aug 31

Former USCIS Senior Immigration Services Officer Lukman Ganiyu charged in $960,000 bribery scheme to fast-track green cards, citizenship

A federal criminal complaint filed August 31, 2026 in the Northern District of Texas charged former USCIS Senior Immigration Services Officer Lukman Owolabi Ganiyu and an associate, Adeniyi Akeem Somoye, with conspiracy to receive illegal gratuities by a public official. Prosecutors allege that from December 2019 through March 2026, Ganiyu used his USCIS access to reroute and approve immigration applications from field offices outside his own jurisdiction — including Minneapolis, Charlotte, and Houston — bypassing required interviews, background checks, and supervisory review, in exchange for roughly $960,000 in payments funneled through Somoye. Ganiyu, who according to court filings had been promoted to Senior Immigration Services Officer in a USCIS office in Dallas in April 2024, resigned from the agency in March 2026.

Bribery

Aug 31

ICE denied transgender women hormone therapy and gender-affirming care at Eloy and Aurora detention facilities

An August 31, 2026 LOOKOUT investigation documented transgender women detained by ICE at the Eloy Detention Center in Arizona and the Aurora ICE Processing Center in Colorado being denied hormone therapy and other gender-affirming medical care, producing menopause-like symptoms, severe psychological distress, and increased suicidal ideation; one detainee, identified only as Valentina, went 22 days without hormones and was later held in isolation for nine days over an unsubstantiated accusation. The denials followed a series of 2025-2026 federal policy changes, including a Bureau of Prisons halt on gender-affirming care, a Justice Department narrowing of PREA protections for LGBTQ+ detainees, and Aurora's dismantling of one of its two transgender housing pods, and a separate New York Times investigation independently confirmed the Department of Homeland Security has curtailed specialized transgender care at detention centers nationwide.

Denial of custodial medical care

Aug 31

DOJ issued grand jury subpoena to Comey associate Daniel Richman in revived leak investigation

On August 31, 2026, federal prosecutors in the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of Florida issued a grand jury subpoena to Daniel Richman, a longtime friend and legal adviser to former FBI Director James Comey, reviving a years-old investigation into whether Comey used Richman to leak sensitive memos about his conversations with President Trump to The New York Times. The subpoena is the first expansion of the investigation to reach Richman himself since Joe DiGenova, a Trump-aligned former U.S. Attorney, took over its leadership after career prosecutors resisted pursuing a broader "grand conspiracy" case against former CIA Director John Brennan.

Politicized investigations

Aug 31

Colorado Newsline reported ICE held protected T-visa applicant 120+ days, then released him out of state without ID

Colorado Newsline reported on August 31, 2026 that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement held Rudy Villeda Mejía, a Honduran national with a pending T-visa application, at its Aurora, Colorado facility for more than 120 days despite a May 2026 federal court order barring ICE from detaining pending T-visa applicants. ICE transported him to a staging facility in Louisiana in early August, and shortly after his arrival a judge ordered his release on August 3 and barred his re-detention, but ICE released him there without his passport or work permit, leaving his family and attorney unable to locate him for a period before he was able to return home.

Aug 30

U.S. Central Command struck Iranian rocket launchers near Larak Island, resuming Iran strikes in defiance of the bicameral war-powers resolution

On August 30, 2026, U.S. Central Command struck Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps rocket launchers and sea mines near Larak Island in the Strait of Hormuz, the first confirmed U.S. military action against Iran in roughly a month. The strike came without new congressional authorization, continuing a campaign that has proceeded since Congress passed a bicameral War Powers Resolution in June 2026 directing the president to end hostilities with Iran. Iran acknowledged casualties among its forces and retaliated with ballistic missiles fired at U.S. bases in Jordan, which Jordan's armed forces said they intercepted.

Aug 30

Trump threatened to report NBC's Kristen Welker to the FCC for 'rebuke or punishment' over her endorsement-record coverage

On August 30, 2026, President Trump posted on Truth Social that NBC's Kristen Welker would be reported to the FCC for "rebuke or punishment" after she described his primary-endorsement record as producing "mixed results." Trump called Welker's characterization "purposeful inaccuracy" and urged FCC Chairman Brendan Carr to "take this Threat to our Country very seriously." CNN reported the posts were Trump's most explicit effort yet to direct the FCC against a broadcaster over its coverage, though the agency's own website states it cannot penalize a broadcast for its viewpoint.

Licensing or regulatory power as leverage

Aug 30

Washington Post investigation reveals Pentagon secretly placed conservative social-media influencers into paid civilian defense roles

The Washington Post reported on August 30, 2026 that the Pentagon had quietly placed at least three retired military officers with large social-media followings — Rob Maness, Kurt Schlichter, and Thomas Anderson, who posts as "Cynical Publius" — into paid civilian Defense Department positions in the office of Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness Anthony Tata. The three continued using their platforms to amplify Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth's messaging while holding the government roles, and the Pentagon declined to answer questions about their salary, duties, or duration of service.

Politicization of uniformed services

Aug 30

ICE-led raid detained 100+ people at Memphis nightclub without individualized suspicion, witnesses said

Before dawn on August 30, 2026, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Homeland Security Investigations, and the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation conducted a raid at El Corralón, a bar in Memphis' Berclair neighborhood, detaining more than 100 patrons and employees and loading them onto buses and vans. Federal officials characterized the action as execution of a search warrant tied to a gambling-machine and drug investigation, but witnesses and advocacy groups said the operation swept up people regardless of individual involvement, separating parents from children. Memphis Police said they had no role in planning or executing the raid, responding only to assist with traffic and crowd control.

Aug 28

Interior Secretary Burgum and White House official Haley threatened to cut federal support for Smithsonian over museum's Interpretive Plan

On August 28, 2026, Interior Secretary Doug Burgum and White House Domestic Policy Council Director Vince Haley sent a letter to the Smithsonian Institution's Board of Regents warning that federal agencies could no longer, "in good conscience," continue loaning artifacts, assisting with procurement, or making discretionary grants to the Smithsonian unless the National Museum of American History revised its Interpretive Plan. The letter called the plan's direction to tie exhibits to topics including race and identity, gender and sexuality, and immigration an "ideological agenda," and requested an in-person meeting with the Board of Regents; the Smithsonian declined to comment.

Coercive funding leverage

Aug 28

American Oversight FOIA release revealed DHS memo on deputizing National Guard as immigration officers to sidestep Posse Comitatus Act

On August 28, 2026, American Oversight released records obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, revealing an April 2025 memo from the Department of Homeland Security's Office of the General Counsel to all state attorneys general. The memo lays out a two-step legal theory -- federalizing National Guard members under Title 10, then deputizing them as immigration officers under 8 U.S.C. Section 1103(a)(6) -- that DHS argues sidesteps the Posse Comitatus Act's restriction on using the military for domestic civilian law enforcement. Politico first reported the records the same day.

Domestic deployment overreach

Aug 28

U.S. Southern Command destroyed Ecuadorian vessel over unproven Los Choneros ties, first strike in a five-strike capture-and-transfer pattern

On August 28, 2026, U.S. Southern Command's Joint Task Force Western Hemisphere intercepted and sank an Ecuadorian vessel in international waters of the eastern Pacific, alleging without independently disclosed evidence that it was a "floating refueling station" supporting Los Choneros, a group the U.S. has designated a foreign terrorist organization. Marines and sailors launched from USS San Antonio removed the vessel's occupants and transferred them to Ecuadorian authorities before sinking it. It was the first of five vessels SOUTHCOM destroyed under this capture-and-transfer pattern between August 28 and September 7, 2026.

Extrajudicial actions

Aug 28

NOTUS investigation revealed Interior Department pressuring National Park Service to trade Yosemite land to a private developer

NOTUS reported on August 28, 2026, that National Park Service staff, under sustained pressure from U.S. Department of the Interior political leadership, have spent more than a year quietly working to arrange a land exchange inside Yosemite National Park for a company controlled by developer Kingsbarn Realty Capital, which would let Kingsbarn build a private access road into the park from its adjacent 83-acre parcel. Sources familiar with the discussions described the political pressure on Park Service staff as "very unusual," and the Park Service had rejected the same access request from the property's prior owner repeatedly over the preceding two decades. No final decision has been made, and Interior and Kingsbarn both said any exchange would proceed only through the normal legal and environmental review process.

Procurement irregularities

Aug 27

DOJ sued Washington, Arizona, New Mexico, and Oregon to block in-state tuition and aid for undocumented students, bringing its total to 21 states

On August 27, 2026, the U.S. Department of Justice filed four separate lawsuits against Washington, Arizona, New Mexico, and Oregon, seeking to block each state's law granting in-state tuition and financial aid to undocumented students. The complaints argue the laws unlawfully grant noncitizens benefits unavailable to U.S. citizens living outside the state, in violation of federal law. DOJ said the filings bring its litigation campaign to 21 states, following earlier suits that resulted in injunctions in Texas, Kentucky, Oklahoma, Nebraska, and Illinois.

Aug 27

ProPublica investigation revealed Pinellas County Jail systematically rebooked immigrant detainees to evade 72-hour ICE hold limit

A ProPublica investigation published August 27, 2026 found that Pinellas County Jail in Clearwater, Florida repeatedly released and re-admitted immigrant detainees at 72-hour intervals to evade the legal limit on how long county jails may hold people on civil ICE detainers, rebooking at least 174 immigrants two or more times between July 2025 and July 2026 -- a volume unmatched by any other jail nationwide. Soumia Bensalah, a French-Moroccan woman with a pending green-card application, was shuttled to an ICE hold room and back five times in December 2025 before being deported to France, while a separate Mexican woman was rebooked ten times, spending a cumulative 26 days in the jail. DHS and the Pinellas County Sheriff's Office defended the jail's practices on the record, while legal experts called the pattern unconstitutional detention that typically occurs in secret.

Aug 27

ICE agents tased and kicked a restrained Danbury, Connecticut man during an arrest, then moved him before family could reach him

ICE agents arrested a construction worker in Danbury, Connecticut on the morning of August 27, 2026, pulling him from his car, pinning him face down on a driveway, and tasing him twice while he was restrained; video appears to show an agent kicking him as well. An ambulance took him to Danbury Hospital, where ICE blocked his family and attorney from seeing him before transporting him to Hartford; Mayor Roberto Alves intervened by phone with the hospital but the man had already been moved. The arrest was part of a week-long ICE enforcement surge in Danbury that advocates say detained nearly 60 people.

Violence in immigration enforcement

Aug 26

DOJ's Chicago immigration court ordered removal of six unaccompanied minors with pending SIJS applications

On August 26, 2026, an immigration judge presiding over Chicago's downtown immigration court ordered the removal of six unaccompanied immigrant children, ages 12 to 17, despite each having a pending Special Immigrant Juvenile Status (SIJS) application -- a status Congress created to protect immigrant children who were abused, abandoned, or neglected. Advocates said the court has, since June 2026, been requiring these children to appear every two weeks instead of the periodic check-ins historically used while SIJS applications are pending, and a DOJ spokesperson defended the accelerated pace as needed to reduce the immigration court's case backlog.

Denial of due process in immigration enforcement

Aug 26

MS NOW investigation reveals troops were ordered to carry out Iran and boat strikes they say violate international law

In an investigation published August 26, 2026, MS NOW reported that multiple U.S. service members described being ordered to carry out military strikes they believe violate international law, including strikes on Iranian infrastructure they said were not military targets and strikes on suspected drug-trafficking boats without confirming who was aboard. The service members, who spoke anonymously to protect pending conscientious-objector applications, said the Center on Conscience and War has seen conscientious-objector applications rise sixfold since the U.S. war with Iran began in February 2026 -- the sharpest increase the group has recorded in 25 years.

Extrajudicial actions

Aug 26

CBP border-wall contractors drilled unauthorized wells in New Mexico groundwater basins, allegedly tampered with meters to hide water diverted

On August 26, 2026, New Mexico's Office of the State Engineer sued the United States and three border-wall contractors — Barnard Construction Company Inc., Wyatt Drilling Arizona LLC, and Cascade Drilling LP — alleging they drilled water wells without required state authorization in the Mimbres, Hachita, and Lower Rio Grande groundwater basins to supply border-wall construction, and tampered with a totalizing meter to conceal how much water was diverted. State Engineer Elizabeth K. Anderson said the state would seek double repayment for all illegally diverted groundwater. The suit follows earlier August 2026 reporting that the state had already threatened to revoke the contractors' drilling licenses over the same unauthorized wells.

Ignoring statutory requirements

Aug 26

HHS published a report tying gender-affirming care to left-wing authoritarianism and political violence, using an unvalidated survey scale

On August 26, 2026, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services published a report, commissioned through its Office of Population Affairs, claiming that support for gender-affirming care correlates with left-wing authoritarian psychology and a greater willingness to justify political violence. The report, co-authored by Network Contagion Research Institute head Joel Finkelstein, Manhattan Institute fellow Colin Wright, Rutgers professor Lee Jussim, and Rutgers students Ohad Fedida and Danit Finkelstein, relied on a newly created survey scale that independent researchers said had never been validated and was designed to produce the correlation it found. Civil-liberties and LGBTQ-rights organizations, along with outside academics, called the report's methodology invalid and its framing "nakedly political."

State-sponsored disinformation

Aug 26

U.S. Treasury designated Palestine Action a terrorist group, criminalizing U.S. support for the UK protest group

On August 26, 2026, the U.S. Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control designated Palestine Action -- a United Kingdom-based direct-action group that has damaged property at defense-contractor sites -- a Specially Designated Global Terrorist under Executive Order 13224, alongside two other groups. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent announced the action from Washington, D.C., framing it as combating "far-left terrorism"; the designation freezes Palestine Action's U.S. assets and makes it a federal crime for any U.S. person to provide funds, goods, or services to the group, reaching American donors and supporters even though the conduct Treasury cited occurred in the UK.

Targeting critics with government power

Aug 25

DOJ, Education Department threatened enforcement action against two Kansas school districts over gender-identity privacy policies

The U.S. Department of Education's Student Privacy Policy Office announced on August 25, 2026 that it would partner with the DOJ Civil Rights Division to pursue enforcement measures — including potential legal action and loss of federal funding — against Kansas's Olathe and Shawnee Mission school districts after both refused to sign voluntary resolution agreements addressing an April 2026 finding that their gender-identity privacy policies violate FERPA. Topeka Public Schools, found to have the same violation, separately entered a resolution agreement the same day requiring it to end "gender support plans" and revise its guidance; Olathe and Shawnee Mission continue to dispute that their policies violate federal law.

Aug 25

Reporting revealed State Department had paused immigrant-visa interviews worldwide since early August

On August 25, 2026, reporting revealed that the State Department had paused immigrant-visa interview appointments at U.S. embassies and consulates worldwide, notifying applicants by email that their appointments were being rescheduled. A State Department official said the pause began in early August 2026 as part of a global training initiative for consular officers evaluating whether applicants are "likely to become a public charge" reliant on U.S. assistance. The pause came days after a federal judge struck down the department's earlier suspension of immigrant-visa processing for 75 countries under the same public-charge rationale, ruling it exceeded the Secretary of State's statutory authority.

Executive overreach

Aug 25

CBP's Border Patrol SWAT team blockaded Tohono O'odham police to shield border-wall contractors from trespass citations

Before dawn on August 25, 2026, roughly 20 masked, armed U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents -- including the Border Patrol's BORTAC tactical unit -- entered Tohono O'odham Nation land, escorted border-wall contractors to construction sites, and set up a vehicle blockade to keep Tohono O'odham Police Department officers from citing or removing them. CBP Commissioner Rodney Scott said "a federal court has affirmed" the project; multiple outlets reported the August 14 ruling he cited only denied a preliminary injunction and neither affirmed the project nor dismissed the Nation's pending lawsuit.

Aug 25

DOJ sued Franklin County Municipal Court to strike down its ban on warrantless ICE arrests at the courthouse

On August 25, 2026, the U.S. Department of Justice sued the Franklin County Municipal Court in Columbus, Ohio, naming Administrative and Presiding Judge Jessica D'Varga and the court's director of security, Enoch White, seeking to strike down the court's Rule 2.10 barring civil ICE arrests of people present for court proceedings or other lawful court business. The suit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Ohio, argues the March 2026 rule violates the Constitution's Supremacy Clause and asks the court to permanently enjoin its enforcement. It is the latest in a Justice Department litigation campaign against local and state measures restricting ICE courthouse and field operations.

Aug 25

JTF Western Hemisphere killed 4 aboard suspected narcotics vessel in Caribbean Sea; 68th strike, ~227 campaign deaths

On August 25, 2026, Joint Task Force Western Hemisphere — the U.S. Southern Command unit that replaced Joint Task Force Southern Spear earlier that month — carried out its 68th lethal strike on a suspected drug-trafficking vessel in the Caribbean Sea, killing four people without charge, trial, or any attempt at interdiction. The strike, ordered under SOUTHCOM Commander Gen. Francis L. Donovan, brought the campaign's confirmed death toll to at least 227 people across 68 strikes since September 2025.

Aug 25

DHS requested a contractor to collect voter registration and history files from all 50 states annually for ICE fraud detection

On August 25, 2026, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security published a request for information — the first step in a federal contracting process — seeking a third-party contractor to collect voter registration files and, where available, public voter history files from all 50 states, the District of Columbia, and U.S. territories on an annual basis. DHS said the data would support "fraud detection and data segmentation" operations run by Homeland Security Investigations, ICE's investigative arm, that the effort would start with a limited number of jurisdictions but could expand, and that no contract has yet been awarded. The RFI follows a July 2026 White House speech in which President Trump alleged foreign interference in state voter data and comes amid a broader administration campaign to compel and cross-reference state voter rolls.

Improper collection or dissemination of personal data

Aug 24

CENTCOM official confirmed secret blacklist of journalists who call the command too often

On August 24, 2026, The Intercept reported that a U.S. Central Command public affairs official, Richard Allee, confirmed on the record that the command maintains a secret internal list of journalists to "disregard," and told an Intercept reporter he could be added to it for calling too often. CENTCOM's press office separately denied in writing that any "blacklist" exists, directly contradicting Allee's own on-record confirmation.

Access restrictions targeting critical outlets

Aug 24

West Point ordered professor to stop teaching human-caused climate change, then declined to renew his contract after he objected, lawsuit says

Adam Kalkstein, a tenured geography professor who taught climatology at the United States Military Academy for 17 years, sued West Point and three administrators in federal court on August 24, 2026, alleging he was pushed out for refusing to comply with a directive -- issued on White House orders -- to stop teaching cadets that human activity is a primary driver of climate change. According to the lawsuit, West Point stripped Kalkstein of tenure in 2025, ordered the geography department in September 2025 to stop teaching anthropogenic climate change under threat of dissolving the department, and declined to renew his contract in 2026 after he protested the directive to the academy dean. West Point said in a statement it was aware of the allegations but declined further comment.

Aug 24

U.S. Air Force charged Maj. Jason Watson with Article 88 contemptuous-words violations over his public criticism of Trump

U.S. Air Force prosecutors charged Maj. Jason Watson on August 24, 2026 with three violations of UCMJ Article 88 for contemptuous remarks about President Trump, five violations of Article 92 for disobeying orders, and two violations of Article 133 for conduct unbecoming an officer, according to a charging document his attorney shared with CNN; an Air Force spokesperson confirmed the charges the following day. The charges stem from a June newsletter interview, a July 1 protest in uniform at the U.S. Capitol calling for Trump's impeachment, and an August 17 CNN interview in which Watson said Trump was "flagrantly violating the Constitution" and "killing Americans." Watson's attorney said he is believed to be among the first officers of his rank charged under Article 88 in modern military history, and Watson remains in pre-trial confinement.

Aug 24

AP investigation revealed State Department preparing to revoke B1/B2 visas of up to 200,000 asylum seekers

The Associated Press reported on August 24, 2026 that the State Department, coordinating with the Department of Homeland Security, is preparing to revoke B1/B2 business and tourism visas from as many as 200,000 people who have applied for or are currently seeking asylum in the United States. State Department spokesman Tommy Pigott confirmed on the record that the department is working with DHS to identify and revoke visas from people who entered as short-term visitors and later filed for asylum. Officials said the action, targeting visas issued between 2016 and 2026 on a rolling basis, would be the largest mass visa revocation in U.S. history.

Targeting marginalized communities

Aug 23

JTF Western Hemisphere killed 2 aboard suspected narcotics vessel in eastern Pacific; 67th strike, ~223 campaign deaths

On August 23, 2026, Joint Task Force Western Hemisphere — the U.S. Southern Command unit that replaced Joint Task Force Southern Spear earlier that month — carried out its 67th lethal strike on a suspected drug-trafficking vessel in the eastern Pacific, killing two people without charge, trial, or any attempt at interdiction. It was the first publicly announced strike under the new task force name and ended a 63-day pause in the campaign, the longest interruption since strikes began in September 2025. The strike brought the campaign's reported death toll to approximately 223 people across 67 strikes.

Aug 22

CoreCivic staff pepper-sprayed and dispersed protesting detainees at Natchez ICE facility after halting hot food and water, detainee said

On Saturday evening, August 22, 2026, an estimated 80-100 detainees held in two housing pods at CoreCivic's Adams County Correctional Center, an ICE detention facility in Natchez, Mississippi, protested outside the cafeteria after the facility halted hot meals and hot water and served a lunch of two flour tortillas and sliced bologna. CoreCivic's special response team, in riot gear, dispersed the protest soon after; detainee Melvin Funez said the team sprayed some detainees and threw others to the ground before locking the dormitory doors. The facility, which CoreCivic operates under contract with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, was holding roughly 2,500 people in a space designed for 2,300.

Corrections abuse

Aug 22

Border Patrol arrested Key West father of deployed USS Lincoln sailor; DHS held him for deportation despite no criminal record

On August 22, 2026, U.S. Border Patrol agents arrested Luis Manuel Aviles Roa, a 48-year-old Key West, Florida handyman, during a traffic stop while his son Joshua was nine months into a deployment aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln. Aviles, a Nicaragua native who has lived in the U.S. for about 19 years, was placed in ICE custody pending deportation; his wife said he holds a work permit and the family says he has no criminal record, while DHS confirmed the arrest, said he entered the country illegally, and did not dispute the absence of a criminal record. DHS said in a statement that "having a family member in the military is not a free pass to violate our nation's laws."

Denial of due process in immigration enforcement

Aug 21

DOJ attached immigration-enforcement conditions to FY2026 law-enforcement and juvenile-justice grants, lawsuit alleges

A coalition of 22 states and the District of Columbia sued the U.S. Department of Justice in Rhode Island federal court on August 21, 2026, alleging that DOJ had attached four new civil-immigration-enforcement conditions to fiscal year 2026 Edward Byrne Memorial Justice Assistance (Byrne JAG), juvenile-justice, and crisis-intervention grants, most of which were awarded in July 2026. The conditions require states to notify federal immigration agents of a detainee's release date on request and bar restricting the sharing of a person's immigration status with federal agents, among other terms. The states said DOJ used the same tactic on Victims of Crime Act grants in 2025 before an earlier multistate lawsuit forced it to remove those conditions.

Coercive funding leverage

Aug 21

Polk County deputies and ICE detained injured Ecuadorian mother and daughter at Florida hospital, refusing to show a warrant

On August 21, 2026, Polk County Sheriff's deputies and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents handcuffed and removed Grace Stephanie Calero Cabanilla, 39, and her daughter Giulianna Mía Carriel Calero, 19, from HCA Florida Poinciana Hospital in Kissimmee, one day after a car crash left both women hospitalized. A deputy questioned Calero Cabanilla about her immigration status while she was still being treated, then contacted ICE, which lodged detainers describing both women as having overstayed their visas; family members say Calero Cabanilla held a pending asylum case and work permit and that her daughter's visa was valid until 2030, claims neither ICE nor the sheriff's office has addressed.

Aug 21

Trump administration redirected $500 million clean-steel grant to fund coal-fired furnace at Ohio steel mill

On August 21, 2026, the U.S. Department of Energy announced it had redirected a $500 million grant, originally awarded to Cleveland-Cliffs in March 2024 to decarbonize its Middletown, Ohio, steel mill, to instead fund continued operation of the plant's coal-fired blast furnace. The grant was restructured after Cleveland-Cliffs said the "green premium" business case for the original hydrogen-ready project no longer held; DOE Secretary Chris Wright and Vice President JD Vance, a Middletown native, appeared at the plant to promote the change. A former DOE official said the revised scope conflicts with the Inflation Reduction Act's statutory definition of eligible "advanced industrial technology," which requires funded projects to accelerate progress toward net-zero emissions.

Politicized benefit administration

Aug 21

Pentagon fired Stars and Stripes publisher, editor-in-chief, reporter for insubordination Slavin says was CBS News interview on Pentagon interference

The Pentagon on August 21, 2026, issued separation notices to Stars and Stripes publisher Max D. Lederer Jr., editor-in-chief Erik Slavin, and Middle East correspondent Lara Korte, citing insubordination. The stated cause traced to a CBS News interview in which Slavin and Korte discussed Pentagon pressure on the outlet's editorial independence and said they would not accept censorship of coverage for service members. All three were given five days to appeal the terminations.

Press retaliation

Aug 20

Newsday reporting revealed HUD withdrew its own finding that Hempstead, NY housing authority discriminated against disabled, Black residents

Newsday reported on August 20, 2026, that HUD's director of compliance and disability rights, Andrew Hill, had notified the Town of Hempstead (NY) Housing Authority that HUD was withdrawing its own 2024 finding that the authority used an illegal point system to discriminate against disabled applicants and to "systematically" further racial segregation on its public-housing waitlist. The reversal came days after a Newsday investigation made the previously undisclosed finding public, without the housing authority requesting reversal and without HUD referring the matter to the Justice Department or withholding funding as it could have done instead.

Narrowing civil-rights protections

Aug 20

Deportees say ICE agents assaulted, restrained, and denied them medical care and bathroom access on Liberia deportation flight

On August 20, 2026, deportees said U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents beat, restrained, and denied them medical care and bathroom access during a roughly 14-hour deportation flight from Louisiana to Monrovia, Liberia, the first of an expected 1,200 people to be sent to Liberia under a third-country deportation arrangement. Deportees said agents beat those who resisted, denied a Cuban national with a surgically repaired abdominal wound access to a toilet and later knelt on his abdomen on the tarmac, and held others for days without beds in an unheated room. The Department of Homeland Security denied several of these specific claims on the record but did not address most of the deportees' other allegations.

Aug 19

U.S. Education Department opened Title VI investigation into Milwaukee schools over race-conscious discipline

On August 19, 2026, the U.S. Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights notified Milwaukee Public Schools that it is investigating whether the district's student-discipline practices improperly use race, one of two Title VI investigations the department opened that day. The department's statement, issued alongside new Title VI guidance barring race-conscious discipline, said Milwaukee education leaders had "derided facially neutral school policies as reflecting systemic 'whiteness,'" without specifying what triggered the probe.

Aug 19

ICE arrested two people en route to medical appointments in Santa Fe clinic parking lot

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents arrested Edgar Chacon-Miranda and Adriana Ruiz in Santa Fe, New Mexico on August 19, 2026, as both were on their way to medical appointments. Chacon-Miranda was detained in the parking lot of La Familia Health's Alto Street clinic in front of his 11-year-old daughter; DHS cited a prior criminal charge that Chacon-Miranda's attorney says was dismissed and that does not preclude the lawful permanent resident status he qualifies for. Ruiz was separately taken into custody after agents allegedly gave a false vehicle description to identify her; her family could not confirm her whereabouts or whether she received medical care afterward.

Aug 18

POGO investigation found ICE inflated detention facility ratings while cutting inspections and weakening standards

A Project On Government Oversight investigation with American University's Investigative Reporting Workshop, published August 18, 2026, found that ICE's Office of Detention Oversight nearly tripled "Superior" ratings for detention facilities since fiscal year 2024 while recorded violations fell nearly 70 percent between fiscal years 2022 and 2025. The investigation found ICE eliminated a congressional twice-yearly inspection requirement in 2025 and adopted 2026 detention standards that dropped mandatory water testing and detainee wage protections, even as a California Department of Justice report, a federal judge's order, and Disability Rights California documented ongoing medical-care and water-quality failures at facilities ICE rated favorably. The detained population passed 65,000 in 2026, and 2025 was the deadliest year in ICE custody since 2004.

Aug 18

Trump falsely claimed a flawed, unauthored Census Bureau report proved over 24,000 noncitizens voted illegally in 2020

On August 18, 2026, President Trump cited an unauthored, seven-page Census Bureau report as proof that over 24,000 noncitizens voted illegally in the 2020 election and urged Congress to pass the SAVE Act. Data and election experts, along with a Census Bureau employee, said the report departed from the bureau's normal practice -- it carried no named author, was not produced by career civil servants, and used a matching methodology multiple experts called unreliable. The disputed figure represents about 0.02% of the 128 million voter records analyzed.

Election misinformation

Aug 18

DOJ election observers exceeded legal scope, demanded records, sought voter interviews at Laramie County, Wyoming polls, clerk and governor say

During Wyoming's August 18, 2026 primary election, two U.S. Department of Justice Civil Rights Division attorneys deployed to Laramie County questioned poll administrators about matters Clerk Debra Lee said were outside the scope of federal voting rights law, requested poll-worker training materials and equipment-acquisition records, sought to examine vote tabulators, and attempted to interview voters — a request Lee denied. Wyoming Gov. Mark Gordon subsequently asked Attorney General Ryan Schelhaas to examine whether the observers exceeded the authority Congress granted them.

Aug 18

Former Fauci adviser David Morens pleaded guilty to conspiring to conceal COVID-19 origin records from FOIA requesters

David Morens, a former senior adviser in the NIH's National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) Office of the Director who worked under then-NIAID Director Anthony Fauci, pleaded guilty on August 18, 2026, in U.S. District Court in Greenbelt, Maryland, to a federal conspiracy charge for scheming to evade Freedom of Information Act and Federal Records Act requirements. Prosecutors said Morens and a co-conspirator used his personal Gmail account, rather than his official NIH email, to hide communications about COVID-19-origins research funding -- including efforts to restore a terminated NIH coronavirus grant tied to the Wuhan Institute of Virology -- from public disclosure between roughly April 2020 and December 2022, and that Morens accepted wine and meals as an illegal gratuity for advocacy work favorable to that co-conspirator's interests.

Aug 18

DOJ whistleblower complaint alleged antisemitism task force rigged Harvard, Columbia and Brown Title VI probes to extract settlements

Former DOJ Civil Rights Division attorney Haley Van Erem filed a whistleblower complaint on August 18, 2026 with the DOJ and HHS inspectors general and the Office of Special Counsel, alleging that the interagency antisemitism task force's Title VI investigations of Harvard, Columbia and Brown had predetermined outcomes without factual or legal support and were marked by "extraordinary procedural irregularities." Van Erem, who worked on the task force before leaving DOJ in May 2025, said the effort was a "politically mandated" campaign to extract settlement money rather than enforce civil-rights law; Columbia settled for $200 million and Brown for $50 million, while a federal judge separately dismissed the related lawsuit against Harvard. A DOJ spokesperson said the department "stands behind the integrity" of the investigations.

Aug 18

Pentagon forced out longtime Stars and Stripes publisher amid clash over editorial independence, USS Lincoln coverage

Max D. Lederer Jr., publisher of the military newspaper Stars and Stripes for nearly 20 years, announced his retirement on August 18, 2026, citing "fundamental differences" with the direction Pentagon leadership was taking the outlet. The announcement came four months after Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth's Pentagon fired the paper's ombudsman, moved to overhaul its editorial operations, and clashed with the outlet over its coverage of conditions aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln; CBS News separately reported that Pentagon officials had discussed firing Lederer before he could retire. Lederer's retirement takes effect September 30, 2026.

Press retaliation

Aug 18

Air Force ordered Maj. Jason Watson into pretrial confinement after he criticized Trump on CNN, second detention since Capitol impeachment protest

U.S. Air Force Major Jason Watson was ordered into pretrial confinement on August 18, 2026, days after he publicly criticized President Trump in a CNN interview and renewed his call for Trump's impeachment. An Air Force spokesperson told CNN that Watson was confined based on "probable cause to support allegations of continued misconduct" after he informed his chain of command he would no longer wear his uniform, and he is being held at a county detention facility in Maryland on a military hold. Watson had previously been arrested by U.S. Capitol Police in July 2026 after publicly calling, in uniform, for the impeachment and removal of Trump and Vice President JD Vance.

Targeting critics with government power

Aug 17

Vandenberg Space Force security forces held invited journalists, troops at gunpoint despite escort

On August 17, 2026, Vandenberg Space Force Base's 30th Security Forces Squadron ordered invited journalists from four outlets and two military members out of their vehicles at gunpoint and handcuffed the two service members, despite the group having a public-affairs escort and an official invitation to a base ceremony. Base security raised barriers and sounded sirens, and the group missed the groundbreaking event they had been invited to cover. A Space Launch Delta 30 public-affairs spokesperson said the stop resulted from a "breakdown in communication" verifying the media's authorized entry.

Excessive force by law enforcement

Aug 17

White House's Rapid Response account attacked CNN's Kristen Holmes, invoking her children, after Trump berated her in Oval Office

On August 17, 2026, the White House's official "Rapid Response" account on X attacked CNN senior White House correspondent Kristen Holmes, telling her "your children will come across your disgusting and inhumane question" and calling her "a disgraceful, humiliating embarrassment," hours after President Trump repeatedly told Holmes to "be quiet" and called her "a fake reporter" during an Oval Office event, after she asked him about North Korea and about a Trump aide. CNN said the attacks were "beneath the office" and inconsistent with the principles of a free press.

Press retaliation

Aug 17

Justice Department opened Title VI investigation into William & Mary's race-based scholarships

On August 17, 2026, the U.S. Department of Justice's Civil Rights Division announced it opened a Title VI compliance investigation into the College of William & Mary, a Virginia public university, over whether five scholarship and student-benefit programs use race-based criteria. Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon said in a DOJ statement that "the Department will not turn a blind eye to race-based preferences, however they are packaged or portrayed by universities."

Aug 16

Attorney General Blanche refused to pledge DOJ independence from White House, said Trump's views can factor into prosecutions

Attorney General Todd Blanche told NBC News's "Meet the Press" host Kristen Welker on August 16, 2026, "No, I'm not going to pledge that" the Justice Department would always act independently of the White House, saying "no attorney general should ever pledge that." Asked whether he takes President Trump's views into consideration on individual prosecution decisions, Blanche said "Yes, of course," and called the idea that the president secretly directs specific prosecutions "an extraordinarily false narrative." The comments came in Blanche's first Sunday show appearance since his Senate confirmation as attorney general the prior week.

Politicization of the Justice Department

Aug 16

ICE detained Padres coach Oswaldo Pirela at El Paso airport; family says his 2014 asylum case is still pending

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement detained Oswaldo Jose Pirela, a Venezuelan-born San Diego Padres minor-league catching coordinator, at El Paso International Airport at approximately 5 a.m. on August 16, 2026, while he was traveling for work. The Department of Homeland Security said Pirela's authorized stay expired in February 2018 and that he lacked legal immigration documentation when encountered; his family says he filed for asylum in 2014 and that the case has remained pending since. He remained in ICE custody as of August 18, 2026, pending removal proceedings.

Aug 15

NPR reported ICE detained Venezuelan soccer pro Homero Calderon for nearly six months despite two pending visa applications

NPR reported on August 15, 2026 that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has held professional soccer player Homero Calderon in detention for nearly six months after he was pulled over in Marion County, Florida in late February 2026, despite two pending immigration applications -- a tourist-visa extension and an EB-1A extraordinary-ability visa. The Department of Homeland Security told NPR on the record that Calderon "overstayed his welcome in violation of our nation's laws" and said he will remain in ICE custody pending the outcome of his immigration proceedings.

Aug 14

DOJ legal opinion expanded military's arrest authority beyond southern border National Defense Areas

On August 14, 2026, the U.S. Department of Justice's Office of Legal Counsel issued a formal opinion concluding that military personnel may arrest migrants for trespassing even after they leave one of the six "National Defense Areas" the Trump administration has designated along the U.S.-Mexico border in Arizona, California, New Mexico, and Texas. Deputy Assistant Attorney General William Hyde wrote that arresting trespassers "just outside of an NDA would not violate the [Posse Comitatus Act]," citing a commander's traditional protective power over military property. The opinion, issued in Washington, D.C., extends military detention authority beyond the National Defense Areas' boundaries for the first time since the zones were created in 2025.

Domestic deployment overreach

Aug 14

Army substantiated misconduct finding against Fort Jackson chaplain after year of opaque handling, still withheld discipline details

On August 14, 2026, the U.S. Army completed a reopened 15-6 investigation substantiating a finding of "counterproductive leadership" against Chaplain Maj. Edward Blackledge, roughly one year after he allegedly told Capt. Tatyana Jordan, a Black subordinate at Fort Jackson's Chaplain School, "I'll need to tie you to a tree and beat you." In the intervening year the Army bypassed an Equal Opportunity investigation in favor of a fact-finding inquiry that came back "unfounded" without ever being disclosed to Jordan, its Inspector General's office declined to get involved, and military police characterized the incident as a "bad joke"; the case was reopened only after Military.com published Jordan's account in April 2026. An Army spokesperson confirmed the investigation was complete and "appropriate action was taken" but would not disclose what discipline, if any, Blackledge received.

Failure to discipline misconduct

Aug 14

ICE agents attempted warrantless search of Sacramento immigration law firm, threatened to break in

On August 14, 2026, armed agents identifying as U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement arrived at the Morris Law Group, an immigration law firm in Sacramento's North Natomas neighborhood, and demanded to search the office without producing a judicial warrant. Firm staff turned the agents away; one agent reportedly threatened to return at 3 a.m. and break windows to force entry. U.S. Sens. Alex Padilla and Adam Schiff announced they would investigate, and DHS confirmed on the record that agents approached the address believing it was a "target address" and departed once they learned it was a law office.

Aug 14

White House energy adviser Brittany Kelm left her post championing Sable Offshore's pipeline restart to become the company's Washington policy chief

Brittany Kelm, senior energy adviser at the White House's National Energy Dominance Council, left the administration on August 14, 2026, and joined Sable Offshore Corp. — the oil company whose restart of an offshore California pipeline she had personally advocated for and publicly promoted while in government — as vice president of policy and commercial the following week. She had toured Sable's facilities in company-branded gear and posted about the restart on LinkedIn while still a White House official, and Trump administration officials including Interior Secretary Doug Burgum had publicly credited her work for keeping the project alive.

Self-dealing

Aug 14

OCC approved national trust bank charter for Trump family crypto firm World Liberty Financial

The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, led by Trump appointee Jonathan Gould, granted conditional preliminary approval on August 14, 2026 to a national trust bank charter application from World Liberty Trust Company, the banking arm of World Liberty Financial (WLFI), the crypto venture co-founded by President Trump and his three sons. The charter would let WLFI directly issue and custody its USD1 stablecoin without an intermediary and settle payments through its own federally chartered bank. The approval followed the same crypto-friendly chartering track OCC has extended to firms including Ripple and Circle, with no independent ethics review of the president's family stake reported.

Self-dealing

Aug 14

House Ethics Chair Michael Guest disclosed stock trades six-plus months past STOCK Act deadline

House Ethics Committee Chairman Michael Guest (R-Miss.) disclosed three stock sales -- in Chevron, Airbnb, and e.l.f. Beauty -- made through a family trust, filing the required report more than six months after the STOCK Act's 45-day deadline. Guest, whose committee is responsible for enforcing the STOCK Act against House members, said a compliance firm missed the trades and that he discovered the omission while preparing his annual financial disclosure; his chief of staff said Guest had no decision-making role in the trust. It was Guest's second STOCK Act violation after a similarly late disclosure in 2021, and he said he would pay the standard late-filing fine without recusing himself from his committee's handling of the penalty.

Self-exemption from enforced law

Aug 14

ICE and GEO Group denied an elderly priest in Aurora detention adequate testing for suspected tuberculosis and cancer symptoms

Colorado Newsline reported August 14, 2026 that Edward Nalwamba, a 78-year-old retired Anglican priest from Uganda held at the GEO Group-run Aurora ICE Processing Center since September 2025, has become severely malnourished, wheelchair-bound after a fall, and continues to present chest pain and a chronic cough consistent with tuberculosis, along with an elevated prostate-specific antigen level suggesting possible cancer. His attorney says the facility has provided only cough medicine and no sputum culture, specialist workup, or other follow-up testing despite a positive TB skin test taken when he entered custody. Colorado public-health officials separately confirmed at least one active tuberculosis case at the same facility and issued orders requiring GEO's cooperation with their investigation.

Aug 13

Defense Secretary Hegseth announced expansion of unauthorized boat-strike campaign to land operations in Latin America

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced on August 13, 2026, during a visit to Panama, that the administration's unauthorized boat-strike campaign against alleged drug traffickers would expand to joint land operations, citing agreements with Colombia, Honduras, and Ecuador — which had already launched joint raids with the U.S. in March 2026 — while Guatemala publicly denied reaching any such agreement. The expansion extends a campaign that had killed more than 200 people in over 60 vessel strikes in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific since September 2025 without congressional authorization or public evidence that those targeted were traffickers, and no new authorization was sought for the land-based expansion.

Aug 13

WIRED FOIA disclosure reveals CBP employees misused law-enforcement databases to surveil exes, colleagues, and family members for over a decade

WIRED reported on August 13, 2026 that internal CBP and DHS Inspector General records, obtained through Freedom of Information Act requests, document nearly 300 allegations of law-enforcement-database misuse by Customs and Border Protection employees between 2009 and 2022, including officers using government systems to track romantic interests, family members, and colleagues, and in some cases to feed information to suspected smugglers. Of those allegations, 138 were referred to CBP management and 78 were assigned to internal criminal investigators, but CBP withheld or left blank the outcome in most cases and would not disclose specific disciplinary results.

Improper collection or dissemination of personal data

Aug 13

VP Vance and HHS Secretary Kennedy referred ~225 hospitals to DOJ, HHS IG over gender-affirming care billing

On August 13, 2026, Vice President JD Vance sent a letter to Attorney General Todd Blanche and HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. sent a separate letter to HHS Inspector General Thomas March Bell, each referring hospitals, clinics, and pharmacy benefit managers for investigation of allegedly fraudulent insurance billing codes tied to pediatric gender-affirming care. The referrals followed release of an HHS-commissioned report, "Wolves in White Coats," which identified roughly 225 hospitals and health systems with pediatric gender programs and named specific organizations — including Boston Children's Hospital, Children's Hospital Los Angeles, Rady Children's Hospital, NYU Langone Hospitals, and several Planned Parenthood affiliates — in an appended referral list. As of this recording, DOJ has not confirmed opening a formal investigation.

Aug 13

HSI infiltrated Minnesota unions and advocacy groups and subpoenaed financial records without judicial review during Operation Metro Surge

Court filings unsealed August 13, 2026 revealed that Homeland Security Investigations, coordinating with the Department of Justice, ran undercover surveillance operations codenamed "Operation Puppet Master" and "Operation Whipple Shield" during winter 2025-2026 as part of Operation Metro Surge, reaching far beyond the 15 activists eventually charged. Undercover agents infiltrated encrypted chats and organizing meetings, and HSI used administrative subpoenas to obtain years of financial records from labor unions and advocacy groups, none of which has been charged with a crime.

Aug 13

Trump signed drone tariffs that sent stock of Trump Jr.-linked dronemaker Unusual Machines soaring

On August 13, 2026, President Trump signed a Section 232 proclamation imposing tariffs of up to 100% on imported drones and drone components, primarily targeting Chinese manufacturers. Shares of Unusual Machines Inc. (UMAC), a Florida-based domestic drone-parts maker, closed roughly 22-24% higher the next trading day -- the largest single-day gain among U.S. drone stocks -- benefiting Donald Trump Jr., who holds 200,000 shares of the company he received as compensation for joining its advisory board in November 2024.

Self-dealing

Aug 13

ICE detained Werner Kunkel under a removal order tied to his vacated murder conviction, hours after a judge ordered his release

ICE took Werner Kunkel, 65, into federal immigration custody at the Devils Lake, North Dakota jail on August 13, 2026, one day after North Dakota District Judge Ted Sandberg ordered him released on a $25,000 personal-recognizance bond with electronic monitoring. The detainer ICE invoked traces to a 1996 removal order based on the same 1995 murder conviction a state court vacated in February 2026 after finding prosecutors withheld exculpatory evidence. ICE transferred Kunkel to the Grand Forks County Jail to await deportation proceedings, and no bond hearing had been scheduled as of this recording.

Aug 12

Trump signed memorandum authorizing private companies to conduct offensive cyber operations against foreign criminal groups

President Trump signed a National Security Presidential Memorandum on August 12, 2026 directing the Department of Homeland Security and Department of Justice to create a program authorizing vetted private companies to conduct offensive "cyber surveillance" and "cyber effects" operations against foreign transnational criminal organizations, under federal government direction and oversight. It is the first time the U.S. government has authorized private firms to conduct offensive hacking operations, a role historically reserved for government agencies; participating companies must maintain a bond or escrow of at least $1 million.

Bypassing Congress

Aug 12

ProPublica investigation reveals Army paid General Dynamics $533 million under no-bid contract for Texas plant that produced zero usable shells

A ProPublica investigation published August 12, 2026 found that the U.S. Army paid General Dynamics $533 million under no-bid "undefinitized contracting action" awards for a Mesquite, Texas artillery-shell plant that never produced a single usable 155mm shell in the roughly two years since it opened in May 2024. Congress had suspended competitive-bidding safeguards for Ukraine-related weapons production in December 2022, and despite the plant's total production failure the Army imposed no penalties, continued making progress payments, and General Dynamics went on to receive $2.5 billion in new contract awards.

Procurement irregularities

Aug 11

War Department submitted false Section 1057 report to Congress claiming zero civilian deaths from 2025 boat-strike campaign

The War Department delivered its mandatory Section 1057 annual civilian-casualty report to Congress on August 11, 2026, attributing zero civilian deaths to the Trump administration's 2025 campaign of lethal boat strikes in the Caribbean and Pacific despite independent reporting documenting more than 120 deaths. The same report found U.S. strikes in Yemen's Operation Rough Rider killed 153 civilians in 2025, a figure two government officials called a "lowball" undercount of the Yemen Data Project's tally of at least 238 killed. Officials who reviewed the report internally described it to The Intercept as a "total whitewash."

Aug 11

Capital & Main investigation reveals ICE deported hundreds of unaccompanied Mexican children to unfamiliar cities in southern Mexico

An Aug. 11, 2026 Capital & Main investigation found that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has, since December 2025, flown hundreds of unaccompanied Mexican children to southern Mexico cities including Tapachula, Villahermosa, and Mérida, far from their home regions near the U.S. border, departing from the prior practice of returning them to border-area child-welfare services. Human Rights First and partner organizations told the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights on Aug. 3, 2026 that they had confirmed more than 350 cases and that some deported children have disappeared, with unconfirmed reports of possible deaths.

Aug 11

ProPublica investigation found DOGE cuts left OPM FOIA office unable to fulfill records requests

A ProPublica investigation published August 11, 2026 found that the Office of Personnel Management's FOIA and Privacy Act office has become largely non-functional since the Department of Government Efficiency's early-2025 staffing cuts, which eliminated more than 600 government-information specialists across federal agencies, including 12 of OPM's own. OPM's FOIA backlog grew to over 1,600 requests by the end of fiscal 2025 — seven times the prior year's total — and average processing time doubled to more than 84 days, while a reporter attempting to file a routine request in July 2026 was bounced between broken web portals and abandoned email inboxes for weeks. OPM did not respond to a request for comment.

Aug 11

DOJ sued Connecticut to block in-state tuition and financial aid for undocumented students, one of three suits filed that day

On August 11, 2026, the U.S. Department of Justice sued Connecticut in federal court to strike down the state's in-state tuition and financial-aid programs for undocumented students, arguing they unlawfully grant noncitizens benefits unavailable to out-of-state U.S. citizens. The suit challenges Connecticut's 2011/2015 in-state tuition law, a 2018 institutional-aid law, Connecticut State Community College aid, the Roberta B. Willis need-based grant program, and the state's student-loan reimbursement program. It was filed the same day as companion suits against New York and Vermont, bringing DOJ's nationwide tally of such suits to 17.

Aug 11

U.S. Navy helicopter fired Hellfire missiles into cargo ship Vela Nova enforcing Iran blockade in Gulf of Oman

On August 11, 2026, a U.S. Navy MH-60 helicopter fired two Hellfire missiles into the engine room of the Panama-flagged cargo vessel M/V Vela Nova in the Gulf of Oman, disabling its steering gear as the ship sailed toward an Iranian port in violation of the U.S. blockade of Iran reimposed July 14, 2026. U.S. Central Command said the vessel's civilian crew had ignored repeated warnings and did not say whether any crew members were injured. CENTCOM said that, as of August 11, it had redirected 55 commercial vessels, disabled three non-compliant vessels, and boarded two since the blockade's reimposition.

Aug 11

Trump threatened to sue the Center for American Progress and floated naming its donors as co-defendants over a National Guard crime report

On the night of August 11, 2026, President Trump posted on Truth Social threatening to sue the Center for American Progress (CAP) over its July 13 report finding no evidence that National Guard deployments reduced violent crime and estimating the deployments would cost more than $1.7 billion. Trump said he was "strongly considering" adding some of CAP's donors — including George Soros, Bill and Melinda Gates, Google, Apple, and Goldman Sachs — as co-defendants, calling the report a "Radical Left SCAM." The Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE) called the donor-naming threat "wholly incompatible with a free society."

Targeting critics with government power

Aug 11

ICE detained green-card holder Venkata Vasamsetty months after her removal case was dismissed

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement detained Venkata Vasamsetty, a Wake County, North Carolina schoolteacher and lawful permanent resident since 2013, at a scheduled check-in at ICE's Charlotte field office on Aug. 11, 2026, months after an immigration judge dismissed the government's removal case against her on May 19, 2026. ICE transferred Vasamsetty to the Irwin County Detention Center in Georgia, and her attorney said the agency's own records had not been updated to reflect the dismissal before her legal team filed an emergency habeas corpus petition on Aug. 12, 2026.

Aug 11

CBP arrested a Billings parent and his 9-year-old child without a warrant and held them at the Havre Border Patrol Station

U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents arrested Adrián Espinoza De La Cruz, a four-year Billings resident, and his 9-year-old child on Aug. 11, 2026 without a judicial warrant and took them to the Havre Border Patrol Station in northern Montana, where both remained in custody nine days later. Attorneys with Upper Seven Law petitioned the U.S. District Court for the District of Montana for their release, arguing the Havre station is not built for long-term detention and that a detained minor is entitled to specific protections the government has not shown it is meeting. The U.S. Attorney's Office acknowledged in a court filing that agents made the arrest without a warrant and without evidence the two posed an escape risk, and argued that releasing them would nonetheless not be appropriate.

Aug 11

ICE agents chased down and used force to arrest an Arlington, Virginia man, leaving him hospitalized with a brain hemorrhage

On August 11, 2026, ICE agents chased down and used force to arrest Jose Mejia Hernandez, 45, while he was walking to a bus stop in Arlington, Virginia, leaving him hospitalized with a traumatic brain injury, a subarachnoid brain bleed, and severe facial bruising. DHS confirmed the stop and said officers used "necessary force" after Mejia Hernandez "attempted [to] flee," but did not explain what force was used or address his specific injuries. His lawyers say ICE kept a court-mandated ankle monitor attached in a way that delayed his doctor-ordered MRI by several days.

Violence in immigration enforcement

Aug 10

DHS escalated deportation pursuit of noncitizens on voter rolls, including inadvertent, non-fraudulent registrants

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security and U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services intensified deportation pursuit of noncitizens found on voter rolls, The Seattle Times reported August 10, 2026, reopening closed voter-fraud cases, investigating voter-registration drives in major cities, and detaining suspected registrants at border checkpoints, even when registration was inadvertent and no ballot was cast. Washington state green-card holder Abdullah Emre Basar, registered without his knowledge after a 2014 motor-vehicle-office visit and who never voted, was denied citizenship and placed into removal proceedings in April 2026 after disclosing the registration at his USCIS interview.

Aug 10

ICE agent drew and pointed gun on bystander distributing immigration-lawyer cards in Virginia parking lot

An ICE agent drew and pointed a firearm at Carolina Molina, a U.S. citizen distributing immigration-lawyer business cards, in a Falls Church, Virginia-area parking lot on August 10, 2026, after she shouted at agents making an arrest nearby. DHS said Molina tried to run over officers with her car and was stopped for that reason; Molina disputes the account and says her own dashcam video contradicts it. She was not arrested and was permitted to leave the scene.

Aug 10

Justice Department extended executive privilege to shield Trump's private advisers from congressional oversight

On August 10, 2026, the Justice Department's Office of Legal Counsel issued a 21-page opinion concluding that President Trump can extend executive-privilege protection to private advisers who are not federal employees, so long as their communications relate to official presidential decisionmaking and remain confidential. The opinion, issued in Washington, D.C. months ahead of the midterm elections, could shield outside Trump adviser Boris Epshteyn from being compelled to testify or produce communications in future congressional investigations or in an ongoing American Bar Association lawsuit seeking his records.

Executive overreach

Aug 10

ICE published notice of plan to buy up to $20M in electric-shock compliance gloves via no-bid contract

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement published a notice on August 10, 2026 for a no-bid contract of up to $20 million to buy electric-shock "G.L.O.V.E." compliance gloves from Compliant Technologies LLC of Lexington, Kentucky, with purchase targeted by March. The notice said the actual solicitation could be published as early as August 14, and the manufacturer warns against using the device on children, pregnant women, elderly or disabled people, or anyone showing only "verbal defiance."

Procurement irregularities

Aug 10

NOAA ended federal funding and coordination for the Arctic Report Card, jeopardizing its future publication

On August 10, 2026, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration informed editors of its Arctic Report Card — a peer-reviewed annual assessment of Arctic climate change compiled with more than 100 scientists from around the world over the report's 20-year history — that it was ending federal funding and coordination support for the publication. NOAA said the underlying data it has historically contributed would remain publicly available but confirmed it would no longer provide coordinating editors or fund the report's web presence, external peer review, graphics, or public rollout, leaving the report's authors uncertain whether the 2026 edition can be produced. The move follows other Trump administration cuts to federal science, including efforts to dismantle the National Center for Atmospheric Research and the termination of the National Science Board.

Suppression of public data

Aug 10

Guardian investigation reveals ICE force-fed Kurdish asylum seeker Gabar Choli for eight months at Texas detention center

The Guardian reported August 10, 2026 that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement force-fed Gabar Choli, a 40-year-old Kurdish asylum seeker and filmmaker, through a nasal tube roughly twice a day for about eight months at the Port Isabel detention center in Los Fresnos, Texas, after he began a hunger strike protesting detention conditions. Federal court records reviewed by the Guardian show ICE and DHS obtained and repeatedly renewed a federal court order authorizing the force-feeding over Choli's objection and without legal representation, before he was deported to Canada in January 2026. Choli said the treatment left him with lasting physical injuries and psychological harm; DHS said involuntary medical treatment is used only to prevent imminent life-threatening harm.

Aug 9

ICE detained material witness who helped Houston police identify armed suspect, complicating gun case prosecution

On August 9, 2026, an ICE agent detained a man in Alief, Houston, immediately after he called police to report a shooting outside a Home Depot on Bellaire Boulevard and helped officers identify and locate the armed suspect. Houston police said they had not contacted ICE and had not finished their investigation when the agent took the witness into custody and left the scene. Harris County District Attorney Sean Teare said losing the witness complicates prosecuting the gun case and described a broader pattern of cooperating witnesses disappearing into ICE custody.

Obstruction of government investigations

Aug 9

Washington Post investigation found Education Dept. froze civil rights probes into school racial, sexual harassment for 18 months

A Washington Post investigation published August 9, 2026 found the Trump administration had indefinitely frozen Education Department Office for Civil Rights investigations into racial and sexual harassment in schools inherited from the Biden administration, while pursuing cases aligned with its own priorities. Of thousands of pending investigations, the office completed only three resolution agreements involving racial harassment and none for sexual harassment in 18 months, compared with 72 total in 2024, after cutting OCR staff by more than half and closing seven of twelve regional offices.

Selective non-enforcement

Aug 7

ICE Director David Venturella unilaterally reversed torture protections, deported Mexican nationals

ICE Director David Venturella unilaterally reversed torture-based deportation protections for a group of Mexican nationals who had proven to an immigration court they would likely face torture if returned, and the Trump administration deported them in early August 2026. DHS said the move relied on Mexican government assurances the deportees would not be harmed.

Aug 7

DOJ Civil Rights Division found Duke Law School discriminated based on race in admissions

The Justice Department's Civil Rights Division announced on August 7, 2026 that Duke University School of Law intentionally discriminated based on race in admitting its 2023, 2024, and 2025 incoming classes, violating Title VI and the Supreme Court's 2023 SFFA v. Harvard ruling. It is the first law school, following prior findings against UCLA, Yale, and UC Davis medical schools, that the Civil Rights Division has found in violation of SFFA.

Narrowing civil-rights protections

Aug 7

FTC ended disparate-impact credit-discrimination enforcement and retroactively softened three settlements

On August 7, 2026, the Federal Trade Commission voted 2-0 to adopt a policy statement declaring it will no longer pursue "disparate-impact" or "unfair discrimination" claims under any statute it enforces, including credit-discrimination cases under the Equal Credit Opportunity Act. Chairman Andrew Ferguson said disparate-impact liability "imposes liability for discrimination without any evidence that anyone intended to discriminate" and that the Commission "never had authority" to apply it. As part of the policy, the FTC reviewed and modified compliance obligations in three already-settled auto-dealer discrimination cases -- Napleton Inc. ($10 million), Passport Auto Group ($3.3 million), and an individual formerly of Coulter Motor Co. -- that had relied in part on statistical evidence of discriminatory effect.

Narrowing civil-rights protections

Aug 7

Pentagon revoked former Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall's security clearance after his on-record criticism of Air Force One's replacement jet

The Pentagon revoked former Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall's eligibility to access classified information and barred him from holding any sensitive position on August 7, 2026, alleging he disclosed classified details about the Qatari-donated Air Force One replacement's capabilities to a media outlet. The action followed New York Times reporting, in which Kendall was quoted on the record, that the new jet lacked its predecessor's advanced antimissile defenses. Kendall told the Associated Press he was "completely mystified" by the revocation and said no one had specified what he was accused of disclosing.

Targeting critics with government power

Aug 6

Interior paid RWE $1.22 billion to terminate its New York, California, and Louisiana offshore wind leases

On August 6, 2026, the U.S. Department of the Interior announced a $1.22 billion settlement with German energy company RWE under which RWE voluntarily relinquished its offshore wind leases in the New York Bight and off the coasts of California and Louisiana. Interior Secretary Doug Burgum welcomed the deal, and RWE said it would redirect $900 million into a stake in a Louisiana LNG terminal and $300 million into natural gas turbine reservations. The settlement is the fifth Trump administration lease-termination deal with an offshore wind developer, bringing total federal buyout payments to nearly $4 billion.

Aug 6

Trump signed two new executive orders again restricting birthright citizenship after Supreme Court struck down his original order

On August 6, 2026, President Trump signed two executive orders again seeking to restrict birthright citizenship, weeks after the Supreme Court ruled in Trump v. Barbara (June 30, 2026) that his original January 2025 order denying citizenship to children of undocumented immigrants was unconstitutional. The first order lists categories of U.S.-born children -- including those of "alien enemies," foreign government lobbyists, and members of terrorist organizations -- that it deems ineligible for citizenship, while the second delegates authority to the Secretaries of State and Homeland Security to deny visas to and take enforcement action against travelers found to be engaged in "birth tourism."

Aug 6

DOGE refused to answer GAO's questions after audit found it overstated 'Wall of Receipts' savings

A Government Accountability Office report released August 6, 2026, found the U.S. DOGE Service consistently overstated cost-cutting savings on its public "Wall of Receipts," claiming credit for lease terminations that began before DOGE existed and for a contract cancellation that was never carried out. The audit, requested by Sens. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) and Gary Peters (D-Mich.), found DOGE could not substantiate the methodology behind most of its reported savings -- and gave DOGE the opportunity to respond to or contest the findings, which DOGE did not do.

Obstructing legislative oversight

Aug 6

Trump ordered leak investigations, threatened jail time over reporting on depleted US munitions stockpiles

President Trump ordered new investigations into leaks of information about depleted U.S. munitions stockpiles on August 6, 2026, after weeks of media reports describing dwindling Army Tactical Missile System, Precision Strike Missile, and interceptor inventories from the Iran war. On Truth Social, Trump called the leaks "treasonous" and said "long term jail sentences will be sought," while the White House separately maintained the reports were inaccurate. The order followed a heated exchange with Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth over the shortages, which the Pentagon and White House denied took place.

Press retaliation

Aug 6

CFPB placed union organizing chair Stephen Wheeler on administrative leave without disclosing any cause

CFPB placed Stephen Wheeler, chair of the agency's National Treasury Employees Union organizing committee, on administrative leave on August 6, 2026, citing an investigation whose scope and allegations the agency has not disclosed. The union says the timing follows Wheeler's public advocacy — including a July congressional-hearing appearance in union apparel and an NPR interview about forced staff relocations — and calls the investigation retaliatory; Wheeler called it a "fishing expedition." He is the second CFPB union member placed on leave under the Trump administration, after Alexis Goldstein was fired in February 2026 following a leave that began in February 2025.

Targeting critics with government power

Aug 6

HSI agent covertly surveilled Rep. Ilhan Omar's town hall from vehicle with mismatched license plates

On the evening of August 6, 2026, an undercover Homeland Security Investigations agent was found stationed outside Rep. Ilhan Omar's (D-MN) monthly town hall at the Richfield Community Center in Richfield, Minnesota, monitoring the building from a Ford Explorer carrying mismatched license plates. Richfield police grew suspicious, ran the plates, and confronted the agent, who first identified herself as event security before admitting she worked for HSI and was conducting an unrelated undercover operation with no advance coordination with local police. Omar sent an oversight letter to HSI's St. Paul field office demanding an explanation, citing a pattern of the administration using ICE to surveil political opponents.

Targeting critics with government power

Aug 6

White House pushed to delay hemp ban while Chief of Staff Susie Wiles' son-in-law stood to profit

The White House pushed Congress to delay a federal ban on intoxicating hemp products days before it was set to take effect, reversing course on a law President Trump signed in November 2025. White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles' son-in-law, Bret Worley, is CEO of MC Nutraceuticals, a hemp-derived product manufacturer that lobbied allies to seek the same delay; the White House denies Wiles was involved. The push, reported August 6, 2026, drew objections from Republican senators including Ted Budd and Tom Cotton.

Undisclosed financial conflicts of interest

Aug 5

State Department launched pilot bond program charging Dominican immigrant-visa applicants up to $250,000 to overcome public-charge denials

On August 5, 2026, the State Department, in coordination with U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, launched a pilot program requiring certain immigrant-visa applicants from the Dominican Republic who had been denied on "public charge" grounds to post a bond — reported in individual cases at $100,000 to $250,000 — to overcome the denial. The pilot is separate from the department's existing nonimmigrant visitor-visa bond program, covering 50 countries at $10,000-$20,000, which became permanent August 3, 2026. Officials said the Dominican Republic was chosen first based on visa-processing volume and that the program could expand to other countries.

Discriminatory policy

Aug 5

Trump alleged Wayne County vote fraud without evidence, warned of a 'Rigged Election' after El-Sayed's Michigan primary win

On August 5, 2026, President Trump posted on Truth Social that Wayne County, Michigan, home to Detroit, is "one of the most corrupt voting areas in the United States," claiming without evidence that "more votes" were cast "than there are voters" and warning of "fake mail-in ballots" before urging Michiganders to "get ready for another Rigged Election." The post came one day after progressive Democrat Abdul El-Sayed won Michigan's Democratic U.S. Senate primary over Rep. Haley Stevens. Wayne County's clerk said the primary had no problems other than the length of the count, and Trump's own Justice Department had deployed election monitors to Detroit for the same primary without reporting any complaints.

Election denial

Aug 5

New York Times reveals ICE threatened Chicago, Minneapolis sheriffs with prosecution over jail access

On August 5, 2026, The New York Times reported that federal immigration officials had sent letters threatening to criminally charge Hennepin County (Minneapolis) Sheriff Dawanna Witt and Cook County (Chicago) Sheriff Tom Dart with witness tampering over their departments' limits on ICE access to jail inmates, hand-delivering the threats to both sheriffs in early July. Both sheriffs said their policies — honoring ICE custody requests only when accompanied by a judicial warrant — comply with the law and that the threats would not change their conduct. Legal experts told the Times the witness-tampering theory would likely be difficult to prosecute.

Executive overreach

Aug 5

GAO report found federal agencies, including the Executive Office of the President, withheld DOGE personnel and ethics-compliance records

The Government Accountability Office reported on August 5, 2026 that it still could not identify everyone who worked for the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) or verify their ethics-training and financial-disclosure compliance, more than a year after Elon Musk left government. GAO identified only 206 DOGE-linked personnel in the Executive Office of the President and obtained ethics and disclosure records for just 64 of them, after the Executive Office of the President and ten other federal agencies did not respond to its requests for records or interviews. The report, GAO-26-108403, also found the U.S. DOGE Service could legally continue operating despite DOGE's formal shutdown.

Obstruction of government investigations

Aug 5

Interior Department installed Project 2025 author Dennis Kirk inside its inspector general's office; former IG called it a threat to independence

Reporting on August 4-5, 2026 revealed that the Trump administration had installed Dennis Kirk, a co-author of a Project 2025 chapter on decentralizing and privatizing the federal government, inside the U.S. Department of the Interior's Office of Inspector General in Washington, D.C. Former Interior Inspector General Mark Greenblatt and Rep. Jared Huffman (D-Calif.) both said the placement threatens the office's independence, while Interior's OIG declined to confirm or deny it. Kirk previously held a similar placement inside the intelligence community's inspector general's office in 2025.

Politicized appointments to independent or specialized roles

Aug 5

Scripps News investigation revealed Trump's disclosed stock trades in Axon and other companies awarded immigration contracts

A Scripps News "ICE Inc." investigation published August 5, 2026 reported that President Trump's 2025 annual financial disclosure, received by the Office of Government Ethics on June 29, 2026, showed 24 trades totaling $1.26 million in Axon Enterprise stock -- a company the Department of Homeland Security awarded more than $30 million in new body-camera contracts on July 17, 2026, days after ICE agents fatally shot two immigrants in separate encounters. The same disclosure showed trades in other companies holding immigration-enforcement contracts, including The GEO Group, CoreCivic, Amentum Holdings, and Palantir Technologies. The White House said Trump's investments are managed by independent third parties without his involvement.

Self-dealing

Aug 5

AP investigation reveals ICE detained more than 50 spouses and parents of active-duty troops amid military-family policy rollback

An Associated Press investigation published August 5, 2026 found U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has detained more than 50 spouses and parents of active-duty U.S. service members since President Trump took office for a second term, under a Department of Homeland Security policy implemented in April 2025 that ended decades of bipartisan leniency for military families. At least six of those detained have been deported and one self-deported, and at least eight remained in federal immigration custody as of the report. AP identified the cases — the first such accounting, since the government does not track them — by analyzing federal court records, media coverage, and interviews with families and attorneys, and said the true number is likely higher than the 52 cases it found.

Targeting marginalized communities

Aug 5

DOJ pressured Connecticut Children's Medical Center into ending gender-affirming care for minors in third hospital settlement

On August 5, 2026, the U.S. Department of Justice announced an agreement with Connecticut Children's Medical Center requiring the hospital to stop providing gender-affirming care — puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones, and related procedures — to minors. The hospital agreed to pay a monetary penalty and dedicate an additional $500,000 to the care of patients DOJ says were harmed by the procedures, while denying all of DOJ's allegations. DOJ said the agreement follows similar settlements it reached with Texas Children's Hospital and the Cleveland Clinic Foundation.

Targeting marginalized communities

Aug 4

DHS defied a federal court order to image 800 immigration agents' cellphones sought as evidence in LA racial-profiling suit

On August 4, 2026, U.S. District Judge Maame Ewusi-Mensah Frimpong held the Department of Homeland Security in contempt of court and imposed $500-per-day fines for failing to comply with a January 2026 order requiring DHS to create digital images of the personal and government cellphones of more than 800 immigration agents involved in 2025's "Operation At Large" Los Angeles immigration crackdown. DHS admitted in June 2026 it was processing only three phones every two weeks, a pace that would take nearly four years to complete; plaintiffs in the underlying Vasquez Perdomo v. Noem suit say the records may show a pattern of racial profiling by agents who used slurs including "wet" and "tonks" to identify Latino people for stops.

Defying court orders

Aug 4

GAO report found FEMA and DHS cut FEMA's workforce 17% without assessing disaster-response readiness impact

On August 4, 2026, the Government Accountability Office reported that FEMA and the Department of Homeland Security cut roughly 17% of FEMA's workforce -- more than 4,300 employees -- in fiscal year 2025 without assessing how the reductions would affect the agency's ability to respond to disasters. GAO found neither agency conducted a workforce-needs analysis before pushing voluntary-separation programs or declining to renew contracts for hundreds of CORE employees, and that FEMA had operated without a strategic plan since rescinding its prior one in May 2025. DHS concurred with GAO's recommendations for a new plan and workforce analysis but said implementation depends on a permanent, Senate-confirmed FEMA administrator.

Dismantling agency capacity

Aug 4

CBP sought private contractors to track down and photograph deported people's homes abroad to collect fines

On August 4, 2026, U.S. Customs and Border Protection posted a solicitation seeking private contractors to locate and photograph the homes of people it has deported to Mexico, Honduras, and Guatemala, so the government can pursue unpaid failure-to-depart fines that can reach $998 a day and up to $1.8 million per person. The program, capped at $9 million over two years, would have the government own all data investigators gather with unlimited reuse rights, and comes after CBP's three existing debt collectors reported finding no one located outside the U.S. as of July 2026. Sens. Dick Durbin and Alex Padilla have called the underlying fines "arbitrary and potentially unlawful" and say DHS did not respond to their July inquiry about the program.

Improper collection or dissemination of personal data

Aug 4

HHS awarded a $150 million sole-source contract to a firm founded by Trump EPA/Interior appointees for migrant children's legal defense

On August 4, 2026, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' Office of Refugee Resettlement filed a Federal Register notice announcing intent to award a one-year, $150 million single-source cooperative agreement to Burke Law Group, a 26-employee Houston firm with no immigration-law practice area, to represent roughly 24,000 unaccompanied immigrant children in immigration court. The firm's founder, Marcella Burke, is a former Trump EPA and Interior Department appointee; co-founding partner Jeffrey Hall left the firm in late 2025 after Senate confirmation to lead an EPA enforcement office. The award follows the August 1, 2026 lapse of a longstanding, unpaid contract with a network of roughly 100 nonprofit legal-aid organizations that had represented the children for over two decades.

Procurement irregularities

Aug 4

Trump DOJ obtained court vacatur of Oath Keepers leaders' January 6 seditious conspiracy convictions

On August 4, 2026, at the U.S. Department of Justice's request, U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta granted a motion to dismiss and vacate the January 6 seditious-conspiracy convictions of eight Oath Keepers members, including founder Stewart Rhodes. In a written order, Mehta said the government offered no legal or factual justification for dismissal and that granting it was not in the public interest, but concluded he had no authority to deny the motion. The vacatur went beyond Trump's January 2025 clemency, which had commuted or pardoned the defendants' sentences but left their jury convictions on the record.

Selective prosecution

Aug 4

Senate committee chairman ruled Fauci's Fifth Amendment privilege invalid, moved to hold him in contempt of Congress

On August 4, 2026, Sen. Rand Paul, chairman of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, released a resolution to hold Dr. Anthony Fauci in contempt of Congress after Fauci invoked his Fifth Amendment privilege more than 100 times at a July 29, 2026 hearing. Paul had ruled during the hearing that Fauci's privilege did not apply because of a prior pardon and ordered him to answer, then treated his continued refusal as "obstruction of a congressional investigation" and scheduled a contempt vote for August 6, 2026.

Targeting critics with government power

Aug 3

OPM finalized rule ending independent MSPB, Federal Circuit review of suitability firings for ~1M workers

On August 3, 2026, the U.S. Office of Personnel Management published a final rule, "Suitability Action Appeals," eliminating Merit Systems Protection Board and Federal Circuit review of suitability-action appeals and replacing them with an appeal process OPM adjudicates itself, effective September 2, 2026. The rule follows a separate OPM rule, effective July 30, 2026, that for the first time extended suitability actions -- a vetting tool historically used only to screen job applicants -- to post-appointment conduct by sitting federal employees, with only a written response and no evidentiary hearing before removal. OPM's own rule text projects the July 30 change will reclassify about half of federal employee removals government-wide, previously handled through the standard disciplinary process that carries a right to appeal to the MSPB.

Aug 3

Trump named Defense Secretary Hegseth's wife to chair a new White House military-family commission

On August 3, 2026, President Trump signed an executive order creating the President's Military Spouse Commission and named Jennifer Rauchet Hegseth -- wife of Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth -- as its chair. The appointment extends a documented pattern of her unofficial influence at the Pentagon: the Wall Street Journal reported she attended at least two meetings with foreign military counterparts where sensitive information was discussed, despite attendee lists for such meetings normally being limited to cleared personnel with a need to be there.

Nepotism

Aug 3

Wall Street Journal investigation reveals ICE's internal-affairs office ran surveillance operation to unmask hundreds of online critics

A Wall Street Journal investigation published August 3, 2026 found that ICE's Office of Professional Responsibility, traditionally the agency's internal- affairs unit, has issued hundreds of administrative and grand jury subpoenas to social media companies to identify anonymous users critical of the agency, monitoring nearly 20 platforms and cross-referencing DMV records and police reports to map critics' identities and relationships. The investigation documented at least 131 doxxing or threat cases opened between January 2025 and March 2026, and found ICE spending on surveillance technology and contractors rose 57 percent year over year to $258 million; no charges have been filed in most of the identified cases.

Aug 3

ICE detained Kosovo-born former CIA informant Blerim Skoro despite 2022 torture-risk protection order

On August 3, 2026, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement detained Blerim Skoro, a Kosovo-born Staten Island taxi driver and self-described former CIA and FBI informant, at ICE's immigration office in Elizabeth, New Jersey, where he had gone to renew his paperwork. Skoro holds a November 2022 federal court order granting deferral of removal under the Convention Against Torture due to the risk of torture or death if returned to Kosovo, and his attorney says ICE was required to obtain judicial permission before deporting him, which it did not do. His attorney filed a habeas corpus petition challenging the detention the following day.

Aug 2

U.S. Customs and Border Protection denied a British Dartmouth student reentry and refused for weeks to explain why

On August 2, 2026, U.S. Customs and Border Protection denied British citizen and Dartmouth College sophomore Taha Tariq reentry to the United States at the Derby Line, Vermont border crossing, while the three American classmates traveling with him were admitted within hours. CBP told The Dartmouth only that Tariq underwent "additional inspection" and was found inadmissible, and in two subsequent on-the-record statements over the following three weeks declined to say whether he had been issued an expedited removal order or to explain the basis for the denial. Tariq's attorney said CBP "lacked proper grounds to deny re-entry," and as of the most recent reporting Tariq remained stranded in Canada, finishing his summer coursework remotely.

Denial of due process in immigration enforcement

Aug 1

New York Times reveals DOJ subpoenaed freelance journalist over North Korea SEAL Team 6 reporting

The New York Times reported on August 1, 2026 that the Justice Department had subpoenaed freelance journalist Matthew Cole, seeking two years of his notes and grand-jury testimony to identify sources for his reporting on a failed 2019 Navy SEAL Team 6 mission in North Korea. FBI agents delivered the previously undisclosed grand-jury subpoena to Cole's New York home in February 2026; it was issued by federal prosecutors in Newport News, Virginia. The Times is paying for Cole's legal defense and called the subpoena "another brazen and illegal attack" on journalists.

Press retaliation

Jul 31

CBP contractor Barnard Construction bladed and cleared Texas state trust land in Presidio County without required consent

On July 31, 2026, the Texas General Land Office sent a cease-and-desist letter after finding that Barnard Construction, a federal contractor building U.S. Customs and Border Protection's border wall, had used heavy equipment to blade terrain and clear vegetation across more than a mile of state trust land in Presidio County, Texas, without the GLO's required written consent. The land is part of a roughly 10,000-acre grazing lease the GLO holds with Trans Pecos Ice LLC along the planned Big Bend-area wall corridor; the GLO said the unauthorized clearing devalued the lease and demanded restoration and a reclamation plan. CBP acknowledged the incident and said it was working with the contractor and the GLO to resolve it, while Barnard did not respond to requests for comment.

Executive overreach

Jul 31

Axios investigation reveals FBI obtained South Carolina voter's IP address in probe tied to Trump's unsubstantiated fraud claims

On July 31, 2026, Axios reported that the FBI had requested and obtained the IP address associated with a South Carolina resident's online voter registration, part of the Trump administration's investigation into unsubstantiated 2020 election-fraud claims. The FBI made the request in March 2026 and received the data in June 2026 through York County, South Carolina election officials; a York County official with roughly 20 years' tenure called it his first such interaction with law enforcement, and a former senior Justice Department official described the request as an inappropriate "fishing expedition" into private voter data. The tactic surfaced alongside a separate Justice Department lawsuit campaign seeking voter-roll access from roughly 30 states and Washington, D.C., and could extend to any of the 43 states plus D.C. that allow online voter registration.

Jul 30

DOJ fired two more Chicago immigration judges who had the bench's lowest removal-order rates

The Justice Department's Executive Office for Immigration Review fired Chicago immigration judges Eva Saltzman and Elizabeth Crites on July 30, 2026, continuing a wave of firings, resignations, and buyouts from the Chicago bench that the National Association of Immigration Judges calls a "purge." A Chicago Tribune data analysis found the two judges had the two lowest rates, among Chicago judges who concluded at least 50 cases that month, of issuing removal orders, as the court has become the national leader in deportation orders. EOIR declined to comment on personnel matters; NAIJ's executive vice president called the firings "without cause" and an attack on judicial independence.

Attacks on judicial independence

Jul 30

U.S. Department of Education demanded Washington and California revise transgender-student privacy policies, citing FERPA funding threat

On July 30, 2026, the U.S. Department of Education's Student Privacy Policy Office demanded that Washington's Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction and California's Department of Education immediately detail their plans to revise policies on disclosing student records, including a student's gender identity, to parents, citing Title IX, FERPA, and recent court rulings. The department's statement noted that FERPA violations can result in termination of federal funding, and the demand extends an existing federal civil-rights probe into Washington's superintendent's office. Washington Superintendent Chris Reykdal called the announcement a "sham" and "media stunt."

Jul 30

ICE detained Maine nurse with legal work authorization at Boston's Logan Airport, planned transfer to Louisiana

On July 30, 2026, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement detained Debora Kapisha, a Maine Medical Center nurse with a pending asylum claim, at Boston's Logan International Airport; her employer and union said she held legal work authorization, while DHS said she had overstayed a visa. The union said ICE planned to transfer her from Massachusetts to a detention facility in Louisiana. Kapisha was released from ICE custody on August 6 following public pressure from coworkers and her union.

Denial of due process in immigration enforcement

Jul 30

ICE deported Cuban asylum seeker to Central African Republic on 71-person flight without disclosing destination

On July 30, 2026, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement deported Aristides Fernandez Garcia, a 37-year-old Cuban asylum seeker held for seven months in immigration detention, from Fort Worth, Texas on a 71-person third-country removal flight to the Central African Republic — one of the largest known third-country removal flights to date. Fernandez Garcia and other passengers said ICE did not tell them their destination until the flight was already underway, and that they were shackled and denied lavatory access during the more-than-21-hour journey. DHS confirmed his arrest and removal dates on the record but did not dispute the lack-of-notice or in-flight conditions accounts.

Jul 30

ICE agent pepper-sprayed 72-year-old NYC protester filming enforcement operation in Inwood

On July 30, 2026, an ICE agent pepper-sprayed 72-year-old Linda Wolff at close range in Inwood, Manhattan, after she and other bystanders confronted federal agents having a vehicle towed. Video shows Wolff filming the agents from the sidewalk when the agent sprayed her in the face and, after she noted she had already been maced, responded, "I'm gonna do it again." The Department of Homeland Security defended the action, saying the group had "swarmed" and become "combative," while Wolff says she is pursuing legal action.

Jul 30

Sen. Pete Ricketts invoked Capitol Police on a false pretext to block a reporter's McConnell-health questions

On July 30, 2026, Sen. Pete Ricketts (R-NE) directed U.S. Capitol Police to stop TMZ DC reporter Charlie Cotton from continuing to question him about Sen. Mitch McConnell's health, falsely telling officers that Cotton and a second reporter had not passed through security. Cotton, who had already been credentialed and screened, was stopped from continuing his questions in a Senate hallway as a result. Ricketts later called Cotton to apologize, but a second reporter present, Myles Morrell, said he received no similar apology.

Obstruction of a First Amendment-protected activity

Jul 30

Scripps News investigation revealed ICE awarded contracts worth up to $358M to private firms for home visits to 350,000 immigrant children

Scripps News reported on July 30, 2026 that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement had awarded contracts to 18 private companies, worth as little as $1.2 million and as much as $358 million each, to conduct in-person home visits to roughly 100,000 current and 250,000 former unaccompanied immigrant children under a "Safety Verification Initiative." Twelve of the 18 contractors had no documented child-welfare experience, including a security firm awarded up to $358 million whose website advertises armed security and fugitive recovery rather than child services. DHS described the program as protecting children from abuse and exploitation, while immigration advocates said its real purpose is locating children and sponsor families for enforcement and collateral arrests.

Targeting marginalized communities

Jul 30

CBP arrested Worden, Montana man without a warrant, held him unlawfully for over a week

On July 30, 2026, U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents arrested Jesus Verde Hernandez, a 10-year Worden, Montana resident with no criminal history, in Lewistown without a warrant or probable cause, then transported him through multiple facilities before holding him at the Cascade County Detention Center in Great Falls. On August 8, 2026, Chief U.S. District Judge Brian Morris ordered Hernandez's release, finding the government had pursued a detention policy "deemed unlawful by the majority of courts." Hernandez was one of roughly 17 people his attorneys say were held in Cascade County on the same allegedly unlawful basis.

Jul 29

ICE deported Arizona detainee to El Salvador with unremoved medical tube despite hospital orders

ICE deported Salvadoran national Ana Granados Sanchez from its Eloy Detention Center in Arizona on July 28-29, 2026, with a nephrostomy tube still in place more than three months after hospital discharge orders required urologist follow-up within a week of her April 2026 surgery. An independent physician who reviewed her medical records warned before the deportation that the unmanaged tube put her at risk of irreversible complications. DHS did not respond to written press inquiries submitted more than a week before the deportation.

Jul 29

Trump resumed Iran airstrikes after five-day pause, again defying bicameral war-powers resolution

On July 29, 2026, President Trump ordered U.S. forces to resume direct airstrikes on Iran after a five-day pause, following an Iranian missile attack a day earlier that targeted a U.S. air base and CENTCOM center in Jordan. U.S. Central Command said it completed a "heavy wave" of strikes against dozens of Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps targets, with Iranian media reporting several civilian deaths, continuing a military campaign waged without new congressional authorization in defiance of the bicameral War Powers Resolution Congress passed in June 2026.

Jul 28

Court-appointed monitor found CoreCivic's California City ICE facility systemically denied detainees adequate healthcare

On July 28, 2026, a court-appointed independent medical monitor, Dr. Muthusamy Anandkumar, released a report finding that the CoreCivic-operated California City Immigration Processing Center in California City, California systemically failed to provide adequate healthcare to ICE detainees, identifying 13 deficiency areas including missing medications, months-long delays in cancer treatment, and inadequate management of chronic conditions like diabetes, hypertension, and seizures. The report was ordered by U.S. District Judge Maxine Chesney as part of an ongoing federal lawsuit filed by seven detainees alleging due-process violations at the facility. CoreCivic said it provides daily medical access and 24-hour emergency care, while lawsuit plaintiff Sokhean Keo said he never received medication prescribed for an infection.

Corrections abuse

Jul 28

Guardian investigation reveals ICE forcibly treated hunger-striking detainee with force-feeding, catheterization, or blood draws

A Guardian investigation reviewed an ICE Health Service Corps document, published online in February 2026, confirming for the first time that the Trump administration forcibly treated a hunger-striking immigration detainee — subjecting the unnamed patient to force-feeding, hydration, forced urinary catheterization, or involuntary blood draws after they began a hunger strike between October and December 2025. The same document discloses at least seven detainees were on hunger strike as of February 2026 and budgets over $168,000 for hunger-strike-related external medical care in fiscal year 2026. The Department of Homeland Security, which oversees ICE, declined to answer questions about the treatment.

Jul 28

ICE and GEO Group left worm-contaminated drinking water uncorrected at Adelanto detention facility despite court-ordered fix

On July 28, 2026, a detainee at the GEO Group-run Adelanto ICE Processing Center in California shared video of worm-like organisms in the facility's drinking water, corroborated by a second detainee and immigrant-rights attorneys. The discovery came despite a federal court's July 16 preliminary injunction ordering ICE to fix water, food, and sanitation conditions at the facility; plaintiffs' counsel said ICE had met the order's monitoring requirements but not its water and sanitation mandates. DHS denied any water-quality problem and said the facility uses the same municipal supply as surrounding Adelanto.

Jul 28

ICE arrested Johns Hopkins researcher at BWI, blocked counsel access, transferred her 1,000 miles to Louisiana

On July 28, 2026, ICE agents arrested Fatima Ameaka, a Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health senior analyst and former Fulbright scholar, at Baltimore-Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport as she boarded a domestic flight, citing a civil visa-overstay violation with no criminal charge. Neither her family nor her attorney could reach her for days as ICE moved her roughly 1,000 miles to a Louisiana detention facility, canceling a scheduled attorney video interview in the process. Ameaka held a work authorization permit valid until 2029 and had a pending asylum application at the time of her arrest.

Denial of due process in immigration enforcement

Jul 28

Acting DNI Pulte announced a fifth, 'near final' round of ODNI terminations, citing a roughly 30% staff reduction

On July 28, 2026, acting Director of National Intelligence Bill Pulte posted on X that ODNI was "Executing a 5th and Near Final Round of TERMINATIONS, an approximately 30% Staff Reduction from Weeks Ago," framing the cuts as necessary so the intelligence community would "protect the American people, NOT the political whims of the bloated and corrupt elite class." The announcement came hours before the Senate's confirmation vote on permanent DNI nominee Jay Clayton and one day after a fourth round of cuts.

Dismantling agency capacity

Jul 28

Lawsuit revealed EEOC indefinitely suspended all federal-sector civil-rights class complaints

On July 28, 2026, a lawsuit filed by the American Federation of Government Employees and two female federal prison employees revealed that the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission had secretly issued an agencywide order, dating to before December 2025, indefinitely suspending processing of all federal-sector class discrimination complaints, including disparate-impact cases. The suspension froze a certified class complaint alleging severe, ongoing sexual harassment of female corrections officers at the Federal Correctional Complex in Pollock, Louisiana. The lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia against the EEOC and Chair Andrea Lucas, argues the suspension violates the agency's own regulations requiring prompt processing of complaints.

Narrowing civil-rights protections

Jul 28

ProPublica investigation reveals Trump envoy Nick Adams' charity paid him and his mother 53% of revenue

ProPublica reported on July 28, 2026 that the Foundation for Liberty and American Greatness (FLAG), a civics-education nonprofit founded by Trump special envoy Nick Adams, paid Adams and his mother Angelika Adamopoulos a combined $587,279 in 2024 — 53% of the charity's annual revenue — despite little documented evidence of the civics programming it claims to deliver in schools. FLAG's federal filings show the charity conducted none of the independent compensation reviews normally used to guard against self-dealing, and its fundraising sweepstakes has advertised a $1,000,000 prize with no record of ever being paid out.

Self-dealing

Jul 28

DHS and DOT's 'Operation Highway Shield' detained 51 immigrant truckers, arrested 86 drivers across 4 Midwest states

DHS and the U.S. Department of Transportation ran "Operation Highway Shield," a three-day joint immigration and trucking-enforcement sweep from July 28-30, 2026, across Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, and Ohio. Federal agents detained 51 immigrants, including 21 holding non-domiciled commercial driver's licenses, placed 766 drivers and vehicles out of service, arrested 86 operators, and cited 36 drivers for failing English-language-proficiency tests. DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin and Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said the operation targeted "illegal aliens" and non-English-proficient truckers, the second wave of a program that began in Florida in March 2026.

Targeting marginalized communities

Jul 28

DOJ agreed to pay pro-life activist Paul Vaughn a seven-figure settlement over Biden-era FACE Act prosecution

On July 28, 2026, the U.S. Department of Justice agreed to pay Tennessee pro-life activist Paul Vaughn a "seven-figure" settlement resolving his lawsuit over a 2022 prosecution under the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances (FACE) Act and a predawn armed raid on his home while several of his eleven children were present. Vaughn was convicted of a misdemeanor FACE Act violation and a felony conspiracy count for a March 2021 clinic protest, received no prison time, and was pardoned by President Trump in January 2025 before suing DOJ; the settlement amount was not disclosed and DOJ did not comment. It is at least the second seven-figure DOJ settlement paid to a Trump-aligned FACE Act defendant within four months, following a similar payout to Mark Houck in April 2026.

Politicization of the Justice Department

Jul 27

Education Department and DOJ threatened Ann Arbor, Michigan schools with funding cutoff over transgender student privacy policy

On July 27, 2026, the U.S. Department of Education's Student Privacy Policy Office announced, in partnership with the Department of Justice, that it was taking enforcement action against Ann Arbor Public Schools over the district's policy of not disclosing a student's "transgender status" to parents without the student's consent, which it said likely violates FERPA. The department gave the district until August 10, 2026 to respond and justify its policy or face enforcement proceedings, including potential loss of federal funding.

Jul 27

ICE, Campbell County jail denied insulin to diabetic detainees, put miscarriage victim in solitary confinement

U.S. Reps. Gwen Moore, Delia Ramirez, and Morgan McGarvey conducted a congressional oversight visit to the Campbell County Detention Center in Newport, Kentucky, on July 27, 2026, and found diabetic ICE detainees denied insulin and given pre-diabetic medication instead. They also found that a Wisconsin constituent who miscarried in ICE custody was denied her medical records and placed in solitary confinement, and detainees reported having to pay out of pocket for medications. Campbell County Jailer James Daley disputed the allegations but confirmed the woman had been placed in an isolated medical cell after returning from the hospital.

Jul 27

DHS eliminated pre-referral asylum interviews, fast-tracking up to 444,000 cases to immigration court

On July 27, 2026, DHS and USCIS announced an interim final rule ending the longstanding practice of interviewing affirmative asylum applicants before deciding whether to refer their cases to immigration court, effective July 28. USCIS said the change would "reduce the backlog" of 1.4 million pending asylum cases, estimating up to 444,000 could be affected and about 132,000 new applicants a year would now go straight to adversarial removal proceedings without the non-adversarial screening interview immigration lawyers say has protected genuine claims.

Denial of due process in immigration enforcement

Jul 27

Acting DNI Pulte announced a fourth round of ODNI staff cuts, again without disclosing numbers or positions affected

On July 27, 2026, acting Director of National Intelligence Bill Pulte posted on X that ODNI had "just finished a 4th round of thoughtful, measured layoffs," continuing a pattern of unquantified staff reductions dating to his June 22 directive. Pulte did not disclose how many employees were affected, which positions were eliminated, or whether staff were terminated or reassigned. The announcement came as the Senate considered permanent DNI nominee Jay Clayton's confirmation.

Dismantling agency capacity

Jul 27

Sen. Alan Armstrong disclosed 700 stock trades two months past STOCK Act deadline

Sen. Alan Armstrong (R-Okla.), who joined the Senate on March 24, 2026, disclosed roughly 700 personal stock trades worth between $3.24 million and $16.05 million more than two months after the STOCK Act's 45-day deadline, according to a NOTUS review of new congressional financial-disclosure records published July 27, 2026. The trades, made in the days after his swearing-in, included purchases in Apple, Alphabet, Berkshire Hathaway, and Nvidia, plus federal contractors BAE Systems, GE Aerospace, Palantir, and RTX, and a sale of government-contractor Corning stock. Armstrong's office acknowledged the late filing but did not answer questions about any fine paid or contact with the Senate Ethics Committee, and denied any conflict of interest.

Ignoring statutory requirements

Jul 27

DHS Secretary Mullin waived dozens of environmental and historic-preservation laws for border wall construction from Big Bend to Lake Amistad

On July 27, 2026, Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin signed a Federal Register notice waiving dozens of federal environmental, public-health, and historic-preservation laws — including the National Environmental Policy Act, the Endangered Species Act, the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act, the Clean Water Act, the Clean Air Act, the National Historic Preservation Act, and the Wilderness Act — to speed construction of border barriers, roads, staging areas, and surveillance infrastructure along the Rio Grande across the Border Patrol's Big Bend and Del Rio sectors, from the Big Bend region to Lake Amistad. DHS justified the waiver by citing more than 89,000 Big Bend Sector apprehensions between fiscal years 2021 and 2025, even though the agency's own more recent data show apprehensions there fell 74 percent between fiscal 2023 and fiscal 2025, to 3,096. It was the second Mullin-signed environmental waiver for the Big Bend region in two months, following a narrower June 2026 waiver covering a different stretch of the river corridor.

Ignoring statutory requirements

Jul 27

Court filing revealed ICE, Border Patrol agents used racial slurs to target Latinos during Los Angeles immigration sweeps

Plaintiffs in Vasquez Perdomo v. Noem filed a motion for a preliminary injunction on July 27, 2026 in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California, citing newly disclosed text messages and bodycam footage in which ICE and Border Patrol agents used slurs including "wet" and "tonks" to identify Latino people for stops during Los Angeles-area immigration sweeps. The filing alleges an "ongoing campaign of suspicionless and discriminatory detentive stops" that continued after the high-profile summer 2025 raids ended, with one ICE agent admitting in a deposition the agency was "still doing the same thing."

Jul 26

ICE launched targeted enforcement operation against Haitian migrants in Ohio as TPS expired, planning rapid deportation flights

On July 26, 2026, CBS News reported that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement had developed and begun executing a targeted enforcement operation against Haitian migrants in Ohio, timed to expiration of Temporary Protected Status after the Supreme Court's certified judgment authorized TPS termination for Haitians and Syrians. Internal agency documents reviewed by CBS News and statements from ICE officials confirmed plans to concentrate operations on the Springfield, Ohio area and to rapidly deport Haitian migrants, with speed of removal designed to limit time available to seek legal counsel or contest removal orders.

Jul 26

ICE, Forest Service, and Caldwell County deputies arrested 13 people at a North Carolina national-forest recreation site

On July 26, 2026, ICE agents, U.S. Forest Service law enforcement, and Caldwell County, North Carolina sheriff's deputies arrested 13 people during an immigration operation at Wilson Creek, a popular swimming and recreation area in Pisgah National Forest -- the first time ICE has partnered with the Forest Service in North Carolina in recent memory. Those detained included a father taken into custody in front of his partner and their 4- and 10-year-old children. ICE said some of those arrested had criminal records but has not specified who or how many. Local Latino advocates, who had spent months volunteering to help the Hurricane Helene-damaged recreation area reopen, say the operation has left families in the area afraid to return.

Targeting marginalized communities

Jul 25

U.S. forces boarded and searched tanker M/T Charminar in Arabian Sea under unauthorized Iran blockade

On July 25, 2026, U.S. Central Command boarding teams stopped, boarded, and inspected the Comoros-flagged tanker M/T Charminar in the Arabian Sea, then released it to continue its voyage. CENTCOM described the action as enforcement of the naval blockade of Iranian ports it reimposed on July 14, 2026 — a campaign it has continued without new congressional authorization and after Congress passed a bicameral War Powers Resolution in June 2026 directing the president to end hostilities with Iran. Maritime trackers reported the Charminar had been sanctioned in July 2025 for carrying Iranian fuel to Houthi forces.

Jul 24

DOJ offered $3 billion in police grants conditioned on partnering with ICE for immigration enforcement

On July 24, 2026, the U.S. Department of Justice announced approximately $3 billion in federal grants for state and local law enforcement, conditioning eligibility on agencies entering ICE 287(g) immigration enforcement partnerships and committing to support Homeland Security Task Force operations. The program makes access to one of the largest law enforcement funding opportunities in recent years contingent on local departments aligning with the Trump administration's mass deportation agenda. For agencies not currently partnered with ICE, eligibility would require both operational and policy realignment with federal immigration enforcement.

Jul 24

ICE and CoreCivic denied Stewart Detention Center detainee Prisciliano Trejo-Ricano medical care for eight days; he died of leukemia

Prisciliano Trejo-Ricano, a 29-year-old Mexican immigrant who had lived in the U.S. since childhood, was detained by ICE at the CoreCivic-run Stewart Detention Center in Lumpkin, Georgia, after a June 2026 arrest in Durham, North Carolina. His family says he reported feeling unwell on July 6, 2026 and was not taken to a hospital until July 13 -- an eight-day delay -- after which he was diagnosed with acute leukemia, fell into a coma, and was released from ICE custody on July 16 as his condition deteriorated; he died on July 24. DHS disputes that his requests for care went unanswered, saying he received medical treatment on July 10.

Jul 24

Board of Immigration Appeals ruled asylum fee non-payment fatal to claims despite documented notice failures nationwide

On July 24, 2026, the Board of Immigration Appeals issued a precedent decision, Matter of L-F-R-, holding that failure to pay the $100 annual asylum fee created by the 2025 reconciliation law is fatal to an asylum application. The ruling formalizes a dismissal mechanism already applied in cases where no payment method existed or notice of the fee was not reliably delivered, including a documented San Diego case. The Board limited the fee's reach to asylum claims alone, remanding the respondent's related withholding-of-removal and Convention Against Torture claims for separate consideration.

Jul 24

FEMA cut Aberdeen-Hoquiam flood grant from $47M to $34.65M and delayed it one year as DHS diverted FEMA resources to immigration enforcement

FEMA headquarters overrode a regional approval and reduced the Aberdeen-Hoquiam, Washington flood protection BRIC grant from $47 million to $34.65 million, simultaneously delaying disbursement by one year to September 2026. A congressional ranking-member report published in July 2026 documented that DHS had instructed FEMA to divert agency resources—including staffing and program funds—to immigration enforcement rather than disaster readiness. The action came after a federal judge ruled in December 2025 that the Trump administration had unlawfully terminated the BRIC grant program and ordered its reinstatement.

Jul 24

U.S. forces disabled tanker M/T Lavine off Oman enforcing unauthorized Iran blockade; union disputes CENTCOM's account of what was struck

On July 24, 2026, U.S. forces fired into the engine room of the Mozambique-flagged tanker M/T Lavine in the Gulf of Oman, disabling it while enforcing the executive-ordered naval blockade of Iran; U.S. Central Command said the crew had repeatedly ignored warnings while attempting to reach an Iranian port. All 28 Indian seafarers aboard survived. The Forward Seamen's Union of India disputed CENTCOM's account, alleging the strike targeted the crew's living quarters rather than the engine room, a claim video the union released does not clearly resolve either way.

Jul 24

Trump signed executive order directing warning signs placed outside National Museum of American History labeling exhibits inaccurate

On July 24, 2026, President Trump signed an executive order titled "Restoring Trust in the Smithsonian Institution," directing the Secretary of the Interior, the OMB Director, the GSA Administrator, and the Domestic Policy Assistant to install temporary warning signs on National Park Service-maintained sidewalks outside the National Museum of American History, notifying visitors that the museum's exhibits "should be renovated" and directing them to alternate resources. The order referenced a July 4, 2026 White House Domestic Policy Council report accusing the museum of treating American history as a tool for social justice advocacy. The Smithsonian Institution declined to comment.

Historical revisionism

Jul 24

Trump publicly declared the way to identify government leakers is 'through the journalists,' endorsing pursuit of reporters

On July 24, 2026, President Donald Trump stated in the Oval Office that federal authorities find government leakers "through the journalists," publicly endorsing the use of criminal investigative tools — including subpoenas — against reporters as a source-identification mechanism. Trump made the remarks while defending the Justice Department's recently withdrawn grand-jury subpoenas issued to four New York Times reporters in connection with the Air Force One security leak investigation. When asked whether subpoenaing journalists' relatives was appropriate, Trump said, "I don't know what's appropriate and what's not. We do it legally."

Press retaliation

Jul 24

MS NOW report reveals Hegseth forced two officers into early retirement for questioning his command directives

An MS NOW investigation published July 24, 2026 found that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth pushed two former officers into early retirement after interpreting their professional questioning of his directives as insubordination. The officers, who spoke anonymously due to fears of pension retaliation, said Hegseth "is intimidated by people who have real warfighting background." The disclosures came as Hegseth had already forced out or sidelined nearly three dozen general officers and admirals and blocked the promotion of 40 senior colonels since taking office.

Retaliation against officers following the law

Jul 24

Documents revealed federal agencies spent nearly $1M on Trump-image lobby banners; DOJ — which enforces the Hatch Act — led the spending

On July 24, 2026, documents published by E&E News/Politico and PBS showed that the U.S. Department of Justice spent nearly $1 million on large banners displaying President Trump's face in its Robert F. Kennedy Building headquarters, while the Departments of Agriculture, Labor, and the Interior installed similar Trump-image banners at their headquarters buildings. The DOJ is the federal agency responsible for enforcing the Hatch Act, which prohibits federal agencies from using government resources for partisan political purposes.

Self-exemption from enforced law

Jul 23

Pentagon removed four Iran war troop deaths from official casualty website, reducing count from 18 to 14

On or around July 22–23, 2026, the Pentagon's Defense Casualty Analysis System website updated its count of U.S. service members killed in the Iran war from 18 to 14, removing four service members killed in Jordan and Iraq the previous weekend. Three military officials told the New York Times the four names were struck because their deaths occurred after President Trump declared a ceasefire in April; Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell publicly attributed the discrepancy to "temporary data disruptions." Trump himself referenced the higher figure of 18 — including the four whose names were removed — in public remarks the same day the Pentagon's website showed 14.

Alteration of official records

Jul 23

DHS General Counsel Percival publicly branded four federal judges 'Worst of the Worst' over immigration rulings

DHS General Counsel James Percival began a "Worst of the Worst, District Judges Edition" social-media series on July 23, 2026, naming four federal district judges in Illinois, Massachusetts, Maryland, and California and accusing them of "mutiny against the Supreme Court" and entering orders "in bad faith" to "run out the clock" on the administration's immigration agenda. The posts came amid a sharp rise in threats against the federal judiciary and drew a formal condemnation from the International Academy of Trial Lawyers, which called the rhetoric "dangerous and irresponsible" and warned it crossed from legitimate criticism into intimidation.

Attacks on judicial independence

Jul 23

USCIS announced work authorization restrictions targeting asylum seekers and TPS holders under One Big Beautiful Bill

On July 23, 2026, USCIS policies implementing the One Big Beautiful Bill Act were set to take effect, which would have allowed the agency to reject asylum applications and terminate work permits when applicants failed to pay a new fee without adequate notice or appeal, removed the 30-day adjudication requirement for asylum work authorization, and retroactively restricted work authorization for TPS holders from El Salvador, Sudan, and Ukraine. A federal judge in Boston issued an emergency order blocking the policies the day before they were to take effect, finding them likely adopted in violation of Administrative Procedure Act notice-and-comment requirements.

Jul 23

Education Department rescinded disparate-impact standard under Title VI, ending federal scrutiny of racially disproportionate school discipline

On July 23, 2026, the Department of Education eliminated disparate-impact provisions from its Title VI civil-rights regulations, effective immediately and without public comment, requiring that school policies show intentional discrimination before federal civil-rights enforcement can apply. The rescission stripped the government's primary tool for addressing school- discipline disparities disproportionately affecting Black students, and was condemned by 60 civil-rights and educational advocacy organizations.

Jul 23

ICE referred only one officer for discipline over use of force since Trump took office, Democrats revealed

After a closed-door briefing with ICE officials, Rep. Seth Magaziner disclosed that of 56 excessive force complaints filed against ICE officers since January 2025, 32 were cleared and only one was referred for disciplinary action — with no discipline actually imposed. The revelation came as two fatal ICE shootings within a single week — in Biddeford, Maine, and Houston, Texas — had drawn national scrutiny over the agency's use-of-force practices. ICE and the Department of Homeland Security declined to comment.

Jul 23

Trump administration imposed new Section 301 tariffs on ~60 countries after truncated forced-labor investigations

On July 23, 2026, the Trump administration, through the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative, imposed new tariffs of 10%-12.5% on imports from roughly 60 countries and the European Union under Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974, citing forced-labor trade practices. The action followed the Supreme Court's February 2026 ruling that Trump's earlier IEEPA tariffs exceeded his executive authority. A coalition of Democratic state attorneys general and two governors is suing, alleging USTR's underlying investigation was rushed and procedurally deficient in violation of the Administrative Procedure Act.

Ignoring statutory requirements

Jul 23

Advisory Council on Historic Preservation voted to advance weakened Section 106 rules while Trump arch awaited preservation review

On July 23, 2026, the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation — a federal body whose Trump appointees hold a commanding majority — voted to advance proposed amendments that would weaken Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act. The changes would give federal agencies broader discretion over preservation reviews, make State Historic Preservation Officers' participation optional, eliminate the public comment requirement, redefine what properties qualify as historic, and curtail tribal consultation rights. The vote came while Trump's planned 250-foot triumphal arch near the Lincoln Memorial — estimated at $100 million in public funds — was itself undergoing Section 106 review.

Jul 23

FMCSA demanded Social Security numbers and other private data on 17 million commercial drivers from state-run database

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration demanded on July 23, 2026 that the American Association of Motor Vehicle Administrators turn over the entire Commercial Driver's License Information System — names, dates of birth, and Social Security numbers for roughly 17 million commercial drivers — threatening to cut federal funding for the state-owned database if AAMVA refused. The Department of Homeland Security issued its own subpoena for the same records on August 11, and on August 13 a coalition of states sued in the Eastern District of Virginia, arguing the demands violate federal privacy law and that FMCSA's stated licensing rationale masks an intent to share the data with DHS for immigration enforcement.

