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November 2025

38 entries from November 2025.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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 22

Nevada prison guards beat inmate Malik Avila during cell extraction, causing fatal brain injury; coroner ruled death natural

On November 4, 2025, a Nevada Department of Corrections Correctional Emergency Response Team went hands-on with 24-year-old inmate Malik Avila during a cell extraction at High Desert State Prison in Indian Springs, Nevada, after his family reported he was having a seizure; a recording captured Avila pleading "please stop, please stop" during the takedown. Avila was airlifted to a Las Vegas hospital and died 18 days later, on November 22, 2025, from lack of oxygen and brain damage; the Clark County Coroner classified the death as natural, but a wrongful-death lawsuit filed August 4, 2026 alleges guards beat Avila and that the warden gave the family false information about the incident.

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."

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.

Texas Gov. Abbott directed state police to launch criminal investigations into CAIR and the Muslim Brotherhood

On November 20, 2025, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott directed the Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) to launch criminal investigations into the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) and the Muslim Brotherhood, two days after designating both as foreign terrorist organizations. Abbott's directive, addressed to DPS Director Colonel Freeman Martin, ordered DPS Special Agents assigned to FBI Joint Terrorism Task Forces to investigate the groups for alleged Sharia-law violations and potential financial crimes, without disclosing evidence of criminal conduct by either organization.

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.

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.

Braselton, Ga. police chief misused Flock camera network roughly 600 times to stalk ex-girlfriend; charged with stalking

The Georgia Bureau of Investigation charged then-Braselton Police Chief Michael Steffman on November 19, 2025, with stalking, harassing communications, violation of oath of office, and multiple counts of misusing automated license-plate-reader data, hours after he announced his resignation. The GBI found Steffman had used the Flock camera network to run roughly 600 unauthorized searches on his ex-girlfriend's and her daughter's license plates between July 2024 and August 2025, tracking her movements and texting her about them. Steffman was found dead at his home in April 2026, before the case reached trial.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott designated CAIR and the Muslim Brotherhood foreign terrorist organizations, a power reserved to the U.S. Secretary of State

On November 18, 2025, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott signed a proclamation designating the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) and the Muslim Brotherhood "foreign terrorist and transnational criminal organizations," citing unproven claims that CAIR is a "front group" for Hamas. The proclamation bars both organizations from purchasing or acquiring property in Texas and authorizes "increased enforcement," including the attorney general suing to shut them down, even though designating a foreign terrorist organization is a power held exclusively by the U.S. Secretary of State and neither organization is on any federal terrorism list. CAIR called the proclamation a "publicity stunt masquerading as a proclamation" and said it would sue.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Missouri Secretary of State Denny Hoskins certified prejudicial ballot summary for congressional redistricting referendum

Missouri Secretary of State Denny Hoskins certified a ballot summary on or about November 13, 2025 for a referendum on the state's 2025 Trump-backed congressional redistricting map, describing the map it would repeal as "gerrymandered" and protective of "incumbent politicians" while praising the new map's compactness and fit with statewide voting patterns without any comparable description of its own effects. The PAC People Not Politicians sued on November 20, 2025, alleging the summary was written to bias voters toward keeping the new map, and at a January 9, 2026 hearing Hoskins's own attorney conceded the language came close to being "inherently argumentative and likely to create prejudice."

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.

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.

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.