2,051 events on record Subscribe September 10, 2026
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Timeline

Every entry in the archive, ordered by event date. Page 21 of 42, showing February 24, 2026 to March 9, 2026. Pages contain 50 entries each; entries for a given date may continue on the next or previous page.

2026 Events (1,252)

March(108)

ICE and CoreCivic detained trans asylum seeker Karla Saenz in Eloy's men's unit, denied her hormone care, and held her in solitary

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement detained Karla Saenz, a 26-year-old transgender asylum seeker and Trans Queer Pueblo organizer, during a March 9, 2026 check-in at USCIS offices in Phoenix, and held her for 44 days at CoreCivic's Eloy Detention Center in Arizona. She said she was held in solitary confinement for five days, denied hormone treatment and chronic-illness medication for weeks, housed in the facility's men's unit and misgendered by staff, and pressured more than ten times to sign a voluntary-departure form before a federal judge ordered her release on April 21. ICE disputed her account, calling the mistreatment allegations "entirely false."

Wyoming enacted a 2026 budget footnote barring public funds, including Medicaid, from gender-affirming care

On March 9, 2026, Wyoming enacted Senate File 0001, its 2026 biennial general-government appropriations act, which Gov. Mark Gordon signed after line-item vetoing roughly two dozen other items and footnotes. A Department of Health footnote (Section 048, Footnote 1) bars the department from expending any general, federal, or other funds under its control to pay for "an elective abortion or a gender transition procedure," or for facilities, equipment, or training used to carry them out, through June 30, 2028. Because the department administers Wyoming Medicaid, the footnote cuts off public coverage of gender-affirming care for transgender residents.

JTF Southern Spear killed six aboard suspected narcotics vessel in eastern Pacific; 45th strike, ~157 campaign deaths

On Sunday, March 8, 2026, U.S. Southern Command announced a lethal kinetic strike on a vessel in the eastern Pacific Ocean it described as "operated by Designated Terrorist Organizations," killing six men. SOUTHCOM said the strike was ordered by its commander, Marine Gen. Francis L. Donovan, and carried out by Joint Task Force Southern Spear against a boat allegedly transiting known narco-trafficking routes. It was the campaign's 45th announced strike, bringing Operation Southern Spear's reported cumulative death toll to roughly 156-157 people, and as in every prior strike the Pentagon provided no public evidence the vessel carried narcotics and did not identify those killed.

State Department declares emergency to bypass Congress on $151.8M Israel bomb sale

On March 6, 2026, the U.S. Department of State approved an emergency Foreign Military Sale to Israel of 12,000 BLU-110A/B 1,000-pound bomb bodies and related support, valued at about $151.8 million. Secretary of State Marco Rubio formally determined that an emergency existed requiring the immediate sale, invoking Section 36(b) of the Arms Export Control Act to waive the statutory congressional-review period. It was the administration's first AECA emergency declaration to bypass Congress on an arms sale to Israel, coming roughly a week into the joint U.S.-Israel air war against Iran.

Trump fired NTSB member Todd Inman before his term was set to expire in 2027

On March 6, 2026, the White House fired National Transportation Safety Board member Todd Inman without stated cause, despite his term running through the end of 2027. The administration later said the firing was based on allegations of on-the-job drinking, staff harassment, misuse of government resources, and missed meetings; Inman, a Republican appointed under the Biden administration, denied the allegations and called the firing "a political hit job." The dismissal follows a pattern of the administration removing members of other independent multi-member boards, including the Federal Reserve, the Surface Transportation Board, the EEOC, and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, ahead of their statutory terms.

DHS and ICE began construction on a 1,500-bed Maryland detention facility without the environmental review NEPA requires

On March 6, 2026, the Department of Homeland Security and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement proceeded, on schedule, with a roughly $113 million construction project converting an 825,620-square-foot warehouse near Williamsport, Maryland — purchased by DHS for $102.4 million on January 16, 2026 — into a 1,500-bed detention facility, without conducting the environmental review required under the National Environmental Policy Act or considering reasonable alternatives as required under the Administrative Procedure Act. Maryland Attorney General Anthony Brown had already sued over the same failure on February 23, 2026. A federal judge later found the project likely required NEPA review that had not been conducted.