Improper collection or dissemination of personal data

Jul 23

Forest Service Chief Schultz falsely told Congress DOGE cuts had not harmed wildfire capacity; agency documents and officials contradicted the claim

On July 23, 2026, Forest Service Chief Tom Schultz testified before the House Agriculture Committee that DOGE budget cuts had not impacted wildfire firefighting capacity in Minnesota, where dozens of wildfires were actively burning. A Washington Post investigation published July 25, 2026, drawing on accounts from at least two current Forest Service officials and an internal agency document, reported that DOGE paused or canceled nearly all USFS grant projects and funds in early 2025, setting back fire-fuel-reduction preparedness by approximately a year and a half — directly contradicting Schultz's congressional testimony.

Jul 23

MS NOW investigation reveals Hegseth forced out military officers who questioned his command decisions

On July 23, 2026, MS NOW published an investigation in which three former military officers — speaking anonymously because of fear of pension loss and further retaliation — said they were pushed out of their jobs and forced into early retirement after questioning Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth's command decisions. The investigation found their removals fit a broader pattern in which Hegseth has forced out more than two dozen senior military officers and blocked the promotions of dozens more since taking office. The Pentagon denied that any officer had been forced out for raising concerns.

Jul 22

Emptywheel investigation reveals DHS used customs-summons power to obtain journalists', unions', and non-profits' records without judicial oversight

Reporting first published July 22, 2026 by independent journalist Marcy Wheeler, and substantially expanded by The Guardian on August 29, 2026, revealed the Department of Homeland Security has been using an administrative summons authority meant for customs enforcement (19 U.S.C. Sec. 1509) to obtain private records without a judge's approval. After a federal magistrate twice rejected warrant requests for Minneapolis journalist Georgia Fort's phone and YouTube data, DHS used a 1509 summons to obtain six months of her phone records from T-Mobile and sought her YouTube account information from Google, along with that of Don Lemon, Democracy Now, Megyn Kelly, the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel, and independent journalist Brendan Gutenschwager. In a separate case, DHS used the same authority to obtain financial records from the Sunrise Movement, the Service Employees International Union, the Communications Workers of America, and the non-profit Voices for Racial Justice, none of which faced any charges.

Jul 22

FCC Chairman Carr warned ABC that not airing Trump's speech would factor into its ongoing broadcast license review

On July 22, 2026, FCC Chairman Brendan Carr publicly stated that ABC's decision not to air President Trump's prime-time White House address on its broadcast network would be considered as part of the FCC's ongoing license renewal review of Disney's eight ABC-owned television stations. Carr made the statement at an FCC press conference, framing the network's editorial choice as a potential violation of broadcasters' public interest obligations. Both ABC and NBC declined to carry the speech on their broadcast channels, though both networks streamed it online.

Licensing or regulatory power as leverage

Jul 22

CNN investigation reveals ICE agents made false statements to prosecutors during Operation Metro Surge

A CNN investigation by anchor Jake Tapper, published July 22, 2026, found that federal immigration agents made false or misleading statements to federal prosecutors throughout the eighteen days of Operation Metro Surge following the January 7, 2026 killing of U.S. citizen Renee Good. Former prosecutors in the Minnesota U.S. Attorney's Office told CNN that agents' accounts were repeatedly "proved to have been downright false," and that DOJ officials directed prosecutors to open a domestic terrorism investigation into Good — who had already been killed — based on those false ICE reports.

Jul 22

Pete Hegseth conditioned military chaplain promotions on Christian ideology adherence

The Independent reported on July 22, 2026, citing current and former military chaplains, that promotions within the military chaplain corps were being conditioned on chaplains' willingness to align with Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth's push to instill a Christian ideology framework within the armed forces. Chaplains who did not conform to the ideological direction faced career consequences, creating a coercive religious environment in which advancement in a nominally nondenominational service was tied to adherence to a specific faith tradition. The Daily Beast had earlier published a chaplain's account of the religious pressure campaign.

Jul 22

ICE extended Amentum's no-bid $776M contract to keep Camp East Montana open through 2027

On July 22, 2026, ICE published a notice extending without competitive bidding the contract of Amentum Services Inc. to keep operating Camp East Montana, the nation's largest immigration detention facility at Fort Bliss in El Paso, Texas, through September 30, 2027, at a potential added cost of $776 million; the Associated Press first reported the extension on July 27, 2026. The extension came despite a July 15, 2026 Human Rights Watch/ACLU report documenting beatings, medical neglect, and at least one death in custody at the facility, and calls from congressional Democrats and advocacy groups to close it.

Procurement irregularities

Jul 22

HHS revised CDC autism-and-vaccines webpage to introduce vaccine-autism uncertainty, replacing evidence-based guidance, to secure a Senate vote

On July 22, 2026, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services revised the CDC's autism-and-vaccines webpage, replacing previous language — including a November 2025 addition stating vaccines do not cause autism "is not an evidence-based claim" — with text that said "Scientists have not identified the root causes of autism" and that HHS would continue research. The change removed the CDC's longtime evidence-based position that vaccines do not cause autism without replacing it with scientifically accurate language. The revision was made at the direction of HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and publicly cited by Sen. Bill Cassidy as the "sign of good faith" that secured his vote to advance CDC director nominee Dr. Erica Schwartz through the Senate HELP Committee.

Jul 22

House Judiciary Chairman Jordan sent criminal referral to DOJ urging charges against former Special Counsel Jack Smith

On July 22, 2026, House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan sent a criminal referral to Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche urging the Justice Department to bring criminal charges against former Special Counsel Jack Smith, alleging Smith made materially false statements to Congress about records his team obtained. Smith's attorneys called the allegations spurious and defended his testimony as unimpeachably truthful.

Politicized investigations

Jul 22

ICE agents arrested Ukrainian woman at San Francisco airport; video showed agents pinning her to floor as she alleged choking

Plainclothes ICE agents arrested Iryna Gorb, a 38-year-old Ukrainian national who had lived in San Francisco for 16 years, at San Francisco International Airport on July 22, 2026. Video captured by a Richmond city council member showed agents pinning Gorb to the floor in Terminal 3; she screamed that agents were choking her and called out to bystanders for help. DHS confirmed the arrest and said Gorb had overstayed a visa since 2011; she was transferred to California City Detention Facility in Kern County.

Jul 21

State Department published a report naming 40-plus American activists and officials as Cuban front groups

On July 21, 2026, the State Department released a 100-page report claiming Cuba's government has recruited American activists and influenced domestic political movements, naming more than 40 U.S. organizations and public figures — including the Democratic Socialists of America, Code Pink, Black Lives Matter, and members of Congress — as "front groups" or "fellow travelers" without providing evidence of actual direction from Cuba. Secretary of State Marco Rubio's department cited McCarthyera blacklists approvingly and framed domestic left-wing political activity as a national security threat.

Jul 21

Kennedy Center cut Whitney Cummings's Trump-Epstein joke from Bill Maher's Mark Twain Prize broadcast on Netflix

On July 21, 2026, Netflix broadcast the Kennedy Center's Mark Twain Prize ceremony honoring Bill Maher with a joke Whitney Cummings had made at the June 28 live taping about Donald Trump and Jeffrey Epstein cut before air. Netflix confirmed the Kennedy Center exercised its contractual right to remove the joke, stating that the streamer's own preference is not to cut material from any comedian's set. Cummings confirmed on her podcast that the Kennedy Center made the decision, noting that Donald Trump is the institution's boss.

Censorship of protected expression

Jul 21

DOJ and Department of Education threatened to sue Kansas City, Kansas school district and freeze federal funds over transgender student privacy policy

On July 21, 2026, the U.S. Departments of Justice and Education issued a joint letter to Kansas City, Kansas Public Schools (KCKPS) demanding the district revoke its internal "Transgender Guideline," which directed staff not to disclose transgender students' gender identity, preferred names, or pronouns to parents without the student's consent. The agencies threatened to file a civil lawsuit and freeze the district's federal funding if KCKPS did not comply within 14 days. The letter followed an April 2026 FERPA violation finding and the district's refusal to voluntarily resolve the matter with the Department of Education.

Jul 21

Trump administration deferred over $1 billion in Medicaid payments to California and Minnesota, citing fraud

On July 21, 2026, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services announced it was deferring $867.5 million in Medicaid payments to California and $199 million to Minnesota pending a fraud review, with HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and CMS Administrator Mehmet Oz citing suspicions of Medicaid fraud but providing no documented evidentiary basis for the specific withholdings. Both states are Democratic-led, and the action follows a pattern of the administration using federal funding as leverage against states with administrations politically opposed to the president.

Jul 21

CPSC demanded identifiable ER records from 100+ hospitals through contractor Konza Health without required public notice

On July 21, 2026, the Consumer Product Safety Commission publicly announced a program requiring at least 100 hospitals — including Mayo Clinic and Cleveland Clinic — to turn over identifiable emergency-room records to Konza Health, a Kansas-based data firm holding a $15.9 million, five-year CPSC contract. A July 27 KFF Health News investigation revealed CPSC had been pressuring hospitals since earlier in the year and had not provided the public notice and comment period federal law requires before requesting data from ten or more entities; CPSC and Konza officials described participation as "mandatory," and Konza said it would hold identifiable data for at least 30 days before filtering it.

Jul 21

Federal agencies admitted using keyword filters to cancel nearly $2 billion in University of California research grants

In July 2026, federal agencies admitted in signed court stipulations that they terminated more than a thousand University of California research grants based on keyword searches for politically disfavored terms—including "health equity," "structural racism," and "vaccine hesitancy"—rather than merit-based review. The National Institutes of Health alone suspended or cancelled more than 1,000 UC grants flagged by an internal search tool, and the Department of Transportation terminated six grants worth $42 million for referencing terms like "transportation equity." Lawyers for the UC researchers cited the admissions as proof of First Amendment violations and moved for summary judgment against the Trump administration in federal court.

Jul 21

EEOC voted 2-1 to advance proposed rule rescinding 60-year employer demographic reporting requirement

On July 21, 2026, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission voted 2-1 along party lines to advance a Trump administration proposal to eliminate the EEO-1 reporting requirement, under which employers with 100 or more workers have submitted annual demographic data on staff sex, race, and ethnicity since 1966. The proposed rule would also end reporting for state and local governments with 100 or more employees; it will be published in the Federal Register for a 30-day public comment period, with a public hearing scheduled for August 11, 2026.

Jul 21

ICE arrested relatives presenting through ORR sponsorship process to claim migrant children from federal shelters

Beginning in early 2026, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents arrested more than 100 undocumented relatives who came forward through the government's own sponsorship vetting process to take legal custody of unaccompanied migrant children held in federal Office of Refugee Resettlement shelters. ICE obtained the sponsors' personal information directly from HHS, as confirmed by arrest affidavits obtained by the Texas Tribune; at least one sponsor, documented to have no criminal history, was arrested in the Dallas-Fort Worth area after spending nearly a year complying with every step of the government's vetting requirements. The practice created a chilling effect that left children stranded in shelters for an average of 117 days in fiscal year 2025 — double the average during Trump's first term.

Jul 20

Trump ordered federal review of scientific manual used by federal judges

On July 20, 2026, President Trump posted on Truth Social directing "federal suspension and debarment officials" to review the National Academy of Sciences' Reference Manual on Scientific Evidence, calling its climate science content "fraudulent" and "bogus." The manual serves as a reference resource for federal judges evaluating scientific testimony. The Federal Judicial Center had already removed the manual's climate chapter in February 2026 under pressure from Republican state attorneys general; Trump's directive escalated that pressure by invoking executive contracting enforcement authority against the NAS.

Attacks on judicial independence

Jul 20

Trump launched Iran airstrikes for a tenth consecutive day, defying bicameral war-powers resolution

On July 20, 2026, U.S. forces launched airstrikes against Iran for the tenth consecutive day, continuing a campaign waged without congressional authorization in direct defiance of the bicameral War Powers Resolution both chambers passed in June 2026. Congressional Democrats were searching for procedural options to halt the campaign as Senate Republicans backed the administration's claim that no new authorization was required. Nearly 100 U.S. troops had been injured in the first two weeks of the conflict.

Jul 20

ICE narrowed its own death-reporting rules, then released a dying Delaney Hall detainee to keep his death out of the count

In the week of July 20, 2026, a recently arrived detainee at the GEO Group-run Delaney Hall ICE facility in Newark, New Jersey suffered a seizure during intake and was granted a "discretionary release" to University Hospital, where he died soon after. Because he was no longer in ICE custody at the time of death, ICE did not publicly report it, citing a June 2026 policy change that limits its death-reporting obligations to people who die while still detained; Rep. Rob Menendez disclosed the death on August 3-4, 2026 after learning of it during an unannounced oversight visit. The Department of Homeland Security defended the practice on the record, saying "ICE is not responsible when an individual passes away weeks after leaving their custody."

Jul 20

ICE detained Russian asylum-seeker at Buffalo airport, held her nearly a month

ICE officers detained Alevtina Soboleva, a 59-year-old Russian asylum-seeker from Sunnyvale, California, at the Buffalo airport on July 20, 2026, as she and her daughter prepared to fly home from a trip to Niagara Falls, despite her asylum application still being under review. Her daughter says Soboleva was shackled, held in a cage, and denied water and bathroom access while being transferred between detention facilities, and was held for nearly a month at a federal facility in Louisiana before an immigration judge set a $10,000 bond and she was released.

Jul 20

Intercept and ProPublica investigation reveals Pentagon under Hegseth gutted civilian protection unit and abandoned civilian harm-tracking database

Under Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, the Pentagon's Civilian Protection Center of Excellence was cut from 40 staff in January 2025 to nine by the end of 2025, and the civilian harm records database was abandoned during a department-wide restructuring. A May 2026 Pentagon inspector general report found the remaining civilian-protection efforts "largely inactive" and concluded the U.S. could not adequately protect civilians in conflict zones or track harm when it occurred. Sen. Elizabeth Warren and nine colleagues warned Hegseth that gutting civilian harm mitigation capacity had left the administration "potentially in violation of federal law."

Jul 20

CNN investigation reveals Trump Jr.'s 1789 Capital invested in companies that received billions in federal contracts

A CNN investigation published July 20, 2026 found that Donald Trump Jr.'s investment firm 1789 Capital made investments in companies that subsequently received substantial federal contracts and favorable regulatory treatment from the Trump administration. A separate investigation by The Independent, published July 22, corroborated the pattern, describing 1789 Capital's investments as systematically positioned to benefit from administration policy decisions on tariffs, energy deregulation, and defense contracting. Representatives Jason Crow and Senator Elizabeth Warren had sent a June 2 letter to federal agencies demanding answers about federal contracts benefiting Trump family members.

Jul 20

Intercept investigation found Pentagon withheld dozens of Iran-strike service-member injuries while official casualty count undercounted wounded

On July 20, 2026, The Intercept reported that the Pentagon had been withholding injury data from Iran strikes, with a U.S. official saying the wounded count was "far more" than publicly disclosed and that the official Defense Casualty Analysis System recorded significantly fewer casualties than actual figures. Secretary of Defense Hegseth's office actively discouraged media inquiries about new casualties, and Pentagon spokesperson Parnell dismissed New York Times reporting on the concealed injuries as "baseless and malicious." Under press scrutiny the following day, Parnell confirmed that nearly 100 service members had been injured since July 7, while the official DCAS database continued to show far fewer.

Suppression of public data

Jul 20

DOJ opened civil rights investigation into Harvard's China-linked financial aid programs, alleging discrimination against American students

On July 20, 2026, the Department of Justice Civil Rights Division opened a Title VI compliance review to determine whether Harvard University's acceptance of approximately $630 million from China-based sources had produced financial aid programs that unlawfully exclude American students by preferentially directing funds to foreign nationals. Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon announced the probe, stating that schools cannot accept foreign money to fund aid that "deliberately excludes American citizens." Harvard denied unlawfully discriminating in financial aid allocation and said it would engage with the government.

Jul 19

Trump ordered a ninth consecutive night of Iran strikes as troop deaths mounted, still defying the war-powers resolution

On the night of July 19, 2026, U.S. Central Command carried out a ninth consecutive night of airstrikes on Iranian military command centers, air defense, coastal surveillance, and missile and drone launch sites, ordered by President Trump without new congressional authorization. The strikes followed CENTCOM's disclosure of additional U.S. service-member deaths in Jordan and Iraq from Iranian-linked attacks, continuing the campaign in defiance of the bicameral War Powers Resolution Congress passed in June 2026.

Jul 19

FBI told agents to stop investigating ICE confrontations while officials publicly denied any policy change

In guidance circulated in mid-July 2026, federal agents were told the FBI would no longer investigate physical confrontations involving ICE officers, shifting review of such incidents to ICE's own Homeland Security Investigations unit. The Justice Department and Department of Homeland Security publicly denied any policy change despite the guidance having already been distributed to agents nationwide.

Jul 19

ICE held Venezuelan asylum-seeker eight days past its own 72-hour standard in unsanitary conditions, then barred a congresswoman from seeing her

Claudia Rodriguez Caglianone, a 28-year-old Venezuelan asylum-seeker with a nine-year pending case and no criminal record, was detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport on July 19, 2026 and held for eight days at ICE's Miramar field office — more than double the 72-hour limit ICE told Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz applies to that check-in facility — before being transferred to the Broward Transitional Center in Pompano Beach and released on bond August 3, 2026. Rodriguez described sleeping on an uncleaned floor without a shower for eight days and said staff discouraged medical exams for pregnant detainees; separately, ICE barred Wasserman Schultz from an in-person visit to Rodriguez during a surprise facility inspection despite a signed family privacy release, requiring her to speak to Rodriguez by phone instead.

Jul 18

ICE agents left Guatemalan immigrant hospitalized with facial injuries during Doraville, Georgia arrest

On July 18, 2026, ICE agents arrested Marco Antonio Roblero Perez, a 25-year-old Guatemalan immigrant, during an enforcement operation near a BP gas station in Doraville, Georgia. Roblero Perez was hospitalized with a broken nose, a missing tooth, a chipped tooth, and cuts and bruises; DHS said he fled and struck an officer's vehicle, while family members and multiple outlets documented injuries that raised questions about whether the force used was proportionate.

Jul 18

Trump ordered new Iran airstrikes after Jordan attack killed 2 U.S. troops, still defying war-powers resolution

On July 18, 2026, President Trump ordered a new round of U.S. airstrikes against Iran after an Iranian drone-and-missile attack on Muwaffaq Salti Air Base in Jordan killed two U.S. service members the previous night, with a third missing and four hospitalized. U.S. Central Command said the strikes -- the eighth consecutive night of the campaign -- were meant to "swiftly punish" Iran's Revolutionary Guard and further degrade Iran's ability to restrict shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, continuing without new congressional authorization under the bicameral War Powers Resolution Congress passed in June 2026.

Jul 18

ICE agents raided Passaic, New Jersey, arresting more than 75 people, including a U.S. citizen

Over roughly a week in July 2026, ICE agents conducted a series of street raids in Passaic, New Jersey, arresting more than 75 people -- the most in the city since President Trump took office in January 2025 -- including at least one U.S. citizen, with most of those detained having no criminal history. Agents tackled and handcuffed residents in front of their homes and on street corners, with arrests peaking on July 18, the same day a detainee later transferred to the nearby Delaney Hall facility began the medical emergency that led to his death days later. Passaic's mayor said ICE had shifted from targeting people on a specific list to arresting "whoever they can get."

Violence in immigration enforcement

Jul 17

ICE detained Chicago Public Schools custodian Josue Pire Hidalgo and family at scheduled asylum appointment

On July 17, 2026, ICE detained Josue Pire Hidalgo, a Venezuelan asylum applicant and Chicago Public Schools custodian, along with his wife and two children, when the family arrived for their asylum check-in appointment at ICE's downtown Chicago office. Only Pire Hidalgo remained in custody, transferred to a jail in Clay County, Indiana, while his wife and children were released the same day under an ankle monitor because their 6-year-old daughter has asthma. Neither parent has a criminal record or an existing deportation order, and the family had waited more than three years for the appointment.

Jul 17

DHS Secretary Mullin threatened election officials with fines and prison time, citing unsubstantiated claim of 250,000 noncitizen voters

DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin held a July 17, 2026 news conference in Washington, D.C., one day after President Trump's prime-time address reviving 2020 election-fraud claims, asserting without evidence that DHS had found 250,000 noncitizens registered to vote in California, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Nevada. Mullin said DHS would make "security enhancements" mandatory for states seeking federal election funding, and warned that noncompliant state and local election officials could face fines, penalties, and prison time.

Jul 17

Trump ordered a seventh consecutive night of Iran strikes, still defying the war-powers resolution

On July 17, 2026, U.S. Central Command carried out a seventh consecutive night of airstrikes on Iran, hitting bridges, energy sites, and military infrastructure and collapsing a tower at a key Iranian port, while Iran launched retaliatory missiles into Qatar and Kuwait that damaged a desalination plant. The strikes continued without new congressional authorization, defying the bicameral War Powers Resolution Congress passed in June 2026 directing the administration to end hostilities absent a declaration of war.

Jul 17

White House ousted IRS chief counsel Ken Kies after he warned a request would violate audit-interference law

On July 17, 2026, Reuters and other outlets reported that the White House had forced Kenneth Kies -- the IRS's acting chief counsel and Treasury's assistant secretary for tax policy -- out of his post. Kies had told administration officials that a request they were considering would violate 26 U.S.C. Section 7217, the law barring the president, vice president, and White House staff from asking the IRS to open or close an audit of a specific taxpayer. Two administration officials disputed that account, saying Kies' removal instead reflected concerns about his temperament and job performance.

Jul 16

Navy barred release of sailors' service history in sweeping new press access restriction

On July 16, 2026, the Navy's top spokesman, Rear Admiral John Robinson, issued a policy removing all public-facing information about commanding officers from Navy platforms. The Chief of Naval Personnel subsequently expanded the policy, directing the service to deny journalists and the public access to any sailor's service history — including unit assignments, awards, and service status — information that Pentagon policy classifies as normally releasable. The restriction was reported July 23, 2026 and attributed to broader press-access curbs driven by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth.

Jul 16

ICE removed an estimated 116 immigration detainees from South Florida in violation of federal habeas orders, judge found

At a July 16, 2026 hearing in Miami, Department of Justice attorneys told U.S. District Judge K. Michael Moore that ICE had removed an estimated 116 immigration detainees from the Southern District of Florida in direct violation of federal habeas corpus orders barring their transfer pending bond hearings, up from an initial count of 47 discovered after a Krome Detention Facility evacuation during nearby brushfires. Moore ordered immediate bond hearings for nine cases before him and set a follow-up hearing for August 6 to confirm the full scope.

Jul 16

ICE arrested a Bronx asylum seeker at a Manhattan immigration court in continued defiance of a judge's order barring such arrests

On July 16, 2026, ICE agents arrested Bronx resident Matar Ndiaye immediately after his hearing at the immigration court at 290 Broadway in Manhattan, at least the sixth such courthouse arrest since U.S. District Judge Kevin Castel's May 18, 2026 order barred them absent a national-security or public-safety threat. Ndiaye's attorneys, who say he has no criminal record and was never deemed a flight risk, filed a habeas corpus petition after he was transferred to Delaney Hall, New Jersey.

Jul 16

DHS and USCIS revived the 'public charge' rule to deny green cards over immigrants' use of public benefits like SNAP and Medicaid

On July 16, 2026, the Department of Homeland Security and U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services filed a final rule reviving the "public charge" ground of inadmissibility, allowing officers to deny green cards to immigrants who have used public benefits such as food assistance, Medicaid, and housing vouchers. The rule, which appeared on public inspection in the Federal Register with formal publication set for July 20 and an effective date of September 18, rescinds a 2022 Biden-era policy and broadens the programs and personal characteristics officers may weigh. First implemented in February 2020, the policy was reversed under President Biden.

Jul 16

DHS finalized a rule capping foreign journalists' visas at 240 days, 90 days for Chinese nationals, ending open-ended F, J, and I admission

On July 16, 2026, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security finalized a rule replacing "duration of status" admission — under which F academic students, J exchange visitors, and I foreign-media nonimmigrants could remain for the length of their program or assignment — with fixed admission periods. Students and exchange visitors are capped at four years per admission, foreign journalists are limited to 240 days, and journalists holding passports issued by the People's Republic of China (excluding Hong Kong and Macau) to 90 days. The rule, issued as Federal Register document 2026-14439, takes effect 60 days after its scheduled July 17, 2026 publication and is subject to congressional review.

Discriminatory policy

Jul 16

Trump delivered a prime-time White House address reviving his false claim that the 2020 election was stolen

On the evening of July 16, 2026, President Donald Trump delivered a prime-time address from the White House reviving his false claim that the 2020 presidential election was stolen. Administration officials said in advance that he was expected to allege foreign election interference by adversaries including China, and The Washington Post reported he planned to argue that the nation's election infrastructure is vulnerable and that China had accessed U.S. voter data. The address followed a string of court losses in the administration's campaign to compel states to surrender voter-roll data.

Jul 16

DOJ sued Maryland to block in-state tuition benefit for undocumented students, its 13th such suit against a state

On July 16, 2026, the U.S. Department of Justice sued Maryland in federal court to block the state's law granting in-state college tuition and financial aid to undocumented immigrant residents, arguing it unconstitutionally discriminates against U.S. citizens who are not offered the same reduced rates. The suit seeks a permanent injunction barring Maryland from administering the tuition benefit or related scholarship programs. Maryland is the 13th state DOJ has sued over similar in-state-tuition policies for undocumented residents.

Jul 16

Trump ordered a sixth night of Iran strikes that hit bridges and collapsed a port tower, again defying the war-powers resolution

Overnight into July 16-17, 2026, U.S. Central Command carried out a sixth consecutive night of airstrikes on Iran, hitting highway and railway bridges in Bandar-e Khamir and collapsing a tower at Iran's Chabahar port, expanding the campaign to infrastructure aimed at cutting off the port city of Bandar Abbas. Iranian state media reported at least seven to eight people killed in the strikes, and Iran's government warned the war "will spread" across the region. The strikes continued a campaign Congress had directed the administration to end through a bicameral War Powers Resolution passed in June 2026, without new congressional authorization.

Jul 16

CBP forensic phone searches of Palestinian-American activist violated Fourth Amendment, federal judge ruled, based on unverified congressional letter

On July 16, 2026, U.S. District Judge Michael Nachmanoff of the Eastern District of Virginia ruled that U.S. Customs and Border Protection violated the Fourth Amendment when officers conducted two forensic searches of the cell phones of Osama Abu Irshaid, a U.S. citizen and executive director of American Muslims for Palestine, at a U.S. international airport in 2024. The court found the "reasonable suspicion" CBP cited -- including an unverified May 2024 letter from Rep. James Comer alleging the organization's financial ties to Hamas -- did not justify the nonroutine device searches. The court ruled for the government on a separate First Amendment retaliation claim, finding no evidence of retaliatory animus, and ordered both parties to brief remedies within 21 days.

Improper collection or dissemination of personal data

Jul 16

Trump called for ABC and NBC's broadcast licenses to be revoked after the networks declined to air his primetime speech

On July 16, 2026, ABC and NBC declined to carry President Trump's primetime address on election security live on their broadcast networks, instead offering it on streaming platforms. During the speech, Trump said the networks' decision should "mean a revocation of their licenses," accusing them without evidence of being part of a "plot" to protect "the radical left." CNN also did not air the speech live, while CBS and Fox carried it.

Jul 16

Trump Media launched Truth API, selling Wall Street millisecond access to the president's market-moving posts

On July 16, 2026, Trump Media & Technology Group -- the public company majority-owned by President Trump -- announced Truth API, a paid data feed giving Wall Street firms real-time, millisecond-fast access to posts from Truth Social's highest-ranking accounts, chiefly Trump's own. Interim CEO Kevin McGurn said the product would monetize proprietary assets through a high-margin, recurring revenue stream, noting that markets already move on Truth Social posts. The service is set to launch August 1, 2026.

Jul 16

White House intervened in FDA's cyclospora recall at Taylor Farms' request, delaying public health response by 60 hours

Taylor Farms executives met with White House and FDA officials on July 16, 2026, one day before the company issued a voluntary recall of iceberg lettuce linked to a nationwide cyclospora outbreak that sickened thousands and hospitalized more than 300 people. The company subsequently published — then deleted — a social media post claiming FDA had apologized for a false-positive test result; FDA denied any apology and said the corrected result did not change the recall determination. A federal health official told the Insurance Journal that the company's White House access and misleading public statements kept the public in the dark for an additional 60 hours during an active public health emergency.

Pay-to-play

Jul 16

White House teleprompter operator Gabriel Perez bet on the contents of Trump's speeches, profiting more than $90,000

On July 16, 2026, Gabriel Perez -- President Trump's longtime White House teleprompter operator and a deputy assistant to the president -- was placed on unpaid administrative leave amid a federal investigation into more than $90,000 he made betting on the contents of Trump's public speeches through the prediction-market platform Kalshi. Perez, who is often the last aide to see the president's remarks before delivery, wagered on Kalshi "mention markets" predicting which words and phrases Trump would use; the platform's surveillance team flagged the trades, froze the profits, and referred the matter to the Commodity Futures Trading Commission. Perez is cooperating with the CFTC and is in settlement talks over the trades, according to sources cited by multiple outlets.

Jul 16

FBI shifted investigations of fatal shootings by immigration agents to ICE's own HSI unit

On July 16, 2026, the FBI notified field offices in writing that it would stop investigating assaults and shootings involving federal immigration agents, deferring those cases instead to Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), an investigative arm of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. The change follows fatal ICE shootings in Houston, Texas, and Biddeford, Maine, earlier in July, and was reported by The New York Times, CBS News, and NBC News, each citing independent sources; DOJ and DHS issued a joint statement denying that any change had occurred.

Shielding officers from prosecution

Jul 16

Rubio convened a State Department summit of 66 nations framing 'far-left' political dissent as a transnational terrorist threat

On July 16, 2026, Secretary of State Marco Rubio hosted delegations from 66 countries in Washington for a State Department summit on what the Trump administration calls a global resurgence of "far-left political terrorism." Rubio and White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller told the assembled diplomats that leftist and Antifa networks operate across borders and require an international counterterrorism response, with Miller characterizing leftists broadly as motivated by "envy" and "hatred," and the State Department separately announced new visa restrictions targeting "Far-Left Terrorist and other aligned groups" the same day. Civil-liberties groups warned the gathering internationalizes a domestic framework already used to bring terrorism-linked charges against protesters.

Targeting critics with government power

Jul 15

National Park Service replaced the President's House slavery exhibit in Philadelphia overnight, softening Washington's role as enslaver

On July 15, 2026, the National Park Service completed an overnight swap of the interpretive exhibit at the federally owned President's House Site in Philadelphia, installing Trump administration-proposed panels that historians say soften George Washington's role as an enslaver of nine people at the site. Workers replaced the displays "under the cover of darkness," in the mayor's words, days after the Third Circuit ruled that Philadelphia had no legal authority over interpretive content at the federally owned memorial. The new panels devote more space to the early presidency and recast Washington's views on slavery, drawing condemnation from Philadelphia's mayor and civil-rights advocates.

Jul 15

Federal Bureau of Prisons held transferred ICE detainees in Miami facility with failed air conditioning and water

On July 15, 2026, wives of men held at the Federal Bureau of Prisons' Federal Detention Center in downtown Miami publicly alleged inhumane conditions — failed air conditioning, unreliable drinking water, denied medications, and one detainee held in solitary confinement — after their husbands were transferred there from the wildfire-evacuated Krome Detention Center. The Bureau of Prisons acknowledged a July 1 water-pressure problem and a July 6 air-conditioning chiller malfunction but said both were repaired, while families said conditions had not meaningfully improved.

Corrections abuse

Jul 15

Justice Department activated the 30-year-dormant Alien Terrorist Removal Court for the first time

On July 15, 2026, the Justice Department filed the first application in the 30-year history of the Alien Terrorist Removal Court, a specialized tribunal Congress created in 1996 as part of the Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act but which had never previously been used. The identity of the respondent and the nature of the allegations remain sealed; the presiding judge questioned the government's legal theory and requested further briefing. Legal experts noted the ATRC structure significantly curtails due process relative to standard immigration removal proceedings by permitting the government to keep its classified evidence secret from the respondent.

Denial of due process in immigration enforcement

Jul 15

Trump's DNI nominee Jay Clayton repeatedly refused to affirm Biden won the 2020 election at Senate hearing

Jay Clayton, President Trump's nominee for Director of National Intelligence, repeatedly declined to say that Joe Biden legitimately won the 2020 presidential election during his July 15, 2026 Senate Intelligence Committee confirmation hearing, despite direct and repeated questioning from Sen. Jon Ossoff (D-Ga.). Clayton said he was "not an election denier" and acknowledged Biden "was certified as the president of the United States," but would not affirm the outcome when pressed. The exchange became one of the most contentious moments of his confirmation hearing.

Election denial

Jul 15

Trump ordered a fifth day of Iran strikes as CENTCOM reimposed the Strait of Hormuz blockade, again defying the war-powers resolution

On July 15, 2026, U.S. forces struck Iranian targets for a fifth consecutive day and U.S. Central Command reimposed a naval blockade on Iranian ports, in a round Iran's Health Ministry said wounded more than 260 people, the highest single-day toll reported since the campaign resumed. Iran's Revolutionary Guard threatened to halt all Middle East energy exports in response and launched retaliatory missiles and drones at U.S.-hosting states including Bahrain, Kuwait, and Jordan. The strikes and blockade continued a campaign Congress had directed the administration to end through a bicameral War Powers Resolution passed in June 2026, without new congressional authorization.

Jul 15

White House fired court-appointed Seattle U.S. Attorney Roger Rogoff within an hour of his swearing-in

On July 15, 2026, the judges of the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington unanimously invoked 28 U.S.C. § 546 to appoint veteran Seattle prosecutor and former state judge Roger Rogoff as U.S. Attorney after the seat had sat vacant past the statutory limit, and he was sworn in before 8 a.m. in downtown Seattle. Less than an hour later, the White House emailed Rogoff a termination notice from the presidential personnel office removing him, and Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche posted that "District court judges can appoint a temporary U.S. Attorney, and POTUS can fire them." Rogoff called the dismissal "most likely unlawful" and said he was consulting lawyers about challenging it.

Jul 15

U.S. aircraft fired Hellfire missiles to disable oil tanker M/T Belma, first vessel struck under reimposed Iran blockade

On July 15, 2026, a U.S. aircraft fired Hellfire missiles into the smokestack of the Curaçao-flagged oil tanker M/T Belma as it transited international waters in the Persian Gulf toward Iran's Kharg Island oil terminal, disabling the unladen vessel after U.S. Central Command said it ignored repeated warnings to stop. CENTCOM said it was the first vessel U.S. forces disabled since reimposing the naval blockade of Iranian ports the day before, and that two other commercial vessels that complied were redirected the same day. The strike enforced a blockade continuing without new congressional authorization after Congress's June 2026 War Powers Resolution directed the president to end hostilities with Iran.

Jul 15

GEO Group blocked a legally required tuberculosis investigation at the Aurora ICE detention facility

On July 15, 2026, Adams County, Colorado health officials reported that the GEO Group, the private operator of the Aurora ICE Processing Center, had failed to provide the legally required access needed to complete a public-health investigation into an active tuberculosis case at the facility. Investigators said they were denied access to the infected patient, medical records, and detainee-movement information despite a June 25 public health order requiring compliance. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement denied that the facility had any confirmed active cases or had violated any laws.

Obstruction of government investigations

Jul 15

ProPublica investigation reveals FBI explored using AI to review signatures on seized Fulton County 2020 mail-in ballots

On July 15, 2026, ProPublica reported that the FBI had explored using artificial intelligence to assess the validity of signatures on tens of thousands of mail-in ballot envelopes seized from Fulton County, Georgia, as part of the Trump administration's reinvestigation of the 2020 election. Internal communications reviewed by the outlet showed the effort compared ballot-envelope signatures against other election documents using tooling an agency technology specialist described as questionable, while experts have long doubted the accuracy of signature matching. The initiative was under discussion as recently as late June, its status uncertain, and came as the bureau redirected 260 analysts nationwide to focus on the Fulton County probe.

Politicized investigations

Jul 15

NPS rangers cited 72-year-old protester Sandra Shachar $305 for taping a news clipping at Philadelphia's President's House Site

On July 15, 2026, National Park Service rangers issued 72-year-old Philadelphia psychologist Sandra Shachar a $305 vandalism citation after she taped a news clipping to a glass panel at the President's House Site in Philadelphia, where she had been posting articles almost daily since January to protest the federal government's handling of the site's slavery exhibit. Rangers stopped her mid-act, cited her under federal vandalism rules, and warned that a repeat could result in arrest.

Prosecution of protected speech

Jul 15

Human Rights Watch and ACLU report found 90% of interviewed Camp East Montana detainees beaten or witnessed beatings by guards

On July 15, 2026, Human Rights Watch and the American Civil Liberties Union jointly released an 84-page report finding that 64 of 71 detainees interviewed said they had been beaten by guards or witnessed others being beaten at Camp East Montana, the ICE detention facility at the U.S. Army's Fort Bliss in El Paso, Texas. The report also documented denial of necessary medical care, filthy living conditions, inedible food, coercive pressure to accept deportation, and circumstances that in some cases could amount to enforced disappearance. Researchers found the abuses persisted even after ICE replaced the facility's prime contractor in March 2026.

Jul 14

CFTC ordered Kalshi to defy Michigan court's trade-cancellation order, invoking emergency power unused in 46 years

On July 14, 2026, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission stayed a proposed rule change by prediction-market platform Kalshi that would have brought it into compliance with a Michigan state court order, and separately invoked emergency authority to order Kalshi to fulfill the disputed trades instead. CFTC Chairman Michael S. Selig said the commission would not let states "bully" federally regulated exchanges, the first time the agency has used this power against a state court ruling in 46 years.

Jul 14

Trump extended federal National Guard deployment in Washington, D.C. through January 2029

On July 14, 2026, the Trump administration extended the federalized National Guard deployment in Washington, D.C. through Inauguration Day in January 2029, the Pentagon confirmed. The deployment, begun in August 2025 under a since-lapsed "crime emergency," had recently doubled to nearly 5,000 troops and now ranks as the longest such domestic deployment in U.S. history.

Jul 14

Trump ordered a fourth day of Iran strikes as CENTCOM reinstated the Strait of Hormuz blockade, again defying the war-powers resolution

On July 14, 2026, U.S. forces struck Iranian targets for a fourth consecutive day and U.S. Central Command reinstated a naval blockade on vessels transiting the Strait of Hormuz, backed by more than 20 Navy warships. President Trump the same day dropped a 20 percent cargo toll he had imposed on Hormuz shipping a day earlier, saying Gulf-state leaders had offered to invest in the United States instead. The strikes and blockade continued a campaign Congress had directed the administration to end through a bicameral War Powers Resolution passed in June 2026, without new congressional authorization.

Jul 14

ICE moved to renew $25M-a-year Thomson Reuters data-broker contract to identify unaccompanied minors and flag alleged fraud

On July 14, 2026, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement published a federal contract-register document disclosing plans to renew its data-broker agreement with Thomson Reuters Special Services (TRSS) at up to $25 million per year for five years, more than five times the value of the prior contract. The filing states the data -- drawn from TRSS's Consolidated Lead Evaluation and Reporting (CLEAR), Continuous Alerting Batch Solution (CABS), and Westlaw databases, which include license-plate-reader and court records -- would be used to identify "unaccompanied minors" and flag "voters fraud" and immigration fraud, tasks ICE has not previously performed for the Office of Refugee Resettlement. Thomson Reuters said the work supports vetting sponsors of migrant children, but immigration attorneys said DHS's expanding role has already narrowed the pool of eligible sponsors and prolonged children's time in custody.

Improper collection or dissemination of personal data

Jul 14

Trump personally received $2 million from a South Korean company facing a U.S. trade investigation

A financial disclosure that President Trump filed in late June 2026, reported by the New York Times on July 14, showed he was personally paid $2 million by South Korea's Base Group, an aluminum company whose affiliate Korea Aluminum was found by the U.S. Commerce Department in 2023 to have skirted trade duties on Chinese-made aluminum. The payment was listed as a nonrefundable development fee tied to a letter of intent, which the Trump Organization said related to an unannounced golf project. The arrangement gave the president a direct personal financial tie to a foreign business subject to his own administration's trade enforcement.

Monetizing office

Jul 14

U.S. 5th Circuit ended 1965 Concordia Parish school desegregation order, backing DOJ campaign to lift decrees

On July 14, 2026, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, sitting in New Orleans, upheld the lifting of a 1965 federal desegregation consent decree governing Louisiana's Concordia Parish schools. The ruling backed a Justice Department campaign, carried out with Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill through "joint stipulated dismissals" that require no proof segregation has ended, to terminate Civil Rights-era school desegregation orders. The decree, in place for more than 60 years, ended without an evidentiary finding that segregation had been eradicated.

Narrowing civil-rights protections

Jul 14

New York Times: Hegseth blocked promotions of seven senior Navy officers, five of them women or people of color, to two-star admiral

The New York Times reported on July 14, 2026, that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth had blocked the promotions of seven senior Navy officers — five of them women or people of color — to two-star admiral rank, overriding a promotion board of senior admirals that had recommended 22 officers. Among those removed was Rear Adm. Amy Bauernschmidt, the first woman to command a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier. Officials said the move means that, for the first time in more than a decade, no active-duty female Navy officer is likely to be promoted to admiral this year.

Jul 14

ICE and HSI encounter in St. Augustine drove Mexican tourist Juan Jairo Coronilla Duran into traffic; he died

On July 14, 2026, Juan Jairo Coronilla Duran, a 28-year-old Mexican national visiting the United States on a valid tourist visa, was struck and killed by a semi-truck on State Road 16 near St. Augustine, Florida, after fleeing a traffic stop conducted by ICE and Homeland Security Investigations agents. He had been in the United States for three weeks, in Florida for only two days, and had already purchased a return flight to Mexico for that weekend. His wife and Mexican state officials confirmed his valid visa status; his death was reported as the third fatality arising from ICE encounters in a single week.

Jul 14

American Oversight records showed Deputy AG Blanche personally directed the DOJ's 'Weaponization Working Group'

On July 14, 2026, the watchdog group American Oversight published records — first reported by the New York Times — showing that Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche personally oversaw the Justice Department's "Weaponization Working Group," convening recurring meetings in his conference room and assigning senior officials from the Office of the Deputy Attorney General to politically charged investigations. Calendar entries and emails tied those assignments to inquiries involving former Special Counsel Jack Smith, Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, January 6 prosecutions, and the 2020 election. The disclosure was released on the eve of Blanche's Senate confirmation hearing to become Attorney General.

Jul 13

Trump reinstated the Strait of Hormuz blockade with a 20% cargo toll and resumed Iran strikes, again defying the war-powers resolution

On July 13, 2026, President Trump announced he was reinstating a U.S. naval blockade of Iran in the Strait of Hormuz, proposed a 20 percent toll on cargo transiting the strait, and directed U.S. forces to launch a fresh wave of strikes on Iran, declaring that fighting with Iran had resumed. He also pressed Gulf states to help fund the strait's "protection." The action continued a pattern begun in June 2026 in which the administration has repeatedly ordered strikes and blockade-enforcement measures against Iran despite a bicameral War Powers Resolution directing an end to hostilities absent a declaration of war or specific congressional authorization.

Jul 13

ICE detained Russian national with pending accepted green card petition at Burbank Airport

ICE agents detained Galina Bobreneva, a Russian national married to a U.S. citizen, at Burbank Airport on July 13, 2026, despite her marriage-based green card petition having already been accepted for processing with fingerprinting completed; DHS characterized her as having overstayed her visa, while her attorney maintains she was never out of lawful status. She was held at the Adelanto ICE Processing Facility for over two weeks before being released on July 29 on a $35,000 bond with an ankle monitor, with her immigration case still pending.

Denial of due process in immigration enforcement

Jul 13

Trump reduced Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante national monuments by roughly 90%

On July 13, 2026, President Trump signed two executive orders cutting Bears Ears National Monument from about 1.36 million acres to roughly 121,100 acres and Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument from about 1.87 million acres to roughly 181,500 acres, each a reduction of about 90%. He invoked the Antiquities Act's "smallest area compatible" clause as authority, though the Supreme Court has never ruled that presidents may shrink existing monuments. Native American tribes and conservation groups condemned the move as unlawful.

Executive overreach

Jul 13

Fourth Circuit rules border agents may manually search phones without suspicion, joining all other circuits

On July 13, 2026, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit held in United States v. Belmonte Cardozo (No. 25-4239) that border agents may manually inspect travelers' cell phones without individualized suspicion of wrongdoing, classifying manual device searches as "routine" border searches exempt from the Fourth Amendment's warrant and probable cause requirements. Writing for a unanimous three-judge panel, Judge Marvin Quattlebaum joined the court in holding that the border search exception applies to manual phone inspections, while forensic searches still require at least reasonable suspicion. The ruling makes the Fourth Circuit the latest federal appeals court to adopt this position.

Narrowing civil-rights protections

Jul 13

Defense Secretary Hegseth announced a joint Defense-Justice Department task force to investigate and prosecute leaks to news media

On July 13, 2026, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced the creation of a joint Department of Defense and Department of Justice task force to identify and prosecute unauthorized disclosures of sensitive information to news media. Hegseth delegated authority to the Defense Department's Office of General Counsel to request and receive all departmental records concerning media-leak investigations, and warned that those who leak would be met with "the full force of the law." Press-freedom advocates, including a New York Times attorney, condemned the effort as a threat to constitutionally protected newsgathering.

Press retaliation

Jul 13

FBI fired two analysts who objected to DOJ's 2020 Fulton County election probe as thin on evidence

The FBI fired two intelligence analysts after they raised concerns that the Justice Department's investigation into the 2020 election in Fulton County, Georgia, was thin on evidence and politically motivated, and refused to join the probe, according to sources cited by CBS News on July 13, 2026. The analysts were among roughly 260 ordered to review seized ballots, voting-machine records, and voter rolls in the inquiry directed by FBI Director Kash Patel. The FBI said its employees are expected to uphold the bureau's mission and standards.

Jul 13

ICE agents tackled, handcuffed, and abandoned arrest of Australian man at Las Vegas airport

Two plainclothes ICE officers attempted to detain Phu Nguyen, a 57-year-old Australian citizen who had overstayed his visa, at Harry Reid International Airport in Las Vegas on July 13, 2026, pinning him to the ground. When bystanders began filming and a crowd gathered, the officers abandoned the arrest and walked away, leaving Nguyen handcuffed to one arm; Las Vegas police responded, found no outstanding warrants, and removed the handcuff. ICE arrested Nguyen the next day at Los Angeles International Airport instead.

Jul 13

ICE agent fatally shot Colombian man during Biddeford, Maine enforcement operation; man was not warrant's target

An ICE agent fatally shot a 26-year-old Colombian man during an immigration enforcement operation in Biddeford, Maine, on July 13, 2026. DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin said the man weaponized his vehicle before the agent fired, but Sen. Angus King said the man was not the target of the agents' warrant and that the agents were not wearing body cameras. The Maine Attorney General's Office opened a state investigation and the agent was placed on administrative leave.

Jul 12

Trump ordered fifth round of Iran strikes near Strait of Hormuz, again defying war-powers resolution

On July 12, 2026, U.S. Central Command conducted a fifth distinct round of strikes on Iran, hitting drone, missile, and ammunition sites as well as surveillance and naval-operations facilities near the Strait of Hormuz at Sirik, Qeshm Island, Jask, and west of Bandar Abbas. President Trump directed the strikes, which CENTCOM said were meant to hold Iranian forces accountable and continue degrading Iran's ability to threaten commercial shipping through the strait, a day after Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps declared the strait closed and Iran reported strikes on Qeshm Island and explosions in Bandar Abbas.

Jul 12

USDA official pressed Forest Service for extra aircraft to fight small fire near his own ranch

Michael Boren, the USDA Under Secretary for Natural Resources and Environment who oversees the U.S. Forest Service, repeatedly called regional and national Forest Service offices on July 12, 2026 to press for more aircraft on the 7-acre Cabin Creek Fire burning near his own Hell Roaring Ranch in Idaho's Sawtooth National Recreation Area. Six current and former Forest Service officials told the Washington Post the resulting response -- nine aircraft costing over $100,000 -- exceeded what a fire of that size typically draws, during a period of high national fire preparedness when other fires were competing for the same aircraft. USDA said Boren is expected to have regular contact with the agencies he oversees and denied he "pressured leadership or ordered more resources."

Self-dealing

Jul 11

Trump ordered a fourth round of Iran strikes after a Hormuz vessel attack, again defying the bicameral war-powers resolution

On July 11, 2026, U.S. Central Command struck roughly 140 targets in Iran — missile and drone launch sites, ammunition depots, and communications facilities near Bandar Abbas and Sirik — after Iran attacked a Cyprus-flagged commercial vessel in the Strait of Hormuz. This is the fourth distinct round of U.S. strikes on Iran since Congress passed the first-ever bicameral War Powers Resolution in June 2026 directing the president to end hostilities absent a declaration of war or specific congressional authorization.

Jul 11

ICE arrested Philadelphia woman mid-status-adjustment at airport checkpoint, part of a wider airport-arrest pattern

On July 11, 2026, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents arrested Iliana Noeli Lick, a 30-year-old Argentine nanny who was in the process of legally adjusting her immigration status, at a security checkpoint inside Philadelphia International Airport as she attempted to board a flight. Advocates say Lick is one of at least seven people ICE has arrested at the airport since mid-July 2026, part of a broader pattern of ICE using Transportation Security Administration checkpoint screening to detain travelers nationwide. DHS confirmed the shift, stating it reversed a prior policy that had allowed such travel.

Denial of due process in immigration enforcement

Jul 11

ICE officers invoked Kansas's new Halo Act to block a bystander from recording their Olathe detention operation

On July 11, 2026, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers surrounded Lenexa, Kansas resident Shana Leacox as she recorded ICE activity from her car in Olathe, blocking her vehicle in while an officer repeatedly shouted "25 feet, 25 feet" and ordered her to move back under Kansas's new Halo Act. Leacox was not arrested, but the video-recorded encounter shows the facially neutral proximity law -- passed to shield officers from disorderly crowds -- being invoked against a bystander documenting ICE conduct rather than the unrest its sponsors described.

Obstruction of a First Amendment-protected activity

Jul 11

Justice Department subpoenaed four New York Times reporters over their Air Force One security reporting

In July 2026, the Justice Department subpoenaed four New York Times reporters — Julian Barnes, Eric Lipton, Tyler Pager, and Eric Schmitt — over their reporting on security concerns about the Qatari-donated aircraft being prepared as Air Force One. After federal judges froze phone-record enforcement and challenged the DOJ's legal reasoning at a July 24, 2026, court hearing, the government withdrew all grand-jury and phone-record subpoenas. Judge Arun Subramanian called the legal work "slipshod" and threatened sanctions; the Times called the full withdrawal "an important affirmation of our country's commitment to a free press."

Press retaliation

Jul 10

Acting DNI Pulte announced a third round of ODNI staff cuts, again declining to disclose numbers or positions affected

On July 10, 2026, acting Director of National Intelligence Bill Pulte announced on X that ODNI had begun a third round of staff reductions, describing the office as "reducing redundant, or non-critical, personnel." As with the prior rounds, Pulte did not disclose how many employees were affected, which positions were eliminated, or whether staff were fired outright or reassigned. The announcement followed the first round of firings on June 23 and preceded a fourth round on July 27.

Dismantling agency capacity

Jul 10

DOJ declared Milwaukee's masked-federal-agent ordinance illegal and demanded the city stop enforcing it

In a July 10, 2026 letter to Milwaukee's mayor, common council president, and city attorney, the U.S. Justice Department declared the city's ordinance barring law-enforcement officers from concealing their faces to be unconstitutional and demanded assurances that no city entity would enforce it against federal agents. The letter gave Milwaukee until July 17 to repeal or stop enforcing the measure and asserted that federal officers, including ICE, would not comply. It extended a pattern of federal resistance to state and local requirements that immigration agents identify themselves, following DOJ lawsuits against Philadelphia and New York.

Executive overreach

Jul 10

ICE published draft detention contracts declaring state law 'shall not apply' at four facilities

On July 10, 2026, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement posted draft contract terms for roughly 5,500 new detention beds at four facilities -- near Denver, Miami, and Seattle, and in central Pennsylvania -- declaring that state and local laws "shall not apply" to the facilities' operations. The filing came one day after a federal judge ordered GEO Group, operator of ICE's Tacoma detention center, to admit Washington state health inspectors, ruling that no contract could override state law. The four locations align with existing GEO Group facilities whose current operating agreements expire in the coming months.

Jul 10

Hegseth reversed the suspension of 8 S.C. National Guard Apache pilots grounded over a July 4 flyover

On July 10, 2026, the suspensions of eight South Carolina Army National Guard Apache pilots — grounded after a low-altitude "Salute from the Shore" flyover of the state's coastline on July 4 — were lifted after Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth publicly objected to the discipline and pressed for it to be undone. Hegseth said late on July 9 that officials would "fix this," and Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell announced the reversal the next morning. It was at least the second time Hegseth intervened to cancel discipline arising from an Apache flyover.

Jul 10

CBP seized journalist Max Blumenthal's phones at Dulles Airport days after Trump ally Loomer called for his arrest

On July 10, 2026, U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers seized journalist Max Blumenthal's two cellphones during a secondary inspection at Washington Dulles International Airport as he returned from reporting on Ayatollah Ali Khamenei's funeral in Tehran, days after Trump ally Laura Loomer publicly urged the administration to arrest him. CBP produced no warrant and retained the phones for about a week, telling Blumenthal it intended to forensically extract their data, while leaving his laptop and cameras untouched. The American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC) sued DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin on Blumenthal's behalf, and a federal judge later found the search raised serious Fourth Amendment concerns.

Press retaliation

Jul 10

Trump DOJ obtained court vacatur of Proud Boys leaders' January 6 seditious conspiracy convictions

On July 10, 2026, at the U.S. Department of Justice's request, U.S. District Judge Timothy Kelly granted a motion to dismiss and vacate the convictions of four Proud Boys members tied to the January 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol, including the seditious-conspiracy convictions of leaders Ethan Nordean, Joseph Biggs, and Zachary Rehl. In a written memorandum Kelly said the government's request was not based on the facts or the law but concluded he was bound to grant it. The vacatur formally erased jury verdicts that the January 2025 presidential clemency had left intact.

Selective prosecution

Jul 10

Commerce Department eased AI-chip and defense export controls for UAE firms tied to Trump's crypto venture

On July 10, 2026, the U.S. Department of Commerce issued a rule easing export controls on the United Arab Emirates, granting the Emirati firms G42 and Core42 license exceptions for advanced AI computing equipment and pledging favorable review of export applications tied to the investment firm MGX. The Emirati royal who controls G42 and MGX had secretly acquired a 49 percent stake in World Liberty Financial, the Trump family's cryptocurrency venture, months earlier. Senator Elizabeth Warren called the arrangement a "corrupt deal" and warned it could divert sensitive technology to China.

Jul 9

Trump removed the remaining members of the bipartisan Election Assistance Commission, leaving it unable to act before the 2026 midterms

On July 9, 2026, President Trump terminated the two remaining Democratic members of the independent, bipartisan Election Assistance Commission — chair Thomas Hicks and Benjamin Hovland — who were notified by email from the White House Presidential Personnel Office, while the sole remaining Republican, Christy McCormick, resigned. The removals left the four-member commission with no commissioners and therefore unable to take official action just months before the 2026 midterm elections. The EAC maintains the national mail voter registration form, certifies voting systems, and provides guidance to state and local election officials.

Jul 9

Justice Department sued Maryland to strike down the Community Trust Act limiting state cooperation with federal immigration enforcement

On July 9, 2026, the U.S. Department of Justice filed a federal lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Baltimore seeking to strike down Maryland's Community Trust Act, a 2026 law that limits state and local cooperation with federal immigration enforcement by barring the honoring of ICE detainers and jail transfers to ICE custody. The suit alleges Maryland is engaged in an "active and deliberate effort" to obstruct immigration enforcement in violation of the Constitution's Supremacy Clause. It is one in a series of DOJ suits pressuring states to abandon laws that constrain federal immigration operations.

Jul 9

EPA proposed heavy-duty truck rule weakening 2027 emissions durability standards, again declining to monetize health benefits

On July 9, 2026, the EPA under Administrator Lee Zeldin proposed amendments to model year 2027 and later heavy-duty truck emissions compliance rules -- shortening warranty periods, easing "useful life" requirements, and replacing an automatic engine power-derate for malfunctioning emissions controls with a driver alert -- changes EPA's own analysis said would raise ozone-forming nitrogen oxide pollution by 4.2% by 2030 and 11.6% by 2055. As it had in a January rule for stationary combustion turbines and a May light- and medium-duty vehicle tailpipe proposal, EPA's cost-benefit analysis for the truck rule quantified projected industry savings of $4,130 to $6,152 per engine but did not monetize the resulting health costs. The rule was not yet finalized as of this filing, with public comments due August 29, 2026.

Ignoring statutory requirements

Jul 9

Trump administration appointed climate-science critic Matthew Wielicki to head reconstituted U.S. Global Change Research Program

On July 9, 2026, the Trump administration reconstituted the U.S. Global Change Research Program — the interagency body that produces the congressionally mandated National Climate Assessment — and placed it under Matthew Wielicki, a former University of Alabama geochemist who describes himself as a "professor in exile" and routinely disputes mainstream climate science. The program's office had been closed and its website taken dark in mid-2025; Wielicki will now oversee the coordination of federal climate research across more than a dozen agencies.

Jul 9

MS NOW investigation reveals DOJ appointees overruling career antitrust lawyers to clear corporate mergers

MS NOW reported on July 9, 2026 that Trump administration political appointees at the Justice Department's Antitrust Division have been overruling career staff attorneys who proposed lawsuits or deeper merger reviews, moving instead to clear pending deals without standard scrutiny. Two sources named Associate Attorney General Stanley Woodward as the primary driver of the non-enforcement push, reporting corroborated the following day by Bloomberg's separate account of DOJ leadership stalling a challenge to an aerospace-industry merger.

Jul 9

DOT directed FHWA staff to strip bike lane safety data from federal websites

On July 9, 2026, Federal Highway Administration staff received an internal email directing them to remove bike lane references and related safety materials from FHWA websites, following Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy's July 7 public statement branding Biden-era bike lane funding as "DEI." The directive led to the removal of bike lanes and speed cameras from FHWA's "Proven Safety Countermeasures" list and the takedown of the Pedestrian and Bicycle Crash Analysis Tool (PBCAT), eliminating resources used by safety engineers to reduce crash fatalities on U.S. roads.

Suppression of public data

Jul 8

Trump declared Iran ceasefire over and ordered a third round of strikes defying the bicameral war-powers resolution

On July 8, 2026, President Trump declared the U.S.-Iran ceasefire "over" and U.S. Central Command conducted a new wave of strikes on Iran, after Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps attacked three merchant ships in the Strait of Hormuz and struck U.S. military sites in Bahrain and Kuwait. This is the third distinct round of U.S. strikes on Iran since Congress passed the first-ever bicameral War Powers Resolution in June 2026 directing the president to remove U.S. forces from hostilities absent a declaration of war or specific congressional authorization.

Jul 8

ICE deported 11 migrants to Eswatini on fourth third-country flight, including two with legal protections

On July 8, 2026, eleven migrants deported by the United States arrived in Eswatini, the fourth group the U.S. has sent to the southern African kingdom since its third-country removal arrangement began in July 2025. An immigration attorney familiar with some of the cases said the group includes at least two people with legal protections against removal to their home countries; of the 19 deportees sent before this flight, 17 remain held without charge in a high-security Eswatini prison.

Jul 8

ICE detained Fort Polk soldier's wife at Alabama green-card interview, enforcing a removal order she never received notice of

On July 8, 2026, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement detained Maisa Lopes Eliaser, the Brazilian-born wife of 11-year Army veteran Staff Sgt. Alexis Jaramillo, during what the family believed was a routine USCIS status interview in Montgomery, Alabama, separating her from her husband and their five-year-old son. Eliaser was taken into custody under an in-absentia removal order issued after she missed a biometrics appointment; her attorney says the notice was mailed to a prior address the family had already left when Jaramillo was transferred to Fort Polk, Louisiana, and was never received. She remains detained at a Louisiana correctional facility while her appeal is pending.

Jul 8

DEA agent fatally shot man during Memphis Safe Task Force warrant service at East Memphis hotel

On the morning of July 8, 2026, a DEA agent assigned to the Memphis Safe Task Force fatally shot a man while task force members forced entry to serve a Shelby County felony drug warrant at an Extended Stay hotel in East Memphis. The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation, which said only that the agent fired into the room after the situation escalated, is investigating; it is the second fatal task force shooting in four days and the fourth death linked to the unit since it began operating in Memphis in fall 2025.

Excessive force by law enforcement

Jul 7

The Justice Department threatened state election officials in more than a dozen states with criminal prosecution over noncitizens on voter rolls

In letters sent to more than a dozen states — including Arizona, Minnesota, Michigan, Georgia, Kentucky, and Tennessee — and obtained by news organizations, the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division warned that state and local election officials who knowingly keep noncitizens on voter rolls or help them cast ballots could face federal criminal prosecution, regardless of intent. Division chief Harmeet Dhillon wrote that any "intentional act that is aimed at diluting the votes of citizens" could be treated as a federal crime. The threats accompanied a broader Department push to prioritize roughly 90 open investigations into potential noncitizen voting and relied in part on the Department of Homeland Security's SAVE database, which a federal judge ruled unlawful on June 22, 2026 for inaccurately flagging citizens as ineligible.

Jul 7

Court filings revealed ICE and the State Department shared Iranian detainees' asylum records with Iran's government

On July 7, 2026, the Iranian American Legal Defense Fund sued the State Department, Department of Homeland Security, and ICE in federal court in Washington, D.C., alleging that since March 2025 the agencies had shared confidential asylum-application and immigration files of Iranian asylum seekers with Iran's government while working to deport them. The Department of Homeland Security denied the allegations.

Improper collection or dissemination of personal data

Jul 7

ICE agent fatally shot Lorenzo Salgado Araujo during Houston enforcement stop; family disputes self-defense account

An ICE agent fatally shot Lorenzo Salgado Araujo, a Mexican national, during a targeted immigration enforcement stop in Houston's East End on July 7, 2026. ICE said Araujo tried to ram and run over the agent before being shot in self-defense, but a witness account relayed through LULAC disputes that account, saying Araujo was in the neighborhood looking for day-laborer work when he was shot. The FBI and DHS Office of Inspector General have opened separate investigations.

Jul 7

U.S. Department of Justice moved to deploy federal election monitors to Democratic strongholds in Michigan, California, and New Jersey

On July 7, 2026, the U.S. Department of Justice confirmed it would send federal election monitors to polling places in Detroit, Lansing, and East Lansing -- three Democratic strongholds -- for Michigan's August 4 primary, and to counties in California and New Jersey for the November 4 elections. The deployments, requested by Republican officials and premised on unsupported claims about the 2024 election, followed late-June letters from the DOJ Voting Section citing alleged irregularities. Michigan officials condemned the move as election interference based on baseless allegations.

Jul 6

ICE kept detaining Nevada immigrants without bond hearings past a court-ordered release deadline, defying a judge's March ruling

On July 6, 2026, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement failed to release seven Nevada immigration detainees by a court-ordered deadline, continuing to enforce a "mandatory detention" policy that federal judge Richard Boulware II had ruled unlawful in March. Boulware, citing a broader pattern of noncompliance including an April cross-district transfer and a May detention without lawful basis, wrote that the government was "rebelling" against binding court orders and ordered the seven plaintiffs released without bond hearings pending their removal proceedings.

Jul 6

HHS postponed USPSTF meeting for fourth time since July 2025 amid plan to dismiss all 16 members

On July 6, 2026, HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s Immediate Office confirmed it had postponed the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force meeting scheduled for July 10, 2026, giving the panel no reason or rescheduled date -- the fourth such postponement since July 2025. The delay follows Wall Street Journal reporting that Kennedy plans to dismiss all 16 sitting USPSTF members, mirroring his 2025 dismissal of all 17 members of the CDC's Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices.

Dismantling agency capacity

Jul 6

Trump announced Sikorsky, a major defense contractor, would fund new White House helipad construction

On July 6, 2026, President Donald Trump announced that Sikorsky, a subsidiary of defense contractor Lockheed Martin, would pay for construction of a new granite helicopter landing pad on the White House South Lawn, which he estimated would cost up to $6 million. Sikorsky and its parent hold billions of dollars in active federal contracts, including multibillion-dollar awards finalized in the weeks before the announcement. Construction crews had already begun work on the South Lawn when Trump confirmed the privately funded project.

Emoluments violations

Jul 5

Federalized Tennessee National Guard soldiers fatally shot Tyrin Johnson during Memphis foot pursuit

Early on the morning of July 5, 2026, two Tennessee National Guard soldiers assigned to the Trump administration's federal Memphis Safe Task Force fatally shot 20-year-old Tyrin Johnson during a foot pursuit in downtown Memphis; police said Johnson turned toward them while holding a handgun. Johnson was struck twice in the chest and died at the scene despite first aid from Guard medics; the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation is investigating at the request of the Shelby County District Attorney. An independent autopsy released in August 2026 contradicted the official account, finding Johnson was shot in the back on a trajectory consistent with him running away.

Jul 4

NASA reclassified Isaacman's jet as government aircraft to bypass FAA safety denial for July 4 D.C. flyover

NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman flew a vintage Northrop F-5 Tiger II fighter jet over Washington, D.C. during President Trump's July 4, 2026 air show after the FAA had denied his request five days earlier, citing 'very high-risk' status, ejection-seat concerns, prior accidents, and danger to people and property below. Isaacman proceeded by having NASA reclassify the F-5s -- part of his privately owned fleet, operated through JDI Holdings -- from civilian to government aircraft, which moved the flight outside the FAA's civil-exemption process that had produced the denial, even though the aircraft titles were not transferred and the planes retained their civil FAA registration. Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche flew as a passenger in Isaacman's jet during the flyover.

Jul 4

The New York Times reported federal civil-rights agencies abandoned active discrimination cases at Trump's direction

The New York Times reported that federal civil-rights enforcement agencies, including the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, have dropped or abandoned active discrimination cases brought on behalf of historically marginalized groups at President Trump's direction. Former officials described a systematic dismissal of pending matters and a redirection of enforcement resources away from traditional anti-discrimination mandates toward challenging diversity programs. The reported pattern spans multiple agencies acting under executive direction.

Jul 4

U.S. Coast Guard removed the sloop Clearwater from a July 4 New York Harbor parade over its advocacy banners

On July 4, 2026, a U.S. Coast Guard crew ordered the historic sloop Clearwater to leave the Sail4th 250 Parade of Sail in New York Harbor because it displayed banners reading "Save the Clean Water Act" and "Indigenous Rights, Racial Justice, Climate Solutions." The Coast Guard, assisted by the Navy and NYPD, escorted the environmental nonprofit's vessel out of the procession after its crew declined to remove the messages. The agency said participants had agreed not to display political messages, while the nonprofit said it was never offered a chance to take the banners down.

Viewpoint-based permit denials

Jul 3

Texas Tribune reveals Trump administration asked Texas criminal-defense commission to take over immigrant children's deportation cases

In mid-June 2026, top officials working with the Trump administration — including James McHenry, the Justice Department's chief administrative hearing officer — asked the Texas Indigent Defense Commission, a state body the Legislature created solely for criminal defense, to take over legal representation of unaccompanied immigrant children in their deportation proceedings. The outreach, which the commission's director said fell outside its legal mandate, came as the administration moved to end the federally mandated legal-services contract held by the Acacia Center for Justice (set to expire July 31 with no required transition notice), stopped paying subcontractors, and sent federal agents to the offices of children's legal-aid nonprofits. Advocates and a Justice Department spokesperson confirmed the request; critics said it was designed to concentrate unaccompanied children in a border state with higher asylum-denial rates to speed their removal.

Jul 3

Trump pardoned Adam Kidan, Abramoff-scandal figure and Republican fundraiser host, for his 2005 fraud conviction

On July 3, 2026, President Trump pardoned Adam Kidan, a former business partner of lobbyist Jack Abramoff who pleaded guilty in 2005 to fraud and conspiracy in the SunCruz gambling-boat scandal and was sentenced to nearly six years in prison. Kidan, who reporting indicates helped host a 2026 Mar-a-Lago fundraiser for a Long Island Republican congressional candidate, was among 11 people granted clemency that day.

Abuse of pardon power

Jul 3

Trump pardoned six people prosecuted for Clean Air Act 'defeat device' emissions violations

On July 3, 2026, President Trump announced pardons for six people who had been prosecuted for disabling vehicle emissions controls in violation of the Clean Air Act, describing the cases as an act of "weaponization and stupidity" by federal prosecutors. A lawyer and a lobbyist representing five of the six defendants — Ryan and Wade Lalone, Matt Geouge, Tim Clancy, and Mac Spurlock — identified them to CBS News after the White House declined to release the names. The clemency followed an organized advocacy campaign and came after the Justice Department earlier in 2026 ordered prosecutors to drop all pending "defeat device" cases and after Trump pardoned a similar Wyoming defendant last fall.

Abuse of pardon power

Jul 3

U.S. Department of Energy deleted 1,600+ energy-saving webpages amid summer heat wave

At least 1,662 U.S. Department of Energy webpages providing guidance on lowering energy costs and protecting the electrical grid during heat waves had gone dark as of July 3, 2026, according to a Guardian analysis of deleted-URL data from the Internet Archive published July 15. More than 300 of the removed pages had drawn over 160,000 views in the preceding 30 days, and at least 18 were removed within days of a proposed DOE rollback of home-appliance efficiency standards. The department did not respond to questions about when or why the pages were removed.

Suppression of public data

Jul 2

Justice Department refused a federal judge's order to justify Epstein-file redactions, moving to delay or dissolve it

On July 2, 2026, hours before a court-ordered deadline, the U.S. Justice Department declined to produce unredacted Epstein investigative files and asked U.S. District Judge Emmet Sullivan to delay his order two months or dissolve it, arguing it had not violated the Epstein Files Transparency Act. Sullivan had sided with journalist Katie Phang, ordering the Department to justify certain redactions, produce records supporting them, and publish the redaction log the law requires. The Department said it "strongly disagrees" with the order and would appeal.

Jul 2

DHS and CBP waived Rivers and Harbors Act levee-safety review to keep building the Big Bend border wall amid a flood-risk lawsuit

On July 2, 2026, the Department of Homeland Security and U.S. Customs and Border Protection waived the Rivers and Harbors Act's levee-safety review requirements to continue border wall construction in the Big Bend region near Presidio, Texas. The waiver came two weeks after the Presidio Municipal Development District sued DHS and CBP, arguing the wall project could compromise flood-control levees protecting roughly 52 square miles of the area without required Army Corps of Engineers approval. DHS had already waived other environmental and contracting laws for the project in February 2026 but had not previously exempted the 1899 statute.

Ignoring statutory requirements

Jul 2

DHS bought two California CoreCivic detention facilities for ~$1.5B, placing them under federal ownership that shields them from state oversight

On July 2, 2026, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security completed the roughly $1.5 billion purchase of two privately run California immigration detention facilities, the Otay Mesa Detention Center near San Diego and the California City Detention Facility, from the for-profit prison company CoreCivic. CoreCivic will continue to operate both facilities under existing management contracts even as the federal government takes ownership. Reporting indicates the acquisition places the facilities under federal ownership that shields them from a California state law authorizing oversight of private detention conditions.

Obstruction of government investigations

Jul 2

HUD overhauled Fair Housing Initiatives Program grants, cutting 100+ nonprofit recipients to five including $25M to one law school

On July 2, 2026, HUD issued notices of funding opportunity restructuring the Fair Housing Initiatives Program (FHIP), the congressionally appropriated grant program that has funded local fair-housing enforcement nonprofits since 1987, cutting the pool of recipients from over 100 to roughly five -- including $25 million to a single law school -- while requiring grantees to draw at least half their funding from non-government sources and barring funding tied to "gender ideology" or "illegal immigration." HUD Secretary Scott Turner, who told the Senate in May 2026 the agency would "enforce the law as written, and nothing else," is named as defendant in litigation over the restructuring brought by the National Fair Housing Alliance and the Massachusetts Fair Housing Center.

Jul 2

Trump denied disaster aid to four Democratic-led states after FEMA and NOAA confirmed they qualified

On July 2, 2026, President Trump denied FEMA major disaster declaration requests from Massachusetts, New York, New Jersey, and Rhode Island for a record-breaking February blizzard, even though FEMA and NOAA regional offices had already verified that all four states exceeded the damage thresholds required for approval. Emails and documents obtained by POLITICO showed Trump personally overruled his own agencies' determinations, and the four states' congressional delegations said Trump separately announced $846 million in disaster aid for Republican-led states the same day. All four states have since filed formal appeals seeking reversal.

Politicized benefit administration

Jul 2

FBI Director Patel ordered 260 analysts from all field offices to surge on 2020 Georgia election investigation

On July 2, 2026, FBI Director Kash Patel ordered every FBI field office to immediately contribute intelligence analysts to a priority investigation in Atlanta focused on individuals connected to the 2020 Georgia presidential election. An unclassified memo from the Directorate of Intelligence and Criminal Division specified a total of 260 analysts, assigned each office a quota of records checks to complete by July 17, and authorized overtime including weekends and holidays. The investigation was based on a referral from Kurt Olsen, a White House official heading the administration's election integrity portfolio, despite Georgia's 2020 result having been confirmed by both a machine recount and a full hand recount of every county in the state.

Politicized investigations

Jul 2

Education Department withheld its 2023-24 Civil Rights Data Collection six months past its publication deadline

As of July 2, 2026, the U.S. Department of Education had not released its Civil Rights Data Collection for the 2023-24 school year — the federal dataset used to hold schools accountable on discipline, access, and discrimination — six months after its own December 2025 publication deadline. The department did not respond to repeated inquiries about the delay, which came as it cut roughly half its staff and announced plans to move the Office for Civil Rights, home to the data-collection team, to the Justice Department.

Jul 2

DOJ indicted former Olympian David Hearn on felony charge for touching Reflecting Pool liner, serving Trump's vandalism narrative

On July 2, 2026, a federal grand jury indicted former U.S. Olympic canoeist David Hearn, 67, on a felony destruction of government property charge after he was arrested on June 19 for reaching into the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool to feel a partially detached piece of the blue liner installed during Trump's $14.7 million renovation. U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia Jeanine Pirro announced the felony charge at a press conference, claiming Hearn had "forcefully and violently" pulled up the liner, a characterization Hearn and his lawyers disputed. The felony charge carries a maximum sentence of ten years in prison; Hearn's attorneys called it "outrageous" and "a misuse of government power" designed to provide political cover for the administration's renovation failure.

Selective prosecution

Jul 1

EPA issued draft guidance departing from its Biden-era assessment of PFAS cancer risk in farmland sewage sludge

On July 1, 2026, the Environmental Protection Agency issued a draft guidance document that criticized and departed from a Biden-era draft risk assessment finding that applying PFAS-contaminated sewage sludge to farmland posed cancer and other health risks. The guidance, signed by EPA Assistant Administrator for Water Jess Kramer, called the earlier assessment's assumptions "too disconnected from real-world conditions" and replaced its findings with voluntary recommendations. Environmental advocates said the move abandoned EPA's duty to regulate the "forever chemicals."

Suppression of public data

Jul 1

U.S. Attorney Boutros publicly detailed a sealed Tren de Aragua complaint in violation of a court sealing order

On July 1, 2026, at a Washington press conference alongside acting Attorney General Todd Blanche and FBI Director Kash Patel, U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois Andrew Boutros publicly detailed a criminal complaint charging three alleged Tren de Aragua gang members while the complaint was still under a magistrate judge's sealing order. The seal had been signed on June 30 and was not lifted until the following day. A federal magistrate judge later found the disclosure a "clear violation" of her order.

Defying court orders

Jul 1

ICE detained as many as 100 people during week-long enforcement operations in Gallatin County, Montana

Over the week of roughly June 25 through July 2, 2026, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement conducted a series of enforcement operations across Gallatin County, Montana, detaining an estimated several dozen to more than 100 people, according to local immigrant-resource organizations. Community members reported people being pulled over in their vehicles and detained along with other occupants, including bystanders in the same vehicle, and agents knocking on doors in search of specific individuals. The largest single-day wave, more than 80 detentions, was reported on Wednesday, July 1.

Jul 1

Trump took first flight on Qatar-gifted Air Force One without congressional consent

On July 1, 2026, President Trump took his first flight on a Boeing 747-8 luxury aircraft gifted by the government of Qatar, using it as Air Force One for a trip to North Dakota. The plane, valued at approximately $400 million, was put into presidential service without the consent of Congress, which the Foreign Emoluments Clause requires before a federal officeholder may accept gifts of value from a foreign state. The Senate had passed S.Res.244 formally withholding that consent, and the House had passed H.Res.410 demanding Trump submit his plans for the gift to Congress.

Emoluments violations

Jul 1

Executive Office of the President awarded a no-bid contract to Parscale's Campaign Nucleus for Freedom 250 sites that collected visitors' data

The Freedom 250 websites — including the government-redirect domain 250.gov and the event-registration platform events.freedom250.org — were built and operated by the Executive Office of the President's National Design Studio and by Campaign Nucleus, a firm founded by former Trump campaign digital director Brad Parscale. The sites tracked visitors' precise geolocation and logged form-entered personal information through an analytics script that was quietly removed in mid-June 2026 after The Guardian sought comment, while Campaign Nucleus separately collected registrants' names, ZIP codes, and mobile numbers and scores individuals for voter-targeting purposes. On July 1, 2026, the Executive Office of the President awarded Campaign Nucleus a non-competitive $66,000 blanket purchase agreement, running through 2031 and described only as "EVENT PLANNING."

Jul 1

NBC News reveals White House task force gathered thousands of 2020 election intelligence documents for planned declassification

On July 1, 2026, NBC News reported that a White House task force had been secretly collecting thousands of pages of intelligence and law enforcement documents related to the 2020 presidential election, with plans to declassify some material to support President Trump's claims of election fraud. The task force, staffed by loyalists including former Trump national security aide Derek Harvey and right-wing writer John Solomon, drew from the CIA, the NSA, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, the FBI, and the Justice Department. Courts and federal investigators have repeatedly found no evidence of fraud sufficient to alter the 2020 results.

Jul 1

Trump DOJ refused to renew federal grant for Minnesota's Conviction Review Unit, forcing its closure

The Trump administration's Department of Justice declined to renew a federal grant sustaining Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison's Conviction Review Unit, forcing the unit's suspension on July 1, 2026. The grant—originally $300,000 in 2020 and renewed at $500,000 in 2023—was denied by the Trump DOJ when the unit applied for another renewal in 2025. Over its five-year operation, the CRU overturned three wrongful convictions and reviewed more than 1,000 applications from people claiming wrongful conviction.

Dismantling agency capacity

Jul 1

DOJ sued Virginia and California seeking to overturn state assault-weapons and pistol restrictions

On July 1, 2026, the U.S. Department of Justice filed lawsuits against Virginia and California, alleging that firearm restrictions newly enacted in both states violate the Second Amendment. The Virginia suit challenges Senate Bill 749's ban on AR-15-style rifles and magazines over 15 rounds and asks the court to overturn contrary Fourth Circuit precedent, while the California suit targets Assembly Bill 1127's convertible-pistol ban and the state's handgun Roster.

Executive overreach

Jun 30

Supreme Court struck down coordinated party-spending limits in NRSC v. FEC, overturning Colorado II

The Supreme Court ruled 6-3 in NRSC v. FEC on June 30, 2026 to strike down decades-old federal limits on how much money political parties can spend in direct coordination with their candidates, holding the restriction violated the First Amendment. Justice Brett Kavanaugh's majority opinion overturned the Court's 2001 precedent in FEC v. Colorado Republican Federal Campaign Committee ("Colorado II"), which had upheld coordinated-spending limits as a safeguard against circumvention of individual contribution limits. Justices Kagan, Sotomayor, and Jackson dissented, warning the ruling opens a new route for large donors to funnel unlimited sums to candidates through party committees.

Weakening campaign finance safeguards

Jun 30

ICE arrested Guatemalan man at New York City immigration court in defiance of federal court orders, including a June 23 nationwide ban

On June 30, 2026, ICE agents arrested a Guatemalan man at the New York City immigration court at 290 Broadway, in what lawyers described as a continuing violation of two federal court orders barring such arrests: a May 18 order from the Southern District of New York covering three Manhattan courts, and a June 23 nationwide order from a federal court in California. The man was transferred to an out-of-state detention facility. The arrest came four days after ICE agents arrested two other immigrants at New York City immigration courts in apparent defiance of the same orders.

Jun 30

ICE officer Travis Erdman defied federal court order protecting Iowa student-visa holder; judge found civil contempt

On June 30, 2026, U.S. District Judge Rebecca Goodgame Ebinger held ICE Deportation Officer Travis Erdman in civil contempt for knowingly defying a court order that blocked the transfer of Pardeep Saini, a 22-year-old student-visa holder, out of the district. Erdman transferred Saini to Nebraska on April 1, 2026, despite the order, and testified at the contempt hearing that he was aware of the violation and had sought guidance only from ICE's own legal office, which twice told him to keep Saini in Nebraska. Judge Ebinger ruled that Erdman had made "no effort, at any point, to bring his agency into compliance," calling the conduct "astonishing" and "exceedingly unacceptable."

Jun 30

CFPB Acting Director Vought ordered scattered employees to relocate to Washington by November 2 or lose their jobs

On June 30, 2026, Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Acting Director Russell Vought sent relocation letters to roughly 450 remote and geographically scattered CFPB employees, directing them to move to the bureau's Washington, D.C. headquarters by November 2, 2026 or lose their jobs. Employees and the union representing them said the ultimatum functions as a mass layoff in disguise, since many affected workers have documented medical, caregiving, or mobility circumstances that make relocation unworkable. Vought, who simultaneously directs the White House Office of Management and Budget, has pursued a yearlong campaign to shutter the CFPB that federal courts have largely blocked.

Dismantling agency capacity

Jun 30

FOIA showed Rubio, Hegseth, Caine, Vance and Lutnick kept using auto-deleting Signal chats after Trump's Signalgate warning

A State Department FOIA release obtained through Democracy Forward's litigation revealed 13 previously undisclosed Signal group chats used by Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, Joint Chiefs Chairman Dan Caine, Vice President JD Vance, and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick for government business, configured with auto-delete timers as short as eight hours. The chats ran from April through June 2025, after President Trump's April 24, 2025 public acknowledgment that officials should stop using Signal following the original Signalgate incident.

Jun 30

Trump's 2025 financial disclosure revealed $1.4B in cryptocurrency income from ventures he simultaneously regulated

Trump's 2025 annual financial disclosure, released June 30, 2026 by the U.S. Office of Government Ethics and analyzed by the New York Times, shows he earned at least $1.4 billion in cryptocurrency income during his first year back in office: $635 million from the TRUMP meme coin launched days before his inauguration, approximately $515 million from World Liberty Financial token sales, and $65 million from WLF equity sales, with over $50 million in Bitcoin holdings. During the same period, Trump signed executive orders establishing the United States as a "crypto hub," created a Strategic Bitcoin Reserve, and appointed crypto-friendly regulators at the SEC and CFTC — regulatory actions that directly benefited the ventures generating his income. Total 2025 income across all sources was at least $2.2 billion.

Jun 30

Trump's 2025 disclosure showed he traded Coinbase and Robinhood stock repeatedly after his SEC dropped enforcement cases against both

Trump's 2025 annual financial disclosure, released June 30, 2026 by the U.S. Office of Government Ethics, shows the president purchased Coinbase and Robinhood stock on January 29, 2025 — weeks before his SEC dismissed its enforcement cases against both companies in late February 2025 — then traded both repeatedly for the rest of the year. The filing records 15 Coinbase purchases ($310,000–$875,000 combined) and 8 sales ($334,000–$760,000) between March and December 2025, 12 Robinhood purchases ($359,000–$910,000), and roughly $2.33 million in validator rewards through two Coinbase staking agreements.

Jun 30

Supreme Court ruled 6-3 transgender athlete bans do not violate Equal Protection Clause

On June 30, 2026, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled 6-3 in West Virginia v. B.P.J. (No. 24-43) that state laws banning transgender women and girls from women's and girls' sports teams do not violate the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. Justice Brett Kavanaugh authored the majority opinion; the Court also held unanimously that Title IX permits schools to maintain separate sports teams defined by biological sex. The ruling upholds athletic exclusion laws in West Virginia and Idaho and removes the primary federal constitutional protection that transgender athletes had used to challenge such laws nationwide.

Jun 30

Washington Post investigation revealed Trump awarded $500M no-bid White House ballroom contract, bypassing competitive bidding

A Washington Post investigation published June 30, 2026 revealed that the Trump White House awarded a no-bid contract worth up to $500 million to Clark Construction for a new East Wing ballroom, routing the deal through the Executive Residence — a White House entity exempt from federal competitive bidding requirements. Trump personally selected the contractor and negotiated project costs, including a $2.3 million reduction in concrete pricing. White House Office of Administration Director Joshua Fisher justified bypassing competitive bids by claiming that disclosing the project's procurement needs would "compromise the national security."

Jun 30

HHS Inspector General Bell suspended New York's Medicaid Fraud Control Unit funding, targeting Democratic AG Letitia James

On June 30, 2026, HHS Inspector General Thomas March Bell suspended federal funding for New York's Medicaid Fraud Control Unit through at least September 30, citing insufficient criminal indictments and convictions relative to similarly-sized state units. Bell's own letter acknowledged that New York deliberately focused on high-impact, complex fraud cases rather than volume — a strategy the same HHS-OIG office had previously recognized as yielding the highest civil recoveries among states. The freeze is the second suspension of a state Medicaid fraud unit this year and follows the administration's admission of a glaring error in figures used to justify an earlier fraud probe targeting New York.

Jun 29

DOJ sued Massachusetts and Rhode Island to block in-state tuition and aid for undocumented students

On June 29, 2026, the U.S. Department of Justice sued Massachusetts and Rhode Island in federal court, seeking to block each state's in-state tuition and financial-aid programs for undocumented students, arguing the laws unlawfully grant noncitizens benefits unavailable to U.S. citizens living outside the state. The suits challenge Massachusetts' 2023 Tuition Equity Law and Rhode Island's in-state tuition policy, in place since 2011 and codified in 2021. DOJ said the filings brought its litigation campaign's total to 12 states, following earlier suits that resulted in permanent injunctions in Texas, Kentucky, Oklahoma, and Nebraska.

Jun 29

SCOTUS 6-3 overturned Humphrey's Executor, holding presidents may fire independent agency commissioners at will

On June 29, 2026, the Supreme Court overturned Humphrey's Executor v. United States (1935) in a 6-3 ruling authored by Chief Justice Roberts in Trump v. Slaughter, holding that President Trump's firing of FTC Commissioner Rebecca Slaughter without cause was constitutional. The ruling makes Congress's statutory for-cause removal protections for independent agency commissioners — including at the FTC, NLRB, EEOC, MSPB, and CPSC — unenforceable. A separate 5-4 ruling in Trump v. Cook temporarily blocked Trump from removing Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook, carving out a partial exception for the Fed.

Jun 29

Interior paid Duke Energy $129 million to terminate its Carolina Long Bay offshore wind lease

On June 29, 2026, the Department of the Interior announced a settlement agreement with Duke Energy under which Duke voluntarily terminated its offshore wind lease in the Carolina Long Bay area — 22 miles off southeastern North Carolina — in exchange for $129 million in federal compensation. Interior Secretary Doug Burgum said the deal advances President Trump's energy agenda, and Duke Energy said it would redirect the funds toward nuclear and natural gas generation. The agreement is the fourth offshore wind lease termination brokered by the Trump administration, bringing total federal wind lease buyout payments to more than $2.75 billion.

Jun 29

DOJ opened an investigation into Sen. Ruben Gallego's campaign spending days after the Senate Ethics Committee cleared him

Around June 29, 2026, the U.S. Department of Justice opened an investigation into Sen. Ruben Gallego's (D-AZ) use of campaign funds since 2019, examining family trips and leadership-PAC reimbursements. The probe, reportedly stemming from a whistleblower complaint, became public days after the Senate Ethics Committee closed its own inquiry and found no evidence Gallego violated Senate rules or applicable law. Gallego, a potential 2028 presidential contender, denies wrongdoing and has not been charged.

Politicized investigations

Jun 29

ICE detained and handcuffed Sister Leticia Ugboaja, a Catholic nun, walking to Sunday Mass in McAllen, Texas

On June 29, 2026, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents detained Sister Leticia "Letty" Ugboaja, a 56-year-old Nigerian nun and member of the Daughters of Mary Mother of Mercy, as she walked one block from her home to Our Lady of Sorrows Catholic Church for Sunday Mass. ICE transferred her to the El Valle Detention Facility in Raymondville and denied her access to medication. She was released the same evening after Reps. Monica De La Cruz and Henry Cuellar intervened with DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin.

Jun 29

John Yoo confirmed he would advise the diGenova DOJ probe targeting former officials from the Trump–Russia investigation

On June 29, 2026, John Yoo — a UC Berkeley law professor and former Bush administration Justice Department official who authored the so-called torture memos authorizing enhanced interrogation — confirmed he would advise the probe led by Joseph diGenova, who was assigned in April 2026 as Counselor to the Attorney General to investigate whether officials who scrutinized Trump participated in a criminal conspiracy. DiGenova's investigation, conducted from the Southern District of Florida, focuses on former DOJ and FBI officials who led the inquiry into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election.

Politicized investigations

Jun 28

New York Times investigation revealed White House privately pressured Merit Systems Protection Board over federal-firing ruling

A June 28, 2026 New York Times investigation revealed that the Trump White House ran a private pressure campaign on the Merit Systems Protection Board, the agency that adjudicates federal-worker firing appeals, ahead of its March 2026 ruling on presidential removal power. A White House aide privately urged a board appointee to adopt the administration's unitary-executive position, conduct the Times likened to telling a federal judge how to rule. The board then dismissed the appeals of two immigration judges fired under Article II and held that statutory tenure protections could not constitutionally apply to them.

Jun 28

U.S. ambassador to Belgium accepted a jeweled gold ring for Trump from a diamond group that won U.S. tariff relief

On June 28, 2026, U.S. Ambassador to Belgium Bill White accepted an ornately jeweled gold ring — set with 321 diamonds, 56 sapphires, 13 emeralds, and six rubies and appraised by independent jewelers at roughly $25,000 to $35,000 — presented by the Antwerp World Diamond Center as a gift for President Trump at an America 250 event in Brussels. The gift came months after the diamond group secured a zero-percent U.S. tariff on Antwerp's more than $2 billion in annual polished-diamond exports, a concession granted during the Trump administration's 2025 trade negotiations. Trump thanked the group in a prerecorded video, and White said the ring would be displayed in the Oval Office once formally presented to the president.

Emoluments violations

Jun 28

Trump bought $500,000 in Abbott Laboratories stock before his DOJ dropped its criminal probe of the baby-formula maker

During 2025, President Donald Trump purchased roughly $500,000 in Abbott Laboratories stock, beginning in late September, while the Justice Department's years-long criminal investigation into the company's contaminated Sturgis, Michigan infant-formula plant remained open. On June 28, 2026, the Wall Street Journal and Reuters reported that DOJ leadership had closed the criminal probe, which was tied to at least two infant deaths, in favor of civil clawbacks; Abbott had donated $500,000 to Trump's inauguration. Trump's stock purchases were disclosed in his annual financial disclosure released days later.

Jun 27

Trump resumed Iran strikes defying first-ever bicameral war-powers resolution directing end to hostilities

On June 27–28, 2026, U.S. Central Command struck Iranian military sites near the Strait of Hormuz, days after Congress — for the first time in American history — passed a war-powers resolution through both chambers directing the president to remove U.S. forces from hostilities with Iran absent a declaration of war or congressional authorization. The Senate voted 50–48 on June 23 to join the House, which had passed the same measure 215–208 on June 3. Trump called the resolution "poorly timed and meaningless," said "there are no limits" to his executive power, and directed strikes that Iran met with retaliatory attacks on U.S. military sites in Kuwait and Bahrain on June 28.

Jun 27

ICE contracted private prison firm LaSalle Corrections to build 528-bed Louisiana family/child holding facility, bypassing ORR custody

In late June 2026, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement signed a contract to build a 528-bed holding facility for migrant families and unaccompanied children next to Alexandria International Airport in Louisiana. The facility, intended as a "staging area" for people awaiting deportation, will be operated by the LaSalle Family Foundation, a nonprofit arm of private prison contractor LaSalle Corrections, bypassing the Office of Refugee Resettlement's statutory custody role over unaccompanied children.

Jun 27

ICE transferred Delaney Hall detainee to Mississippi two days after his alleged rape in custody, without explanation

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement transferred Hieison Ultengo, a 37-year-old detainee at the Delaney Hall immigration facility in Newark, New Jersey, to the Adams County Correctional Center in Mississippi on June 27, 2026 — two days after he was allegedly raped by another detainee and briefly hospitalized. ICE gave no explanation for the transfer to Ultengo, his attorney, or his family, who learned of the move from other detainees. His attorney, Catherine Reilly, said the transfer has hampered his ability to fight a pending deportation order and disrupted his access to HIV medication.

Jun 27

DOJ used DEI investigation as leverage to force University of Virginia President Jim Ryan to resign

On June 27, 2026, University of Virginia President Jim Ryan announced his resignation, effective no later than August 15, under direct pressure from the Department of Justice. The DOJ's Civil Rights Division, led by Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon, had sent Ryan letters in April and June accusing him of failing to dismantle UVA's DEI programs and warning that "the department's patience is wearing thin." PBS NewsHour and NBC News reported that DOJ officials demanded Ryan's resignation as the condition for resolving the investigation, marking the first documented case of the federal government forcing a public university president from office through an active federal probe.

Targeting critics with government power

Jun 26

ICE arrested two immigrants at New York City immigration courts in defiance of federal court orders, including a June 23 nationwide ban

On June 26, 2026, ICE agents arrested two immigrants at New York City immigration courts in what lawyers described as the first serious violations of two federal court orders barring such arrests: a May 18 order from the Southern District of New York covering three Manhattan courts, and a June 23 nationwide order from a federal court in California. Agents arrested an Ecuadorian man at 26 Federal Plaza and a Dominican man at 290 Broadway; both were transferred to out-of-state detention facilities. ICE denied violating any court order but provided no explanation of how the arrests fit the narrow exceptions permitted by the judges.

Jun 26

Justice Department sued Kentucky, Pennsylvania, Michigan, and Minnesota to compel five years of SNAP applicant data

On June 26, 2026, the Justice Department filed lawsuits against Kentucky, Pennsylvania, Michigan, and Minnesota seeking injunctions to force their state SNAP agencies to turn over five years of applicant data, after the four states refused the U.S. Department of Agriculture's demand citing recipient privacy. Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche and USDA Secretary Brooke Rollins said the states were obstructing efforts to detect benefit fraud, noting that twenty-eight other jurisdictions had complied. A federal court had already issued a preliminary injunction barring USDA from cutting SNAP funding from states over the same data refusal.

Executive overreach

Jun 26

BLM approved 167MW AI data center on Boulder City public land by recycling a 2023 solar review, skipping public comment

On June 26, 2026, the Bureau of Land Management's Las Vegas Field Office, led by Bruce Sillitoe, approved converting a previously authorized 19-megawatt solar-and-battery-storage project on federal land in Boulder City, Nevada, into a 167-megawatt AI data center. BLM reused a 2023 environmental review completed for the solar project rather than conducting a new review or public comment period, even as Boulder City's own review of a related local permit led the developer to withdraw that application after a 6-1 Planning Commission vote against it. The Boulder City Council voted unanimously on July 14, 2026, to appeal the approval to the Interior Board of Land Appeals.

Jun 26

Acting DNI Pulte named RNC election operative Christina Norton, who lacks intelligence experience, ODNI chief of staff

On June 26, 2026, acting Director of National Intelligence Bill Pulte named Christina Norton — the former "election integrity" director of the Republican National Committee — as chief of staff of the Office of the Director of National Intelligence. Norton, who has no known intelligence or national-security background, had overseen the RNC's 2024 poll-watching operation and, on a 2024 organizing call, cast doubt on the legitimacy of the 2020 election. Former intelligence officials and Democratic lawmakers warned that the appointment signaled ODNI would be turned toward pursuing election-fraud claims ahead of the 2026 midterms.

Jun 26

Commerce Department directed NOAA to review California's coastal program after the state delayed oil, pipeline, and spaceport projects

On June 26, 2026, the U.S. Department of Commerce directed the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to conduct a formal evaluation of California's federally approved Coastal Management Program under the Coastal Zone Management Act. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, who requested the review in a May letter to the White House National Economic Council, said state policies delaying "critical national infrastructure in the name of environmental extremism are unacceptable." The review could alter federal funding to the state if California is found out of compliance.

Politicized investigations

Jun 26

Trump's Religious Liberty Commission released draft report urging DOJ to narrow Establishment Clause protections

On June 26, 2026, the Presidential Advisory Commission on Religious Liberty — a federal advisory body established by Trump executive order — released a 12-point draft report calling for a stronger government role in promoting religion and recommending that the Department of Justice issue guidance to narrow First Amendment Establishment Clause doctrine. The report proposes replacing the concept of church-state separation with government "bridges" to religion and additionally recommends eliminating the Johnson Amendment, which bars tax-exempt religious organizations from endorsing political candidates. President Trump personally met with the commission and publicly stated, "We're going to bring religion back."

Jun 26

The Advocate reported EEOC investigators were directed to halt all transgender workplace discrimination investigations, defying Bostock ruling

On June 26, 2026, The Advocate published a documented EEOC investigator's written confirmation that the agency had been directed to halt all investigations into transgender workplace discrimination. The investigator told complainant Flint Del Sol—an educator whose Title VII case had been open for nearly three years—that the agency was "not permitted to conduct/continue any investigation regarding transgender cases, and that is coming from the chain of command." The directive applies to all such cases and conflicts directly with the Supreme Court's Bostock v. Clayton County ruling (2020), which held that Title VII covers discrimination based on gender identity.

Jun 26

ICE detained South Sudanese refugee Nyamuoch Duoth for months past her final removal order despite no country willing to take her

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement redetained Nyamuoch Thomas Duoth, a South Sudan-born lawful permanent resident, in March 2025 despite a 2022 finding that there was no significant likelihood the government could remove her to South Sudan or Ethiopia. Her removal order became final on December 26, 2025, and by June 26, 2026 — six months later, the point past which continued immigration detention is presumptively unlawful absent a significant likelihood of removal — ICE had provided no evidence of progress toward deporting her and continued to hold her at the Pottawattamie County Jail in Council Bluffs, Iowa. U.S. District Judge Stephen Locher later granted her habeas petition and ordered her immediate release on July 16, 2026, calling the government's justification for continued detention "hard to take seriously."

Jun 25

HHS/ORR compiled expedited removal list for 500+ unaccompanied migrant children, bypassing TVPRA individual case process

On June 25, 2026, the Trump administration's Department of Health and Human Services, through its Office of Refugee Resettlement, identified more than 500 unaccompanied migrant children in federal custody for expedited mass removal. Senator Ron Wyden publicly warned that the planned removal would bypass the individualized case management, legal referral, and sponsor-placement process that the Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act requires for each child. Multiple major outlets confirmed the list had been compiled and removal was imminent.

Jun 25

CDC ordered health grantees to adopt 'parental authority' priorities and abandon harm reduction, threatening funding loss

The CDC issued a memo on June 25, 2026, to state, territorial, tribal, and local health program grantees requiring compliance with new agency priorities within five business days — by July 1 — or risk funding cancellation. The new priorities, obtained by The Guardian, included "parental authority" over children's education and required programs to move away from evidence-based harm reduction; programs covering immunizations, HIV, hepatitis, tobacco, and overdose prevention were affected. HHS confirmed the action after the story was published, and CDC program staff were reported to be unaware the memo had been sent.

Jun 25

Supreme Court ruled 6-3 Trump has unreviewable power to terminate TPS for 330,000 Haitian and 3,800 Syrian nationals

The Supreme Court ruled 6-3 on June 25, 2026, that the Trump administration has virtually unreviewable power to terminate Temporary Protected Status for approximately 330,000 Haitian and 3,800 Syrian nationals living legally in the United States. Writing for the conservative majority, Justice Samuel Alito held that the TPS statute bars judicial review of presidential TPS decisions and rejected a constitutional racial-animus claim, despite Justice Elena Kagan's dissent quoting Trump's own statements describing Haitians in explicitly racist terms.

Jun 25

Supreme Court ruled 6-3 that CBP metering policy does not violate asylum law, eliminating asylum seekers' principal legal challenge avenue

On June 25, 2026, the Supreme Court ruled 6-3 in Mullin v. Al Otro Lado that U.S. Customs and Border Protection's "metering" policy — systematically turning asylum seekers away at ports of entry before they physically cross the border line — does not violate federal asylum law. Writing for the majority, Justice Samuel Alito held that noncitizens physically blocked at a port of entry have not "arrived in the United States" within the meaning of 8 U.S.C. § 1158 and therefore have no statutory right to apply for asylum. The decision forecloses the primary legal avenue that had permitted asylum seekers to challenge their systematic exclusion at the border.

Jun 24

Interior Department proposed eliminating 90% of public comment windows for oil and gas leasing on federal lands

On June 24, 2026, the Interior Department published a proposed rule in the Federal Register that would eliminate the 30-day pre-leasing public comment period and the 30-day NEPA environmental review comment period for oil and gas leasing on Bureau of Land Management federal lands, while cutting the protest period from 30 to 10 days — reducing total public input windows from 90 days to 10. The proposal would also lower cleanup bonds by more than 90% and eliminate BLM's requirement to assess resource conflicts before leasing. Environmental advocates said the changes violate the National Environmental Policy Act and the Federal Land Policy and Management Act, which require public participation in federal land management by statute.

Jun 24

FEMA conditioned disaster preparedness grants on states adopting paper ballots, auditing voting systems, and cooperating with immigration enforcement

The Federal Emergency Management Agency and the Department of Homeland Security announced in June 2026 that emergency preparedness and counterterrorism grants would be conditioned on states transitioning to paper-ballot systems, auditing their voting infrastructure, and cooperating with federal immigration enforcement, including DHS authority to revoke grants without cause. On July 23, 2026, a coalition of 26 states filed suit in Rhode Island federal court, arguing the conditions violated the Administrative Procedure Act and the Constitution's spending clause. Attorneys general leading the suit noted federal courts had twice previously blocked similar FEMA funding conditions as unconstitutional.

Coercive funding leverage

Jun 24

HHS canceled Teen Pregnancy Prevention Program grants, redirected $67M to 'parental rights' and 'body literacy' competitions

The Department of Health and Human Services canceled most active grants under the congressionally funded Teen Pregnancy Prevention Program on June 24, 2026, and simultaneously published $71.7 million in new grant competitions requiring content aligned with "parental rights" and "body literacy" and explicitly excluding programs that "promote or advance gender ideology." An HHS official confirmed the reclaimed TPPP funds would be redirected to the new competitions. A federal court had previously vacated similar HHS guidance stripping gender-identity content from existing TPPP grantees; HHS achieved the same result by terminating and recompeting the grants.

Jun 24

Hegseth forced out Gen. Donahue, last U.S. soldier to leave Afghanistan, amid Pentagon leadership purge

On June 24, 2026, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth forced out Gen. Christopher Donahue, commander of U.S. Army Europe and Africa and the last U.S. service member to board the final flight out of Afghanistan in 2021. The Pentagon announced Donahue would relinquish command on July 2, 2026, after just 18 months of a typical three-year tour, without providing a reason for the abrupt change. Donahue's removal is the latest in a series of senior military leadership purges under Hegseth, who has removed more than a dozen top generals and admirals since taking office.

Jun 24

Trump directed the Justice Department to investigate oil companies for alleged gas-price gouging

In a Truth Social post shortly after midnight on June 24, 2026, President Trump announced that he had instructed the Justice Department to "immediately start looking into" oil companies for "gouging" consumers, alleging they had failed to lower pump prices in line with falling crude prices amid U.S.-Iran de-escalation. Trump named no companies and cited no evidence, and the American Petroleum Institute noted that gasoline prices do not move in lockstep with crude during supply disruptions. A DOJ spokesperson affirmed a commitment to fuel affordability but announced no formal probe.

Politicized investigations

Jun 24

DHS agents entered Syracuse polling place, threatened election worker over Instagram post naming officer who fatally shot protester Renée Good

On June 24, 2026, two DHS/ICE agents arrived at Syracuse Central Library — an active polling place during the city's primary election — and confronted elections inspector Paigelynne Gonyea over a January 2026 Instagram post in which she named the ICE officer who fatally shot anti-ICE protester Renée Good. Agents handed Gonyea a form letter warning her she "may be in violation of federal law" for the post, which was based on a published Minneapolis Star Tribune investigation, and pressured her to delete it. Gonyea refused.

Jun 24

Postmaster General Steiner announced USPS will refuse mail ballot delivery in states withholding voter data under Trump elections order

On June 24, 2026, U.S. Postmaster General David Steiner announced that the Postal Service would refuse to deliver mailed ballots in states that declined to submit voter lists and associated ballot barcodes to the federal government, as demanded by a proposed rule implementing President Trump's Executive Order 14399. The announcement came as all 47 Democratic senators wrote to USPS warning that such voter lists would be "ripe for abuse" and likely to contain inaccuracies that would prevent eligible voters from casting ballots. The coercive policy was announced on the same day a federal court blocked separate provisions of EO 14399 requiring documentary proof of citizenship to register to vote.

