2,119 events on record Subscribe September 16, 2026
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Timeline

Every entry in the archive, ordered by event date. Page 15 of 43, showing May 19, 2026 to May 29, 2026. Pages contain 50 entries each; entries for a given date may continue on the next or previous page.

2026 Events (1,295)

May(154)

NJ State Police take over Delaney Hall protests, deploy tear gas and pepper spray; six arrested

On May 29, 2026, the New Jersey State Police — deployed by Gov. Mikie Sherrill — took over the security perimeter outside Delaney Hall, the GEO Group-run ICE detention center in Newark where roughly 300 detainees had been on a hunger and labor strike since May 22 over conditions they called inhumane. Sherrill framed the takeover as a de-escalating move to establish "protected protest zones" and remove ICE from nightly clashes, but over the following weekend state troopers deployed tear gas, pepper spray, flashbangs and mounted units, arrested demonstrators, and enforced a half-mile nightly curfew around the facility. Immigrant-rights advocates said the troopers used excessive force against peaceful protesters and were "no different than ICE," a characterization the state disputed as lawful crowd control.

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.

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.

Avenal, California Mayor Alvaro Preciado and recalled council members continued governing after certified recall vacated their seats

On May 28, 2026, Avenal, California Mayor Alvaro Preciado and council members Leticia Gamez and Pablo Hernandez continued exercising the powers of their offices at a city council meeting held the same day Kings County certified an April recall election that, under California Elections Code section 11382, had already made their seats vacant. A fourth recalled member, David Reynosa, was absent. Preciado, Gamez and Hernandez, each recalled by wide margins, went on to formally vote to reject the certified results on June 11, 2026 and remained in office through the summer.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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."

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.

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.

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.

North Carolina auditor's elections liaison pressured Columbus County's board to cut early-voting sites

On May 27, 2026, Dallas Woodhouse -- the elections liaison in North Carolina State Auditor Dave Boliek's office -- texted Columbus County Board of Elections Chair Jillian McPherson-Edge that five early-voting sites was "overkill" and named three sites (Whiteville, Chadbourn, and Tabor City) to keep instead. On June 8, McPherson-Edge revised her own proposal from one site to three, matching Woodhouse's suggested list almost exactly. The county board later split along party lines and failed to reach the unanimous vote North Carolina law requires, sending the final site count to the State Board of Elections to decide.

Federal panel blocks Alabama's GOP congressional map as intentional racial discrimination

On May 26, 2026, a three-judge federal panel issued a preliminary injunction blocking Alabama from using its new Republican-drawn congressional map in the November 2026 midterms, finding the lines "intentionally discriminated based on race in violation of the Constitution." The map, enacted after the U.S. Supreme Court's Louisiana v. Callais decision that the state read as loosening race-conscious districting requirements, would have eliminated one of Alabama's two majority-Black districts and positioned the GOP to gain a U.S. House seat. The same panel previously found in 2023 that Alabama's map was intentionally discriminatory against Black voters; Attorney General Steve Marshall said the state would immediately appeal to the Supreme Court.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Florida judge lets DeSantis-drawn mid-decade congressional map stand for 2026 elections

On May 26, 2026, Leon County Circuit Judge Joshua Hawkes -- a DeSantis appointee -- denied a preliminary injunction sought by Equal Ground, Common Cause Florida, the League of Women Voters of Florida, LULAC and other plaintiffs challenging Florida's new mid-decade congressional map, leaving the Republican-friendly map drawn by Gov. Ron DeSantis's office in place for the 2026 elections. The map redraws the state's 28 U.S. House districts to produce roughly 24 Republican-leaning seats, flipping about four seats from Democratic to Republican-leaning and helping the GOP defend its national majority. Plaintiffs argued the map violates Florida's 2010 voter-approved Fair Districts Amendment banning partisan gerrymandering; they filed notices of appeal and have signaled the case will likely reach the Florida Supreme Court, where DeSantis appointed six of the seven justices.

South Carolina Senate blocks Trump-pressured mid-decade gerrymander of Clyburn's district

On May 26, 2026, the South Carolina state Senate blocked a Trump-pressured mid-decade redistricting bill that would have redrawn the state's seven congressional districts to dismantle its only majority-Black and only Democratic-held seat, long represented by Rep. James "Jim" Clyburn, and position Republicans to win all seven seats. Twelve Republicans joined twelve Democrats on a procedural vote to deny the 26 votes needed to end debate, killing the map for the cycle. It is the first state in President Trump's national mid-decade redistricting drive where the legislative push has collapsed.

