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August 11, 2026

13 entries on this date.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Public records showed out-of-state agencies searched Twin Falls, Idaho Flock network 631 times for immigration enforcement, violating state law

Public records obtained by DeFlock Idaho and reported by the Idaho Capital Sun on August 11, 2026 show that Indiana State Police, Georgia's Lawrenceville Police Department, Florida's Bay County Sheriff's Office and the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission searched the Twin Falls, Idaho Police Department's Flock automated license-plate-reader network for immigration-enforcement purposes at least 631 times across March, May and June 2026. The searches, made through Flock's national network-sharing system, evaded Idaho Code 49-1432's restriction of ALPR use to specific crime categories and Twin Falls PD's own policy barring immigration-related queries. Twin Falls PD said the searches produced no data pulls and ended its participation in the national lookup system in late July 2026.

Haines City, Fla. officer arrested after 717 Flock camera searches of estranged wife's car

On August 11, 2026, Haines City, Florida police officer Christopher Goodson, 31, was arrested on one count of offenses against computer users and one count of official misconduct, both third-degree felonies. An arrest affidavit found Goodson entered his estranged wife's license plate into the department's Flock Safety camera database 717 times between September 1, 2024 and June 30, 2026, often logging false law-enforcement justifications for the searches. Goodson disclosed the searches to a supervisor only after learning a reporter had contacted his estranged wife about the pattern, and has indicated he intends to resign.

North Carolina General Assembly enacted HB268, ousting Secretary of State Marshall from oversight board and expanding Senate hold on Cabinet

On August 11, 2026, North Carolina Gov. Josh Stein signed House Bill 268 into law as Session Law 2026-61, enacting a Republican-authored provision that removed Democratic Secretary of State Elaine Marshall from the state's Local Government Commission and gave the Senate a check on which of the governor's Cabinet appointees may keep their jobs. The Senate gave the bill final passage July 29 and the House adopted it August 4, continuing a decade-long pattern of the Republican-controlled General Assembly using must-pass budget vehicles to strip statutory authority from Democratic statewide officeholders.

MyPillow founder Mike Lindell refused to concede Minnesota GOP gubernatorial primary loss, alleged unproven vote 'anomalies'

On August 11, 2026, MyPillow founder Mike Lindell refused to concede after losing Minnesota's Republican gubernatorial primary to Minnesota House Speaker Lisa Demuth, who won 43.6% of the vote to Lindell's 32.3% — a margin of roughly 11 percentage points. Lindell, a prominent promoter of President Trump's false 2020 election-fraud claims, told reporters after the Associated Press called the race that his team needed time to review the results, alleging unspecified voting "anomalies" without providing evidence.