Jun 23

U.S. State Department bypassed congressional review of a $700 million fighter-engine sale to Turkey without invoking emergency authority

On June 23, 2026, the U.S. Department of State informed the ranking member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee that it would bypass the congressional review process for a sale of roughly 80 GE F110 fighter-jet engines to Turkey worth more than $700 million, and would immediately proceed to formal notification of the sale. According to the ranking member, the department invoked no emergency authority, presented no written rationale, and had for months declined to brief the committee on the sale's implications, including Turkey's continued possession of the Russian S-400 air-defense system. The Arms Export Control Act provides Congress a statutory review period before major foreign military sales may proceed.

Jun 23

Supreme Court ruled 6-3 that criminal suspicion alone justifies immigration parole of lawful permanent residents

On June 23, 2026, the Supreme Court ruled 6-3 in favor of the Trump administration, holding that an immigration officer's unverified allegation of criminal wrongdoing is sufficient to place a lawful permanent resident on immigration parole at a border crossing. The majority opinion, written by Justice Clarence Thomas, found that border officers need not establish criminal activity by clear and convincing evidence before restricting a green card holder's rights. Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson's dissent, joined by both other liberal justices, warned the ruling handed the government a "massive blank check" to weaken due-process protections for the approximately 13.5 million lawful permanent residents in the United States.

Jun 23

ICE detained Colombian asylum-seeker Diana Socha Torres and her 8-year-old son at their Wisconsin Dells home, transferring them to a Texas facility

On June 23, 2026, ICE agents detained Diana Socha Torres, a 43-year-old Colombian asylum-seeker with a pending case, and her 8-year-old son at their Wisconsin Dells home after telling the family they were coming to change her ankle monitor. The pair were taken to ICE's Milwaukee office and, by the next morning, the online detainee locator listed Socha Torres at the Dilley immigration processing center in Texas. ICE cited an in-absentia removal order entered after she missed a hearing; she says she never received notice of it.

Jun 23

Acting DNI Pulte fired six political appointees and removed dozens of career intelligence officers in first ODNI purge round

On June 23, 2026, acting Director of National Intelligence Bill Pulte carried out the first round of removals under his ODNI purge: six political appointees installed by former Director Tulsi Gabbard were fired, and roughly 45 career intelligence officers on joint-duty assignment were stripped of their details and sent back to their home agencies, with additional career officials removed from their positions, according to CNN and CBS News. The cuts followed Pulte's June 22 directive ordering ODNI offices to submit ranked lists of personnel for removal.

Dismantling agency capacity

Jun 23

DOJ sued New York to block state law requiring ICE agents to unmask and display identification

On June 23, 2026, the U.S. Department of Justice filed suit against New York State, Governor Kathy Hochul, and Attorney General Letitia James, seeking to block a New York law requiring federal law enforcement officers, including ICE agents, to unmask during operations and display individual identifying information. The law, scheduled to take effect June 26, also bars 287(g) cooperative agreements in jurisdictions that maintain mask bans. DOJ argues the law violates the Supremacy Clause and poses officer safety risks; Hochul and James filed a countersuit the same day seeking to preserve the law.

Jun 23

HHS created new pathway to share TANF recipients' Social Security numbers and immigration status with DHS

On June 23, 2026, HHS's Office of Family Assistance published a Federal Register notice modifying the TANF Data system of records to add a new routine use authorizing disclosure of recipients' Social Security numbers and immigration/citizenship status to DHS and other agencies, effective July 23, 2026. Twenty-four states and the District of Columbia sued in federal court in Washington, D.C. on August 3, 2026, seeking to block the rule before states begin releasing data on August 11, 2026.

Jun 23

OPM moved to collect health insurance claims data on 8 million federal workers and retirees, retaining the right to re-identify pseudonymized records

On June 23, 2026, the Office of Personnel Management published a Federal Register notice establishing a modified system of records that authorizes the agency to collect health insurance claims data—including diagnoses, prescriptions, and payment details—from 65 insurance carriers covering over 8 million federal workers, retirees, and their family members enrolled in FEHB and PSHB programs. The notice added pseudonymization provisions in response to earlier criticism—removing names, Social Security numbers, and addresses before analyst review—but expressly reserved OPM's right to re-identify records and set an effective date of July 23, 2026 for new data-sharing provisions. Health privacy lawyers warned that pseudonymization was insufficient given that medical conditions alone can identify individuals, and Senate Democrats called on OPM to work with Congress before implementation.

Improper collection or dissemination of personal data

Jun 23

Supreme Court 6-3 eliminated human rights claims under Alien Tort Statute in Cisco Systems v. Doe, overruling Sosa

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled 6-3 on June 23, 2026 in Cisco Systems, Inc. v. Doe that federal courts may no longer hear any human rights claims under the Alien Tort Statute (ATS), categorically overruling Sosa v. Alvarez-Machain (2004) and ending 46 years of ATS human rights litigation. Justice Amy Coney Barrett wrote for the conservative majority; Justices Sotomayor, Kagan, and Jackson dissented. The ruling also held that aiding-and-abetting liability is not available under the Torture Victim Protection Act.

Narrowing civil-rights protections

Jun 23

Supreme Court ruled 6-3 prisoners cannot sue individual guards for money damages under RLUIPA, eliminating key religious-freedom remedy

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled 6-3 on June 23, 2026 that prisoners cannot sue individual prison guards for money damages under the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act (RLUIPA), leaving only injunctive relief as a remedy for religious freedom violations by prison staff. The case arose from Damon Landor, a Rastafarian man whose dreadlocks were forcibly cut by Louisiana prison guards in 2020. The conservative majority held that individual guards did not consent to personal liability under RLUIPA, while the dissent warned the ruling leaves prisoners with "little reason to expect guards to abide by legal protections."

Narrowing civil-rights protections

Jun 23

DOJ issued grand jury subpoenas compelling Washington Post and Wall Street Journal reporters to testify about sources

On June 23, 2026, the Justice Department issued grand jury subpoenas ordering reporters at The Washington Post and The Wall Street Journal to testify about their confidential sources, then withdrew the subpoenas after they became public. The Associated Press confirmed the issuance and withdrawal via sources familiar with the matter. The subpoenas targeted newsgathering activity, not disclosures of classified information, making them a direct threat to press-source confidentiality at two of the country's largest newspapers.

Press retaliation

Jun 23

Federal prosecutors secured 30–100 year sentences for eight Prairieland Nine protesters on domestic terrorism charges

On June 23, 2026, federal judges Mark Pittman and Reed O'Connor sentenced eight defendants in the Prairieland Nine case to prison terms ranging from 30 to 100 years in Fort Worth, Texas, for a combined total of 450 years. The sentences followed a March 13, 2026 jury conviction on charges including providing material support for terrorism under the NSPM-7 domestic terrorism framework, stemming from a July 4, 2025 protest outside the Prairieland ICE detention facility in Alvarado, Texas. Benjamin Song, who fired a handgun that wounded an Alvarado police officer, received the longest sentence of 100 years; the remaining seven defendants received 30–70 years for conduct prosecutors characterized as terrorism, including wearing black clothing, using encrypted messaging, and distributing antifascist literature. On July 1 and July 6, 2026, the same judges sentenced eight additional co-defendants in the same prosecution — including a ninth trial defendant and seven who pleaded guilty — bringing the cumulative total across all Prairieland-related defendants to approximately 562 years.

Jun 23

DHS agents visited Rochester man's home and tracked him to NYC hotel over email criticizing ICE director

On June 23, 2026, Homeland Security Investigations agents visited the Rochester, New York home of David Streever while he was traveling in Finland, leaving his wife a warning notice that an email Streever had sent five months earlier to then-acting ICE Director Todd Lyons constituted a "credible threat." Two days later, when Streever landed at JFK International Airport on his return, a Homeland Security Investigations agent tracked him to the airport hotel where he was staying and left a business card with the front desk. No criminal charges were filed; attorneys representing Streever called the federal visits unconstitutional government intimidation of protected political speech.

Targeting critics with government power

Jun 23

Department of Education opened Title IX investigations into Maryland state agency and three school districts over trans-inclusive policies

On June 23, 2026, the Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights opened Title IX investigations into the Maryland State Department of Education and three of the state's largest districts — Montgomery County, Prince George's County, and Frederick County Public Schools — over guidance and policies that let transgender students use facilities and join athletic teams matching their gender identity. Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights Kimberly Richey called gender-identity-based access "deeply troubling" and pledged to "take appropriate action to ensure compliance," announcing the probes on the fifty-fourth anniversary of Title IX. The investigations continued a coordinated wave of OCR enforcement against trans-inclusive school policies across multiple states.

Jun 22

Acting DNI Pulte ordered ODNI offices to rank personnel for mass firings, targeting career intelligence professionals

On June 22, 2026, acting Director of National Intelligence Bill Pulte directed Office of the Director of National Intelligence offices to submit ranked lists of their personnel for cuts, beginning an expected mass purge of career intelligence professionals. The National Counterterrorism Center and National Counterintelligence and Security Center were identified as facing the deepest cuts. Pulte, who has no national-security background, assumed the acting DNI role on June 19 following Tulsi Gabbard's departure, and the firings proceed under a June 5 Trump directive to reduce the size of the intelligence community.

Jun 22

DHS conditioned over $1 billion in homeland-security grants on states adopting hand-marked ballots and SAVE voter-roll checks

On June 22, 2026, CNN reported that the Trump administration had attached new conditions to Department of Homeland Security grant programs — expected to exceed $1 billion this fiscal year — requiring states to phase out certain electronic voting systems in favor of hand-marked paper ballots and to run their full voter rolls through DHS's SAVE citizenship-verification database. States that refuse would forfeit 20% of their homeland-security funding, which ordinarily supports terrorism prevention, infrastructure protection, and disaster preparedness.

Jun 22

ProPublica investigation reveals Trump officials defied FY2026 appropriations, spending 5% of congressionally-mandated global health funds

A ProPublica investigation published June 22, 2026, found Trump administration officials broadly refused to comply with the FY2026 National Security, Department of State, and Related Programs Appropriations Act, which Trump signed into law on February 3, 2026. The law directed $9.4 billion for global health programs including PEPFAR and more than $5 billion in humanitarian aid; the Office of Management and Budget labeled hundreds of millions in earmarked funds as "unallocated" to block their disbursement, while the State Department obligated just 5% of directed global health funds through March. Legal experts told ProPublica the conduct likely violated the Impoundment Control Act and constituted a constitutional crisis in the separation of powers.

Jun 22

Supreme Court declined to review 8th Circuit ruling barring private enforcement of VRA Section 208 in seven states

On June 22, 2026, the U.S. Supreme Court declined to review a 2025 8th Circuit ruling holding that private parties lack standing to sue to enforce Section 208 of the Voting Rights Act, which guarantees voters with disabilities or limited literacy the right to choose their own poll assistant. The brief, unsigned cert denial left in place the only federal appeals court ruling to eliminate private enforcement of Section 208, creating a two-tiered VRA enforcement landscape for voters in Arkansas, Iowa, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, and South Dakota. Private enforcement — historically the primary driver of VRA litigation — is now unavailable in those seven states, leaving compliance dependent on Justice Department action.

Jun 22

DOJ Civil Rights Division opened a civil-rights probe into a Brooklyn coffee shop that refused to serve Rep. Dan Goldman over his pro-Israel views

On June 22, 2026, Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights Harmeet Dhillon announced that the U.S. Justice Department's Civil Rights Division had opened an investigation into Poetica Coffee, a Park Slope, Brooklyn shop that had refunded and publicly banned U.S. Rep. Dan Goldman over his support for Israel. Dhillon, posting on X, asserted that federal public-accommodations law bars discrimination by race, religion, or national origin and said the Department would bring enforcement action "if warranted."

Politicized investigations

Jun 21

JTF Southern Spear killed 2 aboard suspected narcotics vessel in Caribbean Sea; ~66th strike, ~213 campaign deaths

On June 21, 2026, Joint Task Force Southern Spear conducted its approximately 66th lethal strike on a suspected drug-trafficking vessel in the Caribbean Sea, killing 2 men and rescuing 6 others. U.S. Southern Command issued an official "Lethal Kinetic Strike" press release confirming the action on June 22. The strike brought the campaign's reported death toll to approximately 213 people since Operation Southern Spear launched in September 2025, all conducted without formal congressional war authorization.

Jun 21

New York Times reported Trump DOJ appointees killed criminal probe into alleged payments for Gentile commutation

On June 21, 2026, the New York Times reported that Trump administration DOJ appointees shut down a criminal probe examining whether improper payments secured David Gentile's November 2025 commutation. Gentile, convicted of operating a $1.6 billion Ponzi scheme, was freed within two weeks of beginning a seven-year sentence. The probe ended abruptly after the Times began asking the White House and federal prosecutors about the investigation.

Jun 19

Mexican detainee Felix Alcorta-Rodriguez, 63, died in ICE custody at Webb County Detention Center in Laredo; 20th ICE death of 2026

Felix Alcorta-Rodriguez, a 63-year-old Mexican national, died on June 19, 2026, about an hour after being found unresponsive and rushed from the Webb County Detention Center in Laredo, Texas, where U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement had held him since June 16. Webb County's medical examiner said he died of natural causes with a full autopsy pending; his death was at least the fifth in Texas ICE detention in 2026 and at least the 20th nationally. The CoreCivic-operated facility had been cited in a February 2026 ICE inspection for at least nine proper-care violations, about a third involving improper medical care.

Jun 19

DOJ refused judge's order to confirm termination of $1.8B 'anti-weaponization fund'

On June 19, 2026, the U.S. Department of Justice refused to comply with Federal Judge Leonie Brinkema's order to submit a sworn declaration that the $1.8 billion "anti-weaponization fund" created to settle Trump's personal lawsuit against the IRS is permanently terminated. Judge Brinkema had issued a preliminary injunction on June 12 blocking the fund; she then required DOJ to formally confirm its termination in writing, but the department called the requirement "unnecessary" and raised "separation of powers concerns"—effectively rejecting judicial authority. The judge converted the preliminary injunction into an indefinite block on June 20.

Defying court orders

Jun 19

Mother Jones report reveals Trump DOJ building case for forced psychiatric institutionalization, undermining Olmstead

On June 19, 2026, Mother Jones reported that the Trump administration's Department of Justice had issued a memo outlining legal arguments to justify forcing people with psychiatric disabilities into institutions, effectively reinterpreting the Olmstead mandate that guarantees community integration. Law professors characterized the memo as inconsistent with established precedent, and reports indicate the White House directed DOJ to produce the document as prelude to an executive order rolling back Olmstead enforcement.

Jun 19

Reuters exclusive reveals White House suppressed ODNI voting machine vulnerability report for months ahead of 2026 midterms

White House officials delayed the release of an unclassified Office of the Director of National Intelligence report on voting machine vulnerabilities for months ahead of the November 2026 midterm elections. Reuters reported on June 19, 2026, citing three sources familiar with the matter, that officials internally debated shelving the report over concerns it could undermine Republican voter confidence — and separately that some objected the report did not go far enough in supporting Trump's false claims about the 2020 election. The ODNI assessment examined security gaps in voting machines and recommended remedial measures such as software updates; it did not conclude that any votes had been flipped.

Suppression of public data

Jun 19

Department of Education opened Title IX investigations into three Michigan school districts over trans-inclusive sports and locker room policies

The Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights opened Title IX civil rights investigations on June 19, 2026, into three Michigan school districts — Ann Arbor Public Schools, Monroe Public Schools, and Chippewa Valley School District — for allowing transgender students to participate in sports and use locker rooms consistent with their gender identity. The DOE framed the investigations as protecting "the rights of cisgender students," asserting that trans-inclusive policies violate Title IX as reinterpreted by the current administration. The action was part of a coordinated wave of federal enforcement targeting schools with trans-inclusive policies during Pride Month, following a similar investigation opened against a North Carolina district the prior day.

Jun 18

DOJ fired Aurora, Colorado immigration judge Brea Burgie without cause after she resisted bail-hearing rollback

The Justice Department's Executive Office for Immigration Review fired Aurora, Colorado immigration judge Brea Burgie on June 18, 2026, five months after she publicly stated in her courtroom that she would keep following a California court's bond-hearing ruling despite being told judges weren't bound by it. Burgie had granted bond in December 2025 to Denver activist Jeanette Vizguerra, prompting a DHS spokesperson to call her an "activist judge"; her cases were reassigned and she was disciplined within weeks. She is the second Colorado immigration judge fired during Trump's second term and one of roughly 120 immigration judges fired nationwide over the past 18 months, per the National Association of Immigration Judges.

Attacks on judicial independence

Jun 18

Interior Department and National Park Service directed employees to wear Freedom 250 lapel pins, threatening discipline for refusal

In a report published June 18, 2026, National Park Service employees and workers at other Interior Department agencies said supervisors had directed them to wear "Freedom 250" lapel pins on their uniforms and warned that refusing could bring disciplinary action. The pins carry the trademarked logo of Freedom 250, LLC, a group tied to the administration's 250th-anniversary programming, and were sourced through Ace Specialties, a Republican campaign vendor. Some employees described the mandate as compelled partisan expression and called the item a "Vichy pin," and a public-employee watchdog group said requiring federal workers to display the logo is unlawful.

Compelled political expression

Jun 18

United States deported about a dozen court-protected asylum seekers to Sierra Leone on second third-country flight

On June 18, 2026, about a dozen asylum seekers deported by the United States arrived in Freetown, Sierra Leone, on the second U.S. deportation flight to the country under a third-country removal agreement. According to an attorney for one deportee and documents reviewed by the Associated Press, the migrants held U.S. court orders barring their removal to their home countries after judges found they faced credible fears of persecution. A briefing pamphlet distributed on arrival by a private contractor describes Sierra Leone as a "temporary transit location" where deportees are to be moved onward within 14 to 30 days, raising the prospect of return to the countries U.S. courts barred.

Denial of due process in immigration enforcement

Jun 18

DOJ sues Philadelphia to block federal officer identification and local oversight requirements

The U.S. Department of Justice filed a 28-page lawsuit on June 18, 2026, against Philadelphia, challenging City Bill No. 260060, which requires federal law enforcement officers to display visible identification, use marked vehicles, and comply with local regulations during operations in the city. If successful, the suit would nullify a civil-rights protection that Philadelphia enacted to ensure accountability in immigration enforcement — reducing residents' ability to identify and report federal agents operating in their communities. DOJ argues that municipalities lack authority to regulate federal officers and claims the law threatens officer safety.

Jun 18

JTF Southern Spear killed 3 aboard suspected narcotics vessel in eastern Pacific; 65th strike, ~211 campaign deaths

On June 18, 2026, Joint Task Force Southern Spear conducted its 65th lethal strike on a suspected drug-trafficking vessel in the Eastern Pacific Ocean, killing three men. SOUTHCOM commander Gen. Francis L. Donovan confirmed the strike and released video footage of the targeted vessel. The strike brought the campaign's reported death toll to approximately 211 people since Operation Southern Spear launched in September 2025, all killed without formal congressional war authorization.

Jun 18

DOJ Civil Rights Division opened a religious-discrimination inquiry into MLB and referred it to the EEOC over Giants' Pride Night Bible-verse caps

On June 18, 2026, Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights Harmeet Dhillon sent Major League Baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred a letter asserting that MLB's warning to three San Francisco Giants pitchers—who wrote Bible verses on rainbow Pride Night caps—violated the players' religious rights under Title VII, and referred the matter to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Dhillon wrote that federal law bars MLB from making players with religious objections serve as the league's vehicle for pro-Pride messages and warned the Justice Department would use all available means to hold employers accountable. MLB had said its warning enforced a neutral rule barring any writing on caps.

Politicized investigations

Jun 17

Trump cancels Jay Clayton DNI confirmation hearing, demands Senate pass SAVE America Act

At approximately 4 a.m. ET on June 17, 2026, President Trump posted on Truth Social canceling Jay Clayton's Senate Intelligence Committee confirmation hearing for Director of National Intelligence, hours before it was scheduled to begin. Trump conditioned Clayton's confirmation on the Senate passing the SAVE America Act — a voter ID bill that had already failed — and also threatened to block reauthorization of FISA Section 702, a major intelligence surveillance authority, unless it was tied to that legislation. The move left Bill Pulte, Trump's acting DNI pick with no intelligence background, in the role for at least several additional weeks.

Jun 17

ProPublica investigation reveals State Department conditioned African health aid on data-system access

A ProPublica investigation published June 17, 2026 revealed that the State Department, under Secretary of State Marco Rubio's "America First Global Health Strategy," has conditioned billions of dollars in humanitarian health aid to African nations on direct access to those nations' health-data systems. Uganda agreed in December 2025 to give the U.S. real-time access to nine national health-data systems for seven years in exchange for aid; Zambia, Zimbabwe and Ghana rejected initial versions of similar deals. Data-privacy and global-health experts said the agreements are unusually broad and lack standard safeguards, raising re-identification risks for people with HIV and tuberculosis.

Jun 17

Trump DOJ inspector general nominee Don Berthiaume declines to call January 6 an 'attack' during Senate confirmation hearing

Don Berthiaume, Trump's nominee for Inspector General of the Department of Justice, refused during his June 17, 2026 Senate confirmation hearing to characterize the January 6, 2021 Capitol attack as an "attack," instead describing the events as "protests and such." The hearing was held before the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee as part of Berthiaume's confirmation process for the role of the DOJ's primary independent oversight official.

Election denial

Jun 17

Interior agreed to pay Invenergy $765 million from the Treasury Judgment Fund to cancel four offshore wind leases

On June 17, 2026, the U.S. Department of the Interior announced an agreement to pay Invenergy $765 million to terminate four offshore wind leases held by its affiliates: the 2-gigawatt Morro Bay project off central California, plus leases in the New York Bight and Gulf of Maine. Interior framed the buyout as a settlement payable from the Treasury Judgment Fund, and Invenergy agreed to redirect the payout toward natural gas plants in five states and geothermal projects. The deal brought the administration's total offshore wind lease buyouts to eight, costing more than $2.5 billion.

Jun 17

JTF Southern Spear killed 1 aboard suspected narcotics vessel in Eastern Pacific; 64th strike, ~204 campaign deaths

On June 17, 2026, Joint Task Force Southern Spear conducted its 64th lethal strike on a suspected drug-trafficking vessel in the Eastern Pacific Ocean, killing one person and leaving two survivors. The U.S. Coast Guard launched search and rescue operations but suspended them after 20 hours and a 46-mile search area, leaving the survivors' fate unknown. The strike was confirmed by U.S. Southern Command; the campaign had killed at least 203 people across 63 prior strikes since September 2025, all without formal congressional war authorization.

Jun 17

House Democrats blocked from detainee access during statutory ICE facility oversight visit

On June 17, 2026, Immigration and Customs Enforcement blocked six House Democrats from accessing detainees during a statutory congressional oversight visit to Delaney Hall in Newark, New Jersey. The Department of Homeland Security has also implemented a policy requiring 7 days advance notice for congressional facility visits, contradicting the 2019 appropriations law that grants lawmakers unannounced oversight authority.

Jun 17

ICE blocks House Democrats from detainee access during statutory oversight visit to Delaney Hall

On June 17, 2026, six House Democrats conducting statutory congressional oversight visited the Delaney Hall ICE detention facility in Newark, New Jersey. ICE officials blocked the delegation from accessing detainees and conducting interviews despite their statutory authority to conduct unannounced oversight. The Department of Homeland Security has also implemented a policy requiring members of Congress to provide 7 days advance notice before visiting ICE facilities—contrary to appropriations law in effect since 2019.

Obstructing legislative oversight

Jun 17

FBI expands Ohio Organizing Collaborative probe to affiliated national elections network

Federal agents have expanded the FBI's criminal investigation of the Ohio Organizing Collaborative (OOC), a pro-democracy voter registration nonprofit raided on June 11, 2026, to include an affiliated national elections advocacy network. The expansion suggests a broader targeting of voter registration efforts ahead of the 2026 midterms, with evidence suggesting pre-election surveillance more than a year prior.

Jun 17

GWAR frontman said in a June 17 podcast interview that the Secret Service had contacted the band over a mock execution of a Trump effigy

In a June 2026 interview, GWAR frontman Mike "Blöthar" Bishop said the U.S. Secret Service contacted the veteran heavy-metal band after it staged a mock onstage execution of a Donald Trump effigy during a Warped Tour performance in Washington, D.C. Bishop said the band had performed identical faux executions of other figures — including Barack Obama and Joe Biden — for decades without ever drawing federal attention. Asked by Reason, a Secret Service spokesperson declined to confirm or deny an investigation, saying only that the agency "investigates anything that can be perceived as a threat toward our protectees."

Targeting critics with government power

Jun 17

FTC sues WPATH, the leading transgender medical standards body, alleging 'deceptive claims' on youth care

The Federal Trade Commission filed suit on June 17, 2026, against the World Professional Association for Transgender Health (WPATH), alleging the organization made "deceptive claims" about gender-affirming care for minors and that its members profited from those claims. Four state attorneys general — Alaska, Iowa, Nebraska, and Texas — joined the suit. The action came after a federal judge ruled in May 2026 that an earlier FTC investigation of WPATH likely violated the organization's First Amendment rights, and as the FTC conducted parallel investigations into two other major medical bodies — the American Academy of Pediatrics and the Endocrine Society — over their gender-affirming care guidelines.

Jun 16

DOJ sues to halt Evanston reparations program, citing Equal Protection Clause

The U.S. Department of Justice filed a legal challenge to halt Evanston, Illinois's reparations program, the first such program in the United States, arguing it violates the Equal Protection Clause and constitutes racial discrimination. The program provides $25,000 housing grants to Black residents who meet eligibility criteria based on residency and documented exposure to housing discrimination, with more than $20 million allocated over 10 years.

Jun 16

DOJ sues to halt Evanston reparations program, calling it 'racially discriminatory' under Equal Protection Clause

The U.S. Department of Justice filed a legal challenge on June 16, 2026, seeking to halt Evanston, Illinois's municipally-funded reparations program — the first such program in the United States — calling it "racially discriminatory" in violation of the Equal Protection Clause. The program offers eligible Black residents $25,000 in housing grants to address documented housing discrimination and historical segregation. The DOJ intervention inverts the traditional role of the Civil Rights Division, which has historically used equal protection law to enforce civil rights rather than block local remedies for documented harm.

Jun 16

Education Dept. transfers Office for Civil Rights to DOJ and special education office to HHS

The U.S. Department of Education announced interagency agreements on June 16, 2026, transferring its Office for Civil Rights (OCR) to the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division under Harmeet Dhillon, and its special education oversight office (OSERS) to the Department of Health and Human Services. OCR handles discrimination complaints in K-12 and higher education; OSERS oversees implementation of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act guaranteeing services for disabled students. Legal experts called the OCR move "illegal," saying DOJ lawyers lack specialized education-law expertise and the transfer will make it harder for students to secure relief from discrimination.

Jun 16

DOJ intervened to halt Evanston's reparations program, calling the nation's first such program unconstitutional

On June 16, 2026, the U.S. Department of Justice Civil Rights Division, led by Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon, moved to intervene in a federal lawsuit seeking to halt Evanston, Illinois's reparations program — the first such program in the United States. The DOJ argued the program, which awards $25,000 housing grants to eligible Black residents to address documented historical housing discrimination, violates the Equal Protection Clause and the Fair Housing Act. The intervention joined an existing suit filed in 2024 by non-Black descendants of Evanston residents excluded from the program.

Jun 16

FBI Director Kash Patel posted sealed investigation details on social media while agents still sought suspects

On June 16, 2026, FBI Director Kash Patel publicly posted details of an active, court-sealed FBI investigation on social media, revealing five arrests in an alleged plot to attack a UFC event at the White House while agents were still searching for additional suspects. Multiple FBI veterans told The Guardian the post may have violated the sealed court order and the FBI's own disciplinary code. Secret Service Deputy Director Matt Quinn implicitly rebuked Patel, noting that "the Secret Service led that investigation from the beginning" and that the case was "ongoing."

Politicized investigations

Jun 16

Washington Post report reveals ICE revised detention standards at Geo Group's private request, exempting detainees from minimum-wage protections

On June 16, 2026, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement issued new national detention standards that, according to Washington Post reporting, incorporated language privately requested by Geo Group, the country's largest private immigration detention contractor. Geo Group had asked ICE to remove contractor obligations to comply with state and local detainee-treatment laws and to add language supporting its legal position that paying detainees $1 per day does not violate minimum-wage laws because detainees are not employees. The newly published standards include both categories of change: they explicitly state that detainees are not employees and are not entitled to wages or benefits under applicable wage or labor laws.

Jun 16

U.S. Attorney charges 15 Minnesota anti-ICE protesters as 'antifa,' invoking Trump's domestic-terrorist executive order

On June 16, 2026, U.S. Attorney Daniel Rosen and HSI Special Agent in Charge Michael McCarthy announced federal conspiracy charges against 15 members of Direct Action Minnesota (DAMN), framing them as "antifa" and explicitly tying the case to President Trump's September 2025 executive order designating antifa a domestic-terrorist organization. The lead charge — conspiracy to impede or injure a federal officer — rested substantially on protest-organizing conduct including Signal communications, training sessions, and surveillance of federal vehicles. The announcement came days after DOJ dropped more than a third of its earlier Metro Surge assault cases for prosecutorial misconduct, with one judge barring re-prosecution to prevent "prosecutorial harassment."

Jun 16

House Judiciary Democrats allege Kash Patel directed $1M+ in unlawful FBI bonuses to loyalist 'Payback Squad'

Rep. Jamie Raskin, Ranking Member of the House Judiciary Committee, launched an investigation on June 16, 2026, into an alleged scheme by FBI Director Kash Patel to direct over $1 million in taxpayer-funded bonuses to a small group of loyalist agents on his personal security detail and "Director's Advisory Team," many of whom called themselves the "Payback Squad" for their willingness to pursue political targets and overlook legal requirements. Some agents received five consecutive $8,000 payments totaling nearly $40,000 per person, exceeding federal statutory pay limits.

Jun 16

Rubio signed memo citing Colombian activist's criticism of Trump-backed candidate as deportation grounds; ICE arrested him same day

On June 16, 2026, Secretary of State Marco Rubio signed a memorandum, under a rarely-used 1952 Immigration and Nationality Act provision, determining that Colombian activist Franklin Humberto "Beto" Coral Garrido's presence in the U.S. was harmful to U.S. foreign policy because he had criticized Trump-endorsed Colombian presidential candidate Abelardo De La Espriella and supported President Gustavo Petro. Homeland Security Investigations agents arrested Coral at his Phoenix home that day and canceled a work permit tied to his pending asylum application.

Jun 15

Justice Department moved to dismiss NAACP's Clean Air Act suit against Musk's xAI, citing national security

The U.S. Department of Justice filed a motion in federal court to intervene and dismiss the NAACP's Clean Air Act citizen lawsuit against Elon Musk's xAI Corp., marking the first time the United States has moved to dismiss a citizen enforcement suit against a private defendant under the law. The DOJ's Environment and Natural Resources Division argued that xAI's unpermitted gas turbines in Southaven, Mississippi—powering its Colossus 2 data center near majority-Black neighborhoods—are critical to military AI operations and national security. Environmental law experts and the NAACP's legal team called the intervention unprecedented and warned it would eliminate communities' ability to seek environmental accountability through citizen suits.

Selective non-enforcement

Jun 15

Newsom says Trump's DOJ is investigating him and his wife, alleging political retaliation

On June 15, 2026, California Gov. Gavin Newsom disclosed that the U.S. Justice Department is investigating him and his wife, Jennifer Siebel Newsom, and accused President Trump of personally directing the probe as political retaliation for his potential 2028 presidential run. The DOJ's Public Integrity Section, working with the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of California, has been examining alleged tax fraud and misuse of nonprofit funds tied to Siebel Newsom, issuing subpoenas and interviewing associates. Justice Department officials have said the inquiry originated earlier from whistleblower information and was not ordered by the White House.

Jun 14

White House hosts UFC 'Freedom 250' with fighter bonuses paid in Trump-family crypto

President Trump hosted a UFC mixed-martial-arts card, "Freedom 250," on the White House South Lawn on June 14, 2026, his 80th birthday. World Liberty Financial — a crypto venture of the Trump family, which reportedly receives roughly 75% of net token proceeds — served as presenting partner of the event's fighter bonus pool, adding about $250,000 in "Performance of the Night" bonuses paid in its own USD1 stablecoin. The Trump Organization separately marketed commemorative coins tied to the event.

Jun 13

ICE's HSI unit obtains individual voter files from Texas and North Carolina counties to investigate alleged noncitizen voting

Election officials in Webb County, Texas, and Forsyth County, North Carolina, turned over individual voter-file records — including registration history, addresses, dates of birth, driver's-license numbers, and voting histories — to agents of ICE's Homeland Security Investigations unit as part of the Trump administration's campaign against alleged noncitizen voting, according to emails obtained by Democracy Forward and first reported by Axios on June 13, 2026. The requests reached Webb County in May 2026 and Forsyth County in November 2025, and on June 9 DHS General Counsel James Percival directed ICE to pursue stricter penalties, including deportation, for noncitizens found to have voted.

Jun 12

EPA's draft TBBPA risk evaluation contradicted its own prior finding that the carcinogen is used in children's clothing

On June 12, 2026, the Environmental Protection Agency released a draft risk evaluation for TBBPA, a widely used flame retardant, finding unreasonable risk to workers and the environment but concluding no restrictions on its use in consumer products were needed. The draft accepted an unsupported chemical-industry claim that TBBPA is no longer widely used in children's clothing, contradicting the EPA's own prior finding that the chemical appears in 96 types of children's clothing, and relied heavily on industry-funded research — including a study from a firm whose founder now sits on EPA's own science advisory committee — despite international cancer agencies having found TBBPA is a probable carcinogen.

Alteration of official records

Jun 12

EOIR held first 'mega master' immigration hearing in San Diego, ordered 50 deported in absentia

The Executive Office for Immigration Review's San Diego Immigration Court held its first "mega master" hearing on June 12, 2026, compressing more than 100 previously-scheduled cases onto a single judge's docket as part of a scheduling practice EOIR has expanded to immigration courts nationwide since attorneys began reporting it in mid-May 2026. Immigration Judge Catherine Halliday-Roberts ordered 50 people deported in absentia in a group hearing that took about eight minutes, in a courtroom with a posted capacity of 36 people; those present included a woman who spoke neither English nor Spanish and did not understand the proceedings.

Jun 12

DHS deported migrants with court-ordered protections to Central African Republic on first operational third-country flight

A U.S. deportation flight carrying roughly two dozen migrants — including nationals of Iran, Jordan, Armenia, Turkey, Georgia, and Afghanistan — departed Louisiana on June 11, 2026 and arrived in Bangui, Central African Republic on June 12, the first operational flight under the Trump administration's third-country deportation agreement with that country. Immigration lawyers said at least three Iranian women and an elderly Syrian man had been granted U.S. immigration-court protection against removal based on credible fear of persecution, yet were scheduled for removal to CAR anyway; two of the Iranian women and the Syrian man secured emergency court orders halting their removal only after the flight had already departed.

Denial of due process in immigration enforcement

Jun 12

U.S. strike in Venezuela kills Tren de Aragua leader Héctor Guerrero Flores

President Trump announced on June 12, 2026, that U.S. Southern Command carried out a "kinetic strike" in Bolívar state, Venezuela, that killed Héctor Rusthenford Guerrero Flores ("Niño Guerrero"), the alleged longtime leader of Tren de Aragua. The named target had been indicted in U.S. federal court and carried a $5 million U.S. bounty, but was killed without arrest, trial, or judicial process. Trump said the operation was closely coordinated with the Venezuelan government, which confirmed a combined operation in Bolívar state.

Extrajudicial actions

Jun 12

U.S. Attorney's Office charged two Cop City activists under Trump's NSPM-7 domestic-terrorism framework

A federal grand jury in the Northern District of Georgia indicted Katie Kloth, 39, and Tyler Norman, 42, on June 12, 2026, on arson and civil disorder charges related to a 2022 protest at the headquarters of the contractor building the Atlanta Public Safety Training Center ("Cop City"). The Justice Department's own press release cited the case as part of Trump's nationwide National Security Presidential Memorandum 7 initiative, led by "Joint Task Force Vanguard," a task force created to pursue left-leaning political activists under a domestic-terrorism framework. The charges mark the second publicly documented use of NSPM-7 as a prosecutorial predicate against political protesters.

Jun 12

ICE deports Adelanto hunger-strike organizer Kyon Swaso to Belize after no-notice out-of-state transfers

On June 12, 2026, ICE deported Kyon Shakeel Swaso — a Belizean national and lead organizer of the hunger strike at California's GEO Group-run Adelanto ICE Processing Center — to Belize, following a series of no-notice transfers to facilities in Texas and Louisiana that his attorneys say violated Central District of California General Order 26-05's advance-notice requirement. The deportation proceeded despite a pending Stay of Removal and Motion to Reopen. The removal came eleven days after Swaso met with members of Congress to report inhumane conditions at Adelanto; DHS disputes that a hunger strike is occurring and characterizes the removal as routine.

Jun 12

Commerce Department forces Anthropic to disable two AI models for all foreign nationals in a first-of-its-kind export-control order

On June 12, 2026, the U.S. Department of Commerce — in a letter from Secretary Howard Lutnick to Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei — issued an export-control directive citing national-security authorities that suspended all access to Anthropic's Fable 5 and Mythos 5 models by any foreign national, inside or outside the United States, including the company's own foreign-national employees. To comply, Anthropic abruptly disabled both models for all customers worldwide; its other models were unaffected. The government's stated basis was a belief that a method of "jailbreaking" Fable 5 existed, though the letter gave no details; Anthropic said the cited technique surfaced only minor, previously known vulnerabilities also found in other public models and disputed that it justified recalling a model used by hundreds of millions. Contemporaneous reporting described the order as the first time the U.S. government has forced a leading American AI company to take a publicly deployed model offline.

Targeting critics with government power

Jun 11

U.S. resumes Iran strikes for a second straight day, defying House war-powers resolution

On June 10–11, 2026, the United States resumed major airstrikes against Iran for a second consecutive day, collapsing a ceasefire that had held since early April and re-escalating a war the executive branch began on February 28, 2026 without congressional authorization. The strikes came barely a week after the House passed a War Powers Resolution, 215–208, directing the President to remove U.S. forces from hostilities with Iran absent a declaration of war or authorization for the use of military force. The administration continued to assert that the resolution's 60-day clock did not apply because a ceasefire had "paused" it, pressing ahead with strikes over Congress's recorded objection.

Jun 11

Trump administration defies court order to resume immigration processing for 39 countries

Six days after U.S. District Chief Judge John J. McConnell Jr. vacated the administration's freeze on asylum decisions, green cards, work permits, and other immigration adjudications for nationals of 39 countries, the government had still not resumed processing. On June 11, 2026, after a coalition of unions and nonprofits filed an emergency motion to enforce, McConnell ordered the administration to file a status report within 24 hours detailing its compliance and wrote that "there is no excuse this time."

Jun 11

Trump signed proclamation stripping commercial fishing bans from ~500,000 square miles of Pacific marine monuments

On June 11, 2026, President Trump signed a proclamation modifying four prior Antiquities Act designations to remove commercial fishing prohibitions from approximately 500,000 square miles of Pacific Ocean, including zones within the Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument, the Rose Atoll Marine National Monument, and the Islands Unit of the Mariana Trench Marine National Monument. The proclamation overrode protections that Presidents Bush and Obama had established, opening the areas to federally managed commercial fishing by U.S.-flagged vessels. Environmental groups immediately announced legal challenges on the grounds that the Antiquities Act authorizes monument creation but does not grant presidents power to eliminate monument protections.

Jun 11

HUD suspended the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority, cutting off the region's access to up to $241 million in federal homelessness funding

On June 11, 2026, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development announced the immediate suspension of the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority (LAHSA), the lead agency for the region's homelessness response, citing an inspector general investigation and findings of fraud and mismanagement. The suspension placed at risk roughly $241 million in Continuum of Care funding for the Los Angeles region and barred LAHSA from applying for the next grant round, giving the agency 30 days to request a hearing.

Ignoring statutory requirements

Jun 11

DOJ Civil Rights Division found UC Davis Medical School discriminated based on race in admissions

The Justice Department's Civil Rights Division announced on June 11, 2026 that the University of California, Davis School of Medicine discriminates based on race in its admissions process, in violation of the Supreme Court's 2023 SFFA v. Harvard ruling. DOJ said a six-month investigation found Davis Med used a "Davis Scale" ranking applicants on socioeconomic factors as a proxy for race after SFFA. UC Davis disputed the finding, calling its admissions process "rigorous, individualized, and merit-based."

Jun 11

Trump blocked Gordie Howe Bridge opening, benefiting Moroun family donors who gave $1 million to Trump super PAC

President Trump refused to allow the Gordie Howe International Bridge — a completed Detroit-Windsor crossing built jointly by Canada and Michigan — to open, causing cancellation of a scheduled June 11, 2026 grand opening at the last minute. The Moroun family, which owns the competing Ambassador Bridge and donated $1 million to a Trump-aligned super PAC, stands to benefit from the new bridge remaining closed. Canadian officials, including Windsor's mayor, publicly named the Moroun family's financial ties to Trump as the likely driver of his opposition.

Jun 11

Public Citizen investigation reveals Freedom250 funneled $103M through pay-to-play donor tiers, sidelining Congress's America250 commission

A June 11, 2026 Public Citizen investigation found that the Trump administration directed at least $103 million in federal contracts and grants for the nation's 250th-anniversary celebrations to Freedom250 — a fundraising entity established under a January 2025 executive order's task force and incorporated in October 2025 as a National Park Foundation subsidiary — while the bipartisan, congressionally- chartered America250 commission received only $50 million of its promised $100 million appropriation. Freedom250, run by Keith Krach, simultaneously operated a tiered donor scheme in which contributions of $1 million or more purchased private receptions and photo opportunities with President Trump. Investigators found that some donors who intended to give to America250 were provided incorrect wire instructions redirecting their funds to Freedom250 instead.

Jun 11

State Dept. opens investigation into deporting Trita Parsi, prominent critic of Trump's Iran war

The U.S. State Department has opened an investigation into Trita Parsi — an Iranian-born green-card holder of more than 25 years who co-founded the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft and the National Iranian American Council — reviewing whether to revoke his permanent residency and pursue deportation, according to The Free Press, which cited U.S. officials and documents it reviewed. Parsi has been among the most frequently quoted public critics of the Trump administration's military campaign against Iran. The State Department said it has "no plans to revoke the green card of Mr. Parsi at this time" but declined to rule out future action.

Targeting critics with government power

Jun 11

FBI raids Ohio Organizing Collaborative, a voter-registration group

On June 11, 2026, FBI agents raided the Cleveland offices of the Ohio Organizing Collaborative, a nonprofit that runs statewide voter-registration programs, and fanned out across Columbus, Dayton, and Cincinnati to question current and former staff, serve subpoenas, and seize electronic devices. A board member estimated that more than 100 agents were involved and said investigators alleged voter fraud while presenting no evidence of wrongdoing. The raids came roughly five months before the 2026 midterm elections and drew condemnation from Ohio Democrats and democracy advocates as an attempt to intimidate voter-registration work.

Jun 10

Interior Department severed funding partnership with Cultural Landscape Foundation after it sued over Kennedy Center, criticized ballroom

On June 10, 2026, the U.S. Department of the Interior under Secretary Doug Burgum terminated its cooperative agreement with the Cultural Landscape Foundation as part of a broader cut of 43 outside partnerships and more than $4 million in funding. Interior specifically cited the foundation's lawsuit over changes at the Kennedy Center, its criticism of White House ballroom construction, and its "Landslide 2026" initiative tracking threats to historic sites as reasons its partnership no longer aligned with the department's mission.

Blacklisting

Jun 10

Jamaica signed MOU with United States to transit third-country deportees

Jamaica's National Security Minister Horace Chang confirmed June 17, 2026 that Jamaica had signed a Memorandum of Understanding with DHS to accept up to 25 third-country nationals every two weeks, framing it as a temporary "transit" arrangement. The full text has never been publicly disclosed, and a federal court had already ruled the underlying third-country removal policy unlawful in February 2026 for failing to provide proper notice — a ruling the administration continued enforcing pending appeal.

Denial of due process in immigration enforcement

Jun 10

U.S. strike enforcing Iran oil blockade kills three Indian sailors aboard tanker off Oman

On June 10, 2026, U.S. forces enforcing an executive-ordered naval blockade of Iranian oil exports fired on the Palau-flagged oil tanker M/T Settebello in the Gulf of Oman, killing three of its 24 Indian crew members — deck cadet Aditya Sharma, engine fitter Shivanand Chaurasiya, and chief engineer Patnala Suresh. U.S. Central Command said it disabled the tanker for violating the blockade as it allegedly attempted to carry Iranian oil, and has described the crews of targeted vessels as having repeatedly failed to comply with U.S. directions. India confirmed the deaths and summoned a senior U.S. diplomat on June 11 to lodge a formal protest, and the U.N. International Maritime Organization called the targeting of seafarers "unacceptable."

Jun 10

U.S. Department of Transportation rescinds disparate-impact civil rights enforcement standard

On June 10, 2026, the U.S. Department of Transportation rescinded its disparate impact enforcement standard under Title VI of the Civil Rights Act. The standard had required recipients of federal transportation funding — states, cities, transit agencies — to avoid policies producing discriminatory effects on minority communities even without discriminatory intent. The rescission makes intentional discrimination the only enforceable basis for civil rights complaints at DOT, effectively removing federal scrutiny of transportation policies that disproportionately harm communities of color.

Jun 10

DOJ charged eight U-Michigan divestment activists with 20-year federal felonies a year after state charges against the movement were dropped

On June 10, 2026, federal prosecutors in the Eastern District of Michigan unsealed a 63-page indictment charging eight pro-Palestinian activists tied to the University of Michigan divestment movement with conspiracy to transmit a threat, conspiracy to tamper with a witness, and destruction of property to prevent seizure — felonies carrying five to twenty years. The charges, announced alongside FBI raids in Ypsilanti, describe a 2024–2025 intimidation campaign: vandalism and graffiti at the homes of the U-M provost and regents, the placement of fake bloody corpses on a board member's lawn, and the defacing of the Jewish Federation of Detroit. The case followed the collapse of an earlier, separate state prosecution: charges Attorney General Dana Nessel brought against U-M encampment protesters in 2024 were all dropped by May 2025. Civil-rights groups say the federal charges treat political advocacy as terrorism and blur protected speech with criminal conduct.

Jun 10

ICE and HHS agents made unannounced, warrantless visits to three migrant-children legal-aid nonprofits

On June 10 and 11, 2026, agents from ICE's Homeland Security Investigations unit and the Department of Health and Human Services' Office of Inspector General made unannounced visits, without a warrant or subpoena, to the Washington, D.C.-area offices of three nonprofit legal-aid organizations serving unaccompanied migrant children — Amica Center for Immigrant Rights, Ayuda, and Kids in Need of Defense — demanding financial and billing records tied to their federal legal-services contracts. All three organizations declined to comply absent proper legal process, and their leaders said the visits were part of a broader campaign to intimidate legal-aid providers for immigrant children.

Targeting critics with government power

Jun 10

State Department blocked NYC Mayor-elect Mamdani's meeting with Colombia's President Petro

On June 10, 2026, the U.S. State Department intervened to block a planned meeting between New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani and Colombian President Gustavo Petro during Petro's visit to New York for U.N. events, warning Colombian officials in Bogotá that the meeting would violate the terms of the limited visa under which Petro had been admitted. Colombian delegates interpreted the U.S. statements as a threat that Petro could be arrested if he proceeded, and the meeting was cancelled. A senior State Department official said "a visa is a privilege, not a right"; Petro's U.S. visa had been revoked the previous fall after he criticized U.S. support for Israel and urged American soldiers to refuse President Trump's orders.

Targeting critics with government power

Jun 10

ICE transfers most Delaney Hall hunger strikers out of Newark jail in apparent retaliation

As a hunger and labor strike at Newark's Delaney Hall ICE jail entered its third week, immigrant-rights advocates said most of the hunger strikers had been transferred out of the GEO Group-run facility to other ICE jails in apparent retaliation for the protest. The strike, which began May 22 and was initially led by an estimated 300 detainees, centers on demands that include firing a female guard accused of sexually assaulting at least 10 detained women. Human Rights Watch and the ACLU have separately documented retaliatory transfers, the use of force, and abysmal conditions at the facility.

Jun 9

ICE arrested Cumberland County jail officer despite valid work authorization; third such detention in a year

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement arrested Bassikissa Bounguiena, a Cumberland County Jail corrections officer, in South Portland, Maine, on June 9, 2026, despite his holding work authorization valid through 2030 and no filed criminal charges. Cumberland County officials disputed ICE's description of him as a "criminal illegal alien," confirming only an unfiled 2019 domestic-violence arrest. Bounguiena is the third Cumberland County Jail corrections officer ICE has detained in about a year.

Jun 9

GAO finds ICE wasted up to $11.5M and endangered detainees in rushed Camp East Montana launch

On June 9, 2026, the U.S. Government Accountability Office released a report (GAO-26-108886) finding that ICE rushed the opening of Camp East Montana, the nation's largest immigration detention facility and a tent camp at the Army's Fort Bliss base in El Paso, wasting up to $11.5 million during its first two weeks in August 2025 while the camp sat empty. The watchdog found ICE awarded a roughly $1.3 billion operating contract to Acquisition Logistics LLC, a firm with no detention experience, and documented unsafe conditions including a contract guard's loss of a loaded firearm that was never recovered and the contractor's failure to provide required use-of-force and death reports. ICE terminated the Acquisition Logistics contract in March after three detainee deaths, a measles outbreak, and mounting human-rights allegations.

Jun 9

Reliance invested over $100 million in a Texas refinery secretly backed by Donald Trump Jr.

ProPublica reported that Reliance Industries, the energy conglomerate of Indian billionaire Mukesh Ambani, invested at least $100 million in America First Refining, an obscure Texas startup secretly backed by Donald Trump Jr. The investment followed months of Trump-administration tariff pressure on the Ambani empire and coincided with major U.S. policy wins for Reliance, including a February trade deal that lowered tariffs and a license to buy Venezuelan oil. The startup's representatives reportedly told foreign officials that investing would open doors at the White House.

Jun 9

White House orders federal AI-testing unit CAISI to stop publishing model evaluations

Trump administration officials, including National Cyber Director Sean Cairncross, directed the Center for AI Standards and Innovation (CAISI) — the main U.S. government body that tests frontier AI models — to halt publication of its assessments pending implementation of President Trump's June 2, 2026 AI security executive order. The order shifts model evaluation from CAISI's public process toward a classified framework run by national-security agencies, after the agency had already published more than 40 model evaluations that served as a shared public baseline. Companies will still submit models for review, but results will largely remain behind closed doors.

Suppression of public data

Jun 8

ICE re-detained and moved to deport Palestinian grandfather in defiance of federal release order

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement re-arrested Akram Mahmoud Omar, a 77-year-old Louisiana resident, at his home on June 8, 2026, and moved to place him on a deportation flight, ten days after a federal judge had ordered his release and found his prior detention unconstitutional. Omar's attorney filed an emergency motion the same day, and the judge again ordered ICE to release him, which it did that evening.

Jun 8

DOJ dismantles federal election-integrity safeguards ahead of 2026 midterms

Reporting published June 8, 2026 details that the Justice Department has not taken its customary steps to protect the 2026 election: it fired most lawyers in its Public Integrity Section, left the Election Crimes Branch director post unfilled, canceled election-integrity training for prosecutors and FBI agents, deleted a 281-page guide to prosecuting election offenses, and has not stood up the usual Election Day "command center" to monitor voter intimidation and disinformation. Enforcement now falls to the 93 local U.S. attorney offices, which former prosecutors warn lack the specialized expertise the dismantled units provided.

Jun 8

DOJ shut down criminal Clean Water Act probe of Sen. Jim Justice's coal companies

ProPublica reported that the Justice Department's Office of the Deputy Attorney General, then headed by now–Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche, shut down a career-initiated federal criminal investigation into potential Clean Water Act violations by the coal empire of Sen. Jim Justice (R-WV), a close Trump ally. Prosecutors with the EPA, DOJ's Environmental Crimes Section, and the Western District of Virginia believed they had a strong case and were litigating subpoenas when they were told "pencils down." DOJ said the case was not consistent with the administration's priorities and should be resolved civilly; former prosecutors called top-level intervention to quash an early-stage criminal case highly unusual.

Jun 8

DOJ filed civil actions to strip U.S. citizenship from 17 naturalized Americans in multiple federal courts

On June 8, 2026, the U.S. Department of Justice announced it had filed civil denaturalization complaints against 17 naturalized citizens in federal district courts around the country, alleging offenses including sexual abuse of a minor, fraud, and drug distribution, or concealment of criminal history during naturalization. DOJ officials described it as the largest denaturalization effort in decades; fewer than 150 people were denaturalized between 1968 and 2013. Named defendants include Maria Lourdes Montoya of Commerce City, Colorado, whom the government alleges misrepresented her spouse's identity to obtain residency and citizenship.

Jun 8

VP JD Vance refers Gov. Tim Walz and AG Keith Ellison to DOJ for criminal fraud investigation

Vice President JD Vance announced on June 8, 2026, that he was referring Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz and state Attorney General Keith Ellison — both Democrats — to the Justice Department for a criminal fraud investigation. Vance said the referral followed a Republican-led House Oversight Committee report and letter alleging the officials knew of fraud in federally funded social programs and failed to act. Ellison called it "a political stunt from an administration that uses the machinery of government to target its perceived opponents."

Jun 6

GEO Group cancels Delaney Hall family visits, bars Sen. Kim from speaking with detainees

On Saturday, June 6, 2026, GEO Group — the private contractor operating ICE's Delaney Hall detention facility in Newark — canceled the day's family visitation, turning away spouses and children at the gate, according to Mother Jones. U.S. Sen. Andy Kim (D-N.J.), conducting a congressional oversight visit, was admitted but told that if he spoke with any detainee the tour would be terminated immediately. Kim reported seeing a woman curled up in visible medical distress in a women's housing unit, more than two weeks into detainees' hunger and labor strike over conditions, and said guards would not answer his questions about her.

Jun 6

CBP deports more than 200 Filipino sailors on unproven child sexual abuse material accusations

An NPR investigation published June 6, 2026 documented that U.S. Customs and Border Protection has deported more than 200 Filipino professional mariners since 2025 after accusing them — without charges, prosecutions, or presented evidence — of possessing child sexual abuse material. Agents board cruise and commercial ships in port, search crew members' phones, revoke their crew visas, and remove them to Manila within roughly 24 hours, with 10-year entry bans in at least some cases. The Pilipino Workers Center has tracked at least 212 such cases, all visa revocations with no criminal charges.

Jun 6

DHS denies World Cup referee Omar Artan entry at Miami airport under Somalia travel ban

U.S. Department of Homeland Security officials denied entry to Omar Abdulkadir Artan, a Somali national and one of FIFA's 52 selected referees for the 2026 World Cup, when he arrived at Miami International Airport on June 6, 2026, despite his holding a valid U.S. visa. DHS said on June 8 that Artan was "determined to be inadmissible due to vetting concerns" — Somalia is among the countries named in the administration's June 2025 travel-ban proclamation — and FIFA confirmed he will be unable to train or officiate at the tournament.

Jun 5

DOJ told D.C. Circuit no court has authority to block Trump's $400m White House ballroom

At a D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals hearing on June 5, 2026, a Justice Department lawyer argued that no court — not the panel, not the Supreme Court — has the authority to halt or order the demolition of President Trump's $400m White House ballroom, contending that only Congress could intervene. Pressed by Judge Patricia Millett on whether any court could stop the construction, the government answered no, even when asked whether courts could stop the executive from bulldozing the Statue of Liberty. The administration is appealing District Judge Richard Leon's earlier ruling that Trump lacked legal authority for the project.

Jun 5

Trump directs acting DNI Pulte to start firing intelligence community personnel

In a Wall Street Journal interview published June 5, 2026, President Trump said he has directed newly installed acting Director of National Intelligence Bill Pulte to "start the process" of firing national-security personnel and to make the intelligence community smaller, framing the targets as career officials who served under the Biden and Obama administrations. Trump said Pulte's "acting" status leaves him "less shackled" to execute rapid cuts, and indicated he does not intend to formally nominate Pulte — who has no national-security background — for the permanent role.

Jun 5

DOJ sends a federal prosecutor to observe the Los Angeles ballot count amid Trump's baseless fraud claims

On June 5, 2026, the U.S. Attorney's office in Los Angeles, led by Trump appointee Bill Essayli, said it had opened "multiple election fraud investigations" into California's elections and dispatched an assistant U.S. attorney to Los Angeles County's vote-counting center. The move followed days of evidence-free claims by President Trump that Democrats were "rigging" the slow primary count for governor, Los Angeles mayor, and Congress, and inserted federal pressure into a routine state-run tabulation that local officials said was proceeding normally.

Jun 5

Federal judge rules USCIS freeze on immigration processing for 39 travel-ban countries unlawful

U.S. District Chief Judge John J. McConnell Jr. of the District of Rhode Island ruled on June 5, 2026 that USCIS unlawfully froze asylum claims and immigration-benefit adjudications — work permits, green cards, and citizenship — for nationals of the 39 countries under the administration's travel restrictions. The 135-page ruling found the freeze exceeded the agency's statutory authority, was arbitrary and capricious, and masked anti-immigrant animus behind pretextual national-security claims, and ordered processing resumed.

Jun 5

The Intercept investigation reveals FBI recruited informants from roughly half of Delaney Hall's ~90 protest arrestees

Following the May 29, 2026 mass arrest of approximately 90 protesters at Delaney Hall ICE detention facility in Newark, New Jersey, the FBI contacted roughly half the arrestees in subsequent weeks to recruit them as informants on other demonstrators. Agents asked targeted protesters to report on "anybody planning to go to Delaney Hall with not the right intentions." Essex County Public Defender Benjamin Van Meter, representing multiple arrested protesters, filed a formal complaint alleging the FBI contacts violated attorney-client privilege.

Jun 5

404 Media FOIA report reveals ICE plan to give facial recognition app to 1,300+ local police agencies to verify immigration status

On June 5, 2026, 404 Media published an internal DHS document obtained via FOIA revealing ICE's plan to distribute a facial recognition app to more than 1,000 local police agencies deputized under the 287(g) program, enabling officers to scan faces against hundreds of millions of government records to verify immigration status. The app, already in partial use by ICE and CBP, has produced false matches and has been used against American citizens. Follow-up reporting by NPR in June 2026 confirmed that approximately 1,300 agencies had already received access.

Jun 5

FBI fires five analysts who worked on withdrawn 2023 'Richmond memo'

On June 5, 2026, the FBI fired five employees — four intelligence analysts and a supervisory analyst — who were involved in creating the withdrawn 2023 "Richmond memo" on "Radical Traditionalist Catholic" ideology, a document long targeted by President Trump's allies. An internal FBI review and a DOJ inspector general review had both previously found no malicious intent and no discriminatory conduct, and the employees had already been admonished, with corrective process changes adopted. Their lawyer called the firings "manifestly unjust, completely unsupported by the facts."

Politicization of the Justice Department

Jun 4

Detainee Mamuka Artmeladze, 43, died in ICE custody at Louisiana's Winn Correctional Center; second death there in under two months

Mamuka Artmeladze, a 43-year-old national of Georgia, was found unresponsive on June 4, 2026 at Winn Correctional Center in Winnfield, Louisiana, and was pronounced dead at a local hospital about 45 minutes later; his cause of death is pending an autopsy. He had been held at the facility for nearly four months, and his death was the second at Winn since April 11, 2026 and the 19th in ICE custody since January 1, 2026. The facility, operated by ICE contractor LaSalle Corrections with the Winn Parish Sheriff's Office, was recently cited by the DHS Office of Inspector General for violations of medical-care, use-of-force, and safety standards.

Jun 4

AP investigation found DHS and ICE re-separated dozens of children from parents in violation of 2023 court settlement

An Associated Press investigation published June 4, 2026 found that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the Department of Homeland Security have re-separated dozens of children from parents already separated once during Trump's first term, despite a 2023 federal settlement in Ms. L v. ICE that guaranteed the families legal protections, asylum pathways, and support services through December 2031. Documented cases include Ederson Galicia Alva, re-separated when his mother Mirsy Maricela Alva López was arrested and the family deported to Guatemala for 11 months before a judge ordered their return, and an unnamed father held at "Alligator Alcatraz" and Camp East Montana, where he reported moldy, worm-infested food, before an ACLU motion secured his release.

Jun 4

Trump claims without evidence that California Democrats are 'stealing' state primaries

As California carried out its routine post-election ballot count following the June 2 primary, President Trump posted on Truth Social accusing Democrats, without evidence, of trying to "steal" the gubernatorial and Los Angeles mayoral races by misusing mail-in ballots and deliberately delaying the tally. He asserted the count was "under investigation" by the U.S. Attorney's Office in Los Angeles — which declined to comment — even though California law routinely allows up to 30 days to count ballots and certify results.

Jun 4

Trump invokes Defense Production Act to direct ~$700M to the coal industry

On June 4, 2026, the Trump administration moved to direct roughly $700 million in federal support to the coal industry, invoking the Defense Production Act — a 1950 national-defense statute — to fund coal-fired power plants and export infrastructure. The package routes about $425 million in DPA funds to 13 existing plants across 10 states, roughly $185 million in Energy Department grants to build two new coal plants (Alaska and West Virginia) and restart a Maryland plant, and $75 million in DPA funds toward the West Gateway coal export terminal in Oakland, California. It builds on an April 20, 2026 Presidential Determination declaring coal supply chains and baseload power "essential to national defense," with the stated rationale being rising electricity demand from AI and data centers rather than a defense emergency.

Jun 4

KFF Health News reporting revealed HHS under Kennedy sought federal access to most Americans' identifiable medical records

Reporting published June 4, 2026 by KFF Health News revealed that the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, under Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., is seeking federal government access to the identifiable medical records of most Americans to research a rejected link between vaccines and autism. HHS officials met repeatedly with state health-information-exchange leaders about obtaining detailed patient records, backing a proposal for the department to receive data covering 90% of the population by 2028. An HHS spokesperson declined to say how many states are participating, what data is collected, or how patient privacy would be protected.

Improper collection or dissemination of personal data

Jun 4

Trump pardons ex-Rep. Stephen Buyer, convicted of insider trading, after GOP lobbying campaign

On June 4, 2026, President Donald Trump granted a "full, complete, and unconditional" pardon to Stephen Buyer, a former Republican congressman from Indiana convicted in 2023 of securities fraud for two insider-trading schemes, sentenced to 22 months, and ordered to forfeit more than $350,000. The proclamation cites the "advice and recommendation" of more than 50 current and former Republican members of Congress, whose letters — which Trump amplified on Truth Social on May 31 — cast the jury conviction as Biden-administration "lawfare" against a "deep state" target.

Abuse of pardon power

Jun 4

DOJ Civil Rights Division opens 15 new race-discrimination probes into medical school admissions

On June 4, 2026, the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division announced it had opened 15 new investigations into U.S. medical schools over alleged race discrimination in admissions, expanding a campaign that had already produced adverse findings against the medical schools of Yale University and UCLA. The Division said it would examine whether the schools — each a recipient of millions of dollars in federal funding — comply with Title VI as interpreted by the Supreme Court's 2023 decision restricting race-conscious admissions. The schools under investigation were not publicly named.

Jun 4

ICE ends requirement to report deaths of newly released detainees

Acting ICE Director David Venturella issued an internal memo on June 4, 2026 ending the agency's requirement to report and investigate deaths that occur within 30 days of a detainee's release from custody, rescinding a transparency policy adopted in 2021. The change removes a congressional accountability data stream that oversight bodies had used to track deaths connected to detention conditions. Advocates and public health experts warned the rollback would obscure the human cost of immigration detention as in-custody deaths reach a two-decade high.

Suppression of public data

Jun 3

Trump signs order stripping civil-service protections from ~8,000 senior federal workers

On June 3, 2026, President Trump signed an executive order implementing "Schedule Policy/Career" — a revival of the first-term "Schedule F" — that reclassifies roughly 8,000 senior career federal positions, about 97% of them at the GS-15 level or above, into a new at-will category. Affected employees lose civil-service removal protections and the right to appeal adverse actions to the Merit Systems Protection Board, letting agencies fire them without cause. The Office of Personnel Management, which finalized the underlying rule, had earlier estimated up to 50,000 positions could ultimately be covered and has not ruled out expanding the pool.

Jun 3

Trump reclassified ~8,000 senior career federal workers as at-will under Schedule Policy/Career

On June 3, 2026, President Trump signed an executive order formalizing the "Schedule Policy/Career" classification, converting roughly 8,000 senior career civil-service positions into at-will employment removable without the procedural protections established by the Civil Service Reform Act. The order revives the first-term "Schedule F" concept (EO 13957) and lists "subversion of Presidential directives" among the grounds for removal; about 97% of affected positions are GS-15 or Senior Level roles, including directors, chiefs of staff, senior advisers, and regulation drafters. Federal unions and good-government groups warn it strips merit-system protections from policy-influencing career staff by executive action, outside the legislative process.

Jun 3

DOJ launched $300M Model Cities Initiative conditioning police grants on immigration enforcement cooperation and surveillance

On June 3, 2026, the Justice Department announced the Model Cities Initiative, directing nearly $300 million in federal grants to two to four cities to implement a "whole-of-city" policing strategy modeled on the Memphis federal surge. Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche stated the program would "leverage every authority" to extend the administration's enforcement model, conditioning grants on cities' cooperation with federal immigration enforcement operations and purchase of a prescribed surveillance technology package including AI systems, license plate readers, and drone systems. Applications from cities with populations over 100,000 are due September 1, 2026.

Jun 3

JTF Southern Spear killed two aboard suspected narcotics vessel in eastern Pacific; ~63rd strike, ~207 campaign deaths

On June 3, 2026, the U.S. military struck a vessel it alleged was smuggling drugs in the eastern Pacific Ocean, killing two men, according to U.S. Southern Command. The strike was part of Operation Southern Spear, the administration's open-ended military campaign against suspected traffickers begun in September 2025; the Pentagon provided no evidence the boat carried drugs and no arrest, charge, or judicial process preceded the killings. The reported cumulative death toll from the campaign's boat strikes reached at least 207.

Extrajudicial actions

Jun 3

CMS published Medicaid work-requirement rule with surprise medical-frailty certification mandate, blindsiding states

On June 3, 2026, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services published an interim final rule in the Federal Register implementing the Medicaid community engagement requirement under the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, including a medical-frailty certification provision — requiring healthcare-worker certification rather than self-attestation for individuals with serious health conditions — that state officials said had never been raised in prior federal-state consultations. A Center on Budget and Policy Priorities official reported that CMS staff attributed the provision to the White House. On June 29, officials from 25 states and Washington, D.C. sued HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and CMS Administrator Mehmet Oz, alleging the medical-frailty provision exceeds the statute's authorization.

Jun 3

DOJ Civil Rights Division opened Title VI investigation into DEI programs at Arizona State University

The Justice Department's Civil Rights Division on June 3, 2026 opened a Title VI investigation into diversity, equity, and inclusion practices at Arizona State University, citing undercover videos from a conservative advocacy group as the basis for the probe. Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon said the department is examining whether ASU's DEI policies in admissions, scholarships, and educational support constitute unlawful discrimination.

Jun 2

Supreme Court lets Alabama use GOP-drawn map eliminating a majority-Black district

On June 2, 2026, the U.S. Supreme Court granted Alabama's emergency request to use its Republican-drawn congressional map for the November 2026 midterms, a map with a majority-Black population in only one of the state's seven districts. The unsigned emergency-docket order, decided 6-3 along ideological lines, overrode a three-judge federal panel that had found the map intentionally discriminated against Black voters in violation of the Fourteenth Amendment and displaced the court-drawn districts used in 2024. The three liberal justices dissented, with Justice Sotomayor warning that the decision "disregards both democratic values and the rule of law."

Jun 2

Pentagon hires Jan. 6 convict Elias Irizarry into a sensitive DoD counterterrorism role

On June 2, 2026, the Department of Defense confirmed it had placed Elias Irizarry — who pleaded guilty to a charge stemming from the January 6, 2021 Capitol attack and, like other January 6 defendants, was later pardoned — as a political appointee in the Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Special Operations and Low-Intensity Conflict (SO/LIC), within its irregular-warfare and counterterrorism section. The post oversees sensitive special-operations activity and requires a top-secret clearance. The appointment drew internal alarm over entrusting someone convicted in the Capitol assault with a national-security role; the Pentagon defended the hire, calling Irizarry a "qualified, patriotic young professional."

Politicized appointments to independent or specialized roles

Jun 2

Trump names Bill Pulte acting Director of National Intelligence, replacing Tulsi Gabbard

On June 2, 2026, President Trump named Bill Pulte — director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, with no intelligence background — acting Director of National Intelligence, succeeding Tulsi Gabbard, who plans to resign effective June 30. The acting designation lets Pulte lead the 18-agency intelligence community without Senate confirmation while he keeps his FHFA post and his chairmanship of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

Politicized appointments to independent or specialized roles

Jun 1

Pentagon barred journalists from its press office after redesignating it a classified 'SCIF'

On June 1, 2026, the U.S. Department of Defense barred journalists from the Pentagon press office, announcing it had redesignated the space as a "Sensitive Compartmented Information Facility" because speechwriters who handle classified material work there. Acting press secretary Joel Valdez disclosed the change in a post on X, saying reporters could no longer enter to meet public affairs officers and could reach the press secretary or the public affairs office only by appointment. The move extended a running series of Pentagon restrictions on press access dating to 2025.

Access restrictions targeting critical outlets

Jun 1

HUD conditioned $1.3B in FY2026 homelessness grants on immigration-enforcement cooperation and anti-DEI/anti-trans compliance

On June 1, 2026, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development published its Fiscal Year 2026 Continuum of Care Notice of Funding Opportunity, redirecting roughly $1.3 billion of the program's nearly $4 billion away from "Housing First" permanent supportive housing toward transitional housing and "self-sufficiency" projects. The notice requires grantees to cooperate with federal immigration enforcement, comply with executive orders eliminating DEI activities and recognizing only male/female gender identities, bars applicants operating safe-consumption sites, and rewards jurisdictions that cooperate with encampment clearing.

May 31

Federal "summer surge" to nearly double DC National Guard to ~5,000 for America 250

Federal officials announced a "summer surge" of the DC Safe and Beautiful Task Force, requesting roughly 1,500 additional National Guard members to raise the federalized troop presence in Washington, D.C. to about 5,000 (up from ~2,800) ahead of the America 250 / July 4, 2026 celebrations. The plan keeps Guard members on Title 32 orders under the D.C. National Guard and folds militarized enforcement tools — high- visibility patrols, drones, tactical K-9 units, and helicopters — into routine policing of the capital, with no announced end date.

May 31

JTF Southern Spear killed three aboard suspected narcotics vessel in eastern Pacific; ~62nd strike, ~205 campaign deaths

On May 31, 2026, U.S. Southern Command struck a vessel in the eastern Pacific Ocean it described as a drug-trafficking boat, killing three men in the fourth such strike of the week. SOUTHCOM said the boat was "engaged in narco-trafficking operations" and operated by a designated terrorist organization but provided no evidence, and said the strike came at the direction of Gen. Francis L. Donovan, the top U.S. commander in Latin America. The strike is the latest in an open-ended military campaign begun in early September 2025 whose reported death toll has now reached roughly 205, carried out with no judicial process and no congressional authorization for hostilities against Latin American drug-trafficking organizations.

Extrajudicial actions

May 30

Trump demands a federal judge be criminally charged and impeached over a ruling against him

On May 30, 2026, President Donald Trump published a 700-word Truth Social post demanding that U.S. District Judge Christopher Cooper "be brought up on charges" and impeached over Cooper's ruling that the Kennedy Center board lacked authority to rename the institution after Trump. Trump asserted the judge had "a total Conflict of Interest," citing the political affiliations of Cooper's wife, attorney Amy Jeffress, rather than any finding of judicial misconduct. The demand to prosecute and remove a sitting judge specifically for how he ruled is a direct pressure campaign against judicial independence.

Attacks on judicial independence

May 30

Detainees sue ICE over conditions at Camp East Montana amid three deaths and a homicide ruling

On May 30, 2026, the ACLU, the ACLU of Texas, the Texas Civil Rights Project, and the law firm Farella Braun + Martel filed a federal class-action suit in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas against U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement over conditions at Camp East Montana, the nation's largest immigration detention facility — a tent camp on the Army's Fort Bliss base in El Paso. In under a year of operation the facility has recorded at least three detainee deaths, including one the El Paso County medical examiner ruled a homicide with no one charged, a nearly month-long measles outbreak, and roughly 49 detention-standards violations documented by ICE's own inspectors. The Department of Homeland Security called the inhumane-conditions claims "categorically false."

May 30

JTF Southern Spear killed 3 aboard suspected narcotics vessel in Eastern Pacific; ~61st strike, ~205 campaign deaths

On May 30, 2026, U.S. Southern Command conducted a lethal kinetic strike on a vessel in the Eastern Pacific Ocean, killing three people. The strike was directed by Gen. Francis L. Donovan, SOUTHCOM commander, under the authorization of Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth. SOUTHCOM described the vessel as engaged in drug-trafficking operations, operated by a designated terrorist organization, but provided no evidence and no judicial process.

May 29

OMB published proposed rule subjecting all federal grants to political-appointee review and requiring recipients to advance the president's priorities

On May 29, 2026, the Office of Management and Budget published a proposed rule in the Federal Register (Document 2026-10817) that would revise government-wide federal grant regulations to require recipients to "demonstrably advance the president's policy priorities," replace subject-matter peer reviewers with political appointees in the grant approval process, and authorize political appointees to cancel any federal grant award "at any point and for any reason." The rule is open for public comment through July 13, 2026, and would codify government-wide what the administration had previously imposed agency-by-agency through executive orders and individual grant-program rewrites.

May 29

Court finds Trump board unlawfully renamed Kennedy Center and 'preordained' its two-year closure

On May 29, 2026, U.S. District Judge Christopher Cooper ruled in a 94-page decision that President Trump's handpicked Kennedy Center board acted unlawfully when it unilaterally added Trump's name to the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, holding that only Congress can rename the congressionally chartered institution and ordering the name removed from the building and website within 14 days. The court also enjoined the board's March 2026 vote to close the center for two years, calling it an "ill-informed and seemingly preordained decision" reached through "an insufficient, one-sided presentation of information." The ruling authoritatively establishes that the Trump-chaired board overstepped its statutory authority.

May 29

U.S. Postal Service proposes rule requiring states to submit mail-ballot voter lists, implementing Trump's elections executive order

On May 29, 2026, the U.S. Postal Service issued a notice of proposed rulemaking (published in the Federal Register June 2) that would require state election officials to submit the names and ballot barcodes of voters who request mail-in or absentee ballots to a new federal "Federal Ballot Mail Portal," and would direct USPS to deliver ballots only to voters on the resulting lists. The rulemaking implements President Trump's March 31 executive order (EO 14399) asserting federal control over mail voting — authority the Constitution's Elections Clause reserves to the states and to Congress, not the president. The proposal is not final and faces legal challenge; the act recorded here is the executive directing a federal agency to claim that authority, not the (contingent) disenfranchisement that would follow if it takes effect.

May 29

JTF Southern Spear killed 3 aboard suspected narcotics vessel in eastern Pacific; 61st strike, ~202 campaign deaths

On May 29, 2026, Joint Task Force Southern Spear conducted a lethal kinetic strike on an alleged drug-trafficking vessel in the eastern Pacific Ocean, killing three people. The Trump administration released no public evidence that the victims were engaged in drug trafficking, provided no names or nationalities, and offered no legal proceedings. The strike was the 61st in Operation Southern Spear, bringing the campaign's total to approximately 202 deaths since September 2025.

May 29

Trump signed order directing CDC to align child vaccine schedule with Kennedy-backed study

On May 29, 2026, President Trump signed an executive order directing the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and its Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices to align federal childhood vaccine recommendations with a January 2026 HHS scientific assessment favored by HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. The assessment recommends narrowing routine childhood vaccination to 11 diseases, moving several others to case-by-case "shared decision-making" between doctors and parents.

May 28

Bloomberg investigation revealed DOJ subpoenaed X for an anonymous ICE critic's identity, address, and banking data

On May 28, 2026, Bloomberg reported that the U.S. Department of Justice, under U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia Jeanine Pirro, had issued a federal grand jury subpoena to X seeking the name, address, and banking information of an anonymous user, represented by attorney Joshua Koltun, over a sarcastic post referencing the ICE officer who shot Minneapolis protester Renee Good. The subpoena followed DOJ's withdrawal of an earlier administrative summons for the same information after Koltun challenged it, and neither DOJ nor the user have been told what crime is under investigation. The user has moved to quash the subpoena in federal court, in a case pending before Chief U.S. District Judge James Boasberg.

May 28

White House launched "Aliens.gov" ICE portal urging public to report "suspicious aliens"

On May 28, 2026, the White House launched Aliens.gov, a UFO-themed immigration enforcement website pairing a searchable ICE arrest database with a tip line urging visitors to report "suspicious aliens." The site displays arrest locations, detainees' countries of origin, alleged criminal charges and gang affiliations, alongside a running "encounters" counter exceeding 3.1 million.

May 27

AP investigation finds ICE detainees dying by suicide at an unprecedented rate

An Associated Press investigation published May 27, 2026 found that at least 10 people have died by suicide in U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody since January 2025 — a pace far outstripping the growth of the detained population and unprecedented in the agency's two-decade history, against a historical baseline of roughly zero to one such death per year. Seven of the deaths have occurred since October 2025, already the most in any single fiscal year, and suicides now account for nearly a fifth of the 51 deaths in ICE custody over the period. AP's review of ICE data, autopsy reports, coroner's rulings, and police records found facilities repeatedly violated ICE's own detention standards on intake screening, suicide-risk monitoring, mental-health care, and access to materials that could be used for self-harm.

May 27

HRW: 4,353 Cubans deported to Mexico under undisclosed US deal, denied due process

In a report released May 27, 2026, Human Rights Watch documented that between January 20, 2025 and March 9, 2026 the Trump administration deported more than 18,000 third-country nationals, nearly 13,000 of them to Mexico under an undisclosed US-Mexico agreement; Cubans were the largest group, with 4,353 sent to Mexico. HRW found that none of the 53 deportees it interviewed were given any opportunity to contest their country of removal, a violation of due-process requirements under the Immigration and Nationality Act and international law, and that detainees faced overcrowding, denial of medical care, and guard violence in US custody before being left stranded in southern Mexico.

May 27

Trump ordered D.C. National Guard levels not be lowered; Hegseth pledged to 'surge this summer'

At a White House cabinet meeting on May 27, 2026, President Donald Trump publicly directed that the number of National Guard troops deployed across Washington, D.C. not be reduced, saying "don't lower the number." Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, at the same table, responded that the administration would "surge this summer too." The exchange committed the executive branch to maintaining and expanding an ongoing federalized National Guard presence in the District, part of the administration's domestic security posture in U.S. cities.

May 27

JTF Southern Spear killed two aboard suspected narcotics vessel in eastern Pacific; 60th strike, ~196 campaign deaths

On May 27, 2026, U.S. Southern Command said Joint Task Force Southern Spear conducted a "lethal kinetic strike" on a vessel in the eastern Pacific Ocean it described as operated by a designated terrorist organization, killing two men. It was the 60th strike of Operation Southern Spear and the second in two days, following a May 26 strike that killed one. The Pentagon offered no evidence the vessel carried drugs, and Congress has not authorized hostilities against Latin American drug-trafficking organizations.

Extrajudicial actions

May 27

Trump administration ordered DOJ prosecutors to stand down on criminal investigation into Venezuela's Delcy Rodriguez

In late May 2026, the Trump administration quietly directed federal prosecutors in Miami to pause a longstanding DEA-flagged criminal investigation into Venezuela's acting president Delcy Rodriguez, who has been a DEA "priority target" since 2018 over alleged drug trafficking, money laundering and gold smuggling. The Associated Press reported the directive was intended to avoid disrupting the administration's post-Maduro Venezuela stabilization strategy; a similar slowdown was applied to a parallel investigation into Colombian President Gustavo Petro. The Justice Department denied that any investigation existed to "shut down."

May 27

DOJ opens criminal perjury investigation into Trump accuser E. Jean Carroll

In late May 2026, CNN, CBS and NBC reported that the Justice Department had opened a criminal investigation into whether writer E. Jean Carroll — who won a $5 million sexual-abuse/defamation verdict and a separate $83.3 million defamation judgment against Donald Trump — committed perjury in a 2022 deposition when she said no one else was funding her lawsuit, after it emerged that a nonprofit tied to Democratic donor Reid Hoffman had covered some of her legal costs. The probe is reportedly run out of the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Northern District of Illinois and tied to a broader criminal inquiry into the Hoffman trust spanning money laundering, obstruction and conspiracy, with Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche — a former Trump lawyer — recused. The Chicago U.S. Attorney, Andrew Boutros, publicly denied opening any investigation into Carroll; CNN reported that its sources reaffirmed the probe after the denial.

Politicized investigations

May 27

Trump publicly backs Kalshi and Polymarket, where son Donald Trump Jr. is a paid adviser, as his administration sues states to block their regulation

On May 27, 2026, President Trump declared on Truth Social that prediction-market firms Kalshi and Polymarket "will thrive" under his leadership and that the federal government is "setting the rules of the road" as the "gold standard for the States," while his administration actively backs the companies against state regulators. The CFTC and Department of Justice have sued Connecticut, Arizona and Illinois — and contested Minnesota's first-in-the-nation ban — to block states from regulating the operators as gambling. Donald Trump Jr. is a paid strategic adviser to both firms and his venture firm 1789 Capital is a major Polymarket investor, so the favorable federal posture directly benefits the president's family.

May 27

Pentagon awards Dell ~$9.7B software contract weeks after Trump bought Dell stock and publicly promoted the company

On May 27, 2026, the U.S. Department of Defense announced a five-year, roughly $9.7 billion blanket purchase agreement with Dell for Microsoft enterprise software and cloud services, consolidating dozens of separate contracts. The award came after President Donald Trump's portfolio acquired between $1 million and $5 million in Dell stock in early February 2026 (with smaller follow-on purchases in March, per his ethics disclosure) and after he repeatedly praised Dell and urged supporters to buy its products. Government-ethics specialists said the deal created the appearance of a conflict of interest, though under current rules it is not an ethics violation.

May 26

Democratic AGs' deputies turned away from Vance's White House anti-fraud roundtable

On May 26, 2026, Vice President JD Vance — who leads the Trump administration's anti-fraud effort — convened a White House roundtable on government-program fraud attended by Republican state attorneys general. Two dozen Democratic attorneys general had declined the invitation, citing less than one business day's notice and no agenda, and instead sent senior deputies; officials representing New York, California, New Jersey, and (per AG Letitia James) Minnesota, Massachusetts, Maryland, and Nevada said they were turned away at the door. Vance stated on camera that representatives from Connecticut and Oregon were present and that fighting fraud "should not be a partisan effort," even as the excluded Democratic offices held a press conference calling the event a political stunt.

May 26

Federal officers spray chemical irritants and charge demonstrators at Newark's Delaney Hall ICE jail

On the night of May 26, 2026, federal immigration officers sprayed chemical irritants and charged demonstrators gathered outside Delaney Hall, the 1,000-bed GEO Group-run ICE detention facility in Newark, New Jersey, where roughly 300 detainees were conducting a hunger and labor strike over conditions including spoiled food, denial of medical care, and failed air conditioning. The confrontation was the latest in days of clashes at the facility, coming after masked, armored federal personnel pepper-sprayed U.S. Sen. Andy Kim (D-N.J.) there on Memorial Day. Journalists covering the protests were among those exposed to the chemical agents.

May 26

JTF Southern Spear killed one aboard suspected narcotics vessel in eastern Pacific; ~59th strike, ~194 campaign deaths

On May 26, 2026, U.S. Southern Command struck a vessel in the eastern Pacific Ocean that it described as a suspected drug-trafficking boat, killing one man and leaving two survivors. The strike continues an open-ended military campaign begun in early September 2025 that has now killed at least 194 people across the eastern Pacific and Caribbean theaters; the Pentagon has not provided evidence that any struck vessel was carrying drugs, and Congress has not authorized hostilities against Latin American drug-trafficking organizations.

Extrajudicial actions

May 26

OPM proposes government-wide NDA for federal workers, with civil and criminal penalties for press disclosures

On May 26, 2026, the Office of Personnel Management posted a Federal Register notice proposing a draft non-disclosure agreement for use by all federal agencies with both new and existing employees. The draft exposes signatories to civil and criminal penalties — and entitles the government to any royalties they receive — for disclosing information the administration deems "confidential" to the press, and requires former employees to obtain written permission from an authorized agency official before speaking to journalists about such material. OPM frames the NDA as preserving whistleblower channels through inspectors general and Congress, but the named target of the proposal is press disclosure of non-public information.

May 26

Southern Poverty Law Center moves to dismiss DOJ fraud indictment as vindictive prosecution

On May 26, 2026, the Southern Poverty Law Center filed a motion in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Alabama asking a federal judge to dismiss as vindictive prosecution the 11-count indictment the Justice Department obtained against it in April 2026 on wire-fraud, false-statement, and money-laundering charges. The motion documents a sustained pattern of public hostility from President Trump and senior officials toward the civil-rights group — including Trump branding it "one of the greatest political scams in American History" — and notes the FBI and IRS reviewed the same conduct in 2019-2020 without seeking charges, only for the case to be reopened after SPLC became a frequent target of the administration. The court has not yet ruled on the motion.

May 26

DHS directs ICE to pursue immigration attorneys under asylum-fraud authority

On May 26, 2026, DHS General Counsel James Percival issued a memo directing ICE attorneys in the Office of the Principal Legal Advisor to develop "anti-fraud policies" for "robust enforcement" of the document-fraud statute (8 U.S.C. § 1324c), stating the effort should include enforcement against immigration attorneys who file false asylum claims. The memo explicitly invoked President Trump's March 2026 directive seeking sanctions against lawyers who bring "frivolous" litigation against the government.

May 26

DOJ files its second 2026 antisemitism lawsuit against UCLA

On May 26, 2026, the U.S. Department of Justice sued the University of California for the second time in 2026, alleging UCLA was "deliberately indifferent" to Jewish and Israeli students during pro-Palestinian encampment protests in spring 2024, in violation of Title VI. The administration had earlier sought more than $1 billion in fines against the university before a federal judge intervened, and several DOJ attorneys have resigned from the underlying investigation, telling reporters the case was "fraudulent," a "sham," and driven by pressure to "find" evidence against UCLA.

May 26

Trump DOJ moves to release Biden's private ghostwriter recordings to Heritage Foundation

The Trump Justice Department reversed the prior administration's position and gave notice it will release audio recordings and transcripts of former President Joe Biden's interviews with ghostwriter Mark Zwonitzer — material gathered during special counsel Robert Hur's classified-documents investigation — to the conservative Heritage Foundation and the House Judiciary Committee on June 15, 2026 unless a court intervenes. Biden sued the Department on May 26, 2026 to block the release, arguing the recordings contain private conversations, including about his late son Beau's death.

Targeting critics with government power

May 25

U.S. Sen. Andy Kim pepper-sprayed by federal agents during ICE oversight visit in Newark

On Memorial Day, May 25, 2026, U.S. Sen. Andy Kim (D-N.J.) said he was pepper-sprayed by federal agents outside Delaney Hall, a private ICE detention facility in Newark, after conducting an in-person oversight visit while detainees inside were on a hunger strike. Kim said he had tried to position himself between ICE personnel and protesters to de-escalate when officers — who had deployed an armored vehicle as a barricade — pushed through and discharged pepper balls and pepper spray. DHS publicly defended the action, blaming "rioters" and asserting officers used "the minimum amount of force necessary," and later said no individuals were directly struck by pepper-ball projectiles.

May 25

ICE agents threw a nurse to the ground during Delaney Hall protest, fracturing her kneecap

On Memorial Day, May 25, 2026, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents threw Dr. Norma Bowe, a Kean University nursing professor running a volunteer mobile health clinic outside Newark's Delaney Hall ICE detention center, to the ground as she tried to help a woman being dragged across the pavement by agents. Bowe suffered a fractured kneecap, a torn meniscus, and a head injury. The incident is detailed in a notice of claim filed by the ACLU of New Jersey, part of a coordinated set of 54 claims filed by ACLU affiliates in 17 states and Washington, D.C. alleging a pattern of unlawful violence by federal immigration agents.

Excessive force by law enforcement

May 25

DOJ scrubs Jan. 6 prosecution releases, erasing records of pleas and convictions

In late May 2026, the U.S. Department of Justice mass-deleted news releases from its website detailing federal prosecutions of Jan. 6, 2021 Capitol-attack defendants — including guilty pleas, jury verdicts, and prison-sentence announcements covering portions of the roughly 1,600 cases, with assaults on Capitol and D.C. Metropolitan Police officers and seditious-conspiracy convictions of Proud Boys and Oath Keepers leaders among the purged set. The DOJ's rapid-response social-media account defended the takedown as removing "partisan propaganda" from the prior administration. The formerly accessible URLs now return "Page not found" errors.

Suppression of public data

May 24

Treasury's OFAC opened a Cuba-sanctions inquiry into Hasan Piker, Medea Benjamin and dozens of other convoy participants

In late May 2026, the U.S. Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) demanded records from prominent left-wing government critics — Twitch streamer Hasan Piker, CodePink co-founder Medea Benjamin, and CodePink coordinator Olivia DiNucci among an estimated 40 Americans — over CodePink's March 2026 "Nuestra América Convoy," which delivered medical and humanitarian aid to Cuba. OFAC is probing whether the aid trip violated U.S. Cuba sanctions law. Benjamin publicly confirmed on May 29 that the organization received an OFAC query posing roughly a dozen detailed questions about the trip.

May 22

ICE sent Sen. Markey evasive letter on protester database, deflecting to unrelated terrorism watchlist

On May 22, 2026, ICE Assistant Director of Congressional Relations John Cooper sent Sen. Ed Markey a letter that deliberately sidestepped Markey's February inquiry about whether ICE maintains a database tracking U.S. citizens who photograph or protest ICE operations. Rather than answering directly, the letter redirected to the interagency Terrorist Screening Dataset, a separate program outside ICE's control and not the subject of Markey's question. ICE applied the same evasion to Rep. Maxwell Frost's parallel oversight inquiry, which Mother Jones reported on July 1, 2026, having obtained both letters.

Obstructing legislative oversight

May 22

Hegseth strikes nine officers, including all three women, from Navy one-star admiral promotion list

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth struck nine of the 31 officers a Navy promotion board had selected for promotion from captain to one-star rear admiral — including all three women and two Black men — before the Pentagon released the amended list on May 22, 2026. The full slate had already been approved by then-Navy Secretary John Phelan, Navy leadership, and Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Dan Caine; the Pentagon has offered no rationale for the removals, which sources say targeted officers for participation in DEI initiatives. As a result, the Navy will promote no women to one-star admiral this year.

May 22

Judge dismisses DOJ human-smuggling case against Abrego Garcia as vindictive prosecution

On May 22, 2026, U.S. District Judge Waverly Crenshaw of the Middle District of Tennessee dismissed the federal human-smuggling indictment against Kilmar Abrego Garcia, granting his motion to dismiss for selective or vindictive prosecution. The judge found the Justice Department failed to rebut the "presumption of vindictiveness," writing that the evidence "sadly reflects an abuse of prosecuting power" and that, absent Abrego Garcia's successful court challenge to his wrongful deportation to El Salvador, the government would not have brought the case. The Justice Department said the ruling was "wrong and dangerous" and that it will appeal.

Selective prosecution

May 22

DHS awards $25M no-bid contract to BI2 for 1,500+ iris scanners to identify immigrants

On May 22, 2026, the Department of Homeland Security awarded BI2 Technologies a $25.1 million no-bid contract for more than 1,500 iris-scanning devices and continuous access to BI2's biometric database of more than five million booking records — roughly five times the value and nearly eight times the device count of DHS's prior September 2025 contract with the Massachusetts firm. The procurement did not require the system to clear FedRAMP, the federal cloud-security review for systems handling sensitive data, and the award documents described no independent audit, no congressional notification, and no outside review of how scans would be retained, shared, or matched. ICE plans to deploy the devices to Enforcement and Removal Operations agents for field use by late June.

May 22

ICE and GEO Group use pepper spray and force against hunger-striking Delaney Hall detainees

Beginning around May 22, 2026, hundreds of immigrants held at the GEO Group-run Delaney Hall ICE detention center in Newark, New Jersey, launched a hunger and labor strike over conditions including spoiled food, scalding showers, and denial of medical care. As the strike continued, staff retaliated by transferring strike leaders, suspending family visitation, and, on May 28, using pepper spray, batons, and rubber projectiles against detainees in an enclosed dining hall, injuring several. White House border czar Tom Homan publicly raised the prospect of court-ordered force-feeding, while the Department of Homeland Security denied that any hunger strike was occurring.

May 21

USCIS memo requires most green-card applicants to leave the U.S. and apply abroad

On May 21, 2026, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services issued Policy Memorandum PM-602-0199, reclassifying adjustment of status — the process by which eligible immigrants obtain a green card without leaving the country — as an "extraordinary" form of relief and an act of "administrative grace" rather than a routine pathway. The memo directs officers to treat an applicant's choice to pursue adjustment of status inside the United States, instead of consular processing abroad, as an adverse factor weighing against approval, a change that would force most green-card seekers — including spouses of U.S. citizens, students, and employer-sponsored workers — to leave the country and apply through a U.S. consulate. The restructuring affects an estimated half-million cases a year and was made by internal agency memorandum, without legislation or notice-and-comment rulemaking; USCIS says it implements existing law, while former officials of both parties call it largely unprecedented.

May 21

FBI moved to interview Milwaukee police and Wisconsin election officials in DOJ 2020-election reinvestigation

In May 2026, FBI agents working for a Trump-administration Justice Department probe of Wisconsin's 2020 presidential election moved to interview Milwaukee Police Department officers who had been posted at polling places and the city's central ballot-counting site on Election Night 2020, and sought interviews with current and former Milwaukee election officials and Wisconsin Elections Commission deputy administrator Robert Kehoe. The Wisconsin effort extended a multi-state federal campaign — already underway in Georgia, Arizona, and Michigan — to reinvestigate Joe Biden's 2020 wins despite audits, recounts, and court rulings that found no widespread fraud. Election-law experts described the interviews as intended to intimidate election officials, noting that the federal statute of limitations for 2020-election conduct had expired.

May 21

Federal prosecutors drop all charges against Chicago 'Broadview Six' over grand jury misconduct

On May 21, 2026, the U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois moved in open court to dismiss with prejudice all remaining charges against the "Broadview Six" — protesters criminally charged over a September 2025 demonstration outside the Broadview ICE facility — after his office acknowledged misconduct in the grand jury proceedings that produced the indictment. Defense counsel said the transcripts showed prosecutors improperly vouched for evidence, concealed that an initial grand jury had refused to indict, re-presented the case after excluding grand jurors who disagreed, and redacted transcript pages without telling the court. U.S. District Judge April Perry, who reviewed the transcripts, said she had never in her career seen prosecutorial conduct as bad, and signaled a possible separate hearing on sanctions.

May 20

DOJ opinion declares Presidential Records Act unconstitutional; court orders White House to comply

In April 2026, the Justice Department's Office of Legal Counsel issued a memorandum opinion declaring the Presidential Records Act — the post-Watergate law that makes presidential records public property and requires their preservation — unconstitutional, and advised that President Trump need not comply with it. On May 20, 2026, U.S. District Judge John Bates granted a preliminary injunction in American Historical Association v. Trump, holding the Act "likely constitutional," finding a substantial risk that covered records were not being preserved, and ordering most Executive Office of the President staff to comply. The injunction takes effect at 9 a.m. on May 26, 2026; it binds White House staff but not the President or Vice President directly.

May 20

DOJ swore in active-duty military JAG officers as temporary immigration judges

On May 20, 2026, the Justice Department's Executive Office for Immigration Review (EOIR) held an investiture at the DOJ Great Hall swearing in 77 permanent and 5 temporary immigration judges — the largest single class in the agency's history. The 5 temporary judges are active-duty military Judge Advocate General (JAG) attorneys, the first cohort detailed under an August 2025 Pentagon authorization to assign up to 600 military lawyers to the immigration courts. The buildout follows the removal of more than 100 sitting immigration judges and the hiring of enforcement-aligned replacements, and is explicitly aimed at accelerating deportation cases.

May 20

Pentagon cuts recognized military faith codes from ~211 to 31, dropping minority faiths

A May 20, 2026 Defense Department memorandum signed by Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness Anthony Tata cut the military's list of officially recognized religious affiliation codes from roughly 211 to 31, dropping an estimated 180 minority faiths and worldviews — including atheists, humanists, pagans, Wiccans, Druids, Heathens/Asatru, deists, Unitarian Universalists, and spiritualists. The reduction, directed by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, preserves majority faiths while removing the de-recognized groups' access to formal chaplain support.

Religious favoritism in policy

May 19

Detainees launch hunger strike over conditions at GEO Group-run Adelanto ICE complex

On May 19, 2026, at least 20 immigrants detained at the Desert View Annex — one of three facilities in the GEO Group-operated Adelanto ICE complex in Southern California — launched a hunger strike to protest custodial conditions, citing medical neglect, shrinking food portions, unsafe water, overcrowding, and retaliation against detainees who speak out. Their demands include due process and bond reform, adequate medical and mental-health care, nutritious food, accountability for deaths in custody, and the right to organize. The Department of Homeland Security denied that any hunger strike is taking place.

May 19

ICE arrests a man in a Manhattan immigration court a day after a judge barred such arrests

On May 19, 2026, ICE agents arrested Vinely Alexander Castillo-Norales, a 21-year-old Honduran man, immediately after his hearing inside the immigration court at 26 Federal Plaza in Manhattan — roughly a day after U.S. District Judge P. Kevin Castel barred ICE from arresting most immigrants inside three New York City immigration courthouses. Castillo-Norales, whom his attorneys said had no criminal convictions and had attended his required hearings, was released hours later after legal aid lawyers filed a habeas petition. The Department of Homeland Security denied violating the order, asserting that Castillo-Norales is a gang member — a claim that, if accepted, would place the arrest within the order's narrow public-safety exception.

Defying court orders

May 19

CBP detained pregnant Ghanaian woman and disabled son at Dulles Airport for over a week

On May 19, 2026, U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers detained Annabella Gyasi, a pregnant 38-year-old Ghanaian woman traveling on a valid visa with her young son for a medical appointment, at Washington Dulles International Airport after she said she feared returning to Ghana. DHS and CBP held the pair for more than a week in a windowless holding room, during which Gyasi was hospitalized twice for pregnancy complications.

May 19

ICE detained Nashville nursing mother in violation of its own postpartum-detention policy

On May 19, 2026, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents detained a Guatemalan-born nursing mother, identified by advocates only as Maria Perez, at her Nashville home while serving a federal warrant naming the father of her children, separating her from her breastfeeding 10-month-old and a 2-year-old with Down syndrome. Advocates say the detention violates ICE's own directive barring detention of pregnant, postpartum, or nursing people absent exceptional circumstances; as of late July 2026 she remained held in Louisiana, roughly 700 miles from her children, and had not seen them since her arrest.

May 19

Trump signs executive order treating immigration status as a financial-risk factor

On May 19, 2026, President Donald Trump signed an executive order, "Restoring Integrity to America's Financial System," directing the Treasury Department and federal bank regulators to treat customers' immigration status as a financial-risk factor. The order tells Treasury to issue an advisory flagging "red flags" tied to non-work authorized populations -- including the use of Individual Taxpayer Identification Numbers and foreign consular identification cards -- and directs the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to consider treating "potential deportation and loss of wages" as factors weighing against a borrower's ability to repay. It stops short of an earlier-reported plan to mandate citizenship collection, but legal experts warned it could push undocumented immigrants and other noncitizens out of the banking system.

May 19

DOJ order bars IRS from auditing Trump, his family, and their businesses for prior tax returns

On May 19, 2026, the U.S. Department of Justice filed a one-page order, signed by Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche and not co-signed by the IRS, declaring the federal government "forever barred and precluded" from pursuing tax examinations of President Donald Trump, his relatives, trusts, and businesses for returns filed before the underlying settlement's effective date. The order expanded the previously announced $1.776 billion "Anti-Weaponization Fund" settlement — under which Trump and his adult sons dropped a $10 billion lawsuit against the IRS — and effectively forecloses a long-running audit that, per earlier reporting, could have produced an IRS bill exceeding $100 million. The DOJ later said the bar applies only to existing audits, not to returns Trump files in the future.

May 19

DOJ Civil Rights Division opened an investigation into Washington state's policy of housing transgender women in women's prisons

On May 19, 2026, Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon notified Washington Gov. Bob Ferguson that the U.S. Department of Justice's Civil Rights Division would open a federal civil-rights investigation, under the Civil Rights of Institutionalized Persons Act, into the Washington Corrections Center for Women in Gig Harbor over the state's policy of housing some transgender women in women's prisons. DOJ said it would examine whether the state failed to protect female prisoners from sexual and physical violence, citing potential Eighth Amendment violations. The action was the third such state probe of 2026, after DOJ notified California and Maine of similar investigations in March.

May 19

VP Vance says the DOJ is investigating Rep. Ilhan Omar, a prominent administration critic

At a White House press briefing on May 19, 2026, Vice President JD Vance said the U.S. Department of Justice is investigating Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) over immigration-fraud allegations and questions about her family's finances, saying that "if we think that there's a crime, we're going to prosecute that crime." Vance, who leads the administration's anti-fraud task force, had already asserted publicly that Omar "definitely committed immigration fraud" months earlier. There is no public evidence that Omar committed immigration fraud, and the DOJ has not confirmed an active case; Omar called the probe a "racist, creepy, and weird conspiracy theory."

Politicized investigations

May 18

NIAID bars U.S. disease scientists from communicating with the WHO during active outbreaks

A May 18, 2026 internal directive from a senior National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases official, obtained by CNN, restricted U.S. infectious-disease researchers to attending World Health Organization meetings only in groups of three or fewer and only in a "listening capacity," with any research questions or countermeasure ideas routed through HHS's chain of command. The limits were imposed during active Ebola and Hantavirus responses; current and former officials called barring direct scientist-to-scientist coordination during an emerging public-health emergency unprecedented.

May 18

US State Department adds Central African Republic to its third-country deportation program

The U.S. State Department has negotiated an agreement for the Central African Republic to receive migrants of other nationalities deported by the United States — the latest expansion of the Trump administration's third-country deportation program. Rights groups and Senate Democrats say the program removes migrants who had secured immigration-court protections against repatriation, routing them to unrelated countries to circumvent those protections. The deal was struck at a May 18, 2026 meeting in Bangui led by State Department deputy assistant secretary Christian Jové Ehrhardt and reported by Reuters on June 7; a federal judge's May 22 restraining order shows US officials had already planned to remove a Turkish national to the country on May 26.

Denial of due process in immigration enforcement

May 18

ICE agents enter Tucson home without judicial warrant and arrest DACA recipient Karla Toledo

On the morning of May 18, 2026, federal immigration agents arrested Karla Toledo, a 31-year-old longtime Tucson, Arizona resident and DACA recipient, at her home. Video shared by her family shows occupants repeatedly asking agents to produce a warrant, and her family and attorney say no judicial warrant was presented before agents entered. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement confirmed Toledo was taken in a "targeted immigration enforcement operation" and, with the Department of Homeland Security, asserted that DACA confers no legal status, that she entered the country unlawfully in October 2024, and that she assaulted an agent — claims her attorney disputes, citing surveillance footage. Toledo was moved to ICE detention in Eloy, Arizona, where her bond was set at $1,500 and her attorney expected her release within days.

May 18

Trump administration proposes reserving 10,000 added refugee slots for white South Africans

On May 18, 2026, the State Department sent Congress an emergency determination proposing to raise the fiscal-year 2026 refugee admissions ceiling from 7,500 -- the lowest in U.S. history -- to 17,500, with all 10,000 additional slots reserved for white South African Afrikaners. The department justified the carve-out by citing an "emergency refugee situation" of race-based persecution, a characterization the South African government rejects. The expansion advances while U.S. refugee admissions from other countries remain effectively frozen: of the 6,069 refugees resettled between October 2025 and the end of April 2026, 6,066 were South African.

Discriminatory policy

May 18

ICE arrested immigrants at three Manhattan federal courthouses for over a year without internal legal authority, a federal judge found

On May 18, 2026, U.S. District Judge P. Kevin Castel (Southern District of New York) issued a 15-page stay barring U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement from arresting most immigrants inside or around three federal courthouses in lower Manhattan — 26 Federal Plaza, 201 Varick Street, and 290 Broadway — except in narrow circumstances involving imminent national-security or public-safety threats. The court's findings document the underlying abuse this entry records: ICE had conducted courthouse arrests at substantial scale for over a year despite, as federal prosecutors admitted in March 2026, having no internal agency rules establishing the legal authority for the practice, and the agency had continued the arrests after conceding this to prosecutors. A masked-agent arrest was witnessed at 26 Federal Plaza on the morning of May 18, hours before the stay took effect.

May 18

Supreme Court declines to resolve VRA Section 2 private-right-of-action question, leaving private enforcement in circuit-split limbo

On May 18, 2026, the U.S. Supreme Court issued two brief, unsigned grant-vacate-and-remand orders in Bd. of Election Comm'rs v. NAACP (5th Cir.) and Turtle Mountain Band v. Howe (8th Cir.), sending both cases back to lower courts "in light of" the Court's April 29, 2026 decision in Louisiana v. Callais. Both cases had squarely presented the question of whether private parties — voters and civil-rights organizations — retain a right to sue under Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act. By declining to resolve that question, the Court leaves in place a circuit split: in the 5th Circuit private suits are allowed, in the 8th they are not. Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson dissented from both orders, writing that she would have decided the cases on the merits to confirm a private right of action.