DOJ stands up working group to fast-track indictments of Cuban Communist Party leaders

In early March 2026, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Florida Jason A. Reding Quiñones stood up a multi-agency working group, including the Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control, directed to pursue rapid criminal indictments of Cuban Communist Party and military leadership on drug, economic, immigration, and violent-crime charges. Reporting framed the initiative as a politically driven effort deliberately modeled on the DOJ's earlier narco-terrorism case against Venezuela's Nicolás Maduro, whose indictment was used to justify his removal. The working group produced an April 23, 2026 grand-jury indictment of 94-year-old former Cuban president Raúl Castro and other senior figures, announced May 20, 2026.

Loudermilk and Jordan referred Jan. 6 witness Cassidy Hutchinson to DOJ for potential prosecution over her testimony against Trump

Rep. Barry Loudermilk, joined by House Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan, filed a criminal referral of former White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson with the Justice Department, CNN reported on March 6, 2026, accusing her of lying to Congress in her June 2022 testimony about President Trump's conduct on January 6, 2021. Hutchinson had testified as the January 6 select committee's star witness that Trump knew of the potential for violence that day and pressed ahead with urging supporters toward the Capitol anyway, and separately described hearing secondhand that he tried to grab the steering wheel of his presidential vehicle after being told he could not join the crowd. The referral asks DOJ to consider criminal charges against her over that testimony.

Trump Organization files 'Trump 250' trademark applications tied to U.S. 250th anniversary

On March 6, 2026, DTTM Operations LLC — the entity that manages President Donald Trump's trademarks — filed five federal trademark applications for "Trump 250," covering merchandise such as clothing, drinkware, tote bags, stickers, and golf balls. The intent-to-use filings, tied to the nation's taxpayer-funded 250th-anniversary commemoration, would let the president's family business sell or license branded products around the milestone. Government-ethics observers questioned whether the sitting president is positioning his private company to profit from an official national event.

Wyoming Gov. Gordon signed HB 122 barring the state's rural health transformation funds from gender-affirming care

On March 6, 2026, Wyoming Gov. Mark Gordon signed House Bill 122, the Wyoming Rural Health Transformation Program act (enrolled as HEA 21), which governs how the state spends roughly $205 million in federal Rural Health Transformation Program money. The law's Section 35-25-708(a) bars any of those funds from being spent on abortions or on "sex-trait modification procedures" as defined in 45 C.F.R. § 156.400 — categorically excluding gender-affirming care from a major public health funding stream.

Pentagon brands Anthropic a 'supply chain risk' in retaliation for refusing unrestricted military use of its AI models

On March 5, 2026, the U.S. Department of Defense formally notified Anthropic that the company and its products were designated a "supply chain risk," effective immediately — a label normally reserved for firms tied to foreign adversaries and reportedly the first publicly applied to an American company. The designation, which bars defense contractors from using Anthropic's technology, followed the breakdown of contract talks: the Pentagon demanded access to Anthropic's Claude models "for all lawful purposes," while the company's acceptable-use policy barred their use for fully autonomous weapons and mass domestic surveillance of Americans. After Anthropic refused to drop those limits, President Trump on February 27 ordered agencies and contractors to halt business with the company and called its stance a "disastrous mistake," and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth tied the designation directly to the firm's refusal to comply — even as the military continued using Claude to support intelligence and targeting work.

Pentagon formally designated Anthropic a 'supply chain risk' after AI-guardrails dispute

On March 5, 2026, the Department of Defense formally notified Anthropic that the company and its products were designated a "supply chain risk," a label normally reserved for foreign adversaries, after Anthropic refused to drop acceptable-use limits barring its Claude models from mass domestic surveillance and fully autonomous weapons. The Pentagon, which gave the military up to six months to phase out the technology, framed the move as ensuring it could use the tools "for all lawful purposes"; Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei called the action "retaliatory and punitive" and said the company would challenge it in court. The designation came even as the U.S. military was reportedly using Claude to support its operations in the Iran campaign.

