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

Every entry in the archive, ordered by event date. Page 2 of 43, showing August 25, 2026 to September 1, 2026. Pages contain 50 entries each; entries for a given date may continue on the next or previous page.

2026 Events (1,295)

September(59)

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.

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.

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.

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.

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."

DHS Secretary Mullin articulated policy allowing armed ICE deployment to polling places during midterm elections

Department of Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin told reporters on September 1, 2026 that armed ICE officers could be deployed to polling places during the November midterm elections in response to "a threat to that polling place" or to serve a warrant, articulating for the first time a policy permitting armed federal immigration agents at polling sites. DHS separately said it is not "planning operations targeting polling locations" but that officers could respond to an "active public safety threat" there.

Georgia Department of Corrections special agent misused Flock license-plate cameras for non-law-enforcement purposes; arrested and charged

A Georgia Department of Corrections special agent in charge, Robert "Bobby" Michael Keim, 45, was arrested and charged September 1, 2026 with misuse of a license plate reader system after the Georgia Bureau of Investigation found he had used the agency's Flock Safety license-plate-reader network for non-law-enforcement purposes. GDC had asked the GBI to investigate Keim's access to the system on August 18, 2026; investigators did not disclose what searches he allegedly ran. Keim, of Eatonton, was booked into the Putnam County Jail, and the case remains under investigation ahead of referral to the Ocmulgee Judicial Circuit District Attorney's Office.

Tarrant County commissioners voted 3-2 to cut 92 polling locations ahead of 2026 midterms

On September 1, 2026, Tarrant County's Republican commissioners -- County Judge Tim O'Hare and Commissioners Matt Krause and Manny Ramirez -- voted 3-2 along party lines to cut 92 Election Day polling locations in Fort Worth, Texas, reducing the county's sites from 316 in 2022 to 224. Democratic Commissioners Alisa Simmons and Roderick Miles Jr. voted against the plan after civil-rights groups said the cuts would fall hardest on Black and Hispanic precincts in Fort Worth and Arlington.

Entergy Arkansas sued reporters and a records requester seeking a gag order over public-records reporting on its Google deal

Entergy Arkansas LLC filed an emergency federal lawsuit on September 1, 2026 against the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, the Arkansas Times, a reporter, an editor, and private citizen Jessica Kivell, seeking a temporary restraining order to block further disclosure of documents detailing Entergy's power agreement with Google for a West Memphis data center. Kivell had obtained the documents through a Freedom of Information Act request to the Arkansas Public Service Commission, which released them in error, and shared them with the Democrat-Gazette; Entergy's filing also asked the court to order the newspaper to retract its already-published story, on trade-secret grounds.

August(188)

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.

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.

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.

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.

Colleton County, S.C. sheriff's lieutenant fired over 62 unauthorized Flock camera searches, including his spouse's vehicle

Colleton County Sheriff's Office Lt. Kevin Smalls was fired on August 31, 2026, after an internal audit found he conducted 62 unauthorized searches of the department's Flock license-plate-reader system over a six-month period, including searches of vehicles registered to his spouse and other acquaintances. Sheriff Guerry Hill Jr. requested a South Carolina Law Enforcement Division (SLED) investigation into potential criminal conduct. Smalls is the second Colleton County lieutenant fired for Flock misuse in August 2026, after Lt. Ruben Carter's termination on August 20 over more than 2,700 unauthorized searches.

Richmond County, Ga. sheriff's deputy misused Flock database for personal reasons, fired, charged

On August 31, 2026, the Richmond County (Augusta, Georgia) Sheriff's Office arrested and fired Deputy Jose Ferrer after a criminal investigation found he had misused the agency's Flock license-plate-reader system to search plates for reasons unrelated to any official law-enforcement purpose. He was charged with misuse of license plate readers and violation of oath of office and booked into the Charles B. Webster Detention Center. The arrest is the sixth in an ongoing RCSO audit of Flock misuse since June 2026.