Narrowing civil-rights protections

May 18

Federal agencies refused records to the DOGE data-access oversight investigation; GSA blocked inspection of converted offices and a Starlink install

The Washington Post reported on May 18, 2026 that multiple federal agencies are refusing to produce records for an active oversight investigation into how the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) obtained access to sensitive federal data and systems. At the General Services Administration, senior officials blocked investigators from examining at least six offices DOGE had converted into bedrooms and from inspecting Starlink satellite equipment installed at the agency. The pattern of refusal sits on top of a January 2026 dismantling of the executive branch's principal internal oversight infrastructure — the dismissal of 18 inspectors general and the heads of the Office of Special Counsel and Office of Government Ethics — which removed many of the watchdogs that would otherwise have compelled compliance.

Obstruction of government investigations

May 18

DOJ moved to drop foreign-bribery and fraud charges against Gautam Adani after his $10 billion U.S. investment pledge

On May 18, 2026, the U.S. Department of Justice asked U.S. District Judge Nicholas Garaufis to dismiss the criminal fraud and foreign-bribery charges against Indian billionaire Gautam Adani, saying it had decided "in its prosecutorial discretion, not to devote further resources" to the case. The move followed Adani's pledge of a $10 billion U.S. investment, which he said he could not proceed with while the case continued, and his hiring of Robert J. Giuffra Jr., one of President Trump's personal attorneys. The Biden-era indictment had accused Adani of bribing Indian officials to win solar-energy contracts while raising billions from U.S. and international investors.

May 18

DOJ created a $1.776 billion 'Anti-Weaponization Fund' to settle Trump's $10 billion lawsuit and related claims against the federal government

On May 18, 2026, the U.S. Department of Justice announced the creation of a $1.776 billion "Anti-Weaponization Fund," financed through the federal Judgment Fund, to compensate individuals who allege they were unfairly targeted by the federal government on "political, personal, or ideological grounds." The fund was established as part of an agreement under which President Trump, his two adult sons, and the Trump Organization dropped a $10 billion lawsuit against the IRS over the 2019 leak of Trump's tax returns, along with related damages claims arising from the 2022 Mar-a-Lago search and the Russia- collusion investigation. The president and co-plaintiffs receive a formal apology and no direct monetary damages; the $1.776 billion instead flows to a class of beneficiaries — Trump's broadly stated "allies" — selected by the DOJ.

May 18

Trump demanded a DOJ investigation into Maryland's mail-ballot error and blamed Gov. Wes Moore for alleged fraud

On May 18, 2026, President Trump publicly demanded that the U.S. Department of Justice investigate Maryland's mail-ballot administration and blamed Democratic Governor Wes Moore, claiming without evidence that Moore had allowed the problem "in order to make sure that Democrats win." The underlying incident was a vendor coding error, disclosed publicly by the Maryland State Board of Elections, that sent roughly 400,000 voters primary ballots for the wrong party; state officials said no illegal ballots were distributed or counted. Moore's office called Trump's fraud accusation "false and irresponsible."

May 17

Acting AG Blanche claimed a 'ton of evidence' shows the 2020 election was rigged and confirmed DOJ criminal probes into it

On Fox News' "Sunday Morning Futures" on May 17, 2026, Acting U.S. Attorney General Todd Blanche asserted there is "a ton of evidence that the election was rigged," referring to the 2020 presidential race, while providing no evidence publicly. He confirmed that the Justice Department has multiple open criminal investigations tied to 2020-election claims, including in Arizona and in Fulton County, Georgia, and said the department is "focused on finding out whether the right people voted." Blanche did not promise a definitive finding, saying the work could yield charges, a report, or investigative results.

May 17

Trump White House backed taxpayer-funded 'Rededicate 250' worship service on National Mall

On May 17, 2026, the Trump White House backed an all-day evangelical worship service — "Rededicate 250: A National Jubilee of Prayer, Praise & Thanksgiving" — on the National Mall, funded through a mix of taxpayer dollars and private donations. President Trump, Vice President JD Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth appeared by video, and House Speaker Mike Johnson addressed the crowd in person alongside religious leaders. Church-state separation advocates and constitutional-law scholars said the federal government's endorsement and partial funding of an explicitly Christian worship service on federal land raised First Amendment Establishment Clause concerns.

Religious favoritism in policy

May 17

Trump administration ran 67M+ voter registrations through the DHS SAVE database for noncitizen and deceased-voter checks ahead of the midterms

Associated Press reporting on May 17, 2026 (carried by PBS NewsHour, the Philadelphia Inquirer, HuffPost, and ABC News) documented that the Trump administration has run at least 67 million voter registrations — predominantly from Republican-controlled states — through the U.S. Department of Homeland Security's expanded SAVE (Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements) database since August 2025. U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services confirmed about 60 million registrations checked in a roughly one-year window, with about 24,000 flagged as potential noncitizens; the DOJ Civil Rights Division separately said about 350,000 records were flagged as possibly deceased. The SAVE program was statutorily designed to prevent improper benefit payments to noncitizens — its use for voter- roll administration is an executive-driven expansion without a corresponding statutory mandate.

May 15

Trump misses STOCK Act 45-day deadline; OGE fines him twice for late stock-trade disclosures

A May 15, 2026 Washington Post analysis of financial-disclosure forms the U.S. Office of Government Ethics released the prior day reported that President Donald Trump missed the 45-day filing deadline the STOCK Act imposes on covered securities transactions, and that OGE assessed him $200 fines on two separate occasions for failing to report stock trades on time. The late filings include a February 10, 2026 Nvidia purchase made days before a market-moving Meta–Nvidia deal that lifted Nvidia shares roughly 2.5 percent, and $5 million–$25 million each in Microsoft and Amazon sold in February and repurchased in March shortly before the Pentagon announced plans to deploy Microsoft and Amazon technology in classified computer networks.

May 15

President Trump bought more than $500,000 in Palantir stock, then publicly praised the federal contractor on Truth Social

Newly released federal ethics filings disclosed in May 2026 show that President Donald Trump purchased more than $500,000 in Palantir Technologies stock — a company holding extensive federal contracts across ICE, the Defense Department, and other agencies his administration directs — over the weeks before he publicly praised the company on Truth Social ("Just ask our enemies"). The buy-then-tout sequence, reported May 15, 2026, drew ethics scrutiny because the President used the office's public platform to boost a stock he personally holds and whose revenue depends on his administration's contracting decisions.

May 15

DOJ and Texas AG Paxton secured $10M settlement forcing Texas Children's Hospital to end transgender youth care, create detransition clinic

On May 15, 2026, the U.S. Department of Justice and Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton announced a joint settlement with Texas Children's Hospital in Houston resolving a healthcare-fraud investigation into the hospital's billing for pediatric gender-affirming care. The hospital agreed to stop performing puberty-blocker and cross-sex-hormone procedures on minors, pay over $10 million in damages and civil penalties, terminate five physicians, and establish what DOJ and Paxton's office both called the nation's first dedicated "detransition clinic" funding care for patients who discontinue gender transition.

Targeting marginalized communities

May 14

Secret Service, Trump White House barred JD Vance critic from Bangor event over her online criticism, lawsuit alleges

On May 14, 2026, armed U.S. Secret Service agents and other officials organizing Vice President JD Vance's public event in Bangor, Maine, identified Amanda McGonigle — creator of the @CatsOnACouch social media accounts that mock Vance — by name in the registration line and denied her entry despite her having registered and received official guest confirmation from the Executive Office of the President. McGonigle sued Secret Service Director Sean Curran, Office of Presidential Advance Director John Hiller, the Executive Office of the President, and the Secret Service, alleging First Amendment retaliation and viewpoint discrimination.

Blacklisting

May 14

ICE moves forward with Hagerstown warehouse-detention construction in defiance of Baltimore federal judge's injunction

On May 14, 2026, The Washington Post reported, citing an internal U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement memo, that ICE staffers were "exploring what work can be done" at a Hagerstown, Maryland warehouse being converted into a 1,500-person ICE detention facility despite a Baltimore federal judge's standing temporary injunction blocking the project. The Baltimore judge had found the building's four toilets and two water fountains insufficient for the planned capacity. The Hagerstown build-out and operations contract was awarded in March 2026 to KVG LLC, a Pennsylvania-based defense contractor with no prior experience operating detention facilities, with a $113 million base and a $642 million three-year ceiling.

May 14

EPA proposed delaying Tier 4 tailpipe standards for cars and trucks, again declining to monetize health benefits

On May 14, 2026, the EPA under Administrator Lee Zeldin proposed delaying the phase-in of "Tier 4" tailpipe pollution standards for light- and medium-duty vehicles by two model years, from model year 2027 to model year 2029. As it had in two earlier 2026 rulemakings, EPA's proposal quantified compliance-cost savings to automakers but explicitly declined to provide a monetized estimate of the resulting increase in PM2.5- and ozone-related health harm, citing modeling uncertainty. The rule was not yet finalized as of this filing.

Ignoring statutory requirements

May 14

Trump conducted $220M-$750M in securities transactions while in office, including trades in companies affected by his administration's decisions

On May 14, 2026, the U.S. Office of Government Ethics released two financial-disclosure forms covering President Donald Trump's first three months of his second term. The filings show more than 3,700 individual securities transactions in major U.S. corporate equities — including Microsoft, Meta Platforms, Oracle, Broadcom, Bank of America, Goldman Sachs, Nvidia, Apple, and Amazon — with a cumulative dollar range of $220 million to $750 million. The president is simultaneously the chief executive whose administration regulates, contracts with, sues, prosecutes, and sets trade policy affecting many of the same companies. Subsequent Associated Press reporting on May 19, 2026 identified specific positions whose value was directly affected by the president's own decisions — among them Nvidia, after he approved its advanced-chip sales to China; major U.S. defense contractors, amid the Iran war; and Intel, after the federal government took a 10% equity stake. The OGE disclosure form by design reports values only in broad ranges, with no execution date, direction (purchase/sale of equivalent securities can both appear separately), price, profit, or counterparty information.

May 14

DOJ Civil Rights Division found Yale School of Medicine discriminated based on race in admissions

The Justice Department's Civil Rights Division announced on May 14, 2026 that it had determined Yale University's School of Medicine discriminated based on race in its admissions process, in violation of Title VI and the Supreme Court's 2023 SFFA v. Harvard ruling. DOJ said Yale's leadership intentionally selected applicants by race and studied racial proxies to circumvent that ruling, citing data showing Black and Hispanic applicants were admitted with lower academic qualifications than White and Asian applicants. Assistant Attorney General Harmeet K. Dhillon said Yale "continued its race-based admissions program despite the Supreme Court and the public's clear mandate."

May 14

DHS Inspector General opens audit of ICE warehouse-detention buys made about 13% above market value across multiple states

On May 14, 2026, the Department of Homeland Security's Office of Inspector General announced an audit of whether U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement acquired warehouse properties — being converted into detention facilities under a multibillion-dollar program launched by then-Secretary Kristi Noem and adviser Corey Lewandowski — "in a cost-effective manner." Real-estate data tracker CoStar found DHS paid an average of about 13% above market value for warehouses across multiple states; aggregate spending on the warehouse program has been reported at about $1 billion across eight states. The OIG also opened a separate investigation of Mr. Lewandowski's role as a special government employee.

May 14

Interior Secretary Burgum unveils a Tom Fazio redesign of D.C.'s East Potomac Golf Links

On May 14, 2026, U.S. Interior Secretary Doug Burgum publicly unveiled, via his official @SecretaryBurgum account, a Tom Fazio design for the federally led renovation of East Potomac Golf Links, a century-old District of Columbia municipal course. Fazio Golf Design is the firm of architect Tom Fazio, who designed President Donald Trump's Trump National Golf Club Bedminster and has worked on multiple other Trump courses; Trump and Burgum will jointly oversee the East Potomac redesign. The arrangement follows the December 2025 termination by the Trump administration of the National Links Trust's 50-year lease covering East Potomac, Langston, and Rock Creek and a May 2026 National Park Service deal placing the East Potomac renovation under an NPS-led group of public and private partners rather than the NLT.

May 14

FBI omitted Patel's Navy-arranged 'VIP snorkel' at USS Arizona from public trip account

The Associated Press reported, based on government emails obtained through a public records request, that the FBI's public news releases about Director Kash Patel's August 2025 official trip to Australia and New Zealand omitted both a two-day personal stop in Hawaii on the return leg and a Navy-coordinated "VIP Snorkel" around the USS Arizona at Pearl Harbor — a sunken battleship and military cemetery normally closed to recreational diving. Flight-tracking data showed the FBI Gulfstream G550 used by the director remained on Hawaii for two nights during the second stay before continuing on to Patel's adopted hometown of Las Vegas. A Navy spokesperson confirmed the outing but said the service could not determine who initiated it.

Self-dealing

May 14

DOJ files complaint against DC Bar to block disbarment of Jan. 6 ally Jeffrey Clark

On May 14, 2026, the U.S. Department of Justice filed a formal complaint against the District of Columbia Bar disciplinary authorities seeking to block the Bar from pursuing disbarment of Jeffrey Clark, a former senior DOJ official and Trump ally who had attempted to use the Justice Department to overturn the 2020 presidential election. DOJ argued that the state bar's disciplinary proceedings constitute improper interference with federal government functions — a legal theory that would effectively exempt former federal attorneys from professional accountability for conduct in their official capacity. The complaint was filed by Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche.

Politicization of the Justice Department

May 13

DEA agent fatally shot Darrin Pigram while serving Memphis Safe Task Force arrest warrant

On the morning of May 13, 2026, a U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration agent with the Memphis Safe Task Force fatally shot 41-year-old Darrin Pigram while serving a Shelby County arrest warrant at a Burger King in the Frayser area of Memphis. Pigram, who had been indicted days earlier on charges including aggravated assault, allegedly reached for his waistband as agents approached; he was transported to a hospital and later died of his injuries, and the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation is reviewing the shooting at the request of the Shelby County District Attorney.

Excessive force by law enforcement

May 13

ACLU lawsuit revealed Memphis Safe Task Force retaliated against residents who recorded its agents

On May 13, 2026, the ACLU of Tennessee filed a federal lawsuit, Demster v. Blanche, in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Tennessee on behalf of four Memphis residents, alleging a sustained pattern of retaliation by the multi-agency Memphis Safe Task Force against people who recorded its immigration and law-enforcement operations. The suit documents an October 2025 arrest and 27-hour jailing of one observer on a charge later dismissed, dozens of arrest threats against another observer under Tennessee's proximity "Halo Law," a traffic ticket that was never filed in court, and agents photographing, tailing, and surveilling observers' homes with unmarked vehicles.

May 13

Vance and Oz blamed immigrants for California Medicaid fraud that HHS's own watchdog later traced mainly to corporations

At a White House anti-fraud press conference on May 13, 2026, Vice President JD Vance said "tens of billions, hundreds of billions" of dollars in fraudulent Medicaid and Medicare payments in California were going to "illegal aliens" and fraudulent businesses, while CMS Administrator Mehmet Oz said roughly $200 million in "questionable expenditures" was linked to "immigration-related costs" tied to "folks who are undocumented." An HHS Office of Inspector General semiannual report to Congress, covering the six months through March 2026 and released that July, found corporations — through schemes such as unnecessary medical-device billing and Affordable Care Act enrollment fraud — responsible for the healthcare fraud cases it highlighted, without mentioning immigrants.

State-sponsored disinformation

May 13

HSI conducts pre-dawn home raids on volunteers of Ventura County ICE-watch group VC Defensa

Before dawn on May 13, 2026, Homeland Security Investigations agents executed search warrants at the homes of volunteers of VC Defensa, a Ventura County, California immigrant-rights coalition that patrols neighborhoods to alert residents to ICE operations. Agents searched multiple locations, seized electronic devices, and briefly detained at least two volunteers, who were released the same day. The group's attorney called the operation "completely unconstitutional" and an intimidation tactic against protected organizing and said VC Defensa will sue; DHS said the warrants were part of an "ongoing investigation" and cited prior arrests of unnamed members, though no charges have been filed in connection with the searches.

May 12

Pentagon plans to rename Iran war 'Sledgehammer' to restart the War Powers 60-day clock

On May 12, 2026, NBC News reported — citing two U.S. officials and a White House official — that the Pentagon is preparing to officially rename the U.S. war with Iran from "Operation Epic Fury" to "Operation Sledgehammer" if the current ceasefire collapses and President Trump orders the resumption of major combat operations. The White House official told NBC that any renewed campaign would be conducted under a new name and that, from the administration's perspective, this would effectively restart the 60-day clock under the 1973 War Powers Resolution that requires congressional authorization for sustained hostilities. The maneuver layers onto the administration's existing position that the early-April ceasefire paused the statutory clock — which expired May 1 by Antiwar.com's count — even as the United States has continued to enforce a blockade of Iran.

May 12

Judge found ICE materially violated Colorado injunction restricting warrantless immigration arrests

U.S. District Judge R. Brooke Jackson ruled May 12, 2026, that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents in Colorado materially violated a November 2025 preliminary injunction in Ramirez Ovando v. Noem that barred warrantless arrests without an individualized, pre-arrest flight-risk determination. The judge's 60-page order, issued after a two-day evidentiary hearing, found ICE continued warrantless arrests -- including of people with no criminal history, longtime residents, asylum seekers, and U.S. citizens' children -- while obtaining "field warrants" after the fact and providing training she found insufficient. She ordered ICE to retrain officers, bar untrained agents from warrantless arrests, and pay the plaintiffs' attorney fees.

May 12

Dominican Republic reversed refusal, agreed to accept US third-country deportees

The Dominican Republic's Foreign Ministry announced on May 12, 2026 that it had signed a non-binding Memorandum of Understanding with the United States to temporarily accept a limited number of third-country nationals — reversing President Luis Abinader's prior public refusal to take anyone but Dominican citizens. The agreement, part of the administration's "Shield of the Americas" initiative, excludes Haitian nationals and unaccompanied minors and had produced no confirmed transfers as of this filing.

Denial of due process in immigration enforcement

May 12

ICE barred Reps. Mike Levin and Sara Jacobs from interviewing detainees during unannounced Otay Mesa oversight visit

On May 12, 2026, ICE refused to let U.S. Reps. Mike Levin and Sara Jacobs interview detained immigrants during their unannounced oversight visit to the Otay Mesa Detention Center in San Diego, applying a new agency policy requiring members of Congress to identify detainees by name and obtain signed consent forms in advance. The lawmakers were allowed to tour the facility but blocked from speaking with the people held there, the second consecutive visit at which they were barred from detainee conversations. Beyond the memo, which called such visits "disruptive and resource-intensive," ICE did not respond to requests for comment.

Obstructing legislative oversight

May 12

Acting ICE Director Todd Lyons issued nationwide memo requiring 48-hour notice and named-detainee ID for congressional oversight visits

On May 12, 2026, Acting ICE Director Todd Lyons issued a nationwide policy memo requiring members of Congress to identify detainees by name and submit signed consent forms at least two business days before interviewing them during oversight visits to ICE detention facilities. Lawmakers learned of the policy when California Representatives Mike Levin and Sara Jacobs made a surprise oversight visit to San Diego's Otay Mesa Detention Center and were handed the memo after asking to speak with detainees. Because lawmakers cannot learn who is held before they arrive, the rule effectively limits oversight visits to inspections of physical infrastructure.

May 12

Transportation Secretary Duffy appeared in a reality series funded by DOT-regulated companies

Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy, his wife Rachel Campos-Duffy, and their nine children are the on-camera centerpiece of a five-part reality series, "The Great American Road Trip," produced at no personal cost to the family by a nonprofit, The Great American Road Trip Inc. The nonprofit's sponsors are dominated by companies the Department of Transportation regulates — including Boeing, Toyota, United Airlines, Shell, and Royal Caribbean — and a pitch deck reported by Politico offered higher-paying sponsors on-screen logo placement and speaking roles. The watchdog group CREW asked the DOT Inspector General to investigate possible gift- and travel-rule violations, and Senate Democrats pressed Duffy on the arrangement at a May 19, 2026 Appropriations subcommittee hearing.

May 11

BIA fast-tracked Mahmoud Khalil's deportation case in 9-day 'unprecedented' turnaround

Internal Department of Justice case-tracking documents obtained by The New York Times and reported publicly on May 11, 2026 reveal that the Board of Immigration Appeals — an appellate body housed within the DOJ — fast-tracked the deportation case of Palestinian Columbia University activist Mahmoud Khalil along a procedural track that a former BIA member called "unprecedented." Per the internal documents, the case was flagged high-priority before the board officially received it; a staff note instructed handling Khalil's case as if he were still in detention even though he had been released several days earlier; the BIA's April 9, 2026 decision authorizing Khalil's deportation came just nine days after paperwork was submitted; and at least three judges recused themselves from the proceedings.

May 11

DOJ subpoenas Wall Street Journal reporters' records over Iran-war leaks after Trump hands acting AG Blanche stack of articles marked 'Treason'

On May 11, 2026, The Wall Street Journal publicly disclosed that the Justice Department had issued grand jury subpoenas for its reporters' records, tied to a February 23, 2026 WSJ article — five days before the Iran war began — that reported on Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Dan Caine and other Pentagon officials warning President Trump about the risks of an extended military campaign against Iran. CNN reported the same day that Trump personally pushed the DOJ to issue the subpoenas, delivering the directive to acting Attorney General Todd Blanche at a White House meeting in the form of a stack of printed articles topped by a sticky note reading "Treason" in Sharpie. CNN further reported that other news outlets have also received DOJ subpoenas in recent months.

May 10

Hegseth calls for second Pentagon investigation of Sen. Mark Kelly over weapons-stockpile remarks

On Sunday, May 10, 2026, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth publicly called for a second Pentagon investigation of Sen. Mark Kelly (D-AZ) over Kelly's comments on CBS' "Face the Nation" about depleted U.S. munitions stockpiles amid the Iran war, posting that the Pentagon's legal counsel would review whether Kelly had "violate[d] his oath." Kelly, a retired Navy captain who sits on the Senate Armed Services and Intelligence committees, responded that the substance of his remarks was not classified and pointed to Hegseth's own prior public testimony about the same stockpile-depletion timeline. The referral came days after a D.C. Circuit panel appeared poised to reject Hegseth's first effort to punish Kelly — an administrative action to reduce Kelly's retired military rank over a November video urging service members to refuse illegal orders.

May 9

Interior official Karen Budd-Falen worked on federal grazing rules benefiting her family's ranches despite a signed recusal

On May 9, 2026, The Washington Post reported that Karen Budd-Falen, the Interior Department's third-ranking official, had acknowledged working on relaxed federal grazing regulations — including a categorical exclusion easing grazing-permit approvals — that benefit her family's cattle operations and federal grazing allotments across roughly a quarter-million acres of Bureau of Land Management land. Budd-Falen had signed a 2018 recusal from grazing matters, but the Interior Department issued her an ethics waiver on March 11, 2026 permitting her to work on matters affecting her financial interests. The watchdog Campaign for Accountability and congressional Democrats asked Interior's Inspector General and congressional committees to investigate the conflict.

May 8

Hegseth replaces Congressionally-mandated Military Justice Review Panel with open-ended Pentagon legal-system review under his own general counsel

On May 8, 2026, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth issued a two-page memo directing the creation of an "ongoing, long-term, department-wide review of all aspects of the military legal system," convened by Department of Defense General Counsel Earl Matthews and reporting directly to Hegseth. The new panel substitutes for the Military Justice Review Panel — the 13-member independent oversight body created by Congress in April 2022 to report to Congress, which Hegseth disbanded in 2025 after it delivered a 238-page review of the Uniform Code of Military Justice. Current and former JAGs describe the move as completing a transfer of military-legal oversight from an independent, Congressionally-created body to an executive-controlled panel staffed by political appointees.

May 8

Idaho National Guard troops pinned and detained Purple Heart veteran Anna King outside her D.C. home without a warrant

On May 8, 2026, three federalized Idaho National Guard members detained Anna King, a retired Army captain and Purple Heart recipient, outside her Washington, D.C. home, pinning her to the ground, kneeling on her back, and handcuffing her without producing a warrant or explaining the legal basis. King, who had criticized the National Guard's deployment in the city with signs on her patio, suffered wrist injuries that later required surgery. She was never charged over the prior incident the guardsmen cited to justify the stop, though D.C. prosecutors separately charged her with two misdemeanor counts of assaulting an officer for her resistance during the May 8 encounter, a charge she disputes and has pleaded not guilty to.

May 8

JTF Southern Spear killed two aboard suspected narcotics vessel in eastern Pacific; ~58th strike, ~192 campaign deaths

On May 8, 2026, U.S. Southern Command struck a vessel in the eastern Pacific Ocean that it described as a suspected drug-trafficking boat, killing two people and leaving one survivor. SOUTHCOM said it notified the U.S. Coast Guard to begin search-and-rescue operations and called the boat a narcotrafficker but provided no public evidence; the strike is the third deadly attack in five days and brings the open-ended campaign's reported death toll to roughly 192 people across the eastern Pacific and Caribbean theaters.

Extrajudicial actions

May 8

CNN reveals DOJ shakeup of Brennan probe: career prosecutors warned case was too weak, told 'that's not good enough'

On May 8, 2026, CNN published an investigation detailing how the Justice Department restructured the criminal probe of former CIA Director John Brennan after career prosecutors told leadership the evidence did not support charges. At a Washington meeting earlier in 2026 attended by Southern District of Florida U.S. Attorney Jason Reding Quiñones, lead prosecutor Maria Medetis Long told acting Deputy Attorney General Colin McDonald and his top deputy Trent McCotter the case against Brennan was too weak to bring; the reply, per two people briefed on the meeting, was "that's not good enough." Medetis Long was removed days later. CNN reports that with Trump ally Joe diGenova installed in Fort Pierce, Florida, the investigation has been "essentially reset" into a broader conspiracy probe, more than 150 subpoenas have been issued, and another round of subpoenas targeting officials close to Brennan is expected. CBS News corroborates that DOJ veterans fear the probe is being staffed with Trump loyalists.

May 8

The National Science Foundation suspended at least 18 UC Berkeley research grants over a disputed foreign-funding claim despite a court injunction

In early May 2026, the National Science Foundation suspended at least 18 active research grants held by University of California, Berkeley scientists, citing unspecified "foreign funding" concerns that affected researchers say do not apply to their projects. The suspensions were imposed despite a standing court injunction restricting such actions, and at least one grant had been canceled by NSF and restored by a court before being suspended again. Berkeley researchers, who have brought a class-action challenge, said they were given almost no information about what NSF considered problematic.

May 7

BIA reinstates deportation proceedings against Columbia activist Mohsen Mahdawi

The Board of Immigration Appeals reinstated removal proceedings against Mohsen Mahdawi, a Palestinian lawful permanent resident and Columbia University student activist, overturning an immigration judge's February dismissal of the case. The government had pursued Mahdawi's deportation under a rarely used foreign-policy provision invoked by the Secretary of State, after he was detained in 2025 over his pro-Palestinian advocacy and released by a federal court without being charged with any crime.

May 7

FBI opens criminal leak probe targeting the sources behind The Atlantic's reporting on Kash Patel

In early May 2026, MS NOW reported — with corroboration from PBS NewsHour, TheWrap, Poynter and Democracy Now — that the FBI had opened a criminal "insider threat" investigation into the sourcing behind Atlantic reporter Sarah Fitzpatrick's story documenting FBI Director Kash Patel's excessive drinking and erratic conduct. The probe is highly unusual: it does not stem from any disclosure of classified information and instead targets leaks to a journalist, a posture in which reporters have historically been treated only as witnesses. FBI agents assigned to the matter reportedly objected that they were not supposed to pursue it, and the bureau publicly denied the investigation.

May 7

DOJ served a sealed grand jury subpoena on Lucile Packard Children's Hospital seeking transgender minors' medical records

On May 7, 2026, the U.S. Department of Justice served a sealed grand jury subpoena on Lucile Packard Children's Hospital at Stanford, demanding the identities, diagnoses, treatment histories, and parental consent forms of patients who received gender-affirming care as minors. Prosecutors obtained the subpoena in the Northern District of Texas, a venue with no connection to the California hospital, patients, or care, after at least eight courts had quashed the department's earlier administrative subpoenas for the same records. Affected families were given no notice.

May 6

DOJ Civil Rights Division found UCLA medical school discriminated based on race in admissions

The Justice Department's Civil Rights Division announced on May 6, 2026 that the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA intentionally discriminated based on race in its admissions process, in violation of the Supreme Court's 2023 SFFA v. Harvard ruling. DOJ said its investigation found admitted Black and Hispanic applicants had consistently lower academic qualifications than their white and Asian counterparts, and Assistant Attorney General Harmeet K. Dhillon said the school focused on "racial demographics at the expense of merit and excellence." The finding was part of a broader Civil Rights Division campaign targeting medical-school admissions that also produced actions against Yale and UC Davis.

May 6

DOJ Civil Rights Division opened investigation into elected Fairfax prosecutor over immigrant-defendant policies

On May 6, 2026, the U.S. Department of Justice's Civil Rights Division opened a formal investigation into Fairfax County, Virginia, Commonwealth's Attorney Steve Descano, an elected Democratic prosecutor, over his office's charging, plea-bargaining, and sentencing policies toward immigrant defendants. The Division said it would examine whether the office gave immigrant defendants preferential treatment in violation of federal civil-rights law. The probe was announced about a week before Descano's scheduled congressional testimony.

May 6

ICE agents injure a U.S. citizen in a Bronx takedown of the wrong person

On May 6, 2026, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents conducting an enforcement operation in the Norwood section of the Bronx tackled, handcuffed, and detained Jeury Concepcion, a U.S. citizen who was not the person they were seeking. Bystander cellphone video captured the takedown; Concepcion was left bleeding from a head wound that required several stitches, and agents released him after checking his ID and phone and determining he was not their target. The Department of Homeland Security disputes the "wrongful arrest" characterization, saying officers ran a targeted operation, that Concepcion matched the target's description and became combative, and that he was briefly detained and promptly released.

May 5

FDA blocked publication of its own studies finding COVID-19 and shingles vaccines safe

On May 5, 2026, reporting revealed that FDA officials had blocked the publication of completed agency research concluding that the COVID-19 and shingles vaccines were safe. The findings contradicted the vaccine-skeptical stance of the current HHS and FDA leadership. The suppression was first reported by The New York Times and confirmed by additional outlets.

Suppression of public data

May 5

JTF Southern Spear killed 3 aboard suspected narcotics vessel in Eastern Pacific; 57th strike, ~194 campaign deaths

On May 5, 2026, JTF Southern Spear conducted a lethal strike against an alleged narcotics vessel in the Eastern Pacific Ocean, killing three men. U.S. Southern Command provided no evidence the vessel carried drugs, and no arrest, charge, or judicial process preceded the killings.

Extrajudicial actions

May 5

FDA authorized flavored e-cigarettes without required public-comment period, bypassing its own career staff

On May 5, 2026, the FDA finalized enforcement-discretion guidance authorizing four flavored Glas e-cigarette products, skipping the legally required draft-guidance and public-comment period; FDA career staff were not consulted and learned of the change the night before publication. The action followed a $5 million donation from a Reynolds American subsidiary to the pro-Trump super PAC MAGA Inc. and a Mar-a-Lago lunch with Trump and Reynolds executives days earlier.

Ignoring statutory requirements

May 5

DOJ in Puerto Rico halted drugs-for-votes election-fraud probe after Trump win

On May 5, 2026, ProPublica disclosed that in November 2024 — days after Donald Trump won the presidency and Jenniffer González-Colón clinched Puerto Rico's governorship — supervisors at the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Puerto Rico ordered line prosecutors to drop voting-fraud counts and all charges against prison staff from a built-out drugs-for-votes indictment, and after Trump took office told them to abandon the probe of any campaign ties entirely. The pulled charges arose from evidence that the Los Tiburones prison gang traded drugs for inmate votes for González-Colón in 2024 and that the candidate had communicated with a gang leader on WhatsApp during the primary. In the weeks that followed, Puerto Rico's resident commissioner and four U.S. House Democrats publicly called for a DOJ Inspector General and congressional investigation; González-Colón has denied wrongdoing and has not been charged.

May 5

VA investigated employees who attended vigils for slain colleague Alex Pretti and spoke to the press

CNN reported on May 5, 2026 that the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs opened internal investigations into employees who attended vigils for Alex Pretti — a VA nurse killed by federal immigration agents in Minneapolis in January 2026 — and who spoke to the news media about him. Becky Halioua, a recreational therapist and union leader at the Charlie Norwood VA Medical Center in Augusta, Georgia, was investigated for giving a media interview without prior approval; investigators emailed her news photographs of herself at the January 28 vigil with her face circled and labeled. At least three other VA employees were investigated over press contacts, and unions called the probes a "scare tactic" to silence outspoken staff.

May 5

EEOC sued The New York Times, alleging its DEI practices discriminated against a white male employee

On May 5, 2026, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission filed suit against The New York Times, alleging the newspaper discriminated against a white male employee passed over for promotion as part of its diversity practices. EEOC Acting Chair Andrea Lucas publicly framed the case as challenging DEI "on behalf of white workers" and as a reorientation of civil-rights enforcement. The action deployed federal legal power against a news organization the administration regularly criticizes.

May 4

JTF Southern Spear killed 2 aboard suspected narcotics vessel in Caribbean; ~57th strike, ~191 campaign deaths

On May 4, 2026, Joint Task Force Southern Spear struck a vessel in the Caribbean Sea, killing two people. The strike was carried out under Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth's Operation Southern Spear mandate with no prior judicial process or public evidence regarding the victims.

May 4

JTF Southern Spear killed 3 aboard suspected narcotics vessel in eastern Pacific; ~56th strike, ~189 campaign deaths

On May 4, 2026, Joint Task Force Southern Spear struck a vessel in the eastern Pacific Ocean, killing three people. The strike was carried out under Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth's Operation Southern Spear mandate at the direction of SOUTHCOM commander Gen. Francis L. Donovan, with no prior judicial process or public evidence regarding the victims.

May 4

State Department revokes U.S. visas of five La Nación board members in apparent retaliation

The U.S. State Department revoked the U.S. tourist visas of five of the seven board members of La Nación, Costa Rica's leading watchdog newspaper, in what the paper and press-freedom groups describe as retaliation for its critical editorial line. The board members received no formal notice or explanation — the department cited visa-record confidentiality — and reportedly first learned of the revocations through pro-government Costa Rican media. The move followed Secretary of State Marco Rubio's visit to Costa Rica and the paper's scrutiny of President Rodrigo Chaves, a Trump ally.

May 4

Department of Education opened a Title IX investigation into Smith College over its transgender admissions policy

On May 4, 2026, the U.S. Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights opened a Title IX investigation into Smith College, a private all-women's college in Massachusetts, over its policy of admitting transgender women. Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights Kimberly Richey said "an all-women's college loses all meaning if it is admitting biological males," asserting that Title IX's single-sex exception applies on the basis of biological sex, not gender identity. The probe extended a coordinated wave of OCR enforcement using federal civil-rights machinery to pressure institutions over trans-inclusive policies.

May 4

DOJ filed complaint to block Minnesota's state-court climate lawsuit against oil companies

On May 4, 2026, the Department of Justice filed a complaint in U.S. District Court for the District of Minnesota seeking to halt the state's own pending lawsuit against fossil-fuel companies for climate damages, arguing the state suit was preempted by the Constitution and the Clean Air Act. Associate Attorney General Stanley Woodward and the Environment and Natural Resources Division brought the action explicitly invoking Trump's executive order directing DOJ to "protect American energy from state overreach." The filing was the fifth such DOJ complaint against state climate accountability lawsuits, following similar actions against Hawaii, Michigan, New York, and Vermont.

Executive overreach

May 1

DOJ shut down San Francisco immigration court ahead of schedule after firing most judges, leaving 100,000 cases in limbo

The Justice Department closed the main San Francisco immigration court at 100 Montgomery Street on May 1, 2026, eight months ahead of the originally announced year-end date, after firing or forcing out at least 20 of the court's judges. More than 100,000 pending cases were reassigned to the Concord Immigration Court roughly an hour away; advocates said hearings on transferred cases would not begin until at least December 2026. The court had historically denied asylum at roughly half the national average rate; DOJ cited cost savings, while advocates said the closure targeted a court that had been favorable to asylum seekers.

May 1

ICE agent surveilled and arrested a person inside Cook County's Domestic Violence Courthouse, privileged from civil arrest under Illinois law

On May 1, 2026, around 9:30 a.m., a federal immigration agent entered the Cook County Domestic Violence Courthouse at 555 W. Harrison Street in Chicago, telling courthouse security he "was conducting surveillance," according to an internal Cook County Department of Emergency Management and Regional Security alert. Separately, Cook County Public Defender's Office tracking of the same morning found that federal agents detained at least one person inside the courthouse. The visit was part of a pattern of at least 26 confirmed ICE appearances at Cook County courthouses between February 27 and May 8, 2026, most frequently at the domestic violence courthouse.

Denial of due process in immigration enforcement

May 1

DOJ issues criminal subpoena to NYU Langone Health for private trans youth medical records

The U.S. Attorney's Office for the Northern District of Texas issued a criminal subpoena to NYU Langone Health, one of New York City's largest hospital systems, demanding private medical records of transgender minors who received gender-affirming care from 2020 onward — including patient identities, provider information, and whether the hospital codes gender-affirming procedures under alternative names — despite HIPAA protections. Three trans minors and two trans adults who were minors during their care, represented by the ACLU, NYCLU, and Lambda Legal, filed suit to block the disclosure; New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani's Law Department filed an amicus brief in their support on June 13, 2026. The subpoena is part of a coordinated multi-state DOJ effort targeting more than 20 hospital systems; federal courts in Rhode Island, Maryland, and California have already blocked similar demands. On June 24, 2026, a federal judge granted a classwide temporary restraining order blocking the DOJ from seeking or obtaining the records.

Apr 30

ICE deported Axel Rios, an 18-year-old Dunwoody High School student, to Honduras after denying a stay of removal

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement deported Axel Rios, an 18-year-old Dunwoody High School student, to Honduras on April 30, 2026, after detaining him in March following a traffic stop in DeKalb County, Georgia. Rios's attorney had filed to reopen his 2015 asylum case, but ICE denied a stay of removal and carried out the deportation while that request was pending.

Denial of due process in immigration enforcement

Apr 30

U.S. Air Force agreed to buy interceptor drones from Powerus, a startup backed by Trump's sons

On April 30, 2026, Bloomberg reported that the U.S. Air Force agreed to buy an undisclosed number of interceptor drones from Powerus, a West Palm Beach-based drone startup backed by Eric Trump and Donald Trump Jr. through their Aureus Greenway Holdings investment vehicle. The deal extended the Pentagon's contracting ties to companies linked to the Trump family at a moment when Democratic lawmakers had already warned the Defense Department had no protocols to prevent conflicts of interest with the president's sons. Sen. Elizabeth Warren had formally pressed Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth for answers on the issue in January and March 2026, receiving responses that failed to address potential favoritism.

Apr 30

DOJ anti-Christian bias task force published report urging federal realignment toward Christian religious-liberty claims

On April 30, 2026, the Presidential Task Force to Eradicate Anti-Christian Bias, created by Executive Order 14202 and chaired by Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche, published its report asserting that the prior administration's prosecutions, policies, and practices were pervasively anti-Christian. The report documents claimed bias across seventeen federal agencies and endorses realigning federal enforcement, hiring, and civil-rights priorities toward claims framed as Christian religious liberty. It cites steps already taken, including rescinding a Biden-era school-board memo and withdrawing prior interpretations of employment-discrimination law.

Apr 30

Court filing revealed DOJ officials sought Illinois voter data to purge noncitizens; emails showed staff directed to conceal purpose

On April 30, 2026, attorneys for the Illinois AFL-CIO and other intervening parties filed court documents in the federal NVRA lawsuit in Springfield, Illinois, including internal DOJ emails obtained through a public records lawsuit, showing that the Justice Department's demand for unredacted state voter rolls was aimed at identifying and purging suspected noncitizens. A June 2025 email from Deputy Assistant Attorney General Michael Gates explicitly described cross-referencing state voter rolls against the DHS SAVE immigration database for that purpose, while a November 2025 email from Acting Voting Section Chief Eric Neff directed staff to respond to states' questions about data use only with "We will use the data in a manner consistent with Federal law" and say nothing more. DOJ has filed similar NVRA suits in approximately 30 states and Washington, D.C.; six have already been dismissed.

Apr 29

Supreme Court 6-3 ruling in Louisiana v. Callais gutted Voting Rights Act minority-district protections, enabling states to eliminate minority seats

On April 29, 2026, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled 6-3 in Louisiana v. Callais that Louisiana's court-ordered second majority-Black congressional district was itself an unconstitutional racial gerrymander under the Equal Protection Clause. Justice Samuel Alito, writing for the conservative majority, substantially reworked the 40-year-old Thornburg v. Gingles framework, holding that Section 2 claims succeed only when evidence supports a "strong inference" that a state intentionally drew districts to deny minority voters equal opportunity — replacing the prior effects-based standard with a heightened intent requirement. Justice Elena Kagan, in dissent, said the ruling would "eviscerate" the Voting Rights Act and warned the consequences would be "far-reaching and grave."

Apr 28

Cuban detainee Denny Adan Gonzalez died at Stewart Detention Center, 18th ICE death of 2026

Denny Adan Gonzalez, a 33-year-old Cuban national, was found unresponsive in his cell at the CoreCivic-run Stewart Detention Center in Lumpkin, Georgia, on the night of April 28, 2026, and pronounced dead at 11:11 p.m. ICE described the death as an apparent suicide with the official cause under investigation; a former cellmate has publicly disputed that account. It was the 18th death recorded in ICE custody in 2026 and the second apparent-suicide death at Stewart under the current administration.

Deaths in custody

Apr 28

State Department orders consular officers to deny visas to applicants who fear returning home

On April 28, 2026, the U.S. State Department sent a worldwide diplomatic cable ordering consular officers to ask every nonimmigrant visa applicant two new verbal questions -- whether they have suffered harm or mistreatment at home and whether they fear harm if returned -- and to deny the visa to anyone who answers "yes" or refuses to answer. The directive, which covers tourist, student, and temporary-worker visas, converts an expression of protection-need into an automatic disqualifier and is part of a broader effort to screen out applicants who might later seek asylum.

Apr 28

FCC orders early license review of Disney's ABC stations a day after Trump demands Kimmel's firing

On April 28, 2026, the Federal Communications Commission ordered The Walt Disney Company to file early renewal applications within 30 days for the eight ABC-owned broadcast television stations it operates, licenses not otherwise due for renewal for years. The order came one day after President Trump publicly demanded that ABC fire late-night host Jimmy Kimmel over a joke about First Lady Melania Trump. The FCC cited an open investigation into Disney's diversity, equity and inclusion policies, a rationale widely viewed as pretextual given the timing.

Licensing or regulatory power as leverage

Apr 28

ICE directed a Rhode Island prosecutor to conceal a homicide warrant from a federal court, and DHS branded the judge an 'activist'

On April 28, 2026, U.S. District Judge Melissa DuBose granted a habeas petition and ordered the release of immigration detainee Bryan Rafael Gomez, relying on the government's silence about any criminal history — silence that, an Assistant U.S. Attorney later admitted, came at ICE's direction, concealing that Gomez was wanted on an active homicide warrant in the Dominican Republic. Two days later, the Department of Homeland Security publicly branded Judge DuBose an "activist judge" over the release, without disclosing that its own agency had withheld the warrant information from her.

Apr 28

ICE returns agent who killed Renée Good to duty with no discipline as FBI probe stalls

By late April 2026, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement had quietly returned agent Jonathan Ross — who fatally shot unarmed Minneapolis mother Renée Good on January 7, 2026 — to active administrative and investigative duty in another state with no disciplinary consequence. ICE's internal-affairs review remains frozen pending a stalled FBI probe, after the DOJ Civil Rights Division under Harmeet Dhillon declined to open a civil-rights investigation into the shooting.

Apr 28

Federal grand jury indicts ex-FBI Director James Comey a second time over '86 47' post

A federal grand jury in the Eastern District of North Carolina indicted former FBI Director James Comey on April 28, 2026, on two counts arising from a May 2025 Instagram post of seashells arranged to read "86 47," which the Justice Department casts as a death threat against President Trump. The charges follow the 2025 collapse of an earlier DOJ case against Comey and the dismissal weeks earlier of Attorney General Pam Bondi, whom Trump faulted for not pursuing his agenda aggressively enough.

Apr 27

Washington Post investigation found DOJ hired immigration judges for ideological alignment, two-thirds lacking immigration-law experience

A Washington Post investigation published April 27, 2026, found that the Justice Department's Executive Office for Immigration Review has been hiring immigration judges chosen for alignment with the administration's mass-deportation agenda rather than legal qualification. Since January 2025 the DOJ has fired more than 100 immigration judges and appointed over 140 new ones, two-thirds of whom list no immigration-law experience and more than three-quarters of whom never worked at the DOJ, ICE, or the immigration courts. Recent hires include a men's-rights divorce attorney with no immigration background, an attorney who promoted debunked conspiracy theories, and a former judge whose past asylum ruling an appeals court found was distorted by anti-gay stereotyping.

Denial of due process in immigration enforcement

Apr 27

Interior terminated Golden State Wind's $120M Morro Bay offshore lease via settlement of never-filed litigation

On April 27, 2026, the U.S. Department of the Interior announced it would terminate Golden State Wind's $120 million offshore wind lease in California's Morro Bay Wind Energy Area through an agreement framed as settling litigation the company never brought. The deal redirected $120 million in federal funds to pay the developer to abandon the lease and required an equal investment in out-of-state fossil-fuel projects. California's attorney general and energy commission say the arrangement violates the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act.

Apr 27

ICE detained mother, two children at Texas school bus stop after acknowledging mistaken identity

On April 27, 2026, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers stopped Maria Betania Uzcategui Castillo at a school bus stop in Alamo Heights, San Antonio, Texas, searching for a woman who merely resembled her. After acknowledging the mistaken identity, agents detained her and her two stepchildren, ages 11 and 8, when she declined an ankle monitor, transporting the family to the Dilley immigration detention facility. A federal judge granted the family's habeas corpus petition on May 13, 2026, finding their detention violated due process, and ordered their release.

Apr 26

JTF Southern Spear killed three aboard suspected narcotics vessel in eastern Pacific; ~55th strike, ~186 campaign deaths

On April 26, 2026, U.S. Southern Command announced a lethal strike on a vessel in the eastern Pacific Ocean that it described as an alleged drug-trafficking boat, killing three people. SOUTHCOM posted a video of the strike on X and said the boat was transiting "known narco-trafficking routes," but provided no public evidence that it carried narcotics. The attack was the latest in the Trump administration's open-ended boat-strike campaign, which by late April had killed at least 186 people across the eastern Pacific and Caribbean.

Extrajudicial actions

Apr 25

ICE re-arrests El Gamal family at first check-in, attempts deportation in defiance of federal release order

On April 25, 2026, Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents re-arrested Hayam El Gamal and her five children at the family's first required post-release check-in in Colorado Springs, two days after U.S. District Judge Fred Biery of the Western District of Texas ordered them freed pending their asylum proceedings. ICE routed the family onto a flight bound for Michigan and told them they would be deported to Egypt; the plane reversed course mid-air only after Judge Biery and U.S. District Judge Nina Wang of Colorado issued emergency orders Saturday evening directing that the family not be removed. The mother and her five children — held at the Dilley, Texas family detention center for more than ten months and never charged with any crime — were released again just after midnight on April 26.

Apr 25

DHS training tells USCIS officers to weigh flag-burning, criticism of Israel, and pro-Palestinian protest against green-card applicants

On April 25, 2026, The New York Times reported the existence of internal Department of Homeland Security training materials — not previously published by DHS or USCIS — instructing officers to treat protected political speech as a discretionary negative factor in green-card and other immigration-benefit adjudications. The training names flag-burning, criticism of the state of Israel, and pro-Palestinian campus protest activity as triggers, and directs officers to escalate cases involving "potential anti-American and/or antisemitic conduct or ideology" to USCIS managers and the agency's general counsel's office.

Apr 24

DOJ directs the Federal Bureau of Prisons to expand federal execution protocol to include the firing squad

On April 24, 2026, the U.S. Department of Justice announced — in a same-day press release from the Office of Public Affairs paired with the Office of Legal Policy report "Restoring and Strengthening the Federal Death Penalty" — that it had directed the Federal Bureau of Prisons to expand the federal execution protocol to include the firing squad alongside other methods, and to reinstate the pentobarbital lethal-injection protocol used during the first Trump administration. The DOJ also directed BOP to consider relocating or expanding federal death row or constructing an additional execution facility to accommodate the added methods. Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche announced the action; the underlying report's preparation had been directed by former Attorney General Pamela Bondi.

Corrections abuse

Apr 24

Trump fires all 22 members of the National Science Board overseeing the NSF

On April 24, 2026, the Trump White House emailed all 22 seated members of the National Science Board — the statutory body Congress created in 1950 to set National Science Foundation policy, submit its budget, and approve its programs and awards — informing them their positions were "terminated, effective immediately." The mass dismissal removed the NSF's entire congressionally-created oversight body in a single morning, without legislative action and without replacement appointments in hand, leaving the agency's roughly $9 billion in research funding without its governing board.

Apr 24

JTF Southern Spear killed two aboard suspected narcotics vessel in eastern Pacific; ~54th strike, ~183 campaign deaths

On April 24, 2026, U.S. forces operating under Joint Task Force Southern Spear struck a vessel they alleged was engaged in narco-trafficking in the eastern Pacific Ocean, killing two people, U.S. Southern Command said. SOUTHCOM asserted the boat was operated by "Designated Terrorist Organizations" but, consistent with the entire campaign, released no public evidence that the vessel carried drugs and no arrest, charge, or judicial process preceded the killings. The strike was part of Operation Southern Spear, the open-ended military campaign begun in September 2025 whose reported cumulative death toll had reached at least 183.

Extrajudicial actions

Apr 24

DOJ announces forthcoming rule to narrow federal habeas review of state capital convictions under Chapter 154

On April 24, 2026, the U.S. Department of Justice announced — in a same-day press release from the Office of Public Affairs paired with the Office of Legal Policy report "Restoring and Strengthening the Federal Death Penalty" — that it planned to publish a proposed rule that would "empower states to streamline federal habeas review of capital cases" under Chapter 154 of Title 28, with DOJ saying the rule "will reduce by years the period between conviction and execution in state capital cases." Federal habeas review of state convictions has been the principal vehicle for federal-court oversight of state capital cases since 1867; an administrative rule that materially narrows that review would curtail a long-standing federal check on state criminal-justice systems without legislative action.

Ignoring habeas corpus

Apr 24

DOJ announced a rule barring federal capital inmates from filing clemency petitions until direct appeals and a first collateral attack are final

On April 24, 2026, the U.S. Department of Justice announced — in a same-day press release from the Office of Public Affairs paired with the Office of Legal Policy report "Restoring and Strengthening the Federal Death Penalty" — that it planned to publish a proposed rule prohibiting capital inmates from submitting clemency petitions, and the Office of the Pardon Attorney from considering them, until the inmate's direct appeal and first collateral attack are final. The rule, within DOJ's claimed rulemaking authority, would for the first time foreclose for years at a time a clemency remedy that historically has run in parallel with — not after — judicial review.

Apr 24

BIA precedent narrows DACA-based termination of removal in Matter of Santiago-Santiago

On April 24, 2026, the Board of Immigration Appeals — an administrative appellate tribunal within the Department of Justice's Executive Office for Immigration Review — issued a precedent decision, Matter of Santiago-Santiago, 29 I&N Dec. 589 (BIA 2026), holding that an immigration judge "erred" by terminating removal proceedings solely because the respondent, DACA recipient Catalina "Xóchitl" Santiago, held active Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals status, without weighing the Department of Homeland Security's reasons for opposing termination. The three-judge appellate panel sustained DHS's appeal, vacated the immigration judge's termination, and remanded the case to a different immigration judge. The ruling is binding on immigration judges nationwide and narrows what had operated as a de facto class-wide protection for the roughly 500,000 active DACA recipients, without any statutory or formal regulatory change to the DACA program itself.

Narrowing civil-rights protections

Apr 24

ORR blocked a physician-lawmaker's oversight visit to pregnant migrant minors held in an abortion-restricted Texas shelter

When Rep. Maxine Dexter — a physician serving in Congress — made an oversight visit to the Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) shelter in San Benito, Texas on April 24, 2026, officials blocked her from speaking with the pregnant migrant minors held there and would not say where detainees who had left the facility had been transferred or what continuity of care they received. The minors — some as young as 13, at least half of whom became pregnant as a result of rape — had been concentrated at the single facility since a July 22, 2025 directive by ORR Acting Director Angie Salazar, in a state that bans abortion and over the objections of the agency's own health officials. Nearly 50 members of Congress demanded answers from HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Salazar; HHS says its placement decisions follow child-welfare best practices.

Apr 24

U.S. Customs and Border Protection awarded Barnard Construction a $1.6 billion no-bid border-wall contract citing urgency

On April 24, 2026, U.S. Customs and Border Protection awarded Barnard Construction Company — a Montana firm chaired by Trump donor Tim Barnard — a $1.6 billion contract to build roughly 112.5 miles of secondary border wall in the El Paso Sector, without competitive bidding. Federal records list "urgency" as the justification for bypassing competition and show that cost and pricing data were waived. The award was part of a broader pattern in which CBP steered most new Texas and New Mexico wall contract value to two of eleven pre-approved vendors.

Procurement irregularities

Apr 24

Pentagon awards $24M humanoid-robot contract to Foundation Future Industries, where Eric Trump is chief strategy adviser

The U.S. Department of Defense awarded approximately $24 million in research contracts (across the U.S. Army, Navy, and Air Force) to Foundation Future Industries, a San Francisco robotics startup whose chief strategy adviser is Eric Trump, son of sitting President Donald Trump. On April 23, 2026, Eric Trump appeared on Fox Business's "Mornings with Maria" alongside Foundation CEO Sankaet Pathak to publicly tout the deal, and Democracy Now! reported on his promotion of it the following day. The contracts fund testing of the company's "Phantom" humanoid robots for military applications, with two Phantom MK-1 units sent to Ukraine in February 2026 for logistics and reconnaissance testing.

Apr 23

HUD proposed a rule rescinding gender-identity protections across nearly 50 housing regulations, restricting shelters to biological sex

On April 23, 2026, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development announced a proposed rule that would remove gender-identity and sexual-orientation protections from nearly 50 housing regulations and revise its 2016 Equal Access Rule. The proposal would define sex by biological classification across HUD programs and permit operators of single-sex facilities, including emergency shelters, to require "reasonable assurances and evidence" of a person's sex, effectively barring transgender people from shelters that match their gender identity. HUD Secretary Scott Turner framed the proposal as implementing President Trump's January 2025 executive order to restore "biological truth" to the federal government.

Discriminatory policy

Apr 23

CBP border-wall contractor bulldozed the 1,000-year-old Las Playas Intaglio, a Tohono O'odham sacred site, in Arizona

On April 23, 2026, a U.S. Customs and Border Protection contractor bulldozed a roughly 50-to-60-foot swath across the Las Playas Intaglio, a 1,000-year-old geoglyph sacred to the Tohono O'odham Nation, in Arizona's Cabeza Prieta National Wildlife Refuge. The site had been identified, staked, and was under active discussion for protection, but was cleared without notice as the administration fast-tracks a second border barrier using REAL ID Act waivers that bypass environmental and historic-preservation laws.

Ignoring statutory requirements

Apr 23

Pentagon fired Stars and Stripes ombudsman Jacqueline Smith after columns criticizing its restrictions on the newspaper

On April 23, 2026, the U.S. Department of Defense notified Jacqueline Smith — the congressionally mandated ombudsman charged with protecting the editorial independence of the military newspaper Stars and Stripes — that she was being removed, effective April 28, without stated cause. Smith had spent months criticizing Pentagon moves to control the paper's content, including an April 8 column opposing the cancellation of comics and new editorial restrictions. She said the firing came six days after House members sent Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth a letter defending the paper's independence.

Apr 23

ODNI terminated its Puerto Rico voting-machine security contractor after a Trump adviser pushed back on findings that found no fraud

Reuters reported on April 23, 2026, that the Office of the Director of National Intelligence terminated its contract with cybersecurity firm Mojave Research in October 2025, after Trump adviser Kurt Olsen pressured the company over its inability to substantiate voter-fraud claims in its analysis of Puerto Rico's voting machines and accused it of secretly receiving funding from George Soros. Mojave, hired in 2025 to test the machines for security vulnerabilities, found genuine software flaws but no evidence that votes had been altered or that the flaws had been exploited; ODNI has said the contract simply ended because the analysis was complete. Later reporting by Nextgov/FCW and CNN in August 2026 detailed the pressure campaign, including Olsen's repeated interventions in ODNI meetings and the cancellation of a planned expansion of Mojave's team from roughly 10 to 60 people.

Retaliation against government scientists

Apr 23

DOJ refers 384 naturalized Americans for denaturalization in record-volume push

On April 23, 2026, The New York Times first reported that the U.S. Department of Justice had identified 384 foreign-born, naturalized U.S. citizens as a "first wave" of denaturalization targets, with cases being distributed to federal prosecutors in 39 U.S. Attorney's offices across the country. A DOJ spokesperson, citing the leadership of President Trump and Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche, called it "the highest volume of denaturalization referrals in history." The push follows a June 2025 directive from Assistant Attorney General Brett Shumate ordering the Civil Division to "prioritize and maximally pursue" denaturalization, with an internal cadence of roughly 100–200 referrals per month — against a 1990–2017 baseline of about 11 cases per year and a total of 120 cases attempted between 2017 and the end of 2025.

Apr 22

FBI opened inquiry into NYT reporter Elizabeth Williamson over her story on Director Patel's girlfriend

The New York Times reported on April 22, 2026, that FBI agents searched bureau databases for information on Times reporter Elizabeth Williamson and recommended opening a preliminary investigation into whether her February 28 reporting on FBI Director Kash Patel's decision to provide his girlfriend Alexis Wilkins with round-the-clock SWAT-team security amounted to federal stalking. Justice Department officials ended the inquiry after determining there was no legal basis to proceed and over concerns it was retaliatory. The FBI denied that Williamson was "personally investigated" but confirmed agents had queried databases and interviewed Wilkins about her, framing the work as victim-interview activity tied to a separate death-threat case.

Apr 22

Park Service extends White House AECOM contract to bypass bidding on Trump's Triumphal Arch

On April 22, 2026, National Park Service acting director Jessica Bowron asked the White House whether NPS could extend an existing AECOM Services contract for White House grounds engineering to cover environmental-assessment work for President Trump's proposed 250-foot Triumphal Arch — a site on Park Service land across the Potomac River, more than a mile from the White House complex. Heather Martin, an Executive Office of the President official, approved the request within an hour. Internal emails obtained by The Washington Post and published May 14, 2026 show the arrangement would bypass federal competitive-bidding requirements; the Park Service estimated the arch work at $600,000, and contracting experts said the administration's Economy Act citation stretches a statute meant for agencies that lack procurement capability.

Apr 22

State Department pressured stranded Afghan wartime allies in Qatar to return to Taliban-ruled Afghanistan

On April 22, 2026, officials running Camp As Sayliyah, a former U.S. base outside Doha, Qatar, told roughly 1,100 stranded Afghan evacuees that no third country had been secured for resettlement while continuing to press them to accept free airfare and cash stipends to return to Taliban-ruled Afghanistan. The camp holds former interpreters, Afghan special-operations personnel, and relatives of U.S. service members whom the Trump administration left stranded after freezing the Afghan special immigrant visa program in November 2025 and moving to close the camp. More than 200 residents had already returned to Afghanistan under the incentive program, where many face a credible risk of Taliban reprisal.

Targeting marginalized communities

Apr 21

ICE detained two Congolese teenage brothers on lawful student visas outside their Mississippi home

On April 21, 2026, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents detained brothers Israel Makoka, 18, and Max Makoka, 15, nationals of the Republic of Congo, as the teenagers left their guardians' home in Diamondhead, Mississippi to catch the school bus. The brothers held F-1 student visas that had lapsed after they transferred from a private boarding school to a public high school that could not host visa holders; agents dismissed their guardians' court-granted guardianship papers and moved the teenagers to separate detention facilities in Louisiana and Texas. The Department of Homeland Security said the brothers had violated their visas by failing to attend classes at their original school.

Apr 21

NY1 investigation found 132 noncitizens deported before immigration judges issued required final removal orders

On April 21, 2026, the New York news channel NY1 published an investigation finding 132 cases in which noncitizens were physically deported and received a final removal order from an immigration judge only afterward — the reverse of the legally required sequence. Immigration attorneys in New York, Louisiana, Texas, and Illinois and a former Justice Department chief immigration judge told NY1 the practice was illegal. The report documented Mario Mata Cruz, a Salvadoran man with Special Immigrant Juvenile status and a pending green card, whom ICE arrested on Long Island and deported to El Salvador without a final removal order.

Apr 21

Hegseth eliminated mandatory military flu vaccine requirement in force since 1945

On April 21, 2026, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced that the annual flu vaccine would no longer be mandatory for U.S. military personnel — active duty or reserve — ending a requirement in place since the close of World War II. Hegseth characterized the 80-year policy as "overly broad and not rational" and said "we will not force you" to take the vaccine.

Dismantling agency capacity

Apr 21

DOJ concealed from courts and states its plan to vet voter rolls against DHS citizenship data, internal emails revealed

On April 21, 2026, a coalition of voting-rights groups led by Common Cause sued the U.S. Department of Justice in Washington, D.C.; the filing, alongside roughly 1,200 pages of internal DOJ communications obtained through FOIA litigation, revealed the department had spent nearly a year collecting states' unredacted voter rolls to cross-check against the Department of Homeland Security's SAVE citizenship system while withholding that intent from courts and Democratic election officials. In a November 2025 email, DOJ Voting Section leader Eric Neff advised telling states only that the department would "use the data in a manner consistent with Federal law" and to "say nothing more," asserting that "no judge will have authority to limit us beyond a promise of Federal law compliance." The department had also sued 31 election chiefs to compel production of unredacted voter registration data.

Apr 21

DOJ indicts Southern Poverty Law Center on 11 counts of fraud over $3M informant payments

On April 21, 2026, a federal grand jury in Montgomery, Alabama returned an 11-count indictment against the Southern Poverty Law Center, charging the 55-year-old civil-rights organization with wire fraud, false statements to a federally insured bank, and conspiracy to commit concealment money laundering over a covert program in which the SPLC says it paid confidential sources to infiltrate violent extremist groups. The indictment came after the FBI under Director Kash Patel had severed its long-running relationship with the SPLC, and amid publicly expressed presidential pressure on the Justice Department to pursue prosecutions of political opponents. SPLC interim CEO Bryan Fair said the organization was "targeted" by the administration and that its informant work "saved lives."

Apr 20

DOJ subpoenaed personal data of ~3,000 Fulton County 2020 election workers to reinvestigate Trump's stolen-election claims

On April 20, 2026, the U.S. Department of Justice served a grand-jury subpoena on Fulton County, Georgia's director of elections demanding the names, positions, residential and email addresses, and personal phone numbers of nearly 3,000 people who worked the 2020 election, from county staff to volunteer and temporary poll workers. The demand was part of a DOJ effort to reinvestigate former President Trump's unfounded claims that the 2020 election was stolen. A federal judge later quashed the subpoena, calling its scope "staggering."

Apr 20

FBI Director Kash Patel files $250 million defamation lawsuit against The Atlantic over reporting on alleged drinking and mismanagement

On April 20, 2026, FBI Director Kash Patel filed a $250 million defamation lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia against The Atlantic and reporter Sarah Fitzpatrick over her April 17 article describing what witnesses called "bouts of excessive drinking" and unexplained absences and reporting mismanagement at the bureau. Patel had publicly threatened to sue both before publication — telling the magazine "I'll see you in court — bring your checkbook" — and after the story ran. The Atlantic called the suit "meritless" and said it would "vigorously defend" its reporting and journalists.

Legal threats against publishers

Apr 20

GEO Group barred Washington state health inspectors from its Tacoma ICE detention center despite an upheld state oversight law

On April 20, 2026, The GEO Group refused to admit Washington State Department of Health inspectors to the Northwest ICE Processing Center in Tacoma, the latest of repeated denials since the state's oversight law took effect. That 2023 law, upheld by the Ninth Circuit in 2025, authorizes the inspections, which the state pursued after more than 3,500 complaints about conditions including contaminated food, poor sanitation, and inadequate medical care. Washington's governor and attorney general sued in federal court to compel access.

Apr 20

ICE kept Venezuelan woman detained after an immigration judge dismissed her removal case, despite her marriage to a U.S. citizen

On April 20, 2026, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement kept Gabriela Sousa, a Venezuelan woman who entered the United States legally on humanitarian parole in 2023, detained at an immigration facility in the Jacksonville, Florida area after an immigration judge dismissed her removal case. ICE held her while the government weighed whether to use its 30-day window to appeal the dismissal, even though she is married to U.S. citizen Brandon Garrison and had a spousal petition pending since November 2025. She had been held for roughly six months following an October 2025 domestic-dispute arrest that produced no criminal charges.

Apr 19

JTF Southern Spear killed three aboard suspected narcotics vessel in Caribbean; 53rd strike, ~181 campaign deaths

On Sunday, April 19, 2026, U.S. Southern Command's Joint Task Force Southern Spear, at the direction of SOUTHCOM commander Gen. Francis L. Donovan, conducted a lethal kinetic strike on a vessel it said was operated by "Designated Terrorist Organizations" transiting a known narco-trafficking route in the Caribbean Sea, killing three men. The strike — the fifth in eight days and the campaign's roughly 53rd — brought Operation Southern Spear's announced death toll to at least 181 people since September 2025. As with prior strikes, the government released video but no evidence the vessel carried drugs and did not identify those killed, who received no interdiction or judicial process.

Extrajudicial actions

Apr 18

DOJ installs Trump legal ally Joe diGenova as Counselor to the Attorney General assigned to the Brennan probe in Fort Pierce

On April 18, 2026, the U.S. Department of Justice installed Joseph diGenova — a longtime Washington attorney, former U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia, and a Trump legal-team adviser during the Mueller investigation who has publicly backed efforts to overturn the 2020 election — as Counselor to the Attorney General in the Southern District of Florida, assigned to the federal criminal investigation of former CIA Director John Brennan. The appointment came one day after the Justice Department removed career national-security prosecutor Maria Medetis Long from the Brennan probe after she resisted bringing charges career prosecutors judged unsupported by the evidence. Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche, seeking to retain the job after President Trump fired Attorney General Pam Bondi earlier in April over dissatisfaction at the pace of cases against Trump's political adversaries, drove the appointment.

Apr 17

DOJ removes career federal prosecutor leading the Brennan investigation after she resisted bringing charges career staff judged unsupported

On April 17, 2026, the U.S. Department of Justice removed Maria Medetis Long — the career federal prosecutor heading the national-security section at the U.S. Attorney's Office in Miami and leading the federal criminal investigation of former CIA Director John Brennan — after she resisted pressure from senior DOJ leadership to file charges career prosecutors had told the Department the evidence did not support. U.S. Attorney Jason Reding Quiñones had earlier told DOJ leadership that charges could still be months away. Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche, seeking to retain the job after President Trump fired Attorney General Pam Bondi earlier in April over dissatisfaction at the slow pace of cases against Trump's political adversaries, has been pressing to deliver indictments on the president's priority targets.

Apr 17

DOJ declined France's judicial-assistance request in the criminal probe of Musk's X, citing the First Amendment

On April 17, 2026, the U.S. Department of Justice's Office of International Affairs sent French authorities a two-page letter declining their request for assistance in France's criminal investigation of Elon Musk's X, accusing French prosecutors of misusing their legal system to interfere with an American business. The letter framed the French probe — opened in 2025 over X's content-selection algorithm and expanded after a February 2026 raid of X's Paris office — as an effort to regulate a public square for free expression contrary to the First Amendment. The refusal, reported by The Wall Street Journal on April 18 and endorsed publicly by Musk, was one of three French assistance requests the Department rebuffed.

Politicization of the Justice Department

Apr 16

USDA said it would relocate Forest Service HQ and close 57 of 77 research facilities without required congressional approval

On April 16, 2026, U.S. Forest Service Chief Tom Schultz said publicly that the agency would relocate its headquarters to Salt Lake City and close 57 of its 77 research facilities "with or without approval from Congress." USDA's Office of General Counsel had advised that appropriations-law provisions requiring 30-day advance approval from congressional committees before such reorganizations are unconstitutional "legislative vetoes" the department need not follow. The stance positioned the agency to carry out a major restructuring in defiance of statutory conditions Congress attached to its funding.

Apr 16

ICE deported Colombian woman to DR Congo after Congolese officials refused her on medical grounds

On April 16, 2026, ICE placed Adriana Maria Quiroz Zapata — a 55-year-old Colombian woman with diabetes, hyperlipidemia, and hypothyroidism — on a removal flight to the Democratic Republic of the Congo two days after Congolese officials had formally refused to accept her because they could not guarantee the medical care her conditions required. On May 13, 2026, U.S. District Judge Richard J. Leon (D.D.C.) granted a 14-day temporary restraining order finding the deportation likely unlawful under the Immigration and Nationality Act and directing the Trump administration to facilitate her return, citing her "daily risk of medical complications, up to and including death." Judge Leon modified that order on June 5, 2026, after finding her lawyers had not established that ICE received the Congolese refusal before the flight departed. She remained in the DRC.

Apr 16

Acting ICE Director Lyons acknowledged agency missed 48-hour death-notice requirement in two-thirds of in-custody deaths since 2025

On April 16, 2026, Acting ICE Director Todd Lyons told a congressional hearing that ICE had issued the required interim death notice within 48 hours in only 15 of 49 in-custody deaths since January 2025, after Sens. Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock flagged the shortfall in an April 13 letter to Lyons and DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin. Lyons could not say how many staff remained in ICE's Office of Detention Oversight and submitted his resignation hours after the hearing.

Ignoring statutory requirements

Apr 15

ICE deported Colombian man shielded from return to Colombia to DR Congo under third-country removal deal

On April 15, 2026, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement removed Jorge Andres Cubillos, a Colombian man who had lived in St. Cloud, Florida with his wife and four children since 2018, to the Democratic Republic of the Congo, despite a 2022 immigration judge's grant of withholding of removal that barred his return to Colombia. Cubillos was flagged after ICE lodged a detainer following his arrest on a domestic battery charge, and he was sent to the DRC as part of the first group of Latin American migrants deported there under a new U.S. third-country arrangement. He arrived to be held in a hotel near Kinshasa, separated from his family and reporting deteriorating health while authorities decided his fate.

Denial of due process in immigration enforcement

Apr 15

JTF Southern Spear killed three aboard suspected narcotics vessel in eastern Pacific; 52nd strike, ~178 campaign deaths

On April 15, 2026, U.S. Southern Command said Joint Task Force Southern Spear conducted a "lethal kinetic strike" on a vessel it alleged was operated by designated terrorist organizations in the eastern Pacific, killing three men it described as "narco-terrorists." It was the fifth lethal U.S. boat strike in five days and raised the reported death toll from Operation Southern Spear to at least 178 across roughly 53 targeted vessels since September 2025. The Pentagon released an unclassified video but offered no evidence the boat carried drugs, and no arrest, charge, or judicial process preceded the killings.

Extrajudicial actions

Apr 15

DNI Gabbard sent DOJ a criminal referral targeting the 2019 impeachment whistleblower and IG who validated the complaint

On April 15, 2026, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard's office confirmed it had sent the Justice Department a criminal referral seeking investigation of the anonymous whistleblower whose 2019 complaint about President Trump's call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy triggered Trump's first impeachment, along with then-Intelligence Community Inspector General Michael Atkinson, who reviewed and forwarded that complaint to Congress. The referral followed Gabbard's release, days earlier, of declassified documents she said exposed a "conspiracy used by Congress to impeach President Trump." Trump fired Atkinson in April 2020.

Retaliation against whistleblowers

Apr 14

Ex-Attorney General Pam Bondi defies bipartisan House subpoena, skipping Epstein-files deposition

Former Attorney General Pam Bondi failed to appear on April 14, 2026 for her subpoenaed closed-door deposition before the House Oversight Committee in its Jeffrey Epstein files investigation. The Justice Department had announced on April 8 that she would not appear, asserting the subpoena — issued after a bipartisan committee vote and naming "the Honorable Pamela Jo Bondi" personally — lapsed when President Trump removed her as Attorney General on April 2. Oversight Democrats introduced a civil-contempt resolution in response.

Defying subpoenas

Apr 14

ICE detained the wife of an active-duty Army sergeant at an El Paso immigration appointment as military-family leniency ended

On April 14, 2026, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents arrested Deisy Rivera Ortega, an El Salvador native married to active-duty Army Sgt. 1st Class Jose Serrano, as the couple attended a routine immigration appointment in El Paso, Texas, tied to a "parole in place" application for military families. Rivera Ortega held a valid work permit and had previously been granted withholding of removal to El Salvador, yet the Department of Homeland Security moved to deport her and she challenged the detention in federal court. The arrest followed DHS's 2025 elimination of a policy that had treated a family member's military service as a mitigating factor against enforcement.

Apr 14

Labor Assistant Secretary Aronowitz issued guidance curtailing EBSA fiduciary enforcement amid deep staff cuts

On April 14, 2026, Labor Department Assistant Secretary Daniel Aronowitz issued Field Assistance Bulletin 2026-01, directing the Employee Benefits Security Administration to pull back from case-by-case enforcement of retirement- and health-plan fiduciary violations and instead develop new legal theories only through formal rulemaking. The guidance followed roughly 100 staff departures at EBSA during 2025 amid broader federal workforce cuts and required senior-leadership review of significant enforcement actions going forward. Aronowitz, who ran a fiduciary-liability insurance firm before his confirmation, also barred any appearance of coordination between EBSA investigators and private plaintiff attorneys amid an ongoing DOL Inspector General inquiry into that practice.

Apr 14

JTF Southern Spear killed four aboard suspected narcotics vessel in eastern Pacific; 51st strike, ~175 campaign deaths

On April 14, 2026, U.S. Southern Command (Joint Task Force Southern Spear) carried out a lethal kinetic strike on a vessel it described as a suspected narco-trafficking boat in the eastern Pacific Ocean, killing four men. Reported as the 51st strike in the open-ended Operation Southern Spear campaign and the fourth in roughly five days, it brought the campaign's cumulative reported death toll to at least 175. SOUTHCOM released aerial video and said intelligence confirmed the vessel was on known trafficking routes, but the administration again provided no public evidence for its "narco-terrorist" designation.

Extrajudicial actions

Apr 14

DOJ fired 4 prosecutors who handled FACE Act cases against anti-abortion activists, citing 'weaponization'

On April 14, 2026, the U.S. Department of Justice fired four career prosecutors who had handled Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances (FACE) Act cases against anti-abortion clinic-blockade defendants during the Biden administration, coinciding with the first report from DOJ's "Weaponization Working Group." Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche accused the prior administration of "selective prosecution" and said the department would not tolerate "a two-tiered system of justice." The firings are part of a broader pattern of the department removing career staff perceived as insufficiently aligned with the administration's agenda.

Apr 14

DOJ demands Wayne County, Michigan turn over all ~865,000 ballots from the 2024 election

On April 14, 2026, U.S. Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights Harmeet Dhillon sent a demand letter to Wayne County Clerk Cathy Garrett invoking the Civil Rights Act of 1960 to require turnover of all ballots, receipts, and envelopes — roughly 865,000 — cast in the November 2024 federal election in Michigan's most populous county, where Kamala Harris won by a margin of about a quarter-million votes. The letter cited a long-dismissed 2020 civil suit and three 2020-era voter-fraud convictions as its predicate, gave the clerk 14 days to comply, and threatened a court order. Michigan's governor, secretary of state, and attorney general publicly rejected the demand and refused to comply.

Apr 13

JTF Southern Spear killed two aboard suspected narcotics vessel in eastern Pacific; 50th strike, ~169 campaign deaths

On April 13, 2026, U.S. Southern Command (Joint Task Force Southern Spear) carried out a lethal kinetic strike on a vessel it described as operated by "Designated Terrorist Organizations" in the eastern Pacific Ocean, killing two men. USNI News identified it as the 50th strike since the administration's maritime lethal-force campaign began on September 1, 2025, putting the campaign's cumulative reported death toll at least 169. SOUTHCOM said the vessel was transiting known narco-trafficking routes but released no evidence that it carried drugs or posed an imminent threat.

Extrajudicial actions

Apr 13

ICE detains Iranian Ph.D. student Yousof Azizi and moves to deport him after BBC Persian commentary on U.S.–Iran war

Federal immigration agents detained Yousof Azizi, a 40-year-old Iranian Ph.D. candidate at Virginia Tech, outside his Germantown, Maryland home on April 13, 2026, and the Trump administration is moving to deport him. ICE has transferred him through facilities in Louisiana, Texas, and Arizona; his wife, his lawyers, and CAIR say the action is retaliation for his Persian-language media commentary on the U.S. war on Iran, while DHS says he misstated prior involvement with Iran's Student Basij Organization on his visa application and that his student visa was terminated after he failed to re-enroll at Virginia Tech for Fall 2025.

Apr 11

Border Patrol detained physician Dr. Rubeliz Bolivar and her US-citizen daughter at McAllen airport

On April 11, 2026, U.S. Border Patrol agents detained Dr. Rubeliz Bolivar, a Venezuelan-born emergency-room physician with a pending asylum claim, and her 5-year-old U.S.-citizen daughter at McAllen International Airport as they traveled to a scheduled asylum interview in California. Bolivar was transferred to ICE custody the next day and held for weeks; ICE said she had overstayed a 2016 visitor visa, while her family, employer, and medical advocacy groups said she held a valid work-authorization card tied to her and her husband's pending asylum and green-card applications.

Apr 11

State Dept revoked green cards of Ebtekar's son's family, ICE detained them on kinship alone

On April 11, 2026, the State Department announced it had terminated the lawful permanent resident status of Los Angeles-area residents Seyed Eissa Hashemi, his wife Maryam Tahmasebi, and their teenage son, and Immigration and Customs Enforcement took the family into custody. Secretary of State Marco Rubio and the State Department cited no criminal or hostile conduct by the three, only Hashemi's parentage as the son of Masoumeh Ebtekar, a former Iranian vice president who served as a 1979 U.S. Embassy hostage crisis spokeswoman.

Apr 11

JTF Southern Spear killed five across two suspected narcotics vessels in eastern Pacific; 48th-49th strikes, ~168 campaign deaths

On Saturday, April 11, 2026, U.S. Southern Command's Joint Task Force Southern Spear carried out two lethal kinetic strikes on two vessels it described as drug-trafficking boats in the eastern Pacific Ocean, killing five men and leaving one survivor of the first strike. SOUTHCOM said it notified the U.S. Coast Guard to launch a search-and-rescue effort for the survivor. The same-day double strike — reported as the campaign's 48th and 49th — brought Operation Southern Spear's cumulative reported death toll to at least 168, and as in prior strikes the military provided no evidence that the vessels were carrying drugs.

Extrajudicial actions

Apr 10

DOJ fires six immigration judges, including two who blocked deportations of Öztürk and Mahdawi

The Justice Department on April 10, 2026 fired six immigration judges, among them Boston judge Roopal Patel, who ruled in January that the government had no grounds to deport Tufts doctoral student Rümeysa Öztürk, and Chelmsford, Massachusetts judge Nina Froes, who in February dismissed deportation proceedings against Columbia activist Mohsen Mahdawi. Both judges were dismissed by email mid-hearing near the end of their probationary periods, in a purge in which the National Association of Immigration Judges says at least 113 of roughly 750 immigration judges have been fired since January 2025.

Apr 10

DOJ sued Washtenaw County, Michigan to strike down ICE non-cooperation policies, invoking the Supremacy Clause

On April 10, 2026, the U.S. Department of Justice filed a civil lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan against Washtenaw County, challenging three county policies that limit cooperation with federal immigration enforcement. The suit, authorized by Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche, invokes the Constitution's Supremacy Clause and asks the court to permanently enjoin the county from enforcing the policies. Washtenaw County said it would vigorously defend its positions in court.

Apr 10

USCIS rescinded automatic deferred-action protection for Special Immigrant Juvenile Status youth a second time via Policy Memorandum PM-602-0198

On April 10, 2026, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services issued Policy Memorandum PM-602-0198, again eliminating automatic deferred-action consideration for youth with Special Immigrant Juvenile Status (SIJS) who cannot yet obtain a green card because of the visa backlog — five months after a federal court stayed the agency's first attempt to end the same policy. The rescission, effective May 10, 2026, requires SIJS-approved youth to affirmatively request deferred action rather than receive it automatically, with USCIS evaluating each request case-by-case without treating SIJS approval as a strong positive factor.

Narrowing civil-rights protections

Apr 10

DOJ implements $68M Colony Ridge settlement without court approval after judge rejects deal

At an April 10, 2026 hearing in Houston, U.S. District Judge Alfred H. Bennett refused to approve the Justice Department's proposed $68 million settlement with land developer Colony Ridge — sued in 2023 for deceiving tens of thousands of Hispanic buyers into predatory high-interest loans — because it contained no compensation for victims while earmarking more than $20 million for policing and immigration enforcement. When Bennett offered revisions to win his approval, DOJ refused, dismissed the case with prejudice, and implemented the settlement out of court, leaving no judicial supervision of compliance and extinguishing the victims' claims.

Apr 9

Pentagon defies court order on press access with circumventing 'Interim Policy'

On April 9, 2026, U.S. District Judge Paul Friedman ruled that the Department of Defense violated his March 20, 2026 order voiding key provisions of Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth's restrictive Pentagon press policy as unconstitutional. Days after that ruling, the Department had issued a new "Interim Policy" that abruptly closed the Correspondents' Corridor press workspace and barred credentialed journalists from moving through the Pentagon unescorted — measures the court called "transparent attempts to negate the impact of this court's order," achieving "the same unconstitutional result" with "slightly different language." The judge barred enforcement of the new policy against New York Times Pentagon reporters and ordered their physical access to the building restored.

Apr 8

ICE staff at Dilley detention center read from D.C.-dictated scripts and barred direct answers during congressional oversight visit

During an oversight visit to the Dilley Immigration Processing Center on April 8, 2026, Reps. Joaquin Castro and Greg Casar found that ICE staff had been directed to read from Washington-dictated scripts and were barred from answering their questions directly, with all inquiries required to be submitted in writing for routing to D.C. ICE also sent D.C.-based monitors to observe the congressmen during the visit. The obstructions followed the ouster of DHS Secretary Kristi Noem and her replacement by Acting Secretary Markwayne Mullin.

Obstructing legislative oversight

Apr 7

ICE deported Brian Morales Garcia, who says he is a U.S. citizen, to Mexico after a Texas traffic stop

After Texas troopers stopped a pickup near Fredericksburg for a window-tint violation on April 3, 2026, and called in federal immigration agents when passenger Brian Jose Morales Garcia could not produce identification, ICE and Border Patrol detained him for five days and removed him to Mexico on April 7 despite his repeated statements that he was a U.S. citizen born in Denver. Morales says he was denied the chance to retrieve his birth certificate and Social Security card and signed a quick-departure form only because he feared months in detention. The Department of Homeland Security disputes his citizenship and claims he admitted entering the country illegally.

Apr 7

ICE agents shoot Carlos Mendoza Hernandez six times during traffic stop in Patterson, California

ICE agents opened fire on Carlos Ivan Mendoza Hernandez, 36, during an early-morning vehicle stop near Interstate 5 in Patterson, California on April 7, 2026, striking him about six times, including in the jaw; he survived after multiple surgeries. ICE said he was a suspected 18th Street Gang member wanted for questioning in El Salvador and had tried to run over an agent — claims his attorney disputes, saying dashcam video and witnesses show he reversed to flee only after agents began shooting. After hospital release he was taken into FBI custody and indicted on federal assault charges, to which he pleaded not guilty.

Apr 7

Trump sold up to $1 million in ExxonMobil stock the same day he announced the Iran ceasefire, hours before shares fell 6.5%

President Trump's investment accounts sold between $500,000 and $1 million in ExxonMobil stock on April 7, 2026, the same day Trump declared a ceasefire in the U.S.-Iran war; Exxon closed at $163.91 that day and opened 6.5% lower the next morning. The sale was one of hundreds of thousands of dollars in trades across Exxon, Chevron, ConocoPhillips and other oil and gas companies that Trump's accounts made during the first half of 2026, a period in which his disclosed energy holdings rose in value from an estimated $13–46 million to $17–61 million as the war drove oil prices higher. The White House said Trump's portfolio is independently managed by third-party financial institutions and that neither he nor his family directs individual trades.

Self-dealing

Apr 6

CBP detained Venezuelan physician Dr. Ezequiel Veliz at Texas checkpoint over disputed status

On April 6, 2026, U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents detained Dr. Ezequiel Veliz, a Venezuelan-born family-medicine resident physician at Knapp Medical Center in Weslaco, at the Sarita Border Patrol checkpoint in South Texas while he and his husband, Joseph Williams, drove from the Rio Grande Valley to Houston. Veliz had lived in the U.S. for about nine years and lost his work authorization in late 2025 when the Trump administration terminated Temporary Protected Status for Venezuelan nationals, though he had a pending green card application based on his marriage to Williams, a U.S. citizen; agents took him to a migrant detention facility in McAllen to await an immigration court hearing.

Apr 6

Education Department terminates six civil-rights agreements protecting transgender students

On April 6, 2026, the U.S. Department of Education announced it had terminated six civil-rights resolution agreements — reached with five school districts and one college under the Obama and Biden administrations — that protected transgender students from discrimination. The terminations end federal enforcement of obligations such as staff training on students' names and pronouns and access to facilities matching gender identity; in one case the department went further, requiring Delaware Valley School District (PA) to affirmatively roll back its antidiscrimination protections, which its board did in late March.

Apr 5

USDA Secretary Rollins sent proselytizing Christian Easter message to 100,000 federal employees, declaring sin destroyed and Jesus risen

On April 5, 2026 — Easter Sunday — USDA Secretary Brooke Rollins sent an agency-wide email to all 100,000 USDA employees declaring that "sin has been destroyed" and "Jesus has been raised from the dead," using phrases like "we celebrate" and "our faith," and quoting multiple Bible verses. The message was part of a pattern of Christian-infused agency communications spanning Thanksgiving, Christmas, Memorial Day, and Independence Day, while Rollins sent no message acknowledging any other religion's holidays. Federal employees and the National Federation of Federal Employees union subsequently filed suit alleging Establishment Clause violations, and plaintiffs filed for a preliminary injunction on July 23, 2026, after Rollins continued the practice despite the pending lawsuit.

Religious favoritism in policy

Apr 5

ORR held immigrant toddler five months in foster care and concealed alleged sexual abuse from father

Between September 2025 and February 2026, the Office of Refugee Resettlement held a three-year-old girl, separated from her mother at the border, for approximately five months in a Harlingen, Texas foster placement. During that period the child was allegedly sexually abused by an older child in care; ORR told her father there had been an "accident" and refused further details. After attorneys filed a federal habeas corpus petition, ORR released the girl to her father two days later. Only then did the father learn the "accident" was alleged sexual abuse. The family has filed suit against ORR and HHS alleging unlawful prolonged detention and custodial failure to protect.

Apr 4

State Department canceled former Emory University professor's visa over father's Iranian government ties, without individual hearing

In January 2026, Emory University announced that Dr. Fatemeh Ardeshir-Larijani, an assistant professor at Emory's Rollins School of Public Health, was no longer employed there, after public pressure mounted following disclosure that her father is a senior Iranian government official and after the U.S. sanctioned him on January 15, 2026. In April 2026, the U.S. Department of State canceled her visa, terminating her legal immigration status. No individual adjudication or judicial proceeding preceded the revocation; the cancellation was made on the basis of her familial connection to an Iranian official.

Apr 4

ICE detained U-visa crime-victim Kevin Ramirez Mancia for four months despite approved work permit and deferred action

On April 4, 2026, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement detained Kevin Ramirez Mancia in Willmar, Minnesota, immediately after local police released him from a traffic-stop arrest, despite Ramirez Mancia holding an ICE-approved U-visa work permit and deferred action granted in 2023 for cooperating with police as a crime victim. ICE held him for four months at the Freeborn County Jail under a January 2025 agency memo that reversed longstanding policy protecting pending U- and T-visa holders from detention. He is one of at least 75 Minnesotans identified through habeas petitions as similarly detained under the same memo during Operation Metro Surge.

Apr 3

HHS conditioned FY2027 Title X family-planning grants on anti-DEI, anti-contraception, and anti-trans compliance, risking total funding loss

On April 3, 2026, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' Office of Population Affairs issued a Notice of Funding Opportunity for fiscal year 2027 Title X family-planning grants requiring applicants to align with department priorities -- including ending diversity and inclusion practices, excluding transgender-specific care, and discouraging contraception -- with noncompliance risking total loss of funding. Family-planning provider organizations sued over the notice in June 2026, and HHS issued a revised version of the notice on July 9, 2026. On August 27, 2026, a 23-state coalition led by New York Attorney General Letitia James sued in federal court in Maryland, arguing the conditions were imposed arbitrarily and capriciously in violation of the Administrative Procedure Act.

Apr 3

State Dept revokes Iranian asylees' green cards on debunked Soleimani-relation claim

On April 3, 2026, ICE arrested Iranian asylees Hamideh Soleimani Afshar and her adult daughter Sarina Hosseiny outside Los Angeles after Secretary of State Marco Rubio revoked their green cards in a public statement identifying them as the niece and grandniece of slain Iranian general Qasem Soleimani. A subsequent Drop Site News investigation reviewing Iranian birth records, identification papers, and family wills found no familial connection to the late general — a finding corroborated by Soleimani's own surviving daughters in Iran. The women remain held at the South Texas ICE Processing Center in San Antonio pending removal to Iran, where Hamideh, who has autoimmune hemolytic anemia, is reportedly being denied the transfusion treatment her condition requires.

Apr 3

National Park Service gave Trump donor's firm a second no-bid contract months after its Tijuana River pilot failed

On April 3, 2026, the National Park Service awarded Greenwater Services — a water-treatment company owned through a trust led by Trump donor John J. Cafaro — a $1.7 million no-bid contract to install an ozone "nanobubble" filtration system at the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, citing the same urgency exemption it used the same day to award a separate no-bid contract to Atlantic Industrial Coatings. It was Greenwater's second no-bid federal contract: about a year earlier, the U.S. International Boundary and Water Commission had hired the company to pilot the same technology in the sewage-contaminated Tijuana River, a project independent scientists and a longtime river-restoration official say failed and worsened conditions, despite the company's and government's public claims of success.

Apr 3

National Park Service awards $6.9M no-bid Reflecting Pool contract to a Trump-chosen firm

On April 3, 2026, the National Park Service awarded a $6.9 million no-bid contract to Atlantic Industrial Coatings — a Virginia firm that had never previously held a federal contract — to resurface the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool and paint its basin blue. President Donald Trump said he personally selected the firm, citing its work on his private swimming pools, and the administration invoked a competitive-bidding exemption reserved for urgent situations without claiming the injury that exemption requires, citing instead Trump's wish to finish before the July 4 celebration of the nation's 250th anniversary. Government documents reported by The New York Times indicate the cost has already more than tripled the roughly $2 million Trump publicly promised and could exceed $12 million.

Apr 3

Labor Secretary Chavez-DeRemer accused of retaliating against staffers who reported her husband's alleged sexual misconduct at DoL headquarters

On April 3, 2026, three female Department of Labor staffers filed complaints with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission alleging Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer retaliated against them for reporting misconduct. Two complainants alleged Chavez-DeRemer's husband, Dr. Shawn DeRemer, had sexually abused them inside DoL headquarters in December 2025 — allegations the D.C. U.S. Attorney's Office declined to prosecute — and that Chavez-DeRemer retaliated against them for reporting it. A third complaint alleged Chavez-DeRemer required staffers to perform personal chores, including cleaning out her closets. All three women were also interviewed by the DoL Inspector General as part of a broader fraud-and-misconduct investigation into Chavez-DeRemer and her senior aides.

Apr 2

ICE detains Army sergeant's newlywed wife inside Fort Polk during benefits registration

On April 2, 2026, federal immigration agents detained Annie Ramos, the 22-year-old newlywed wife of U.S. Army Staff Sgt. Matthew Blank, inside Fort Polk, Louisiana, where the couple had gone to register her for a military ID and spouse benefits. Ramos, born in Honduras and brought to the U.S. before age 2, was held on a final removal order issued in absentia in 2005, when she was a toddler, despite a DACA application pending since 2020. After five days in detention she was released April 7 on an order of supervision with a GPS monitor, with removal proceedings continuing.

Denial of due process in immigration enforcement

Apr 2

Hegseth forces Army Chief of Staff Gen. Randy George into immediate retirement mid-term

On April 2, 2026, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth forced Army Chief of Staff Gen. Randy George to retire "effective immediately," roughly 18 months before the end of his statutory four-year term. Defense officials tied the removal not to policy differences but to Hegseth's effort to clear the orbit of Army Secretary Dan Driscoll — whom Hegseth cannot fire — and to install loyalists, with Hegseth's former senior military aide, Gen. Christopher LaNeve, made acting chief of staff.

Apr 2

USPS proposed lifting handgun-mailing ban after DOJ opinion, benefiting retailer where Trump Jr. holds a stake

The U.S. Postal Service published a proposed rule in the Federal Register on April 2, 2026 to lift the 1927 federal prohibition on mailing handguns, acting on a Department of Justice Office of Legal Counsel opinion issued January 15, 2026 that found the ban unconstitutional as applied to handguns. The Washington Post later reported that Donald Trump Jr. holds more than 300,000 shares and a board seat in GrabAGun, an online firearms retailer whose business model depends on expanded ability to ship guns directly to buyers. Trump Jr.'s spokesperson and administration officials denied any influence over the policy change.

Apr 1

Judge found Border Patrol defied her injunction with boilerplate forms in Sacramento arrests

U.S. District Judge Jennifer Thurston ruled in an order unsealed April 1, 2026, that U.S. Border Patrol agents defied her April 2025 preliminary injunction barring detentions without documented reasonable suspicion and warrantless arrests without a flight-risk finding. In a July 2025 sweep at a Sacramento Home Depot, agents arrested 12 people — 11 noncitizens and one U.S. citizen — using essentially identical, boilerplate I-213 forms that failed to document the required articulable facts. She ordered agents to write signed, individualized narrative reports supporting each stop.

Apr 1

CDC paused more than two dozen lab tests after downsizing gutted its reference labs

In the week of April 1, 2026, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention posted a list of more than two dozen diagnostic tests it had paused — the largest set the agency has ever halted at once — including testing for rabies, mpox, Epstein-Barr, and varicella-zoster, as well as rare imported pathogens. Reporting tied the pause directly to the agency's downsizing: staffing fell an estimated 20-25%, with the poxvirus and rabies labs losing about half their staff and the malaria branch gutted further. HHS called the pause a "routine review," a framing the reporting on staffing losses contradicts.

Dismantling agency capacity

Apr 1

DOJ sued Idaho to compel release of unredacted, sensitive voter roll data

On April 1, 2026, the U.S. Department of Justice sued Idaho Secretary of State Phil McGrane, asking a federal court to order him to produce the state's complete, unredacted voter registration list, including partial Social Security and driver's-license numbers for Idaho's roughly 1 million registered voters. The suit followed McGrane's refusal of DOJ's September 2025 demand and a December 2025 threat of litigation, and was the department's 30th such suit against a state for declining to hand over its full voter file.

Improper collection or dissemination of personal data

Apr 1

ICE acting director confirmed to Congress the agency uses Paragon's Graphite spyware without disclosing permitted domestic targets or legal basis

In a letter dated April 1, 2026, ICE Acting Director Todd Lyons informed three House Oversight Committee members that Homeland Security Investigations is using Graphite, a zero-click spyware made by Israeli company Paragon Solutions capable of accessing encrypted messages without user interaction. The letter, a belated response to an October 2025 inquiry, did not specify who could be targeted domestically or the legal basis for the tool's use inside the United States. Civil-liberties groups including the Electronic Frontier Foundation and EPIC warned the tool could be deployed against protesters and journalists, not only the fentanyl traffickers cited as the primary justification.

Apr 1

ICE detained 85-year-old French widow of U.S. Army veteran for two weeks over visa overstay

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement detained Marie-Therese Ross, an 85-year-old French national and widow of a U.S. Army veteran, at her home in Calhoun County, Alabama, on April 1, 2026, over a 90-day visa overstay. She was held roughly two weeks at a federal detention facility in Louisiana before returning to France on April 17, and French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot said some of ICE's methods in the case were "not in line" with French standards.

Targeting marginalized communities

Apr 1

EPA methane chief secretly authored oil industry's case against the rules he now rewrites

ProPublica revealed on April 1, 2026 that Aaron Szabo, the EPA assistant administrator leading the rollback of federal methane-emissions rules, was the unnamed author of the oil industry's January 2022 comment letter against those same rules, written while he was a registered lobbyist for an industry member. Now overseeing the rewrite at EPA, Szabo has solicited input and specific regulatory language from the industry groups that stand to benefit.

Undisclosed financial conflicts of interest

Mar 31

Trump signs second federal-elections executive order asserting presidential control over voter eligibility and mail voting

On March 31, 2026, President Donald Trump signed Executive Order 14399, "Ensuring Citizenship Verification and Integrity in Federal Elections," directing the Department of Homeland Security and Social Security Administration to compile federal "citizenship verification" lists and instructing the U.S. Postal Service to deliver mail ballots only to voters on those lists. Constitutional law experts, federal courts, and 24 state attorneys general have stated that the president has no authority under the Elections Clause (Art. I, Sec. 4) to set federal voting procedures — a position that already produced a 2025 injunction against substantial portions of Trump's first elections executive order.

Mar 31

Hegseth lifts Apache crews' suspensions and quashes Army investigation of Kid Rock estate flyby

On March 31, 2026, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced on his personal X account that the Army aircrews suspended over a March 28 Apache helicopter flyby of singer Kid Rock's Nashville estate would face "No punishment. No investigation," lifting the suspensions and quashing the Army's formal review hours after the service had confirmed it. The reversal came shortly after President Trump commented publicly on the incident, and Hegseth opened his post by thanking Kid Rock.

Mar 31

U.S. Department of Justice subpoenaed Reddit via secret D.C. grand jury to unmask anti-ICE critic

On March 31, 2026, the Department of Justice ordered Reddit to appear before a secret federal grand jury in Washington, D.C., by April 14 and hand over the name, address, phone number, IP address, and other identifying data of an anonymous user who had criticized ICE in posts. The subpoena came four days after DOJ withdrew a separate administrative summons seeking the same information, which the user's attorneys had moved to quash in federal court in California.

Mar 30

DOJ sues Minnesota to force transgender athletes out of girls' sports

The Justice Department filed a federal lawsuit against the Minnesota Department of Education and the Minnesota State High School League, alleging that the state's trans-inclusive athletics policies violate Title IX by allowing transgender girls to compete in girls' sports and use girls' locker rooms and bathrooms. The suit seeks a permanent injunction barring transgender girls from female-designated sports, sex-separated locker rooms and bathrooms, compensation for female athletes, and "correction" of past athletic records — with roughly $2.98 billion in annual federal education funding at stake.

Mar 30

ICE detains Milwaukee Islamic Society president Salah Sarsour over decades-old West Bank record

Roughly a dozen ICE vehicles surrounded Salah Sarsour — a lawful permanent resident of more than 30 years and five-year board president of the Islamic Society of Milwaukee, Wisconsin's largest Islamic organization — on Milwaukee's south side, where by his family's account a plainclothes officer pointed a gun at him before identifying the arrest as immigration custody. He was moved to the Broadview Detention Center in Illinois and then to a county jail in Indiana, and DHS publicly branded him a "terrorist" and an "illegal alien from Jordan," resting on an Israeli military-court conviction from his teenage years that his counsel says the government knew about when it admitted him in 1993. His attorneys say the government is also invoking the foreign-policy-threat ground used against Mahmoud Khalil and that the case is retaliation for his Palestinian-rights advocacy.

Mar 30

ICE stationed at Parris Island gates to screen Marine recruits' families during graduation week

The Marine Corps confirmed that ICE agents would be stationed at access points of Marine Corps Recruit Depot Parris Island during recruit family days and graduation week to conduct "enhanced screening and lawful immigration status inquiries" on visiting families of graduating Marines — by the depot's own account, the first time federal law enforcement has supported base access operations there in this capacity. After NBC News reported the notice, DHS denied that arrests would occur, defense officials blamed an internal communications failure, and the depot's guidance was revised — though the updated rules still bar visitors without legal status from the installation entirely.

Mar 29

CNN revealed FEMA contractor Kara Voorhies exercised de facto agency authority in violation of federal regulations

On March 29, 2026, CNN reported that Kara Voorhies, an outside contractor installed at DHS by Secretary Kristi Noem and adviser Corey Lewandowski, exercised de facto governing authority over FEMA — approving disaster-aid disbursements, reviewing White House-bound documents, and influencing personnel and budget decisions — despite federal regulations barring contractors from exercising inherently governmental functions. The DHS Office of Inspector General opened an investigation into contracting practices under Noem; investigators seized Voorhies's government-issued equipment after her termination following Noem's departure.

Mar 28

DHS agent's less-lethal projectile destroyed USC student's eye as he documented Los Angeles 'No Kings' protest

On March 28, 2026, a Department of Homeland Security agent fired a less-lethal projectile that struck USC freshman Tucker Collins in his right eye as he documented a "No Kings" protest outside the Metropolitan Detention Center in downtown Los Angeles. The projectile destroyed his eyeball and fractured the bones in his eye socket; doctors surgically removed his eye. Collins, who was photographing the protest from behind a barrier and separated from agents, said he heard no warnings before the shot; DHS maintained that seven warnings were issued before crowd-control measures were deployed.

Mar 27

Internal emails revealed DHS acting General Counsel Joseph Mazzara urged agents to have 'started hitting' Los Angeles anti-ICE protesters

Internal Department of Homeland Security emails, disclosed by the watchdog group American Oversight on March 27, 2026, showed that then-acting DHS General Counsel Joseph Mazzara suggested federal agents in Los Angeles should have "just started hitting" anti-ICE protesters and should have arrested "everyone that couldn't get away" during the June 2025 demonstrations. American Oversight obtained two versions of the records — one with failed redactions and one with successful ones — indicating an attempt to conceal Mazzara's remarks. The disclosure followed a federal court's ruling that the accompanying National Guard deployment to Los Angeles was illegal.

Excessive force by law enforcement

Mar 27

Hegseth struck two Black men and two women from Army one-star general promotion list

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth unilaterally struck four Army colonels — two Black men and two women — from a roughly three-dozen-name list recommended for promotion to brigadier general, removals revealed March 27, 2026 by the New York Times; the majority of the remaining names are white men. Army leadership, including Army Secretary Dan Driscoll, had refused Hegseth's requests for months before he crossed the names off himself earlier in March, and it is unclear he has legal authority to do so. Neither the Pentagon nor the White House has offered any performance-based rationale for the removals.

Mar 27

FCC Chair Carr boasts at CPAC that Trump is 'winning' against the 'fake news media'

At the Conservative Political Action Conference in Grapevine, Texas on March 27, 2026, FCC Chairman Brendan Carr declared that President Trump "is winning" his fight against the "fake news media," citing the defunding of PBS and NPR, the departures of named journalists and hosts, and ownership changes at CBS and CNN as "results." Carr added the administration was "not at the point yet" of "raising the mission accomplished flag," a week after he had warned broadcasters they would "lose their licenses" over Iran War coverage he called "hoaxes and news distortions."

Mar 27

DOJ admits in Rhode Island filing that voter-data analysis it denied in court has begun

One day after telling a federal judge at argument in United States v. Amore that no analysis had been conducted on the nonpublic state voter registration data in its possession, DOJ's Civil Rights Division filed a "Clarification of Record" admitting that preliminary internal analysis had in fact begun — specifically, identifying and quantifying "duplicate and deceased" registered voters in each state. The correction came a day after CBS News revealed DOJ was finalizing a deal to share voter-roll data with DHS, and after DOJ attorneys had assured judges in Connecticut and Minnesota that the data was not being analyzed or shared.

Voter suppression

Mar 26

Trump signs EO 14398 exposing federal contractors' DEI programs to False Claims Act liability

On March 26, 2026, President Trump signed Executive Order 14398, "Addressing DEI Discrimination by Federal Contractors," directing agencies to insert a mandatory clause — flowing down to subcontractors at every tier — that bars "racially discriminatory" diversity, equity, and inclusion practices and makes compliance material to government payment decisions, exposing contractors to False Claims Act liability and to cancellation, suspension, or debarment. The order directs the Attorney General to prioritize False Claims Act enforcement against violators and defines covered "program participation" expansively to include training, mentoring, leadership-development programs, clubs, and associations. A legal challenge was filed within days, and the new clause was set to take effect April 24, 2026.

Mar 26

DOJ opened civil-rights investigations into California and Maine for housing transgender women with female inmates

The U.S. Department of Justice announced on March 26, 2026 that it is investigating whether California and Maine violate female inmates' constitutional rights by housing transgender women with them at three correctional facilities. Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon framed the action as protecting incarcerated women, while Maine's governor's spokesman called it "a politically motivated, predetermined investigation designed to target states that stand up to the Trump Administration."

Mar 26

Deputy AG Blanche boasts every DOJ and FBI employee who investigated Trump is gone

At a CPAC fireside chat on March 26, 2026, Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche declared that every Justice Department and FBI employee who worked on the criminal investigations into President Trump had been fired, resigned, or taken early retirement — "not a single man or woman" remained — putting the DOJ figure at "over 200." His public confirmation marked the completion of a systematic purge of the career personnel who had investigated the president, with termination letters citing employees' prosecution work as the reason they could not be "trusted."

Mar 25

José Guadalupe Ramos-Solano dies in ICE custody at GEO Group-run Adelanto facility

José Guadalupe Ramos-Solano, a 45-year-old Mexican national, was found unconscious in his bunk and pronounced dead on March 25, 2026, while detained at the GEO Group-operated Adelanto ICE Processing Center in California. Other detainees said he had complained of overheating and difficulty breathing hours earlier and that staff did not respond until he was unresponsive. His death was the 14th known death in ICE custody in 2026 and at least the fourth at the Adelanto complex since 2025, prompting Mexico's Los Angeles consulate and two members of Congress to demand an investigation.