ICE and DHS failed to return property to Minnesota immigrants ordered released, prompting contempt threat

On March 5, 2026, U.S. District Judge John Tunheim held a "show cause" hearing in Minneapolis after U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the Department of Homeland Security failed to return work permits, driver's licenses, Social Security cards, cash, and other property to more than two dozen immigrants whom courts had ordered released from Operation Metro Surge detentions. Tunheim threatened daily civil fines if the agencies missed a roughly 30-day deadline to return the property or compensate the detainees, rejecting U.S. Attorney Daniel Rosen's argument that the failures were mistakes rather than willful noncompliance. It was the second Minnesota federal judge in a week to threaten contempt over the government's handling of Metro Surge release orders.

ICE and CoreCivic held disabled detainee in unsanitary conditions at Stewart Detention Center, forcing him to crawl through mold and feces to shower

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and its contractor CoreCivic held Rodney Taylor, a 47-year-old double-amputee Gwinnett County barber, in unsanitary and unaccommodated conditions for more than a year at the CoreCivic-run Stewart Detention Center in Lumpkin, Georgia. Rep. Lucy McBath disclosed at a March 5, 2026 House Judiciary Committee hearing that Taylor went six days without a shower stool and then was forced to remove his prosthetics and crawl across a bathroom floor covered in mold and feces to shower; DHS Secretary Kristi Noem told the committee she was unfamiliar with the case.

DOJ proposes rule letting the Attorney General halt state bar discipline of its attorneys

On March 5, 2026, the U.S. Department of Justice published a proposed rule (RIN 1105-AB82; 28 CFR Part 77) granting the Attorney General authority to review any state, territorial, or D.C. bar disciplinary complaint against a current or former DOJ attorney for conduct in their federal duties, and to demand that the bar suspend its investigation pending that review. The rule states that if a bar refuses, "the Department shall take appropriate action to prevent the bar disciplinary authorities from interfering." It followed bar inquiries into DOJ lawyers such as Lindsey Halligan, whose prosecutions of James Comey and Letitia James were dismissed after a judge found her appointment unlawful.

ICE conducts targeted, warrantless arrest of Nashville journalist Estefany Rodríguez

On March 4, 2026, ICE agents carried out a targeted, warrantless arrest of Estefany Rodríguez, the lead immigration reporter for Nashville's Spanish-language outlet Nashville Noticias, one day after she published a widely viewed video showing the identifiable faces of agents conducting a Middle Tennessee operation. Officers were found to have a photo of her logo-marked car and repeatedly identified her in custody as "the journalist"; she was held in isolation, transferred out of state to Alabama and Louisiana, and kept from her attorney from March 4 to March 14 before her release on $10,000 bond on March 19. A federal court ordered ICE to justify the arrest, and government attorneys argued that First Amendment protections "may not even be applicable to an illegal alien."

ICE deported deaf 6-year-old and his family to Colombia during a routine check-in, without his hearing devices

On March 3, 2026, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents in San Francisco told asylum seeker Lesly Rodriguez Gutierrez she was reporting for a routine check-in and photo renewal, then fingerprinted, detained, and deported her and her two children — including her six-year-old deaf son, Joseph — to Colombia within minutes, without allowing her to retrieve Joseph's hearing devices or granting her access to counsel. California's state superintendent and the family's attorney said the deportation was conducted under false pretenses and in violation of due process; ICE said the mother had a 2024 final removal order and chose to be removed with her children.

DHS systematically obstructed its inspector general; Noem sought list of OIG probes to weigh ending

In a March 2 letter released to Congress and first reported on March 3, 2026, DHS Inspector General Joseph Cuffari said the Department of Homeland Security had "systematically obstructed" his office's work, citing at least 10 oversight matters in which DHS denied or delayed access to records and revoked OIG access to critical databases including BorderStat, TECS, Secure Flight, and the Unified Immigration Portal. Cuffari also disclosed that Secretary Kristi Noem had requested a list of all pending OIG matters, including criminal investigations, so she could weigh whether any should be terminated. The disclosure prompted Sen. Gary Peters, ranking member of the Senate Homeland Security Committee, to open an investigation into potential obstruction of the inspector general's oversight and communications to Congress.