Richmond County, Ga. sheriff's investigator misused Flock database for personal reasons, fired, charged

On August 31, 2026, the Richmond County (Augusta, Georgia) Sheriff's Office arrested and fired Investigator Sean Morrow after a criminal investigation found he had misused the agency's Flock license-plate-reader system to search plates for reasons unrelated to any official law-enforcement purpose. He was charged with misuse of license plate readers and violation of oath of office and booked into the Charles B. Webster Detention Center. The arrest is the sixth in an ongoing RCSO audit of Flock misuse since June 2026.

Former Hahira, Ga. police officer arrested for misusing Flock license-plate database

Former Hahira, Georgia police officer Daniel Lindsay was arrested on August 31, 2026 and booked into the Lowndes County Jail on six counts of misuse of license plate data and six counts of violation of oath by a public officer, after a Hahira Police Department audit of its Flock Safety camera system identified non-work-related searches. He was released the same day; the department said the matter is being handled through investigative and legal processes and has not disclosed further detail about the specific searches.

Former Amarillo, Texas officer charged with 78 counts for using Flock database to track romantic rival

Former Amarillo, Texas police officer Christian Slade Eder, 29, was charged on August 31, 2026 with 78 counts of tampering with a government record after an audit found he searched a license-plate database 76 times and a law-enforcement records database twice to track a man who had previously dated a fellow officer Eder had expressed romantic interest in, entering false reasons for the searches each time. The Amarillo Police Department had fired Eder on July 17, 2026 following an internal investigation but did not publicly disclose the firing for 33 days. Eder turned himself in on September 1, was released on a $4,500 bond, and pleaded not guilty at arraignment the next day.

Jackson County, Ind. deputy misused Flock cameras to track girlfriend's location 2,055 times, charged with felony

On August 31, 2026, the Jackson County (Indiana) Prosecutor's Office charged former sheriff's deputy Skylar Thompson, 31, with official misconduct and fraud after a routine department audit found he had searched his then-girlfriend's license plate 2,055 times using the county's Flock camera system between December 31, 2025 and August 2, 2026, while employed as a deputy. Thompson falsely logged the searches as "city planning/traffic analysis," a duty he was never assigned, and resigned the day he was confronted before admitting the conduct to his then-girlfriend directly. A warrant was issued and he was taken into custody.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Athens-Clarke County police fired analyst for tracking ex-wife with Flock cameras

On August 29, 2026, Athens-Clarke County Police Department fired Criminal Intelligence Analyst Supervisor Nick Barker after an investigation found he improperly used the department's Flock automated license-plate-reader system to search his ex-wife's license plate numerous times over several months in 2025. The complaint that triggered the investigation came from Barker's ex-wife, and ACCPD referred the matter to the Georgia Bureau of Investigation for an independent criminal investigation alongside its own internal review.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Douglas County, CO commissioners rewrote citizens' ballot petition and added a competing question

Douglas County, Colorado commissioners Abe Laydon, George Teal, and Kevin Van Winkle adopted a resolution making themselves the panel that sets ballot titles, then on August 28, 2026 rewrote a certified citizen petition -- signed by nearly 23,000 residents and asking whether to expand the three-member county board to five -- to open with cost-estimate framing, and on August 31 added a second, commissioner-drafted question asking whether all five members should still be elected countywide. A state representative sued to remove both changes before ballots printed; a Douglas County judge ruled she lacked authority to intervene before the election even after finding the second question's wording didn't match the governing state statute, so both changes will appear on the November ballot as written.

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.

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.

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.

Lawsuit alleged Rikers Island staff shackled a pregnant detainee during medical and court transport for months

A federal lawsuit filed August 27, 2026 in Brooklyn alleges the New York City Department of Correction routinely shackled a pregnant woman in full-body restraints — including leg shackles and waist chains — every time she was transported for medical appointments, psychiatric exams, and court appearances during roughly two months of her 2023-2024 detention at Rikers Island. The suit alleges DOC continued using handcuffs for a further month after stopping full-body restraints, and separately kept her in a mental health observation unit — because the jail's specialized unit for pregnant detainees was closed — where she was exposed to pepper spray directed at other detainees. New York state law and DOC policy bar restraining pregnant detainees absent extraordinary, written-justified circumstances, and the city has twice previously settled nearly identical shackling suits for close to $1 million each.