Mar 25

DHS deported valid DACA recipient Jessica Treviño, then cited her own deportation to try to terminate her status

On March 25, 2026, U.S. immigration authorities deported Jessica Treviño, a 34-year-old DACA recipient and mother of three U.S.-citizen children, to Mexico despite her holding valid DACA status through April 2027. U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services subsequently issued a notice of intent to terminate her DACA status on the grounds of "unauthorized travel outside of the United States" — the very deportation the Department of Homeland Security itself had carried out. Treviño's attorney filed a federal lawsuit in Brownsville seeking a declaration that her removal was unlawful, her return to the United States, and restoration of her DACA status.

Denial of due process in immigration enforcement

Mar 25

JTF Southern Spear killed 4 aboard suspected narcotics vessel in Caribbean Sea; 47th strike, ~163 campaign deaths

On March 25, 2026, Joint Task Force Southern Spear conducted its 47th lethal kinetic strike on an alleged drug-trafficking vessel in the Caribbean Sea, killing four people. SOUTHCOM identified the vessel as engaged in narco-trafficking but provided no public evidence against those killed and no identification of the victims. The strike drew international condemnation — UN special rapporteur Ben Saul had 13 days earlier called the campaign "serial extrajudicial killings" with "no justification under international law."

Mar 25

DOJ opens Title VI probes into Stanford, Ohio State, and UC San Diego medical schools

On March 25, 2026, the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division opened Title VI compliance-review investigations into the medical schools of Stanford University, the Ohio State University, and the University of California, San Diego, over alleged race discrimination in admissions. Assistant Attorney General Harmeet K. Dhillon announced the probes, and the Division sent letters demanding seven years of applicant data — MCAT scores, GPAs, ZIP codes, family ties to alumni or donors, internal DEI communications, and correspondence with pharmaceutical companies — by an April 24, 2026 deadline, citing the schools' federal funding.

Mar 25

DOJ opened civil-rights investigation into LAUSD's gender-identity disclosure policy for transgender students

On March 25, 2026, the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division sent a letter to Los Angeles Unified School District opening a civil-rights investigation into the district's gender-identity disclosure policy, which gives school staff discretion on whether to inform parents about a student's gender identity. The probe was authorized by Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon, who framed the action around what she called parents' fundamental rights to direct their children's upbringing and education. The investigation was connected in part to a lawsuit from parents who allege LAUSD's policy contributed to the suicide of their transgender child.

Mar 25

Bill Pulte issued two new criminal referrals against NY AG Letitia James after prior indictment was dismissed and two grand juries declined

On March 25, 2026, HUD Secretary and FHFA Director Bill Pulte issued two new criminal referrals to the DOJ targeting New York Attorney General Letitia James, alleging suspected homeowners insurance fraud tied to insurance applications in Florida and Illinois. The referrals were routed to the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of Florida and the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Northern District of Illinois — different venues from earlier referrals that produced an indictment a court dismissed and two successive grand jury declines. James's attorneys characterized the action as part of a continuing "revenge campaign" by officials "frustrated by repeated failures, where judges and grand juries have rejected their attempts."

Mar 25

DOJ agrees to pay Trump ally Michael Flynn $1.25M to settle malicious-prosecution suit

On March 25, 2026, the U.S. Justice Department agreed to pay $1.25 million to retired Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn, President Trump's former national security adviser, to settle his lawsuit alleging malicious prosecution over his 2017 criminal case. Flynn had pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI and was later pardoned by Trump; he originally sued for $50 million in 2023 and revived the case after Trump returned to office. The settlement was reached under DOJ leadership Flynn publicly thanked by name.

Politicization of the Justice Department

Mar 24

HUD launched a Fair Housing investigation into Washington's Covenant Homeownership Program for communities excluded by racially restrictive covenants

On March 24, 2026, HUD's Office of Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity launched a Fair Housing Act investigation into Washington State's Covenant Homeownership Program, a down-payment and closing-cost assistance initiative created by bipartisan 2023 state legislation to address documented racially restrictive housing covenants that had historically excluded Black, Hispanic, Native American, Pacific Islander, and Indigenous homebuyers. HUD Secretary Scott Turner announced the investigation stating "DEI is dead at HUD," asserting that a preliminary review "strongly suggests" the program violates the Fair Housing Act; a final determination remained pending. A federal judge had denied a legal challenge to the program in February 2026, finding that Washington had a compelling interest in addressing racial disparities in homeownership. Washington became the third state or local government targeted by HUD for such investigations, following prior probes into Minneapolis and Boston housing programs.

Mar 23

Pentagon declares in-building press workspace off-limits days after court ordered access restored

On March 23, 2026 — three days after a federal judge permanently enjoined the Defense Department's earlier press restrictions as unconstitutional — Pentagon chief spokesman Sean Parnell announced that the in-building press workspace, including the decades-old "Correspondents' Corridor," was now entirely off-limits to journalists. The department said a replacement workspace would be relocated to an annex outside the Pentagon and that all journalist access would henceforth require an escort by authorized personnel. The New York Times and the Pentagon Press Association called the move a violation of the court's order and a retaliatory narrowing of press access.

Access restrictions targeting critical outlets

Mar 23

USAGM leadership directed Voice of America to publish White House talking points as news, journalists' lawsuit alleged

On March 23, 2026, Voice of America journalists and press-freedom groups sued the U.S. Agency for Global Media, Kari Lake, and acting CEO Michael Rigas, alleging USAGM leadership directed VOA to publish White House talking points nearly verbatim as news and suppress disfavored coverage, including reporting on the U.S.-Israeli war with Iran. The suit alleges this compelled propaganda violates the statutory firewall protecting VOA's editorial independence and the First Amendment.

Mar 23

Trump ordered ICE deployed to 14 airports as explicit shutdown pressure on Democrats, displacing TSA roles

On March 23, 2026, President Trump ordered armed, uniformed ICE agents deployed to at least 14 major U.S. airports — including Phoenix, Houston, Chicago, New York, and New Orleans — to staff security checkpoints alongside TSA officers during a partial government shutdown that had begun February 14, 2026. Trump stated the deployment was intended to "ramp up pressure on Democrats" over shutdown funding, and threatened to deploy the National Guard to airports if ICE's presence proved insufficient.

Executive overreach

Mar 23

TSA shared passenger screening data with ICE to target and detain asylum-seeking mother at San Francisco airport

On March 23, 2026, Transportation Security Administration agents at San Francisco International Airport shared passenger screening data with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, alerting ICE that Guatemalan mother Angelina Lopez-Jimenez and her young daughter would be boarding a flight, resulting in Lopez-Jimenez's public detention in Terminal 3 as bystanders recorded the arrest. TSA had been sharing passenger information with immigration officials for roughly a year under a program flagging individuals subject to deportation orders, first reported by the New York Times in December 2025 but largely unnoticed until the SFO incident.

Improper collection or dissemination of personal data

Mar 23

Trump White House declassified closed FBI file on Rep. Swalwell during his gubernatorial campaign

On March 23, 2026, the Trump White House declassified a decade-old, closed FBI investigative file on then-Rep. Eric Swalwell's past association with suspected Chinese intelligence operative Christine Fang, months before California's June 2026 gubernatorial primary in which Swalwell was a leading Democratic candidate. FBI Director Kash Patel had pushed for the file's release even though the bureau's own 2017 review found no corruption violations by Swalwell. Swalwell's attorneys sent Patel a cease-and-desist letter warning the release would violate federal privacy law and the Justice Department's norm against election-season investigatory action targeting a candidate.

Mar 22

ICE agents violently arrest mother and daughter at San Francisco International Airport

On the night of March 22, 2026, plainclothes ICE agents forcibly arrested a woman, later identified by DHS as Angelina Lopez-Jimenez, and her roughly 10-year-old daughter inside San Francisco International Airport, holding the crying woman on the floor and wheeling her away in restraints while refusing bystanders' requests to identify themselves or show badges. About a dozen San Francisco police officers formed a barrier around the agents but did not intervene. DHS said the family was subject to a 2019 final order of removal and was being repatriated to Guatemala; the arrest coincided with a new federal deployment of ICE agents to U.S. airports.

Mar 20

State Department declares wartime emergency to bypass Congress on $23B in Mideast arms sales

On March 20, 2026, the State Department declared a national-security "wartime emergency" to bypass Congress and force through more than $23 billion in arms sales to the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, and Jordan. Secretary of State Marco Rubio invoked emergency-certification authority under the Arms Export Control Act to waive the statutory congressional-review window across 11 weapons packages — some still under review on Capitol Hill, others never formally submitted to Congress. Coverage described it as the administration's second use of emergency authority to circumvent congressional approval of arms transfers since the war with Iran began.

Mar 20

ICE held nearly 1,560 children past 20-day Flores limit at Dilley facility over six months; 13-year-old attempted suicide after care denied

Court filings submitted March 20, 2026, and July 15, 2026, in the Flores v. Bondi/Blanche family-detention case documented that nearly 1,560 immigrant children were held at U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's Dilley, Texas facility beyond the 20-day limit set by the Flores settlement over a six-month window, without adequate food, medical care, or mental-health services. The March 20 filings described a 13-year-old girl who attempted suicide by cutting her wrist after Dilley staff withheld her prescribed antidepressants and denied her request to be reunited with her mother, even as the government's own records reported "no placements on suicide watch." The Department of Homeland Security disputed the allegations and reiterated that the administration is seeking to terminate the Flores settlement altogether.

Mar 20

DOE and Commerce awarded SoftBank a federal AI data-center land deal two months after its $50 million gift to Trump's library

On March 20, 2026, the U.S. Department of Energy and Department of Commerce announced a partnership letting SoftBank subsidiary SB Energy redevelop the former Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant near Piketon, Ohio into a 10-gigawatt AI data-center campus on federal land. SoftBank had donated $50 million to Trump's presidential library in January 2026, while its proposal was reported to be on the administration's shortlist for the project; congressional Democrats disclosed the donation's timing on August 6, 2026, after SoftBank confirmed the dates in a written response to their inquiry.

Pay-to-play

Mar 20

DOJ moved to dismiss remaining charges against ex-officers who falsified Breonna Taylor warrant

On March 20, 2026, Justice Department prosecutors under Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon asked a federal judge in Louisville to dismiss "in the interest of justice" the remaining misdemeanor civil-rights charges against former Louisville detective Joshua Jaynes and former Sgt. Kyle Meany, the two officers accused of falsifying the warrant used in the 2020 raid that killed Breonna Taylor. The charges, originally brought as felonies by DOJ under the Biden administration, had already been reduced twice to misdemeanors by judges who found no direct link between the false warrant information and Taylor's death. The dismissal request followed the same DOJ's separate push, months earlier, for early release of Brett Hankison, the only officer convicted in connection with Taylor's killing.

Shielding officers from prosecution

Mar 20

ICE detained breastfeeding Nashville mother with valid work permit, denied her release

On March 20, 2026, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents detained Misslenys Hernandez Zabala, a Venezuelan asylum seeker with a valid work permit and Social Security number, in Nashville, Tennessee, moments after she dropped off her breastfeeding 10-month-old son with a nanny on her way to work. Despite pleas from immigrant-rights advocates citing her nursing infant and a pending court date not scheduled until 2028, ICE declined to release her.

Mar 19

NBC News investigation revealed Corey Lewandowski solicited kickback payments from DHS contractors GEO Group and Salus

NBC News published an investigation on March 19, 2026 reporting that Corey Lewandowski, a Department of Homeland Security special government employee functioning as de facto chief of staff to Secretary Kristi Noem, solicited payments from DHS contractors GEO Group and Salus Worldwide Solutions in exchange for protecting or securing their contracts. GEO Group's founder declined the demand, while representatives connected to Salus were told a Lewandowski-tied "consultant" needed to be hired to secure contracts worth up to $50 million. Congressional Democrats opened multiple investigations following the report, and Lewandowski denied the allegations through a spokesperson.

Mar 19

CDC blocks publication of cleared MMWR study showing COVID vaccine effectiveness

A CDC scientific report finding that the 2025–2026 COVID-19 vaccine roughly halved healthy adults' risk of emergency-department visits and hospitalizations was scheduled to run in the agency's flagship Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report on March 19, 2026, after clearing internal scientific review. Acting CDC Director Jay Bhattacharya blocked its publication, objecting to the study's test-negative design — a methodology the CDC has long used to measure vaccine effectiveness and that appeared in an MMWR flu-vaccine study the prior month. A former CDC immunization director called blocking an already-cleared, scheduled MMWR report unprecedented.

Suppression of public data

Mar 19

JTF Southern Spear killed two aboard suspected narcotics vessel in eastern Pacific; 46th strike, ~158 campaign deaths

On March 19, 2026, U.S. Southern Command (Joint Task Force Southern Spear) carried out a lethal kinetic strike on a vessel it described as transiting known narco-trafficking routes in the eastern Pacific Ocean, identified by USNI News as the 46th strike since the administration's maritime lethal-force campaign began on September 1, 2025. SOUTHCOM announced the strike the next day and said it had notified the U.S. Coast Guard to activate search and rescue for survivors; the Coast Guard ultimately rescued one survivor, and two people were killed. As throughout the campaign, which by this point had killed at least 156 people, those aboard were targeted without charge, trial, identification, or judicial authorization.

Extrajudicial actions

Mar 18

State Department adds 12 countries to $15,000 visa-bond program

On March 18, 2026, the State Department added 12 countries — Cambodia, Ethiopia, Georgia, Grenada, Lesotho, Mauritius, Mongolia, Mozambique, Nicaragua, Papua New Guinea, Seychelles, and Tunisia — to its visa-bond program, requiring B-1/B-2 visitor-visa applicants from those nations to post a refundable bond of $5,000, $10,000, or $15,000 as a condition of issuance, effective April 2, 2026. The addition brings the program to 50 countries, predominantly lower-income states; bonded travelers may enter only through commercial airports and are barred from land, sea, charter, and general-aviation ports of entry.

Mar 18

FBI Director Kash Patel admitted under oath that FBI buys Americans' location data from brokers without a warrant

On March 18, 2026, FBI Director Kash Patel testified under oath at a Senate Intelligence Committee worldwide threats hearing in Washington, D.C. that the FBI purchases Americans' location data from commercial data brokers rather than obtaining a warrant, in response to questioning from Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.). Patel said the practice is "consistent with the constitution and the laws under the Electronic Communications Privacy Act," directly reversing predecessor Christopher Wray's 2023 sworn testimony that the bureau had stopped the practice. Wyden called the warrantless purchase "an outrageous end run around the fourth amendment."

Improper collection or dissemination of personal data

Mar 18

Gabbard's 2026 threat assessment drops climate and foreign election-interference analysis

On March 18, 2026, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard released the Intelligence Community's 2026 Annual Threat Assessment and testified to the Senate and House intelligence committees. The assessment omitted the climate-and-environment analysis prior editions had carried — after Gabbard gutted the National Intelligence Council office covering those issues — and Gabbard told lawmakers the IC found no evidence of foreign threats to the November 2026 midterms, a departure from the community's prior findings on Russian and other election interference. Critics charged that the IC's flagship analytic product was being shaped to fit White House messaging.

Mar 18

Trump administration steered no-bid federal contracts worth up to $118M to Jan. 6 rally planner's firm Event Strategies

A March 18, 2026 New York Times report, later detailed in a July 2, 2026 House Natural Resources Committee Democratic staff oversight report, found that Event Strategies Inc.—an events firm formerly led by January 6 rally planner Justin Caporale—received an indefinite-delivery federal master contract worth up to $100 million plus more than $18 million in State Department contracts tied to the America250/Freedom250 anniversary events, all awarded outside competitive bidding. The State Department contracts, described blandly as "event planning" and "event support," listed the U.S. Chief of Protocol's office under Ambassador Monica Crowley as the funding office. Since the start of 2025 the firm had received 18 federal contracts connected to the semiquincentennial.

Mar 18

NPR investigation revealed ICE collected DNA samples from protesters arrested at immigration enforcement operations without related charges

An NPR investigation published March 18, 2026 documented six people arrested by federal immigration officers in Minnesota, Illinois, and Oregon while observing or protesting ICE operations who were then subjected to DNA cheek swabs despite facing no charges tied to their protest conduct. In the lead case, ICE officers tackled and detained a Minneapolis protest observer, identified only as Ben, for roughly three hours in late January 2026 before swabbing him, leaving him with three broken ribs. DHS told NPR federal law requires DNA collection from those arrested or facing charges, but legal scholars said applying that authority to civil-immigration protest arrests is constitutionally doubtful.

Mar 17

DHS letter disclosed ICE detained 265, deported 132 abuse-survivor immigrant youths after ending SIJS deferred-action protections

A DHS letter to Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto, obtained exclusively by NBC News, disclosed that ICE detained 265 and deported 132 young immigrants holding Special Immigrant Juvenile Status between January 20 and December 22, 2025. The administration ended the deferred-action policy that had generally protected SIJS recipients from deportation since 2022, and DHS did not disclose whether any of the 132 deported had criminal charges or convictions, while characterizing SIJS status as "infected with fraud."

Mar 15

Interim U.S. Attorney Darin Smith committed grand-jury misconduct in Wyoming case, calling defendants 'murderers'

On March 15, 2026, in Casper, Wyoming, interim U.S. Attorney Darin Smith told a federal grand jury the nine defendants in a firearms, drug, and child pornography case were "bad guys" and "murderers" before any evidence was presented, said deliberations "won't take long," and passed out business cards inviting improper ex parte contact with jurors. Three federal judges later found the conduct "deeply concerning" and dismissed the resulting indictments without prejudice.

Prosecutorial misconduct

Mar 15

AP investigation revealed DHS, ICE, State Department and USCIS immigration data had gone stale amid Trump's deportation push

An Associated Press investigation published March 15, 2026 found that federal immigration-enforcement data from the Department of Homeland Security, ICE, the State Department, and USCIS had gone stale or stopped updating amid the Trump administration's mass-deportation push. DHS's Office of Homeland Security Statistics had not updated its monthly enforcement reports since early 2025, ICE's arrest/removal dashboard had not updated past January 2025, and State Department and USCIS statistics had also gone stale, while DHS made inconsistent, unverifiable public claims about deportation totals. Researchers, including the UC Berkeley/UCLA Deportation Data Project, had to pursue FOIA litigation to reconstruct basic enforcement figures.

Mar 14

ICE detained Afghan war ally Mohammad Nazeer Paktiawal, who died in custody the next day after agents denied his inhaler

Mohammad Nazeer Paktiawal, a 41-year-old Afghan national who served alongside U.S. Army Special Forces, was detained by ICE agents outside his Richardson, Texas home on March 13, 2026, and died the next day at a Dallas hospital after suffering anaphylaxis and an asthma exacerbation in ICE custody. A death certificate reported July 6, 2026 lists the death as accidental, citing an unidentified adverse drug reaction; his family disputes the finding.

Mar 14

U.S. Border Patrol and ICE detained Canadian mother and her 7-year-old autistic daughter for 19 days despite valid work visa

On March 14, 2026, U.S. Border Patrol agents detained Canadian citizen Tania Warner and her seven-year-old autistic daughter, Ayla Lucas, at a checkpoint in Sarita, Texas, and ICE held them for 19 days at processing and family-detention facilities in Texas despite Warner holding a work visa valid through 2030. Neither DHS nor CBP explained the legal basis for the detention; a federal immigration judge released the pair on $9,500 bond on April 2, 2026, after finding they were not a flight risk.

Mar 14

ProPublica investigation revealed DHS election-security official pushed to ban voting machines, questioned Democratic wins

ProPublica reported on March 14, 2026, that David Harvilicz, the DHS assistant secretary overseeing the security of federal election infrastructure, has publicly called for banning voting machines and repeatedly questioned the validity of Democratic electoral victories. His deputy, Heather Honey, previously led the Election Integrity Network, a group that has challenged U.S. election legitimacy, and Harvilicz's team has been engaged in data-gathering efforts scouring voter rolls for noncitizens that have incorrectly flagged hundreds of citizens.

Mar 14

FCC Chair Carr threatens broadcasters' licenses over Iran war coverage

On Saturday, March 14, 2026, FCC Chairman Brendan Carr publicly warned that television broadcasters "running hoaxes and news distortions" about the war in Iran could "lose their licenses," telling them to "correct course before their license renewals come up." Carr issued the threat while amplifying a Truth Social post by President Trump attacking war coverage by outlets including The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times. Media-law experts and lawmakers called the threat from the nation's chief broadcast regulator "authoritarian" and "unconstitutional."

Mar 13

CBP officer's personal vehicle struck LA protester outside federal detention center; no police report filed

On March 13, 2026, a U.S. Customs and Border Protection officer driving his personal vehicle struck protester Jasmin Alyssa Quan-Martinez outside the federal detention complex in downtown Los Angeles, with video showing her carried on the hood before being thrown to the curb; she sustained minor injuries. The Department of Homeland Security said roughly ten protesters had surrounded and struck the officer's car as he left work and characterized the incident as one "rioter" jumping onto a moving vehicle, an account Quan-Martinez disputed. No police report was filed and no arrests or charges had been announced in the days after.

Excessive force by law enforcement

Mar 13

Wright invokes Defense Production Act to override California, restart Sable oil pipelines

On March 13, 2026, President Trump signed an executive order delegating his Defense Production Act authority to Energy Secretary Chris Wright, who that same day ordered Sable Offshore Corp. to restart the Santa Ynez Unit and its offshore pipeline system along the California coast. The lines had been shut since the 2015 Refugio oil spill and remained subject to California regulatory approval; invoking the 1950 national-defense statute let the administration override the state hold, and oil resumed flowing on March 14. California Attorney General Rob Bonta sued days later, calling the order executive overreach that purported to authorize illegal oil transportation through state-regulated pipelines.

Mar 13

Education Department found Colorado's Jefferson County schools violated Title IX, threatened funding over trans-inclusive policies

On March 13, 2026, the U.S. Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights concluded that Jefferson County Public Schools in Colorado violated Title IX by letting students access overnight accommodations, facilities, and sports teams based on gender identity rather than biological sex. OCR gave the district 10 days to sign a resolution agreement adopting biology-based eligibility rules or face enforcement, a finding Jeffco disputed as resting on a data error mistaking coaches, trainers, and mascots for male athletes on girls' teams.

Mar 12

ICE deported four migrants to Eswatini on third third-country removal flight, bringing total to 19

On March 12, 2026, four migrants deported by the United States arrived in Eswatini, the third flight under the Trump administration's third-country removal arrangement, bringing the total transferred to the country to 19. Eswatini's government said the group included two Somali nationals and one each from Sudan and Tanzania, and confirmed they would be held at Matsapha Correctional Complex; human rights lawyers' court challenge to the removal arrangement had been dismissed at first instance, with an appeal pending.

Mar 12

Hegseth launches task force to ideologically review the military's senior service colleges

On March 12, 2026, Secretary of War (Defense) Pete Hegseth announced a 90-day task force to review the U.S. military's Senior Service Colleges — the Army War College, National Defense University, Naval War College, Marine Corps University, and Air War College — declaring that professional military education "should produce warfighters and leaders—not wokesters." Under Secretary for Personnel and Readiness Anthony Tata was tasked with standing up the review to scrutinize professors, administrators, and curriculum and to "rip out" courses and ideologies the department deems DEI-related, with the stated aim of refocusing the schools on national-security strategy, history, and warfighting.

Politicization of uniformed services

Mar 11

CNN, ProPublica reported DHS sought access to restricted HHS child-support, employment database

CNN and ProPublica reported, independently and citing current and former federal officials, that the Department of Homeland Security requested access to HHS's restricted Federal Parent Locator Service, which holds child-support and employment data on millions of Americans, reportedly for immigration enforcement purposes. DHS and HHS both denied the request on the record when asked by CNN.

Mar 11

ICE rammed Vermont home on mistaken identity, detained three innocent immigrants whose subsequent detentions courts ruled unlawful

On March 11, 2026, ICE agents pursued a suspect to a home on Dorset Street in South Burlington, Vermont, obtained a search warrant, pulled activists from the front steps, and rammed through the front door — but did not find the man they were seeking. Instead, agents detained three other immigrant residents; federal and immigration judges later ruled all three detentions unlawful and ordered the men released. In a revised criminal complaint filed March 24, ICE agent Colton Riley acknowledged the agency no longer believed the man they chased had even been in the vehicle that triggered the pursuit — because one of the men detained in the raid told the FBI he was the actual driver.

Mar 11

ICE detained 14-year-old Brazilian girl in parked car in Marlboro, Mass.; held overnight without guardian

ICE agents detained a 14-year-old Brazilian girl with an expired visitor visa in a parked car in Marlboro, Massachusetts on March 11, 2026, holding her roughly 10 hours before transporting her overnight to a New York detention facility with no appropriate guardian present. U.S. District Judge Leo T. Sorokin ordered her immediate return the next day, and she was reunited with her U.S.-citizen aunt on March 13.

Mar 10

ICE re-detained Sheboygan Falls mother at routine check-in despite prior court-granted cancellation of removal

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement re-detained Elvira Benitez-Suarez, a 51-year-old Sheboygan Falls, Wisconsin mother of four U.S. citizen children, during a routine supervision check-in at ICE's Milwaukee field office on March 10, 2026, months after an immigration judge granted her cancellation of removal and a path to permanent residency. It was the second time Benitez-Suarez, who has lived in the U.S. for 35 years with no criminal record, had been taken into ICE custody; she was transferred to the Campbell County Detention Center in Kentucky while the Department of Homeland Security appealed the judge's ruling. Her attorney filed a federal habeas corpus petition in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Kentucky seeking her release.

Mar 10

Trump administration began forced third-country deportations to Moldova

ICE sent the first group of third-country nationals to Moldova on an ICE Air charter flight on March 10, 2026, the first such removal to the country, according to Human Rights First's ICE Flight Monitor. No agreement between the U.S. and Moldova has ever been disclosed; among those sent were Russian asylum seekers, including anti-war activists and draft evaders, some of whom did not speak Moldovan or have any connection to the country.

Denial of due process in immigration enforcement

Mar 10

Whistleblower alleged ex-DOGE employee retained Social Security data on personal device, claimed remote-alter access

On March 10, 2026, The Washington Post reported a whistleblower's allegation that a former Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) employee at the Social Security Administration had retained copies of tightly restricted SSA databases covering nearly every living American -- including one on a personal thumb drive -- and claimed continued "God-level" access letting him remotely alter SSA records, with plans to share the data with a private-sector employer. SSA's inspector general confirmed to congressional committees it had opened an investigation into the anonymous complaint, and House Oversight Committee Ranking Member Robert Garcia demanded briefings from SSA and the OIG and requested transcribed interviews with former DOGE employees by March 23, 2026. SSA, the former employee, and the company he allegedly went to work for all disputed the allegations.

Improper collection or dissemination of personal data

Mar 9

ICE re-detained Baltimore man in defiance of federal release order, moved him toward deportation to Eswatini

On March 9, 2026, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement re-detained Ibrahim Mohammed, a Baltimore-area Ethiopian man, roughly five weeks after a federal judge in Louisiana had ordered his release and found ICE's prior detention of him unconstitutional. ICE served Mohammed a Notice of Revocation of Release on March 10 and moved him toward the airport for removal to Eswatini, a country he had never been to, before U.S. District Judge John deGravelles issued an emergency five-day restraining order blocking his deportation. DeGravelles found no evidence Mohammed had been given the process his own order required before either the re-detention or the planned third-country removal.

Mar 9

FBI obtains Arizona Senate's 2020 Maricopa election audit records via grand-jury subpoena

In early March 2026 the FBI served the Arizona Senate a federal grand-jury subpoena for digital records from the chamber's discredited 2021 "audit" of Maricopa County's 2020 presidential election; Senate President Warren Petersen, a Republican, disclosed on March 9 that he had received and complied with it. The 2021 review — run by the Trump-allied firm Cyber Ninjas — had itself confirmed that Joe Biden won the county. State election officials condemned the subpoena as part of a federal campaign to relitigate an election that President Trump lost.

Mar 9

DOJ dropped Ticketmaster breakup demand, settled Live Nation antitrust case mid-trial; Trump had personally called CEO Rapino before deal

On March 9, 2026, the U.S. Department of Justice reached a surprise mid-trial settlement with Live Nation Entertainment, abandoning its demand for Ticketmaster's divestiture and accepting structural remedies that included a fee cap and a $280 million fund — far short of the breakup the Biden-era DOJ had sought. The settlement was announced while the antitrust trial was underway in New York and blindsided the judge and the DOJ's own trial team. A court filing disclosed June 24, 2026 documented that President Trump had personally spoken with Live Nation CEO Michael Rapino before the settlement was reached, and that Live Nation had hired Trump allies during the same period.

Mar 9

Federal judge found ICE, Border Patrol made warrantless, race-based stops of Somali, Latino Minnesotans

U.S. District Judge Eric Tostrud ruled on March 9, 2026 that ICE and Border Patrol agents violated the Fourth Amendment by stopping and detaining Somali and Latino Minnesotans based solely on race or ethnicity during a January-February 2026 immigration enforcement surge in the Twin Cities. Of 33 witnesses examined in an ACLU class-action suit, Tostrud found 23 were subjected to stops lacking reasonable suspicion, and 17 were stopped based solely on race or ethnicity; he denied a preliminary injunction and class certification, citing the surge's wind-down.

Mar 9

ICE and CoreCivic detained trans asylum seeker Karla Saenz in Eloy's men's unit, denied her hormone care, and held her in solitary

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement detained Karla Saenz, a 26-year-old transgender asylum seeker and Trans Queer Pueblo organizer, during a March 9, 2026 check-in at USCIS offices in Phoenix, and held her for 44 days at CoreCivic's Eloy Detention Center in Arizona. She said she was held in solitary confinement for five days, denied hormone treatment and chronic-illness medication for weeks, housed in the facility's men's unit and misgendered by staff, and pressured more than ten times to sign a voluntary-departure form before a federal judge ordered her release on April 21. ICE disputed her account, calling the mistreatment allegations "entirely false."

Mar 8

JTF Southern Spear killed six aboard suspected narcotics vessel in eastern Pacific; 45th strike, ~157 campaign deaths

On Sunday, March 8, 2026, U.S. Southern Command announced a lethal kinetic strike on a vessel in the eastern Pacific Ocean it described as "operated by Designated Terrorist Organizations," killing six men. SOUTHCOM said the strike was ordered by its commander, Marine Gen. Francis L. Donovan, and carried out by Joint Task Force Southern Spear against a boat allegedly transiting known narco-trafficking routes. It was the campaign's 45th announced strike, bringing Operation Southern Spear's reported cumulative death toll to roughly 156-157 people, and as in every prior strike the Pentagon provided no public evidence the vessel carried narcotics and did not identify those killed.

Extrajudicial actions

Mar 6

State Department declares emergency to bypass Congress on $151.8M Israel bomb sale

On March 6, 2026, the U.S. Department of State approved an emergency Foreign Military Sale to Israel of 12,000 BLU-110A/B 1,000-pound bomb bodies and related support, valued at about $151.8 million. Secretary of State Marco Rubio formally determined that an emergency existed requiring the immediate sale, invoking Section 36(b) of the Arms Export Control Act to waive the statutory congressional-review period. It was the administration's first AECA emergency declaration to bypass Congress on an arms sale to Israel, coming roughly a week into the joint U.S.-Israel air war against Iran.

Mar 6

Trump fired NTSB member Todd Inman before his term was set to expire in 2027

On March 6, 2026, the White House fired National Transportation Safety Board member Todd Inman without stated cause, despite his term running through the end of 2027. The administration later said the firing was based on allegations of on-the-job drinking, staff harassment, misuse of government resources, and missed meetings; Inman, a Republican appointed under the Biden administration, denied the allegations and called the firing "a political hit job." The dismissal follows a pattern of the administration removing members of other independent multi-member boards, including the Federal Reserve, the Surface Transportation Board, the EEOC, and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, ahead of their statutory terms.

Mar 6

DHS and ICE began construction on a 1,500-bed Maryland detention facility without the environmental review NEPA requires

On March 6, 2026, the Department of Homeland Security and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement proceeded, on schedule, with a roughly $113 million construction project converting an 825,620-square-foot warehouse near Williamsport, Maryland — purchased by DHS for $102.4 million on January 16, 2026 — into a 1,500-bed detention facility, without conducting the environmental review required under the National Environmental Policy Act or considering reasonable alternatives as required under the Administrative Procedure Act. Maryland Attorney General Anthony Brown had already sued over the same failure on February 23, 2026. A federal judge later found the project likely required NEPA review that had not been conducted.

Ignoring statutory requirements

Mar 6

DOJ stands up working group to fast-track indictments of Cuban Communist Party leaders

In early March 2026, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Florida Jason A. Reding Quiñones stood up a multi-agency working group, including the Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control, directed to pursue rapid criminal indictments of Cuban Communist Party and military leadership on drug, economic, immigration, and violent-crime charges. Reporting framed the initiative as a politically driven effort deliberately modeled on the DOJ's earlier narco-terrorism case against Venezuela's Nicolás Maduro, whose indictment was used to justify his removal. The working group produced an April 23, 2026 grand-jury indictment of 94-year-old former Cuban president Raúl Castro and other senior figures, announced May 20, 2026.

Politicized investigations

Mar 6

Loudermilk and Jordan referred Jan. 6 witness Cassidy Hutchinson to DOJ for potential prosecution over her testimony against Trump

Rep. Barry Loudermilk, joined by House Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan, filed a criminal referral of former White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson with the Justice Department, CNN reported on March 6, 2026, accusing her of lying to Congress in her June 2022 testimony about President Trump's conduct on January 6, 2021. Hutchinson had testified as the January 6 select committee's star witness that Trump knew of the potential for violence that day and pressed ahead with urging supporters toward the Capitol anyway, and separately described hearing secondhand that he tried to grab the steering wheel of his presidential vehicle after being told he could not join the crowd. The referral asks DOJ to consider criminal charges against her over that testimony.

Mar 5

Pentagon brands Anthropic a 'supply chain risk' in retaliation for refusing unrestricted military use of its AI models

On March 5, 2026, the U.S. Department of Defense formally notified Anthropic that the company and its products were designated a "supply chain risk," effective immediately — a label normally reserved for firms tied to foreign adversaries and reportedly the first publicly applied to an American company. The designation, which bars defense contractors from using Anthropic's technology, followed the breakdown of contract talks: the Pentagon demanded access to Anthropic's Claude models "for all lawful purposes," while the company's acceptable-use policy barred their use for fully autonomous weapons and mass domestic surveillance of Americans. After Anthropic refused to drop those limits, President Trump on February 27 ordered agencies and contractors to halt business with the company and called its stance a "disastrous mistake," and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth tied the designation directly to the firm's refusal to comply — even as the military continued using Claude to support intelligence and targeting work.

Mar 5

Pentagon formally designated Anthropic a 'supply chain risk' after AI-guardrails dispute

On March 5, 2026, the Department of Defense formally notified Anthropic that the company and its products were designated a "supply chain risk," a label normally reserved for foreign adversaries, after Anthropic refused to drop acceptable-use limits barring its Claude models from mass domestic surveillance and fully autonomous weapons. The Pentagon, which gave the military up to six months to phase out the technology, framed the move as ensuring it could use the tools "for all lawful purposes"; Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei called the action "retaliatory and punitive" and said the company would challenge it in court. The designation came even as the U.S. military was reportedly using Claude to support its operations in the Iran campaign.

Mar 5

ICE and DHS failed to return property to Minnesota immigrants ordered released, prompting contempt threat

On March 5, 2026, U.S. District Judge John Tunheim held a "show cause" hearing in Minneapolis after U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the Department of Homeland Security failed to return work permits, driver's licenses, Social Security cards, cash, and other property to more than two dozen immigrants whom courts had ordered released from Operation Metro Surge detentions. Tunheim threatened daily civil fines if the agencies missed a roughly 30-day deadline to return the property or compensate the detainees, rejecting U.S. Attorney Daniel Rosen's argument that the failures were mistakes rather than willful noncompliance. It was the second Minnesota federal judge in a week to threaten contempt over the government's handling of Metro Surge release orders.

Defying court orders

Mar 5

ICE and CoreCivic held disabled detainee in unsanitary conditions at Stewart Detention Center, forcing him to crawl through mold and feces to shower

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and its contractor CoreCivic held Rodney Taylor, a 47-year-old double-amputee Gwinnett County barber, in unsanitary and unaccommodated conditions for more than a year at the CoreCivic-run Stewart Detention Center in Lumpkin, Georgia. Rep. Lucy McBath disclosed at a March 5, 2026 House Judiciary Committee hearing that Taylor went six days without a shower stool and then was forced to remove his prosthetics and crawl across a bathroom floor covered in mold and feces to shower; DHS Secretary Kristi Noem told the committee she was unfamiliar with the case.

Violence in immigration enforcement

Mar 5

DOJ proposes rule letting the Attorney General halt state bar discipline of its attorneys

On March 5, 2026, the U.S. Department of Justice published a proposed rule (RIN 1105-AB82; 28 CFR Part 77) granting the Attorney General authority to review any state, territorial, or D.C. bar disciplinary complaint against a current or former DOJ attorney for conduct in their federal duties, and to demand that the bar suspend its investigation pending that review. The rule states that if a bar refuses, "the Department shall take appropriate action to prevent the bar disciplinary authorities from interfering." It followed bar inquiries into DOJ lawyers such as Lindsey Halligan, whose prosecutions of James Comey and Letitia James were dismissed after a judge found her appointment unlawful.

Mar 4

ICE conducts targeted, warrantless arrest of Nashville journalist Estefany Rodríguez

On March 4, 2026, ICE agents carried out a targeted, warrantless arrest of Estefany Rodríguez, the lead immigration reporter for Nashville's Spanish-language outlet Nashville Noticias, one day after she published a widely viewed video showing the identifiable faces of agents conducting a Middle Tennessee operation. Officers were found to have a photo of her logo-marked car and repeatedly identified her in custody as "the journalist"; she was held in isolation, transferred out of state to Alabama and Louisiana, and kept from her attorney from March 4 to March 14 before her release on $10,000 bond on March 19. A federal court ordered ICE to justify the arrest, and government attorneys argued that First Amendment protections "may not even be applicable to an illegal alien."

Mar 3

ICE deported deaf 6-year-old and his family to Colombia during a routine check-in, without his hearing devices

On March 3, 2026, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents in San Francisco told asylum seeker Lesly Rodriguez Gutierrez she was reporting for a routine check-in and photo renewal, then fingerprinted, detained, and deported her and her two children — including her six-year-old deaf son, Joseph — to Colombia within minutes, without allowing her to retrieve Joseph's hearing devices or granting her access to counsel. California's state superintendent and the family's attorney said the deportation was conducted under false pretenses and in violation of due process; ICE said the mother had a 2024 final removal order and chose to be removed with her children.

Mar 3

DHS systematically obstructed its inspector general; Noem sought list of OIG probes to weigh ending

In a March 2 letter released to Congress and first reported on March 3, 2026, DHS Inspector General Joseph Cuffari said the Department of Homeland Security had "systematically obstructed" his office's work, citing at least 10 oversight matters in which DHS denied or delayed access to records and revoked OIG access to critical databases including BorderStat, TECS, Secure Flight, and the Unified Immigration Portal. Cuffari also disclosed that Secretary Kristi Noem had requested a list of all pending OIG matters, including criminal investigations, so she could weigh whether any should be terminated. The disclosure prompted Sen. Gary Peters, ranking member of the Senate Homeland Security Committee, to open an investigation into potential obstruction of the inspector general's oversight and communications to Congress.

Mar 2

Interior/NPS database flags hundreds of park signs on slavery, civil rights, climate for removal

An internal Department of the Interior and National Park Service database, authenticated by The Washington Post with current federal employees, flags several hundred signs, exhibits, films, and books across national park sites for removal or revision under President Trump's order to scrub "partisan ideology" and content that "disparages" Americans. Flagged materials include exhibits on slavery, the civil rights movement, Japanese-American internment, racial violence, and climate science — among them at least 30 signs at Harpers Ferry National Historical Park. Some materials had already been removed when the database was reported on March 2, 2026, while the department said final decisions on others had not been made.

Mar 2

ICE detainee Emmanuel Damas died from untreated tooth infection at CoreCivic Arizona facility

Emmanuel Damas, a 56-year-old Haitian asylum seeker from Boston, died on March 2, 2026, after a tooth infection went untreated for approximately a week at the CoreCivic-operated Central Arizona Florence Correctional Complex. Detainees reported he received only ibuprofen despite worsening symptoms. His family was barred from visiting him in intensive care for nine days, by which point he was shackled to a hospital bed and unable to speak. He was one of thirteen people who died in ICE custody in the first three months of 2026.

Mar 2

DOJ rescinds 2021 no-knock entry limits, broadening when agents can enter homes unannounced

On March 2, 2026, Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche issued a Justice Department memo rescinding the 2021 policy that restricted federal agents' use of "no-knock" entries to situations where they feared imminent physical danger. Under the new memo, no-knock entries are also permissible whenever there is a risk that evidence could be destroyed — a condition former prosecutors warned can be asserted in nearly any search. The change was made by internal memo without public rulemaking and was reported on the eve of the sixth anniversary of Breonna Taylor's death in a botched no-knock raid.

No-knock raid misuse

Mar 2

Death of Haitian asylum seeker released from ICE custody ruled a homicide

The Allegheny County Medical Examiner's Office ruled the death of Daphy Michel, a 31-year-old Haitian asylum seeker, a homicide caused by hypothermia, after ICE released her in Pittsburgh on February 27, 2026 despite knowing she was a vulnerable adult with untreated severe mental illness and a language barrier. Michel was found on the ground at a bus shelter near Station Square on March 1 and died on March 2; the medical examiner announced the homicide ruling on June 12, 2026. ICE and DHS denied responsibility, while the family's attorney blamed ICE and said a lawsuit is planned.

Violence in immigration enforcement

Mar 1

EPA illegally terminates $2.8B Environmental and Climate Justice Block Grant Program

The Environmental Protection Agency, under Administrator Lee Zeldin and acting on Trump executive orders issued January 20, 2025, terminated the Environmental and Climate Justice Block Grant Program — a $2.8 billion program established by the Inflation Reduction Act to fund pollution reduction and climate readiness in underserved communities — and directed grantees to close their projects. On June 12, 2026, U.S. District Judge Richard Gergel (D. South Carolina) ruled the termination "illegal" and voided the action, finding the EPA violated the Inflation Reduction Act. Gergel declined to issue a permanent injunction requiring reinstatement, noting that rehiring the fired program staff appeared "impractical," leaving hundreds of community projects in limbo.

Mar 1

Trump tells reporters no taxpayer money is spent on White House ballroom; federal agencies had already approved $300M

President Trump promised in 2025 that a new White House ballroom would be funded entirely by private donors, stating "no government to help us." However, costs escalated dramatically—from $200 million (July 2025) to $250 million, then $300 million, then $400 million, and finally $600 million or more by March 2026. Internal government documents reveal that by March 2026, when Trump publicly denied that "any taxpayer money" would be spent, over half the project's cost was already planned to be funded by federal agencies including the Secret Service, White House Military Office, and Executive Residence—totaling approximately $300 million in direct taxpayer subsidies. Trump's false public statements concealed this shift from private to public funding.

Ignoring statutory requirements

Feb 27

Trump orders federal agencies and contractors to cut off Anthropic over its AI-use limits

On February 27, 2026, President Trump ordered federal agencies and military contractors to halt business with the AI company Anthropic, giving the government roughly six months to phase out its products. The order followed the breakdown of Pentagon contract talks: the department sought access to Anthropic's Claude models "for all lawful purposes," while the company's acceptable-use policy barred their use for fully autonomous weapons and the mass domestic surveillance of Americans. Announcing the move on Truth Social, Trump called the company's refusal a "disastrous mistake," opening a retaliation campaign that culminated in the March 5 "supply chain risk" designation.

Feb 27

ICE detained Alberto Gutierrez Reyes, who died at Adelanto facility after repeated denied requests for medical care

Alberto Gutierrez Reyes, 48, died February 27, 2026 at a Victorville hospital after transfer from GEO Group's Adelanto ICE Processing Center, where he had repeatedly sought medical care for worsening symptoms. His wife said he was denied treatment; ICE said he had been evaluated before transport. Mexico later named his death among 17 in a July 2026 criminal complaint against U.S. officials, and a federal judge ordered ICE to fix Adelanto's medical care — an order the government is now appealing.

Feb 27

Judge found 32 warrantless Operation Midway Blitz arrests violated Castañon Nava consent decree, ordered releases

On February 27, 2026, U.S. District Judge Jeffrey Cummings ruled that at least 32 warrantless arrests made by immigration agents during Operation Midway Blitz in the Chicago area violated the 2022 Castañon Nava consent decree, which permits warrantless immigration arrests only when agents have probable cause that a person is unlawfully present and a flight risk. Cummings ordered the government to release the affected detainees by noon the following Thursday; it was the second time in five months that Cummings found the same operation violated the decree.

Feb 27

ICE staged sham bond hearing for Iowa detainee Suraj Vasal with 30 minutes' notice and no opportunity to secure counsel

On February 27, 2026, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement gave Suraj Vasal, an Indian asylum-seeker detained at Polk County Jail in Des Moines, Iowa, approximately 30 minutes' notice before a court-ordered bond hearing conducted via Zoom, with no information about its purpose until the call began. Vasal asked for time to secure an attorney; immigration officials denied the request and used the hearing to deny him bond. U.S. District Judge Stephen Locher later ruled that ICE's conduct violated Vasal's due process rights, finding the government had staged a "sham" hearing to satisfy a court order while ensuring Vasal remained detained.

Feb 27

Hegseth cancels 93 military fellowships at elite universities, bars officers from attending

In a memo signed February 27, 2026 — "Aligning Senior Service College Opportunities With American Values" — Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth ordered the cancellation of about 93 Pentagon-funded Senior Service College fellowships at roughly 22 civilian universities, including Princeton, Yale, Columbia, Brown, MIT, and Georgetown, effective the 2026–27 academic year. He barred the military from sending active-duty officers to graduate programs at the named schools, declaring in a same-day video that elite institutions had become "factories of anti-American resentment and military disdain." Officers already enrolled were permitted to finish their coursework.

Feb 27

DOJ charges 30 more over anti-ICE Minnesota church protest, bringing total to 39 defendants

On February 27, 2026, the U.S. Justice Department unsealed a superseding indictment in the U.S. District Court for the District of Minnesota charging 30 additional people — bringing the total to 39 — over the January 18 anti-ICE protest at Cities Church in St. Paul. All 39 are charged under place-of-worship civil-rights statutes, including the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances (FACE) Act, with conspiring to interfere with and interfering with the free exercise of religion; the defendants include independent journalists Don Lemon and Georgia Fort, who say they were covering the protest as reporters. Attorney General Pam Bondi announced that 25 of the 30 newly charged had been arrested, even though a magistrate judge had earlier found no probable cause to arrest several defendants, including the journalists.

Feb 26

ICE used a false missing-child pretext to detain Columbia senior Ellie Aghayeva without a warrant

Around 6 a.m. on February 26, 2026, five federal ICE agents entered an off-campus Columbia University residential building without a judicial warrant by telling building staff they were police searching for a missing child, then arrested Elmina "Ellie" Aghayeva, a 29-year-old Columbia senior from Azerbaijan. Columbia said security-camera footage captured the agents using the missing-child story to gain entry; the Department of Homeland Security said her student visa had been revoked in 2016 and disputed assertions that agents impersonated NYPD officers. Aghayeva was released the same afternoon after New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani appealed directly to President Trump, and was placed in removal proceedings.

Feb 26

Federal Protective Service cited immigrant-accompaniment volunteers for loitering in San Diego federal building

On February 26, 2026, Federal Protective Service officers cited volunteer Patrick Corrigan and at least three others for "loitering" in a hallway outside the ICE check-in office at San Diego's Edward J. Schwartz Federal Building, where FAITH program volunteers had accompanied immigrants to check-ins and court hearings for about a year without incident. FPS said the underlying no-loitering regulation dated to November 2025, but volunteers said the enforcement itself was new.

Obstruction of a First Amendment-protected activity

Feb 26

ICE agents stopped and arrested Rene Antonio Benitez while he was driving his daughter to school in Brentwood, New York

On February 26, 2026, ICE agents in Brentwood, New York, stopped Rene Antonio Benitez while he was driving his daughter to school, demanding to know where he was going before arresting and detaining him without a judicial warrant. Benitez was released the same day after his attorneys filed a habeas corpus petition. His arrest is one of eight named in the April 2026 class-action lawsuit Benitez v. DHS, which alleges ICE and CBP agents have conducted a systematic pattern of warrantless stops and arrests of Latino residents across New York based on race and ethnicity.

Feb 26

DOJ sues five more states for full voter rolls, bringing nationwide campaign to 29 states

On February 26, 2026, the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division announced federal lawsuits against Utah, Oklahoma, Kentucky, West Virginia, and New Jersey for failing to produce their full statewide voter registration lists, bringing the Department's nationwide total to 29 states and the District of Columbia. DOJ asserted authority under the Civil Rights Act of 1960 to compel production, inspection, and analysis of complete voter rolls — data that can include names, addresses, dates of birth, and partial Social Security or driver's license numbers — to cross-check for "improper registrations." The filings came after federal courts had dismissed several earlier DOJ voter-roll suits.

Feb 26

Miami prosecutor expands 'grand conspiracy' probe of Trump's investigators to 2016 Russia inquiry

On February 26, 2026, The New York Times reported that Jason A. Reding Quiñones, the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Florida, had expanded a criminal "grand conspiracy" inquiry into former law-enforcement and intelligence officials who investigated Donald Trump, with subpoenas issued in recent weeks now reaching the FBI's 2016 investigation of ties between the Trump campaign and Russia and FBI interviews probing the 2020 false-electors case. The expansion built on subpoenas the Miami office issued in November 2025 — which went to figures including former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper and former FBI officials Peter Strzok and Lisa Page — and a broadened late-January 2026 round seeking documents about the January 2017 intelligence-community assessment on Russian election interference. The Times noted there is no evidence the separate inquiries were a single plot, and that tying the Washington-based Russia and false-electors matters to the Florida classified-documents case lets prosecutors use a Miami grand jury drawn from a less Democratic jury pool.

Feb 25

Federal judge declared Trump administration's third-country deportation policy unlawful

U.S. District Judge Brian Murphy ruled on February 25, 2026 that DHS's policy of deporting people to countries other than the one designated in their removal proceedings — without meaningful notice or a chance to raise a fear of persecution there — violated the Administrative Procedure Act and due process, vacating the policy nationwide. The ruling capped nearly a year of litigation that began after DHS attempted to deport a group of men to South Sudan in violation of a standing injunction, forcing them into weeks of detention at a U.S. naval base in Djibouti; the government secured a stay from the First Circuit within weeks and continued third-country removals while its appeal remained pending as of this filing.

Denial of due process in immigration enforcement

Feb 25

FBI fires about 10 employees who worked on Trump's Mar-a-Lago classified-documents case

Around February 25, 2026, the FBI dismissed roughly 10 employees who had worked on the criminal investigation into President Trump's retention of classified documents at Mar-a-Lago. The firings came hours after FBI Director Kash Patel publicly characterized the inquiry — under which his and White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles's phone records had been subpoenaed — as Biden-era overreach, and followed reporting that those subpoenas had surfaced. The bureau dismissed additional personnel the next day, bringing the total to roughly a dozen.

Feb 25

Trump administration halts $259.5M in Medicaid reimbursements to Minnesota

On February 25, 2026, Vice President JD Vance announced that the Trump administration would temporarily halt $259.5 million in federal Medicaid reimbursements to Minnesota, citing alleged fraud in the state's social programs and giving the state 60 days to overhaul its systems. Vance said Minnesota — where roughly 1.3 million residents rely on Medicaid — was the first of several states the administration expected to target this way. Minnesota sued, with Attorney General Keith Ellison arguing the withholding violates Fifth Amendment due process and the Administrative Procedure Act's bar on arbitrary and capricious agency action.

Feb 25

ICE detained McAllen mariachi student brothers and their parents at a routine check-in, held them at Dilley for two weeks

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement detained McAllen, Texas high school mariachi musicians Antonio and Caleb Gámez-Cuéllar, their younger brother Joshua, and their parents on February 25, 2026, during what family members and Rep. Nanette Barragán described as a routine immigration check-in. The family, who had passed a credible fear interview and had an outstanding asylum case with no missed court dates, was held at the Dilley detention facility for roughly two weeks.

Feb 25

ICE vehicle pursuit in Newark causes multi-vehicle crash, injuring three children

On February 25, 2026, ICE agents pursuing a fleeing van during a targeted operation in Newark, New Jersey, caused a multi-vehicle crash that sent three children to University Hospital with injuries. Mayor Ras Baraka condemned the pursuit as reckless, noting that New Jersey law bars law-enforcement vehicle chases absent an immediate threat and that roads were still being cleared from a snowstorm. DHS said the operation targeted a man with a 2017 final removal order, who was taken into custody after the collision.

Feb 24

EPA repealed Mercury and Air Toxics Standards for coal- and oil-fired power plants, again declining to monetize health benefits

On February 24, 2026, the EPA under Administrator Lee Zeldin finalized a repeal of the 2024 Mercury and Air Toxics Standards (MATS) amendments for coal- and oil-fired power plants, citing a 2020 finding that residual cancer risk was already below a presumptive acceptable threshold and eliminating continuous emissions monitoring requirements. As it had five weeks earlier in a separate rule for stationary combustion turbines, EPA did not monetize the health benefits of the toxic-pollutant reductions the standards had achieved, presenting only projected industry cost savings of $670 million through 2037. A coalition of 21 environmental and public-health organizations sued in the D.C. Circuit the following month.

Ignoring statutory requirements

Feb 24

Rep. Omar's silent State of the Union guest forcibly removed, injured, and charged

During President Trump's State of the Union address on February 24, 2026, Aliya Rahman — a Minneapolis software engineer attending as Rep. Ilhan Omar's invited guest — stood silently in the House gallery and was forcibly removed by U.S. Capitol Police after declining to sit. Rahman, who had disclosed injured shoulders and is autistic with a traumatic brain injury, was aggressively handled, required treatment at George Washington University Hospital, and was booked and charged with "Unlawful Conduct," a misdemeanor carrying up to six months. Rep. Omar condemned the response as a heavy-handed, chilling reaction to peaceful expression and demanded a full explanation.

Feb 24

DOJ withheld and removed Epstein-file records tied to a Trump sexual-abuse allegation

An NPR investigation published February 24, 2026 found that the Justice Department's public Epstein-files database was missing dozens of pages of FBI records connected to a woman's allegation that Donald Trump sexually abused her as a minor in the early 1980s. NPR reported that roughly 53 pages of interview notes were withheld or removed — some briefly taken offline and not fully restored — while other Epstein materials remained public. The DOJ said unpublished records were privileged, duplicative, or under review, and House Democrats and the Republican committee chair each announced investigations into the omissions.

Feb 24

ICE agents stopped and arrested A.M.C. as she was entering her apartment building in Brooklyn, New York

On February 24, 2026, ICE agents in Brooklyn, New York, stopped a woman identified in court filings as A.M.C. as she was entering her apartment building, arresting and detaining her without a judicial warrant for seven days. Her arrest is one of eight named in the April 2026 class-action lawsuit Benitez v. DHS, which alleges ICE and CBP agents have conducted a systematic pattern of warrantless stops and arrests of Latino residents across New York based on race and ethnicity.

Feb 24

ICE agents detained Brooklyn man for 7 days after warrantless arrest outside his apartment building

On February 24, 2026, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents detained A.M.C., a 36-year-old Brooklyn resident, without a judicial warrant as he was entering his apartment building on Wyckoff Avenue in Bushwick. ICE agents approached him based on his appearance; he was held in immigration custody for seven days before being released.

Feb 24

DOJ sues UCLA over antisemitism, escalating a pressure campaign nine of its own career attorneys resigned over

On February 24, 2026, the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division sued the University of California under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, alleging UCLA maintained an antisemitic "hostile work environment" for Jewish and Israeli faculty and staff. The suit was the latest step in a federal pressure campaign rooted in UCLA's tolerance of a 2024 pro-Palestinian encampment: the administration had already suspended $584 million in UC research grants and sought a $1.2 billion fine, which a federal judge blocked in November 2025 as unconstitutional. Nine career Justice Department attorneys assigned to the underlying antisemitism investigation had resigned, describing pressure to reach a preordained conclusion on a 30-day timetable. It was the first of two 2026 DOJ antisemitism suits against the university.

Targeting critics with government power

Feb 23

JTF Southern Spear killed three aboard suspected narcotics vessel in Caribbean; 44th strike, ~151 campaign deaths

On Feb. 23, 2026, U.S. Southern Command announced that Joint Task Force Southern Spear, at the direction of SOUTHCOM commander Gen. Francis L. Donovan, conducted a "lethal kinetic strike" on a vessel in the Caribbean it alleged was operated by Designated Terrorist Organizations and transiting known narco-trafficking routes, killing three men. As in prior strikes in the Operation Southern Spear campaign, the Pentagon presented no public evidence the vessel carried narcotics, did not identify those killed, and afforded no opportunity for interdiction, arrest, or judicial process. It was the last announced strike before a late-February pause; SOUTHCOM's next disclosed strike came on March 8, 2026.

Extrajudicial actions

Feb 23

DHS and ICE barred clergy from providing pastoral care to detainees at Minneapolis's Whipple building during Metro Surge

Since Operation Metro Surge began in December 2025, Department of Homeland Security and Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials at the Bishop Henry Whipple Federal Building in Minneapolis systematically barred clergy from providing pastoral care to immigration detainees, citing shifting "security" and "safety" justifications with no written policy. Documented incidents include Father Christopher Collins being blocked from praying with a detained woman in December 2025 and a reverend being denied entry on Ash Wednesday 2026 while attempting to administer ashes to detainees. The pattern was publicly disclosed in detail on February 23, 2026, when the Minneapolis Area Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, the Minnesota Conference of the United Church of Christ, and Father Collins sued DHS Secretary Kristi Noem and ICE Acting Director Todd Lyons, alleging First Amendment and Religious Freedom Restoration Act violations.

Obstruction of a First Amendment-protected activity

Feb 23

Justice Alito declined to recuse from Supreme Court's Suncor climate case cert grant despite fossil-fuel holdings and past recusals

On February 23, 2026, the U.S. Supreme Court granted certiorari in Suncor Energy (U.S.A.) Inc. v. County Commissioners of Boulder County, agreeing to review whether federal law bars local governments from suing fossil-fuel companies over climate damages; Justice Samuel Alito participated in that decision rather than recusing. Alito holds up to $15,000 in ConocoPhillips stock and $15,000–$50,000 in Phillips 66 stock — both companies are defendants in parallel climate suits the Boulder case would help decide — plus a fund whose third-largest holding is ExxonMobil, a named party, and he had recused from an earlier petition in the same Boulder litigation and from a related 2025 petition on the same issue. A Supreme Court spokeswoman told NBC News in May 2026 that Alito's holdings do not include Suncor or ExxonMobil directly and that his earlier recusal had been inadvertent.

Undisclosed financial conflicts of interest

Feb 21

Trump threatened Netflix with "consequences" unless it fired board member Susan Rice amid pending Warner Bros. deal

On February 21, 2026, President Donald Trump posted on Truth Social that Netflix should immediately fire board member Susan Rice or "pay the consequences," after Rice said on a podcast that corporations that acquiesce to Trump would be "held accountable" once Democrats regain power. Trump did not specify the consequences, but the threat came while Netflix's proposed $82 billion acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery awaited Justice Department antitrust review — leverage Trump had referenced before regarding the deal.

Targeting critics with government power

Feb 20

JTF Southern Spear killed three aboard suspected narcotics vessel in eastern Pacific; 43rd strike, ~148 campaign deaths

On Friday, Feb. 20, 2026, U.S. Southern Command announced a "lethal kinetic strike" on a vessel in the eastern Pacific Ocean it described as "operated by Designated Terrorist Organizations," killing three men. SOUTHCOM said the strike was carried out at the direction of its commander, Marine Gen. Francis L. Donovan, by Joint Task Force Southern Spear against a boat allegedly transiting known narco-trafficking routes. Independent trackers count it as the campaign's 43rd announced strike; as in every prior strike, the Pentagon provided no public evidence the vessel carried narcotics, made no attempt to interdict or arrest, and did not identify those killed.

Extrajudicial actions

Feb 20

DOJ fired judge-appointed interim US Attorney James Hundley hours after his unanimous EDVA appointment

On February 20, 2026, the federal judges of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia unanimously appointed defense attorney James Hundley as interim U.S. Attorney, succeeding Trump loyalist Lindsey Halligan, whose own appointment a federal judge had ruled invalid three months earlier. Hours later, Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche announced on social media that Hundley was fired, writing "EDVA judges do not pick our US Attorney. POTUS does."

Feb 20

Interior's Solicitor's Office falsely denied holding Karen Budd-Falen ethics records, then released redacted files after press inquiry

Interior Department ethics officials told a researcher for the Center for Western Priorities in writing that a "thorough search" had found no ethics records for senior appointee Karen Budd-Falen, then reversed that claim hours later once press inquiries followed, releasing 91 heavily redacted pages on February 20, 2026. The released documents omitted an updated ethics recusal for Budd-Falen's current tenure and redacted her full list of former legal clients, even though her own financial disclosure lists a dozen such clients from the year before she rejoined government.

Suppression of public data

Feb 19

Border Patrol leaves near-blind Rohingya refugee in freezing Buffalo lot; death ruled homicide

On February 19, 2026, U.S. Border Patrol agents took Nurul Amin Shah Alam — a 56-year-old, nearly blind Rohingya refugee who spoke little English — from a county jail and released him alone outside a closed Tim Hortons in Buffalo, New York, in near-freezing cold. He was found dead five days later, and the Erie County medical examiner ruled the death a homicide caused by a perforated duodenal ulcer precipitated by hypothermia and dehydration. DHS initially said agents had left him at a "safe location," but surveillance footage contradicted that account.

Feb 19

DHS admitted its 'Worst of the Worst' immigrant database mischaracterized hundreds of listings after CNN review

DHS launched a public website in December 2025 branding arrested immigrants the "worst of the worst," heavily promoted by Secretary Kristi Noem and the White House to justify aggressive immigration enforcement. A CNN review published February 19, 2026 found hundreds of the roughly 25,000 people listed were described as convicted of or arrested for serious crimes like homicide or sex offenses when the underlying charges were traffic violations, marijuana possession, or illegal reentry; DHS attributed the errors to a "glitch" affecting about 5 percent of entries.

State-sponsored disinformation

Feb 19

U.S. Department of Education pressured 31 universities to end partnerships with minority doctoral-support nonprofit PhD Project

On February 19, 2026, the U.S. Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights announced that its Title VI investigation into the PhD Project — a nonprofit that helps racial minorities earn doctoral degrees — had led 31 universities, including Arizona State, Ohio State, Michigan, Yale, Duke, and MIT, to sign resolution agreements ending their partnerships with the group, with 14 more schools in negotiations. OCR opened the investigation in March 2025, asserting that PhD Project membership "unlawfully limits eligibility based on the race of participants" and warning participating schools they risked losing federal funding. Secretary of Education Linda McMahon called the agreements "the Trump effect in action."

Feb 18

Judge held DOJ lawyer in contempt after ICE released habeas petitioner in Texas without ID, defying Minnesota order

On February 18, 2026, U.S. District Judge Laura Provinzino held Justice Department attorney Matthew Isihara in civil contempt after ICE released habeas petitioner Rigoberto Soto Jimenez in El Paso, Texas without his identification documents, defying her order that he be released in Minnesota with his property returned. Provinzino lifted the contempt finding one day later once the documents were returned, but rejected the government's understaffing excuse as a problem "of its own making."

Defying court orders

Feb 18

ICE defied a New Jersey court's no-transfer order, moving detainee Jagpreet Singh to a Brooklyn facility

On February 18, 2026, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement transferred detainee Jagpreet Singh from Delaney Hall in Newark, New Jersey to the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn, roughly 22 hours after a federal judge had issued a text order barring his transfer outside New Jersey. U.S. District Judge Christine P. O'Hearn called the move "a blatant violation" of her order and ordered Singh's immediate release, later noting the government had separately admitted to more than 50 similar court-order violations in the preceding 60 days.

Feb 18

ICE detained DACA recipient Juan Chavez Velasco despite his active legal status

ICE agents detained Juan Chavez Velasco, a DACA recipient who had held continuous status for 13 years, outside his Weslaco, Texas neighborhood on February 18, 2026, as he drove breast milk to his premature newborn daughter in a hospital NICU. He told agents he had active DACA status; they told him it didn't matter, and DHS later said DACA does not confer legal status or protection from deportation. He was held for nearly three months at the Webb County Detention Center in Laredo, developing kidney stones and lacking adequate food and clean water, before being released to his family in May 2026.

Feb 18

ICE arrested DACA recipient at her permanent residency interview and deported her the next day under a decades-old removal order

On February 18, 2026, ICE agents arrested Maria de Jesus Estrada Juarez, a 27-year Sacramento resident with active DACA status, at a scheduled permanent residency interview and deported her to Mexico the following day under a 1998 removal order, denying her any notice or opportunity to contest the removal. U.S. District Judge Dena Coggins found the deportation a "flagrant violation" of Estrada Juarez's DACA protections and on March 24 issued a temporary restraining order requiring her return within seven days. She was reunited with her family in Sacramento by March 31, 2026.

Denial of due process in immigration enforcement

Feb 18

USCIS and ICE directed agents to detain refugees who miss one-year green-card deadline

On February 18, 2026, USCIS Director Joseph Edlow and ICE Acting Director Todd Lyons issued a joint memo directing immigration agents to arrest and detain refugees who have not obtained a green card within one year of admission to the United States, rescinding 2010 ICE guidance under which that delay was not grounds for detention. The memo, disclosed in a federal court filing tied to refugee detentions in Minnesota, lets agents hold affected refugees in immigration detention while their green-card applications are pending.

Feb 18

DOJ Civil Rights Division opened investigations into three Michigan school districts over gender-identity curriculum

On February 18, 2026, the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division announced investigations into the Lansing, Detroit, and Godfrey-Lee public school districts in Michigan, covering roughly 64,000 students, examining whether the districts taught sexual-orientation and gender-identity content without notifying parents of an opt-out right and whether they restricted bathrooms and locker rooms by biological sex. Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon said the department is "fiercely committed to ending the growing trend of local school authorities embedding sexuality and gender ideology in every aspect of public education." The department declined to explain why these three districts, of Michigan's more than 800, were selected.

Feb 17

ICE deports critically ill 2-month-old and family to Mexico after hospitalization

On February 17, 2026, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement deported a critically ill two-month-old, Juan Nicolás, to Mexico along with his mother, father, and 16-month-old sister, hours after the infant was hospitalized for bronchitis and roughly three and a half weeks after the family was taken into custody at the CoreCivic-run South Texas Family Residential Center in Dilley, Texas. The baby had become unresponsive and was treated at a Pearsall hospital the night of February 16, then discharged around midnight and returned to detention; Rep. Joaquin Castro, who had demanded the child's release, called the removal "heinous," while ICE described the hospital visit as a "precautionary evaluation" and said the child received "proper care."

Feb 16

JTF Southern Spear killed eleven across three suspected narcotics vessels in Pacific and Caribbean; 40th-42nd strikes, ~145 campaign deaths

Late on Feb. 16, 2026, at the direction of U.S. Southern Command commander Marine Gen. Francis L. Donovan, Joint Task Force Southern Spear carried out three near-simultaneous "lethal kinetic strikes" on three vessels SOUTHCOM alleged were trafficking drugs along known routes, killing eleven men — four on each of two boats in the eastern Pacific and three on a third in the Caribbean. SOUTHCOM presented no evidence and made no attempt at interdiction, arrest, or judicial process, and no U.S. forces were harmed. It was the deadliest single day in the Operation Southern Spear boat-strike campaign to that point.

Extrajudicial actions

Feb 15

ICE denied humanitarian parole to 79-year-old dementia patient, holding her at Eloy nine months

An Arizona Daily Star investigation published February 15, 2026 found that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has largely stopped exercising discretion to release medically vulnerable detainees on humanitarian parole, instead issuing what immigration attorneys describe as blanket denials. The investigation centered on Julia Benitez, a 79-year-old Cuban asylum seeker with dementia who uses a wheelchair, whom ICE held at Eloy Detention Center in Arizona for nine months despite her family's repeated parole requests and her rapidly deteriorating mental condition. Detentions of people 65 and older rose 150% in the first five months of 2025 compared with the same period in 2024, according to a Lee Enterprises analysis of ICE detention data.

Feb 13

Judge ordered release of 4 Operation Midway Blitz detainees, rejected ICE directive expanding warrantless-arrest discretion

On February 13, 2026, U.S. District Judge Jeffrey Cummings ordered the Department of Homeland Security to release four people who had been arrested without warrants during Operation Midway Blitz, and separately rejected a recent ICE directive — a memo from Acting Director Todd Lyons — that sought to give agents more discretion to make warrantless arrests, finding it inconsistent with the 2022 Castañon Nava consent decree. The ruling followed a federal appeals court's earlier rejection of Cummings' original October 2025 order to release hundreds of people arrested without warrants under the same operation.

Feb 13

JTF Southern Spear killed three aboard suspected narcotics vessel in Caribbean; 39th strike, ~134 campaign deaths

On Feb. 13, 2026, at the direction of U.S. Southern Command commander Gen. Francis L. Donovan, Joint Task Force Southern Spear conducted a "lethal kinetic strike" on a vessel in the Caribbean Sea that SOUTHCOM alleged — without presenting evidence and without interdiction, arrest, or judicial process — was operated by a designated terrorist organization. Three men were killed and no U.S. forces were harmed. The strike is part of the open-ended Operation Southern Spear campaign of lethal strikes on alleged drug-trafficking boats.

Extrajudicial actions

Feb 13

DHS and ICE began occupying a Romulus, Michigan warehouse for a detention facility without notifying local or state officials

On February 13, 2026, the Department of Homeland Security and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement began taking occupancy of a roughly 300,000-square-foot warehouse at 7525 Cogswell Street in Romulus, Michigan, intending to convert it into a roughly 500-bed immigration detention facility, without formally notifying the city, Wayne County, the state of Michigan, or the state's congressional delegation in advance. Michigan's attorney general and the City of Romulus later sued DHS and ICE over the lack of environmental review and intergovernmental consultation, and in June 2026 the agencies abandoned the plan and agreed to sell the property.

Ignoring statutory requirements

Feb 13

Justice Department sued Harvard to compel production of admissions data

On February 13, 2026, the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division sued Harvard University in federal court in Massachusetts, seeking an order compelling Harvard to turn over five years of undergraduate, medical-school, and law-school admissions data -- including grades, test scores, essays, and race/ethnicity -- that DOJ had demanded since opening a compliance review in April 2025. DOJ said Harvard had "thwarted" the investigation into whether the university continued considering race in admissions after the Supreme Court barred affirmative action; Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon called Harvard's refusal "a red flag." Harvard said it has been responding to the government's requests and is in compliance with the Supreme Court's ruling, and characterized the suit as "retaliatory actions" tied to its earlier refusal to accept a list of administration demands.

Politicized investigations

Feb 13

ICE agents tracked Minnesota protesters to their homes, ACLU court filings revealed

Nearly 100 sworn statements filed February 13, 2026 in an ACLU-led civil case over Minnesota's "Operation Metro Surge" immigration deployment describe more than a dozen instances of federal agents identifying protest-monitors' home addresses, apparently via license-plate tracking, and showing up there -- most without an individually established date. One monitor, Daniel Woo, said an ICE-linked SUV he had tracked later drove to and parked in front of his home. DHS said the agency does not use force against peaceful protesters or stop cars without reasonable suspicion, and did not address the specific incidents.

Protester surveillance

Feb 12

DOJ logged members of Congress's search histories as they reviewed unredacted Epstein files

It emerged that the Department of Justice had logged and tracked the searches members of Congress ran while reviewing unredacted Epstein files on DOJ systems, and a printout titled "Jayapal Pramila Search History" was photographed in Attorney General Pam Bondi's materials at a House Judiciary Committee hearing. Rep. Pramila Jayapal confirmed the listed searches were hers; the DOJ said it "logs all searches made on its systems," framing the practice as protecting victim information. Speaker Mike Johnson called the tracking not "appropriate," and Democratic lawmakers demanded the department end what they described as surveillance of the legislative branch.

Feb 12

United States signed third-country deportation agreement with Burundi, setting no cap on transfers

On February 12, 2026, the United States and Burundi signed a Memorandum of Understanding permitting the U.S. to deport third-country nationals -- migrants who are not Burundian citizens -- to Burundi, after Burundi had previously declined to sign without additional U.S. funding for the International Organization for Migration. The agreement, negotiated by the U.S. Department of State and the Department of Homeland Security, was not made public until it appeared on the State Department's website in June 2026; it sets no cap on the number of transfers and states Burundi will not accept people with violent-crime records. As of this entry's recording, no transfers under the agreement are known to have occurred.

Denial of due process in immigration enforcement

Feb 11

Trump administration moved to rescind $600M in CDC health grants, targeting only 4 of 107 recipient states

The Office of Management and Budget ordered the CDC to cancel roughly $602 million in public health grants -- funding disease-outbreak tracking, workforce and infrastructure programs -- to California, Colorado, Illinois and Minnesota, effective February 11, 2026; the same directive also canceled $943 million in Department of Transportation funding to the same four states. All four states, led by Democratic governors, sued the next day, and a federal judge in Illinois granted a 14-day temporary restraining order on February 12 keeping the health funds flowing while the case proceeds.

Coercive funding leverage

Feb 11

White House fires court-appointed U.S. Attorney Donald Kinsella hours after judges seated him

After a federal court found the administration's prior U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of New York was serving unlawfully, the district's judges invoked 28 U.S.C. § 546 to appoint veteran prosecutor Donald T. Kinsella, who was sworn in on February 11, 2026. Within about five hours, the White House emailed Kinsella that the president had removed him, and Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche posted that "judges don't pick U.S. Attorneys, @POTUS does," telling Kinsella, "You are fired."

Feb 11

Attorney General Bondi told the House Judiciary Committee under oath that Maxwell was not moved to a lower-security prison

On February 11, 2026, Attorney General Pam Bondi testified before the House Judiciary Committee and, asked by Rep. Deborah Ross whether Ghislaine Maxwell had received special treatment in prison, answered that she did not know Maxwell was being transferred and that Maxwell "was not transferred to a lower-level facility," later repeating twice that it was a "same level" prison. The Bureau of Prisons, which falls under Bondi's department, classifies FCI Tallahassee — where Maxwell had been held — as low security and FPC Bryan, where the Justice Department moved her in August 2025 after she met with Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche, as a minimum-security prison camp.

Lying to Congress

Feb 11

ICE detained pregnant Massachusetts woman in bedless holding cell, denied care until hospitalization forced her release

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement arrested Djeniffer Benvinda Ribeiro Semedo, a 22-year-old Cape Verdean national who was 24 weeks pregnant, at Brockton District Court on February 11, 2026 on an outstanding default warrant and held her at its Burlington field office in a bedless holding room, where she slept on a concrete bench. Her abdominal pain, nausea, and decreased fetal movement went unaddressed over roughly three days until she was transferred to Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center on February 13, where ICE agents continued to restrict her family's access to her.

Feb 11

U.S. House passes SAVE America Act (H.R. 22) requiring documentary proof of citizenship for federal voter registration

On February 11, 2026, the U.S. House of Representatives passed the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) America Act, H.R. 22 of the 119th Congress, on a near-party-line vote. The bill would require every American to produce documentary proof of U.S. citizenship — typically a birth certificate or passport — in order to register to vote or update voter registration information for federal elections. According to the Brennan Center for Justice and the ACLU, more than 21 million eligible American voters do not currently have ready access to the required documents. The bill is now in the Senate.

Feb 10

National Park Service removed the Pride flag from Stonewall National Monument, the birthplace of the modern LGBTQ rights movement

On February 10, 2026, the National Park Service quietly removed the Pride flag — which had flown for years at the Stonewall National Monument in Manhattan and includes colors representing the transgender community — citing a Department of the Interior directive limiting NPS flagpoles to the U.S. flag and other "congressionally or departmentally authorized" flags. A coalition of LGBTQ+ nonprofits sued a week later, arguing NPS's own policy exempts flags that provide historical context — the same exception that allows Confederate flags at sites like Gettysburg — and the Trump administration settled on April 13, 2026, agreeing to restore the flag permanently within seven days.

Historical revisionism

Feb 10

Coast Guard sole-sourced $957 million Arctic icebreaker contract to Davie Defense without competitive bidding

On February 10, 2026, the U.S. Coast Guard awarded a sole-source, single-offer contract worth $957 million to Davie Defense Inc. for five Arctic Security Cutters, citing a public-interest exception rather than competing the work. The award completed an 11-ship, roughly $3.3 billion program that followed President Trump's personal push for a larger icebreaker fleet than the Coast Guard had itself requested; the program's first two contracts, awarded to Bollinger Shipyards and Rauma Marine Constructions on December 26, 2025, are recorded separately.

Procurement irregularities

Feb 10

DOJ sought grand jury indictment of six lawmakers over anti-illegal-orders video; grand jury rejected the case

On February 10, 2026, attorneys from the office of Jeanine Pirro, the Trump-appointed U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia, presented a criminal case to a federal grand jury seeking to indict six Democratic members of Congress — Sens. Mark Kelly and Elissa Slotkin and Reps. Jason Crow, Maggie Goodlander, Chris Deluzio, and Chrissy Houlahan — over a November 2025 social media video reminding military and intelligence personnel of their duty to refuse illegal orders. The grand jury declined to find probable cause, rejecting the indictment; no career federal prosecutors were involved in bringing the case. The attempt followed President Trump's public accusations that the lawmakers had committed "seditious" acts "punishable by death," and came about two months after an FBI counterterrorism inquiry into the same six lawmakers over the same video.

Feb 10

Trump purchased up to $5 million in Axon Enterprise stock 14 days before ICE posted a $220M Taser contract tailored to Axon's specifications

On February 10, 2026, President Donald Trump purchased between $1 million and $5 million in Axon Enterprise stock, according to federal financial disclosure forms filed with the Office of Government Ethics in May 2026. Fourteen days later, on February 24, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement published a solicitation for a five-year, $220 million contract for roughly 17,800 conductive energy weapons whose technical specifications — including a 45-foot effective range and 10 individually deployable probes — procurement experts said effectively matched only Axon's TASER 10 model. Axon's stock rose more than 34% in the seven days following the ICE notice; no contract has been awarded.

Feb 9

JTF Southern Spear killed two aboard suspected narcotics vessel in eastern Pacific; 38th strike, ~131 campaign deaths

On Monday, Feb. 9, 2026, U.S. Southern Command announced a "lethal kinetic strike" on a vessel in the eastern Pacific Ocean it described as "operated by Designated Terrorist Organizations" and transiting known narco-trafficking routes, killing two of the three people aboard. SOUTHCOM said the strike was carried out at the direction of its commander, Gen. Francis L. Donovan, by Joint Task Force Southern Spear, and that it notified the U.S. Coast Guard to activate search-and-rescue for the lone survivor. As in every prior strike in the campaign, the Pentagon presented no public evidence the vessel carried narcotics, made no attempt to interdict or arrest, and did not identify those killed.

Extrajudicial actions

Feb 9

CBP removed civil rights history, including a James Meredith desegregation story, from its website during Black History Month

U.S. Customs and Border Protection deleted several historical "Did you know?" stories from its public website between February 2 and February 9, 2026, during the 100th anniversary of Black History Month. The removed content included an account of Border Patrol agents protecting James Meredith during the 1962 desegregation of the University of Mississippi, along with biographies of Black explorer Matthew Henson and other Black and female CBP figures, all of which had been posted by CBP since March 2014. A CBP spokesperson told Unraveled the agency was "looking into" the removals but did not explain them.

Historical revisionism

Feb 9

ODNI general counsel warned whistleblower's attorney against briefing Congress on classified Gabbard complaint

On February 9, 2026, the general counsel's office for Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard sent a letter warning attorney Andrew Bakaj — who represents an anonymous intelligence-community whistleblower alleging Gabbard withheld top-secret material for political reasons — against directly briefing members of Congress on the classified complaint, citing the risk that Bakaj or his client could face criminal charges for mishandling classified information. The complaint had not reached the "Gang of Eight" congressional leaders until roughly eight months after it was filed, prompting Senate Intelligence Committee Democrats to demand answers about the delay.

Obstructing legislative oversight

Feb 9

DOJ moved to dismiss Steve Bannon's Jan. 6 contempt-of-Congress conviction, seeking to erase it rather than pardon him

On February 9, 2026, the Justice Department — through U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro's filing, publicly backed by Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche — asked both the federal district court and the Supreme Court to dismiss Steve Bannon's 2022 contempt-of-Congress conviction with prejudice, stating only that "dismissal of this criminal case is in the interests of justice." Bannon had already served his four-month sentence for defying a Jan. 6 committee subpoena; the filing sought to erase the conviction itself rather than secure a pardon.

Selective prosecution

Feb 7

State Department orders all pre-2025 official X posts removed, accessible only via FOIA

The State Department directed all of its official accounts on X — including those of U.S. embassies and missions, ambassadors, and department bureaus and programs — to remove every post made before President Trump returned to office on January 20, 2025, spanning the Obama, first Trump, and Biden administrations. The posts will be internally archived but taken off public view, with anyone seeking them required to file a Freedom of Information Act request, a break from the usual practice of leaving prior administrations' agency posts publicly visible. A department spokesperson said the goal was to "limit confusion" and to "speak with one voice."

Suppression of public data

Feb 6

Trump excluded Govs. Polis and Moore from bipartisan White House governors' meeting and dinner over their criticism

On February 6, 2026, President Trump restricted that month's White House working meeting of the National Governors Association to Republican governors only, and personally blocked Colorado Gov. Jared Polis and Maryland Gov. Wes Moore from the traditionally bipartisan black-tie dinner held alongside it. Other Democratic governors who have also criticized Trump, including California's Gavin Newsom and Illinois' JB Pritzker, remained invited to the dinner. NGA leadership said it would not treat the restricted meeting as an official NGA event, calling it a break from decades of bipartisan tradition.

Blacklisting

Feb 6

Pentagon cuts ties with Harvard, ending military training and fellowships

On February 6, 2026, the Department of War (Pentagon) announced it would sever academic ties with Harvard University, ending Pentagon-funded graduate-level professional military education, fellowships, and certificate programs connected to the school beginning in the 2026–27 academic year. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said Harvard "no longer meets the needs of the War Department," faulting officers who returned "looking too much like Harvard — heads full of globalist and radical ideologies," and a Pentagon account posted on X that "Harvard is woke; The War Department is not." The Pentagon described the cut as the first in a broader review of elite universities, with officers already enrolled allowed to finish their coursework.

Feb 6

FBI's Joint Terrorism Task Force visited former Extinction Rebellion NYC member's upstate New York home under NSPM-7 directive

On February 6, 2026, two special agents from the FBI's New York Joint Terrorism Task Force visited the upstate New York home of a former Extinction Rebellion NYC member to question him about the group, following a phone contact the prior month. The visit came after President Trump's National Security Presidential Memorandum 7 directed federal Joint Terrorism Task Forces to investigate groups and individuals linked to "anti-fascism," "anti-capitalism," and similar political activity. The FBI's New York field office would not confirm or deny an investigation, citing standing Justice Department policy.

Targeting critics with government power

Feb 5

Judge's ruling revealed ICE unlawfully re-deported 3 Ms. L-settlement-protected families to Honduras and elsewhere, defying a federal court order

A ruling by U.S. District Judge Dana Sabraw in San Diego, issued February 5, 2026, revealed that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement had unlawfully re-deported three families protected from removal under the 2018 Ms. L v. ICE family-separation settlement, in violation of a June 2025 stay of removal issued in the case. One mother and her three children, including a 6-year-old U.S. citizen, were coerced into deportation to Honduras in July 2025 after ICE officers removed her ankle monitor and detained the family for three days despite her refusal to sign a voluntary-departure document; two other families were removed in a similar pattern. Sabraw rejected the government's claim the families left voluntarily, found the removals relied on "lies, deception and coercion," and ordered the government to return all three families to the U.S. at its own expense.

Feb 5

ICE deported Army veteran Godfrey Wade to Jamaica while his removal-order appeal was still pending

On February 5, 2026, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement deported Godfrey Wade, a 65-year-old honorably discharged Army veteran and lawful permanent resident of the United States since 1975, to Jamaica while his appeal of a 2014 in-absentia removal order remained pending before the Board of Immigration Appeals. ICE detained Wade after a September 13, 2025 traffic stop in Conyers, Georgia, under a removal order he did not learn existed until his green-card renewal was denied in December 2024 — notices of the 2014 hearing and order had been mailed to an address that returned them undeliverable. An immigration judge denied Wade's motion to reopen the case in under two minutes without addressing the returned-notice evidence, and DHS has defended the removal, calling Wade "a criminal illegal alien" who "received full due process."

Feb 5

JTF Southern Spear killed two aboard suspected narcotics vessel in eastern Pacific; 37th strike, ~129 campaign deaths

On Feb. 5, 2026, at the direction of U.S. Southern Command commander Gen. Francis L. Donovan, Joint Task Force Southern Spear conducted a "lethal kinetic strike" on a vessel in the eastern Pacific Ocean that SOUTHCOM alleged — without presenting evidence and without interdiction, arrest, or judicial process — was operated by a designated terrorist organization. Two people were killed and no U.S. forces were harmed. The strike is part of the open-ended Operation Southern Spear campaign of lethal strikes on alleged drug-trafficking boats.

Extrajudicial actions

Feb 5

ICE agent Gregory Morgan pointed handgun at civilian motorists on Minneapolis highway during Metro Surge

On Feb. 5, 2026, ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations officer Gregory Donnell Morgan Jr. pulled his unmarked SUV alongside a civilian vehicle on a Minneapolis highway during Operation Metro Surge and pointed a handgun at the driver and passenger, who had no way of knowing he was a federal officer. Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty charged Morgan on April 16, 2026 with two counts of second-degree assault with a dangerous weapon — the first criminal charges against a federal officer for on-duty conduct during the Minnesota immigration surge — and a nationwide warrant was issued for his arrest.

Feb 5

ICE detained asylum seeker four months, denying scheduled cyst surgery and chaining her during outdoor time

Guatemalan asylum seeker Andrea Pedro-Francisco, then 23, was arrested by ICE on February 5, 2026, in Burnsville, Minnesota, during Operation Metro Surge, days before a scheduled surgery to remove an ovarian cyst, and transferred to Camp East Montana and the El Paso Service Processing Center in El Paso, Texas. Over nearly four months in custody, ICE denied her the surgery, provided only over-the-counter pain medication, and had her chained during her roughly one hour of daily outdoor time; a federal judge denied her habeas corpus petition and ICE twice denied her requests for humanitarian parole. She was released June 3, 2026, after Democratic Sen. Tina Smith personally intervened with a DHS official.

Feb 4

Gabbard's ODNI confirmed it covertly obtained and tested Puerto Rico voting machines, drawing expert alarm over its authority

The Office of the Director of National Intelligence, under Director Tulsi Gabbard, confirmed to reporters on February 4, 2026 that it had obtained electronic voting machines from Puerto Rico and tested them for security vulnerabilities, with the U.S. Attorney in Puerto Rico, Homeland Security Investigations agents, and an FBI supervisory special agent facilitating the turnover; ODNI cited "extremely concerning" cybersecurity findings without supporting detail and has not disclosed exactly when the machines were obtained or tested beyond saying it occurred "last year." A former senior U.S. intelligence official who has worked on election security called the action "well beyond what ODNI has the authority or expertise to do," and Puerto Rico's nonvoting congressional representative, Pablo José Hernández, said the administration has not explained why Gabbard's office was involved. The disclosure follows Gabbard's presence at an FBI search of a Fulton County, Georgia election office and Trump's calls to "nationalize" future elections.

Politicization of intelligence functions

Feb 4

Karoline Leavitt falsely claimed all 4,000 Operation Metro Surge arrests were dangerous criminals

On February 4, 2026, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt issued a public statement claiming that ICE had arrested "more than 4,000 dangerous criminal illegal aliens" in Minnesota since the start of Operation Metro Surge. An Intercept analysis of ICE arrest data obtained via a Freedom of Information Act request by the Deportation Data Project, published March 30, 2026, found that 63 percent of the 4,030 people arrested had no criminal convictions or pending charges, directly contradicting Leavitt's characterization. ICE possessed the underlying data at the time of Leavitt's statement.

Feb 4

CIA shuts down its World Factbook after more than 60 years, with no warning

On or about February 4, 2026, the CIA abruptly took its World Factbook — the authoritative public reference on the world's countries, published since 1962 and online since 1997 — offline, replacing it with a webpage declaring the publication had "sunset." The agency gave no advance notice and no explanation, declined to comment on the record, and set up redirects that led away from the data while removing the Factbook's historical archives, breaking millions of links used by schools, researchers, and news organizations.

Suppression of public data

Feb 4

ICE agents stopped and arrested H.L.A.O. while he was waiting for the Shelter Island ferry in Greenport, New York

On February 4, 2026, ICE agents in Greenport, New York, stopped a man identified in court filings as H.L.A.O. while he was waiting for the Shelter Island ferry, arresting and detaining him without a judicial warrant for 22 days. His arrest is one of eight named in the April 2026 class-action lawsuit Benitez v. DHS, which alleges ICE and CBP agents have conducted a systematic pattern of warrantless stops and arrests of Latino residents across New York based on race and ethnicity.

Feb 4

ICE detained a Columbia Heights, MN fifth-grader and her family, holding them in a Texas facility unknown to her school for a month

A Valley View Elementary fifth-grader in Columbia Heights, Minnesota stopped attending class in early January 2026, and her family became unreachable, leaving behind a school-issued Chromebook and an empty rental home. On February 4, 2026, Columbia Heights Public Schools disclosed that two classmates had recognized the girl in the cafeteria of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's Dilley, Texas family detention center before their own release, and confirmed ICE has detained seven of its students, ages 5 to 17, since a district-area enforcement surge began; five have been released and two, including this girl, remain in custody. The exact date ICE detained the girl and her family has not been publicly established.

Feb 4

ICE agents detained Long Island man for 22 days after warrantless arrest at Greenport ferry stop

On February 4, 2026, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents detained H.L.A.O., a 46-year-old Long Island resident, at the Shelter Island ferry stop in Greenport, New York, without a judicial warrant. ICE agents approached him based on his appearance and the language he spoke; he was held in immigration custody for 22 days before being released.

Feb 3

Judge Blackwell found ICE, DHS and DOJ routinely defied orders releasing Minnesota detainees; DOJ ended the testifying attorney's detail

On February 3, 2026, U.S. District Judge Jerry Blackwell found in open court in St. Paul, Minnesota that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the Department of Homeland Security and the Justice Department had routinely failed to comply with orders releasing immigration detainees, leaving people jailed for days or weeks after judges ordered them freed. Questioned about noncompliance in cases she was handling, Special Assistant U.S. Attorney Julie Le, who had been assigned 91 immigration cases in under a month, told Blackwell that "this job sucks" and that she lacked "the power or the voice" to fix a broken system. The U.S. Attorney's Office ended Le's detail the following day, and DHS publicly called her conduct "unprofessional and unbecoming."

Feb 3

Washington Post investigation revealed DHS subpoenaed Google to unmask a critic hours after his email to a DHS official

A Washington Post investigation published February 3, 2026, revealed that the Department of Homeland Security has used administrative subpoenas -- issued without a judge's or grand jury's order -- to identify private citizens who criticize the agency, centering on a Philadelphia-area retiree who emailed a DHS attorney urging leniency for an Afghan asylum seeker. Four hours after the email, DHS subpoenaed Google for the man's account information, and DHS agents later visited his home to question him about it. The ACLU moved to quash the subpoena, and DHS withdrew it in early February 2026.

Feb 1

Minnesota Star Tribune investigation revealed ICE held Whipple detainees in overcrowded cells without bedding, medical care, or menstrual products

A Minnesota Star Tribune investigation, published February 1, 2026 and based on interviews with 30 detainees, attorneys, and advocates plus a review of nearly 200 federal court records, found that ICE and DHS held immigration detainees at the Bishop Henry Whipple Federal Building in Minneapolis in overcrowded cells with no bedding, non-working sinks, and one sandwich a day, while denying requested medical care and menstrual products. Detainees described being locked in bathrooms with strangers of the opposite sex for up to 24 hours and being released into the cold at night with no way home. DHS disputed the allegations, saying ICE holds "higher detention standards than most U.S. prisons."

Jan 31

Federal agents deployed tear gas and chemical munitions against protesters and journalists at Portland ICE facility

Over the weekend of January 31–February 1, 2026, federal agents deployed tear gas and chemical munitions against protesters and freelance journalists outside the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention facility in Portland, Oregon. The deployments were the subject of lawsuits by protesters, journalists, and nearby residents, represented in part by the ACLU of Oregon, who alleged the munitions were used in retaliation for First Amendment activity. On February 3, a federal judge issued a temporary restraining order barring agents from using less-lethal munitions and chemical agents absent an imminent threat of physical harm.

Jan 30

United States and Grenada signed third-country deportation MOU after months of resistance

The United States and Grenada signed a Memorandum of Understanding on January 30, 2026 in Washington, D.C., allowing the U.S. to propose third-country nationals for transfer to Grenada on a case-by-case basis. Prime Minister Dickon Mitchell had publicly resisted the arrangement for weeks, repeatedly telling reporters in January that Grenada had "not agreed to accept" any deportees, before signing alongside seven other Caribbean leaders at the State Department.

Denial of due process in immigration enforcement

Jan 30

CBP agents smashed a livestreaming bystander's car window and detained her for hours at an El Monte, California gas station

On January 30, 2026, federal agents responding to a Customs and Border Protection call surrounded U.S. citizen Maria Santay's car at a gas station in El Monte, California, and broke her window with a hammer while she livestreamed the encounter on Instagram and cried out that she was a citizen. Agents then drove her roughly 40 miles round trip to Santa Ana and back before releasing her from custody that evening; Santay says she was denied a restroom and made to urinate in handcuffs in a parking lot before her release.

Jan 30

Federal grand jury indicts independent journalist Georgia Fort and former CNN anchor Don Lemon under FACE Act for covering anti-ICE church protest

On January 30, 2026, federal agents arrested independent journalist Georgia Fort and former CNN anchor Don Lemon following an anti-ICE protest at Cities Church in St. Paul, Minnesota, where a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement official serves as pastor. A federal grand jury in Minnesota indicted both on charges of "conspiracy against right of religious freedom at place of worship" under the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances (FACE) Act of 1994. Both journalists have maintained they were reporting on the protest, not participating in it. As of mid-May 2026, Fort reports that the legal constraints of the pending prosecution have functionally silenced significant portions of her newsgathering.

Prosecution of journalists

Jan 29

DHS and ICE agents chased down and detained a St. Peter, Minnesota bystander at gunpoint for filming an immigration operation

On January 29, 2026, DHS and ICE agents in three vehicles boxed in and detained a U.S. citizen at gunpoint in St. Peter, Minnesota after she filmed federal immigration agents from her car, dragging her from the vehicle and forcing her to the ground when she refused to exit. Agents held her and began driving her toward a Twin Cities-area immigration detention facility before turning back roughly 20 minutes later and returning her to St. Peter police without explanation or charge. DHS said she had driven recklessly and attempted to ram an officer's vehicle; her dashcam video, reviewed by NPR, shows her calmly refusing commands and asking bystanders to call 911.

Jan 29

President Trump and his sons sued the IRS and Treasury for $10 billion over a tax-return leak

On January 29, 2026, President Donald Trump, his two adult sons Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump, and the Trump Organization filed suit in federal court in Florida against the Internal Revenue Service and the Treasury Department, seeking at least $10 billion in damages over the 2019 leak of Trump's tax returns. The complaint attributes legal responsibility to the IRS for the conduct of Charles Littlejohn, a Booz Allen Hamilton contractor with staff-like access to taxpayer records who was sentenced to five years in prison in 2024 for disclosing thousands of returns, including Trump's, to news organizations. Trump filed in his personal capacity; as the sitting president he also heads the executive branch whose Department of Justice is responsible for defending the federal agencies named as defendants.

Self-dealing

Jan 28

AG Bondi posted sealed booking photos of 16 Minnesota defendants in violation of a court sealing order

On January 28, 2026, then-Attorney General Pam Bondi posted on X the names and booking photos of 16 people arrested in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area on federal charges of assaulting or impeding immigration officers, describing them as "rioters," while their cases remained under a federal court sealing order. Magistrate Judge Dulce Foster later found in one of the cases that Bondi's post "directly violated a court order sealing the case" and "thumbed its nose at the notion that defendants are innocent until proven guilty."

Jan 28

FBI raids Fulton County, Georgia election office to seize 2020 ballots; DNI Gabbard joins

On January 28, 2026, FBI agents executed a federal search warrant at the Fulton County, Georgia election office in Union City, seizing the physical 2020 presidential-election ballots, ballot images, tabulator tapes, and voter rolls of the county Donald Trump falsely blames for his narrow Georgia loss. The warrant followed a December 2025 Justice Department lawsuit demanding the records; Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard — who has no domestic law-enforcement authority — joined the raid, ran a parallel election-fraud inquiry, and arranged a call for Trump to thank the agents. County officials said the seizure left them unable to vouch for the chain of custody of the 2020 records.

Jan 28

NPR investigation reveals DOE secretly rewrote nuclear reactor safety rules, kept them hidden until forced release

NPR reported on January 28, 2026 that the Department of Energy had quietly rewritten internal safety, security, and environmental rules for a new generation of experimental nuclear reactors under its Reactor Pilot Program, cutting roughly 750 pages -- about two-thirds -- of requirements including guard-training and nuclear-material-security standards, and loosening groundwater protections. The department shared the rewritten rules with ten companies participating in the program but did not make them public; NPR obtained copies and reported the changes were made without any public comment process, months after DOE officials told companies they intended to cut red tape to meet a Trump executive order deadline of July 4, 2026 for at least three of the reactors to come online.

Suppression of public data

Jan 28

Education Department found San Jose State violated Title IX over transgender volleyball player, threatened funding

On January 28, 2026, the U.S. Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights concluded that San Jose State University violated Title IX by allowing a transgender athlete to compete on its women's volleyball team and by allegedly retaliating against players who objected. The department offered SJSU a settlement requiring it to adopt binary definitions of sex, restore athletic records and titles it said were misappropriated, and send personalized apologies to every woman on the 2022-2024 indoor volleyball roster and the 2023 beach volleyball team, warning that rejection could bring a Justice Department lawsuit and the loss of federal funding.

Jan 27

ICE agent attempted to enter Ecuador's consulate in Minneapolis, was turned back by employee

An Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent attempted to enter Ecuador's consulate in Minneapolis on January 27, 2026, and was physically turned back by a consular employee, in an encounter captured on video that Reuters verified. Ecuador's foreign ministry filed an official diplomatic protest with the U.S. embassy in Quito over the incident; ICE said its officers were pursuing a fugitive who fled into the building and that its agents never actually entered the consulate.

Executive overreach

Jan 27

Federal agents blocked Minnesota investigators from Alex Pretti shooting evidence, refused to honor state search warrant

On January 27, 2026, federal agents blocked Minnesota's Bureau of Criminal Apprehension from accessing evidence at the Minneapolis scene where federal officers had killed Alex Pretti three days earlier, turning away state investigators even after they obtained a valid search warrant. Federal agents also failed to maintain proper chain of custody for the murder weapon, placing it on a vehicle seat rather than securing it in a labeled evidence bag. The FBI subsequently refused to share evidence with state investigators, and Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty issued formal Touhy demands after a federal judge dissolved an emergency evidence preservation order.

Jan 26

Chief Judge Schiltz found ICE, DHS Secretary Noem, and Acting Director Lyons defied 'dozens' of court orders; summoned Lyons over contempt

On January 26, 2026, Minnesota Chief U.S. District Judge Patrick Schiltz ordered Todd Lyons, ICE's acting director, to personally appear in federal court to explain why he should not be held in contempt, finding that Lyons, DHS Secretary Kristi Noem, and the acting ICE director of the agency's St. Paul field office had failed to comply with "dozens of court orders" in recent weeks. The order arose from ICE's failure to hold a court-ordered bond hearing for detainee Juan Hugo Tobay Robles, or release him, within seven days as a January 14, 2026 order had required. DHS called Schiltz an "activist judge" and did not address the specific findings of noncompliance.

Defying court orders

Jan 26

Homeland Security Investigations agents pepper-sprayed bystanders during Phoenix-area Zipps raids that arrested 39 workers

On January 26, 2026, Homeland Security Investigations agents served search warrants at 15 Zipps Sports Grill locations across the Phoenix metro area, arresting 39 workers, including a married couple who had worked at the chain for 18 years. As agents left several locations, they pepper-sprayed bystanders and protesters who had gathered to watch or object, including a woman in Tempe who was hospitalized; a police-procedures expert who reviewed video of one incident found no use-of-force justification for it.

Excessive force by law enforcement

Jan 26

Federal prosecutors misreported ICE detainee's Maine location to court, nearly stripping habeas jurisdiction

Court filings entered Jan. 26, 2026 revealed that the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Maine, relying on incorrect location information from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, told a federal judge that immigration detainee Cristian Yair de la Cruz Guillermo had been moved to Massachusetts -- which would have stripped the Maine court of habeas jurisdiction over his case -- before correcting the claim the same day to say he remained in Fort Fairfield, Maine. U.S. District Judge John Woodcock Jr. then issued a temporary restraining order barring CBP, ICE, DOJ and DHS officials from moving Guillermo out of state, citing a similar location misreport in an unrelated detainee's case.

Jan 26

Trump announced DOJ and Congress were investigating Rep. Ilhan Omar's finances amid Minnesota fraud scandal

On January 26, 2026, President Trump wrote on Truth Social that the Justice Department and Congress were "looking at" Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN), tying the claim to her reported net worth and an ongoing Minnesota fraud investigation involving mostly Somali-American defendants. White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters the same day that the administration was "very focused on getting to the bottom of" whether Omar was connected to the fraud rings. The Justice Department had not confirmed an active case, and Omar called the post a deflection from Trump's declining support.

Politicized investigations

Jan 26

FBI opens criminal probe of Minneapolis anti-ICE activists' Signal chats

On Monday, January 26, 2026, FBI Director Kash Patel said the bureau had opened a criminal investigation into encrypted Signal group chats used by Minneapolis anti-ICE activists to share descriptions and license plates of suspected immigration-enforcement vehicles. Patel disclosed the probe in an interview with conservative commentator Benny Johnson, saying it was prompted by a viral X thread from influencer Cam Higby, who claimed to have "infiltrated" the chats, and that the FBI was examining whether the activity crossed legal thresholds such as "doxxing" agents. Free-speech advocates noted that observing and documenting on-duty law enforcement is generally lawful and warned the investigation could chill protected organizing.

Jan 26

ICE-linked SUV accelerated at a Minnesota protest monitor before agents shouted her home address at her

Emily Beltz, 44, said that on January 26, 2026, an SUV she had been following near her Minneapolis-suburb apartment building -- after apparently identifying her home through license-plate tracking -- "suddenly turned and sped at" her car before braking hard at the last moment, while a masked agent inside shouted her home address at her. Beltz's account, along with nearly 100 other sworn statements describing federal agents in Minnesota's "Operation Metro Surge" immigration deployment identifying protest-monitors' home addresses, was later filed February 13, 2026 in an ACLU-led civil case, Tincher v. Noem.

Jan 26

ICE agents arrested asylum seeker Isa Maluenga Avila without explanation, detained her 18 days at Eloy

On January 26, 2026, masked U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents arrested Isa Maluenga Avila, a 41-year-old Tucson asylum seeker lawfully admitted at the Nogales port of entry in 2023, without explanation as she left a bank, and sent her to Eloy Detention Center. ICE gave no reason for the arrest, and Maluenga Avila had no criminal record and no active removal case or final removal order against her. She was held 18 days in conditions she described as inhumane before an immigration judge ordered her release on February 13, 2026, after DHS moved to dismiss its case rather than respond to a federal habeas corpus petition her attorney had filed.

Jan 24

CoreCivic held ~1,500 Dilley detainees, many children, in what detainees described as putrid water and bug-contaminated food, sparking mass protest

On January 24, 2026, an estimated 80% of the roughly 1,500-1,900 people held at CoreCivic's South Texas Family Residential Center in Dilley, Texas -- many of them children -- staged a roughly 30-minute protest, chanting "Libertad" and "let us out," after guards ordered visiting attorneys to leave and physically blocked other detainees from joining; the Frio County Sheriff's office, Texas DPS, and Border Patrol responded. Detainees told immigration attorney Eric Lee, present for a client visit, that drinking water was "putrid" and meals contained "bugs," dirt, and debris, describing conditions attorneys said had not changed despite a prior lawsuit alleging inhumane food, water, and medical care at the facility.

Corrections abuse

Jan 24

Border Patrol agents shoot and kill U.S. citizen VA nurse Alex Pretti in Minneapolis

On January 24, 2026, two federal agents — Border Patrol agent Jesus Ochoa and CBP officer Raymundo Gutierrez — shot and killed Alex Pretti, a 37-year-old U.S. citizen and Department of Veterans Affairs intensive-care nurse, on a Minneapolis street during a federal immigration surge. The Department of Homeland Security said Pretti was armed and "violently resisted," but bystander videos showed him pepper-sprayed and pinned to the ground before the shots, and the Hennepin County medical examiner ruled the death a homicide. The two agents were placed on administrative leave and the Justice Department opened a civil rights investigation.