Oklahoma Gov. Stitt signed HJR1032, repealing the only rule letting transgender residents change the sex marker on state IDs

On March 3, 2026, Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt approved House Joint Resolution 1032, which repealed the Service Oklahoma administrative rules that had allowed residents to change the sex marker on their driver's licenses and state identification cards. The prior rules required a court order and a notarized physician's statement; their repeal eliminates the only administrative pathway for transgender Oklahomans to correct the sex designation on state ID. Licenses already amended before the repeal remain valid, but no further changes will be processed.

Interior/NPS database flags hundreds of park signs on slavery, civil rights, climate for removal

An internal Department of the Interior and National Park Service database, authenticated by The Washington Post with current federal employees, flags several hundred signs, exhibits, films, and books across national park sites for removal or revision under President Trump's order to scrub "partisan ideology" and content that "disparages" Americans. Flagged materials include exhibits on slavery, the civil rights movement, Japanese-American internment, racial violence, and climate science — among them at least 30 signs at Harpers Ferry National Historical Park. Some materials had already been removed when the database was reported on March 2, 2026, while the department said final decisions on others had not been made.

ICE detainee Emmanuel Damas died from untreated tooth infection at CoreCivic Arizona facility

Emmanuel Damas, a 56-year-old Haitian asylum seeker from Boston, died on March 2, 2026, after a tooth infection went untreated for approximately a week at the CoreCivic-operated Central Arizona Florence Correctional Complex. Detainees reported he received only ibuprofen despite worsening symptoms. His family was barred from visiting him in intensive care for nine days, by which point he was shackled to a hospital bed and unable to speak. He was one of thirteen people who died in ICE custody in the first three months of 2026.

DOJ rescinds 2021 no-knock entry limits, broadening when agents can enter homes unannounced

On March 2, 2026, Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche issued a Justice Department memo rescinding the 2021 policy that restricted federal agents' use of "no-knock" entries to situations where they feared imminent physical danger. Under the new memo, no-knock entries are also permissible whenever there is a risk that evidence could be destroyed — a condition former prosecutors warned can be asserted in nearly any search. The change was made by internal memo without public rulemaking and was reported on the eve of the sixth anniversary of Breonna Taylor's death in a botched no-knock raid.

Death of Haitian asylum seeker released from ICE custody ruled a homicide

The Allegheny County Medical Examiner's Office ruled the death of Daphy Michel, a 31-year-old Haitian asylum seeker, a homicide caused by hypothermia, after ICE released her in Pittsburgh on February 27, 2026 despite knowing she was a vulnerable adult with untreated severe mental illness and a language barrier. Michel was found on the ground at a bus shelter near Station Square on March 1 and died on March 2; the medical examiner announced the homicide ruling on June 12, 2026. ICE and DHS denied responsibility, while the family's attorney blamed ICE and said a lawsuit is planned.

Mohave County supervisors rejected 36 library books, bypassing formal review to target LGBTQ+ content

The Mohave County Board of Supervisors voted 3-2 on March 2, 2026 to reject a slate of already-cataloged donated library books, objected to by Supervisor Ron Gould primarily for LGBTQ+ content, by invoking the board's authority over donations rather than the library district's established formal reconsideration process. Library Director Jake Barillaro confirmed that process was not used; because the books were reclassified as rejected donations, 36 physical books across 20 titles were removed from county library collections, more than the 13 the public was told about at the meeting.

EPA illegally terminates $2.8B Environmental and Climate Justice Block Grant Program

The Environmental Protection Agency, under Administrator Lee Zeldin and acting on Trump executive orders issued January 20, 2025, terminated the Environmental and Climate Justice Block Grant Program — a $2.8 billion program established by the Inflation Reduction Act to fund pollution reduction and climate readiness in underserved communities — and directed grantees to close their projects. On June 12, 2026, U.S. District Judge Richard Gergel (D. South Carolina) ruled the termination "illegal" and voided the action, finding the EPA violated the Inflation Reduction Act. Gergel declined to issue a permanent injunction requiring reinstatement, noting that rehiring the fired program staff appeared "impractical," leaving hundreds of community projects in limbo.