Former Covington, Ga. officer arrested for Flock camera misuse, oath-of-office violation

On August 27, 2026, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation arrested former Covington Police Department officer Michael Canty, 29, on charges of misuse of a license plate reader system and violation of oath of office. The Covington Police Department had asked the GBI on August 6, 2026 to investigate allegations that Canty misused his Flock Safety system access; the GBI said its preliminary investigation found Canty accessed the Flock system for non-law-enforcement purposes.

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.

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.

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.

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."

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Injustice Watch investigation found Illinois police and sheriffs circumvented TRUST Act to help ICE detain, deport immigrants

Injustice Watch, in partnership with The Intercept, reported on 2026-08-25 that despite Illinois' 2017 TRUST Act barring local law enforcement from assisting federal immigration enforcement, officials at more than 75 agencies across over a third of the state's counties collaborated with the FBI, Homeland Security Investigations, ICE, and the U.S. Marshals Service during Trump's first 15 months back in office. The investigation, drawing on body-worn camera footage, nearly 400 records requests, and court filings, found the collaboration -- direct data-sharing, jail-to-ICE handovers, and at least one FBI-coached arrest workaround -- helped flag, detain, or deport at least 150 people.

Injustice Watch/WIRED investigation found Illinois state's attorneys shared residents' personal data with ICE despite TRUST Act

An Injustice Watch investigation published August 25, 2026, in partnership with WIRED, found that state's attorneys' offices in roughly 1 in 6 Illinois counties shared residents' dates of birth, home addresses, court dates, and jail-release schedules with federal immigration agents despite the state's 2017 TRUST Act. In one documented case, a Marion County assistant state's attorney emailed a Homeland Security Investigations agent a defendant's birthdate, upcoming court date, and home address; federal agents arrested the man and detained his 17-year-old son outside their home three weeks later. State's attorneys disputed among themselves whether the TRUST Act binds their offices, and Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul declined to resolve the question.

Mamdani administration continued to miss NYC's charter-mandated racial equity plan deadline, judge found

On August 25, 2026, New York Supreme Court Justice Phaedra F. Perry-Bond ruled that the City of New York, under Mayor Zohran Mamdani, independently violated the city's 2022 voter-approved Charter mandate for a final citywide racial equity plan by continuing to miss the deadline his predecessor, Eric Adams, had also missed. The ruling came in a lawsuit brought by the Commission on Racial Equity, the charter-mandated oversight body, after the Adams administration's law department had denied CORE's request to retain outside counsel; Perry-Bond granted CORE that authority and preserved its ability to sue over any future delay. Mamdani's administration released a draft plan in April 2026 but had not issued a final plan as of the ruling.

Nevada Independent investigation revealed Clark County School District police tapped into Flock license-plate-reader network

A Nevada Independent investigation revealed on August 25, 2026 that the Clark County School District (CCSD) Police Department in Nevada has an agreement, confirmed on the record by the district, with license-plate-reader company Flock Safety granting access to "all shared cameras within Clark County and the Las Vegas area." A procedural memo restricting that access to CCSD's Investigations Bureau, requiring an assigned case number and bureau-commander authorization, took effect the same day the district received the outlet's public-records request; the underlying agreement's start date and duration are not established in public records, though CCSD had been negotiating with Flock since at least February 2025 and logged roughly 70 searches that year. No other Nevada school district has been reported to have a comparable arrangement.

Hall County, Georgia sheriff's investigators misused Flock license-plate cameras for personal searches; two fired after audit

The Hall County, Georgia Sheriff's Office confirmed on August 25, 2026 that it had fired two investigators, Justin Brown and Michael Atkins, after an internal audit of its Flock automated license-plate-reader system found both had used it for personal reasons unrelated to law enforcement. Termination records show Brown accessed the system approximately 250 times between January 2 and July 30, 2026 and was terminated August 19; Atkins was found to have accessed it on at least four occasions and was terminated August 24, with Brown's case referred to the Georgia Bureau of Investigation for a criminal investigation.