Jan 24

AG Bondi demanded Minnesota turn over voter rolls, Medicaid/SNAP data, end sanctuary policies amid deadly ICE crackdown

On January 24, 2026, U.S. Attorney General Pamela Bondi sent Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz a letter demanding the state hand over its voter rolls, Medicaid and SNAP recipient data, and repeal its "sanctuary" policies, framing compliance as a path to end the federal immigration surge in the Twin Cities. The letter came hours after Border Patrol agents fatally shot U.S. citizen Alex Pretti in Minneapolis. Minnesota Secretary of State Steve Simon rejected the demand as "an outrageous attempt to coerce Minnesota," and Gov. Walz called the voter-roll request unrelated to any legitimate concern.

Jan 24

ICE agents stopped and arrested F.R.P. in a Walmart parking lot in Cheektowaga, New York; his wife was arrested in the same incident

On January 24, 2026, ICE agents stopped a man identified in court filings as F.R.P. in a Walmart parking lot in Cheektowaga, New York, arresting and detaining him without a judicial warrant for 25 days. His wife was arrested in the same incident. His arrest is one of eight named in the April 2026 class-action lawsuit Benitez v. DHS, which alleges ICE and CBP agents have conducted a systematic pattern of warrantless stops and arrests of Latino residents across New York based on race and ethnicity.

Jan 24

ICE agents stopped and arrested R.C.R. in a Walmart parking lot in Cheektowaga, New York; her husband was arrested in the same incident

On January 24, 2026, ICE agents stopped a woman identified in court filings as R.C.R. in a Walmart parking lot in Cheektowaga, New York, arresting and detaining her without a judicial warrant for 26 days. Her husband was arrested in the same incident. Her arrest is one of eight named in the April 2026 class-action lawsuit Benitez v. DHS, which alleges ICE and CBP agents have conducted a systematic pattern of warrantless stops and arrests of Latino residents across New York based on race and ethnicity.

Jan 24

DHS immigration agents arrested F.R.P. and his wife without a warrant in a Cheektowaga Walmart parking lot, complaint alleges

On January 24, 2026, DHS immigration officers stopped and arrested F.R.P., a 63-year-old Latino resident of Buffalo with a pending asylum application and employment authorization, along with his wife R.C.R., without a warrant in the parking lot of a Walmart in Cheektowaga, New York. F.R.P. was released on bond on February 18, 2026; R.C.R. was released on bond on February 19. The arrest is among eight incidents documented in a class action complaint filed April 8, 2026, in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York, alleging that DHS agencies ICE and CBP engage in a systematic policy of racial profiling and warrantless immigration arrests targeting Latino New Yorkers.

Jan 24

Immigration officer detained Cheektowaga woman with pending asylum claim for 26 days after warrantless arrest

On January 24, 2026, a federal immigration officer detained R.C.R., a 55-year-old Cheektowaga resident, without a judicial warrant while she was in a Walmart parking lot with her husband. R.C.R. had a pending asylum application and employment authorization at the time; she was held for 26 days and released on bond on February 19, 2026.

Jan 23

JTF Southern Spear killed 2 aboard suspected narcotics vessel in eastern Pacific; 36th strike, ~117 campaign deaths

On January 23, 2026, Joint Task Force Southern Spear, operating at the direction of Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, conducted a lethal strike on a vessel in the eastern Pacific Ocean, killing two people and leaving one survivor. The strike was characterized by SOUTHCOM as targeting "Designated Terrorist Organizations" engaged in narco-trafficking, yet no public evidence was provided identifying the victims or their alleged activities. This was the 36th strike in the Southern Spear campaign since September 2025, resuming after a three-week gap following the January 3 capture of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro.

Jan 23

Intercept investigation revealed ICE database marked protest observers as domestic terrorists; DHS revoked travel credentials in retaliation

A January 23, 2026 video captured an ICE agent recording a protest observer and stating, "we have a nice little database, and now you're considered a domestic terrorist," the first documented evidence of a DHS/ICE/CBP database labeling lawful protest observers as terrorists and revoking their TSA PreCheck, Global Entry, and passport access. The Intercept filed a FOIA lawsuit against DHS on June 24, 2026 after the agency refused to produce documents about the program, with court exhibits from a Minnesota immigration case corroborating the database's use and at least one civilian losing travel credentials within three days of photographing an ICE operation.

Jan 23

ICE detained former Venezuelan opposition mayor Carlos Garcia-Oden at routine Cincinnati check-in

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement detained Carlos Garcia-Oden, a former opposition mayor of Mérida, Venezuela, at a scheduled immigration check-in in Cincinnati, Ohio, on January 23, 2026, and booked him into the Butler County Jail as deportation proceedings began. Garcia-Oden had complied with ICE check-ins for years, held a valid work permit through 2030, and had no criminal record; his family said ICE gave no reason for the arrest. He fled Venezuela in 2017 after being sentenced in absentia for opposing Nicolás Maduro's government and has an asylum claim pending.

Jan 23

ICE detained Chicago man acquitted in Bovino murder-for-hire plot, held him without a hearing for weeks

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement took Juan Espinoza Martinez, a 37-year-old Chicago construction worker, into custody on Jan. 23, 2026 -- one day after a federal jury acquitted him of offering a bounty for the murder of U.S. Border Patrol Cmdr. Gregory Bovino -- and held him at the Clay County Justice Center in Brazil, Indiana without a hearing before an immigration judge. U.S. District Judge James Hanlon ruled Feb. 6, 2026 that the continued detention was unlawful for lack of that hearing and ordered the government to release Espinoza Martinez or grant him a bond hearing.

Jan 22

ICE removed all detainees from Cumberland County Jail and DHS canceled its housing contract hours after sheriff criticized ICE's tactics

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement removed all roughly 50 federal detainees from the Cumberland County Jail in Portland, Maine, on January 22, 2026, and the Department of Homeland Security formally canceled the jail's detainee-housing contract the next day, hours after Sheriff Kevin Joyce publicly criticized ICE's arrest of a county corrections officer as "bush league." ICE Deputy Assistant Director Patricia Hyde said on the record that the cancellation followed Joyce "criticizing those who actually protect our communities," and in the same rushed transfer ICE moved detainees in violation of standing federal court orders, prompting two judges to order several immediate releases.

Jan 22

ICE flew a 2-year-old and her father to Texas despite a court order to release the toddler

On January 22, 2026, ICE agents detained Elvis Joel Tipan Echeverria and his 2-year-old daughter in south Minneapolis as they returned home from grocery shopping. After a federal judge ordered that the toddler not be moved out of state and be released, the government placed both on a commercial flight to Texas roughly twenty minutes later, in contravention of the order. The child was returned to her mother in Minnesota the next day; her father, who has an active asylum case, remained in federal custody.

Jan 22

National Park Service removed the George Washington slavery exhibit at Philadelphia's President's House Site

On January 22, 2026, the National Park Service removed 34 educational panels documenting the nine people George Washington enslaved while living at the President's House in Philadelphia, implementing President Trump's March 2025 executive order directing federal cultural sites to remove content that "inappropriately disparages" Americans. The city of Philadelphia sued, and a federal judge ordered the exhibit restored in February 2026, but the Third Circuit reversed that injunction in June, and NPS installed replacement panels in July that critics say soften Washington's record on slavery; Philadelphia is now seeking a rehearing of the appellate ruling.

Historical revisionism

Jan 22

EEOC's Republican majority rescinded its 2024 workplace harassment guidance, including transgender protections

On January 22, 2026, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission's Republican-appointed majority — Chair Andrea Lucas and Commissioner Brittany Panuccio — voted 2-1 to rescind its 2024 enforcement guidance on workplace harassment, skipping the standard notice-and-comment process. The 190-page guidance, adopted under President Biden following the Supreme Court's Bostock ruling, included examples of unlawful harassment based on gender identity and sexual orientation; a federal court in Texas had already vacated that specific section in May 2025 for exceeding EEOC's authority, but the January 2026 vote eliminated the remainder of the document, covering harassment standards for race, sex, religion, age, and disability as well. The commission's lone Democrat, Kalpana Kotagal, voted against the rescission, calling it "throwing out the baby with the bathwater."

Narrowing civil-rights protections

Jan 22

Education Dept. found Connetquot school district violated Title VI by dropping its Native American mascot to comply with state law

On January 22, 2026, the U.S. Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights concluded that Connetquot Central School District on Long Island, New York, violated Title VI of the Civil Rights Act by renaming its "Thunderbirds" mascot to "T-Birds" under a settlement complying with a 2023 New York State Education Department regulation banning Native American mascots and imagery in public schools. Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights Kimberly Richey said the district "engaged in race- and national-origin-based discrimination" by abandoning the name and ordered it to revert to "Thunderbirds" and all associated logos; New York's Education Department called the finding "a mockery of our nation's civil rights laws."

Jan 22

DOJ and FBI arrest anti-ICE church-protest organizers under FACE Act and conspiracy statute

On January 22, 2026, Attorney General Pam Bondi and FBI Director Kash Patel announced federal charges against Minneapolis civil-rights organizer Nekima Levy Armstrong, St. Paul school-board member Chauntyll Allen, and others over a January 18 anti-ICE demonstration inside Cities Church in St. Paul, where one pastor also directs the local ICE field office. The activists were charged under the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances (FACE) Act and 18 U.S.C. § 241 (conspiracy against rights); Levy Armstrong was processed and released the same day after a federal magistrate found insufficient evidence to detain her. These were the first arrests in a prosecution that a February 27 superseding indictment would expand to 39 defendants.

Jan 22

ICE agents smashed a lawfully present driver's car window and tased him during a Portland, Maine stop

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents stopped civil engineer Juan Sebastián Carvajal-Muñoz while he drove to work in Portland, Maine, on January 22, 2026, smashed his car window with a crowbar, and dragged him out at taser-point after he showed a REAL ID through the window. Agents held Carvajal-Muñoz, who holds a valid H-1B visa through September 2027, for roughly 16 hours — moving him toward an ICE facility in Burlington, Massachusetts — before releasing him that night. He sued ICE agent Jack Cory Ravencamp and four then-unnamed agents in April 2026 under the Maine Civil Rights Act, alleging the stop was based on his race.

Jan 21

House Speaker Mike Johnson endorsed impeaching judges Boasberg and Boardman over their rulings against Trump

House Speaker Mike Johnson said at a Capitol news conference on January 21, 2026 that he supports impeaching U.S. District Judges James Boasberg and Deborah Boardman, calling their rulings against the Trump administration "egregious abuses" and saying "extreme times call for extreme measures." His remarks endorsed an impeachment campaign already underway among House and Senate Republicans, including articles Rep. Brandon Gill had filed against Boasberg and a Senate hearing Sen. Ted Cruz had convened arguing both judges violated their constitutional duties.

Attacks on judicial independence

Jan 21

ICE deported pregnant asylum seeker Zharick Buitrago Ortiz from Atlanta amid reported medical distress, pending asylum claim

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement deported Zharick Daniela Buitrago Ortiz, a 21-year-old Colombian asylum seeker who was eight months pregnant, from Atlanta's Hartsfield-Jackson airport on January 21, 2026, while a derivative asylum claim on her mother's application remained pending. Her attorney said she was in "serious medical distress" with intense back and abdominal pain and had been denied medical care before the flight; DHS disputed the medical-distress claim on the record, saying she had been medically cleared per policy and describing her as a suspected gang member who had previously been removed. Hours later, a federal judge granted part of an emergency motion to halt the removal, but ICE had already put her on the plane.

Denial of due process in immigration enforcement

Jan 21

TSA Acting Administrator McNeill falsely told Congress TSA does not send passenger data to ICE; FOIA-obtained agreement showed it does

On January 21, 2026, Acting TSA Administrator Ha Nguyen McNeill testified before the House Committee on Homeland Security that TSA does not send passenger data to ICE, saying the agency only "helps ICE check against information." A Memorandum of Agreement between TSA and ICE, signed in May 2025 and disclosed by American Oversight through a FOIA lawsuit on July 28, 2026, states that TSA "intends to share specified data elements with ICE" and sets procedures for ICE to retain that information.

Jan 21

Institute of Museum and Library Services funded 'Freedom Trucks' museums that presented fabricated and AI-generated history to the public

The Institute of Museum and Library Services awarded a $14 million grant to Freedom 250 to fund a fleet of six "Freedom Trucks" mobile museums, which launched January 21, 2026 and toured schools and communities nationwide with content produced by PragerU and Hillsdale College. Reporting by The Washington Post, Inside Higher Ed, and independent journalist Jonathan Larsen documented that the exhibits presented fabricated and AI-generated historical claims, including an invented George Washington quotation, a false statement that Muhammad Ali had "disavowed" Islam, and a long-debunked myth that Congress authorized an official "Aitken Bible." Historians said the government-funded exhibits advanced a sanitized, Christian-nationalist account of American history.

Jan 20

ICE secretly deported eight shackled Palestinians from Phoenix to the occupied West Bank

On January 20, 2026, ICE flew eight Palestinian men - shackled at the wrists and ankles for the entire journey - out of a Phoenix deportation hub on a private jet bearing the emblem of Dezer Development, the company run by Trump donor Gil Dezer, with refueling stops in New Jersey, Ireland, and Bulgaria. The men landed at Ben Gurion Airport and were released by Israeli authorities at a military checkpoint near Ni'lin in the occupied West Bank, in an operation coordinated with Israel and approved by the Shin Bet. A joint +972 Magazine and Guardian investigation found the flight was one of at least two such secret removals in early 2026, carried out with little or no due process.

Jan 20

Office of Management and Budget ordered agencies to compile detailed federal-funding data on 14 Democratic-led states and D.C.

On January 20, 2026, the White House Office of Management and Budget, led by Director Russell Vought, directed nearly every federal agency to compile detailed spending data — grants, loans, contracts, subcontracts, and other awards — for 13 Democratic-led states and Washington, D.C., later expanded to include a 14th state. OMB's memo described the review as a "data-gathering exercise" that "does not involve withholding funds," framing NOTUS reported was written specifically to avoid conflicting with a federal judge's ruling days earlier that targeting Democratic states for funding cuts violated the 14th Amendment's Equal Protection Clause.

Targeting critics with government power

Jan 20

ICE and DHS launched 'Operation Catch of the Day,' a Maine immigration surge aimed at the state's Somali community

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement launched "Operation Catch of the Day" in Maine on January 20, 2026, an enforcement surge explicitly aimed at the state's Somali immigrant community and centered on Lewiston and Portland. DHS said the operation targeted "the worst of the worst criminal illegal aliens" but disclosed criminal histories for only 4 of the roughly 50 people arrested in the operation's first days, while ICE Deputy Assistant Director Patricia Hyde said the agency had compiled a target list of 1,400 people statewide. Maine Gov. Janet Mills, Lewiston Mayor Carl Sheline, and Portland Mayor Mark Dion publicly objected to the deployment.

Targeting marginalized communities

Jan 20

ICE detained 5-year-old Liam Conejo Ramos and his father, transferring them to a Texas family detention center

On January 20, 2026, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement detained 5-year-old Liam Conejo Ramos and his father, Adrian Conejo Arias, in the driveway of their home in Columbia Heights, Minnesota, and transferred them to the Dilley family detention center in Texas. A federal judge ordered their release on January 31, 2026, finding the case stemmed from an "ill-conceived" pursuit of deportation quotas, and the family returned to Minnesota on February 1. Days later the Department of Homeland Security moved to end the family's pending asylum claims, which the family's attorneys said was an attempt to fast-track their removal and which DHS called standard procedure.

Jan 20

Brooklyn Park police chief revealed ICE agents drew guns on an off-duty officer and knocked her phone from her hand

Brooklyn Park (Minn.) Police Chief Mark Bruley said at a January 20, 2026 news conference that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents pulled over one of his off-duty officers, boxed in her car, demanded her paperwork despite her being a U.S. citizen, and had their guns drawn; when she tried to record the stop, an agent knocked the phone from her hand. Bruley and other Minnesota police leaders alleged that officers and residents have been stopped by federal agents "solely because of the color of their skin," while DHS said it could find no record of the stop and could not verify the claim without a name.

Jan 19

DHS denies Minneapolis immigration detainees, including a U.S. citizen, access to lawyers

During Operation Metro Surge, federal agents held people swept up in Minneapolis-area immigration raids — including at least one U.S. citizen — inside the Bishop Henry Whipple Federal Building and systematically denied them access to attorneys. Lawyers reported being turned away for days with shifting, legally invalid excuses, while detainees were allowed an outgoing call only after being booked and transferred to out-of-state facilities. DHS denied any violation, but the pattern was corroborated by four named attorneys, two U.S. senators, and a class-action suit that produced a March 2026 court order requiring prompt attorney access before any transfer.

Jan 19

ICE agent drew gun, entered St. Paul restaurant chasing unidentified person, traumatizing staff and customers

On January 19, 2026, a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent stepped out of his vehicle with his handgun drawn and entered Eastside Thai, a restaurant in St. Paul, Minnesota, after a person ran past the front door while the agent searched for an unspecified "kid." Co-owner Kou Lee said the agent accused the owners of "hiding the kid," and co-owner Elle Lee said the agent was shouting as he entered, then exited and re-entered with the weapon still unholstered before leaving; both owners said multiple customers and staff were left traumatized by the encounter.

Excessive force by law enforcement

Jan 18

ICE breaks into St. Paul home at gunpoint and detains Hmong American U.S. citizen ChongLy Thao in his underwear; county probes it as kidnapping

On January 18, 2026, masked federal immigration agents broke down the door of ChongLy "Scott" Thao, a 56-year-old naturalized U.S. citizen of Hmong descent, in St. Paul, pointed guns at his family, and led him into subzero cold wearing only his underwear, Crocs, and a blanket. Agents handcuffed Thao in front of his young grandson and drove him around questioning him before fingerprinting confirmed he is a longtime citizen with no record, then returned him home without explanation. Ramsey County's attorney and sheriff opened an investigation into the federal agents' conduct as a possible kidnapping.

Jan 18

Top DOJ prosecutor in LA urged the public to feed false information to immigrant-rights hotlines

First Assistant U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli of the Central District of California posted on X on January 18, 2026 that the public has a "First Amendment right" to call immigrant-rights hotlines and "provide inaccurate information," then shared a screenshot identifying specific rapid-response hotlines run by CHIRLA, ÓRALE, and Immigrant Defenders Law Center. The post came in response to Rep. Jimmy Gomez alerting constituents to federal immigration enforcement in Los Angeles's Fashion District, and one of the named organizations told reporters it was already experiencing an increase in "crank calls."

Targeting critics with government power

Jan 17

Federal agents pepper-sprayed Minneapolis protesters outside Whipple building one day after court order barred it

On January 17, 2026, federal agents deployed chemical irritants against peaceful demonstrators outside the Bishop Henry Whipple Federal Building in Minneapolis — conduct that U.S. District Judge Katherine Menendez had specifically enjoined less than 24 hours earlier. The January 16 injunction, arising from an ACLU lawsuit over Operation Metro Surge, barred federal agents from pepper-spraying, arresting, or retaliating against peaceful protesters. Rather than comply, the Trump administration appealed and sought an Eighth Circuit stay, which the appellate court granted on January 21.

Jan 17

St. Paul officials disclosed ICE detained a legally authorized snowplow driver, saying he was targeted over his national origin

On January 17, 2026, St. Paul Public Works Director Sean Kershaw publicly disclosed that ICE had detained a department snowplow driver despite the man's federal work authorization, valid commercial driver's license, and a clean background check the city itself had run, and transferred him to a detention facility in El Paso, Texas. Kershaw said the detention was based "purely on his country of origin" and called it "a detention that never should have happened." The exact date ICE detained the man was not established in reporting, and the man has a serious medical condition requiring specific medication and diet.

Targeting marginalized communities

Jan 17

ICE agents stopped and arrested Darwin Garcia Medrano and his 16-year-old brother at a gas station in Brentwood, New York

On January 17, 2026, ICE agents stopped Darwin Garcia Medrano and his 16-year-old brother at a gas station in Brentwood, New York, arresting both without a judicial warrant. Darwin, who had a pending Special Immigrant Juvenile status application, was detained for five days. His arrest is one of eight named in the April 2026 class-action lawsuit Benitez v. DHS, which alleges ICE and CBP agents have conducted a systematic pattern of warrantless stops and arrests of Latino residents across New York based on race and ethnicity.

Jan 17

ICE arrested Darwin Garcia Medrano without a warrant while he pumped gas in Brentwood, New York, detaining him for five days

On January 17, 2026, ICE agents stopped and arrested Darwin Garcia Medrano, a 19-year-old Latino resident of Brentwood, New York who holds Special Immigrant Juvenile Status, without a warrant while he pumped gas, along with his 16-year-old brother and a friend, according to a class action complaint filed April 8, 2026 in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York. Garcia Medrano spent five days in ICE detention before being released without explanation. The complaint, filed by the Legal Aid Society, NYCLU, Make the Road New York, and Covington and Burling, alleges ICE and CBP systematically target Latino New Yorkers for suspicionless stops and warrantless arrests in violation of the Fourth Amendment and federal immigration law.

Jan 16

DOJ court filing revealed DOGE shared Social Security data of 300 million Americans via an unapproved server

A Justice Department court filing dated January 16, 2026 disclosed that Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) team members at the Social Security Administration had copied and shared a database of more than 300 million Americans' personal records through Cloudflare, a third-party server not approved to store SSA data and outside the agency's security protocols; SSA said it still cannot determine what was shared or whether it remains on the server. The same filing disclosed that SSA referred two DOGE employees to the Office of Special Counsel for potential Hatch Act violations after a political advocacy group contacted them seeking Social Security data to match against state voter rolls as part of an effort to overturn election results in certain states.

Improper collection or dissemination of personal data

Jan 16

Trump pardoned three defendants in a Puerto Rico bank-regulator bribery scheme, including banker Herrera Velutini and ex-Gov. Vázquez

On January 16, 2026, President Trump pardoned three co-defendants in a Puerto Rico bank-regulator bribery scheme: Venezuelan-Italian banker Julio Herrera Velutini, former Governor Wanda Vázquez Garced, and former FBI agent Mark Rossini. Prosecutors had alleged that Herrera Velutini arranged roughly $300,000 in support for Vázquez's 2020 reelection campaign in exchange for firing a banking regulator investigating his bank. The pardons wiped out the cases, including Vázquez's guilty plea to reduced campaign-finance charges.

Jan 16

U.S. Border Patrol detained Gresham, Oregon family, including 7-year-old, in Portland hospital parking lot; held past Flores limit

U.S. Border Patrol agents detained Darianny Liseth González de Crespo, her husband Yohendry de Jesús Crespo, and their 7-year-old daughter Diana in the parking lot of Adventist Health Portland on January 16, 2026, while the Gresham, Oregon family sought emergency care for the child's persistent nosebleed. The Department of Homeland Security confirmed on the record that Border Patrol agents made the detention; the family was driven to Washington state and flown to the South Texas Family Residential Center in Dilley, Texas, where they were held together for 21 days -- one day past the 20-day limit on detaining children set by the 1997 Flores Agreement.

Jan 16

ICE re-arrested Garrison Gibson at Minneapolis check-in, a day after judge ruled his battering-ram arrest unlawful

On January 16, 2026, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents re-arrested Garrison Gibson, a 37-year-old Liberian national living in Minneapolis under an order of supervision, during a scheduled check-in at the Bishop Henry Whipple Federal Building -- one day after U.S. District Judge Jeffrey Bryan ordered his release, ruling that ICE's January 11 battering-ram arrest of Gibson violated the Fourth Amendment and that ICE had ignored its own regulations on revoking supervised release. ICE held Gibson roughly three hours before releasing him again that afternoon, fitted with an ankle monitor and returned to supervision, again without providing the notice or interview the regulations require before revoking an order of supervision.

Jan 16

DOJ opens criminal investigation into Gov. Tim Walz and Mayor Jacob Frey over their anti-ICE statements

On January 16, 2026, the U.S. Justice Department opened a criminal investigation into Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz and Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey over an alleged conspiracy to impede federal immigration agents during Operation Metro Surge, the roughly 3,000-agent ICE and Border Patrol deployment to the Twin Cities. Sources told CBS News the inquiry rests on 18 U.S.C. Section 372 and stems from the officials' public criticism of the operation, which had intensified after an ICE agent killed Minnesota resident Renee Good on January 7. Subpoenas to Walz, Frey, Attorney General Keith Ellison, the St. Paul mayor's office, and two counties followed the next week.

Jan 15

ICE deported gay Moroccan asylum-seeker to Cameroon, circumventing judge's order barring removal to Morocco

On January 15, 2026, ICE deported Farah, a 21-year-old gay Moroccan asylum-seeker, from ICE custody in Alexandria, Louisiana to Cameroon, despite an immigration judge's August 2025 ruling that she could not be removed to Morocco because it would endanger her life. Farah, who fled Morocco after her own and her partner's families attacked her over her sexual orientation, was deported three days before a scheduled release hearing; unable to safely remain in Cameroon, where homosexuality is also illegal, she was then sent onward to Morocco — the country the order barred. DHS said it was "applying the law as written."

Jan 15

ICE agents detained a Brooklyn deacon outside his home without explaining the arrest or reading him his rights, court filings say

On the morning of January 15, 2026, ICE agents detained Deacon Sebastian Renoj Ordoñez and several neighbors outside his Bensonhurst, Brooklyn apartment building as they left for work; according to federal court filings, officers did not explain the arrest or read him his rights. Ordoñez, a church leader for 18 years with no criminal record and U.S.-citizen children and grandchildren, was transferred within 48 hours to a detention facility in Newark, New Jersey. DHS said he had previously been deported under a false identity in 2000, while a federal judge ordered a pause on any further transfer or deportation and directed that he receive a bond hearing within 10 days.

Denial of due process in immigration enforcement

Jan 15

ICE breaks into St. Paul home in armed warrantless raid, detains six including a 12-year-old flown to Texas

On January 15, 2026, federal immigration agents broke through the door of a home on Nevada Avenue East in St. Paul, Minnesota, entered with assault rifles, and detained six members of a Venezuelan family — including a 12-year-old boy who was transported to an immigration center in San Antonio, Texas. Agents claimed a search warrant but never presented one; a document left on the doorstep the next day was an unfiled Ramsey County (state) court paper with no case number. On January 19, U.S. District Judge John Tunheim granted the family's habeas petition after DHS failed to produce a judicial warrant by his deadline, ordering the detainees returned to Minnesota and released within 72 hours.

Jan 15

EPA ended decades-long practice of monetizing air-pollution health benefits in Clean Air Act rulemaking analysis

On January 15, 2026, the EPA under Administrator Lee Zeldin finalized a rule revising New Source Performance Standards for stationary combustion and gas turbines that, for the first time, said the agency would no longer assign a dollar value to the health benefits of reduced fine particulate matter (PM2.5) and ozone pollution in its regulatory cost-benefit analysis, while continuing to fully count compliance costs to industry. The EPA cited general modeling uncertainty but did not cite new peer-reviewed science justifying a break from the quantification methods it and prior Republican administrations had used for decades. Senate Democrats led by Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse opened an investigation into the change in February 2026, and the agency applied the same non-monetization approach in at least one later 2026 rulemaking.

Ignoring statutory requirements

Jan 15

Court filing revealed Trump had appointed ballroom's own architect and three loyalists to the commission required to approve it

A court filing submitted January 15, 2026 in litigation over Trump's White House ballroom project revealed that President Trump had appointed four new members to the Commission of Fine Arts (CFA), the federal board that must review and approve the ballroom expansion. The appointees include Mary Anne Carter, chair of the National Endowment for the Arts and a close friend of White House chief of staff Susie Wiles; conservative art critic Roger Kimball; White House National Garden of American Heroes official Matthew Taylor; and architect James McCrery, who was separately hired to lead the ballroom's own construction. Trump had fired the board's entire prior six-member membership in October 2025, leaving the CFA unable to meet.

Politicized appointments to independent or specialized roles

Jan 15

National Park Service awarded ballroom contractor Clark Construction a no-bid $17.4M Lafayette Park fountain contract

In January 2026, the National Park Service awarded Clark Construction Group — the contractor also building President Trump's East Wing White House ballroom — a sole-source, no-bid contract to repair two Lafayette Park fountains, invoking an urgency exemption normally reserved for emergencies. The award grew from a 2022 government estimate of $3.3 million to $17.4 million, with contracting specialists identifying irregularities including double-counted inflation costs.

Procurement irregularities

Jan 15

Public Citizen found agencies canceled or froze 159 corporate enforcement actions in Trump's first year, many tied to inaugural donors

A Public Citizen report published January 15, 2026 found that during the first year of President Trump's second term, federal agencies — including the Justice Department, SEC, FTC, and CFPB — canceled or froze 159 enforcement actions against 166 corporations that had been under federal investigation or prosecution. Of the companies that received favorable treatment, 31 had donated to Trump's inauguration or White House ballroom fund, a pattern the group had flagged in advance in an April 2025 analysis warning the donations "may serve as down payments" for dropped cases. The report documents the systemic collapse of corporate enforcement rather than asserting a proven quid pro quo in any individual case.

Jan 15

FTC issued Civil Investigative Demands to Endocrine Society and AAP for records on pediatric gender-affirming care guidelines

On January 15, 2026, the Federal Trade Commission issued Civil Investigative Demands to the Endocrine Society and the American Academy of Pediatrics, demanding years of internal records on their pediatric gender dysphoria clinical guidelines under the theory the organizations may have engaged in "false advertising or unfair practices." The medical societies sued in federal court, arguing the demands were First Amendment retaliation targeting their scientific positions rather than genuine consumer protection enforcement. On May 8, 2026, Chief Judge James Boasberg granted a preliminary injunction blocking FTC enforcement, finding "extensive evidence of animus" and "wafer-thin justifications" for the investigation.

Jan 14

ICE routes Diaz autopsy to military hospital, bypassing ME who ruled prior Camp East Montana death a homicide

Victor Manuel Diaz, a 36-year-old Nicaraguan detained in the Minneapolis area under Operation Metro Surge, died on January 14, 2026 at Camp East Montana, the ICE tent facility on the Army's Fort Bliss base in El Paso, Texas — eight days after his arrest and roughly 1,200 miles from where he was taken. ICE called the death a "presumed suicide," but his family rejected that account, and the agency routed his autopsy to a military hospital that withholds its findings from the public, bypassing the El Paso County medical examiner who had ruled an earlier detainee's death at the same camp a homicide. Diaz was the third person to die at Camp East Montana in a 44-day span.

Jan 14

ICE detained a Willmar, Minnesota restaurant's owners and a dishwasher in a collateral vehicle-stop arrest hours after agents ate lunch there

On January 14, 2026, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers surveilled El Tapatio Mexican Restaurant in Willmar, Minnesota, and positively identified a target inside after seeing his vehicle parked outside. Officers conducted a vehicle stop later that day and detained the target along with two other people found in the car -- the restaurant's two owners and a dishwasher -- one of whom already had a final removal order from an immigration judge. The restaurant closed afterward as residents described a climate of fear and a nearby business owner said ICE operations had cost his shop roughly 75% of its trade.

Denial of due process in immigration enforcement

Jan 14

State Department suspended immigrant-visa processing for 75 countries citing "public charge" concerns

On January 14, 2026, the State Department announced it would suspend immigrant-visa processing for citizens of 75 countries, including Afghanistan, Iran, Russia, and Somalia, effective January 21, citing a policy of vetting applicants for the likelihood they would rely on public assistance once admitted. The suspension, which builds on a November 2025 directive tightening "public charge" vetting, does not apply to nonimmigrant tourist or business visas.

Discriminatory policy

Jan 14

DHS Secretary Noem terminated Temporary Protected Status for Somalia, stripping deportation protection from about 2,500 Somalis

On January 14, 2026, DHS Secretary Kristi Noem announced the termination of Temporary Protected Status for Somalia, effective March 17, 2026, stating that "country conditions in Somalia have improved" and that continued protection was "contrary to our national interests." The termination affects approximately 2,500 Somali nationals — 1,082 people enrolled in TPS as of December 8, 2025, plus 1,383 pending applicants — making them eligible for deportation. The announcement came amid an ongoing ICE enforcement surge in Minneapolis, home to the nation's largest Somali-American community, and after President Trump had made repeated derogatory public statements about Somali immigrants.

Discriminatory policy

Jan 14

Federal agents deployed tear gas under a Minneapolis family's vehicle, trapping six children inside

On January 14, 2026, federal agents responding to protests against Operation Metro Surge deployed tear gas that rolled under a family's SUV in north Minneapolis, trapping Destiny and Shawn Jackson and their six children — ages six months to eleven — inside as the vehicle's auto-locking doors initially prevented escape. Once extracted, Destiny Jackson performed CPR on the couple's six-month-old, who had stopped breathing; the infant was revived, and the family was hospitalized and decontaminated. DHS initially posted, then deleted, a statement blaming the family for bringing children to a "violent riot," before an agency spokesperson said the family had not intentionally been at the protest and were not the target of the agents' actions.

Excessive force by law enforcement

Jan 14

CBS News report revealed DOJ immigration court locked out independent observers at Minneapolis's Whipple building

CBS News Minnesota reported on January 14, 2026 that immigration court officials at the Bishop Henry Whipple Federal Building in Minneapolis had locked courtroom doors, denied or severely restricted independent observers' access, and stripped names and complete case numbers from case records — a pattern the advocacy group The Advocates for Human Rights said has continued since early 2025. DOJ's own published policy states immigration courts are open to the public except when a judge grants a motion to close a hearing or limit attendance; no such motion or other government justification for the restrictions was reported.

Jan 14

FBI searched Washington Post reporter Hannah Natanson's Alexandria, Virginia home, seized her devices in Pentagon leak probe

On January 14, 2026, FBI agents executed a search warrant at the Alexandria, Virginia home of Washington Post reporter Hannah Natanson and seized her phone, two laptops, a recorder, a portable hard drive, and a Garmin watch, as part of a Pentagon-referred Justice Department leak investigation into a government contractor accused of taking home classified reports. Attorney General Pam Bondi said the search was conducted at the Defense Department's request; Natanson and the Post were not targets of the underlying probe, but the seizure cut off her access to more than 1,000 confidential sources and her ongoing reporting on the administration's downsizing of the federal workforce.

Jan 14

Slotkin revealed Pirro's office sought interviews with Democratic lawmakers over anti-illegal-orders video

Sen. Elissa Slotkin revealed on January 14, 2026 that Jeanine Pirro, the Trump-appointed U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia, had asked to interview her the previous week about a November 2025 video in which she and five other Democratic members of Congress reminded U.S. troops of their duty to refuse illegal orders. Reps. Jason Crow, Maggie Goodlander, and Chrissy Houlahan confirmed to reporters that they received similar interview requests from Pirro's office. The requests followed a November 2025 FBI counterterrorism interview request over the same video and preceded a February 2026 attempt by Pirro's office to indict the same six lawmakers before a grand jury.

Jan 14

Education Department opened 18 Title IX investigations into schools and colleges across 10 states over transgender-athlete policies

On January 14, 2026 — the day after the Supreme Court heard oral arguments on state laws barring transgender athletes from women's sports — the U.S. Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights opened Title IX investigations into 18 K-12 school districts, colleges, and one state education department across ten states: California, Connecticut, Hawaii, Maine, Massachusetts, Nevada, New York, Pennsylvania, Vermont, and Washington. The investigations targeted policies letting students compete in school sports according to their gender identity rather than sex. Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights Kimberly Richey said OCR was "aggressively pursuing" the entities and would "leave no stone unturned."

Jan 14

ICE detained U.S. citizen Nasra Ahmed for two days in St. Paul; agent allegedly shoved her and used a racial slur

On January 14, 2026, ICE agents in St. Paul, Minnesota detained Nasra Ahmed, a 23-year-old U.S. citizen with no criminal record, while pursuing two men she did not know; Ahmed said agents shoved her to the ground and one used a racial slur before she was held two days at Sherburne County jail and released without charges. She described the detention publicly at a Minnesota State Capitol press briefing on January 21, and a Department of Homeland Security spokesperson responded the same day by alleging, without evidence, that she had assaulted federal agents. Federal prosecutors subsequently charged Ahmed over the same encounter, and in June 2026 a federal judge dismissed the case with prejudice, finding the government had violated a court order and undermined the presumption of innocence.

Jan 14

Hennepin County charges ICE agent in January Minneapolis shooting of Venezuelan immigrant

On May 18, 2026, Hennepin County prosecutors charged U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent Christian Castro with four counts of second-degree assault and one count of falsely reporting a crime in the January 14, 2026 shooting of Venezuelan immigrant Julio Cesar Sosa-Celis through the front door of a home in north Minneapolis. County Attorney Mary Moriarty said security-camera and physical evidence show Castro was never under threat — he was not struck by a shovel, broom, or other object — and then filed a false account of the encounter. The U.S. Department of Justice had previously dropped the federal assault charges that the Department of Homeland Security brought against Sosa-Celis and his cousin Alfredo Aljorna in February 2026 after the same footage contradicted the ICE agents' sworn statements; ICE placed two agents on administrative leave at that time.

Jan 13

ICE detained Circle Pines, Minnesota restaurant worker at work, flew him to Texas detention within about 12 hours

On January 13, 2026, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents detained a worker at Pancho's Taqueria and Mexican Cafe in Circle Pines, Minnesota, during the federal Operation Metro Surge immigration-enforcement deployment to the Twin Cities. The worker -- identified by restaurant owners only as "Kevin" to protect his safety -- was taken to a federal building in Minneapolis and flown to an ICE detention facility in El Paso, Texas roughly 12 hours later, before his family or an attorney located him. Restaurant owner Frank Chase said Kevin held valid work authorization; ICE and CBP did not respond to reporters' requests for comment on the detention.

Denial of due process in immigration enforcement

Jan 13

Federal agents dragged U.S. citizen Aliya Rahman from her car and detained her without charge in Minneapolis

On January 13, 2026, masked federal agents smashed the window of U.S. citizen Aliya Rahman's car, cut her seatbelt, and dragged her out at a Minneapolis intersection while she was driving to an appointment at the city's Traumatic Brain Injury Center. Rahman, who is autistic and has a prior brain injury, told agents she was disabled; she was taken to the Whipple detention facility, denied medical care until she lost consciousness, and was never charged with a crime. The Department of Homeland Security called her an "agitator" who ignored commands to move her vehicle, one of seven people arrested at the scene during Operation Metro Surge.

Jan 13

CNN report reveals Pentagon directed dozens of active-duty military lawyers to prosecute civilians in Minneapolis

On January 13, 2026, CNN reported that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth had directed the military services to identify 40 judge advocate general officers, from which 25 would be selected to serve as Special Assistant U.S. Attorneys prosecuting civilians in Minneapolis amid an immigration-enforcement crackdown. The detailing of active-duty uniformed lawyers to Justice Department prosecutions followed similar moves in Washington, D.C., and Memphis, and drew challenges under the 1878 Posse Comitatus Act, which restricts the use of the military for domestic law enforcement. Former JAG officers argued the practice assigned uniformed military attorneys to prosecute ordinary civilian crimes unrelated to the armed forces.

Jan 13

Justice Department was investigating Renee Good's widow while declining to investigate the ICE agent who killed her

By January 13, 2026, the U.S. Department of Justice was pursuing a criminal investigation into Becca Good, the widow of Renee Good — fatally shot by ICE agent Jonathan Ross during Operation Metro Surge — for allegedly impeding a federal officer, while Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche said there was "currently no basis" for a civil-rights investigation into Ross. The dual decision, which drew on a statute from Attorney General Pam Bondi's December domestic-terrorism memo, prompted at least a dozen career federal prosecutors to resign across the Minnesota U.S. Attorney's office and the DOJ Civil Rights Division's criminal section. Minnesota Governor Tim Walz said "the only person not being investigated for the shooting of Renee Good is the federal agent who shot her."

Jan 12

Burgum established U.S. Wildland Fire Service by secretarial order, overriding Congress's refusal to fund it

Interior Secretary Doug Burgum signed Secretary's Order 3448 on January 12, 2026, formally establishing the U.S. Wildland Fire Service by consolidating wildfire management programs from four Interior Department agencies without congressional authorization. Congress had explicitly declined to fund the agency, zeroing out the administration's $6.5 billion request and directing that FY2026 Interior appropriations continue under the longstanding practice of separate agency programs. The new agency also mandated a full suppression wildfire policy requiring all fires under its management to be extinguished as quickly as possible, reviving a decades-old approach that wildfire scientists say worsens long-term fire risk.

Jan 12

ICE agents arrested and held Willmar teenager Suban Noor incommunicado for four days during Operation PARRIS sweep

On January 12, 2026, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents arrested 19-year-old Suban Noor, a Willmar Senior High School student and Walmart employee, on a downtown Willmar street as she stopped to pick up food for her family. An eyewitness described agents cornering her car, handcuffing her, and pulling her barefoot into an ICE vehicle while she cried out; her family had no contact with her and did not know where she was held until ICE's own detainee locator showed her release on January 16.

Jan 12

ICE arrested NYC Council employee Rafael Rubio at a routine asylum interview and detained him 158 days despite his valid TPS

On January 12, 2026, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement arrested Rafael Rubio, a Venezuelan data analyst employed by the New York City Council, when he appeared for a routine asylum interview at a USCIS office in Bethpage, New York, despite his holding Temporary Protected Status valid through October 2026. He was held at Delaney Hall in Newark, New Jersey for 158 days, and the Department of Homeland Security branded him a "criminal illegal alien" in a January 13 press release. City Council Speaker Julie Menin disputed the government's account and called the detention wrongful.

Jan 12

New Mexico In Depth investigation revealed ICE detained U-visa applicant Damián Soto for months; Soto says an officer pressured him to self-deport

A January 12, 2026 New Mexico In Depth investigation revealed that ICE arrested Damian Soto, a 31-year-old San Bernardino, California man with a pending, preliminarily-approved U visa, at his home in June 2025 and detained him for months, transferring him through Los Angeles and El Paso facilities to CoreCivic's Cibola County Correctional Center in Grants, New Mexico, where, according to Soto, a detention officer urged him to sign voluntary-departure paperwork. Soto's family found the New Mexico Immigrant Law Center, which filed a federal habeas corpus petition the government did not oppose; Soto was released without bail or an ankle monitor, though his immigration court case continues.

Jan 11

ICE deported 5-year-old U.S. citizen Génesis Gutiérrez Castellanos to Honduras without a hearing or access to counsel

On January 11, 2026, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement deported five-year-old Génesis Ester Gutiérrez Castellanos -- a U.S. citizen born in Austin, Texas -- to Honduras alongside her mother, Karen Guadalupe Gutiérrez Castellanos, who was removed under a 2019 administrative deportation order issued before Génesis was born. ICE took the pair into custody in Austin on January 5 after local police, responding to a domestic-disturbance call, found an active ICE warrant against Gutiérrez and notified the agency, then held them nearly a week in a San Antonio-area hotel without a hearing or access to a lawyer before deporting them.

Jan 11

St. Lucia signed non-binding third-country deportee MOU, faced disclosure-timing backlash

St. Lucia Prime Minister Philip J. Pierre announced during a New Year's address on January 11, 2026 that his Cabinet had approved a non-binding Memorandum of Understanding with the United States on third-country deportees. Pierre faced domestic criticism for the timing of the disclosure, with commentators noting the deal appeared to have been finalized weeks before he announced it, and the agreement's text has never been publicly released.

Denial of due process in immigration enforcement

Jan 11

ICE pepper-sprayed and detained two citizen legal observers in Minneapolis; one says HSI tried to recruit him as an informant

On the night of January 11-12, 2026, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents in south Minneapolis pepper-sprayed the vehicle of two U.S. citizens conducting legal-observer work, Brandon Siguenza and Patricia O'Keefe, then smashed its windows and pulled them out despite their hands being raised -- an incident independently corroborated by neighbor-recorded video, according to a Snopes investigation -- arresting them for an "obstruction" charge that was never formally filed. The pair were held roughly eight hours at the Whipple Federal Building, where Siguenza says a Homeland Security Investigations agent offered him money and help bringing relatives into the country in exchange for the names of protest organizers and undocumented neighbors, which he refused; DHS disputed the account, calling any claim it offered money for information "FALSE" and alleging Siguenza and O'Keefe had themselves committed a felony by "stalking and obstructing ICE law enforcement." Upon release, agents directed Siguenza into a nearby area where tear gas was deployed and he was struck by a projectile.

Jan 11

Border Patrol agents choked and dragged Honduran cook from car, knocked him unconscious during St. Paul gas station arrest

On January 11, 2026, U.S. Border Patrol agents smashed the car window of Orbin Mauricio Henriquez Serrano, a Honduran restaurant cook, at a Speedway gas station in St. Paul, Minnesota, then dragged him from the vehicle, choked him, and knelt on his back while handcuffing him until he lost consciousness. Border Patrol Commander-at-Large Gregory Bovino, who was directing enforcement activity in the area, watched the arrest. Henriquez Serrano was detained, denied medical care and a lawyer for days, and deported to Honduras before he could meet with the attorney his family had retained.

Jan 11

ICE agents battered down Minneapolis man's front door and arrested him without a warrant; judge ruled the raid unconstitutional

On January 11, 2026, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents used a battering ram to break down the front door of Garrison Gibson's home in north Minneapolis and arrested him without a judicial warrant and without his consent, while his wife, 9-year-old daughter, and her cousin were inside. Gibson, a Liberian national who had been complying with routine ICE check-ins, was held in custody until U.S. District Judge Jeffrey Bryan ruled on January 15, 2026 that agents had "forcibly entered Garrison G.'s home without his consent and without a judicial warrant," violating the Fourth Amendment, and ordered his immediate release.

Jan 11

DOJ opened criminal probe of Federal Reserve Chair Powell with no evidence, using renovation costs as pretext for Trump's rate-policy feud

Around January 11, 2026, the Justice Department served the Federal Reserve with grand jury subpoenas, opening a criminal investigation of Chair Jerome Powell focused on $2.5 billion in headquarters renovation cost overruns — a probe that followed months of Trump publicly attacking Powell for refusing to lower interest rates faster. At a March 3 court hearing, the lead prosecutor told U.S. District Judge James Boasberg "we do not know at this time" what evidence of fraud or criminal misconduct existed; the judge quashed the subpoenas on March 13, finding the government had produced "essentially zero evidence to suspect Chair Powell of a crime" and calling the investigation's justifications "pretextual."

Politicized investigations

Jan 10

U.S. Border Patrol detained Spokane asylum-seeker and his 10-year-old daughter, held them a month at Texas facility

U.S. Border Patrol agents detained Guatemalan asylum-seeker Arnoldo Tiul Caal and his 10-year-old daughter Karla Tiul Baltazar in Spokane, Washington, on January 10, 2026, a day after first stopping and questioning him, despite his ongoing asylum case and clean record. The pair, who had lived in Spokane since 2019, were held roughly a month at the Dilley, Texas immigration processing center -- where Karla ran a fever and vomited -- before the Department of Homeland Security released them on February 6 without contesting a due-process habeas petition alleging DHS had violated its own regulations.

Jan 9

ICE detained Parady La, who died in Philadelphia federal custody after staff gave Narcan for his known drug withdrawal

On January 9, 2026, Parady La, a 46-year-old Cambodian American Upper Darby, Pennsylvania resident, died at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital in Philadelphia after U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement detained him and held him at the Federal Bureau of Prisons' Federal Detention Center Philadelphia. ICE said La was being treated for drug withdrawal when he was found unresponsive in his cell and given several doses of Narcan before being hospitalized; his family and the ACLU of Pennsylvania have questioned why an opioid-overdose antidote, not standard withdrawal care, was administered. The ACLU filed a Freedom of Information Act request on February 5, 2026 seeking his detention, medical, and video records.

Jan 9

DHS launched Operation PARRIS, and ICE detained up to 150 Minnesota refugees without due process

On January 9, 2026, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security launched "Operation PARRIS," directing USCIS to reexamine the immigration status of 5,600 Minnesota refugees who have not yet received green cards, as part of the administration's broader Minnesota fraud investigation. In the weeks that followed, ICE agents in plain clothes and masks arrived at refugees' homes and workplaces across Minnesota with drawn weapons, told families it was "just paperwork," and detained roughly 100 to 150 people, transporting most within about 24 hours to the Whipple Federal Building at Fort Snelling and then to detention facilities in Texas without access to an attorney or a stated legal basis for their detention.

Jan 9

DHS agents blinded two protesters with crowd-control projectiles at a Santa Ana immigration protest

On the evening of January 9, 2026, federal Department of Homeland Security officers in riot gear fired crowd-control projectiles into a crowd of demonstrators outside a federal immigration building in Santa Ana, California, at a protest held in response to the ICE killing of Renee Good in Minneapolis. The projectiles blinded two protesters, 21-year-old Kaden Rummler and 31-year-old Britain Rodriguez, each in one eye; Rummler required six hours of surgery and was left with skull fractures and metal fragments near his carotid artery. DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin characterized the demonstrators as "violent rioters" who threw "rocks, bottles and fireworks," a claim video evidence did not support, and did not address either man's injuries or identify the type of projectile fired.

Jan 9

USDA suspended $129 million in Minnesota, Minneapolis award payments over fraud allegations

On January 9, 2026, U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins announced the suspension of more than $129 million in active and future federal award payments to Minnesota and Minneapolis, covering nonprofit funding tied to the Feeding Our Future fraud scheme, the state's Housing Stabilization Services program, and daycare-center operating funds. In a letter to Gov. Tim Walz and Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey, Rollins wrote that their "Administrations refuse to provide basic information or take common sense measures to stop fraud" and made continued and future payments contingent on the state supplying spending justification within 30 days. Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison responded on the record: "I will not allow you to take from Minnesotans in need. I'll see you in court."

Politicized benefit administration

Jan 9

Pentagon AI chief Emil Michael sold his xAI stake for up to $25 million days after a major Pentagon-xAI deal

Emil Michael, the Pentagon's Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering, sold his stake in Elon Musk's xAI on January 9, 2026, held through an entity called KQ Partners, for between $5 million and $25 million -- a gain of 400% to 4,800% on a position he had disclosed at $500,000 to $1 million the year before, according to Office of Government Ethics filings. Michael had initially disclosed the xAI investment in March 2025, before joining the Pentagon; the OGE issued him a divestiture certificate on December 18, 2025 recognizing a conflict of interest, and the Pentagon announced a major agreement with xAI just days before his sale became official. The Department of War said Michael and other defense officials "are in full compliance with ethics laws and regulations," citing its "rigorous, multi-layered ethics framework." The sale was first reported in April 2026 and was among three Michael stock sales the Guardian detailed further in a September 2026 investigation.

Self-dealing

Jan 9

A U.S. Border Patrol agent kneed a man in the face repeatedly while other agents held him down during a Minneapolis arrest

On January 9, 2026, a U.S. Border Patrol agent driving the wrong way on a south Minneapolis street struck an oncoming car, then pulled the driver out and, with other agents holding him facedown, kneed him in the face at least five times as bystanders filmed and objected. DHS said the man is a "criminal alien from Ecuador," while a fundraiser organized on his behalf described him as a U.S. resident who had been observing ICE activity; he was later hospitalized for breathing difficulty before being taken into federal custody.

Violence in immigration enforcement

Jan 8

DHS fired career IT employee Brandon Wright over private political remarks caught in a covert dating-app sting

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security fired Brandon Wright, an eight-year career IT employee, on January 8, 2026, over private remarks criticizing incoming DHS Secretary Kristi Noem that political provocateur James O'Keefe secretly recorded during a date and published as part of his "Dating the Deep State" video series. DHS's own termination decision said continued employment would signal to the workforce that undermining the Secretary's agenda was permissible; Wright is suing DHS in federal court alleging First Amendment and due-process violations.

Blacklisting

Jan 8

USCIS canceled naturalization interviews and oath ceremonies nationwide, including for applicants outside its travel-ban list

The Seattle Times reported on January 8, 2026, that U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services had, since early December 2025, canceled naturalization interviews and oath ceremonies for lawful permanent residents nationwide, including many applicants from countries outside the Trump administration's travel-ban list. At one Seattle nonprofit, 55 clients had appointments canceled as of early January 2026 -- 49 of them nationals of non-travel-ban countries such as Vietnam, Cambodia, the Philippines, Ecuador, Mexico and Samoa -- and received only a form notice citing "unforeseen circumstances." USCIS attributed the cancellations to a "commonsense approach to balancing out workloads," without naming a legal basis, individualized reason, or rescheduling timeline.

Ignoring statutory requirements

Jan 8

ICE agents beat Mexican national in St. Paul, fracturing his skull in 8 places, then unlawfully detained him

On January 8, 2026, ICE agents pulled Alberto Castañeda Mondragón, a 31-year-old Mexican citizen, from a vehicle in a St. Paul, Minnesota shopping center parking lot, threw him to the ground, and repeatedly struck him in the head with a steel baton, per his own account and hospital records; he was hospitalized with brain hemorrhaging and eight skull fractures, injuries a treating doctor said were inconsistent with ICE's account that he fell and hit a concrete wall while trying to escape. A federal judge ruled on January 23, 2026 that Castañeda Mondragón's detention was unlawful because ICE had not obtained a warrant until after his arrest, and ordered his immediate release, but the government had not confirmed his release five days later, prompting the court to threaten an order to show cause.

Jan 8

U.S. Border Patrol agents shot and wounded two Venezuelan nationals during Portland vehicle stop

On January 8, 2026, U.S. Border Patrol agents shot and wounded Luis David Nino-Moncada, 33, and Yorlenys Zambrano-Contreras, 32, two Venezuelan nationals, during a vehicle stop outside a medical clinic in Southeast Portland, Oregon. The Department of Homeland Security said the driver "weaponized" his vehicle and an agent fired "a defensive shot"; none of the six Border Patrol agents present wore body cameras and no video was immediately available. Federal prosecutors charged Nino-Moncada with assaulting an officer and damaging federal property and charged Zambrano-Contreras separately with illegal entry, while defense counsel called DHS's accompanying gang-affiliation claim unsupported.

Violence in immigration enforcement

Jan 7

FMCSA withheld $160 million in highway funds from California over delayed revocation of 17,000 commercial licenses

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration announced on January 7, 2026 that it was withholding $160 million in federal highway funds from California after the state delayed, until March, the revocation of roughly 17,000 commercial driver's licenses a federal audit found were unlawfully issued to non-domiciled and visa-expired holders. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy tied the penalty to Governor Gavin Newsom "putting the needs of illegal immigrants over the safety of the American people," while FMCSA Administrator Derek Barrs said the agency would not accept a plan leaving noncompliant drivers behind the wheel of commercial trucks. California's DMV disputed that the withholding served public safety, saying it had cooperated with FMCSA on the review.

Coercive funding leverage

Jan 7

ICE agent Jonathan Ross fatally shoots U.S. citizen Renee Good in Minneapolis

On January 7, 2026, ICE deportation officer Jonathan Ross fatally shot Renee Nicole Macklin Good, a 37-year-old U.S. citizen, on a south Minneapolis street during Operation Metro Surge after she stopped to object to the federal presence. Multiple bystander and bodyworn videos, and a New York Times multi-angle analysis, show her SUV turning away as Ross fired three shots. The administration branded Good a "domestic terrorist" and called the killing self-defense, while local officials said the footage contradicted that account; federal authorities later declined to investigate.

Jan 7

ICE and Orange County Jail unlawfully detained Venezuelan student without charges for 18 days

On January 7, 2026, Florida authorities arrested Javier Gimenez Rivero, a Venezuelan high school student in Orlando with a pending asylum claim and valid federal work authorization, and Orange County Jail held him for 18 days with no criminal charges, warrant, or hearing under an ICE immigration hold. Orange County Corrections confirmed it extended his detention past the jail's own 48-hour limit by "rebooking" him and other ICE-hold detainees under new booking numbers each time the clock lapsed. U.S. District Judge Roy B. Dalton Jr. found the hold carried no independent lawful authority and ordered Rivero's immediate release.

Jan 6

ICE detained 10-year-old Elizabeth Zuna Caisaguano and her mother on the way to school and held them a month at Dilley, Texas

On January 6, 2026, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents surrounded a family car at a Columbia Heights, Minnesota bus stop and detained 10-year-old fourth-grader Elizabeth Zuna Caisaguano and her mother, Rosa Elena Caisaguano Cajilema, flying both to the South Texas Family Residential Center in Dilley, Texas the same day. The girl telephoned her father during the arrest to say agents would drop her at school; he waited outside Highland Elementary for hours, and the Department of Homeland Security later said officers detained the child because her mother "failed to find a trusted adult to care for" her. School officials and the family's attorney said the father was available at the school and that the family's timely asylum appeal was still pending, leaving no final order of removal.

Jan 6

HHS froze $10 billion in child-care funding naming only five Democratic-led states

On January 6, 2026, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services froze roughly $10 billion in Child Care and Development Fund, TANF, and Social Services Block Grant money to California, Colorado, Illinois, Minnesota, and New York, citing unspecified fraud concerns and demanding the states turn over extensive records within two weeks. HHS provided no evidence for the fraud claim, and a department spokesperson said the freeze responded to "Democrat-led states and Governors" having been "complicit in allowing massive amounts of fraud" — language the five states' attorneys general cited in a lawsuit alleging the freeze was politically motivated. U.S. District Judge Arun Subramanian granted the states a temporary restraining order on January 9, 2026, blocking the freeze while the case proceeds.

Jan 6

DOJ sued Arizona and Connecticut to compel release of unredacted, sensitive voter roll data

On January 6, 2026, the U.S. Department of Justice's Civil Rights Division sued Arizona and Connecticut in federal court, seeking to compel both states to produce their complete, unredacted voter registration lists, including voters' full birthdates and full or partial Social Security and driver's-license numbers. The suits brought DOJ's nationwide campaign to 23 states and the District of Columbia; Arizona Secretary of State Adrian Fontes had already rejected three DOJ requests for the data and told a department attorney to "pound sand." Attorney General Pamela Bondi and Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon said the lawsuits were needed to enforce federal election-integrity law.

Jan 6

Trump White House published website recasting Jan. 6 Capitol riot as 'peaceful march,' blamed Capitol Police for violence

On January 6, 2026 — the fifth anniversary of the Capitol attack — the Trump White House published an official webpage at whitehouse.gov/j6/ describing the 2021 riot as a "peaceful march" and asserting that U.S. Capitol Police "aggressively" deployed tear gas, flash-bangs, and rubber munitions and inexplicably opened doors and removed barricades that "facilitated entry." White House Communications Director Steven Cheung promoted the page on social media, including a post calling it the "REAL Jan. 6 story." Republican Sens. Susan Collins and Thom Tillis publicly disputed the characterization, with Collins — who was on the Capitol floor that day — saying she found the Capitol Police "heroic."

State-sponsored disinformation

Jan 6

Deputy Defense Secretary Feinberg amended his ethics agreement to keep receiving Cerberus services indefinitely

On January 6, 2026, Deputy Secretary of Defense Steve Feinberg signed a letter amending his February 2025 ethics agreement to extend, indefinitely, his arrangement to keep receiving tax, accounting, and health-care services from Cerberus Capital Management, the private-equity firm he founded and led until his 2025 appointment; DOD's ethics office transmitted the amendment to the U.S. Office of Government Ethics the next day, finding him still in compliance. The amendment went unnoticed publicly until ProPublica's March 8, 2026 disclosure-records investigation revealed it and connected it to the Pentagon's Golden Dome missile-defense program, which Feinberg oversees and which has awarded contracts to at least four Cerberus-owned companies.

Undisclosed financial conflicts of interest

Jan 5

U.S. District Court dismissed DeSoto Parish's 1967 school desegregation order at DOJ, Louisiana AG's request, without a desegregation finding

On January 5, 2026, U.S. District Judge S. Maurice Hicks Jr. granted a joint motion by the U.S. Department of Justice and Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill's office to dismiss a 1967 federal desegregation order governing the roughly 5,000-student DeSoto Parish School Board in northwest Louisiana. It was the second Louisiana desegregation decree the Trump administration and Murrill's office have had dismissed through "joint stipulated dismissals" that require no finding that a district actually ended segregation, following an earlier dismissal of a 1966 Plaquemines Parish order. Murrill said the ruling gives DeSoto Parish "its school system back"; no independent finding that segregation had been eliminated in the district was reported.

Narrowing civil-rights protections

Jan 5

Hegseth censured Sen. Mark Kelly and moved to cut his military retirement pay over 'illegal orders' video

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth issued a formal censure letter against Sen. Mark Kelly (D-AZ), a retired Navy captain, on January 5, 2026, accusing him of "seditious statements" and initiating administrative proceedings to reduce Kelly's military retirement rank and pension. The action punished Kelly for a November 2025 video in which he and five other Democratic lawmakers with military or intelligence backgrounds reminded U.S. servicemembers they may lawfully refuse illegal orders. Kelly sued Hegseth, the Pentagon, the Navy, and Navy Secretary John Phelan on January 12, 2026, arguing the censure and rank-reduction proceedings violate his First Amendment rights and the Constitution's Speech and Debate Clause.

Jan 5

ICE agents arrested handcuffed Hempstead, NY man whose head struck brick wall during arrest; agency and officials dispute cause

On January 5, 2026, ICE agents arrested Isai Santos Caceres, 35, outside a supermarket in Hempstead, New York, and bystander video shows his head striking a brick wall while he was handcuffed. ICE said Caceres fled, resisted arrest, and "fell into the side of the building," while Nassau County Legislator Viviana Russel and the civic group Islip Forward said the footage shows agents using his head as a "battering ram" against the wall. Islip Forward said Caceres was later transferred to ICE detention in Maryland.

Violence in immigration enforcement

Jan 5

ICE agents forcibly detained man who says he is a naturalized U.S. citizen in Brooklyn Park, Minnesota, leaving him hospitalized

On January 5, 2026, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents stopped Emmanuel Sackie, who says he is a Liberian-born naturalized U.S. citizen, in a Family Dollar parking lot in Brooklyn Park, Minnesota, after questioning his fiancee about a vehicle agents believed was registered to someone else. When Sackie's driver's license did not satisfy agents' demand for further proof of citizenship, the encounter turned into a physical struggle captured on video; agents handcuffed him and took him to an undisclosed location before he was hospitalized with bruising. ICE had not responded to a request for comment as of publication.

Violence in immigration enforcement

Jan 3

Cuban ICE detainee dies under restraint at Camp East Montana; death ruled a homicide

On January 3, 2026, Geraldo Lunas Campos, a 55-year-old Cuban man, died at ICE's Camp East Montana detention camp on the Army's Fort Bliss base in El Paso, Texas. The El Paso County Medical Examiner ruled the death a homicide, finding the cause to be asphyxia due to neck and torso compression while he was being physically restrained by law enforcement. ICE first said he died after "experiencing medical distress," then attributed the death to a suicide attempt and an ensuing struggle with staff; it was the third detainee death at the facility, and no one has been charged.

Jan 3

Trump ordered military raid to capture Venezuela's Maduro in Caracas without congressional authorization or advance notice

President Trump ordered a U.S. military and CIA raid, "Operation Absolute Resolve," that captured Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and his wife Cilia Flores at their Caracas compound in the early hours of January 3, 2026, without seeking congressional authorization or notifying congressional leadership in advance. More than 150 aircraft and Delta Force commandos took part in the operation, which killed an unspecified number of Venezuelan security personnel; Maduro was extracted to the USS Iwo Jima and flown to New York to face U.S. drug-trafficking charges. Trump and administration officials characterized the raid as a law-enforcement action under the president's Article II authority rather than an act of war, a framing several senators in both parties disputed.

Executive overreach

Jan 3

ICE agents stopped and arrested Hesler Asaf Garcia Lanza while he was walking to the LIRR in Hempstead, New York

On January 3, 2026, ICE agents in Hempstead, New York, stopped Hesler Asaf Garcia Lanza while he was walking to the Long Island Rail Road. ICE revoked his deferred action status and work permit before arresting him, despite his pending Special Immigrant Juvenile status application. On March 3, 2026, Judge Michael Brown of the Eastern District of New York granted Garcia Lanza's habeas corpus petition, vacated ICE's revocation of his deferred action, and ordered his work permit returned, finding ICE had engaged in a pretextual abuse of power. His arrest is one of eight named in the April 2026 class-action lawsuit Benitez v. DHS.

Jan 3

ICE agents detained Hempstead man with valid immigration status for 2 days after warrantless arrest near LIRR

On January 3, 2026, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents detained Hesler Asaf Garcia Lanza, a 24-year-old Hempstead resident, without a judicial warrant while he was walking to the LIRR Hempstead station. Garcia Lanza held Special Immigrant Juvenile Status and deferred action; he was held for two days before being released.

Jan 2

DOJ demanded Minnesota's same-day voter registration and 'vouching' records over HAVA compliance concerns

On January 2, 2026, Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights Harmeet Dhillon sent Minnesota Secretary of State Steve Simon a letter demanding records on the state's same-day voter registration and "vouching" system, in which a registered voter can attest to a new voter's residency, citing the 1960 Civil Rights Act and claiming the practice "seems facially inconsistent" with the Help America Vote Act. Minnesota's Office of the Secretary of State refused the demand on January 16, 2026, saying DOJ had identified no legal basis for the request and no evidence the state's practices violate federal law, and offered training materials on the process instead.

Improper collection or dissemination of personal data

Dec 31

USDA tied wildfire-prevention grants to unrelated DEI and immigration pledges, stalling fire-risk work

On December 31, 2025, the U.S. Department of Agriculture under Secretary Brooke Rollins issued new terms requiring recipients of USDA grants and contracts -- including Forest Service wildfire-risk-reduction funding, Community Wildfire Defense Grants, and Good Neighbor Authority agreements -- to pledge compliance with unrelated administration policy demands on DEI, "gender ideology," and immigration enforcement. Democratic-led states including Washington, Oregon, Michigan, and Maryland were unable to sign the new agreements, stalling wildfire-prevention work; a 21-state coalition sued and won a preliminary injunction in June 2026, but $15 million in Spokane-area wildfire grants remained undelivered as of early August 2026, when wildfires forced the evacuation of 65,000 residents there.

Coercive funding leverage

Dec 31

DHS ousted roughly 50 FEMA disaster-response CORE staff in New Year's Eve contract non-renewals

On December 31, 2025, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and FEMA notified roughly 50 Cadre of On-Call Response and Recovery (CORE) employees that their positions would not be renewed as their contracts expired in early January 2026, according to internal emails obtained by CNN. Two sources said the decision came from FEMA's newly elevated acting administrator, Karen Evans, while a DHS spokesperson called the cuts "a routine staff adjustment of 50 staff out of 8,000" -- a characterization multiple sources disputed, saying ousting every worker whose contract expired in a specific window was not routine.

Dismantling agency capacity

Dec 31

JTF Southern Spear killed five across two suspected narcotics vessels; 34th-35th strikes, ~115 campaign deaths

On Dec. 31, 2025, Joint Task Force Southern Spear carried out successive "lethal kinetic strikes" on two vessels U.S. Southern Command alleged were operated by designated terrorist organizations along known narco-trafficking routes, killing five people — three aboard the first vessel and two aboard the second. SOUTHCOM presented no evidence, identified no one, filed no charges, and reported no attempt at interdiction or arrest. These were the 34th and 35th strikes of Operation Southern Spear and are the earliest strikes in this archive's record of the campaign.

Extrajudicial actions

Dec 31

HHS freezes all federal child-care (CCDF) funding nationwide, citing amplified fraud claims

On Dec. 31, 2025, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services froze all federal Child Care and Development Fund (CCDF) money to every state, the District of Columbia, and U.S. territories "effective immediately," saying it would release the funds only after each state supplied unspecified "administrative data." The freeze followed a Dec. 30 announcement by HHS Deputy Secretary Jim O'Neill and was publicly justified by unverified fraud allegations amplified from a Dec. 26 viral video targeting Somali-American-run day cares in Minnesota. Child-care advocates noted that states already run longstanding, annually updated anti-fraud controls and warned that even a month without funding could force thin-margin providers to close, harming families regardless of whether they receive subsidies.

Dec 31

ICE agents entered Minneapolis hospital without a warrant, shackled patient to bed for 28 hours

On December 31, 2025, ICE agents entered the emergency department at Hennepin County Medical Center (HCMC) in Minneapolis, Minnesota without a judicial warrant to arrest a patient who had just arrived for care, and remained at his bedside for approximately 28 hours, according to the advocacy organization Unidos MN and Minnesota state legislators. During that time agents treated the patient as though he were in criminal custody — denying him family visitation and at points shackling him to the bed — and accessed hospital staff-only areas including break rooms and parking lots, before leaving after a Hennepin County commissioner and state legislators confirmed no warrant existed and asked them to go. DHS did not respond to requests for comment.

Dec 30

JTF Southern Spear struck convoy in eastern Pacific, killing three and abandoning survivors; 31st-33rd strikes, ~110 campaign deaths

On Dec. 30, 2025, at the direction of Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, Joint Task Force Southern Spear conducted "lethal kinetic strikes" on a three-vessel convoy in the eastern Pacific that U.S. Southern Command described as operated by designated terrorist organizations along narco-trafficking routes, killing three people aboard the first boat. Men aboard the other two vessels jumped overboard before follow-on strikes sank the remaining boats; SOUTHCOM said it notified the Coast Guard for search and rescue, but the search began only after a roughly 45-hour delay and was suspended on Jan. 3 with no survivors found. The command identified no organization, made no evidence public, charged no one, and attempted no interdiction or arrest in what it counted as the 31st through 33rd strikes of a campaign that had by then killed at least 110 people.

Extrajudicial actions

Dec 30

Interior Department terminated National Links Trust's D.C. golf-course lease on disputed grounds, clearing path for a Trump-favored redesign

On December 30, 2025, the Interior Department's Solicitor sent National Links Trust (NLT) a letter terminating its 50-year lease to manage Washington, D.C.'s three public golf courses — East Potomac, Langston, and Rock Creek — citing unmet capital-improvement obligations and roughly $8.8 million in unpaid rent. NLT disputed the stated basis, saying it had fully complied with the lease and invested more than $8.5 million in the courses since 2020. The termination followed Interior leadership privately pitching President Trump on converting East Potomac into a high-end tournament course, and Trump's own longtime architect touring the site and visiting the White House weeks before the letter issued.

Self-dealing

Dec 30

HHS freezes all federal child-care payments to Minnesota over anti-Somali fraud claims

On December 30, 2025, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services froze all federal child-care funding to Minnesota, with Deputy Secretary Jim O'Neill announcing the move on X and crediting a viral video by conservative activist Nick Shirley that alleged fraud at Somali-run day-care centers. HHS — which sends roughly $185 million a year in child-care funds to the state, supporting day care for tens of thousands of children from low-income families — simultaneously imposed a new nationwide condition requiring states to submit a justification plus a receipt or photo evidence before receiving Administration for Children and Families payments. The freeze landed amid the administration's Operation Metro Surge ICE deployment targeting Minnesota's Somali community and was expanded the next day into a freeze of child-care funding to all 50 states.

Dec 29

JTF Southern Spear killed two aboard suspected narcotics vessel in eastern Pacific; 30th strike, ~107 campaign deaths

On Dec. 29, 2025, at the direction of Secretary of War Pete Hegseth, the Pentagon's Joint Task Force Southern Spear conducted a lethal "kinetic strike" on a vessel in the eastern Pacific Ocean, killing two people. U.S. Southern Command claimed the boat was operated by designated terrorist organizations and engaged in narco-trafficking but provided no evidence to support the claim. It was the 30th known boat strike in the campaign since Sept. 2, bringing the reported death toll to at least 107.

Extrajudicial actions

Dec 27

ICE agent Adam Saracco pushed attorney and activist Robert Held to the ground at Brookfield, Illinois gas station

On December 27, 2025, off-duty U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent Adam Saracco pushed attorney and immigrant-rights activist Robert Held to the ground at a gas station in Brookfield, Illinois. Held, who is over 60, had followed Saracco's vehicle from an ICE processing facility in Broadview and was filming him when the confrontation occurred.

Dec 27

ICE agents detained at least 92 people across California's Central Coast in unannounced holiday sweeps

Between December 27 and 29, 2025, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents, joined by agents from the Camarillo and Los Angeles field offices, detained at least 92 people across Santa Maria, Lompoc, San Luis Obispo, Nipomo, Paso Robles and Santa Barbara, California, apprehending people at homes, workplaces, parking lots and shopping areas starting as early as 4 a.m., and in one case taking a man into custody from the San Luis Obispo County Jail lobby upon his release without presenting a warrant. At a January 2, 2026 press conference, Santa Maria City Councilmember Gloria Soto said local advocacy groups had documented roughly 150 detentions since the sweep began, about 87 of them in Santa Maria, and 805 UndocuFund characterized the operation as indiscriminate racial profiling of working-class Latino communities.

Dec 26

Coast Guard sole-sourced $2.39 billion in Arctic icebreaker contracts to Bollinger and Rauma without competitive bidding

On December 26, 2025, the U.S. Coast Guard awarded sole-source, single-offer contracts worth a combined $2.39 billion to Bollinger Shipyards and Rauma Marine Constructions for six Arctic Security Cutters, citing a public-interest exception rather than competing the work. The awards were the first two of an 11-ship, roughly $3.3 billion program that followed President Trump's personal push for a larger icebreaker fleet than the Coast Guard had itself requested; the program's third contract, awarded to Davie Defense on February 10, 2026, is recorded separately.

Procurement irregularities

Dec 26

Kennedy Center President Grenell threatened musician Chuck Redd with $1 million in damages over Christmas Eve protest cancellation

On December 26, 2025, Kennedy Center President Richard Grenell sent musician Chuck Redd a letter threatening to seek $1 million in damages after Redd canceled his annual Christmas Eve concert in protest of the Trump-appointed board's renaming of the institution to the "Trump-Kennedy Center." The Kennedy Center followed through by suing Redd for breach of contract in March 2026.

Targeting critics with government power

Dec 26

HHS referred Seattle Children's Hospital to Inspector General over gender-affirming care for trans youth

On December 26, 2025, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' General Counsel referred Seattle Children's Hospital to the HHS Office of Inspector General for investigation, citing the hospital's provision of gender-affirming care to transgender minors. The referral -- the first enforcement action against a specifically named hospital following HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s December 18, 2025 declaration that such care is unsafe -- could result in the hospital losing federal Medicare and Medicaid funding. A coalition of Democratic state attorneys general has separately sued to block the underlying declaration, arguing HHS lacks authority to redefine medical standards by fiat.

Targeting marginalized communities

Dec 24

Palau's president signed deportee MOU despite legislature's repeated objections

Palau President Surangel Whipps Jr. announced a Memorandum of Understanding on December 24, 2025 to accept U.S. third-country deportees in exchange for $7.5 million in aid, after Palau's Congress and Council of Chiefs had twice rejected the same proposal. The Palau Senate sued in February 2026 alleging the president lacked constitutional authority to enter what amounted to a treaty without legislative ratification, but a judge allowed implementation to proceed; the first deportee arrived in May 2026 and left after two weeks.

Denial of due process in immigration enforcement

Dec 24

United States and DR Congo signed undisclosed third-country removal agreement

The United States and the Democratic Republic of the Congo reached a third-country removal agreement via diplomatic notes dated December 24, 2025, not disclosed until the State Department posted it in June 2026. Fifteen people with U.S.-granted humanitarian protections were forcibly transferred to DRC on April 17, 2026, shackled throughout a 27-hour flight and given only 24 hours' notice of their destination; a U.S. judge later found one woman's removal was likely unlawful and ordered her return.

Denial of due process in immigration enforcement

Dec 24

CIA drone strike hits dock on Venezuela's coast — first known U.S. attack on Venezuelan soil

On or about December 24, 2025, the CIA carried out a drone strike on a dock on Venezuela's coast that U.S. officials said was used by the gang Tren de Aragua to load drugs onto boats; no one was reported on the dock and no one was killed. It was the first known U.S. attack inside Venezuelan territory, a sharp escalation of the administration's pressure campaign against Nicolás Maduro beyond the at-sea "drug boat" strikes. President Trump publicly claimed credit, saying the U.S. had "knocked out" a "big facility" in "the dock area where they load the boats up with drugs."

Dec 23

ICE re-detained Jorge Gonzalez Ochoa one minute before his court-ordered release, defying a federal judge's order

On December 23, 2025, at 9:59 a.m. — one minute before a federal court order required his release — ICE officers served the Muscatine County Jail with a new arrest warrant for Jorge Gonzalez Ochoa, a 28-year-old Colombian asylum seeker, circumventing a December 22 release order by U.S. District Judge Stephen H. Locher. ICE had not yet prepared the legally required Notice to Appear when it issued the arrest warrant, and Judge Locher later found the agency sent the notice by regular mail to obscure the sequence and "cover its tracks." Gonzalez Ochoa was not released until January 9, 2026 — seventeen days after the original release order.

Dec 23

The State Department moved to exclude or deport five noncitizen researchers under a visa policy targeting online 'censorship'

On December 23, 2025, the State Department announced it would exclude or deport five individuals — including two leaders of Coalition for Independent Technology Research member organizations — under a visa-restriction policy that Secretary of State Marco Rubio first announced in May 2025 to target foreign "censorship" of Americans' speech. Initially framed as aimed at foreign officials, the policy had by then expanded into a broader campaign against noncitizen researchers, fact-checkers, and trust-and-safety workers who study social media platforms and online harms. Rubio said the Department "stands ready and willing to expand" the list if others did not "reverse course."

Dec 22

JTF Southern Spear killed one aboard suspected narcotics vessel in eastern Pacific; 29th strike, ~105 campaign deaths

On Dec. 22, 2025, at the direction of Secretary of War Pete Hegseth, Joint Task Force Southern Spear carried out a "lethal kinetic strike" on a low-profile semi-submersible vessel transiting international waters in the eastern Pacific, killing one person, U.S. Southern Command announced. SOUTHCOM said the vessel was operated by an unnamed designated terrorist organization along a known narco-trafficking route but released no evidence of drugs aboard or of an imminent threat, and reported no attempt at interdiction or arrest. It was the 29th strike of Operation Southern Spear, which had killed 105 people since early September.

Extrajudicial actions

Dec 20

U.S. Coast Guard seizes Panama-flagged oil tanker Centuries off Venezuela as Trump's oil 'blockade' escalates

In a pre-dawn operation on Saturday, Dec. 20, 2025, the U.S. Coast Guard seized a Panama-flagged oil tanker named Centuries off Venezuela, the second sanctioned tanker the United States took within roughly ten days, as part of President Trump's declared "total and complete blockade" of sanctioned oil vessels entering or leaving Venezuela. The White House called Centuries a "falsely flagged vessel operating as part of the Venezuelan shadow fleet," while Venezuela condemned the seizure as "a serious act of piracy" and said it would complain to the U.N. Security Council.

Dec 19

United States and Antigua and Barbuda signed non-binding third-country deportation MOU

The United States and Antigua and Barbuda signed a non-binding Memorandum of Understanding dated December 19, 2025, allowing the U.S. to propose transferring up to 10 "noncriminal refugees" per year to the Caribbean nation. The deal only became public in January 2026, after the U.S. imposed partial visa restrictions on Antigua and Barbuda effective January 1, 2026, prompting accusations from the political opposition that the timing amounted to coercion.

Denial of due process in immigration enforcement

Dec 19

HHS proposed barring Medicare and Medicaid funding from hospitals providing gender-affirming care to minors

On December 19, 2025, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and its Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services published proposed rules that would bar Medicare and Medicaid funding from hospitals providing gender-affirming care to patients under 18, using hospitals' conditions of participation to put their entire federal reimbursement eligibility at risk. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. issued a declaration asserting a federal standard of care for transgender youth. The proposals drew more than 30,000 public comments, including opposition from the American Medical Association and the Children's Hospital Association.

Dec 19

Alaska signed confidential DOJ agreement enabling federal flagging of individual voters for removal

Alaska Division of Elections Director Carol Beecher and U.S. Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon signed a "confidential memorandum of understanding" on December 19, 2025, alongside Alaska turning over a copy of its voter rolls to the Justice Department. The agreement lets DOJ's Civil Rights Division notify Alaska of individual "voter list maintenance issues," requiring the state to act on that notice within 45 days by moving flagged voters toward removal and reporting back to DOJ. State officials dispute that the agreement permits DOJ to directly purge voters or that Alaska requested the arrangement; at least 11 other states have signed materially identical agreements.

Voter suppression

Dec 18

President Trump signed the FY2026 NDAA, barring transgender athletes at military academies and ending Pentagon DEI offices

On December 18, 2025, President Donald Trump signed S.1071, the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2026 (Public Law 119-60), into law. The act bars individuals whose sex is male from competing on female-designated teams at the U.S. military service academies and prohibits the Department of Defense from maintaining any diversity, equity, and inclusion office or plan or recognizing employee resource groups organized around characteristics including sexual orientation or gender identity. The Senate passed the conference version 75-22 and the House 312-112.

Dec 18

JTF Southern Spear killed five across two suspected narcotics vessels in eastern Pacific; 27th-28th strikes, ~104 campaign deaths

On December 18, 2025, Joint Task Force Southern Spear carried out two successive lethal strikes on vessels in the eastern Pacific Ocean — the 27th and 28th of the campaign — killing five people in total, according to U.S. Southern Command. The command asserted the boats were operated by designated terrorist organizations on known narco-trafficking routes but provided no charges, evidence, or attempt at interdiction or arrest. The strikes pushed the campaign's reported cumulative death toll past 100.

Extrajudicial actions

Dec 17

Dominica signed third-country deportee agreement with United States after visa threat

Dominica's Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerrit announced on January 5, 2026 that his government had signed an agreement, dated to diplomatic notes from December 17, 2025, to accept third-country nationals the U.S. cannot deport to their countries of origin. The deal followed a December 16, 2025 U.S. proclamation restricting entry for Dominican nationals, and Skerrit declined to disclose which countries the transferred individuals would come from.

Denial of due process in immigration enforcement

Dec 17

JTF Southern Spear killed four aboard suspected narcotics vessel in eastern Pacific; 26th strike, ~99 campaign deaths

On December 17, 2025, at the direction of Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, Joint Task Force Southern Spear conducted a lethal strike on a vessel in the eastern Pacific Ocean, killing four people. U.S. Southern Command described the boat as operated by a designated terrorist organization along a known narco-trafficking route, but provided no charges, judicial process, or independent evidence. The same day, Senate war-powers resolutions intended to constrain the campaign failed to reach the floor.

Extrajudicial actions

Dec 17

ICE agents smashed car window to forcibly remove Salisbury, Maryland mother after school drop-off

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents arrested 24-year-old Vanessa Parrazal in Salisbury, Maryland on December 17, 2025, minutes after she dropped her daughter off at Pinehurst Elementary School. When Parrazal did not exit her vehicle, agents smashed the driver's-side window and forcibly removed her, an encounter witnesses captured on video and neighbors described as traumatizing. ICE said Parrazal resisted arrest and was extracted for officer safety, while Wicomico County Sheriff Mike Lewis said the agency had lawful authority to make the arrest.

Violence in immigration enforcement

Dec 16

Trump orders unilateral "complete blockade" of sanctioned oil tankers off Venezuela

On December 16, 2025, President Trump announced via Truth Social that he had ordered a "complete blockade" of all U.S.-sanctioned oil tankers going to and from Venezuela, declaring the country "completely surrounded by the largest Armada ever assembled in the History of South America." The unilateral order — issued without congressional authorization — became the operational basis for a wave of Coast Guard tanker seizures and interdictions off Venezuela in the days and weeks that followed.

Dec 16

ICE awarded GEO Group and 12 other firms up to $1.2 billion to locate immigrants, supplying contractors 50,000 names a month

On December 16, 2025, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement awarded indefinite-delivery "skip tracing" contracts worth up to $1.2 billion over two years to 13 private companies, among them B.I. Incorporated, the wholly owned subsidiary of private-prison operator GEO Group, whose award is valued at up to $121 million. Under the contracts ICE furnishes each contractor with roughly 50,000 people's last known addresses and identifying information every month, and the contractors mine commercial databases and physically observe those people, returning time-stamped photographs of homes and workplaces. Reporting by The Intercept, Source Material and Bloomberg News established that the program reaches people on ICE's non-detained docket nationwide and that the agency told contractors a report may be followed by "an enforcement action."

Improper collection or dissemination of personal data

Dec 15

Trump White House directed five agencies to condition Colorado funding on political alignment, then cut hundreds of millions

On December 15, 2025, a Trump White House deputy assistant emailed officials at the Departments of Energy, Transportation, Interior, and Agriculture and the Office of Management and Budget, directing them to identify actions "with respect to Colorado" to keep "grants and federal support...in line with administration priorities," hours before President Trump publicly called Colorado Gov. Jared Polis "weak and pathetic" over the imprisonment of former county clerk Tina Peters. In the days that followed, the Department of Energy canceled $615 million in Colorado funding, the Department of Transportation ended $109 million in grants, the Office of Management and Budget moved to close the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, and the Department of Agriculture ordered an accelerated food-assistance recertification review. The email became public on August 11, 2026 at a federal court hearing in Colorado's retaliation lawsuit against the administration, where a judge called it "extraordinary" and ordered the White House to produce more records, while the administration denied the actions were tied to Peters.

Coercive funding leverage

Dec 15

DHS Secretary Noem terminated Temporary Protected Status for Ethiopia, stripping about 5,000 Ethiopians of protection

On December 15, 2025, DHS Secretary Kristi Noem published a Federal Register notice terminating Temporary Protected Status for Ethiopia, effective February 13, 2026, stripping protected status from roughly 5,000 Ethiopian nationals. DHS said country conditions in Ethiopia had sufficiently improved, a rationale the State Department's own concurrent Level 3 "reconsider travel" advisory -- citing active armed conflict, crime, kidnapping, and terrorism -- contradicted. A federal judge initially postponed the termination as likely arbitrary and pretextual before ultimately allowing it to take effect in August 2026.

Discriminatory policy

Dec 15

JTF Southern Spear killed eight across three suspected narcotics vessels in eastern Pacific; 23rd-25th strikes, ~95 campaign deaths

On December 15, 2025, at the direction of Secretary of War Pete Hegseth, Joint Task Force Southern Spear carried out lethal strikes on three vessels in the eastern Pacific Ocean — the 23rd strike of Operation Southern Spear — killing eight people. U.S. Southern Command asserted the boats belonged to designated terrorist organizations transiting known narco-trafficking routes but filed no charges, released no evidence, identified no individuals, and reported no attempt at interdiction or arrest. Lawmakers from both parties questioned the legality of the strikes as the campaign's reported death toll reached approximately 95.

Extrajudicial actions

Dec 14

ICE arrested and detained U.S.-born Maryland woman for 25 days despite documented citizenship evidence

ICE arrested Dulce Consuelo Diaz Morales, 22, during a December 14, 2025 traffic stop in Baltimore and detained her for 25 days across five facilities in Louisiana, Texas, and New Jersey, despite her Laurel, Maryland birth certificate, hospital and immunization records, and birth-witness affidavits. DHS disputed her citizenship, citing a 2023 Customs and Border Protection encounter near Lukeville, Arizona, and an in-absentia removal order issued in January 2025, while a federal judge barred her removal pending litigation and she was released January 7, 2026 under ICE supervision.

Dec 12

Family demands independent autopsy after Jean Wilson Brutus, 41, dies within a day of entering Delaney Hall

Jean Wilson Brutus, a 41-year-old Haitian national, died on December 12, 2025, at University Hospital in Newark, New Jersey — roughly one day after entering ICE custody at the GEO Group-operated Delaney Hall Detention Facility. ICE reported he showed no signs of distress at intake and listed the cause of death as "unknown." His family and advocates sought an independent autopsy and called for the facility's closure; Brutus was believed to be the first detainee to die at Delaney Hall since it opened in May 2025.

Deaths in custody

Dec 12

St. Kitts and Nevis signed CARICOM-only third-country deportation MOU with United States

St. Kitts and Nevis Prime Minister Terrance Drew announced January 8, 2026 that his government had entered a Memorandum of Understanding with the United States, dated to December 12, 2025, allowing the transfer of CARICOM nationals — excluding Haitians and anyone with violent or sexual-offense records — who cannot be returned to their own countries. The first group, three people from Jamaica and Belize, was accepted in May 2026.

Denial of due process in immigration enforcement

Dec 11

Trump directed DOJ to sue states over AI laws and threatened to withhold federal funds, bypassing Congress on AI regulation

On December 11, 2025, President Trump signed Executive Order 14365, "Ensuring a National Policy Framework for Artificial Intelligence," directing the Justice Department to establish an AI Litigation Task Force to sue states over AI laws the administration considers excessive. The order also instructs the Commerce Department to identify conflicting state laws and to condition states' access to federal broadband (BEAD) funds on compliance, and directs all federal agencies to weigh conditioning discretionary grants on states not enacting conflicting AI legislation — achieving through executive action what Congress had not enacted.

Dec 11

DOJ sued Colorado to compel release of unredacted, sensitive voter roll data

On December 11, 2025, the U.S. Department of Justice's Civil Rights Division sued Colorado Secretary of State Jena Griswold in the U.S. District Court for the District of Colorado, seeking to compel production of the state's complete, unredacted voter registration database, including voters' full names, dates of birth, and driver's-license or Social Security number fragments. The suit, filed under the Civil Rights Act of 1960, followed Griswold's May and December 2025 refusals to share the unredacted data and a November 2025 letter, which she led with nine other secretaries of state, asking DOJ and the Department of Homeland Security to clarify how the collected data would be used and shared.

Improper collection or dissemination of personal data

Dec 11

ICE detained Tennessee construction worker Diego Hernandez Garcia, then deported him in violation of a federal court order

On December 11, 2025, ICE agents detained Diego Hernandez Garcia, a 24-year-old Salvadoran construction worker with Special Immigrant Juvenile Status and deferred action valid through May 12, 2026, during a raid on a Hardin Valley, Tennessee job site; USCIS revoked his deferred action the same day, after he was already in custody. On December 23, despite a federal court order requiring he remain in the U.S. pending his case, ICE placed him on a flight to El Salvador; he was returned hours later after his attorney intervened, with the government calling the removal "inadvertent."

Dec 10

Trump directed U.S. forces to seize oil tanker Skipper off Venezuela, opening blockade campaign without congressional authorization

On December 10, 2025, U.S. forces seized the crude-oil tanker Skipper off the coast of Venezuela in a pre-dawn operation launched from the USS Gerald R. Ford, boarding the vessel with Coast Guard and Marine personnel under a DOJ civil-forfeiture warrant. President Trump announced the seizure at a White House event, declaring the U.S. would keep the roughly 1–2 million barrels of Venezuelan crude on board. The action — the first vessel seizure of a broader oil-blockade campaign — was carried out without congressional authorization; Venezuela condemned it as "an act of international piracy."

Dec 8

United States and Burundi agreed to transfer of nationals flagged as security risks

The U.S. Department of State proposed a third-country removal understanding to Burundi via diplomatic note dated December 8, 2025, explicitly contemplating the transfer of people who "raise national security or public safety concerns" — broader framing than most of the administration's other third-country notes. Burundi's government accepted, with a carve-out excluding people with violent criminal records, through a further exchange of notes completed February 12, 2026.

Denial of due process in immigration enforcement

Dec 8

United States and Cameroon reached undisclosed third-country deportation agreement

The United States and Cameroon reached a third-country removal agreement through diplomatic notes dated December 8, 2025, which were not made public until June 2026. At least 36 people have been forcibly sent to Cameroon across four flights between January and May 2026, many of whom had been granted U.S. humanitarian protections against return to their home countries.

Denial of due process in immigration enforcement

Dec 7

FCC Chair Carr and Commissioner Trusty accepted Kennedy Center gala seats amid pending Paramount merger review

On December 7, 2025, FCC Chair Brendan Carr and Commissioner Olivia Trusty attended the Kennedy Center Honors gala while Paramount's mergers were before the commission. Trusty accepted tickets worth more than $12,000 that ProPublica confirmed came from Paramount; Carr sat in a private $125,000 skybox with Paramount CEO David Ellison, though the source of his seat was unconfirmed pending his outstanding financial disclosure. Both had voted five months earlier to approve Paramount's $8 billion merger with Skydance Media, and neither had recused from the company's pending $110 billion bid for Warner Bros. Discovery.

Dec 4

JTF Southern Spear killed four aboard suspected narcotics vessel in eastern Pacific; 22nd strike, ~87 campaign deaths

On December 4, 2025, U.S. Southern Command's Joint Task Force Southern Spear conducted a lethal kinetic strike on a vessel in international waters in the eastern Pacific, killing four people on board. The Department of Defense claimed the boat was operated by a Designated Terrorist Organization and was carrying narcotics, but released no supporting evidence. The strike was one of roughly 23 carried out since early September 2025, in which approximately 87 people had been killed without arrest, charge, or any judicial process.

Extrajudicial actions

Dec 4

AG Bondi ordered FBI to compile list of Americans by political viewpoint

Attorney General Pam Bondi issued a Justice Department memo ordering the FBI to compile a list of Americans and groups engaged in acts constituting "domestic terrorism." The memo targeted individuals expressing opposition to immigration enforcement, support for mass migration and open borders, and adherence to radical gender ideology. Bondi directed the FBI to establish a cash reward system for informants and retroactively investigate conduct from the past five years.

Dec 4

AG Bondi directed FBI to target Americans expressing opposition to immigration enforcement, LGBTQ+ rights, anti-capitalism

Attorney General Pam Bondi issued a Justice Department memo on December 4, 2025 directing the FBI to identify and investigate Americans engaging in "domestic terrorism," a term redefined to encompass lawful political speech: opposition to immigration enforcement, support for mass migration, gender identity ideology, anti-Americanism, anti-capitalism, and anti-Christian sentiment. The memo establishes cash rewards for informants, enhanced tipline capabilities, and retroactive investigation of conduct from the prior five years, creating infrastructure for mass surveillance and selective prosecution based on political viewpoint.

Dec 3

Trump pardoned Oak View Group CEO Tim Leiweke of a bid-rigging charge brought by his own DOJ

On December 3, 2025, President Donald Trump pardoned Tim Leiweke, former Oak View Group CEO, of a criminal Sherman Antitrust Act bid-rigging charge that Trump's own Justice Department had brought in July 2025 over the Moody Center arena project in Austin, Texas. The pardon came one day before Leiweke was scheduled to be deposed in a separate DOJ civil antitrust case against Live Nation, in which a DOJ attorney had told the court he held "unique individual knowledge." Oak View Group had donated $250,000 to Trump's 2025 inauguration, and former Rep. Trey Gowdy had lobbied Trump on Leiweke's behalf.

Abuse of pardon power

Dec 2

USCIS froze asylum applications and immigration benefits for 19 travel-ban countries, ordered green-card review

On December 2, 2025, USCIS Director Joseph Edlow issued Policy Memorandum PM-602-0192 placing an indefinite hold on all pending affirmative asylum applications and freezing adjudication of immigration benefits—including green cards, work permits, and naturalization—for nationals of 19 countries subject to the June 2025 travel ban, while also ordering a review of every green card already issued to people from those countries. The memo cited Executive Order 14161 and a November 26 shooting near the White House as justification and stated the freeze would remain until lifted by a future directive. On June 5, 2026, a federal court vacated the policies as contrary to law and pretextual.

Dec 2

HHS and CMS repealed federal nursing-home minimum-staffing rule after industry gave $4.8M to pro-Trump super PAC

On December 2, 2025, HHS and CMS repealed the Biden-era Minimum Staffing Standards for Long-Term Care Facilities rule, eliminating requirements including 3.48 total nursing-care hours per resident daily and 24/7 on-site registered-nurse coverage. The New York Times reported that nursing-home executives donated roughly $4.8 million to the pro-Trump super PAC MAGA Inc. beginning in August 2025 and met privately with President Trump at one of his golf clubs to press for repeal, after which federal prosecutors stopped defending the rule in pending litigation.

Pay-to-play

Dec 1

DOJ fired eight immigration judges at Manhattan's 26 Federal Plaza, including assistant chief judge

On December 1, 2025, the Trump administration abruptly fired eight immigration judges working at 26 Federal Plaza in Manhattan, including Assistant Chief Immigration Judge Amiena Khan, per two Justice Department officials cited by the New York Times. The court, a focal point of ICE courthouse arrests for months, was left severely understaffed as part of a nationwide purge that had already removed nearly 90 immigration judges over the prior year.

Attacks on judicial independence

Dec 1

Interior Department issued memo barring all bureaus from confirming deaths or injuries on public lands

In December 2025, the Department of the Interior issued an internal memo directing all bureaus and offices — including the National Park Service, Bureau of Land Management, and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service — not to confirm deaths, serious injuries, or "emotionally sensitive incidents" on federal public lands. The memo, obtained by The Washington Post and reported June 24, 2026, states "Interior shall not confirm a death" and routes all fatality information through the department's Office of Communications. Former NPS officials said the change reversed longstanding practice of quickly informing the public about fatal incidents to prevent further harm.

Nov 30

ICE and CoreCivic denied pregnant detainee's repeated pleas for medical care at Eloy, and she miscarried in custody

In late November 2025, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents arrested Beatriz Pastrana Candela in Tempe, Arizona, and transferred her to the CoreCivic-operated Eloy Detention Center while she was nearly three months pregnant. Despite a positive intake pregnancy test and her repeated complaints of abdominal pain, medical and corrections staff at Eloy told her she was not pregnant and denied her requests to see a doctor until she miscarried. ICE has disputed that her requests for care were ignored, while Pastrana remains detained at Eloy months later.

Denial of custodial medical care

Nov 29

State Department cable halted all Afghan visa processing worldwide, including SIVs for wartime allies

On November 29, 2025, the State Department sent a cable to every U.S. diplomatic post ordering consular officers to stop processing and refuse all visa applications from Afghan nationals — immigrant, non-immigrant, and Special Immigrant Visas — effective immediately. The cable also instructed officers to cancel any authorized-but-unprinted visas and to destroy already-printed ones, while Secretary of State Rubio publicly confirmed the halt. The directive was triggered by the November 26 shooting of two National Guard members near the White House by an Afghan national, and applied collectively to all Afghans regardless of individual circumstances or prior approval status.

Nov 28

USCIS halted all asylum decisions nationwide after National Guard shooting

On November 28, 2025, USCIS Director Joseph Edlow ordered asylum officers to immediately stop approving, denying, or closing any asylum application nationwide, regardless of the applicant's nationality, following the shooting of two National Guard members near the White House by an Afghan national. The indefinite halt suspended the statutory asylum adjudication process under INA §208 for all pending applicants, freezing them in limbo with no path to a decision or hearing, and served as the originating operational directive later formalized by the December 2, 2025 USCIS Policy Memorandum PM-602-0192.

Nov 28

USCIS halted all asylum decisions for applicants of every nationality after D.C. National Guard shooting

On November 28, 2025, USCIS Director Joseph Edlow announced that the agency had "halted all asylum decisions" pending completion of enhanced vetting for "every alien," telling officers they could continue interviews up to the point of decision but could not approve, deny, or close any application regardless of the applicant's nationality. The operational directive—issued two days after an Afghan national shot two National Guard members near the White House—went beyond the concurrent Afghan-specific pause and froze affirmative asylum adjudication nationwide. CBS News reported the officer guidance on November 29. The pause was later formalized in USCIS Policy Memorandum PM-602-0192 (December 2, 2025) and declared unlawful by a federal court on June 5, 2026.

Nov 26

USCIS indefinitely halted all Afghan immigration requests—asylum, green cards, SIVs—hours after D.C. shooting

On November 26, 2025, USCIS announced it was immediately and indefinitely pausing processing of all immigration requests from Afghan nationals, covering asylum seekers, green-card applicants, work-permit renewals, family petitions, and Special Immigrant Visa applicants, many of whom aided U.S. forces during the war in Afghanistan. The agency imposed the halt by announcement with no rulemaking, no end date, and no individualized review, citing security-vetting concerns in the hours following an alleged shooting by an Afghan national near the White House.

Nov 25

Guyana agreed to accept US third-country deportees despite no refugee treaty status

Guyana's Ministry of Foreign Affairs signed a diplomatic note dated November 25, 2025, expressing willingness to accept third-country nationals deported from the United States, retaining complete discretion over individual transfers. Guyana is not a party to the 1951 Refugee Convention or its 1967 Protocol and has no domestic asylum legislation, leaving people transferred there — particularly those previously granted U.S. protection from removal — without the legal backstop that treaty accession would otherwise provide.

Denial of due process in immigration enforcement

Nov 25

EPA used litigation to circumvent Clean Air Act rulemaking, seeking to vacate Biden PM2.5 soot standard

On November 25, 2025, the Trump EPA filed a brief in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit asking the court to vacate the Biden-era National Ambient Air Quality Standard for fine particulate matter (PM2.5)—tightened from 12 to 9 micrograms per cubic meter—by "confessing error" rather than following the Clean Air Act's required notice-and-comment rulemaking process. The move would eliminate a standard projected to prevent 4,500 annual premature deaths, 2,000 hospital visits, and 800,000 asthma cases by 2032. By requesting court vacatur instead of formal rulemaking, the EPA avoids the statutory requirement to publish reasoned explanations and allow public comment on the rollback.

Nov 25

FBI probes Democratic lawmakers for First Amendment-protected video on military constitutional duties

The FBI's counterterrorism division contacted six Democratic members of Congress on November 25, 2025 to request interviews following President Trump's public accusations that they committed "seditious" acts. The six—Sens. Mark Kelly and Elissa Slotkin and Reps. Jason Crow, Maggie Goodlander, Chris Deluzio, and Chrissy Houlahan—had released a video reminding U.S. military personnel of their constitutional obligation to refuse unlawful orders, protected First Amendment speech in response to the Trump administration's strikes on Latin American targets. The inquiry came one day after the Pentagon threatened to recall Sen. Kelly to active duty for potential military charges.

Nov 25

Federal court found ICE detained immigrants beyond 12-hour limit, denied medical care at San Francisco holding facility

On November 25, 2025, U.S. District Judge P. Casey Pitts of the Northern District of California found that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement had routinely detained people beyond its own 12-hour limit -- some over 72 hours -- at its San Francisco field office at 630 Sansome Street, denying intake medical screening and prescribed medication and withholding beds and basic hygiene supplies while holding cells at frigid temperatures under continuous lighting. Pitts provisionally certified two detainee classes and granted a preliminary injunction ordering ICE to remedy the conditions immediately, in a suit brought by the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights of the San Francisco Bay Area, the Central American Resource Center of Northern California, and the ACLU of Northern California.

Nov 21

White House steered a record $620M Pentagon loan to a rare-earth firm tied to Donald Trump Jr.

White House senior counselor Peter Navarro personally asked the Pentagon's Office of Strategic Capital to approve a $620 million loan to Vulcan Elements, a North Carolina rare-earth-magnet startup — the only one of dozens of companies under consideration whose deal was initiated by a top White House aide. Donald Trump Jr.'s venture-capital firm had taken an undisclosed stake in Vulcan about three months before the deal was announced, and the company's valuation rose roughly tenfold afterward. The White House role was revealed by a ProPublica investigation published May 28, 2026.

Nov 20

Sierra Leone agreed to accept US deportees, later described months in chains

Sierra Leone's government sent a note verbale on November 20, 2025 expressing willingness to accept up to 300 ECOWAS-citizen deportees from the United States per year; a January 2026 exchange of notes finalized the arrangement, adding that neither side intended to transfer people with violent criminal backgrounds. Nine people arrived May 20, 2026 — the first of two flights — and were described by a Sierra Leonean health ministry official as "traumatized due to the months in chains during detention in the US."

Denial of due process in immigration enforcement

Nov 20

ICE detained and deported Babson College freshman despite no valid removal order; judge ordered her return

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement detained 19-year-old Babson College freshman Any Lucia Lopez Belloza at Boston's Logan Airport on November 20, 2025, as she prepared to fly home to Texas for Thanksgiving, and deported her to Honduras two days later without letting her contact an attorney or her family. The Trump administration acknowledged the deportation was a mistake — an ICE officer had failed to activate an alert flagging her case — but did not voluntarily return her; a federal judge ordered the government to facilitate her return on February 13, 2026.

Nov 19

United States and Cabo Verde signed Asylum Cooperative Agreement diverting asylum seekers

The United States and Cabo Verde signed an "Agreement on the Transfer of Third-Country Nationals" at Praia on November 19, 2025, which entered into force the same day, allowing the U.S. to propose sending asylum seekers to Cabo Verde to pursue their protection claims there. Unaccompanied minors and people with serious criminal or gang histories are excluded, and no transfers had occurred as of this filing.

Denial of due process in immigration enforcement

Nov 19

HHS's Office of Head Start instructed a grantee to strip nearly 200 words, including 'disability' and 'tribal,' from funding applications

On November 19, 2025, HHS's Office of Head Start sent a Wisconsin Head Start program director two emails instructing her to remove specific words from a funding application and then providing a list of nearly 200 words and phrases "to limit or avoid," including "disability," "women," "Black," "Native American," and "tribal." The list surfaced publicly in December 2025 through a declaration filed in an ongoing multi-state lawsuit against HHS and Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., and several of the banned terms describe categories the Head Start Act itself requires programs to serve and report on, including disability status and Tribal consultation. A federal judge temporarily blocked the practice on January 7, 2026.

Nov 18

United States deported 50 Ukrainians to Poland, transferred them into war zone

ICE deported 50 Ukrainian nationals to Poland on November 18, 2025, the largest single deportation of Ukrainians since Russia's invasion; U.S. officials flew them to Jasionka and transferred them to Polish officials, who escorted them across the border into Ukraine. Some had entered the U.S. under the Uniting for Ukraine humanitarian parole program with pending re-parole applications; Amnesty International and Human Rights First later called the practice a likely violation of international law.

Denial of due process in immigration enforcement

Nov 18

ICE arrested Beaverton handyman Paulino Martin San Pedro, deported him within days without a court order or family notice

On November 18, 2025, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents arrested Paulino Martin San Pedro, a 53-year-old Beaverton, Oregon handyman who had lived in the United States for more than 30 years, as he left a job site. Within three days, ICE transferred him from Tacoma, Washington to Arizona and deported him to Mexico without a court order, leaving his family without word of his whereabouts for two days. Martin San Pedro, who has three adult children and grandchildren in Oregon, reported witnessing dialysis and cancer patients handcuffed to their wheelchairs while in ICE custody.