Texas AG Ken Paxton voted in six elections, including 2026 Senate runoff, from address he no longer occupied

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, the Republican U.S. Senate nominee, voted in six elections over the past two years — including the March 2026 primary and the May 26, 2026 runoff that secured his nomination — from a Collin County home records indicate he had vacated more than a year earlier. A trust bought Paxton a $2.4 million home in Denton County in February 2026, but he continued voting from the Collin County address rather than updating his registration. Three election-law experts told ProPublica and The Texas Tribune the conduct may violate the same Texas election-fraud statute Paxton's own office has publicly warned voters against.

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.

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.

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.

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.

South Carolina Senate advances congressional map dismantling its only majority-minority district

On May 23, 2026, the South Carolina state Senate advanced a new congressional redistricting map on a 27-17 second-reading vote, after invoking cloture earlier in the day to cap each member's floor debate at one hour and abandoning a planned overnight session to move ahead of schedule. The map redraws the state's seven U.S. House districts to break up the 6th Congressional District -- South Carolina's only majority-minority district and its only Democratic-held seat, long represented by Rep. James Clyburn -- positioning Republicans to win all seven seats. The bill also delays the state's congressional primary from June 9 to August 18; a decisive third-reading vote is scheduled for Tuesday, May 26.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Tennessee Gov. Lee signed SB1665, extending pronoun-refusal immunity law to honorifics

On May 22, 2026, Tennessee Governor Bill Lee signed SB1665 into law as Public Chapter 1076, effective immediately. The act extends the state's existing pronoun-refusal law — which shields students, teachers, state employees, and state contractors from being required to use a person's preferred name or pronoun — so that the same immunity from civil liability and disciplinary action now also covers refusal to use honorifics such as Mr., Mrs., and Ms. that are inconsistent with a person's sex.

Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee signed the Women's Safety and Protection Act, barring gender-identity recognition in sex-segregated facilities

On May 22, 2026, Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee signed SB0468/HB0571, the "Women's Safety and Protection Act," which requires sex-segregated spaces — domestic-violence shelters, correctional and juvenile-detention facilities, public higher-education housing, and public-school overnight lodging and changing rooms — to be designated by biological sex "as observed or clinically verified at birth" and states that the terms do not include gender identity. The law, effective July 1, 2026, ends legal recognition of transgender people's gender identity in those state-regulated settings and creates a private cause of action allowing individuals to sue non-complying facilities.

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.

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.

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.

Louisiana House committee advances congressional map eliminating a majority-Black district

On May 21, 2026, the Louisiana House and Governmental Affairs Committee voted 10-7 along party lines to advance Senate Bill 121, a mid-decade congressional redistricting plan, to the full House, adopting an amendment by Rep. Dixon McMakin. The map dismantles the majority-Black 6th District held by Rep. Cleo Fields, reducing Louisiana's majority-Black congressional districts from two to one, and is projected to give Republicans a 5-1 advantage in the state's six-seat U.S. House delegation. The redraw follows the U.S. Supreme Court's April 29, 2026 decision in Louisiana v. Callais, which struck down the state's two-majority-Black-district map and weakened Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act.

Cromaine District Library Board voted to relocate more than 160 challenged LGBTQ-themed books to its adult section without review

On May 21, 2026, the Cromaine District Library Board of Trustees in Hartland Township, Michigan, voted 4-1 to relocate more than 160 challenged books — most of them LGBTQ-themed — from the children's and teen sections to the adult section, without completing the review its own appeals process required. The board had read only 58 of 218 challenged titles before abandoning the review, after earlier rewriting the library's collection-development policy with assistance from Alliance Defending Freedom and removing the American Library Association's Library Bill of Rights protections.

Tennessee's execution physician botched Tony Carruthers' lethal injection; governor postponed execution one year

On May 21, 2026, the Tennessee Department of Corrections attempted to execute Tony Carruthers at Riverbend Maximum Security Institution in Nashville, but the appointed execution physician, Dr. Mark Fowler, spent more than 90 minutes failing to place the intravenous lines required by protocol before Governor Bill Lee called off the execution and postponed it one year. Fowler had not performed a central IV line procedure since 2013 and held no hospital privileges; the state had sought to conceal his identity under a secrecy law.

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.

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.

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.

Fayette County schools Superintendent Liggins fabricated a legal threat to intimidate critic, state Rep. Camuel

On May 20, 2026, Fayette County Public Schools Superintendent Dr. Demetrus Liggins slid a legal-threat document he fabricated -- falsely attributed to a Louisville law firm -- under the office door of Kentucky state Rep. Adrielle Camuel, a district employee who had publicly criticized his leadership, and left additional copies at other district office locations in Lexington. The law firm named in the document confirmed it had never represented or communicated with Liggins, and an investigation the district later commissioned concluded Liggins acted in a "calculated effort" to intimidate Camuel. The Fayette County school board placed Liggins on paid leave in June 2026, and he submitted his retirement in August 2026, days before the investigation's findings were released.

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.

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.

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.