Trump tells reporters no taxpayer money is spent on White House ballroom; federal agencies had already approved $300M

President Trump promised in 2025 that a new White House ballroom would be funded entirely by private donors, stating "no government to help us." However, costs escalated dramatically—from $200 million (July 2025) to $250 million, then $300 million, then $400 million, and finally $600 million or more by March 2026. Internal government documents reveal that by March 2026, when Trump publicly denied that "any taxpayer money" would be spent, over half the project's cost was already planned to be funded by federal agencies including the Secret Service, White House Military Office, and Executive Residence—totaling approximately $300 million in direct taxpayer subsidies. Trump's false public statements concealed this shift from private to public funding.

February(96)

Trump orders federal agencies and contractors to cut off Anthropic over its AI-use limits

On February 27, 2026, President Trump ordered federal agencies and military contractors to halt business with the AI company Anthropic, giving the government roughly six months to phase out its products. The order followed the breakdown of Pentagon contract talks: the department sought access to Anthropic's Claude models "for all lawful purposes," while the company's acceptable-use policy barred their use for fully autonomous weapons and the mass domestic surveillance of Americans. Announcing the move on Truth Social, Trump called the company's refusal a "disastrous mistake," opening a retaliation campaign that culminated in the March 5 "supply chain risk" designation.

ICE detained Alberto Gutierrez Reyes, who died at Adelanto facility after repeated denied requests for medical care

Alberto Gutierrez Reyes, 48, died February 27, 2026 at a Victorville hospital after transfer from GEO Group's Adelanto ICE Processing Center, where he had repeatedly sought medical care for worsening symptoms. His wife said he was denied treatment; ICE said he had been evaluated before transport. Mexico later named his death among 17 in a July 2026 criminal complaint against U.S. officials, and a federal judge ordered ICE to fix Adelanto's medical care — an order the government is now appealing.

Judge found 32 warrantless Operation Midway Blitz arrests violated Castañon Nava consent decree, ordered releases

On February 27, 2026, U.S. District Judge Jeffrey Cummings ruled that at least 32 warrantless arrests made by immigration agents during Operation Midway Blitz in the Chicago area violated the 2022 Castañon Nava consent decree, which permits warrantless immigration arrests only when agents have probable cause that a person is unlawfully present and a flight risk. Cummings ordered the government to release the affected detainees by noon the following Thursday; it was the second time in five months that Cummings found the same operation violated the decree.

ICE staged sham bond hearing for Iowa detainee Suraj Vasal with 30 minutes' notice and no opportunity to secure counsel

On February 27, 2026, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement gave Suraj Vasal, an Indian asylum-seeker detained at Polk County Jail in Des Moines, Iowa, approximately 30 minutes' notice before a court-ordered bond hearing conducted via Zoom, with no information about its purpose until the call began. Vasal asked for time to secure an attorney; immigration officials denied the request and used the hearing to deny him bond. U.S. District Judge Stephen Locher later ruled that ICE's conduct violated Vasal's due process rights, finding the government had staged a "sham" hearing to satisfy a court order while ensuring Vasal remained detained.

Hegseth cancels 93 military fellowships at elite universities, bars officers from attending

In a memo signed February 27, 2026 — "Aligning Senior Service College Opportunities With American Values" — Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth ordered the cancellation of about 93 Pentagon-funded Senior Service College fellowships at roughly 22 civilian universities, including Princeton, Yale, Columbia, Brown, MIT, and Georgetown, effective the 2026–27 academic year. He barred the military from sending active-duty officers to graduate programs at the named schools, declaring in a same-day video that elite institutions had become "factories of anti-American resentment and military disdain." Officers already enrolled were permitted to finish their coursework.