Denial of due process in immigration enforcement

Nov 18

EEOC filed court action demanding University of Pennsylvania produce names and contact information of Jewish employees

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission issued an administrative subpoena to the University of Pennsylvania in July 2025 demanding the personal contact information and identifying details of Jewish employees as part of an antisemitism investigation; Penn refused full compliance. On November 18, 2025, the EEOC filed a federal enforcement action seeking a court order compelling disclosure. A district court ordered enforcement in March 2026, but the EEOC withdrew the subpoena in July 2026 after Penn appealed to the Third Circuit, ending the legal battle without any of the demanded identifying information being disclosed.

Nov 18

U.S. Customs and Border Protection wrongfully detained U.S. citizen Fernando Vazquez during a Cary, North Carolina immigration sweep

On the morning of November 18, 2025, U.S. Border Patrol agents in unmarked vehicles detained Fernando Vazquez, an 18-year-old U.S. citizen and commercial landscaper, near a construction jobsite in Cary, North Carolina, as part of a broader immigration sweep moving from Charlotte into the Raleigh/Triangle area. Agents asked where he was from, confiscated his wallet, and drove him roughly two miles before determining he was a U.S. citizen and releasing him, discarding his belongings — including his IDs and AirPods — on the ground rather than returning them.

Nov 17

DOJ sued California to block state laws requiring federal agents to visibly identify themselves and barring masks

On November 17, 2025, the U.S. Department of Justice sued California, Gov. Gavin Newsom, and Attorney General Rob Bonta over two state laws enacted that September: the No Vigilantes Act, which requires federal law enforcement officers to visibly display identification, and the No Secret Police Act, which bars them from wearing face masks while on duty. DOJ argued both laws unconstitutionally regulate the federal government under the Supremacy Clause and endanger officers by exposing them to doxxing and violence. A Ninth Circuit panel later enjoined enforcement of the identification requirement pending DOJ's appeal.

Executive overreach

Nov 17

CBP agents arrested two Charlotte women for honking at immigration vehicles during Operation Charlotte's Web

On November 17, 2025, U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents arrested Tatyana Reisini and Kristen Roos, two U.S. citizens, in Charlotte, North Carolina after the women honked a car horn and blew a whistle near immigration vehicles during Operation Charlotte's Web. Agents boxed in their SUV, shattered the driver-side window with a rifle barrel, and detained both women with their hands zip-tied behind their backs for approximately four hours. Both were charged with assaulting federal agents; the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Western District of North Carolina voluntarily dropped all charges in March 2026.

Nov 15

JTF Southern Spear killed 3 aboard suspected narcotics vessel in eastern Pacific; 21st strike, ~80 campaign deaths

On November 15, 2025, U.S. Joint Task Force Southern Spear conducted a lethal strike on a vessel in the eastern Pacific Ocean, killing 3 people. U.S. Southern Command announced the strike the following day, identifying the vessel as operated by a "Designated Terrorist Organization" involved in "illicit narcotics smuggling" but offering no evidence, trial, or judicial process. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth directed the strike on President Trump's orders; it was the 21st confirmed strike of the campaign.

Nov 14

ICE held Roosevelt, NY man incommunicado for two months, attorney says, disclosing his location only after a judge ordered it

Manuel Hernandez Zelada, 27, of Roosevelt, New York, was arrested by immigration agents on November 14, 2025 while walking to a deli, and his family had no contact with him for nearly two months. Attorneys with Make the Road NY filed a habeas corpus petition on January 7, 2026 demanding ICE disclose his whereabouts; U.S. District Judge Sanket Bulsara ordered ICE and DHS on January 8 to disclose his current and prior locations, and officials called his attorney with his location the next day. He was found in a federal facility in New Mexico, having been held in four different facilities in New York, New Jersey, Texas, and New Mexico since his arrest, and spoke to his father by phone for the first time on January 10.

Denial of due process in immigration enforcement

Nov 14

Trump pardoned Joseph Schwartz, nursing-home chain owner convicted in $39M tax fraud, after $960,000 lobbying push

On November 14, 2025, President Trump granted Joseph Schwartz, former owner of the 95-facility Skyline Healthcare nursing-home chain, a full and unconditional pardon for his April 2025 guilty plea to a roughly $38-39 million employment tax fraud scheme. Schwartz had served about three months of a three-year federal sentence; disclosure filings show he paid lobbyists Jack Burkman and Jacob Wohl $960,000 to seek the pardon, and the Office of the Pardon Attorney gave no public reasoning for the clemency.

Abuse of pardon power

Nov 13

Defense Secretary Hegseth formally named Operation Southern Spear, launching large-scale military campaign without congressional authorization

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth formally announced "Operation Southern Spear" on November 13, 2025, after approximately 20 U.S. strikes on vessels in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific had killed roughly 80 people without congressional authorization. The announcement coincided with deployment orders for the USS Gerald R. Ford carrier strike group, bringing roughly 12,000 U.S. sailors and Marines to the region in what officials described as the largest U.S. military buildup in Latin America in generations. Trump publicly stated he would not seek a war declaration from Congress.

Nov 10

JTF Southern Spear killed 4 aboard suspected narcotics vessel in Caribbean; 20th strike, ~79 campaign deaths

On November 10, 2025, U.S. forces conducted the 20th strike of what would become Operation Southern Spear, killing four people with "no survivors" in the Caribbean Sea. Three days later, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth formally named and announced the campaign, citing this strike as the milestone. A Pentagon spokesperson confirmed 79 people killed across 20 strikes; no evidence of drug trafficking was publicly disclosed and Congress had not authorized the operation.

Nov 9

JTF Southern Spear killed 6 aboard suspected narcotics vessel in eastern Pacific; 19th strike, ~73 campaign deaths

U.S. forces struck two vessels in the eastern Pacific Ocean on November 9, 2025, killing six people — three aboard each vessel. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced the strikes the following day, claiming the boats were associated with narcotics smuggling but providing no evidence. The operation was the 19th strike in the Southern Spear campaign, bringing reported total deaths to approximately 73.

Nov 7

Coast Guard Exchange stores sold Trump-branded wine and cider tax-free on federal property

Coast Guard Exchange retail stores at U.S. Coast Guard headquarters in Washington, D.C., and in Centreville, Virginia, stocked and sold wine and cider produced by President Trump's Trump Winery and American Cider Co. tax-free to service members and their families, Forbes reported on November 7, 2025. DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin confirmed and defended the arrangement, while government watchdog CREW called it an "optics and ethics issue."

Nov 6

JTF Southern Spear killed 3 aboard suspected narcotics vessel in Caribbean Sea; 18th strike, ~69 campaign deaths

U.S. forces struck a vessel in the Caribbean Sea on November 6, 2025, killing three people. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced the strike that evening on X, stating it was conducted "at the direction of" President Trump and targeted a "vessel operated by a Designated Terrorist Organization," but provided no public evidence of drug trafficking. The operation was the 18th strike of the Southern Spear campaign, bringing reported total deaths to approximately 69.

Nov 6

Trump and Lutnick sons held Kaz Resources stake as their fathers brokered a $1.6B U.S.-backed Kazakhstan tungsten deal

On November 6, 2025, the U.S. government announced a deal with Kazakhstan granting a U.S.-backed company, Kaz Resources, access to one of the world's largest undeveloped tungsten resources, supported by up to $1.6 billion in financing from the Export-Import Bank and the U.S. International Development Finance Corporation. Six days before the announcement, investors linked to Dominari Securities — a firm partly owned by Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump and based at Trump Tower — had acquired a 20 percent stake in the entity connected to the Kazakhstan project; Cantor Fitzgerald, run by Howard Lutnick's sons, separately raised $210 million for a related vehicle. A June 2026 New York Times investigation found that at least 14 companies affiliated with the Trump or Lutnick families were actively working with the federal government on critical-minerals deals worth more than $8.9 billion in federal support.

Nov 5

DHS terminated Temporary Protected Status for South Sudanese nationals over disputed 'improved conditions' claim

On November 5, 2025, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem announced the termination of Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for South Sudanese nationals, effective January 5, 2026, justifying it by citing "renewed peace" in South Sudan following a 2018 peace agreement. On December 30, 2025, U.S. District Judge Angel Kelley granted an emergency injunction blocking the termination, ruling in a lawsuit brought by African Communities Together that DHS had acted unlawfully and citing a United Nations panel report describing ongoing armed conflict and near-record food insecurity in South Sudan. The administration has separately pursued TPS terminations for Syria, Venezuela, Haiti, Cuba, and Nicaragua.

Nov 4

JTF Southern Spear killed 2 aboard suspected narcotics vessel in eastern Pacific; 17th strike, ~67 campaign deaths

U.S. military forces struck a vessel in the eastern Pacific Ocean on November 4, 2025, killing two people aboard. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced the strike on social media, alleging the vessel was traveling a known narcotics route; no evidence was provided. The strike was the 17th of the Southern Spear campaign, bringing the documented campaign death toll to at least 67.

Nov 1

JTF Southern Spear killed 3 aboard suspected narcotics vessel in Caribbean; 15th strike, ~50 campaign deaths

On November 1, 2025, Joint Task Force Southern Spear conducted a lethal strike against an alleged drug-trafficking vessel in the Caribbean Sea, killing three crew members. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth announced the strike via social media, claiming the vessel was operated by a "Designated Terrorist Organization" involved in narcotics smuggling; no evidence was presented and no judicial process preceded the killings.

Nov 1

JTF Southern Spear killed 3 aboard suspected narcotics vessel in Caribbean; 16th strike, ~62 campaign deaths

U.S. military forces killed three people aboard a vessel in the Caribbean Sea on November 1, 2025, in the 16th strike of the Southern Spear campaign. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced the strike on X, claiming the vessel was "known by our intelligence to be involved in illicit narcotics smuggling," but no public evidence was presented. The strike brought documented campaign deaths to approximately 62, and the campaign continued without formal congressional authorization or judicial process.

Oct 31

Border Patrol agent pointed gun at bystanders, another punched handcuffed detainee in Evanston, Illinois

On October 31, 2025, U.S. Border Patrol agent Timothy Donahue pointed his service weapon at unarmed bystanders and threatened to shoot them after a vehicle crash in Evanston, Illinois, while fellow agent Thomas Parsons punched a handcuffed man on the ground. Agents pepper-sprayed onlookers and detained three U.S. citizens, who were released without charges after several hours in federal custody. Both agents were operating under U.S. Customs and Border Protection's Operation Midway Blitz.

Oct 31

ICE officer Israel Hernandez threatened to shoot Portland teenager during 911 call

On October 31, 2025, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer Israel D. Hernandez pulled his service weapon and told a 911 dispatcher he might have to shoot a teenager who had punched the window of his unmarked SUV in Northeast Portland, Oregon. Hernandez did not fire, and the teenager fled without being identified. The confrontation surfaced publicly four months later when Oregon Public Broadcasting obtained the 911 recording and a corroborating police report via a public-records request.

Excessive force by law enforcement

Oct 31

Education Department issued rule stripping PSLF eligibility from organizations supporting immigrant rights and transgender healthcare

On October 31, 2025, the U.S. Department of Education published a final rule amending Public Service Loan Forgiveness regulations to exclude employers deemed to have a "substantial illegal purpose," defined to include organizations that aid undocumented immigrants, support transgender healthcare for minors, or engage in certain diversity activities. The rule implemented a March 2025 Trump executive order directing the department to redefine "public service" to exclude organizations that "undermine national security and American values." Congress enacted PSLF in 2007 with statutory employer eligibility criteria the rule effectively rewrites through administrative action.

Oct 30

Fannie Mae fired ethics staff investigating Pulte's access to Letitia James's mortgage records

On October 30, 2025, Fannie Mae fired Chief Ethics Officer Suzanne Libby and about a dozen other ethics and internal-investigations staff, days after General Counsel Danielle McCoy was forced to resign, while that unit was investigating whether Federal Housing Finance Agency Director Bill Pulte's team had improperly obtained New York Attorney General Letitia James's confidential mortgage records. Senior Fannie Mae executives who separately raised alarms that a Pulte ally had shared confidential mortgage-pricing data with rival Freddie Mac were forced out around the same time. Pulte publicly attributed the firings to a standard business layoff targeting diversity-equity-and-inclusion roles; Wall Street Journal reporting in late October 2025, corroborated independently by Associated Press reporting in November 2025, revealed both firings were retaliatory.

Retaliation against whistleblowers

Oct 29

JTF Southern Spear killed 4 aboard suspected narcotics vessel in eastern Pacific; 14th strike, ~59 campaign deaths

U.S. Joint Task Force forces struck an alleged drug-trafficking vessel in the eastern Pacific Ocean on October 29, 2025, killing four people. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced the strike on social media, stating it was carried out "at the direction of President Donald Trump" against a vessel "operated by a Designated Terrorist Organization." No public evidence was presented for the trafficking allegation.

Oct 28

Lawsuit revealed DOJ conditioned FY2025 COPS policing grants on anti-DEI and immigration-cooperation certifications

On October 28, 2025, the City and County of San Francisco, Santa Clara County, and the City of Tucson sued the U.S. Department of Justice and Attorney General Pamela Bondi in federal court, revealing that DOJ's fiscal year 2025 COPS community-policing grants barred funds for any program that "advances diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility" and required grantees to certify compliance with all current and future presidential executive orders and with federal immigration-enforcement cooperation. Chicago and St. Paul filed a parallel lawsuit in Illinois on November 12, 2025 over the same conditions attached to their own COPS awards. Both suits argued the conditions exceeded DOJ's statutory authority and violated the Spending Clause and separation of powers.

Coercive funding leverage

Oct 28

ICE detained Jordanian father of disabled US-citizen son despite standing caregiver accommodation

On October 28, 2025, ICE detained Maher Tarabishi, a 62-year-old Jordanian national, during a routine annual check-in at its Dallas field office, despite a supervision order in place since 2008 that permitted him to remain in the country as the full-time caregiver for his disabled adult son, Wael, who has Pompe disease. DHS said Tarabishi was a "self-admitted member" of the Palestine Liberation Organization and that a prior removal case against him had been dismissed in 2011; his family disputes that characterization and says he has never been charged with a crime, has paid taxes, and had attended every required ICE check-in without failure. Tarabishi remains in ICE custody at the Bluebonnet Detention Center in Anson, Texas.

Denial of due process in immigration enforcement

Oct 28

Trump White House fired all six Commission of Fine Arts members by email, clearing reviewers of his own ballroom project

On October 28, 2025, the White House fired by email all six sitting members of the U.S. Commission of Fine Arts (CFA), the federal board that must review and approve changes to the White House complex, including President Trump's proposed ballroom and a planned triumphal arch along the Potomac. The dismissed members -- Biden appointees serving statutory four-year terms, several running through 2028 -- included vice chair Hazel Ruth Edwards and architect Bruce Redman Becker, who said the CFA would otherwise have reviewed the ballroom's design. A White House official confirmed the firings and said replacements would be chosen for alignment with Trump's "America First" policies.

Dismantling agency capacity

Oct 28

CBP officer choked and shoved protester to the ground outside Durango, Colorado ICE facility

During an overnight protest outside the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement field office in Durango, Colorado, in the early morning of October 28, 2025, a masked Customs and Border Protection officer — later identified as Nicholas Rice — grabbed protester Franci Stagi's phone and threw it across the street, then put her in a chokehold and shoved her to the ground. Multiple bystander videos captured the encounter. The protest had begun in response to ICE's warrantless arrest of a Durango resident and his two children the previous morning.

Excessive force by law enforcement

Oct 27

JTF Southern Spear killed 14 aboard suspected narcotics vessels in eastern Pacific; 13th strike, ~[N] campaign deaths

U.S. Joint Task Force Southern Command conducted three separate strikes on Oct. 27, 2025 in the eastern Pacific, killing 14 people total. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced all three strikes in a single post, marking the first time multiple strikes were announced in a single day. No substantiating evidence was presented for alleged drug-trafficking. One survivor was spotted clinging to debris; Mexican Navy search operations ended October 31 with no survivor located.

Oct 27

ICE arrested a misidentified Durango asylum-seeker and his two children without a warrant en route to school

On October 27, 2025, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents arrested Fernando Jaramillo-Solano, a Colombian national with a pending asylum case, and his two children without a warrant as he drove them to school in Durango, Colorado. A senior ICE official later testified in federal court that Jaramillo-Solano had been mistaken for another person, but agents detained him anyway and transferred him to a Texas facility. The family was separated from the children's mother, and the arrest triggered days of protests outside the Durango ICE field office.

Oct 24

JTF Southern Spear killed six aboard suspected narcotics vessel in Caribbean; 10th strike, ~14 campaign deaths

On October 24, 2025, U.S. forces conducted the 10th strike of Operation Southern Spear, killing six people aboard a vessel in the Caribbean Sea. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth announced the strike on social media, claiming the vessel was "operated by Tren de Aragua (TdA), a Designated Terrorist Organization (DTO), trafficking narcotics in the Caribbean Sea," and that it was the first Southern Spear strike conducted at night. No public evidence was provided for the TdA affiliation or drug-trafficking allegation, and the identities of those killed were not disclosed.

Oct 24

Attorney General Bondi deployed federal election monitors to polling sites in New Jersey and California following GOP requests

On October 24, 2025, Attorney General Pamela Bondi announced that the Department of Justice would deploy federal election monitors to polling sites in Passaic County, New Jersey, and five California counties (Los Angeles, Orange, Kern, Riverside, and Fresno), following requests from Republican state officials. The monitors, described as election observers, were positioned at polling locations to oversee election administration.

Voter intimidation

Oct 22

ICE denied Greggy Sorio medical care for months at Tacoma detention facility, causing partial foot amputations

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's "pattern of failures" in treating Greggy Sorio, a Filipino lawful permanent resident held at the Northwest ICE Processing Center in Tacoma, left him hospitalized on October 22, 2025, after months of denied care for reported bleeding and pain beginning around mid-2025; doctors diagnosed a bone infection and performed two amputation surgeries. ICE continued to pursue his deportation despite the injuries, attempting to remove him in early December 2025 before a court order temporarily blocked it. A federal judge in the Western District of Washington later ruled the facility's treatment unconstitutional and ordered Sorio's release on February 13, 2026.

Denial of custodial medical care

Oct 22

JTF Southern Spear killed 3 aboard suspected narcotics vessel in eastern Pacific; 9th strike, ~16 campaign deaths

On October 22, 2025, U.S. forces conducted the ninth strike of Operation Southern Spear, killing three people aboard an alleged drug-trafficking vessel in the eastern Pacific Ocean. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced the strike on social media and characterized the targeted organizations as "the 'al-Qaida' of our hemisphere." The administration provided no public evidence that the vessel or crew engaged in drug trafficking. The strike continued despite Congressional War Powers resolutions attempting to limit the campaign.

Oct 22

Trump demanded DOJ pay him $230 million in compensation for federal investigations; claim routed to his former defense attorney

On October 22, 2025, President Donald Trump formally demanded that the Department of Justice pay him approximately $230 million through an administrative claims process, citing federal investigations including the Russia probe and the classified documents case. The claim required approval from DOJ officials, including Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche, who previously served as Trump's personal defense attorney in the classified documents prosecution. Representatives Jamie Raskin and Robert Garcia announced an investigation into the demand over self-dealing concerns.

Oct 21

Speaker Johnson withholds swearing-in of Rep.-elect Grijalva, conditioning seating on unrelated shutdown vote

House Speaker Mike Johnson refused to swear in Representative-elect Adelita Grijalva, who had won Arizona's 7th Congressional District special election in late September 2025, conditioning her seating on Senate Democrats agreeing to reopen the government during a shutdown. Johnson's demand was unrelated to Grijalva's election — the conditioning denied 813,000 Arizona constituents their elected representative and transformed a ministerial constitutional duty into political leverage. On October 21, 2025, Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes and Grijalva filed a federal lawsuit demanding Johnson immediately fulfill his duty to seat her.

Attacks on legislative independence

Oct 21

JTF Southern Spear killed 2 aboard suspected narcotics vessel in eastern Pacific; 8th strike, ~14 campaign deaths

On October 21, 2025, a U.S. military strike in the Eastern Pacific Ocean off the Colombian coast killed two people aboard an alleged drug smuggling vessel. This marked the first Southern Spear operation in the Eastern Pacific, expanding the campaign beyond the Caribbean where strikes had begun in September 2025. UN human rights experts characterized the strike as "extrajudicial executions," asserting it lacked proper legal authority under international law.

Oct 21

Interior Dept. signed Izembek refuge land exchange with King Cove Corp. without completing statutory reviews required for the road swap

On October 21, 2025, U.S. Interior Secretary Doug Burgum signed a land exchange agreement conveying 490 acres of the Izembek National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska to the King Cove Corporation, an Alaska Native village corporation, in return for roughly 1,739 acres of corporation-owned land added to the refuge, to enable construction of a road through the refuge connecting King Cove to the Cold Bay airport. A federal judge later ruled the exchange violated the Endangered Species Act, the National Wildlife Refuge System Administration Act, and the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act because Interior had not completed the statutory analysis those laws require before authorizing a road through a wildlife refuge.

Ignoring statutory requirements

Oct 21

Trump pardoned Binance founder Changpeng Zhao whose exchange settled a $2B MGX deal via Trump family stablecoin

President Trump granted Binance founder Changpeng Zhao a full and unconditional pardon on October 21, 2025, clearing a 2023 guilty plea for failing to maintain an effective anti-money-laundering program as Binance CEO. Zhao's company had built a documented financial relationship with the Trump family's World Liberty Financial crypto venture in 2025, including a $2 billion investment from Abu Dhabi's MGX settled through WLFI's USD1 stablecoin, and a separate stablecoin listing that coincided with the SEC dropping its lawsuit against Binance.

Oct 21

ICE agent shot citizen journalist Carlitos Ricardo Parias during Los Angeles arrest attempt; agency denied him counsel access and body-camera footage

On October 21, 2025, an ICE agent shot citizen journalist Carlitos Ricardo Parias in the elbow during an attempted arrest in downtown Los Angeles, after agents smashed his car window; a U.S. marshal was also struck. Prosecutors charged Parias with assaulting a federal officer, but a federal judge dismissed the indictment with prejudice in December 2025, finding the government denied him access to counsel while in ICE custody and missed a court deadline to release body-camera footage of the shooting.

Oct 20

United States and Belize signed safe third-country agreement diverting asylum seekers

The United States and Belize signed a "safe third country" agreement on October 20, 2025, allowing the U.S. to transfer Central American and Caribbean asylum seekers to Belize to pursue protection claims there instead of in the U.S. The agreement's text was not made public and required ratification by Belize's Senate that November; the first deportation flight arrived July 10, 2026, carrying one Haitian asylum seeker.

Denial of due process in immigration enforcement

Oct 20

Reuters investigation reveals Trump administration operating secret 'Weaponization Working Group' targeting political critics

Reuters published an exclusive investigation on October 20, 2025, revealing an interagency "Weaponization Working Group" operating biweekly since at least April 2025. The group comprised approximately 39 officials drawn from the White House, DOJ, FBI, CIA, ODNI, Defense Department, DHS, IRS, and FCC. Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard confirmed the group's existence, describing it as "interagency coordination under President Trump's leadership to deliver accountability." Identified targets included former FBI Director James Comey, Anthony Fauci, and senior military officers who implemented COVID-19 vaccine mandates.

Oct 19

FBI-led task force with ICE, local police raided Wilder, Idaho racetrack; detained ~400 including citizens, children with flash-bangs, rubber bullets

On October 19, 2025, more than 200 federal, state, and local officers raided La Catedral racetrack in Wilder, Idaho, detaining roughly 400 attendees -- including U.S. citizens and children -- for about four hours. Officers zip-tied detainees at gunpoint and used flash-bang grenades and rubber bullets, including on occupied vehicles. DHS credited ICE with leading the operation, but the Canyon County sheriff and Caldwell police chief called that "completely false," saying the FBI's Metro Violent Crime and Gang Task Force -- of which local agencies are longstanding members -- led a gambling-warrant operation, with ICE present only to process detainees' immigration status.

Oct 18

Michigan DNR officers stopped Detroit father on pretext of fishing-license check, delivering him to ICE custody

On October 18, 2025, Michigan Department of Natural Resources officers stopped Detroit resident Jose Pedro Hernandez Lupercio, a Mexican citizen with no convictions who was fishing with his sons on the Manistee River in Brethren, Michigan, and the stop led to his transfer into ICE custody. DHS said the arrest occurred during "a targeted operation led by the USFS in conjunction with the DNR," while DNR maintains its officers were present only "as backup" and were "not present to enforce federal immigration laws" — an account contradicted by a federal habeas corpus ruling stating DNR agents contacted ICE after Hernandez Lupercio could not prove legal presence. He was held on $7,000 bond and released in February 2026.

Denial of due process in immigration enforcement

Oct 17

JTF Southern Spear killed 3 aboard suspected narcotics vessel in Caribbean; 7th strike, ~18 campaign deaths

On October 17, 2025, U.S. Southern Command (SOUTHCOM) conducted a military strike in the Caribbean Sea targeting a vessel that the U.S. claimed was affiliated with the Ejército de Liberación Nacional (ELN), Colombia's largest remaining guerrilla organization. The strike killed three people. The ELN publicly denied that the targeted vessel was engaged in drug-boat trafficking in international waters. No survivors were reported.

Oct 17

JTF Southern Spear killed 3 aboard suspected narcotics vessel in Caribbean; 7th strike, ~14 campaign deaths

On October 17, 2025, the U.S. military conducted a lethal strike on an alleged drug-smuggling vessel in international waters in the Caribbean Sea, killing three men. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth announced the operation on October 19, characterizing the men as "narco-terrorists" and stating they were transported "substantial amounts of narcotics." The strike was directed by President Donald Trump as part of Operation Southern Spear, an ongoing military campaign launched without congressional authorization.

Oct 17

Trump commutes George Santos sentence after three months of seven-year wire fraud term

President Trump commuted the federal prison sentence of former Republican Congressman George Santos on October 17, 2025, releasing him after he had served approximately three months of a seven-year sentence. Santos had pleaded guilty to wire fraud and identity theft charges stemming from his 2022 congressional campaign. The commutation came after lobbying by Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene and other MAGA-aligned figures; Santos's conviction remains on his record, but his prison term ended.

Abuse of pardon power

Oct 17

Coast Guard awards $172M no-bid contract for two Gulfstream G700 jets for DHS Secretary Noem and leadership

On October 17, 2025, the U.S. Coast Guard approved a $172 million no-bid contract — with a total estimated cost of $200 million — to purchase two Gulfstream G700 private jets for use by DHS Secretary Kristi Noem and other DHS leadership, even as a government shutdown had halted other federal services. DHS had previously sought funding for a single aircraft at a projected cost of $50 million; the no-bid contract for two jets at four times that estimate drew immediate criticism from House Appropriations Democrats, who alleged the purchase was made to benefit Noem personally.

Oct 16

U.S. military killed 2 in Caribbean narco-submarine strike; survivors released without charges after Trump called them 'terrorists'

On October 16, 2025, U.S. Southern Command forces struck a narco-submarine in the Caribbean Sea, killing two people and leaving two survivors—one Colombian and one Ecuadorian. President Trump publicly called the survivors "terrorists" and said they would be detained and prosecuted. Both were repatriated and released without charges on November 6, contradicting Trump's terrorism designation.

Oct 16

JTF Southern Spear killed 2 aboard suspected narcotics vessel in Caribbean; 8th strike, ~18 campaign deaths

On October 16, 2025, U.S. military forces under U.S. Southern Command conducted a lethal strike on a semi-submersible vessel in the Caribbean Sea, killing two people and wounding two survivors. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced the strike, alleging narcotics trafficking, but provided no independent evidence. President Trump publicly labeled the survivors "terrorists"; both were later repatriated and released without charges.

Oct 16

DOJ brings first terrorism charges under Trump's Antifa designation; two indicted for July 4 attack on Fort Worth ICE facility

The Justice Department unsealed its first federal terrorism indictment on October 16, 2025, under President Trump's executive order designating Antifa as a domestic terrorist organization, charging Zachary Evetts and Cameron Arnold with providing material support for terrorism and attempting to murder federal law enforcement officers. Prosecutors alleged the two belonged to an "Antifa cell" that orchestrated a July 4, 2025, attack on an ICE detention facility near Fort Worth, Texas. Attorney General Pam Bondi declared, "Antifa is a left-wing terrorist organization. They will be prosecuted as such," while FBI Director Kash Patel announced over 20 arrests tied to the case and "related Antifa networks."

Politicized investigations

Oct 16

The Intercept report reveals Hegseth forced SOUTHCOM commander Holsey into early retirement over legal objections to Southern Spear strikes

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced on October 16, 2025 that Admiral Alvin Holsey, commander of U.S. Southern Command, would retire effective December 12, two years ahead of schedule after only one year in command. The Intercept's investigation found the abrupt announcement followed an October 6 Pentagon meeting where Holsey offered to resign after disputes with Hegseth over the conduct and legality of the Southern Spear drug-boat strikes. Multiple officials described SOUTHCOM as "in turmoil" and "disillusioned" after the announcement.

Oct 16

DOJ indicts former national security adviser Bolton on 18 classified-document counts; third Trump adversary charged in a month

A federal grand jury in Maryland indicted former National Security Adviser John Bolton on October 16, 2025, on 18 counts of mishandling classified national defense information — eight counts of transmitting and ten counts of unlawfully retaining material emailed via personal accounts without security clearances. Bolton became the third prominent Trump critic charged within roughly three weeks, following former FBI Director James Comey (September 25) and New York Attorney General Letitia James. The Biden-era Justice Department had previously reviewed the same conduct and declined to bring charges.

Oct 15

Trump signs EO 14356 indefinitely extending federal hiring freeze, placing political appointees in control of all career hiring

On October 15, 2025, President Trump signed Executive Order 14356, indefinitely extending the federal hiring freeze that had been scheduled to expire that day. The order requires every federal agency to establish a Strategic Hiring Committee — composed of a majority of non-career political appointees — to approve the creation or filling of every vacancy, and mandates that all career hiring be "consistent with the national interest, agency needs, and the priorities of my Administration." Civil service experts described the requirement as unlike anything previously seen in merit-system governance, warning it erases the distinction between merit-based and patronage-based hiring.

Oct 15

OMB Director Vought announces 10,000+ federal shutdown layoffs, vowing to use budget lapse for permanent workforce cuts

On October 15, 2025, White House OMB Director Russell Vought publicly announced the Trump administration intended to lay off "probably north of 10,000" federal workers through reduction-in-force notices during the government shutdown, explicitly framing the budget lapse as an opportunity for permanent workforce reduction. Vought vowed to "keep those RIFs rolling throughout this shutdown, because we think it's important."

Oct 14

Border Patrol agents defied supervisor's order to end Chicago car chase, crashed into vehicle at 51 mph

On October 14, 2025, Border Patrol agents Benito Nunez, Carlos Chavira Jr., and Jesus Guillen pursued a fleeing vehicle for 18 minutes through Chicago's East Side neighborhood, disregarding their supervisor's repeated radio orders to stop the chase. The pursuit ended when the agents' vehicle blew a tire and crashed into the fleeing SUV at 51 mph near East 105th Street and South Avenue N — a crash DHS publicly described as an authorized "precision immobilization technique," a claim later-released body-camera footage contradicted.

Oct 14

JTF Southern Spear killed 6 aboard suspected narcotics vessel in Caribbean; 5th strike, ~17 campaign deaths

On October 14, 2025, the U.S. military conducted an airstrike on a small vessel in the Caribbean Sea off the Venezuelan coast, killing six people. Trump claimed the vessel was affiliated with a terrorist organization and the victims were drug traffickers, but families identified them as civilian fishermen and farm workers. The strike was conducted without congressional authorization or military adjudication of combatant status.

Oct 14

State Department revoked six visas over foreign nationals' comments celebrating Charlie Kirk's assassination

The U.S. State Department's official X account announced on October 14, 2025 that it had revoked the visas of six foreign nationals -- citizens of Argentina, South Africa, Mexico, Germany, Brazil, and Paraguay -- over social-media comments celebrating the September 10, 2025 assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk. The department did not name the individuals, posting screenshots of their comments with usernames blacked out and stating "Visa revoked" after each, and said "the United States has no obligation to host foreigners who wish death on Americans."

Ideological exclusion

Oct 14

DOJ pressured Meta into removing 80,000-member Chicago ICE-sightings Facebook group; court later found it unconstitutional coercion

On October 14, 2025, Meta removed "ICE Sighting-Chicagoland," an approximately 80,000-member Facebook group where users reported ICE agent sightings, hours after Attorney General Pamela Bondi publicly credited "outreach from the DOJ" for the takedown and said the department would keep pressing tech companies on similar groups. On April 18, 2026, a federal judge found the administration had "demanded, rather than requested" that Facebook and Apple censor this category of speech, granting a preliminary injunction against the practice as a likely First Amendment violation.

Targeting critics with government power

Oct 14

ICE agents arrested Victor Cruz Gamez without a warrant in Hillsboro, Oregon, and held him more than three weeks despite his valid work permit

On October 14, 2025, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents pulled over and arrested Victor Cruz Gamez, a longtime Hillsboro, Oregon, construction worker and grandfather, without a warrant and without an individualized determination that he was likely to escape. Cruz Gamez held a work permit valid through 2029 and deferred-action status tied to a pending visa application, and his family said agents had been looking for a different man with the same name; he was transferred to the Northwest ICE Processing Center in Tacoma, Washington, the next morning and held for more than three weeks. A federal judge later found that ICE's warrantless-arrest practice in Oregon amounted to unlawful agency policy and enjoined it.

Oct 11

Trump directs Pentagon to redirect $8B in R&D funds to military pay, bypassing Purpose Statute and congressional reprogramming

On October 11, 2025, President Trump posted on Truth Social directing Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth to use "all available funds" to pay active-duty military personnel on October 15, amid an ongoing government shutdown. A Pentagon official identified approximately $8 billion in unobligated FY2024 research, development, testing, and evaluation (RDT&E) funds as the source. The Purpose Statute (31 U.S.C. § 1301) restricts appropriated funds to their congressionally designated purpose; transferring R&D accounts to cover military salaries requires advance congressional reprogramming approval that the administration did not seek.

Oct 10

Trump administration fires 4,200 federal workers via shutdown RIFs, wielding budget lapse as workforce reduction tool

On October 10, 2025, the tenth day of a federal government shutdown, the Trump administration began issuing reduction-in-force notices to approximately 4,200 career federal workers across seven agencies, including the CDC, CISA, EPA, and IRS. OMB Director Russell Vought announced the action on social media with "The RIFs have begun."

Oct 8

Executive Office of the President signed a White House ballroom donor contract shielding donors and exempting conflict-of-interest rules

On October 8, 2025, the White House, the National Park Service, and the Trust for the National Mall signed a contract governing hundreds of millions of dollars in private donations for President Trump's planned $400 million White House ballroom. The agreement bars disclosure of anonymous donors' identities and excludes the president and White House officials from the conflict-of-interest review it applies to the Park Service and Interior Department. The contract was not disclosed publicly until The Washington Post obtained it in April 2026, after the watchdog group Public Citizen sued and a judge ordered its release.

Oct 7

OMB deletes GEFTA back-pay guarantee from shutdown guidance, claiming furloughed workers not entitled to statutory protection

On October 7, 2025, the Office of Management and Budget stripped the reference to the Government Employee Fair Treatment Act of 2019 from its shutdown guidance, and the White House drafted legal arguments claiming GEFTA does not mandate back pay for furloughed workers. Congress enacted GEFTA in 2019 specifically to guarantee pay for roughly 900,000 furloughed employees during any government shutdown — a protection Trump himself had signed into law.

Oct 7

FBI Director Patel fired three career agents who worked on Jack Smith's 2020-election investigation, citing no cause

Between October 7 and November 4, 2025, FBI Director Kash Patel fired three career FBI agents — Michelle Ball, Jamie Garman, and Blaire Toleman, each with eight to fourteen years of service — who had previously been assigned to support Special Counsel Jack Smith's investigation into Trump's efforts to overturn the 2020 election. Their termination letters accused them of "weaponizing" their positions but cited no specific misconduct finding and gave them no opportunity to respond. The firings were part of a broader purge of FBI personnel perceived as having worked against Trump's interests.

Politicization of the Justice Department

Oct 6

ICE deported ten migrants to Eswatini on second third-country removal flight

On October 6, 2025, ten migrants deported by the United States arrived in Eswatini, the second flight under the third-country removal arrangement the administration launched that July. An immigration lawyer said the group included at least three Vietnamese nationals, a Filipino, and a Cambodian national; Eswatini's Correctional Services department said it would hold them in correctional facilities pending repatriation efforts without specifying conditions. The flight brought the total number of third-country deportees sent to Eswatini to 15.

Oct 4

Trump federalizes 300 Illinois National Guard troops over Gov. Pritzker's objection, deploying state forces for immigration enforcement

On October 4, 2025, the Trump administration federalized 300 Illinois National Guard troops after Governor JB Pritzker refused a White House ultimatum to voluntarily mobilize them for immigration enforcement at the Broadview ICE facility near Chicago. Pritzker called the demand "absolutely outrageous and un-American."

Oct 4

Border Patrol agent shot Chicago citizen Marimar Martinez five times; DHS's same-day account was contradicted by its own evidence

On October 4, 2025, U.S. Border Patrol agent Charles Exum shot Marimar Martinez, a 30-year-old U.S. citizen and Montessori teaching assistant, five times through her car window in Chicago's Brighton Park after she followed agents' vehicle and honked to warn others of their presence. Hours later DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin publicly said agents had been "rammed by vehicles and boxed in by 10 cars" and that Martinez was armed with a "semi-automatic weapon" — claims the next day's criminal complaint, body-camera footage and the agents' own reports did not support. Martinez was charged with assaulting federal officers, the charges were dismissed with prejudice in November 2025, and Exum was placed on paid administrative leave rather than disciplined.

Oct 3

ICE left detainees without a functioning medical-payment system for ten months after VA ended its claims-processing role

The Department of Veterans Affairs abruptly ended its two-decade role processing ICE's offsite medical-care payments on October 3, 2025, after political pressure and a lawsuit from a conservative advocacy group; ICE itself called the loss an "absolute emergency" that would "delay critical medical care" and risk detainees' "health, welfare, and lives." Ten months later, ICE's replacement contractor, Acentra Health, had received $44.6 million of a $67.5 million no-bid contract but had paid offsite medical providers zero dollars after missing multiple promised start dates, a gap that coincided with a separate Senate investigation documenting dozens of cases of untreated or unmanaged medical conditions in ICE custody.

Denial of custodial medical care

Oct 3

DHS began offering unaccompanied immigrant children cash and detention threats to induce 'self-deportation'

Starting in September 2025 and formalized in an October 3, 2025 nationwide memo, the Department of Homeland Security and the Department of Health and Human Services began pressuring unaccompanied immigrant children in federal custody — offering some children 14 and older $2,500 to leave voluntarily — to waive their right to a hearing before an immigration judge. A written "advisal" DHS had used since September 2025 told children that refusing to self-deport meant prolonged detention, transfer to ICE upon turning 18, and possible arrest and prosecution of their U.S. sponsors. Immigration attorneys and advocacy groups, including the National Immigration Law Center and Public Counsel, said the program stripped away statutory safeguards for one of the most vulnerable populations in the immigration system.

Oct 3

JTF Southern Spear killed 4 aboard suspected narcotics vessel in Caribbean; 4th strike, ~20 campaign deaths

U.S. military struck a small vessel in international waters off Venezuela's coast on October 3, killing four men. Defense Secretary Hegseth announced the strike without providing evidence of drug trafficking. The strike occurred after Trump declared a 'non-international armed conflict' with drug cartels and despite Senate opposition to strikes without authorization.

Oct 3

DOJ pressured Apple to remove ICE-accountability archive app Eyes Up from the App Store

On October 3, 2025, Apple removed Eyes Up — an app built by Indiana resident Mark Hodges through the Kreisau Group that archived publicly posted videos and news reports documenting ICE enforcement activity — from the App Store, one day after Apple pulled ICEBlock under U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi's public takedown demand. Apple had reviewed and approved Eyes Up in August 2025 without objection and gave no legal basis for the removal beyond contact from law enforcement. Hodges said the administration was "embarrassed by how many incriminating videos we have."

Targeting critics with government power

Oct 3

ICE detained exonerated legal permanent resident Subramanyam Vedam on his prison release, pursuing deportation under a vacated murder conviction

On October 3, 2025, Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents detained Subramanyam "Subu" Vedam, a 64-year-old legal permanent resident from India, the day a Pennsylvania court vacated his 1982 murder conviction for prosecutorial misconduct and prosecutors declined to retry him. ICE relied on a decades-old deportation order predicated on the now-vacated conviction and moved to deport him to India — a country he left as a nine-month-old in 1962. Vedam was held at the Moshannon Valley Processing Center in Philipsburg, Pennsylvania, where DHS continued pursuing deportation even as an immigration judge found him rehabilitated and cleared the way for his potential release.

Oct 2

United States paid Equatorial Guinea $7.5 million to accept deportees with US protections

The United States and Equatorial Guinea signed a Note Verbale dated October 2, 2025, under which the U.S. paid the authoritarian petrostate $7.5 million to accept deportees who could not be returned to their own countries. An Associated Press investigation published March 21, 2026 revealed the secretive deal and found that most of the at least 40 people eventually transferred there — including a 28-year-old East African refugee ICE agents allegedly beat after he refused to sign a voluntary-return document — had already been granted U.S. legal protection against removal home.

Denial of due process in immigration enforcement

Oct 2

U.S. Department of Labor issued H-2A wage rule UFW says cut farmworker pay up to $7 an hour, bypassing required rulemaking procedures

On October 2, 2025, the U.S. Department of Labor issued an interim final rule overhauling how it calculates H-2A farmworker wages, shifting to state-level Bureau of Labor Statistics data and adding a disputed housing-cost adjustment that, according to the United Farm Workers, cut wages by up to $7 an hour for many workers. The rule took effect immediately, bypassing the standard notice-and-comment rulemaking process, and DOL estimated it would transfer $2.46 billion annually from farmworkers to employers.

Ignoring statutory requirements

Oct 2

Attorney General Bondi demanded Apple remove ICE-tracking app ICEBlock; Apple complied same day

On October 2, 2025, U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi publicly demanded that Apple remove ICEBlock, a free app that let users anonymously report ICE agent sightings within roughly a five-mile radius, from the App Store, and Apple complied the same day. Apple had previously approved the app and, in response to inquiries, cited safety concerns relayed by law enforcement rather than identifying any legal violation. Developer Joshua Aaron later sued the Trump administration, alleging the DOJ's demand constituted unconstitutional government coercion.

Targeting critics with government power

Oct 1

OMB Director Vought froze $18 billion in congressionally-appropriated NYC infrastructure funds, citing pretextual DEI review

On October 1, 2025, the first day of the government shutdown, OMB Director Russell Vought announced a freeze of approximately $18 billion in Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act funds earmarked for two major New York City projects — the Gateway Hudson River Tunnel and the Second Avenue Subway extension — claiming a review was needed to ensure funds were not "flowing based on unconstitutional DEI principles." The freeze blocked reimbursements already owed, including an immediately due $300 million disbursement, and targeted projects in districts represented by Senate and House Democratic leaders Chuck Schumer and Hakeem Jeffries. Critics and legal experts said the DEI rationale was pretextual and that the Impoundment Control Act prohibits such unilateral executive withholding of appropriated funds.

Oct 1

Trump administration forces 15+ federal agencies to replace employees' out-of-office emails with partisan shutdown messaging without worker consent

On October 1, 2025, the first day of the FY2026 government shutdown, the Trump administration directed more than 15 federal agencies to replace furloughed employees' personal out-of-office email auto-replies with partisan messaging blaming Democratic senators for the shutdown, without employee knowledge or consent. At the Education Department, the deputy chief of staff for operations directly overrode personal messages with text reading "Democrat Senators are blocking passage of H.R. 5371 in the Senate."

Oct 1

DOE terminated 284 renewable energy grants based solely on whether recipient states voted for Trump, its own legal filing later admitted

On October 1, 2025, the U.S. Department of Energy announced the termination of 321 financial awards covering 223 projects, publicly citing financial review and energy policy grounds. A July 15, 2026, DOE legal filing in subsequent litigation admitted that 284 of those terminated grants were canceled "based solely on the political identity of the grant recipient's state" — specifically whether the state awarded its electoral votes to Kamala Harris in 2024 and had two Democratic-caucusing senators. Energy Secretary Chris Wright had repeatedly testified to Congress that politics played no role in the terminations; the court filing contradicted that testimony.

Politicized benefit administration

Sep 29

E&E News investigation reveals Energy Department banned 'climate change,' 'decarbonization,' and other terms from EERE work products

The Department of Energy's Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy directed employees to avoid approximately a dozen scientific and policy terms — including "climate change," "decarbonization," "clean energy," and "energy transition" — in all work products, including the agency website, internal reports, and federal funding opportunity descriptions. E\&E News first reported the directive on September 29; NPR independently obtained an internal email confirming it, contradicting DOE\'s public denial that any such ban applied to those terms. EERE is the federal government's largest funder of clean energy technology, with a $3.46 billion annual budget and a statutory mission under the Energy Policy Act to advance energy efficiency and renewable energy research.

Suppression of public data

Sep 29

DOJ eliminated its Community Relations Service, the "Peacemakers" civil-rights mediation office, via mass layoff notices

On Sept. 29, 2025, the U.S. Department of Justice issued reduction-in-force notices eliminating its Community Relations Service, the 1964 civil-rights-era "Peacemakers" conciliation office, as a standalone unit. The department's budget documents said CRS would close all its offices by the end of fiscal 2025, citing a mismatch with "law enforcement and litigating priorities." A federal judge later declined to block the layoffs while finding civil-rights groups suing over the cuts likely to prevail on their claim that only Congress may eliminate a congressionally created agency.

Dismantling agency capacity

Sep 29

DHS reinstated ICE officer who shoved Ecuadoran woman on video, three days after calling conduct 'unacceptable'

On September 29, 2025, DHS quietly reinstated an ICE officer who had been placed on administrative leave after video captured him shoving an Ecuadoran woman to the ground outside Manhattan's immigration court. The reinstatement came three days after DHS publicly declared the officer's conduct "unacceptable and beneath the men and women of ICE" and announced a "full investigation," and followed only a "preliminary review." No public statement accompanied the decision; DHS instead deflected follow-up by attacking the character of the detained woman's husband.

Sep 27

FEMA cut $242 million in security grants to Democratic-led states over immigration cooperation

On September 27, 2025, the Department of Homeland Security and FEMA cut $242 million — a 49 percent reduction — from Homeland Security Grant Program funding due to a coalition of Democratic-led states and Washington, D.C., reallocating the money to states the administration deemed more compliant with its immigration-enforcement priorities. A dozen state attorneys general sued, and a federal court found the cuts unlawful and ordered the funding restored, a ruling that stood after DHS's own appeal failed. Nearly a year later, New York officials said $87 million of the money owed the state still had not been delivered.

Sep 27

Trump federalizes Oregon National Guard over Gov. Kotek's explicit objection, orders 200 troops to Portland ICE facility

On September 27, 2025, President Trump invoked Title 10 to federalize 200 Oregon National Guard members, placing them under Pentagon command and ordering them to Portland to protect an ICE detention facility under protest — over the explicit objection of Governor Tina Kotek. Trump announced the action on social media, calling Portland "war-ravaged" and authorizing troops to use "full force" against protesters he called domestic terrorists.

Sep 26

DOJ obtained an order empaneling a Fort Pierce, Florida grand jury to investigate Crossfire Hurricane and Brennan

On September 26, 2025, Chief U.S. District Judge Cecilia Altonaga signed an administrative order authorizing an additional federal grand jury to sit in Fort Pierce, Florida beginning January 12, 2026, which ABC News later reported was sought at the Trump administration's request. Conservative activist Mike Davis, an informal adviser to Attorney General Pam Bondi who said he had "pushed very hard" for it, publicly described the jury as reopening a decade-old "conspiracy" investigation reaching former CIA Director John Brennan and other officials tied to the 2016 Russia inquiry, and Brennan's own attorney confirmed by December 2025 that Brennan had been formally named a target.

Politicized investigations

Sep 26

FBI Director Patel fires about 15 agents for kneeling during 2020 George Floyd protests, reversing predecessor's no-violation finding

On September 26, 2025, FBI Director Kash Patel fired approximately 15–20 career FBI agents for being photographed kneeling during a racial justice protest in Washington, D.C., in June 2020 following George Floyd's killing. Then-Director Christopher Wray had reviewed the incident at the time and found no policy violation. Under Patel, the FBI reopened the matter earlier in 2025, initially demoting the agents before proceeding to terminations.

Sep 25

Trump signs NSPM-7 directing DOJ and FBI to investigate political beliefs as domestic terrorism indicators

On September 25, 2025, President Trump signed National Security Presidential Memorandum 7 (NSPM-7), directing the Department of Justice, FBI, and Joint Terrorism Task Forces to investigate and disrupt individuals based on political speech and ideology—designating "anti-Christian," "anti-American," and "anti-capitalist" beliefs as domestic terrorism indicators. The directive authorized pre-crime investigation of citizens before any violent act occurs and directed the IRS and Treasury to trace funding of target organizations. FBI Director Kash Patel publicly pledged to pursue political targets "like the domestic terrorists that they are."

Sep 25

DOJ sued six states including Pennsylvania to force disclosure of sensitive voter data

On September 25, 2025, the U.S. Department of Justice sued six states — California, Michigan, Minnesota, New York, New Hampshire, and Pennsylvania — demanding they turn over sensitive personal voter data including full names, dates of birth, driver's license numbers, and the last four digits of Social Security numbers. The DOJ invoked the National Voter Registration Act, the Help America Vote Act, and the Civil Rights Act of 1960, claiming the states were violating federal law by refusing to produce unredacted voter registration rolls. Pennsylvania Secretary of State Al Schmidt, a Republican, characterized the demand as a "concerning attempt" to consolidate federal control over state election administration, emphasizing that "in the United States of America, it's the states who run elections, not the federal government."

Sep 23

Attorney General Bondi fired Miami prosecutor Rosenzweig over years-old anti-Trump blog posts, part of DOJ purge of critics

Attorney General Pam Bondi fired federal prosecutor Will Rosenzweig from the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of Florida in Miami on September 23, 2025, less than three hours after conservative commentator Natalie Winters publicized years-old blog posts Rosenzweig had written as a private citizen criticizing Donald Trump. Rosenzweig, a five-year veteran of the office, was two weeks from trying a multimillion-dollar Medicare fraud case at the time; his firing was part of what reporting described as a broader personnel purge inside the Justice Department of prosecutors and agents seen as insufficiently loyal to the administration.

Sep 23

Hegseth disbands 74-year-old Defense Advisory Committee on Women in the Services, citing 'divisive feminist agenda'

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth formally disbanded the Defense Advisory Committee on Women in the Services (DACOWITS) on September 23, 2025, ending a Pentagon advisory panel established in 1951. A Pentagon spokesperson justified the termination by stating the committee "is focused on advancing a divisive feminist agenda that hurts combat readiness." The disbanding was carried out pursuant to a disestablishment memo Hegseth signed on September 17.

Sep 23

FEMA opened investigation into employees who wrote Congress warning of leadership risks; ordered non-disclosure agreements

On September 23, 2025, at least seven FEMA employees who had signed the Katrina Declaration — a letter warning Congress that the agency's political leadership threatened effective emergency management — received emails from the DHS Office of Professional Responsibility ordering them to sign non-disclosure agreements and submit to investigative interviews. The employees had already been placed on paid administrative leave in August after the letter became public. Attorneys for the employees characterized the investigation as illegal retaliation for protected whistleblower disclosures and protected congressional communications.

Sep 22

USDA cancelled 30-year Household Food Security Report; placed ERS researchers on leave for disclosing decision

The U.S. Department of Agriculture cancelled its annual Household Food Security Report — the federal government's primary 30-year measure of hunger and food insecurity — on September 22, 2025, and then placed approximately a dozen Economic Research Service economists, researchers, supervisors, and administrators on indefinite paid administrative leave, citing an "unauthorized disclosure." The employees placed on leave were among those present at meetings where the decision to cancel the report was discussed. The report had been used annually since 1995 by policymakers, academics, and advocates to evaluate federal nutrition programs including SNAP, WIC, and school meals.

Sep 22

Trump designates Antifa a domestic terrorist organization by executive order, directing all federal agencies to investigate and disrupt the movement

President Trump signed a presidential order on September 22, 2025, formally designating "Antifa" as a domestic terrorist organization and directing all executive departments and agencies to use all applicable authorities to investigate, disrupt, and dismantle operations by anyone claiming to act on behalf of Antifa. The order describes Antifa as a domestic terrorist organization engaged in political violence to suppress lawful political activity, despite Antifa being a decentralized political stance rather than a formal membership organization. The U.S. has no statute authorizing domestic terrorist organization designations equivalent to the foreign terrorist organization framework, making the order a purely executive — and constitutionally contested — designation.

Sep 21

FBI Director Patel and Deputy AG Blanche confirmed closure of Homan bribery sting probe, called it 'baseless investigation'

On September 21, 2025, FBI Director Kash Patel and Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche jointly confirmed to ABC News that the Department of Justice had closed a federal bribery probe into Tom Homan, the White House's border enforcement czar. The investigation, inherited from the Biden administration, had been predicated on undercover FBI recordings of Homan allegedly accepting $50,000 in cash from agents posing as contractors seeking government contracts. Patel and Blanche publicly labeled the probe a "baseless investigation," stating it had found "no credible evidence of any criminal wrongdoing."

Sep 19

Hegseth issued Pentagon press policy requiring reporters to sign pre-publication approval agreements

On September 19, 2025, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth unveiled a 17-page Pentagon press policy requiring all credentialed journalists to sign agreements stipulating that Department of Defense information — including unclassified material — must receive government approval before publication, and authorizing the Pentagon police to revoke credentials for "unprofessional conduct" short of conviction. The policy marked the first time reporters risked losing their 24/7 Pentagon access badges for gathering information without prior official clearance, which the National Press Club and Freedom of the Press Foundation characterized as an unconstitutional prior restraint.

Access restrictions targeting critical outlets

Sep 19

JTF Southern Spear killed 3 aboard suspected narcotics vessel in Caribbean Sea; 3rd strike, ~17 campaign deaths

On September 19, 2025, U.S. forces struck an alleged drug-trafficking vessel in the Caribbean Sea in a joint operation with the Dominican Republic, killing three men. President Trump announced the strike on social media but provided no location, victims' identities, or evidence of trafficking. The Dominican Republic independently disclosed that the vessel was approximately 80 nautical miles south of Beata Island and later recovered 1,000 kilograms of cocaine from the wreck.

Sep 19

Trump signs EO 14351 establishing Gold Card pay-to-play immigrant visa, bypassing congressional immigration criteria

President Trump signed Executive Order 14351 on September 19, 2025, creating the "Gold Card" program, which directs the Secretaries of Commerce, State, and Homeland Security to treat a $1 million "unrestricted gift" to the Department of Commerce as evidence of eligibility for EB-1, EB-2, or national interest waiver immigrant visas — categories Congress designed for merit-based immigration, not financial payments. The order was published in the Federal Register on September 24, 2025. The program bypasses the EB-5 investor visa framework Congress established at 8 U.S.C. § 1153(b)(5), which requires demonstrated job creation and minimum investment thresholds; the Gold Card requires neither.

Sep 19

Trump publicly demands removal of EDVA U.S. attorney Siebert, who refused to indict Letitia James; Siebert resigns

President Trump publicly stated on September 19, 2025 that he wanted Erik Siebert, the top federal prosecutor for the Eastern District of Virginia, removed from his post; Siebert confirmed his resignation the same day. Siebert had reportedly informed senior Justice Department officials that he found insufficient evidence to charge New York Attorney General Letitia James — a Democrat who had successfully prosecuted Trump for civil fraud — with mortgage fraud. His top deputy, First Assistant Maya Song, also departed, and James was subsequently indicted on October 9, 2025, after new leadership took over.

Sep 18

DOJ filed emergency SCOTUS petition to remove Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook, challenging independent-agency firing protections

On September 18, 2025, Solicitor General D. John Sauer filed an emergency application with the U.S. Supreme Court seeking to lift lower-court injunctions blocking President Trump's August 25 firing of Federal Reserve Board Governor Lisa Cook. Two courts had found Cook likely to succeed on the merits, ruling that the Federal Reserve Act's "for cause" removal protection shielded her position. The DOJ argued the injunctions were "untenable" and asked the Court to intervene before the Federal Open Market Committee's scheduled September meeting.

Sep 18

Trump threatened TV broadcast license revocations; FCC chair targeted The View's news-program status

On September 18, 2025, President Trump publicly threatened to revoke broadcast licenses of television networks he deemed biased, and FCC Chair Brendan Carr questioned whether ABC's daytime talk show The View still qualified as a "bona fide news program" — a reclassification that would subject ABC affiliates to the FCC's equal-opportunity rule, requiring equal airtime for any political candidate appearing on the show. Trump explicitly deferred to Carr to determine whether licenses "should be taken away," and the FCC's lone Democratic commissioner, Anna Gomez, characterized the agency's conduct as a "campaign of censorship and control."

Licensing or regulatory power as leverage

Sep 18

RFK Jr.-appointed ACIP panel voted 8-3 to delay routine MMRV childhood vaccine, first change to immunization schedule

On September 18, 2025, the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices — its entire prior membership of 17 independent scientific experts having been dismissed and replaced by HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. — voted 8-3 to delay routine administration of the MMRV combination vaccine (measles, mumps, rubella, and varicella) from the standard 12–15 months to age 4. It was the first change to the childhood immunization schedule under Kennedy's HHS and the first ACIP meeting of his hand-picked panel, which observers and STAT News described as "rocky" amid procedural irregularities, complaints about insufficient review time, and a postponed hepatitis B vote.

Politicized appointments to independent or specialized roles

Sep 18

SEC dismissed civil fraud cases against Trump clemency recipients Devon Archer and Carlos Watson

On September 18, 2025, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission moved to dismiss with prejudice its civil fraud enforcement actions against Devon Archer and Carlos Watson (and Ozy Media, Inc.), two men President Trump had granted clemency for related criminal fraud convictions. The dismissals, entered by separate joint stipulations filed the same day, ended years of SEC efforts to recover funds tied to their conduct. The Commission issued no public explanation, stating in each filing only that it had "exercised its discretion."

Selective non-enforcement

Sep 18

World Liberty Financial sold crypto tokens to buyers linked to sanctioned Iranian and Russian networks, prompting a Senate probe request

Watchdog group Accountable.US reported on September 18, 2025 that World Liberty Financial (WLFI), the Trump family's crypto venture, sold tokens to wallets with prior ties to Iran's largest crypto exchange and a Treasury-sanctioned ruble token; a separate North Korea link the report alleged was later disputed by independent researchers as a false positive. Senate Democrats Warren and Reed cited the report in a November 2025 letter asking Treasury and DOJ to investigate WLFI's compliance and national-security exposure.

Sep 17

FCC Chair Carr threatened ABC license action over Kimmel's Charlie Kirk comments; ABC indefinitely suspended Kimmel

On September 17, 2025, FCC Chairman Brendan Carr publicly threatened ABC affiliates with regulatory consequences if they did not act against late-night host Jimmy Kimmel over Kimmel's recent comments about Charlie Kirk. Within hours, Nexstar and Sinclair Broadcast Group — both with transactions pending FCC approval — announced they would preempt Kimmel's show, and ABC suspended Jimmy Kimmel Live! indefinitely that same day. Former FCC senior official Gigi Sohn called it "the most blatant" use of the FCC's bully pulpit to intimidate a major network in the history of the agency.

Licensing or regulatory power as leverage

Sep 16

Trump signed a fourth executive order directing DOJ not to enforce the PAFACA TikTok divestment law, suspending the statute through December

President Trump signed EO 14350 on September 16, 2025, directing the Department of Justice to take no enforcement action under the Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act through December 16, 2025 — the fourth consecutive executive order suspending a congressionally enacted, SCOTUS-upheld statute without legislative authorization.

Sep 16

GAO found FEMA illegally withheld food, shelter, and detention housing funds; sixth ICA violation in 2025

On September 16, 2025, the Government Accountability Office published its sixth finding that the Trump administration violated the Impoundment Control Act, concluding that FEMA illegally withheld or delayed congressionally- appropriated funds for the Emergency Food and Shelter Program — which supplements food and shelter services for homeless people — and the Shelter and Services Program, which funds temporary housing to relieve overcrowding in immigration detention. GAO determined that FEMA's delay in issuing a funding notice for the Emergency Food and Shelter Program constituted an "impermissible withholding," and that FEMA's complete failure to issue any notice for the Shelter and Services Program established "intent to impermissibly defer or preclude the obligation of budget authority." The Trump administration did not comply with the GAO's findings; the funds remained withheld.

Sep 16

DOJ sued Oregon to compel release of unredacted, sensitive voter roll data

On September 16, 2025, the U.S. Department of Justice's Civil Rights Division sued Oregon and Secretary of State Tobias Read, seeking to compel disclosure of the state's complete unredacted voter registration list, including birth dates, driver's-license numbers, and partial Social Security numbers, and alleging violations of the National Voter Registration Act, the Help America Vote Act, and the Civil Rights Act of 1960. The suit was part of a broader DOJ campaign that went on to demand voter data from dozens of states. A federal judge dismissed the Oregon suit on January 26, 2026, after Attorney General Pam Bondi sent Minnesota's governor a letter suggesting the data would be used to advance the administration's immigration-enforcement agenda.

Sep 16

U.S. Agency for International Development adopted blanket "still interested" FOIA policy, threatening to close pending public-records requests

On September 16, 2025, the U.S. Agency for International Development published a Federal Register notice requiring requesters with FOIA requests filed before January 20, 2025 to reconfirm continued interest by October 31, 2025 or have their requests administratively closed. American Oversight warned USAID on October 31, 2025 that the policy exceeded the agency's statutory authority, and renewed the demand after an August 5, 2026 federal court ruling vacated the Department of Energy's nearly identical policy. It remains undocumented whether USAID has closed any requests under the policy.

Sep 15

Trump signed memo deploying National Guard and federal agents to Memphis over mayor's objection

On September 15, 2025, President Trump signed a presidential memorandum titled "Restoring Law and Order in Memphis," deploying Tennessee National Guard troops alongside FBI, ATF, DEA, ICE, Homeland Security Investigations, and U.S. Marshals to Memphis for crime enforcement. Mayor Paul Young — who had not requested the deployment and represented a city where crime had reached a 25-year low — publicly objected. The deployment came weeks after a federal court ruled Trump's Los Angeles military deployment violated the Posse Comitatus Act, the longstanding federal law prohibiting military forces from performing domestic law enforcement.

Sep 15

JTF Southern Spear killed 3 aboard suspected narcotics vessel in Caribbean; 2nd strike, ~[N] campaign deaths

On September 15, 2025, President Trump announced a U.S. military strike in the Caribbean killing three men aboard a vessel he alleged was trafficking drugs. Colombian President Gustavo Petro subsequently alleged that one of the three was a Colombian fisherman and that the boat was in Colombian territorial waters, not international waters as Trump claimed. Trump dismissed the allegation as "baseless."

Sep 15

Sen. Schiff report reveals USDA, Labor, and HHS departments spent over $55,000 in taxpayer funds on Trump tribute banners

On September 15, 2025, Sen. Adam Schiff released an oversight report revealing that the U.S. Departments of Agriculture, Labor, and Health and Human Services had contracted to display large Trump-tribute banners on their Washington, D.C. headquarters, including an 88-foot HHS banner promoting Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s "Make America Healthy Again" slogan. The three contracts totaled more than $55,000 in taxpayer funds, which Schiff's report said violated the federal appropriations-law ban on spending public money for "publicity or propaganda purposes."

Ignoring statutory requirements

Sep 12

ICE agent fatally shot Silverio Villegas-González during a traffic stop in Franklin Park, Illinois

On September 12, 2025, a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent shot and killed Silverio Villegas-González, a 38-year-old Mexican national and father of two, during a targeted traffic stop in Franklin Park, Illinois, part of the Chicago-area "Midway Blitz" enforcement surge. The Department of Homeland Security said he resisted arrest, fled, and dragged an agent, but eyewitnesses disputed that anyone was dragged and video showed agents breaking his car window before he was shot at close range. Bodycam footage showed the agent describing his own injuries as "nothing major."

Sep 11

SEC dismissed its civil fraud case against Nikola founder Trevor Milton after his Trump pardon

On September 11, 2025, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission filed a joint stipulation dismissing with prejudice its civil fraud enforcement action against Nikola founder Trevor Milton in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York. The dismissal followed President Trump's March 27, 2025 pardon of Milton on his related criminal securities-fraud conviction, ending the SEC's remaining case against him. It paralleled the Commission's dismissals a week later of civil actions against two other Trump clemency recipients, Devon Archer and Carlos Watson.

Selective non-enforcement

Sep 10

United States and Liberia signed asylum protection-claims agreement

The United States and Liberia signed an "Agreement to Cooperate in the Examination of Protection Claims" via exchange of notes at Monrovia on September 10, 2025, entering into force the same day. Liberia separately agreed on October 24, 2025 to accept Kilmar Abrego Garcia "on a strictly humanitarian and temporary basis" following an October 17 meeting between Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Liberia's foreign minister; by August 18, 2026 the agreement had scaled into active use, with Liberia agreeing to accept up to 1,200 third-country deportees.

Denial of due process in immigration enforcement

Sep 9

ICE detained Irish national Seamus Culleton, then blocked his green-card interview and reversed his court-approved bond during prolonged detention

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement detained Irish citizen Seamus Culleton on September 9, 2025, after running his license plate at a Home Depot in Saugus, Massachusetts, and transferred him to Camp East Montana in El Paso, Texas. During his ensuing detention, ICE caused him to miss at least two scheduled USCIS interviews confirming his pending marriage-based green card, and DHS successfully moved to reverse an immigration judge's $4,000 bond grant on a jurisdictional ground specific to the Visa Waiver Program he entered under.

Sep 9

ICE and CBP agents body-slammed 79-year-old U.S. citizen car wash owner during Van Nuys raid, held him nearly 12 hours without medical care

Masked federal agents from ICE, CBP, and DHS raided Valley Car Wash in Van Nuys, Los Angeles on September 9, 2025, and, per surveillance video and the owner's account, body-slammed and restrained 79-year-old U.S. citizen Rafie Ollah Shouhed after he tried to show them his employees' work authorization. Shouhed was handcuffed and held at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Los Angeles for nearly 12 hours without medical attention despite pleading that he had a heart condition, then released without charges. He suffered broken ribs, elbow injuries, and post-concussive symptoms of a traumatic brain injury.

Sep 5

Trump signed EO 14347 directing Pentagon to adopt 'Department of War' name; DoD website rebranded to war.gov

President Trump signed Executive Order 14347 on September 5, 2025, directing the Department of Defense to use the title "Department of War" in all non-statutory communications, correspondence, and ceremonies. The DoD website was immediately rebranded to war.gov. Implementation was estimated to cost approximately $2 billion, covering new signage and letterhead across the defense establishment — all without congressional authorization to rename the department as required by the National Security Act of 1947.

Sep 5

United States deported protected migrants to Ghana under undisclosed third-country deal

The United States deported the first group of third-country nationals to Ghana on September 5, 2025, under an arrangement the BBC reported six days later; the deal's text has never been disclosed. At least 60 people have been forcibly sent to Ghana across four confirmed flights, many with U.S.-granted humanitarian protections, and Reuters later found Ghana forcibly returned at least 22 of them to their home countries despite U.S. court orders barring exactly that.

Denial of due process in immigration enforcement

Sep 5

BIA stripped immigration judges of bond authority, mandating detention without hearings in Matter of Yajure Hurtado

On September 5, 2025, the Board of Immigration Appeals issued a precedential decision, Matter of Yajure Hurtado, holding that noncitizens who entered the United States without inspection are "applicants for admission" subject to mandatory detention under the Immigration and Nationality Act, with no authority for an immigration judge to grant a bond hearing. The ruling reversed decades of practice under which longtime residents placed in removal proceedings could seek release on bond, and DHS and ICE began applying it to hold thousands of people without any individualized custody review.

Sep 5

Trump announced 2026 G20 summit at his Doral resort, directing foreign-government spending to his own property

President Trump announced on September 5, 2025, that the United States would host the 2026 G20 summit at his Trump National Doral Miami resort in Doral, Florida. The White House claimed the venue would host the event "at-cost" with no profit to Trump, but even at-cost hosting generates substantial indirect value — global media exposure, advance security expenditures, and ancillary bookings — for a property Trump personally owns. Trump abandoned an identical proposal to host the G7 at Doral in 2019 following bipartisan congressional criticism; he is now proceeding without seeking congressional consent as required by the Foreign Emoluments Clause.

Sep 4

DHS final rule granted USCIS arrest authority and deadly force, transforming civilian benefits agency into armed law enforcement arm

On September 4, 2025, the Department of Homeland Security published a final rule giving U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services sweeping new law enforcement powers, including the authority to carry firearms, use deadly force, make arrests, and execute warrants. USCIS will employ 1811-classified special agents — the same designation as FBI and DEA agents — despite being created by Congress exclusively as a civilian benefits-processing agency. The rule takes effect 30 days from publication, creating parallel enforcement infrastructure alongside ICE and CBP without congressional authorization.

Sep 4

ICE agents detained 57 workers in a Cato, NY factory raid; judge found warrants didn't authorize the detentions

On September 4, 2025, roughly 60 armed federal agents, supported by the Cayuga and Oswego County sheriff's offices, raided the Nutrition Bar Confectioners factory in Cato, New York and detained 57 of the roughly 160 workers present, though supporting affidavits named or described fewer than 10 potentially undocumented individuals. Fifty-two of the 57 were deported and five were charged with illegal re-entry; U.S. District Judge Brenda K. Sannes later found that the two warrants used authorized only the seizure of business records and the questioning of workers, not their detention, and ruled that agents violated the Fourth Amendment rights of one charged worker, Argentina Juarez-Lopez.

Sep 3

DHS Secretary Noem terminated 2021 TPS designation for Venezuela, stripping deportation protection from ~250,000 Venezuelans

On September 3, 2025, DHS Secretary Kristi Noem terminated the 2021 Temporary Protected Status (TPS) designation for Venezuela, affecting approximately 250,000 Venezuelans enrolled under the Biden-era grant. Noem cited "national interest" and determined Venezuela no longer met TPS statutory requirements, setting an effective end date of November 7, 2025. A federal court blocked the termination within three days on September 6, 2025, finding the administration likely lacked statutory authority under the Immigration and Nationality Act.

Sep 3

DHS opened 'Camp 57' ICE detention unit inside Angola prison's former solitary-confinement wing for civil immigration detainees

On September 3, 2025, DHS Secretary Kristi Noem and Attorney General Pam Bondi announced the opening of "Camp 57," an ICE detention facility inside Louisiana State Penitentiary (Angola), occupying the facility's former Camp J solitary-confinement wing — a section shuttered approximately seven years earlier after cell locks malfunctioned, dozens of weapons were found, and more than 80 staff resigned or were fired for misconduct. The facility opened with 51 civil immigration detainees and a stated capacity of 416; courts later ordered four detainees released citing conditions.

Sep 2

JTF Southern Spear killed 11 aboard suspected narcotics vessel in southern Caribbean; 1st strike, ~11 campaign deaths

On September 2, 2025, U.S. military forces conducting Operation Southern Spear struck a vessel in the southern Caribbean, killing eleven people the Trump administration labeled Tren de Aragua narcoterrorists. President Trump announced the action on Truth Social and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth posted video of the explosion, but neither provided public evidence identifying those aboard as drug traffickers or gang members. The strike was conducted without congressional authorization or judicial process and was the first publicly acknowledged U.S. military airstrike in the Americas since the 1989 Panama invasion.

Aug 29

EPA fired at least 8 probationary employees who signed dissent letter, overriding internal First Amendment warning

Beginning August 29, 2025, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency fired at least eight probationary employees who had signed a June 2025 "declaration of dissent" criticizing Administrator Lee Zeldin's policies as reversing scientific progress and endangering public health. An EPA assistant general counsel warned in writing beforehand that the firings would "present significant legal risk" because the letter was "likely protected speech under the First Amendment," but the agency proceeded. Targeted employees were still in probationary periods, stripping them of Merit Systems Protection Board appeal rights.

Aug 28

Trump signed EO 14343 stripping collective bargaining from NASA, National Weather Service and Patent Office workers

President Trump signed Executive Order 14343 on August 28, 2025, extending his earlier March 2025 order to remove collective bargaining rights from employees at NASA, the National Weather Service, the Patent and Trademark Office, and several other agencies under a "national security" rationale. The order targeted agencies with no primary national security mission, and union leaders said it was explicit retaliation against organizations — including IFPTE and NWSEO — that had filed lawsuits challenging Trump's March executive order.

Aug 28

ICE agents falsely charged Francisco Longoria with assaulting officers to cover up their unlawful shooting, jailing him three months

Twelve days after ICE and CBP agents fired at his truck during an unlawful, warrantless stop, federal agents conducted a pre-dawn raid on Francisco Longoria's home on August 28, 2025 and charged him with assault on a federal officer with a dangerous weapon, alleging he had "weaponized" his truck. Longoria, who had no prior criminal record, was held at the Adelanto ICE detention facility for approximately three months. At his bond hearing, the U.S. attorney acknowledged he could not identify any lawful basis for the original stop or any injuries to officers; the felony charge was dropped September 17, 2025, but Longoria remained in immigration detention until early December 2025.

Extrajudicial actions

Aug 28

Trump directed DOJ to investigate federal grantees for lobbying and partisan activity, targeting advocacy organizations

President Trump signed a presidential memorandum on August 28, 2025, directing the Attorney General to investigate whether federal grant funds are being used for lobbying or partisan political activity, with a report due in 180 days. The memo, titled "Use of Appropriated Funds for Illegal Lobbying and Partisan Political Activity by Federal Grantees," cited the Byrd Amendment but framed the investigation scope to include political and advocacy activity broader than what the statute covers. Legal observers noted the memo's "partisan political activity" language creates a chilling effect on civil society organizations that receive federal funding while engaging in policy advocacy.

Aug 27

Pentagon authorized up to 600 military JAG lawyers to serve as temporary immigration judges

On August 27, 2025, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth signed a memo authorizing the Department of Defense to detail up to 600 Judge Advocate General lawyers to serve as temporary immigration judges under the Justice Department's Executive Office for Immigration Review on assignments of up to 179 days. The authorization followed the DOJ's removal of the prior-immigration-experience requirement for temporary judges. Military JAGs would receive approximately two weeks of training before serving; the first cohort of five was sworn in on May 20, 2026, in the largest investiture class in EOIR history.

Aug 25

Trump fired Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook, citing FHFA director's pretextual mortgage fraud allegation

President Trump removed Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook on August 25, 2025, posting a termination letter to Truth Social citing his Article II authority and a "criminal referral" by Federal Housing Finance Agency Director William Pulte alleging Cook committed mortgage fraud before joining the Fed. The Federal Reserve Act permits removal of Board governors only "for cause," a provision designed to protect the central bank's independence from short-term political pressure. A federal court subsequently found Cook had made a strong showing that the removal violated the statute's cause requirement.

Aug 25

Pentagon installed Adm. Daryl Caudle as Chief of Naval Operations after he signaled loyalty to Hegseth's anti-diversity agenda

On August 25, 2025, Admiral Daryl Caudle was sworn in as the 34th Chief of Naval Operations, filling a vacancy created when Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth fired his predecessor in February 2025. A New York Times investigation published July 26, 2026 revealed that Caudle was selected because he had signaled support for Hegseth's anti-diversity agenda, and that Tim Parlatore — Hegseth's personal attorney and Pentagon special adviser — had represented Caudle during the promotion process, a conflict Hegseth denied to Congress when asked directly.

Politicized appointments to independent or specialized roles

Aug 25

Trump signed EO 14341 directing AG to prosecute flag burning despite Supreme Court rulings protecting it as free speech

President Trump signed Executive Order 14341 on August 25, 2025, directing the Attorney General to prioritize prosecution of flag burning under any available criminal or civil law, despite Supreme Court rulings in Texas v. Johnson (1989) and United States v. Eichman (1990) holding that flag desecration is constitutionally protected political speech. The order explicitly acknowledges the Supreme Court precedent but instructs the AG to pursue prosecution using content-neutral laws as a workaround and to litigate to narrow First Amendment protections. The order also directs immigration officials to deny or revoke visas and naturalization for foreign nationals who burn the American flag.

Prosecution of protected speech

Aug 22

HHS de-recognized union contracts at CDC, FDA, and other agencies, stripping collective bargaining rights

The Department of Health and Human Services moved on August 22, 2025, to de-recognize all collective bargaining agreements covering workers at the CDC, FDA, and other HHS divisions, stripping thousands of federal public health employees of union rights. The action implemented a Trump labor-management executive order, making HHS the latest agency in a rolling campaign that had already reached the VA on August 6 and the EPA on August 8. The American Federation of Government Employees condemned the action as an illegal decertification of unions.

Aug 22

FBI searched home and office of former national security adviser Bolton; Trump privately directed investigation toward vocal critic

On August 22, 2025, FBI agents searched the Maryland home and Washington office of former national security adviser John Bolton as part of a classified-information investigation. Bolton, a vocal Trump critic since leaving the administration in 2019, was not detained and no charges were filed at the time. The Washington Post reported that Trump had privately pointed a finger at Bolton in the days immediately preceding the raids, while the Biden-era Justice Department had reviewed the same underlying materials and declined to prosecute.

Aug 21

Rubio halted all new worker visas for commercial truck drivers via social media post, citing undocumented driver accident

Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced on August 21, 2025, via a post on X that the State Department was immediately pausing all new worker visa issuances for commercial truck drivers across all nationalities and visa categories, including H-2B, E-2, and EB-3. Rubio cited the August 12 fatal crash on Florida's Turnpike, in which the driver accused of causing three deaths was identified as undocumented — not a visa holder — as justification for suspending the legal immigration pathway. The pause was announced with no advance notice, no rulemaking, and no defined end date, affecting an industry already experiencing a significant labor shortage.

Aug 19

USCIS added undefined 'anti-Americanism' as disqualifying factor in all immigration benefit adjudications

On August 19, 2025, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services updated its Policy Manual via Policy Alert PA-2025-16, designating "anti-Americanism" and "antisemitic activity" as "overwhelmingly negative" discretionary factors in every category of immigration benefit adjudication — green cards, work visas, naturalization, and humanitarian protections. The term "anti-Americanism" was left undefined in the update, the Immigration and Nationality Act, and any accompanying officer guidance, granting adjudicators unbounded discretion to deny immigration benefits based on applicants' perceived political speech, beliefs, or associations.

Aug 16

ICE and CBP agents fired three shots at Francisco Longoria's truck during a warrantless San Bernardino stop

On August 16, 2025, ICE and CBP agents in unmarked vehicles stopped Francisco Longoria's work truck in San Bernardino without a warrant or identification, smashed both side windows, and fired three rounds at the vehicle as Longoria drove away in fear for his life. No one was struck. CBP's own use-of-force policy prohibits shooting at a vehicle merely fleeing agents absent a reasonable belief that deadly force is being used against them or others. Longoria's family later sued the government over the shooting as part of a documented pattern of ICE and CBP use-of-force incidents.

Violence in immigration enforcement

Aug 15

OPM directed federal health carriers to exclude gender-affirming care from FEHB, PSHB coverage

The U.S. Office of Personnel Management issued FEHB Program Carrier Letter 2025-01b on August 15, 2025, directing all Federal Employees Health Benefits and Postal Service Health Benefits carriers to exclude coverage for hormone treatments and surgical procedures tied to gender transition, effective Plan Year 2026. On August 3, 2026, the Human Rights Campaign Foundation and federal employees filed a class-action lawsuit alleging the exclusion violates Title VII's sex-discrimination protections.

Discriminatory policy

Aug 14

United States and Paraguay signed Safe Third Country Agreement at State Department

Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Paraguay's Foreign Minister signed a Safe Third Country Agreement on August 14, 2025, allowing asylum seekers in the U.S. to pursue protection claims in Paraguay instead. A February 2026 addendum expanded the deal beyond asylum seekers to third-country nationals generally, and Paraguay has since rejected several proposed transferees for failing documentation checks.

Denial of due process in immigration enforcement

Aug 14

AG Bondi installed DEA administrator as DC 'emergency police commissioner' with authority over MPD chief; administration retreated after lawsuit

On August 14, 2025, Attorney General Pam Bondi issued a directive naming DEA Administrator Terry Cole as Washington D.C.'s "emergency police commissioner," ordering that the Metropolitan Police Department must receive Cole's approval before issuing any operational orders—effectively placing a federal official with no local jurisdiction above the elected city government's police chief. The DC Attorney General filed suit, and within 24 hours the Trump administration backed down, revising Cole's role to Bondi's "designee" and restoring the MPD chief's operational authority. No statute authorizes the U.S. Attorney General to appoint a police commissioner for the District of Columbia.

Executive overreach

Aug 14

U.S. Department of Energy adopted blanket "still interested" FOIA policy, closing pending public-records requests

On August 14, 2025, the U.S. Department of Energy published a Federal Register notice requiring requesters with pending Freedom of Information Act requests filed before October 1, 2024 to reaffirm interest within roughly 30 days or have their requests administratively closed. American Oversight sued, and on August 5, 2026 a federal judge vacated the policy as exceeding DOE's statutory authority.

Aug 14

U.S. Border Patrol staged politically motivated show of force at Gov. Newsom's press conference

On August 14, 2025, U.S. Border Patrol agents led by Sector Chief Gregory Bovino massed outside a Los Angeles press conference where Gov. Gavin Newsom was announcing California's response to federal redistricting efforts, deploying agents in tactical gear as the event got underway. A Homeland Security Investigations agent later testified under oath, and texted a colleague, that the operation was purely political and a stunt targeting Newsom rather than genuine immigration enforcement, contradicting DHS's contemporaneous denial that agents were focused on Newsom. Court filings unsealed in July 2026, reported by the Los Angeles Times and confirmed by Gov. Newsom's office, corroborated the political motive behind the operation.

Targeting critics with government power

Aug 12

Air Force stripped transgender troops' separation boards of discretion, barred recording of proceedings

On August 12, 2025, the Air Force issued a memo -- announced August 15 -- directing that transgender service members diagnosed with gender dysphoria must be recommended for separation by administrative boards, eliminating the boards' prior discretion to retain them based on fitness and performance. The memo also barred recording of the separation-board proceedings, preventing an independent transcript. A New York Times investigation published August 3, 2026 found the closed-door process has resulted in near-uniform separation recommendations, with one military lawyer who has represented 28 transgender troops saying she had lost 27 of the 28 cases.

Discriminatory policy

Aug 11

Trump signed EO 14333 federalizing DC Metropolitan Police under Home Rule Act; deploys 800 National Guard to city at 30-year crime low

On August 11, 2025, President Trump signed Executive Order 14333, invoking Section 740 of the D.C. Home Rule Act for the first time in the law's nearly 50-year history to transfer operational control of the Metropolitan Police Department from the elected D.C. government to federal authority. Simultaneously, Trump deployed 800 D.C. National Guard troops and redirected FBI, DEA, ATF, ICE, and HSI agents to patrol under U.S. Park Police authority, despite D.C. recording its lowest crime levels in 30 years.

Aug 8

AG Bondi opened DOJ investigations into Sen. Adam Schiff and NY AG Letitia James, appointing Trump ally Ed Martin as special attorney for both probes

On August 8, 2025, Attorney General Pamela Bondi formally opened Department of Justice investigations into Sen. Adam Schiff (D-CA) and New York Attorney General Letitia James — both prominent Trump critics — appointing conservative activist and former interim D.C. U.S. Attorney Ed Martin as special attorney to lead both probes. The referrals came exclusively from FHFA Director Bill Pulte, a Trump loyalist with no prosecutorial background, who alleged mortgage fraud by each official. Prosecutors subsequently found insufficient evidence to bring charges and the Schiff probe stalled.

Aug 7

Trump signed EO 14332, placing political appointees as sole gatekeepers over all federal discretionary grants

On August 7, 2025, President Trump signed Executive Order 14332, requiring all federal agencies to appoint senior political appointees as sole gatekeepers with approval authority over every new discretionary grant announcement, reducing peer review panels to advisory status. The order prohibits federal funding for programs using racial preferences, rejecting binary sex classifications, supporting immigration assistance, or promoting undefined "anti-American values." A "termination for convenience" provision permits agencies to retroactively cancel any existing grant that no longer aligns with "agency priorities."

Aug 7

Trump ordered NCES to collect race-disaggregated admissions data from colleges, bypassing required APA notice-and-comment

On August 7, 2025, President Trump issued a presidential memorandum directing the Department of Education's National Center for Education Statistics to collect race- and sex-disaggregated admissions data from colleges nationwide, requiring institutions to report seven years of applicant, admissions, and enrollment records to verify they were not using race as a factor in decisions. The directive imposed a presidentially mandated 120-day deadline that caused NCES to skip the Administrative Procedure Act's required notice-and-comment rulemaking process. A coalition of 17 Democratic state attorneys general subsequently challenged the mandate, and a federal judge later found the rollout "rushed and chaotic."

Aug 7

Trump directed the Education Department to collect college race-admissions data in 120 days, bypassing notice-and-comment rulemaking

On August 7, 2025, President Trump signed a presidential memorandum directing the Department of Education and the National Center for Education Statistics to expand IPEDS reporting requirements to collect data from colleges purporting to show they are not using race as a factor in admissions, imposing a 120-day deadline to initiate enhanced reporting for the 2025–2026 school year. The accelerated timeline forced NCES to skip the legally required federal notice-and-comment rulemaking process. A coalition of 17 Democratic state attorneys general sued, and on April 3, 2026, U.S. District Judge F. Dennis Saylor IV (D. Mass.) granted a preliminary injunction blocking the mandate for public universities in the plaintiff states, finding the rollout "rushed and chaotic" and that the presidentially-imposed deadline had caused NCES to bypass required administrative procedure.

Aug 7

IRS disclosed 47,000 taxpayers' addresses to ICE under an April 2025 data-sharing deal, later found unlawful in 42,695 cases

On August 7, 2025, the IRS disclosed the last-known addresses of approximately 47,000 taxpayers to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, responding to a June 27, 2025 ICE request for 1.28 million records under an April 2025 data-sharing agreement signed by Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem. Of the addresses disclosed, 90.3% were matched and released through an automated process that never independently verified the addresses ICE had supplied, as Section 6103 requires. A federal judge later found the IRS had violated the statute approximately 42,695 times.

Improper collection or dissemination of personal data

Aug 6

VA Secretary Collins terminated collective bargaining for 80% of VA's 400,000-person workforce

On August 6, 2025, VA Secretary Doug Collins terminated the Department of Veterans Affairs' collective bargaining agreements with most of its federal unions — including AFGE, NAGE, NFFE, NNOC/NNU, and SEIU — stripping roughly 80% of the agency's 400,000-person workforce of collectively bargained workplace protections. The VA acted under a Trump executive order declaring union contracts a national security threat, and did so while appearing to disregard OPM's own guidance on implementation.

Aug 5

Trump fired six of seven Puerto Rico financial oversight board members without cause

On August 5, 2025, the Trump White House terminated five members of Puerto Rico's seven-member Financial Oversight and Management Board (FOMB) — the body Congress created under PROMESA to oversee the territory's fiscal recovery — without stating cause, and fired a sixth member, Andrew Biggs, eight days later after he publicly defended his ousted colleagues. Three of the six sued, and on September 1, 2026, a federal judge made a preliminary injunction permanent, ruling the removals "plainly contrary to law" for lacking cause, notice, or any opportunity to respond.

Aug 3

USDA solicited donations up to $500K each from four firms with pending federal matters for Secretary Rollins's discretionary fund

A July 2, 2026 House Natural Resources Committee Democratic staff oversight report found that Chobani, Visa, John Deere, and Tractor Supply each contributed between $100,000 and $499,999 to a "Secretary's Priorities" fund controlled by Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins, routed through the congressionally chartered National Forest Foundation, to help stage the Great American Farmers Market held on the National Mall August 3–8, 2025. At the time of the donations each company had matters pending before the federal government: Visa was fighting a Justice Department antitrust suit, John Deere a Federal Trade Commission antitrust suit, and the market used commodities derived from SNAP and child-nutrition food-donation accounts. Planning agendas obtained by committee investigators showed Rollins's staff intended to solicit event donations from companies with business before the government.

Pay-to-play

Aug 1

Trump fired BLS Commissioner McEntarfer hours after weak jobs report, accusing her without evidence of rigging data

On August 1, 2025, President Trump fired Bureau of Labor Statistics Commissioner Erika McEntarfer via Truth Social hours after BLS released a jobs report showing only 73,000 nonfarm jobs added in July, below market expectations. Trump publicly accused McEntarfer of manipulating the data "to make the Republicans, and ME, look bad," despite the fact that commissioners do not produce employment estimates and McEntarfer did not see the report until shortly before its public release. McEntarfer had been confirmed 86-0 by the Senate, including then-Senator JD Vance, and was serving a statutory four-year term.

Jul 30

National Park Service fired Yosemite ranger Shannon Joslin over transgender flag protest, referred them for prosecution

On July 30, 2025, the National Park Service fired Yosemite wildlife biologist and park ranger Shannon Joslin, citing a flag-size rule enacted the day after Joslin and fellow activists hung a transgender pride flag on El Capitan on their day off. Days later, NPS referred the matter to the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of California, which began evaluating Joslin for criminal prosecution over the same flag display.

Jul 29

AG Bondi filed judicial misconduct complaint against Chief Judge Boasberg, seeking removal from deportation cases

Attorney General Pam Bondi directed the Department of Justice to file a formal judicial misconduct complaint against Chief Judge James Boasberg of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia on July 29, 2025, alleging he made "improper" remarks at a closed judicial conference where he reportedly expressed concern the Trump administration would defy court orders and trigger a "constitutional crisis." The complaint, filed with D.C. Circuit Chief Judge Sri Srinivasan, explicitly requested Boasberg's reassignment from deportation cases and a special-committee investigation. Boasberg had presided over multiple rulings blocking Trump administration deportation flights prior to the complaint.

Attacks on judicial independence

Jul 29

United States and Uganda signed asylum transfer deal, later used to fast-track dismissals

The United States and Uganda signed an Asylum Cooperative Agreement at Kampala on July 29, 2025, published in the Federal Register that September, under which Uganda agreed to accept an unspecified number of asylum seekers with pending U.S. claims. ICE attorneys began citing the agreement to summarily dismiss asylum cases without a hearing, until internal DHS guidance obtained by the New York Times restricted such motions in December 2025; eight people had been forcibly transferred to Uganda as of April 2026, with mixed outcomes.

Denial of due process in immigration enforcement

Jul 29

AG Pamela Bondi issued guidance classifying DEI programs as unlawful discrimination, threatening federal grant revocation

On July 29, 2025, Attorney General Pamela Bondi issued a formal DOJ guidance memorandum directing all recipients of federal funds — including universities, hospitals, and state governments — to treat diversity, equity, and inclusion programs as potentially unlawful under federal antidiscrimination statutes. The guidance defined prohibited practices including race-based scholarships, DEI training programs, and mentorship programs limited to specific groups, with violations subject to grant revocation and False Claims Act liability. The DOJ simultaneously activated its Civil Rights Fraud Initiative to prosecute non-compliant funding recipients.

Jul 29

Bondi designated Bill Essayli "first assistant" to a vacant post to bypass Senate confirmation for LA's top federal prosecutor job

On July 29, 2025, days before his 120-day interim term as U.S. Attorney for the Central District of California was set to expire, Bill Essayli resigned as interim U.S. Attorney and Attorney General Pam Bondi designated him "first assistant U.S. attorney," letting him continue running the Los Angeles office as its acting head without ever facing Senate confirmation. A federal judge ruled in October 2025 that Essayli's resulting "acting" status was unlawful, and a unanimous Ninth Circuit panel found the identical maneuver unlawful in a Nevada case in August 2026, but DOJ has kept Essayli in place under the same title.

Jul 28

DOJ designated Sigal Chattah 'first assistant' to a vacant post to bypass Senate confirmation for Nevada's top prosecutor job

On July 28, 2025, two days before her 120-day interim term as Nevada's U.S. Attorney was set to expire, Sigal Chattah resigned as interim U.S. Attorney and the Justice Department designated her "first assistant U.S. attorney" for the District of Nevada the same day, leaving the top post itself vacant and letting her continue serving as "acting" U.S. Attorney under the Federal Vacancies Reform Act without ever facing Senate confirmation. Attorney General Pam Bondi made the designation; Nevada's two Democratic senators called it an unconstitutional maneuver to keep an unconfirmable nominee in office without a floor vote.

Jul 24

Trump signed EO 14321 directing DOJ to dismantle ADA Olmstead protections and expand forced civil commitment of homeless people with disabilities

On July 24, 2025, President Trump signed Executive Order 14321, directing the Attorney General to seek reversal of federal and state judicial precedents — including Olmstead v. L.C. (1999) consent decrees — and expand civil commitment of homeless people with mental illness or substance use disorders. The order terminates federal support for housing-first programs and conditions discretionary grants on states enforcing bans on urban camping, loitering, and squatting.

Jul 23

Rubio opened State Department investigation into Harvard's J-1 visa program with no stated misconduct

Secretary of State Marco Rubio sent a letter to Harvard President Alan Garber on July 23, 2025, opening a formal State Department investigation into Harvard's participation in the Exchange Visitor Program, which sponsors J-1 visas for international researchers, instructors, and students. The letter alleged no specific misconduct, stating only that programs must not run "contrary to our nation's interests," and gave Harvard one week to produce a broad set of records. Harvard called the probe retaliatory and a violation of its First Amendment rights.

Jul 22

USCIS declared SIJS application fee non-waivable, cutting off abused children from congressional immigration protection

On July 22, 2025, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services published a Federal Register notice declaring that the $250 Special Immigrant Juvenile Status application fee is non-waivable, effective immediately, under the One Big Beautiful Bill Act. The agency acknowledged the law did not include an explicit no-waiver provision but interpreted the mandatory fee language as barring any waiver. SIJS, created by Congress in 1990, provides immigration protection to children who have been abused, neglected, or abandoned and who cannot safely return to their countries of origin. The removal of the fee waiver made the protection financially inaccessible to the indigent children it was designed to protect.

Jul 21

White House press secretary Leavitt removed Wall Street Journal from Scotland trip press pool over Epstein reporting

On July 21, 2025, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt removed the Wall Street Journal from the 13-outlet press pool set to cover President Trump's trip to Scotland, saying the change was made "due to the Wall Street Journal's fake and defamatory conduct" — a reference to the paper's July 17 report on a birthday letter to Jeffrey Epstein that Trump denied writing. The White House Correspondents' Association called the removal retaliatory and a First Amendment concern.

Expulsion of press from public proceedings

Jul 18

EPA eliminated Office of Research and Development, laid off up to 1,155 scientists in 23% workforce cut

On July 18, 2025, EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin announced the elimination of the agency's Office of Research and Development — the scientific foundation underlying every federal air, water, and chemical safety standard for 55 years — and a reduction of more than 3,700 total EPA positions (nearly 23%). As many as 1,155 chemists, biologists, and toxicologists received reduction-in-force notices. The administration said it would replace ORD with an "Office of Applied Science and Environmental Solutions" subordinated to deregulatory program offices.

Dismantling agency capacity

Jul 18

Trump sued Wall Street Journal reporters and Rupert Murdoch for $10 billion over Epstein reporting

On July 18, 2025, President Trump filed a $10 billion defamation lawsuit against Dow Jones, News Corp., Rupert Murdoch, and Wall Street Journal reporters Khadeeja Safdar and Joseph Palazzolo over the paper's July 17 report that Trump sent Jeffrey Epstein a bawdy 50th-birthday letter. Trump denied writing the letter and called the story "false, malicious, defamatory" reporting; Dow Jones said it had "full confidence" in its reporting and would defend against the suit.

Legal threats against publishers

Jul 18

CMS secretly gave ICE access to personal data of all 79 million Medicaid enrollees for immigration enforcement

On July 18, 2025, CNN reported that the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement had established a secret Information Exchange Agreement giving ICE access to names, addresses, birthdates, Social Security numbers, and racial and ethnic information for all 79 million Medicaid enrollees to identify and locate immigrants for enforcement. The agreement was not made public and was disclosed only after AP obtained it. A coalition of 22 states later filed suit and a federal court issued a preliminary injunction blocking the data sharing in August 2025.

Jul 17

Trump signed EO 14317 creating unlimited Schedule G political appointee class, bypassing Senate confirmation and SES caps

President Trump signed Executive Order 14317 on July 17, 2025, creating Schedule G in the Excepted Service — a new, numerically unlimited class of non-career political appointees who fill "policy-making or policy-advocating" roles without Senate confirmation. Unlike the Senior Executive Service, whose political appointments are capped at 10 percent by statute, Schedule G positions do not count against that limit, allowing the administration to install an unrestricted number of Trump loyalists in senior agency positions. The White House described the order as providing "horsepower for agency implementation of administration policy" and as a tool to "dismantle the deep state."

Jul 17

Interior Secretary Burgum ordered personal approval of every wind and solar permit on federal land

On July 17, 2025, Interior Secretary Doug Burgum ordered that he personally approve every solar and wind energy project on federal lands and waters, an "elevated review" covering proposed leases, rights of way, construction and operational plans, grants, and biological opinions. Interior said the order corrected "preferential treatment" for renewables, while a coalition of wind and solar developers sued, alleging it was designed to place wind and solar into "second-class status" relative to fossil fuels. A federal judge in Massachusetts later found the order likely violated federal law and preliminarily enjoined its enforcement.

Executive overreach

Jul 17

Trump exempts 180+ facilities from Clean Air Act air-toxics rules via an EPA email inbox

Across 2025, President Trump signed seven proclamations invoking Clean Air Act Section 112(i)(4) — a provision unused in the statute's 55-year history — to grant more than 180 industrial facilities in 38 states and Puerto Rico a two-year exemption from federal hazardous-air-pollutant standards. A May 2026 ProPublica investigation found that facilities qualified by emailing an EPA-run inbox, with no rigorous application and no meaningful role for the agency's air-quality experts. The statute permits such exemptions only where compliance technology is "not available" and the exemption is "in the national security interests of the United States."

Jul 16

ICE deported five men to Eswatini on first third-country removal flight

On July 16, 2025, five men deported by the United States arrived in Eswatini, the first flight under the Trump administration's newly launched third-country removal arrangement. DHS said the men, from Vietnam, Laos, Jamaica, Cuba, and Yemen, could not be returned to their home countries and described them as convicted of serious crimes; Eswatini said it would hold them in isolated units pending eventual repatriation. The flight inaugurated a policy that sent at least three more groups to the same facility over the following year.

Jul 16

United States and Ecuador secretly signed Asylum Cooperative Agreement

The United States and Ecuador secretly signed an Asylum Cooperative Agreement in July 2025, formalized in diplomatic notes and published in the Federal Register on November 17, 2025 without any public evaluation of whether Ecuador is safe for transferred asylum seekers. The administration has since cited the agreement's existence to summarily dismiss over 18,000 asylum cases for removal to Ecuador, far more than the small number of people actually transferred.

Denial of due process in immigration enforcement

Jul 11

State Department eliminated 1,353 positions in reorganization RIF, including its entire Consular Affairs evacuation team

On July 11, 2025, the U.S. Department of State carried out a reduction-in-force eliminating 1,353 positions as part of Secretary of State Marco Rubio's departmental reorganization, restructuring more than 300 bureaus and offices. The cuts eliminated the Bureau of Consular Affairs' entire rapid-response crisis-evacuation team, 102 cleared personnel trained to manage American evacuations abroad.

Dismantling agency capacity

Jul 11

Five federal agencies simultaneously stripped immigrant access to life-safety benefit programs, revoking 24 years of DOJ guidance

On July 10-11, 2025, five federal departments — Justice, Health and Human Services, Education, Agriculture, and Labor — simultaneously issued notices rescinding decades-old guidance that had protected immigrant access to federal benefit programs under the "necessary to protect life or safety" exception in the 1996 Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act. The DOJ withdrew its 2001 Attorney General interpretation identifying which programs qualified, effective August 15, 2025; HHS rescinded a 1998 policy keeping Head Start, community health clinics, and Title X accessible; the Department of Education revoked its 1997 guidance covering adult education and postsecondary programs. Multiple states sued immediately.

Jul 10

CBP and ICE agents detained U.S. citizen and Army veteran George Retes for 72 hours without charge during Camarillo raid

On July 10, 2025, Customs and Border Protection and Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents detained George Retes, a U.S. citizen and disabled Army veteran working as a security guard, as he arrived for his shift at a federal raid on Glass House Farms in Camarillo, California, breaking his car window, pepper-spraying him, and pulling him from the vehicle before holding him roughly 72 hours across three facilities without charge, an attorney, or contact with his family. The Department of Homeland Security said Retes "became violent" and was arrested for assault, but the government never filed a charge and released him on July 13, 2025. Retes sued the United States and individual federal officers in February 2026.

Jul 10

Federal agents shot legal observer six times with rubber bullets, deployed tear gas during Camarillo cannabis farm raid

On July 10, 2025, federal agents conducting an immigration raid on Glass House Farms, a cannabis facility in Camarillo, California, deployed tear gas and shot Ventura-based attorney Vanessa Valdez six times with rubber bullets despite her identifying herself as a legal observer. Valdez, left unable to see and forced to crawl to escape, has since filed a Federal Tort Claims Act claim seeking compensation for medical costs, lost wages, and emotional trauma. The Department of Homeland Security disputed the account, saying agents used pepper balls rather than rubber bullets, and only after protesters attempted to breach the perimeter.

Jul 10

ICE raid on Glass House Farms drove farmworker Jaime Alanís García to a fatal 30-foot fall

On July 10, 2025, federal immigration agents and National Guard soldiers raided Glass House Farms in Camarillo, California; farmworker Jaime Alanís García climbed onto a greenhouse roof to escape the operation and fell roughly 30 feet, breaking his neck, and died two days later without ever having been taken into custody. The Department of Homeland Security disputed that agents were pursuing him, while his family said his death was "not an isolated tragedy."

Violence in immigration enforcement

Jul 9

DOJ subpoenaed six years of records on every minor treated for gender dysphoria at Rhode Island Hospital

On July 9, 2025, the Justice Department served an administrative subpoena on Rhode Island Hospital demanding roughly six years of records — identities, addresses, diagnoses, treatments, and parents' names — for every minor treated there for gender dysphoria. The subpoena was one strand of a nationwide DOJ campaign that came to target more than 20 doctors and hospitals providing gender-affirming care to minors. The hospital did not comply; nearly ten months later a federal judge quashed the demand, holding it "lacks a congressionally authorized purpose" and was "issued in bad faith for an improper purpose," and tying it directly to White House policy direction. DOJ has appealed.

Jul 8

ATF analyst used Richmond police license-plate-reader access for immigration enforcement, violating department policy

On July 8, 2025, the Richmond Police Department announced it had terminated an ATF analyst's access to its license-plate-reader system after discovering the analyst had used it for immigration enforcement, in violation of RPD's operational standards. The analyst, granted access in February 2025 to assist ATF firearms and violent-crime investigations, queried 49 license plates -- including in a March 2025 effort to help recapture four detainees who had escaped an ICE detention facility in Farmville, Virginia -- with RPD's own review finding 14 of those queries tied to immigration-enforcement matters. RPD Chief Rick Edwards barred all federal agencies from the department's license-plate-reader program going forward, saying he would have denied a formal request for immigration-enforcement access.

Improper collection or dissemination of personal data

Jul 7

CBP directed airlines to drop X gender markers from pre-departure passenger data, barring non-binary designation for international travelers

On July 7, 2025, U.S. Customs and Border Protection issued a Carrier Liaison Program Bulletin directing all airlines operating international flights to or from the United States to submit only "M" or "F" in the sex field of Advanced Passenger Information System pre-departure data, effectively erasing X gender markers for nonbinary and transgender travelers. Airlines submitting an X in place of a binary marker were required to resubmit, while carriers that substituted M or F for a traveler's actual X passport marker would face no penalty. CBP began enforcing the binary-only requirement on October 14, 2025, after a 90-day informed compliance period.

Jul 3

EPA placed 144 employees on administrative leave for signing a dissent letter criticizing Zeldin's policies

On July 3, 2025, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency placed approximately 144 employees on administrative leave, pending an "administrative investigation," after they signed a June 30, 2025 "Declaration of Dissent" accusing Administrator Lee Zeldin of dismantling the agency's research office, canceling environmental-justice programs, and ignoring scientific consensus to benefit polluters. EPA said the leave — initially set to run through July 17 — was warranted because the signatories had listed their official titles in the letter, and described a "zero-tolerance policy" for staff who "undermine" the administration's agenda.

Jul 2

DHS Secretary Noem told her advisory council she was seeking a way to fire employees who 'don't like us' or oppose administration policy

At the inaugural meeting of the Department of Homeland Security's reconstituted Homeland Security Advisory Council on July 2, 2025, Secretary Kristi Noem told members she was looking for advice on "how to fire people who don't like us," saying "there's people here in this department that don't support what we're doing." Noem said she did not feel supported by some of the roughly 250,000 DHS employees and asked the advisers to help identify a legal mechanism to remove career civil servants on that basis. As of the reporting, no specific legal mechanism had been confirmed and no employee had been removed under the stated rationale.

Targeting critics with government power

Jul 1

CDC narrowed mandatory FoodNet pathogen surveillance from eight diseases to two as it dissolved its parasitic-disease division

Effective July 1, 2025, CDC narrowed mandatory reporting under FoodNet -- its foodborne-disease surveillance collaboration with ten state health departments covering roughly 54 million people -- from eight tracked pathogens to two, making reporting on Campylobacter, Cyclospora, Listeria, Shigella, Vibrio, and Yersinia optional. The same year, CDC dissolved its Division of Parasitic Diseases and Malaria, the office housing the agency's Cyclospora and parasitic-disease expertise, reassigning remaining staff elsewhere. Public health researchers publicly disputed CDC's stated funding rationale and warned the changes would leave outbreaks harder to detect.

