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June 18, 2026

7 entries on this date.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Holiday Hills, Illinois police chief charged with felony misconduct for using Flock, LEADS data to track six people he knew

On June 18, 2026, McHenry County, Illinois prosecutors charged William C. Copp, 54, chief of the Holiday Hills Police Department and a part-time Prairie Grove police officer, with two counts of official misconduct after an investigation found he misused Prairie Grove's Flock license-plate-reader system and the Illinois LEADS database to track six people he was personally connected to. Copp resigned as Holiday Hills chief the day of his arrest; a McHenry County judge had denied an emergency stalking no-contact order against him in February 2026, months before the charges were filed.