Dismantling agency capacity

Jul 1

White House pressed four America250 commissioners to resign in July 2025 bid to seize the congressionally chartered anniversary panel

In July 2025, the White House sought to take control of the independent, congressionally chartered U.S. Semiquincentennial Commission (America250) by moving through House Speaker Mike Johnson and the commission's executive director, Ariel Abergel, to pressure four sitting Republican commissioners into resigning so Trump-aligned replacements could be installed. The effort collapsed when the commissioners refused and Senate Majority Leader John Thune opposed any shake-up. The maneuver is documented in a July 2, 2026 oversight report by House Natural Resources Committee Democratic staff and was reported by The Atlantic.

Executive overreach

Jul 1

GSA and FBI scrapped Congress's mandated Greenbelt, Maryland headquarters site, redirecting $1.1 billion to the Reagan Building

On July 1, 2025, the General Services Administration and FBI Director Kash Patel announced the FBI would abandon its planned move to Greenbelt, Maryland — a site GSA had selected in 2022-23 under a congressionally appropriated $1.1 billion project — and relocate instead into the Ronald Reagan Building in Washington, D.C. Maryland and Prince George's County sued in November 2025, and a federal judge ruled in August 2026 that the switch violated federal law and blocked it.

Ignoring statutory requirements

Jul 1

DHS Secretary Noem and President Trump threatened to prosecute CNN over its reporting on the ICEBlock app

On July 1, 2025, after CNN reported on ICEBlock — a free app that let users anonymously flag the locations of ICE agents — Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said the administration was working with the Justice Department to "go after" and prosecute CNN, calling the network's coverage a form of aiding people trying to avoid law enforcement. President Trump separately endorsed pursuing CNN, and White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller accused the network of helping "invaders and insurrectionists sabotage ICE." Noem did not identify what law CNN had violated, and no charges were filed against the network as of the reporting.

Press retaliation

Jul 1

DHS Secretary Kristi Noem fabricated story of migrant who ate himself on ICE deportation flight

On July 1, 2025, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem stood alongside President Trump during a tour of the "Alligator Alcatraz" migrant detention facility in Ochopee, Florida, and publicly claimed federal marshals had detained a "cannibal" who tried to eat himself aboard an ICE deportation flight, repeating the claim on Fox News and again a month later. On February 23, 2026, The Intercept reported that three federal law enforcement officials, including one from Noem's own DHS, confirmed the story was entirely fabricated.

State-sponsored disinformation

Jul 1

U.S. Army removed its webpage honoring civil rights pioneer Sarah Keys Evans under the Pentagon's DEI content purge

In July 2025, the U.S. Army removed from its official website a 2014 article honoring Sarah Keys Evans, a Black Women's Army Corps veteran whose 1952 arrest for refusing to give up a bus seat helped desegregate interstate travel. The removal was carried out under a February 2025 Defense Department directive, issued at the direction of Secretary Pete Hegseth, ordering military websites scrubbed of content framed as promoting diversity, equity, and inclusion. An Army spokesperson said the material was "temporarily unpublished" pending review; it remained unavailable as of July 2026.

Jun 30

U.S. Customs and Border Protection revoked security clearances from immigrant airport workers, costing dozens their jobs

Beginning shortly after the January 2025 inauguration, U.S. Customs and Border Protection revoked or denied "customs seal" security-clearance renewals for immigrant airport workers holding valid green cards, asylum status, or Temporary Protected Status, despite no change in their immigration status. On June 30, 2025, CBP revoked the seal of Logan International Airport cabin cleaner Saint Paul Paul, a Haitian Temporary Protected Status holder, telling him he posed an "unacceptable risk." At least 80 workers at Logan alone, and hundreds more nationwide, lost their jobs; SEIU Local 32BJ and four affected workers sued the Trump administration over the policy on March 13, 2026.

Jun 27

DHS stripped independent board review from immigration civil-penalty appeals, cutting the window to 15 business days

On June 27, 2025, DHS and DOJ's Executive Office for Immigration Review published an interim final rule that took appeals of immigration civil penalties away from DOJ's Board of Immigration Appeals and gave them to a DHS supervisory officer, while cutting the response window from 30 days to 15 business days and eliminating the option for an in-person interview. The rule governs fines of up to $998 per day under INA Section 274D for failing to depart after a final removal order; DHS told CNN in 2026 that it had assessed more than $84 billion in such fines against over 100,000 people since the start of Trump's second term, including a $1.8 million fine against a man who had already left the country and twice submitted evidence of his departure.

Jun 27

Supreme Court ruled 6-3 district courts cannot issue nationwide injunctions, eliminating key civil rights enforcement tool

The Supreme Court ruled 6-3 on June 27, 2025, in Trump v. CASA, Inc. that federal district courts lack authority to issue nationwide injunctions protecting people beyond named parties in a case. The majority opinion, written by Justice Barrett, held that the Judiciary Act of 1789 authorizes only injunctions necessary to provide complete relief to named plaintiffs. The ruling immediately allowed Trump's birthright citizenship executive order to partially take effect against non-parties in states that had not filed suit, while courts continued finding the order unconstitutional.

Narrowing civil-rights protections

Jun 26

Supreme Court ruled 6-3 Medicaid patients cannot sue to enforce free-choice-of-provider, clearing path to exclude Planned Parenthood

The Supreme Court ruled 6-3 on June 26, 2025, in Medina v. Planned Parenthood South Atlantic that Medicaid enrollees cannot use 42 U.S.C. § 1983 to enforce the program's free-choice-of-provider provision in federal court. Justice Gorsuch's majority opinion held the provision imposes duties on states without conferring individual rights that § 1983 protects, allowing South Carolina's exclusion of Planned Parenthood from Medicaid to stand. At least 14 other states had enacted or attempted similar exclusions, each now free of judicial check by patients through this mechanism.

Jun 26

World Liberty Financial took $80 million in June 2025 from a wallet tied to a UK money-laundering suspect, netting Trump family $75 million

In June 2025, Aqua 1 Foundation -- a United Arab Emirates-based crypto fund -- publicly announced a $100 million purchase of tokens from World Liberty Financial (WLFI), the Trump family's crypto venture. The New York Times reported in August 2026, based on blockchain analysis by Arkham Intelligence, that a wallet likely controlled by Aqua 1 actually purchased $80 million of those tokens in June, with roughly $75 million of WLFI's combined proceeds from Aqua 1 and a related entity flowing to a company controlled by President Trump and his three sons. Aqua 1 has disputed reporting linking it to that related entity.

Self-dealing

Jun 25

Kennedy froze U.S. contributions to Gavi vaccine alliance, withholding $600 million in appropriated funds

On June 25, 2025, HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced the United States would halt financial support for Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, until the organization "re-earned the public trust" over its vaccine-safety practices, and the State Department, under Secretary Marco Rubio, deferred to his objections and did not disburse funding. By April 2026 the freeze had blocked $600 million Congress had specifically appropriated for fiscal years 2025 and 2026, prompting bipartisan Senate pressure before the administration announced on July 29, 2026 that it would release the full amount.

Jun 24

ICE deportation officer Jose Muniz indicted for accepting bribes to lift immigration detainers at Harris County Jail

On June 24, 2025, a federal grand jury in the Southern District of Texas indicted Jose Angel Muniz, an ICE deportation officer, on charges of accepting bribes from three Houston bail bondsmen to lift immigration detainers on inmates at the Harris County Jail. Prosecutors allege the scheme ran from April 2023 to March 2024 and let people the government was holding for removal be released on bond. All four defendants were taken into custody when the indictment was unsealed on July 2, 2025, and face up to 15 years if convicted.

Bribery

Jun 24

Stephen Miller held up to $250,000 in stock in ICE contractor Palantir while directing the deportation buildup

Stephen Miller, White House Deputy Chief of Staff for Policy and homeland security advisor, disclosed on June 24, 2025 holding between $100,001 and $250,000 in stock in Palantir Technologies, an ICE contractor, according to a POGO investigation. The stock was acquired after his first Trump term and held in a child's brokerage account, which does not exempt it under federal conflict-of-interest law.

Undisclosed financial conflicts of interest

Jun 23

Supreme Court 6-3 stayed order requiring torture screening before third-country deportations, enabling removals to South Sudan and Libya

The Supreme Court voted 6-3 on June 23, 2025, to stay a federal district court order that had required the Trump administration to provide immigrants a meaningful opportunity to contest removal to dangerous third countries before deportation. The stay immediately allowed the administration to resume removals to South Sudan, Libya, and El Salvador under bilateral agreements, without any screening for Convention Against Torture claims. Justice Sotomayor dissented sharply, writing that the administration had "repeatedly defied" the lower court order and calling the Supreme Court's intervention "so gross an abuse of the Court's equitable discretion."

Jun 23

DHS imposed seven-day notice requirement on lawmakers visiting ICE detention facilities, undercutting statutory oversight power

On June 23, 2025, the Department of Homeland Security tightened guidance for congressional visits to immigration detention facilities, requiring members of Congress to give at least seven calendar days' advance notice and empowering officials to end a visit that didn't follow the protocol. Twelve House Democrats sued DHS and Secretary Kristi Noem the following month, arguing the requirement violated Section 527 of the fiscal 2025 appropriations law, which guarantees members unannounced oversight access, and the Administrative Procedure Act.

Obstructing legislative oversight

Jun 21

Border Patrol agents violently arrested Santa Ana landscaper and father of 3 US Marines outside IHOP

On June 21, 2025, U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents confronted Narciso Barranco, a 49-year-old undocumented landscaper with no criminal record, while he worked outside an IHOP restaurant in Santa Ana, California, tackling him and repeatedly striking him in the head and neck before taking him into custody. Barranco is the father of three U.S. Marines; DHS said he swung a weed trimmer at an agent and resisted commands, while video of the arrest shows no such attack.

Violence in immigration enforcement

Jun 20

Labor Department suspended H-2A farmworker protection enforcement, eliminating organizing and wage safeguards for guestworkers

On June 20, 2025, the U.S. Department of Labor's Wage and Hour Division issued a memorandum directing field staff to immediately suspend enforcement of the Biden administration's H-2A final rule on farmworker protections. The rule had guaranteed more than 300,000 H-2A guestworkers rights to concerted activity, progressive termination standards, and wage disclosure obligations. DOL directed staff to revert to pre-rule standards and stated only that it was "currently evaluating" the rule — providing no timeline and leaving workers without federal enforcement indefinitely.

Jun 19

Trump signed EO 14310, third consecutive order directing DOJ not to enforce TikTok divestment law

President Trump signed Executive Order 14310 on June 19, 2025, extending for a third consecutive time the non-enforcement of the Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act, which required ByteDance to divest or cease operating TikTok by January 19, 2025. The order extended the DOJ non-enforcement period to September 17, 2025, retroactively immunized all past non-compliance dating back to the statutory deadline, and declared state-level enforcement of the law an encroachment on executive power.

Jun 18

Defense Secretary Hegseth told Senate he would follow appellate court but defy district court order blocking Los Angeles military deployment

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth testified before the Senate Armed Services Committee on June 18, 2025, stating he would respect the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals' ruling allowing the Los Angeles National Guard deployment to continue, but would not comply with U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer's temporary restraining order blocking it. Hegseth also asserted that deployed troops could "temporarily detain" protesters and hand them to ICE for immigration processing. Senator Elizabeth Warren extracted a commitment from Hegseth to follow Supreme Court orders—a response that itself implied he would not necessarily obey lower courts.

Jun 17

Trump deployed 2,000 more National Guard to Los Angeles after protests end, directed ICE to target Democratic-run cities

On June 17, 2025, the Trump administration activated an additional 2,000 California National Guard troops from the 49th Military Police Brigade for deployment to Los Angeles, even as the downtown curfew was lifting and protests had largely subsided. On the same day, Trump posted to Truth Social directing ICE to prioritize deportation operations in Democratic-run cities — explicitly naming Los Angeles, Chicago, and New York — and reversed a June 12 pause on agricultural, hotel, and restaurant worksite raids.

Domestic deployment overreach

Jun 17

SAMHSA ended 988 Lifeline's LGBTQ+ specialized counseling option, cutting crisis service for high-risk youth

On June 17, 2025, the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration announced the immediate termination of the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline's LGBTQ+ specialized counseling sub-line, which allowed callers to press 3 to reach counselors trained in LGBTQ+ youth mental health crisis intervention. The service had logged approximately 1.3 million contacts since its October 2022 launch. SAMHSA cited exhausted congressionally directed funding, though the Trump administration retained authority to reallocate existing HHS mental health funds to continue the service.

Jun 13

U.S. Marines detained Army veteran Marcos Leao for two hours outside Wilshire Federal Building; no charges filed

On June 13, 2025, U.S. Marines from the 2nd Battalion, 7th Marine Regiment — deployed under Title 10 authority to assist immigration enforcement operations in Los Angeles — detained Marcos Leao, a U.S. Army veteran, outside the Wilshire Federal Building. Marines zip-tied Leao's hands behind his back and held him for approximately two hours before releasing him without charges. Legal experts identified the detention as the first known instance of active-duty military detaining a civilian during the Los Angeles deployment and cited serious Posse Comitatus Act concerns.

Federal deployment against civilians

Jun 12

DHS agents forcibly removed and handcuffed Senator Alex Padilla at Noem press conference in Los Angeles

On June 12, 2025, FBI police officers and U.S. Secret Service agents physically seized California Senator Alex Padilla, dragged him from the room, and handcuffed him face-down outside after he stood to question Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem about immigration enforcement operations at her press conference at the FBI Los Angeles Field Office. Padilla was not arrested and no charges were filed; video showed him identifying himself as a senator before agents removed him. The incident drew bipartisan condemnation, with Republican Senators Collins and Murkowski calling it "disturbing," and Senate Democrats demanding a congressional investigation.

Jun 12

Trump signed three CRA resolutions revoking California Clean Air Act waivers; GAO and Senate parliamentarian found CRA inapplicable

On June 12, 2025, President Trump signed H.J. Res. 87, 88, and 89 into law, revoking three EPA Clean Air Act waivers that authorized California to enforce stricter-than-federal vehicle emissions standards under its longstanding § 209(b) authority. Both the Government Accountability Office and the nonpartisan Senate parliamentarian had issued findings that the Congressional Review Act does not legally apply to EPA waiver decisions. The three resolutions' enactment permanently bars EPA from issuing any "substantially similar" waiver, ending California's decades-long independent emissions authority without a statutory basis for the prospective ban.

Ignoring statutory requirements

Jun 11

Kosovo agreed to accept up to 50 third-country deportees from United States

Kosovo's government confirmed on June 11, 2025 that it had agreed to temporarily host up to 50 migrants deported from the United States who are not Kosovar citizens, without disclosing which countries they would come from or whether the U.S. would pay Kosovo for its cooperation. The first deportee arrived that December and was granted temporary protection; Kosovo has not signed the Convention Against Torture or the 1951 Refugee Convention.

Denial of due process in immigration enforcement

Jun 11

United States and Guatemala signed agreement diverting Central American migrants

The United States and Guatemala signed an agreement, effected by an exchange of diplomatic notes on June 11 and 13, 2025 and published in the Federal Register on July 15, 2025, allowing transfer of Central American nationals to Guatemala. President Bernardo Arévalo insisted it was not a "safe third country agreement," but DHS attorneys have since used it to summarily dismiss pending asylum cases, and most subsequent transfers to Guatemala have occurred outside the agreement's own terms entirely.

Denial of due process in immigration enforcement

Jun 11

ICE task force officers logged Spokane protesters' license plates and personal data into an evidence database

During anti-ICE protests at ICE's Spokane, Washington field office in May and June 2025, Homeland Security Investigations task force officer Stacey Carr and HSI analyst Ryan Lid photographed protesters' and bystanders' license plates and looked up their identities, then uploaded the data — including names, addresses, and vehicle information — to Axon's Evidence.com digital evidence platform, according to Carr's own July 2025 police report obtained by Mother Jones. None of the surveilled individuals, who included a tour-bus photographer and a driver in a public parking lot, were stated to be under investigation for any wrongdoing.

Jun 11

DOJ Civil Division memo elevated denaturalization to top-five priority, expanding revocation criteria far beyond fraud-in-naturalization

On June 11, 2025, Assistant Attorney General Brett Shumate signed a DOJ Civil Division enforcement memo making denaturalization one of the division's top five priorities, directing attorneys to "prioritize and maximally pursue denaturalization proceedings in all cases permitted by law and supported by the evidence." The memo expanded revocation criteria beyond war criminals and fraud-in-naturalization to include PPP loan fraud, Medicaid fraud, gang membership, and a catch-all "any other cases" category—affecting all 24.5 million naturalized Americans, who have no right to appointed counsel in these civil proceedings.

Jun 10

DOJ criminally charged Rep. LaMonica McIver over her congressional oversight visit to an ICE detention facility

On June 10, 2025, then-interim U.S. Attorney for New Jersey Alina Habba announced a three-count federal criminal complaint charging U.S. Rep. LaMonica McIver (D-NJ) with forcibly impeding and interfering with federal officers during a May 9, 2025 congressional oversight visit to the Delaney Hall ICE detention facility in Newark, New Jersey. A federal grand jury indicted McIver the next day; prosecutors allege she struck and grabbed a Homeland Security Investigations agent and pushed past an ICE deportation officer while lawmakers moved to prevent Newark Mayor Ras Baraka's arrest inside the facility. McIver has pleaded not guilty and calls the prosecution political retaliation for her legislative oversight role.

Jun 9

HHS Secretary Kennedy dismissed all 17 ACIP members and replaced them with political selections

On June 9, 2025, HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. dismissed all 17 sitting members of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices via a press release and a simultaneous Wall Street Journal op-ed, characterizing them as conflicted and as last-minute Biden appointees. ACIP is the independent federal advisory body whose vaccine recommendations are adopted by the CDC and followed by pediatricians and public health agencies nationwide. Kennedy announced eight replacement members on June 11, 2025; the replacement panel, described by observers as less credentialed than its predecessor, voted 8-3 at its inaugural September 2025 meeting to delay routine administration of the MMRV childhood vaccine — the first change to the immunization schedule under Kennedy's HHS.

Politicized appointments to independent or specialized roles

Jun 7

Trump invoked § 12406 to federalize California National Guard over governor's objection, labels LA protesters 'rebellion'

On June 7, 2025, President Trump signed a presidential memorandum invoking 10 U.S.C. § 12406 to call at least 2,000 California National Guard members into federal service, transferring command from Governor Gavin Newsom — who explicitly refused consent — to the Department of Defense. The memo labeled Los Angeles anti-ICE protesters as engaged in "a form of rebellion against the authority of the Government of the United States," a characterization that carried no factual or legal basis. Two days later, Trump expanded the deployment with an additional 2,000 National Guard troops and authorized 700 Marines from Twentynine Palms, the first domestic active-duty Marine deployment since the 1992 Los Angeles riots.

Jun 7

ICE agents stopped and arrested J.R.H.L. while he was walking to work in Wyandanch, New York

On June 7, 2025, ICE agents in Wyandanch, New York, stopped a man identified in court filings as J.R.H.L. while he was walking to work, arresting and detaining him without a judicial warrant for approximately two months. His arrest is one of eight named in the April 2026 class-action lawsuit Benitez v. DHS, which alleges ICE and CBP agents have conducted a systematic pattern of warrantless stops and arrests of Latino residents across New York based on race and ethnicity.

Jun 7

ICE arrested J.R.H.L. without a warrant while he walked to work in Wyandanch, New York, detaining him for approximately two months

On June 7, 2025, ICE agents stopped and arrested J.R.H.L., a Latino resident of Wyandanch, New York, without a warrant while he walked across a parking lot near his home on his way to work, according to a class action complaint filed April 8, 2026 in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York. J.R.H.L. spent approximately two months in ICE detention before being granted bond. The complaint, filed by the Legal Aid Society, NYCLU, Make the Road New York, and Covington and Burling, alleges ICE and CBP systematically target Latino New Yorkers for suspicionless stops and warrantless arrests in violation of the Fourth Amendment and federal immigration law.

Jun 6

ICE arrested SEIU labor leader David Huerta at an LA immigration raid protest; DOJ charged him with impeding federal agents

On June 6, 2025, federal agents arrested David Huerta, president of SEIU-United Service Workers West, outside a Los Angeles garment warehouse where he was among protesters watching an ICE worksite immigration raid. The U.S. Attorney's Office for the Central District of California charged Huerta with conspiracy to impede a federal officer, alleging he blocked a gate and directed other protesters, and he was hospitalized for injuries sustained during the arrest before being released on bond.

Prosecution of protected speech

Jun 6

DHS Secretary Noem terminated Nepal TPS designation, stripping ~12,700 earthquake refugees of immigration protection

On June 6, 2025, DHS Secretary Kristi Noem published a Federal Register notice terminating the Temporary Protected Status designation for Nepal, effective August 5, 2025. Nepal had held TPS since June 24, 2015, following a catastrophic earthquake that caused widespread displacement; the termination affects approximately 12,700 Nepali nationals currently holding TPS. A federal court later ruled the decision was "arbitrary, capricious, and motivated by racial animus," though the ruling was stayed pending appeal.

Jun 4

Trump signed Proclamation 10949 suspending entry from 19 countries, full ban on 12 majority-Black or Muslim-majority nations

On June 4, 2025, President Trump signed Proclamation 10949 creating a new multi-country entry ban effective June 9, 2025. The proclamation imposed a full suspension of entry for nationals of 12 countries—including Afghanistan, Haiti, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, and Yemen—and partial suspensions for 7 more, including Cuba and Venezuela. Critics and legal analysts identified the country selection criteria as selectively applied, noting that countries with worse vetting records were excluded while 10 of 12 fully banned nations are majority-Black or majority-Muslim.

Jun 4

Trump signed memorandum directing DOJ to investigate Biden's autopen use and alleged cognitive decline, without evidence

On June 4, 2025, President Trump signed a presidential memorandum directing White House Counsel David Warrington and Attorney General Pam Bondi to investigate whether officials "conspired to deceive the public" about President Biden's mental state and whether Biden validly executed executive actions through autopen. Legal experts confirmed autopen use has been settled law since a 2005 DOJ OLC opinion; Biden denied the claims; and Trump himself acknowledged the next day that he had not found evidence documents were signed without Biden's approval.

Politicized investigations

Jun 4

Trump signed Proclamation 10948 banning new Harvard international student visas, directing State to revoke existing ones

On June 4, 2025, President Trump signed Proclamation 10948, suspending entry of all new Harvard-bound international students on F, M, and J visas and directing the Secretary of State to consider revoking existing visas for current Harvard students on a case-by-case basis. The proclamation, issued under INA § 212(f), accused Harvard of jeopardizing the student visa system's integrity by refusing to surrender student records demanded by DHS and defying April 2025 demands to alter curriculum, admissions, and diversity programs. At the time of signing, Harvard enrolled approximately 6,800 international students.

Jun 3

Rwanda agreed to accept up to 250 US deportees for $7.5 million payment

Rwanda's government confirmed in early August 2025 that it had agreed to accept up to 250 migrants deported from the United States, under a deal signed by officials in Kigali in June 2025, in exchange for a U.S. cash grant. The first seven deportees arrived in mid-August 2025; a Senate Foreign Relations Committee minority report later calculated the arrangement cost the U.S. more than $1 million per person transferred.

Denial of due process in immigration enforcement

May 30

HHS directed NIAID to terminate Consortia for HIV/AIDS Vaccine Development funding, ending $258M federal HIV vaccine program

On May 30, 2025, NIAID verbally notified researchers at Scripps Research and Duke University that the Trump administration was terminating the Consortia for HIV/AIDS Vaccine Development (CHAVD), a $258 million, seven-year NIH-funded program representing the largest single federal investment in HIV vaccine research. NIAID also ended funding for three monkey-model vaccine research groups. The termination came as CHAVD researchers were preparing to begin clinical trials on a broadly neutralizing antibody approach that scientists described as the most promising HIV vaccine lead in decades. An HHS spokesperson cited "complex and duplicative health programs" as justification.

May 30

Supreme Court 7-2 stayed injunction blocking CHNV parole termination, enabling DHS to revoke status for 532,000 noncitizens

On May 30, 2025, the Supreme Court granted the Trump administration's emergency application to stay a federal injunction, allowing DHS Secretary Kristi Noem to proceed with terminating humanitarian parole for more than 532,000 noncitizens from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua, and Venezuela admitted under the Biden-era CHNV programs. The unsigned 7-2 order — with Justices Jackson and Sotomayor dissenting — cleared the way to revoke parole status without the individualized case-by-case review that the district court's injunction had required. Justice Jackson wrote that the majority had "plainly botched" the ruling and decried the "devastating consequences" of upending the lives of nearly half a million people while their legal claims remained pending.

May 28

Secretary Rubio announced U.S. would aggressively revoke visas of Chinese students with CCP ties or in critical fields

On May 28, 2025, Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced that the State Department, working with DHS, would "aggressively revoke" visas for Chinese students with "connections to the Chinese Communist Party" or studying in "critical fields," with neither term defined. A senior administration official confirmed to Axios that the directive applied to all students from China, potentially affecting approximately 280,000 Chinese nationals then lawfully enrolled in U.S. high schools, universities, and graduate programs. Trump announced on June 11 that Chinese students would continue to be welcome and that their visas would not be revoked, but the original announcement had already disrupted fall enrollment planning at hundreds of U.S. universities.

May 28

President Trump commuted donor Imaad Zuberi's sentence, voiding his prison term and about $16 million in restitution

On May 28, 2025, President Trump commuted the 12-year federal sentence of political donor Imaad Zuberi, who had pleaded guilty to illegal campaign contributions, acting as an undisclosed foreign agent, tax evasion, and obstructing the probe of Trump's 2017 inaugural committee. The commutation freed Zuberi years into his term and, by its terms, voided a nearly $2 million fine and roughly $16 million in restitution owed to victims.

Abuse of pardon power

May 28

DHS falsely accused Milwaukee immigrant of threatening to assassinate Trump, then pursued his deportation without retracting the claim

On May 28, 2025, Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem publicly accused Milwaukee immigrant Ramón Morales Reyes of sending a letter threatening to assassinate President Trump, days after Milwaukee police and the U.S. Secret Service had reason to doubt he wrote it. DHS pursued his detention and deportation on that basis, and the agency's original accusation remains online without retraction even after Wisconsin authorities convicted and sentenced the actual author, Demetric Scott, to more than 16 years in prison for forging the letter to prevent Morales Reyes from testifying against him.

State-sponsored disinformation

May 27

State Department cable halted new student and exchange visitor visa interviews pending expanded social media and political-views screening

On May 27, 2025, the State Department issued a cable ordering U.S. embassies and consulates worldwide to immediately stop scheduling new visa interview appointments for all foreign nationals applying for F-1 academic student, J-1 exchange visitor, and M-1 vocational student visas, pending expanded social media vetting guidance. A follow-on cable on May 30 directed consular officers to apply "extra vigilance" in screening applicants for hostility toward the U.S. government and values — including ties to political activism and associations with disfavored groups — making political views an operative criterion for visa denial. The pause affected new interview scheduling for more than 1.5 million F/M visa holders and nearly 300,000 J-1 exchange visitors, a category that includes Fulbright scholars, professors, au pairs, and Summer Work Travel workers.

May 27

GSA directed all federal agencies to cancel ~$100M in Harvard operating contracts, escalating political retaliation campaign

On May 27, 2025, the General Services Administration sent a letter to all federal agencies directing them to identify and cancel remaining contracts with Harvard University — approximately 30 contracts worth an estimated $100 million — and to seek alternative vendors for future services. The directive escalated the administration's retaliatory campaign against Harvard, which had publicly refused White House demands to alter its hiring, admissions, and governance practices. The contract-cancellation mechanism targeted operating agreements distinct from the $2.6 billion in research grants already frozen or cancelled since April 2025.

May 22

DHS Secretary Noem revoked Harvard's SEVP certification, threatening enrollment of ~6,000 international students

On May 22, 2025, DHS Secretary Kristi Noem summarily revoked Harvard University's Student and Exchange Visitor Program (SEVP) certification, the administrative authorization that allows universities to enroll international students on F-1, J-1, and M-1 visas. Citing alleged 'pro-terrorist conduct' and cooperation with the Chinese Communist Party — with no independent factual finding or adjudicatory process — the action threatened immediate displacement of more than 6,000 international students and scholars. Harvard filed for a Temporary Restraining Order the following day; District Judge Allison Burroughs granted the TRO, and a preliminary injunction issued June 20 extended the block pending full litigation.

May 22

DOJ filed motion to terminate Flores Settlement Agreement, eliminating court-ordered protections for immigrant children in custody

On May 22, 2025, the U.S. Department of Justice filed a motion in federal court to terminate the Flores Settlement Agreement, a 1997 court settlement that has set minimum care standards and a 20-day detention cap for immigrant children in federal custody for nearly three decades. Attorney General Pam Bondi's DOJ argued termination was warranted by post-settlement regulations and a 2022 Supreme Court ruling. Judge Dolly Gee denied the motion in August 2025, finding the government remained in substantial noncompliance with the settlement's terms.

May 21

ICE arrested Bronx high school student Dylan Lopez Contreras in Manhattan courthouse lobby after his scheduled immigration hearing

On May 21, 2025, ICE agents arrested 20-year-old Dylan Josue Lopez Contreras, a Venezuelan Bronx high school student, in the lobby of 26 Federal Plaza in Manhattan after he appeared for a scheduled immigration hearing. During the hearing, government lawyers asked the judge to dismiss Dylan's case and immediately reopen it as an expedited removal — leaving him without legal protection and enabling the on-site arrest. Dylan, who had entered the country lawfully under a Biden-era humanitarian program and held a work permit, had no criminal record. He was subsequently detained at Moshannon Valley Processing Center in Pennsylvania for nearly ten months before being released on March 18, 2026.

May 20

Interior Secretary Burgum ordered National Park Service to review and remove public content deemed to disparage Americans

On May 20, 2025, Interior Secretary Doug Burgum issued Secretary's Order 3431, implementing President Trump's Executive Order 14253 and directing the National Park Service and other Interior land-management bureaus to review all public-facing interpretive content and remove anything that "inappropriately disparages Americans" or, for natural features, emphasizes matters unrelated to their beauty and grandeur. Under the order, the Park Service removed or flagged signs, exhibits, and materials on slavery, immigration, and climate change at sites nationwide, with an initial content-removal deadline of September 17, 2025. Interior also posted signage inviting visitors to report content they viewed as negative about past or living Americans.

May 20

FTC issued sweeping records demand to media-rating firm NewsGuard following chairman's public criticism

The Federal Trade Commission under Chairman Andrew Ferguson issued a 21-page, 31-item Civil Investigative Demand to NewsGuard, which publishes journalist-produced credibility ratings for news outlets, on May 20, 2025, seeking internal memos, methodology documents, subscriber lists, and communications dating back to the company's 2018 founding. The demand followed months of public criticism from Ferguson, who as an FTC commissioner in November 2024 accused NewsGuard of running "collusive ad boycotts" against conservative and independent media.

Targeting critics with government power

May 19

Deputy AG Blanche directed DOJ to weaponize False Claims Act against federal grantees maintaining DEI and trans-inclusive policies

On May 19, 2025, Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche issued a memorandum establishing the DOJ Civil Rights Fraud Initiative, directing attorneys across the Civil Division's Fraud Section and the Civil Rights Division to pursue False Claims Act cases against any federal grantee — including universities, hospitals, and state governments — that maintains DEI programs or transgender-inclusive policies while certifying compliance with federal civil rights laws. The initiative identifies diversity programs, single-sex bathroom policies, and women's sports participation standards as triggering FCA liability, and invites private whistleblower lawsuits seeking treble damages. It converts a procurement-fraud statute into an ideological enforcement mechanism against institutions dependent on federal funding.

May 15

Trump administration pressured Secret Service to warrantlessly surveil Comey after 'seashells' post

On the night of May 15, 2025, President Trump and administration officials pressured U.S. Secret Service agents to warrantlessly access former FBI Director James Comey's phone location data after Comey posted an Instagram photo of seashells arranged to spell "86 47." Secret Service personnel warned internally that they lacked a warrant or a reasonable basis to believe Comey posed an imminent threat, but the agency issued an emergency request to Verizon and tracked Comey's phone as he drove from North Carolina toward Virginia. The pressure and warrantless tracking were disclosed in July 2026 through internal Secret Service records filed in Comey's separate federal criminal case.

May 14

United States and Eswatini signed MOU for third-country deportations

The United States and Eswatini signed a Memorandum of Understanding dated May 14, 2025, made available on the State Department website that June. Under it, at least 30 people have been forcibly sent to Eswatini across four flights between July 2025 and July 2026; a DHS spokesperson described the initial group as "depraved monsters" despite several having U.S.-granted humanitarian protections.

Denial of due process in immigration enforcement

May 14

FBI Director Patel ordered 2,000 agents permanently shifted to immigration enforcement, gutting counterterrorism capacity

FBI Director Kash Patel directed field offices nationwide to permanently shift approximately 2,000 special agents — roughly 45% of agents in the 25 largest field offices — to full-time immigration enforcement operations during the week of May 12–14, 2025. The directive siphoned resources from counterterrorism, counterintelligence, organized crime, and fraud investigations; individual field offices lost half or more of their agents to immigration work, and the Justice Department simultaneously deprioritized white-collar and corporate crime investigation.

Dismantling agency capacity

May 13

ICE and GEO Group denied diabetic detainee Elton Purvis insulin and care, causing repeated hospitalizations at Pearsall facility

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and GEO Group, which operates the South Texas ICE Processing Center in Pearsall, Texas, confiscated detainee Elton Purvis's insulin and malaria medication and denied him food meeting his diabetic and religious dietary needs during his May-to-December 2025 detention. Purvis, a 55-year-old legal permanent resident and Type 1 diabetic, was found unresponsive and hospitalized for dangerously abnormal blood sugar at least three times — the first on June 2, 2025 — after guards repeatedly ignored his pleas for help and his more than 100 grievances to ICE went unanswered.

Corrections abuse

May 13

Interagency task force terminated additional ~$450M in Harvard research grants after president publicly defied administration demands

On May 13, 2025, the interagency Joint Task Force to Combat Anti-Semitism announced the termination of approximately $450 million in additional federal research grants to Harvard University — on top of the $2.2 billion already frozen since April 14, 2025. The escalation came one week after Harvard President Alan Garber publicly stated the university would not comply with the administration's demands to alter governance, admissions, hiring, and student conduct policies. The task force declared Harvard had "forfeited the school's claim to taxpayer support." A federal court later ruled the entire Harvard funding campaign constituted unlawful retaliation for First Amendment-protected speech.

May 12

ICE Acting Director Lyons issued classified memo authorizing warrantless home entry for immigration arrests

ICE Acting Director Todd Lyons issued an internal memo on May 12, 2025, directing agents to forcibly enter private homes using administrative warrants signed by ICE supervisors rather than judges, departing from longstanding Fourth Amendment practice and prior DHS policy requiring judicial warrants for home entry. The memo was classified for restricted internal distribution—agents were required to return it and take no notes—and was reportedly used to train new ICE agents. Whistleblowers disclosed the memo to Senator Blumenthal in January 2026; NBC News published the full account.

May 10

United States and South Sudan agreed to single deportation flight via diplomatic notes

The United States and South Sudan reached the only written agreement made public to date via an exchange of diplomatic notes from early May 2025, covering a single flight of third-country nationals. Eight men were deported under it in July 2025 in violation of a standing federal court injunction requiring meaningful notice and a chance to raise fear-based claims; the agreement was not disclosed until January 2026, and the men were held in a guarded compound lacking reliable electricity.

May 9

NSF eliminated Division of Equity for Excellence in STEM, fired all 65 staff in reduction-in-force

On May 9, 2025, NSF Chief Management Officer Micah Cheatham circulated an internal memo announcing the full elimination of NSF's Division of Equity for Excellence in STEM by July 12 via a reduction-in-force, firing all 65 permanent EES staff. Simultaneously, 84 of NSF's 143 Senior Executive Service positions were eliminated and the temporary workforce was cut from 368 to 70, reducing NSF's workforce by roughly 37 percent. The division housed congressionally mandated programs serving underrepresented minorities and disabled students in STEM.

May 7

State Department pressed tariff-threatened nations to approve Musk's Starlink, cables showed

Internal U.S. embassy and State Department cables obtained by The Washington Post and reported on May 7, 2025, showed officials repeatedly pressing foreign governments facing Trump administration tariff threats to approve regulatory access for Starlink, the satellite company owned by White House adviser Elon Musk. Lesotho received a 10-year Starlink license two weeks after Trump announced 50% tariffs, and India, Vietnam, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Somalia, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo saw similar fast-tracked approvals. Eleven U.S. senators subsequently requested a federal ethics investigation into the arrangement.

May 5

White House used unvetted TeleMessage Signal clone for records after Signalgate; May 2025 hack exposed CBP staff data

After the original Signalgate incident exposed deleted official Signal messages in violation of federal records law, senior officials including then-National Security Advisor Mike Waltz adopted TM SGNL, a modified Signal clone from Israeli company TeleMessage, without National Archives review. On May 4-5, 2025, hackers exploited a flaw that routed messages to the vendor's server as plain text, exposing U.S. Customs and Border Protection staff communications and stealing a large cache of files, prompting TeleMessage to suspend service.

Ignoring statutory requirements

May 5

Education Secretary McMahon barred Harvard from new federal grants, demanding governance overhaul and DEI compliance

On May 5, 2025, Education Secretary Linda McMahon sent Harvard President Alan Garber a letter formally announcing that the university would receive no new federal grants until it demonstrated "responsible management" and met the Trump administration's demands for governance restructuring, admissions changes, and anti-DEI compliance. The action was a prospective escalation beyond the earlier April 14 freeze of existing Harvard grants, imposing a forward-looking embargo on all new grant funding. Harvard characterized the move as retaliation for its lawsuit challenging the April freeze and called the demands an attempt to impose "unprecedented and improper control."

May 1

Trump signed EO 14290 directing CPB to cease all federal funding to NPR and PBS

President Trump signed Executive Order 14290 on May 1, 2025, directing the Corporation for Public Broadcasting to stop all direct and indirect federal funding to National Public Radio and the Public Broadcasting Service, citing what the order called their "biased and partisan news coverage." The order also required every federal agency to terminate existing contracts and grants with NPR and PBS, and ordered CPB to revise its 2025 grant criteria by June 30, 2025 to bar grantees from channeling funds to either organization. CPB, NPR, and PBS each stated the order was unlawful; CPB's board declined to comply.

Apr 30

DHS announced Uzbekistan third-country deportation partnership, first deal of second term

DHS announced on April 30, 2025 that it had partnered with Uzbekistan to deport more than 100 Uzbek, Kazakh, and Kyrgyz nationals on a single flight — the first third-country removal deal of the second Trump administration. Uzbekistan fully funded and organized the flight; a further six people were sent to Uzbekistan in March 2026.

Denial of due process in immigration enforcement

Apr 29

ICE and LaSalle Corrections denied pregnant detainee prenatal care at Louisiana facility; she delivered a stillborn baby

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and its contractor, LaSalle Corrections, denied Iris Dayana Monterroso Lemus, a pregnant Guatemalan detainee, adequate prenatal care during her detention at Richwood Correctional Center in Richwood, Louisiana, and she delivered a stillborn baby on April 29, 2025, after days of unaddressed complaints that she had stopped feeling fetal movement. Federal records later obtained by The Intercept through a Freedom of Information Act request showed no completed ultrasound or OB-GYN visit, contradicting a later DHS public denial that she lacked care.

Denial of custodial medical care

Apr 28

Trump signed EO 14287, creating 'sanctuary jurisdiction' list and ordering agencies to identify federal grants for withholding

On April 28, 2025, President Trump signed Executive Order 14287, "Protecting American Communities from Criminal Aliens," formally establishing a government-wide sanctuary jurisdiction designation-and-punishment mechanism. The order directed the Attorney General and DHS Secretary to publish a list of states and localities that obstruct federal immigration enforcement and instructed all federal department heads to identify grants and contracts flowing to listed jurisdictions "for suspension or termination." A federal court blocked the funding-withholding component within 11 days, ruling it could not be used as "an end run around" an existing preliminary injunction against earlier Trump sanctuary-city directives.

Apr 28

Trump signed EO 14288 directing DOJ to rescind police-reform consent decrees and threaten prosecution of local officials for DEI policing

On April 28, 2025, President Trump signed Executive Order 14288, directing the Attorney General to review and rescind DOJ Civil Rights Division consent decrees with local police departments and to pursue prosecution of local officials whose DEI-based policing policies the administration deems unlawful. The EO also directed the Department of Defense to identify how military assets and personnel could be used for domestic crime prevention. Implementation was immediate: the Civil Rights Division dismissed pending consent decrees in Minneapolis and Louisville, retracted violation findings in six other cities, and approximately 70 percent of Civil Rights Division staff were expected to resign or be removed.

Apr 25

DOJ criminally charged sitting Milwaukee judge Hannah Dugan with obstructing ICE arrest in her courtroom

The Justice Department on April 25, 2025 filed federal criminal charges against sitting Milwaukee County Circuit Court Judge Hannah Dugan, accusing her of obstructing ICE agents who sought to arrest a defendant, Eduardo Flores-Ruiz, following his hearing in her courtroom. Dugan was later convicted by a federal jury and, on July 8, 2026, sentenced to a $5,000 fine with no prison time.

Apr 25

USDA withdrew Salmonella poultry rule after top inauguration donor's trade group lobbied against it

USDA's Food Safety and Inspection Service formally withdrew its proposed "Salmonella Framework for Raw Poultry Products" rule on April 25, 2025, days after the National Chicken Council publicly opposed it and after reporting revealed that member company Pilgrim's Pride had made a $5 million donation to the Trump-Vance inaugural committee, the single largest inauguration donation. The rule would have set the first enforceable Salmonella contamination limits in raw chicken and turkey and given FSIS authority to stop sale of contaminated poultry.

Pay-to-play

Apr 24

Trump signed EO 14284 requiring political appointees to certify retention of all probationary federal employees

On April 24, 2025, President Trump signed Executive Order 14284 requiring political appointees to affirmatively certify the retention of all probationary and trial-period federal employees before they receive career tenure. Under the prior framework established by the Civil Service Reform Act of 1978, new career employees automatically received tenure upon completing their probationary period without adverse action. The order made automatic separation the default in the absence of political-appointee certification, inserting a political approval gate over tenure for all competitive and excepted service employees across the executive branch.

Apr 24

Trump directed AG Bondi to investigate ActBlue while applying no scrutiny to Republican equivalent WinRed

On April 24, 2025, President Trump signed a Presidential Memorandum directing Attorney General Pamela Bondi, in consultation with Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, to investigate alleged straw-donor and foreign-contribution violations at ActBlue, the dominant Democratic online fundraising platform. The directive cited a partisan House Republican investigation that examined only ActBlue and not WinRed, the structurally identical Republican equivalent. Democratic party leaders called the memo "designed to undermine democratic participation."

Politicized investigations

Apr 23

Trump signed EO 14281 directing all agencies to end disparate-impact enforcement, orders AG to repeal Title VI regulations

On April 23, 2025, President Trump signed Executive Order 14281, "Restoring Equality of Opportunity and Meritocracy," directing all federal agencies to deprioritize enforcement of disparate-impact liability across housing, lending, employment, education, and healthcare "to the maximum degree possible." The order instructed the Attorney General to repeal or amend all Department of Justice regulations under Title VI of the Civil Rights Act that contemplate disparate-impact liability. Civil rights organizations described EO 14281 as the most sweeping rollback of federal civil rights enforcement since passage of the Civil Rights Act in 1964.

Apr 23

Trump pardoned tax felon Paul Walczak weeks after his mother paid $1M for Mar-a-Lago access

President Trump granted Paul Walczak a full and unconditional pardon on April 23, 2025, for failing to remit roughly $7.5 million in employee payroll taxes and failing to file individual income tax returns, a total tax loss to the IRS of about $10.9 million. The pardon came 12 days after Walczak was sentenced to 18 months in prison and $4.4 million in restitution, and roughly three weeks after his mother, Trump fundraiser Elizabeth Fago, paid $1 million to attend a Mar-a-Lago candlelight dinner where Trump was the featured guest.

Apr 22

AG Bondi issued memo directing FBI and DOJ to investigate and prosecute gender-affirming care providers for minors

On April 22, 2025, Attorney General Pamela Bondi issued a memorandum titled "Preventing the Mutilation of American Children" directing the FBI to investigate gender-affirming care providers for criminal violations and directing DOJ's Consumer Protection Branch and Civil Division Fraud Section to pursue misbranding and False Claims Act cases against manufacturers and medical providers. The memo simultaneously announced the "Attorney General's Coalition Against Child Mutilation," a formal partnership with state attorneys general to coordinate criminal and civil enforcement against hospitals and practitioners. Gender-affirming care for minors was legal under federal law at the time the memo was issued.

Apr 21

EPA sent reduction-in-force notices eliminating 280 environmental justice and civil rights staff, shutting down the OEJECR

On April 21, 2025, EPA Assistant Deputy Administrator Travis Voyles sent reduction-in-force notices to 280 employees in the Office of Environmental Justice and External Civil Rights (OEJECR) and regional environmental justice divisions, with terminations effective July 31, 2025. An additional 175 employees performing statutory functions were reassigned within the agency. The action effectively closed the OEJECR — founded in 1992 under President George H.W. Bush and the primary federal enforcer of Title VI civil rights protections in environmental permitting — framed by EPA as terminating "Biden's environmental justice, DEI arms of the agency."

Apr 20

Hegseth shared Yemen strike details in a second Signal chat that included his wife, brother, and personal lawyer

The New York Times reported on April 20-21, 2025 that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth shared details of the March 15 Yemen strikes, including warplane launch times, in a second, separate Signal group chat called "Defense | Team Huddle." The 13-member chat included Hegseth's wife Jennifer Hegseth, his brother Phil Hegseth (a Pentagon DHS liaison), and Hegseth's personal lawyer — none of whom held a national-security role.

Apr 17

FDA halted FERN's Proficiency Testing Program, cutting pathogen-screening quality checks for 170 labs, citing staff cuts

On April 17, 2025, the FDA suspended the Proficiency Testing Program under the Food Emergency Response Network, which provided quality-control testing used by roughly 170 laboratories nationwide to screen for pathogens and contaminants, including Cyclospora in spinach and glyphosate residue in barley. The agency attributed the suspension to staffing shortages following earlier rounds of cuts.

Dismantling agency capacity

Apr 14

Interagency task force froze $2.2 billion in Harvard grants after university publicly refused White House demands

On April 14, 2025, the interagency Joint Task Force to Combat Anti-Semitism announced the freeze of approximately $2.2 billion in federal grants and $60 million in multi-year contracts to Harvard University — announced the same day Harvard President Alan Garber publicly refused to comply with a package of White House demands delivered April 11. The demands called for governance reforms, merit-based admissions and hiring, closure of DEI programs, a mask ban targeting pro-Palestinian protesters, and cooperation with immigration authorities. A federal court later ruled that the Harvard funding campaign constituted unlawful retaliation for First Amendment-protected activity.

Apr 10

ICE terminated student status records of two lawfully enrolled international graduate students at Montana State University

In April 2025, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement terminated the SEVIS student status records of two international graduate students lawfully enrolled at Montana State University, effectively revoking their authorization to remain in the United States without legal basis. The ACLU of Montana filed suit against then-Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem and ICE, challenging the terminations as unlawful. A federal judge issued an emergency order in April 2025 blocking the government from deporting the students; the U.S. government subsequently reinstated their records and changed its policy. The government settled the lawsuit in July 2026, formally committing to protect the students' immigration status.

Apr 9

Trump signs EO 14263 targeting Susman Godfrey, suspending clearances and barring building access

On April 9, 2025, President Trump signed Executive Order 14263, directing the suspension of security clearances for Susman Godfrey LLP employees, termination of all federal contracts with the firm, and restriction of firm employees from accessing federal buildings. The order cited the firm's diversity fellowship and its representation of clients in election-related and civil rights cases as justification, framing Susman's legal work as a national-security threat. Susman Godfrey, which had represented Dominion Voting Systems in its defamation lawsuit against Fox News over 2020 election coverage, filed suit to block the order within two days.

Apr 8

Trump bought 327 stocks, including Apple and Nvidia, on April 8, 2025, one day before announcing a tariff pause that sent markets soaring

President Trump's 2025 annual financial disclosure, released by the U.S. Office of Government Ethics and analyzed by CNBC and NBC News, shows that investment accounts he owns made 327 previously undisclosed stock purchases on April 8, 2025 — worth as much as $12.8 million, including $100,001–$250,000 blocks in each of Apple, Alphabet, Amazon, Microsoft, and Nvidia. The purchases came six days after Trump launched his "Liberation Day" tariffs, which had sent markets tumbling, and one day before he posted "THIS IS A GREAT TIME TO BUY!!!" and announced a 90-day tariff pause that sent the S&P 500 up roughly 9.5% in one of its best sessions on record. The trades were disclosed more than fourteen months after they occurred, past the deadlines the STOCK Act sets for reporting covered transactions.

Apr 7

Deputy AG Todd Blanche shut down DOJ crypto enforcement while holding up to $485,000 in personal crypto investments

On April 7, 2025, Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche issued a DOJ memo, "Ending Regulation by Prosecution," scaling back Biden-era cryptocurrency enforcement and disbanding the National Cryptocurrency Enforcement Team. A ProPublica investigation found Blanche personally held between $159,000 and $485,000 in crypto-related assets at the time, despite pledging in February 2025 to divest "as soon as practicable"; he did not begin selling or transferring the holdings until nearly two months after the memo, in late May and early June 2025.

Apr 4

Trump signed EO 14258, second order directing DOJ not to enforce TikTok divestment law

President Trump signed Executive Order 14258, "Extending the TikTok Enforcement Delay," on April 4, 2025, directing the Department of Justice not to enforce the Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act and extending the non-enforcement period to June 19, 2025. The order also retroactively immunized all past non-compliance dating back to January 19, 2025 — the statutory deadline — barring DOJ from ever taking enforcement action for violations during that period. It was the second consecutive executive order directing non-enforcement of the TikTok divestment statute, following EO 14166 issued on January 20, 2025.

Apr 3

United States redirected foreign aid to fund Costa Rica's interception of US-bound migrants

The U.S. and Costa Rica signed a Memorandum of Understanding on April 3, 2025 under which DHS funds and runs logistics for Costa Rica's own deportations of irregular migrants, primarily those transiting toward the United States. The State Department is redirecting up to $7.85 million from its Economic Support Fund — a foreign-aid line normally used for allied economic development — to DHS to pay for the program, modeled in part on a 2024 Biden-era deal under which the U.S. paid Panama to detain and deport migrants moving toward the U.S. border.

Denial of due process in immigration enforcement

Apr 3

FDA suspended a program improving bird-flu testing reliability across 40+ labs, citing its own staff cuts

On April 3, 2025, the FDA suspended its Interlaboratory Comparison Exercise for detecting Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza, a program improving testing reliability across more than 40 laboratories screening dairy products and pet food for H5N1. The agency's own suspension notice to participating labs attributed the halt to staff cuts in FDA's Human Food Program made earlier that year.

Dismantling agency capacity

Apr 1

DOGE used one-line ChatGPT prompts to terminate 97% of NEH's appropriated humanities grants, gutting agency in 22 days

Discovery material released in a federal lawsuit shows that between a March 12, 2025 meeting with National Endowment for the Humanities leadership and an April 1, 2025 completion, DOGE staff used brief ChatGPT prompts asking whether grants "relate at all to DEI" to screen and terminate more than 1,000 NEH grants — 97% of the agency's then- appropriated funding, about $100 million — while also eliminating 65% of NEH's staff. NEH's acting chair, Michael McDonald, yielded grant-termination authority to DOGE staff, who had no experience in humanities research or grant review.

Dismantling agency capacity

Mar 28

Education Secretary McMahon rescinded states' extensions to spend COVID-relief education funds, cutting billions including $137M for Mississippi

On March 28, 2025, U.S. Secretary of Education Linda McMahon notified state education agencies that previously approved extensions to spend remaining COVID-19 pandemic relief funds were rescinded effective immediately, reversing deadlines that had run through March 2026. The abrupt cancellation put billions of dollars nationwide at risk, including roughly $137 million Mississippi was using for literacy, mental health, school construction, and rural technology programs. States and districts said the reversal disrupted programs already underway.

Ignoring statutory requirements

Mar 27

Trump signs EO 14251 stripping collective bargaining rights from 40+ federal agencies on pretextual national security grounds

President Trump signed Executive Order 14251 on March 27, 2025, excluding more than 40 federal agencies and subdivisions from the Federal Service Labor-Management Relations Statute (FSLMRS), the law Congress enacted to protect most federal employees' right to collectively bargain. The order applied a sweeping "national security" rationale to agencies including the Department of Justice, FDA, CDC, and EPA — bodies with no plausible national security mission — stripping their workers of union rights through executive action rather than legislation. Affected unions including the NTEU, AFGE, and AFL-CIO filed legal challenges, and the EO became the legal authority for a cascade of agency-level de-recognition actions through August 2025.

Mar 27

Trump signs EO 14253 directing Smithsonian to eliminate content on Black history, women's history, and gender identity

President Trump signed Executive Order 14253, "Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History," on March 27, 2025, directing the Vice President — through his seat on the Smithsonian Board of Regents — to remove content labeled "improper, divisive, or anti-American ideology" from Smithsonian museums, education centers, and the National Zoo. The order specifically named the National Museum of African American History and Culture, the Smithsonian American Art Museum, and the Smithsonian American Women's History Museum as perpetuating "divisive, race-centered ideology." The EO also directed Cabinet members to work with Congress to defund Smithsonian programs that "divide Americans based on race" or acknowledge transgender identity, and ordered reinstatement of historical statues removed from federal property over the prior five years.

Mar 27

President Trump pardoned Nikola founder Trevor Milton, foreclosing restitution sought for defrauded investors

On March 27, 2025, President Trump pardoned Nikola founder Trevor Milton, who had been convicted by a jury of securities and wire fraud for misleading investors about his company's technology. Milton and his wife had given more than $1.8 million to a Trump reelection fund shortly before the 2024 election, and the pardon foreclosed hundreds of millions of dollars in restitution prosecutors were seeking for defrauded investors. At a news conference Trump said Milton was targeted for having been an early supporter.

Abuse of pardon power

Mar 27

Trump signs EO 14250 suspending WilmerHale employees' security clearances, directing federal contractors to sever ties with firm

President Trump signed Executive Order 14250 on March 27, 2025, directing federal agencies to suspend the security clearances of all WilmerHale employees and instructing federal contractors to terminate their relationships with the firm. The order cited WilmerHale's prior association with Special Counsel Robert Mueller — a former WilmerHale partner — and the firm's DEI policies as justification. It was the third in a series of retaliatory executive orders targeting law firms whose attorneys had represented parties adverse to the president or participated in legal investigations of him.

Mar 26

Interior Department rescinded Scotts Valley Band's casino eligibility without notice, days after donor-backed rival tribe's lobbying push

On March 26, 2025, the Department of the Interior rescinded its January 10, 2025 determination that the Scotts Valley Band of Pomo Indians' proposed Vallejo, California casino site qualified for gaming, without giving the tribe notice or an opportunity to respond. The rescission came one week after lobbyists for the rival Yocha Dehe Wintun Nation — which donated $1 million to Trump's inauguration and later $2 million to the MAGA Inc. super PAC — asked Deputy Assistant Secretary Ken Bellmard for precisely that two-step rescission approach. A federal judge ruled on October 30, 2025 that the rescission violated the tribe's due-process rights and vacated it.

Mar 25

Trump pardoned Devon Archer, a Hunter Biden associate, remitting $43M restitution for his tribal-bond fraud conviction

On March 25, 2025, President Trump granted a full and unconditional pardon to Devon Archer, a former business associate of Hunter Biden, remitting $43 million in restitution and $15 million in asset forfeiture ordered after Archer's conviction for diverting roughly $60 million raised through bonds issued by the Oglala Sioux Nation's Wakpamni Lake Community Corporation. Archer, sentenced to one year and one day, never served time before the pardon. Trump tied the clemency to Archer's 2023 congressional testimony about Hunter Biden.

Abuse of pardon power

Mar 25

Trump signed EO 14246 suspending Jenner & Block security clearances, pressuring contractors to cut ties with firm

On March 25, 2025, President Trump signed Executive Order 14246, "Addressing Risks From Jenner & Block," directing the immediate suspension of security clearances for all firm employees and requiring federal contractors to certify no business relationships with the firm under threat of contract termination. The order cited the firm's prior employment of Andrew Weissmann—who participated in the Mueller investigation—and its representation of transgender and immigrant clients as justification. A federal court permanently enjoined the order in May 2025, finding it violated the First Amendment through viewpoint discrimination.

Mar 25

HHS issued interim final rule permitting ICE and CBP to access sponsors' immigration status, reinstating first-term enforcement arrangement

On March 25, 2025, the Department of Health and Human Services published an interim final rule (90 Fed. Reg. 13554) that rescinded a Biden-era prohibition on sharing the immigration status of unaccompanied children's sponsors with ICE and CBP for enforcement purposes. The rule, effective immediately, also removed the prohibition on disqualifying potential sponsors based solely on their immigration status. The IFR reinstated a memorandum of agreement from Trump's first term under which approximately 170 undocumented sponsors who came forward to claim children in federal custody had been arrested by ICE.

Mar 25

DHS Secretary Noem terminated CHNV parole programs, stripping lawful status from 532,000 noncitizens without individualized review

On March 25, 2025, DHS Secretary Kristi Noem published Federal Register Notice 2025-05128 (90 FR 13611) formally terminating the Biden-era categorical parole programs for inadmissible noncitizens from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua, and Venezuela. The termination took effect immediately; the approximately 532,000 current parolees were given until April 24, 2025 to depart the United States. Each had been individually vetted and admitted under 8 U.S.C. § 1182(d)(5), but their status was revoked through a single blanket notice with no individualized review of reliance interests or changed circumstances.

Mar 25

Trump signed EO 14248 requiring documentary proof of citizenship on the federal voter registration form

On March 25, 2025, President Trump signed Executive Order 14248, directing the Election Assistance Commission to add documentary proof of U.S. citizenship — including a passport or REAL ID — as a mandatory requirement on the national mail voter registration form. The order also directed DOGE and the Department of Homeland Security to cross-check all state voter rolls against federal immigration databases and instructed the Attorney General to enforce post-Election Day ballot prohibitions. Federal courts subsequently permanently enjoined the citizenship-proof mandate, finding that Trump lacked statutory authority to unilaterally alter the EAC's congressionally established voter registration form.

Mar 20

Trump signed EO 14243 directing all agencies to grant DOGE officials unrestricted federal database access, superseding Privacy Act

On March 20, 2025, President Trump signed Executive Order 14243, "Stopping Waste, Fraud, and Abuse by Eliminating Information Silos," directing all federal agency heads to provide DOGE-designated officials with full access to all unclassified agency records, data systems, and IT infrastructure. The order explicitly superseded Privacy Act system-of-records notices and any regulations restricting inter-agency data sharing, requiring agencies to rescind such limitations within 30 days. Legal challenges argued the order impermissibly overrode statutory Privacy Act protections that only Congress has authority to amend.

Mar 20

Trump signed EO 14242 directing closure of the Department of Education, ordering Secretary McMahon to facilitate shutdown

President Trump signed Executive Order 14242 on March 20, 2025, directing the Secretary of Education to "take all necessary steps to facilitate the closure of the Department of Education and return authority over education to the States and local communities." The order also directed Secretary McMahon to condition all federal education funds on compliance with the administration's anti-DEI directives. The Department of Education was established by Congress under Pub. L. 96-88 in 1979; its formal abolition requires an act of Congress, not an executive order.

Mar 20

Trump signed presidential memo granting OPM authority to dismiss career civil servants based on post-appointment conduct

On March 20, 2025, President Trump signed a presidential memorandum directing the Office of Personnel Management to make final suitability determinations against career federal employees based on conduct that occurred after their initial appointment — an authority previously limited to job applicants. The memo required agency heads to remove any employee OPM found unsuitable within five business days, overriding the civil service removal protections established by the Civil Service Reform Act of 1978. OPM was further directed to propose new regulations under 5 C.F.R. Part 731 to implement the expanded authority.

Mar 19

Commerce Secretary Lutnick urged Fox News viewers to buy Tesla stock as Musk led DOGE

During a March 19, 2025 Fox News appearance, in which he was identified on screen by his official title, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick urged viewers to buy Tesla stock as the company's shares slid amid backlash over CEO Elon Musk's role leading the Department of Government Efficiency. Federal ethics rules bar executive-branch officials from using their office or title to endorse a product or company. Within 48 hours, a House Oversight Committee ranking member opened an investigation and the nonpartisan Campaign Legal Center filed a complaint, each citing the same rule.

Self-dealing

Mar 18

Trump fired FTC Commissioners Slaughter and Bedoya without cause, asserting Article II removal power the statute does not grant

On March 18, 2025, President Trump fired the two Democratic members of the Federal Trade Commission — Commissioners Rebecca Kelly Slaughter and Álvaro Bedoya — by email, citing no statutory cause. Trump's removal letters stated only that their continued service was "inconsistent with my Administration's policies," invoking Article II authority; the FTC Act permits removal only for inefficiency, neglect of duty, or malfeasance in office. Both commissioners publicly declared the firings illegal, and the terminations left the FTC as a 3-0 Republican commission for the first time in the agency's history.

Mar 17

ICE arrested Georgetown postdoctoral researcher Badar Khan Suri over pro-Palestinian speech and associations, without filing charges

On March 17, 2025, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents arrested Badar Khan Suri, an Indian national and postdoctoral research fellow at Georgetown University's Alwaleed Bin Talal Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding, as he walked toward his Virginia home. ICE moved Suri to a federal detention facility in Texas without filing any criminal charges; the Trump administration cited his pro-Palestinian social media posts and his wife's family connection to a former Hamas adviser as justification, without presenting evidence to the court. A federal judge found his release was in the public interest to prevent the chilling of constitutionally protected speech.

Mar 15

Trump invoked Alien Enemies Act for CECOT transfer bundled with secret Bukele prisoner exchange, defying court order

On March 15, 2025, President Trump invoked the 1798 Alien Enemies Act to fly more than 250 Venezuelan migrants to El Salvador's CECOT prison without individualized hearings, defying a federal judge's same-day order to turn the planes around. A diplomatic note later declassified shows the operation was bundled with a separate request: El Salvador President Nayib Bukele personally asked for the return of MS-13 leader César Antonio Lopez Larios, and El Salvador agreed to also hold up to 500 Tren de Aragua members for a year, in exchange for undisclosed U.S. financial and in-kind support.

Mar 15

Hegseth shared classified Yemen strike plans in a Signal chat that inadvertently included a journalist

On March 15, 2025, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth shared detailed Yemen strike operational details — aircraft types, weapons packages, and attack timing — in a Signal group chat roughly two hours before the strikes began. National Security Advisor Michael Waltz had created the chat on March 11 and inadvertently added Atlantic editor-in-chief Jeffrey Goldberg on March 13, who published his account on March 24-25 after the administration disputed his description of the content.

Mar 15

ICE agent fatally shot U.S. citizen Ruben Ray Martinez at a South Padre Island traffic stop; federal role concealed for nearly a year

On March 15, 2025, ICE agent Jack C. Stevens fatally shot Ruben Ray Martinez, a 23-year-old U.S. citizen, during a traffic stop near an accident scene on South Padre Island, Texas. Agents said Martinez accelerated his vehicle toward an officer, but the sole eyewitness said the car was stopping and Martinez "never hit the gas" when the shots were fired, and no agent present wore a body camera. Authorities described the killing only as an "officer-involved shooting" and concealed for nearly a year that a federal immigration officer fired the fatal shots, a fact that emerged in 2026 through a public-records lawsuit rather than government disclosure.

Mar 14

Rubio issued APA determination exempting all immigration and border regulations from notice-and-comment rulemaking

On March 14, 2025, Secretary of State Marco Rubio published a determination in the Federal Register declaring that all federal efforts to control the entry and exit of people and goods at U.S. borders constitute a "foreign affairs function" under the Administrative Procedure Act. The determination invoked a narrow APA exception — historically limited to diplomatic agreements — to categorically exempt all immigration and border-control rulemaking by any federal agency from notice-and-comment requirements. The action eliminated the public's statutory right to review and challenge a broad category of federal regulations before they took effect.

Mar 14

Trump signed EO 14238 directing elimination of USAGM, IMLS, and five other congressionally-created agencies

On March 14, 2025, President Trump signed Executive Order 14238, "Continuing the Reduction of the Federal Bureaucracy," directing seven congressionally-created federal agencies — including the United States Agency for Global Media (parent of Voice of America), the Institute of Museum and Library Services, and the CDFI Fund — to eliminate all non-statutory functions and reduce statutory functions to the legal minimum. Each agency head was required to submit a compliance report to the Office of Management and Budget within seven days, and OMB was directed to reject funding requests inconsistent with the elimination mandate. Courts subsequently ruled that several of the closures exceeded executive authority, as only Congress can abolish agencies established by statute.

Mar 14

Trump signed EO 14237 suspending security clearances and barring federal contracts for Paul Weiss law firm

On March 14, 2025, President Trump signed Executive Order 14237, "Addressing Risks From Paul Weiss," targeting the Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison law firm. The order suspended security clearances for Paul Weiss employees, directed agencies to terminate existing federal contracts with the firm, and barred its lawyers from accessing federal buildings. The administration cited the firm's past employment of lawyers who had participated in prosecutions of Trump's allies and its representation of clients in litigation adverse to Trump.

Mar 13

Homeland Security under Secretary Noem polygraphed employees and forcibly reassigned senior staff to identify leakers

Beginning in March 2025, the Department of Homeland Security under Secretary Kristi Noem subjected employees to polygraph examinations - some reported to last up to roughly six hours - to identify the sources of leaks, and forcibly reassigned senior career staff. Employees and journalists described the measures as a "campaign of fear" that deterred internal dissent and lawful disclosure.

Retaliation against whistleblowers

Mar 11

Trump administration halted CISA's election security support to states, ending the agency's congressionally mandated protection of voting systems

On March 11, 2025, a U.S. official confirmed to Votebeat that CISA had ceased all election security support to state and local officials, ending programs the agency had run since its creation following the 2016 Russian interference campaign. The halt followed the placement of CISA election security and disinformation staff on administrative leave in February 2025. State election officials said they were left without federal cybersecurity assistance to protect voting systems and infrastructure from foreign threats.

Dismantling agency capacity

Mar 11

Secretary McMahon eliminated nearly half the Department of Education workforce, cutting ~1,950 positions across all major divisions

On March 11, 2025, Secretary of Education Linda McMahon announced a reduction in force eliminating nearly half the Department of Education workforce, cutting from approximately 4,133 to about 2,183 employees. The cuts eliminated staff across all major divisions including the Office for Civil Rights, the Institute of Education Sciences, Federal Student Aid, and the Office of Special Education Programs. The Department of Education's Inspector General subsequently found that some reductions appeared to impair the department's ability to carry out its statutory responsibilities.

Dismantling agency capacity

Mar 11

EPA terminated $20B Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund green-bank grants after unexplained Citibank account freeze

On March 11, 2025, EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin terminated grant agreements for all eight recipients of the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund's green-bank programs, canceling roughly $20 billion in clean-energy financing, including $7 billion to Climate United Fund and $5 billion to the Coalition for Green Capital. The termination followed a February 18, 2025 freeze of the funds' Citibank accounts, directed by the EPA, its inspector general, the FBI, and the Treasury Department without prior notice to recipients. Zeldin cited "programmatic fraud, waste, and abuse" but did not publicly produce supporting evidence.

Ignoring statutory requirements

Mar 11

Trump bought and publicly endorsed a Tesla from the White House lawn amid Musk's DOGE-tied stock boycott

On March 11, 2025, President Trump held a White House South Lawn event where he inspected and announced the purchase of a red Tesla Model S alongside Tesla CEO and DOGE lead Elon Musk, amid a Tesla stock decline tied to consumer boycotts over Musk's government role. Former White House chief ethics lawyer Richard Painter said Trump's on-camera endorsement of a specific consumer product from federal grounds appeared to violate rules against using public office for private gain.

Self-dealing

Mar 10

United States and Honduras signed Asylum Cooperative Agreement capped at 240 transfers

The United States and Honduras signed an Asylum Cooperative Agreement at Washington on March 10, 2025, which entered into force June 25, 2025 and caps transfers at 10 people per month, 240 over its first two years. A Center for Gender and Refugee Studies fact-finding trip found Honduras meets neither of the legal standards — safety from persecution or access to full and fair asylum procedure — the agreement is supposed to guarantee, and documented a transferred Salvadoran man forced to flee the same gang he had escaped originally.

Denial of due process in immigration enforcement

Mar 10

Secretary Rubio cancelled 83% of USAID programs, eliminating 5,200 congressionally-appropriated contracts

On March 10, 2025, Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced that the Trump administration had completed a DOGE-led six-week review and was cancelling 83% of USAID's programs — 5,200 of approximately 6,200 contracts — that had been congressionally appropriated. The remaining roughly 1,000 programs were to be folded into the State Department. The affected programs included HIV/AIDS treatment, malaria prevention, TB care, humanitarian food aid, and democratic governance work across dozens of countries.

Mar 8

ICE detains Columbia University graduate Mahmoud Khalil over pro-Palestinian activism; no criminal charges filed

On March 8, 2025, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents detained Mahmoud Khalil — a lawful permanent resident and Columbia University graduate student who had been a prominent organizer of pro-Palestinian campus protests — with no criminal charges filed against him. Secretary of State Marco Rubio invoked 8 U.S.C. § 1227(a)(4)(C), a rarely-used statute permitting deportation on foreign-policy grounds, as the basis for removal. Khalil was transferred to an ICE detention facility in Jena, Louisiana, where he was held for approximately three months while his attorneys argued the government was retaliating against him for constitutionally protected political speech.

Mar 7

DOJ fired pardon attorney Liz Oyer after she refused to restore Mel Gibson's gun rights

On March 7, 2025, then-Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche's office fired Justice Department Pardon Attorney Liz Oyer via a three-sentence memo, hours after she declined to recommend restoring the firearm rights of actor Mel Gibson, a Trump ally with a 2011 domestic-violence conviction. Attorney General Pam Bondi's office restored Gibson's gun rights the following month. Oyer has since testified publicly, including before the Senate Judiciary Committee in July 2026, that she was fired for refusing to carry out the favor.

Mar 6

Trump signed EO 14230 suspending security clearances and barring federal contracts for Perkins Coie over its 2016 Clinton campaign work

On March 6, 2025, President Trump signed Executive Order 14230, "Addressing Risks from Perkins Coie LLP," suspending security clearances for all firm employees, directing agencies to bar its attorneys from federal buildings, and ordering termination of all federal contracts with the firm or entities doing business with it. The order explicitly cited Perkins Coie's 2016 representation of Hillary Clinton's campaign and its hiring of Fusion GPS as justification. On May 2, 2025, U.S. District Judge Beryl Howell permanently struck down the order, calling it an "unprecedented attack" on the legal system.

Mar 4

VA Chief of Staff Syrek issued internal memo ordering elimination of ~83,000 positions to return to pre-PACT Act staffing levels

On March 4, 2025, Department of Veterans Affairs Chief of Staff Christopher Syrek issued an internal memo directing the VA to return to 2019 staffing levels of approximately 399,957 employees — roughly 83,000 fewer than its current workforce. The memo, developed in coordination with DOGE, set a May 9 internal review deadline, a June reorganization plan, and layoffs beginning in August. The planned reduction would functionally reverse the VA's congressionally-directed hiring expansion undertaken to implement the PACT Act, the 2022 law expanding healthcare and benefits for veterans exposed to toxic substances.

Mar 1

Trump signed EO 14224 designating English as the official U.S. language, revoking the federal multilingual access requirement

On March 1, 2025, President Trump signed Executive Order 14224, designating English as the official language of the United States. The order rescinded Executive Order 13166, which since 2000 had required federal agencies to provide meaningful language access to individuals with limited English proficiency. The change eliminates a 25-year multilingual services framework affecting millions of non-English speakers who rely on federally funded programs, without any act of Congress.

Mar 1

ICE deported a cooperating federal witness before a cartel-linked trial, and his co-defendants were acquitted

ICE agents detained Javier Hernandez, a cooperating witness in a Los Angeles federal drug-trafficking prosecution, in Fontana, California in February 2025 and deported him to Tijuana, Mexico in March 2025, without consulting the U.S. Attorney's office prosecuting the case, according to a federal judge's on-the-record account and Los Angeles Times reporting. Deprived of Hernandez's testimony, his two co-defendants were acquitted of all charges; former ICE and Justice Department officials said prior administrations coordinated to keep cooperating witnesses and defendants in the country pending trial, while a DHS spokesperson defended the removal, calling Hernandez a "clear and present threat to public safety."

Obstruction of government investigations

Feb 28

GSA eliminated 18F, firing all ~90 employees of the federal technology unit, under DOGE direction

On February 28, 2025, the General Services Administration eliminated 18F, its internal technology consulting unit, firing all approximately 90 employees at the direction of DOGE. GSA Deputy Administrator Thomas Shedd announced the closure in an internal email; 18F's website was taken offline the same day. 18F was a congressionally-funded team of engineers and designers that helped federal agencies modernize digital services and largely paid for itself through interagency billing.

Dismantling agency capacity

Feb 26

AG Bondi directed DOJ Civil Rights Division to dismiss Title VII disparate-impact enforcement suits against police and fire departments

On February 26, 2025, Attorney General Pam Bondi directed the Department of Justice's Civil Rights Division to dismiss multiple Biden-era lawsuits against police and fire departments accused of discriminatory hiring. The dismissed cases alleged that written aptitude and physical fitness tests produced racially disparate outcomes in violation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act. Bondi framed the dismissals as ending "DEI quotas," although the underlying lawsuits involved standard disparate-impact enforcement that federal courts have upheld since 1971.

Feb 25

SSA Acting Commissioner Dudek dissolved the Office of Civil Rights and Equal Opportunity, placing 140 employees on administrative leave

On February 25, 2025, the Social Security Administration dissolved its Office of Civil Rights and Equal Opportunity and placed all 140 of its employees on administrative leave. Acting SSA Commissioner Leland Dudek announced the closure, saying it "advances the President's goal to make all of government more efficient," while claiming statutorily required EEO and reasonable-accommodation functions would be moved elsewhere within the agency. SSA also shuttered its Office of Transformation on the same day.

Feb 25

Trump directed suspension of Covington & Burling security clearances and contract terminations over Jack Smith representation

President Trump issued a presidential memorandum on February 25, 2025, directing the Attorney General and all agency heads to immediately suspend security clearances held by partners, members, and employees of Covington & Burling LLP who had assisted former Special Counsel Jack Smith, and to terminate all federal agency contracts with the firm. The memorandum cited the firm's representation of Smith as "involvement in government weaponization." It was the first in a sequence of retaliatory executive actions targeting major law firms whose attorneys had represented parties adverse to Trump or participated in investigations of him.

Feb 24

Rubio issued State Dept cable directing consulates to deny visas and impose permanent fraud bar on transgender applicants

On February 24, 2025, Secretary of State Marco Rubio issued a cable titled "Guidance for Visa Adjudicators on Executive Order 14201: Keeping Men Out of Women's Sports" directing all U.S. consulates worldwide to require visa applications to reflect applicants' sex at birth. The cable authorized consular officers to deny visas based on "reasonable suspicion" of transgender identity and to apply a permanent lifetime fraud bar under INA § 212(a)(6)(C)(i) to applicants found to have "misrepresented" their sex. While framed around athletes, the cable's Section 6 mandate applied to all visa categories.

Feb 22

OPM demanded weekly work reports from 2 million federal employees under DOGE direction; Musk threatened mass resignation for non-response

On February 22, 2025, the Office of Personnel Management sent a government-wide email to approximately 2 million federal employees directing them to submit five bullets summarizing their weekly work accomplishments and copy their managers, with a deadline of the following Monday at 11:59 PM ET. The email was sent at the direction of Elon Musk, a White House special government employee leading DOGE, who simultaneously posted on X that failure to respond would be taken as a resignation. OPM's own February 5 privacy impact assessment, published in response to ongoing litigation, had explicitly stated seven times that responses to government-wide emails are voluntary.

Feb 21

Federal Bureau of Prisons issued a memo directing transfer of transgender inmates to facilities matching birth sex and cutting affirming care

On February 21, 2025, the Federal Bureau of Prisons issued a memo implementing President Trump's Executive Order 14168, directing staff to refer to transgender inmates by the legal name and pronouns matching their sex assigned at birth, barring the use of funds for gender-affirming items and care, and suspending clothing and pat-search accommodations and support programs previously offered to transgender inmates. The memo laid the groundwork to transfer transgender women out of women's facilities into men's facilities based on sex assigned at birth. Affected women were moved into segregated housing pending transfer, and those slated for men's prisons faced the cutoff of their hormone treatments.

Feb 21

ICE officers beat disabled Sunnyvale man Ulises Peña López unconscious during 2025 arrest, lawsuit alleges

On February 21, 2025, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers arrested Ulises Peña López, a disabled carpenter, outside his home in Sunnyvale, California, and, according to a federal lawsuit filed in July 2026, beat him in front of his wife and young daughter before taking him to a nearby alley and continuing until he lost consciousness and had to be hospitalized. The suit says GEO Group and CoreCivic, the private contractors that ran the detention facilities where he was held for more than six months, failed to accommodate his disability, and that he suffered a stroke and a heart attack in custody that left him partially paralyzed. He was deported to Mexico in October 2025.

Feb 20

United States deported 200 third-country migrants to Costa Rica without written agreement

The United States deported roughly 200 people, including 80 children, to Costa Rica on two flights in February 2025, before any written agreement existed governing the transfers. Deportees from Afghanistan, China, Iran, Russia, Uzbekistan, and other countries were held for months at a border migration facility with their passports confiscated, until Costa Rica's Constitutional Court ordered their release that June for violating their rights to legal counsel and information.

Denial of due process in immigration enforcement

Feb 19

Trump signed EO 14217, directing elimination of Inter-American Foundation, USADF, USIP, and Presidio Trust

On February 19, 2025, President Trump signed Executive Order 14217, "Commencing the Reduction of the Federal Bureaucracy," directing four congressionally-created entities — the Inter-American Foundation, U.S. African Development Foundation, U.S. Institute of Peace, and Presidio Trust — to eliminate all non-statutory functions and reduce staff to the legal minimum. The EO also abolished the Presidential Management Fellows Program and terminated six federal advisory committees.

Feb 18

Trump signed EO 14215, asserting presidential control over independent regulatory agencies and requiring OMB approval of their regulations

On February 18, 2025, President Trump signed Executive Order 14215, "Ensuring Accountability for All Agencies," asserting presidential authority over independent regulatory agencies including the FEC, FTC, FCC, SEC, CFPB, and NLRB. The order required these agencies to submit significant rules to OMB's Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs for review before publication, and declared that the President's and Attorney General's legal interpretations are binding on all executive branch employees. Congress deliberately shielded these agencies from direct presidential control when it established them.

Feb 17

DOJ official Ed Martin threatened to reject Georgetown Law hires over DEI programs

On February 17, 2025, Ed Martin, then interim U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia, sent a letter to Georgetown University Law Center dean William Treanor demanding to know whether Georgetown had eliminated DEI from its curriculum and warning that his office would reject any fellowship, internship, or attorney applicant affiliated with a law school that continued to teach DEI. Treanor responded on March 6, 2025, invoking First Amendment protections for university curriculum autonomy and calling the demand a constitutional violation. The D.C. Bar's Office of Disciplinary Counsel later filed ethics charges against Martin over the letter.

Blacklisting

Feb 17

DOGE fired 89 FDA Human Foods Program staff overseeing food and chemical safety; deputy commissioner resigned in protest

On February 17, 2025, the Department of Government Efficiency fired 89 staff within FDA's Human Foods Program, eliminating specialists in nutrition, infant-formula safety, food-safety response, and chemical-safety review. FDA Deputy Commissioner for Human Foods Jim Jones resigned the same day, calling the cuts "indiscriminate" and warning they would undermine the administration's own stated food-safety and nutrition goals.

Dismantling agency capacity

Feb 14

OPM directed agencies to fire 25,000+ probationary federal employees, bypassing statutory RIF procedures

On February 14, 2025, Acting OPM Director Charles Ezell sent a memorandum to the Chief Human Capital Officers Council directing all federal agencies to separate probationary employees not identified as mission-critical by end of day February 17. Agencies across government fired more than 25,000 employees using template termination letters citing employee "performance" — a rationale contradicted by the absence of any individualized performance review. Federal courts ruled the directive unlawful, finding OPM lacked statutory authority to direct other agencies to fire employees and that the mass separations required 60-day advance notice and formal RIF procedures that were never followed.

Feb 13

DHS awarded $220M in no-bid advertising contracts under Noem, funneling work to firms tied to her inner circle

On February 13, 2025, DHS awarded a $143 million no-bid contract to Safe America Media LLC — a Delaware shell company incorporated just seven days earlier — as part of a $220 million advertising campaign to promote the agency's immigration enforcement mission and featuring Secretary Kristi Noem prominently. DHS bypassed competitive bidding by invoking a border "national emergency." A second $77 million no-bid contract went to People Who Think LLC. Work under the Safe America Media contract was secretly subcontracted to the Strategy Group, an Ohio Republican consulting firm run by the husband of Noem's DHS chief spokesperson. Noem separately implemented a policy requiring her personal sign-off on all DHS grants and contracts exceeding $100,000, causing agency-wide funding bottlenecks.

Feb 11

DHS fired FEMA CFO Mary Comans and three other officials without a hearing after Musk criticized migrant-hotel payments

On February 11, 2025, the Department of Homeland Security announced it had fired FEMA Chief Financial Officer Mary Comans, two program analysts, and a grant specialist, saying they had "circumvented leadership" to approve $59 million in Shelter and Services Program payments to New York City for migrant-hotel costs. The firings followed public criticism of the payments by then-DOGE head Elon Musk, and Comans was terminated without a hearing or the chance to respond to the allegations against her.

Feb 11

Trump signed EO 14210 ordering mass federal workforce reductions and granting DOGE political veto over career hiring

On February 11, 2025, President Trump signed Executive Order 14210, directing all federal agencies to begin large-scale reductions in force and imposing a 1:4 hiring cap allowing no more than one new hire per four departures. The order required DOGE-designated team leads to approve all new career civil service appointments, inserting a political veto into the merit-based hiring system the Civil Service Reform Act of 1978 was designed to protect from partisan control. Agency DEI offices and units performing non-statutory functions were identified as priority targets for elimination.

Feb 10

Trump fired Office of Government Ethics Director David Huitema without explanation; OGE reverted to acting director

On February 10, 2025, President Trump fired David Huitema as director of the Office of Government Ethics via a brief email from the White House Presidential Personnel Office, with no explanation given. Huitema had been Senate-confirmed in November 2024 to a five-year term, having served 19 years in federal ethics roles including at the State Department. The OGE, established by Congress as the executive branch's principal ethics watchdog, reverted to an acting director upon Huitema's removal.

Feb 7

Trump fired Office of Special Counsel Director Hampton Dellinger without statutory cause, disabling federal whistleblower protection agency

On February 7, 2025, President Trump fired Hampton Dellinger, director of the Office of Special Counsel (OSC), via a one-sentence email from a White House personnel aide citing no cause. Federal statute limits OSC director removal to cases of inefficiency, neglect of duty, or malfeasance — grounds the termination notice did not invoke. The OSC is the primary federal agency responsible for investigating whistleblower retaliation, enforcing the Hatch Act, and protecting the employment rights of military veterans.

Feb 6

Trump signed Executive Order 14203 imposing sanctions on International Criminal Court officials and their U.S. supporters

On February 6, 2025, President Trump signed Executive Order 14203, imposing asset freezes and U.S. entry bans on International Criminal Court officials and anyone providing them material support, in response to the ICC's arrest warrants for Israeli leaders. A week later, the Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control designated ICC Prosecutor Karim Khan under the order. The sanctions extended to U.S. lawyers and human-rights advocates who assist the court, triggering First Amendment litigation.

Extrajudicial actions

Feb 2

Panama accepted 299 third-country deportees under expanded, unwritten MOU

The United States and Panama expanded an existing Memorandum of Understanding on February 2, 2025, under which roughly 299 migrants and asylum seekers from Asian and other countries were forcibly transferred to Panama that same month, many expelled without any protection screening under a Trump proclamation suspending asylum access. Dozens remained stranded in Panama for months, held at a jungle-camp facility and a Panama City hotel, before human rights groups intervened.

Denial of due process in immigration enforcement

Jan 31

Trump removed FEC Chair Weintraub without cause, asserting presidential removal power the agency's statute does not grant

On January 31, 2025, President Trump sent a letter to Federal Election Commission Chair Ellen Weintraub declaring she was "hereby removed," effective immediately. Trump cited no cause and offered no statutory basis; the letter was transmitted via email on February 6, 2025, and Weintraub's FEC system access was revoked on February 7. No president had previously attempted to remove a sitting FEC commissioner without cause or a Senate-confirmed replacement in place.

Jan 31

Acting DAG Bove ordered firing of Jan. 6 prosecutors and review of thousands of FBI agents who worked Capitol riot cases

On January 31, 2025, Acting Deputy Attorney General Emil Bove issued a memo directing Acting U.S. Attorney for D.C. Edward Martin to immediately terminate 20–40 line prosecutors who had worked January 6 Capitol riot cases and been converted from temporary to permanent status. Bove separately ordered FBI Acting Director Brian Driscoll to compile a list of all current and former FBI employees who had worked the January 6 investigation "at any time" — a directive Driscoll acknowledged could encompass thousands — and ordered eight senior FBI executive assistant directors terminated by February 3. Acting Attorney General James McHenry issued a parallel memo stating the prosecutors had "hindered" DOJ's ability to implement Trump's agenda.

Jan 29

Trump signed memo directing Pentagon and DHS to expand Guantánamo Bay to house up to 30,000 migrant detainees

On January 29, 2025, President Trump signed a presidential memorandum directing the Secretary of Defense and the Secretary of Homeland Security to expand the Migrant Operations Center at Naval Station Guantánamo Bay to full capacity, stating the facility would hold up to 30,000 detained immigrants. The site in Cuba falls outside ordinary U.S. federal court jurisdiction, raising legal uncertainty about detainees' access to habeas corpus review. Administration officials described intended detainees as "high-priority criminal aliens," though subsequent transfers included low-risk detainees with no serious criminal records.

Jan 29

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. told Senate his 2019 Samoa trip was unrelated to vaccines; colleague emails described it as a vaccine mission

During his January 29, 2025 Senate confirmation hearings for HHS Secretary, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. testified that his 2019 trip to Samoa "had nothing to do with vaccines." FOIA-released State Department emails, reported in June 2026, show that his then-colleague Dr. Michael Graven—chief information officer of Kennedy's anti-vaccine nonprofit Children's Health Defense—explicitly described the trip as a "mission" to study vaccine discontinuance outcomes and stated that Kennedy personally asked him to join. Two Democratic senators and a House member had previously stated that earlier documentary evidence showed Kennedy lied to the Senate.

Lying to Congress

Jan 28

Trump signed EO 14187, directing federal defunding of institutions providing gender-affirming care to minors

On January 28, 2025, President Trump signed Executive Order 14187, "Protecting Children from Chemical and Surgical Mutilation," directing all executive agencies to end federal funding to medical institutions providing gender-affirming care—including hormone therapy, puberty blockers, and surgery—to individuals under 19. The order instructed HHS to revise Medicaid and Medicare conditions of participation to exclude coverage, directed TRICARE and the Federal Employee Health Benefit Program to exclude such treatments, and required federal research and education grant recipients to certify they did not provide such care. The order also directed HHS to rescind reliance on World Professional Association for Transgender Health guidelines from all federal policy.

Jan 27

Trump signed EO 14183, reinstating a ban on transgender military service

On January 27, 2025, President Trump signed Executive Order 14183, "Prioritizing Military Excellence and Readiness," reinstating a ban on transgender individuals serving openly in the U.S. military and rescinding a Biden-era policy that had permitted transgender enlistment and coverage of transition-related medical care. The order directed the Department of Defense to update medical enlistment and retention standards within 60 days, end pronoun accommodation based on self-identification, and require service members to use sleeping, changing, and bathing facilities corresponding to their sex assigned at birth.

Discriminatory policy

Jan 27

Acting OMB Director Vaeth issued Memo M-25-13, ordering immediate freeze of all federal grants and loans pending executive-order compliance review

On January 27, 2025, acting OMB Director Matthew Vaeth issued Memorandum M-25-13, directing all federal executive branch agencies to immediately pause all activities related to obligation or disbursement of federal financial assistance, effective 5:00 p.m. EST the following day. The directive nominally covered an estimated $3 trillion in annually appropriated federal funds, including grants, loans, foreign aid, DEI programs, and climate initiatives. A district court issued an administrative stay on January 28; OMB rescinded the memo on January 29, though the White House declared the underlying freeze authority remained in force.

Jan 27

DEA agent used Illinois detective's Flock login for 24 unauthorized immigration searches

On January 27-28, 2025, a Drug Enforcement Administration Group 22 task force agent identified only by the initials "B.K." used Palos Heights, Illinois police detective Todd Hutchinson's Flock automated license-plate- reader login to run 24 searches logged as "immigration violation" investigations. Illinois law bars using the state's license-plate-reader network for immigration enforcement.

Jan 27

Web3Port announced a $10 million World Liberty Financial purchase days after Trump's inauguration; blockchain analysis later found $20 million

Web3Port Foundation announced on January 27, 2025 that it had invested $10 million in World Liberty Financial (WLFI), the Trump family's crypto venture, days after Trump's inauguration. The New York Times reported in August 2026, based on blockchain analysis by Arkham Intelligence, that a Web3Port-controlled wallet had actually purchased $20 million in WLFI tokens that January. Web3Port is controlled by businessman Guren "Bobby" Zhou, who has been under an active United Kingdom money-laundering investigation since a March 2021 arrest, disclosed in UK court records made public in February 2024.

Self-dealing

Jan 24

Trump fired 17 Senate-confirmed inspectors general without the 30-day congressional notice required by law

On the evening of January 24, 2025, the White House Presidential Personnel Office sent two-sentence termination emails to at least 17 Senate-confirmed inspectors general across federal departments including Agriculture, Defense, Education, HHS, and State, informing them they were fired effective immediately. The firings provided no 30-day advance notice to Congress and no substantive rationale, violating the Inspector General Reform Act of 2008 as amended in 2022. In September 2025, U.S. District Judge Ana C. Reyes ruled the firings unlawful but declined to reinstate the IGs, finding that Trump could simply re-fire them after providing the required notice.

Jan 24

CBP agents denied Samuel Tunick a lawyer during a warrantless, pretextual border search targeting his Stop Cop City activism

On January 24, 2025, U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents pulled Atlanta activist Samuel Tunick into secondary inspection at Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport, denied him access to a lawyer despite his requests, and told him no warrant was required because he had not yet formally entered the country. When Tunick entered his phone's passcode, a GrapheneOS duress feature wiped the device; agents seized it regardless. Tunick's attorneys allege the stated child-exploitation-imagery pretext for the stop was fabricated and that CBP was actually investigating his ties to the Defend the Atlanta Forest movement. Federal prosecutors later indicted Tunick under a statute against destroying property to prevent government seizure — the first known federal case charging use of a duress password — and he pleaded not guilty and moved to suppress the evidence, arguing the underlying search was unlawful.

Jan 23

Acting DHS Secretary Huffman invoked first-ever mass influx finding, deputizing law enforcement in all 50 states for immigration enforcement

On January 23, 2025, Acting DHS Secretary Benjamine C. Huffman signed a formal "Finding of Mass Influx of Aliens" — the first invocation of the 1996 statutory authority in its 29-year history — declaring an imminent emergency at the southern border affecting all 50 states. The finding authorized DHS to request immigration enforcement assistance from state and local law enforcement nationwide under 8 U.S.C. § 1103(a)(10), bypassing the training and agreement requirements of the standard 287(g) program. A companion directive simultaneously expanded enforcement authority to DOJ components — the U.S. Marshals Service, DEA, ATF, and Bureau of Prisons — that have no statutory immigration function.

Jan 22

Trump pardoned two DC police officers convicted of murder and cover-up in Karon Hylton-Brown's death, before either served time

On January 22, 2025, President Trump granted full pardons to Washington, D.C. police officers Terence Sutton and Andrew Zabavsky before either served a day of their sentences for the 2020 death of Karon Hylton-Brown. A federal jury had convicted Sutton of second-degree murder and both officers of obstruction of justice for covering up the fatal chase; a judge had sentenced Sutton to five years and Zabavsky to four. Neither officer met Justice Department clemency guidelines, which require having served most of a sentence and expressed remorse.

Jan 21

Trump signed EO 14173 revoking 60-year affirmative action requirement for federal contractors, directing AG to investigate private-sector DEI

On January 21, 2025, President Trump signed Executive Order 14173, "Ending Illegal Discrimination and Restoring Merit-Based Opportunity," revoking Executive Order 11246 — the 60-year-old Johnson-era requirement mandating affirmative action and equal employment opportunity for federal contractors. The order directed the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs to cease all affirmative action and diversity workforce enforcement, and required all future federal contracts to include a certification that the contractor operates no DEI programs, exposing contractors to False Claims Act liability. The order also directed the Attorney General to compile enforcement recommendations against private-sector DEI programs within 120 days.

Jan 20

United States began mass unwritten third-country deportations to Mexico under Trump

Beginning January 20, 2025, the second Trump administration dramatically expanded a decades-old, never-written practice of deporting third-country nationals to Mexico, sending almost 13,000 people there by March 2026 — by far the largest volume under the program. A March 2026 Justice Department court filing referred to a "standing (unwritten) agreement" with Mexico; neither government has ever published its terms.

Denial of due process in immigration enforcement

Jan 20

Trump signed EO 14159 expanding expedited removal to US interior, eliminating immigration court hearings for non-citizens

On January 20, 2025, President Trump signed Executive Order 14159, directing DHS to expand expedited removal to the fullest extent authorized by statute. DHS implemented the order via a Federal Register designation effective January 21, 2025, extending expedited removal authority to any non-citizen anywhere in the United States who could not prove at least two years of continuous presence. Previously, the procedure had applied only to migrants apprehended at or near the border; the expansion allowed interior deportations without any hearing before an immigration judge.

Jan 20

Trump ordered Bureau of Prisons to transfer 37 Biden-commuted death-row inmates to Supermax as punishment for their clemency

On January 20, 2025, President Trump issued an executive order directing Attorney General Pam Bondi to house 37 federal inmates whose death sentences Biden had commuted in conditions matching "the monstrosity of their crimes," and the Bureau of Prisons moved to redesignate them to the ADX Florence Supermax facility. A federal judge found in February 2026 that the redesignation process had been predetermined and blocked further transfers as a due-process "sham."

Denial of hearing

Jan 20

Trump signed EO 14168 eliminating federal recognition of transgender identity, revoking X passport marker and barring affirming facilities

On January 20, 2025, his first day in office, President Trump signed Executive Order 14168, "Defending Women from Gender Ideology Extremism and Restoring Biological Truth to the Federal Government," establishing a federal policy that sex is a binary, immutable biological characteristic and directing all federal agencies to eliminate recognition of gender identity across communications, forms, data systems, and policies. The order directed the Secretaries of State and Homeland Security to eliminate the "X" gender marker from all federal identity documents and barred transgender people from using sex-segregated federal facilities consistent with their gender identity. It also directed agencies to end all funding, training, and programs acknowledging gender identity.

Jan 20

Trump signed EO 14171 reinstating Schedule F, stripping civil service protections from policy-influencing federal employees

On January 20, 2025, President Trump signed Executive Order 14171, "Restoring Accountability to Policy-Influencing Positions Within the Federal Workforce," immediately reinstating his first-term Schedule F executive order — renamed "Schedule Policy/Career" — which reclassifies career federal employees in policy-adjacent roles into an excepted-service category without civil service protections. The order directed OPM to rescind Biden-era rules that had restored affected employees' appeal rights, and required agencies to recommend positions for reclassification; employees in the new schedule could be removed for "subversion of Presidential directives," making political alignment effectively a condition of employment.

Jan 20

Trump signed EO 14160 directing agencies to deny birthright citizenship to children of undocumented immigrants and visa holders

On January 20, 2025, President Trump signed Executive Order 14160, "Protecting the Meaning and Value of American Citizenship," directing the State Department, Social Security Administration, and Department of Homeland Security to refuse recognition of birthright citizenship for children born in the United States if neither parent was a U.S. citizen or lawful permanent resident. The order purported to reinterpret the 14th Amendment's Citizenship Clause, which the Supreme Court has held since 1898 grants citizenship to virtually all persons born on U.S. soil regardless of parental immigration status. Multiple federal courts issued injunctions blocking the order within days of its signing.

Jan 20

Trump signed EO 14166, first order directing DOJ not to enforce TikTok divestment law

President Trump signed Executive Order 14166, "Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act," on January 20, 2025 — the same day he was inaugurated and the statutory deadline for ByteDance to divest TikTok under PAFACA (P.L. 118-50). The order directed the Department of Justice not to enforce the statute and established a non-enforcement period retroactive to January 19, 2025. It was the first of at least four consecutive executive orders suspending enforcement of PAFACA, followed by EO 14258 (April 4, 2025), EO 14310 (June 19, 2025), and a fourth order (September 16, 2025).

Jan 20

Acting DHS Secretary Huffman rescinded 'sensitive locations' policy shielding churches, schools, hospitals from ICE enforcement

On January 20, 2025, Acting DHS Secretary Benjamine C. Huffman signed a memo rescinding DHS's October 2021 "Guidelines for Enforcement Actions in or Near Protected Areas," eliminating the requirement that ICE and CBP officers obtain headquarters pre-approval before conducting immigration enforcement at schools, hospitals, and churches. The memo, issued from DHS headquarters in Washington, D.C., replaced that requirement with unstructured officer discretion, stating it was "not necessary...to create bright line rules" on where enforcement could occur. ICE issued follow-up implementation guidance on January 31, 2025.

Narrowing civil-rights protections

Jan 20

Trump signed EO 14151 eliminating all DEI offices, programs, and equity-related grants across the executive branch

On January 20, 2025, President Trump signed Executive Order 14151, "Ending Radical and Wasteful Government DEI Programs and Preferencing," directing all executive agencies to terminate their diversity, equity, and inclusion offices, positions, equity action plans, and related grants and contracts within 60 days. The order required agencies to place DEI staff on administrative leave pending termination, to report programs "misleadingly relabeled" to evade compliance, and designated OMB, OPM, and the Attorney General to coordinate agency-wide enforcement. A Maryland federal court issued a preliminary injunction against key provisions on February 21, 2025, which the Fourth Circuit vacated on February 6, 2026.

Jan 20

Trump pardons roughly 1,500 January 6 Capitol attack defendants and commutes 14 sentences

On January 20, 2025, his first day back in office, President Donald Trump signed a proclamation granting a "full, complete and unconditional" pardon to roughly 1,500 people convicted of or charged with offenses related to the January 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol, and commuted the sentences of 14 others to time served. The clemency reached leaders of the Proud Boys and the Oath Keepers — including Enrique Tarrio and Stewart Rhodes, both convicted of seditious conspiracy — and defendants convicted of assaulting police. Trump also directed the Justice Department to dismiss the remaining pending Capitol-riot prosecutions.

Abuse of pardon power

Jan 20

Trump signed EO 14147 directing AG and DNI to review prior-administration enforcement as 'weaponization' and prepare remedial actions

On January 20, 2025, President Trump signed Executive Order 14147, "Ending the Weaponization of the Federal Government," directing the Attorney General to review all DOJ and civil and criminal enforcement activities of the prior four years, identify purported instances of politically-motivated enforcement, and submit a report recommending remedial actions. The order also directed the Director of National Intelligence to conduct a parallel review of all Intelligence Community activities over the same period. The EO served as the originating legal authority cited in subsequent retaliatory actions against law firms, prosecutors, and former officials throughout 2025 and 2026.

Jan 20

Trump signed EO 14152 revoking security clearances of 50 former intelligence officials who signed Hunter Biden laptop letter

On January 20, 2025, President Trump signed Executive Order 14152, "Holding Former Government Officials Accountable for Election Interference and Improper Disclosure of Sensitive Governmental Information," immediately revoking the security clearances of approximately 50 former intelligence officials who in October 2020 signed a public letter asserting that the Hunter Biden laptop story bore hallmarks of a Russian information operation. The order also revoked the clearance of former National Security Advisor John Bolton, citing his 2020 memoir's treatment of sensitive national security information. The Director of National Intelligence was directed to submit a 90-day report recommending further disciplinary actions against the signatories.

Jan 16

Eric Trump signed $500 million deal giving UAE-linked investors a 49% stake in Trump family crypto venture World Liberty Financial

Eric Trump signed a $500 million deal on January 16, 2025 -- four days before his father's second inauguration -- giving an investment firm linked to Sheikh Tahnoon bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the UAE's national security adviser and manager of its largest sovereign wealth fund, a 49% stake in World Liberty Financial, the Trump family's cryptocurrency venture. The Wall Street Journal first reported the previously undisclosed deal on February 1, 2026; of the payment, $187 million went to Trump family entities and at least $31 million to entities tied to Steve Witkoff, Trump's Middle East envoy and a WLFI co-founder. Two senior officers at Tahnoon-backed companies joined WLFI's board as part of the agreement.

Dec 23

Congress enacted FY2025 NDAA provision barring TRICARE coverage of gender-affirming care for military dependents under 18

President Joe Biden signed H.R. 5009, the FY2025 National Defense Authorization Act, into law as Public Law 118-159 on December 23, 2024. Section 708, added by House Republican conferees, amends 10 U.S.C. 1079(a) to bar TRICARE from covering "medical interventions for the treatment of gender dysphoria that could result in sterilization" — including hormone therapy and puberty blockers — for TRICARE beneficiaries under 18.

Discriminatory policy

Dec 16

Trump sued The Des Moines Register and pollster Ann Selzer under Iowa consumer-fraud law over an unfavorable pre-election poll

On December 16, 2024, President-elect Donald Trump sued The Des Moines Register, its parent company Gannett, and pollster J. Ann Selzer under the Iowa Consumer Fraud Act, alleging "brazen election interference" over a Selzer poll published days before the November 2024 election that showed Trump trailing Kamala Harris in Iowa; Trump ultimately carried the state by more than 13 points. Press-freedom advocates characterized the suit as a retaliatory action meant to punish and chill unfavorable political polling and news coverage. The case was subsequently litigated across federal and Iowa state court.

Legal threats against publishers

Jul 1

Biden administration began funding Panama's deportation of US-bound migrants

The Biden administration signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Panama on July 1, 2024, under which the U.S. State Department and DHS fund and help run Panama's own deportation flights for migrants transiting toward the United States through the Darién Gap. The Congressional Hispanic and Black Caucuses had urged the administration to halt the funding before it was finalized, warning Panama's asylum system lacked the capacity to screen people — particularly Venezuelans and Haitians fleeing persecution — before returning them to danger.

Denial of due process in immigration enforcement

May 24

EEOC opened a pattern-or-practice discrimination investigation into Nike over its diversity programs

On May 24, 2024, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission issued a charge alleging Nike engaged in a pattern or practice of disparate treatment against white employees, applicants, and training-program participants, opening an investigation into the company's diversity programs. After Nike resisted the agency's document demands through 2025, the EEOC filed a subpoena-enforcement action in federal court in February 2026, which a judge followed with an order for Nike to show cause why the subpoena should not be enforced.

Politicized investigations

Feb 29

Federal judge held journalist Catherine Herridge in civil contempt and imposed an $800-a-day fine for refusing to reveal a confidential source

On February 29, 2024, U.S. District Judge Christopher Cooper held former Fox News reporter Catherine Herridge in civil contempt and ordered an $800-a-day fine, escalating over time, for her refusal to identify the confidential source behind her 2017 reporting on an FBI investigation of scientist Yanping Chen. Cooper ruled that Chen's need for the information in her Privacy Act lawsuit against the federal government overcame Herridge's asserted First Amendment reporter's privilege. The fine was stayed pending appeal.

Narrowing civil-rights protections

Dec 22

President Biden signed the FY2024 NDAA, codifying DoD's facially neutral 'approved flags' policy that excludes the Pride flag

On December 22, 2023, President Biden signed H.R. 2670, the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2024, into law as Public Law 118-31. Section 1052 of the law prohibits display of any flag other than an enumerated "approved flag" list in Department of Defense workplaces and public areas; the Pride flag is not among the categories on that list, codifying the exclusionary policy the Pentagon adopted under a 2020 Esper memo. An explicit provision banning Pride flag displays, passed by the House, was removed during conference negotiations, leaving only the facially neutral approved-flags list in the enacted law.

Jul 11

Border Patrol agent shot unarmed teen in Calexico eight times after two prior disciplined civilian shootings

On July 11, 2022, U.S. Border Patrol Agent Marcos Javier Andrade fired eight shots at 19-year-old Anthony Flores during an attempted traffic stop in Calexico, California, striking the unarmed driver in the neck, hip, shoulder, and hand. Flores, who was not engaged in any smuggling activity, survived with permanent disabilities and lasting psychological trauma. Federal prosecutors later revealed Andrade had previously been disciplined twice — in 2012 and 2017 — for firing his weapon at civilians, yet remained on active duty through the date of the 2022 shooting and for nearly four years after it.

Mar 2

Peter Navarro defied House Jan. 6th committee subpoena, refused to testify or produce documents

On March 2, 2022, then-White House senior trade adviser Peter Navarro failed to appear for his subpoenaed deposition before the House Select Committee investigating the January 6th attack, having already missed the committee's February 23 deadline to produce documents and asserting executive privilege on his own authority rather than the president's. The House voted to hold him in criminal contempt in April 2022, the Justice Department indicted him in June 2022, and a jury convicted him in September 2023 on two counts of contempt of Congress, resulting in a four-month prison sentence in January 2024. The D.C. Circuit unanimously affirmed both convictions on July 21, 2026, rejecting Navarro's argument that a mistaken belief in executive privilege excused his noncompliance.

Defying subpoenas

Institutions seated here (50)

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2026 Events (973)