DOJ charges 30 more over anti-ICE Minnesota church protest, bringing total to 39 defendants

On February 27, 2026, the U.S. Justice Department unsealed a superseding indictment in the U.S. District Court for the District of Minnesota charging 30 additional people — bringing the total to 39 — over the January 18 anti-ICE protest at Cities Church in St. Paul. All 39 are charged under place-of-worship civil-rights statutes, including the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances (FACE) Act, with conspiring to interfere with and interfering with the free exercise of religion; the defendants include independent journalists Don Lemon and Georgia Fort, who say they were covering the protest as reporters. Attorney General Pam Bondi announced that 25 of the 30 newly charged had been arrested, even though a magistrate judge had earlier found no probable cause to arrest several defendants, including the journalists.

Isle of Wight County, Va., school board members pressured superintendent to suppress anti-ICE student walkout

In the hours before a Feb. 27, 2026 student-led anti-ICE walkout at Smithfield High School in Isle of Wight County, Virginia, School Board Chairman John Collick and board members Brandi Perkins and Mark Wooster pressured Superintendent Theo Cramer to invoke facially neutral conduct and political-activity policies to stop the protest and discipline any participating student or staff member. Collick, invoking his authority as chairman, directed Cramer to "do everything you can do to prevent a walkout" and posted a public Facebook statement urging parents to keep their children from participating. Roughly 150 of Smithfield High's 1,300 students walked out during a non-instructional period without incident, and the school ultimately took no disciplinary action against students or staff.

ICE used a false missing-child pretext to detain Columbia senior Ellie Aghayeva without a warrant

Around 6 a.m. on February 26, 2026, five federal ICE agents entered an off-campus Columbia University residential building without a judicial warrant by telling building staff they were police searching for a missing child, then arrested Elmina "Ellie" Aghayeva, a 29-year-old Columbia senior from Azerbaijan. Columbia said security-camera footage captured the agents using the missing-child story to gain entry; the Department of Homeland Security said her student visa had been revoked in 2016 and disputed assertions that agents impersonated NYPD officers. Aghayeva was released the same afternoon after New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani appealed directly to President Trump, and was placed in removal proceedings.

Federal Protective Service cited immigrant-accompaniment volunteers for loitering in San Diego federal building

On February 26, 2026, Federal Protective Service officers cited volunteer Patrick Corrigan and at least three others for "loitering" in a hallway outside the ICE check-in office at San Diego's Edward J. Schwartz Federal Building, where FAITH program volunteers had accompanied immigrants to check-ins and court hearings for about a year without incident. FPS said the underlying no-loitering regulation dated to November 2025, but volunteers said the enforcement itself was new.

ICE agents stopped and arrested Rene Antonio Benitez while he was driving his daughter to school in Brentwood, New York

On February 26, 2026, ICE agents in Brentwood, New York, stopped Rene Antonio Benitez while he was driving his daughter to school, demanding to know where he was going before arresting and detaining him without a judicial warrant. Benitez was released the same day after his attorneys filed a habeas corpus petition. His arrest is one of eight named in the April 2026 class-action lawsuit Benitez v. DHS, which alleges ICE and CBP agents have conducted a systematic pattern of warrantless stops and arrests of Latino residents across New York based on race and ethnicity.

DOJ sues five more states for full voter rolls, bringing nationwide campaign to 29 states

On February 26, 2026, the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division announced federal lawsuits against Utah, Oklahoma, Kentucky, West Virginia, and New Jersey for failing to produce their full statewide voter registration lists, bringing the Department's nationwide total to 29 states and the District of Columbia. DOJ asserted authority under the Civil Rights Act of 1960 to compel production, inspection, and analysis of complete voter rolls — data that can include names, addresses, dates of birth, and partial Social Security or driver's license numbers — to cross-check for "improper registrations." The filings came after federal courts had dismissed several earlier DOJ voter-roll suits.

Miami prosecutor expands 'grand conspiracy' probe of Trump's investigators to 2016 Russia inquiry

On February 26, 2026, The New York Times reported that Jason A. Reding Quiñones, the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Florida, had expanded a criminal "grand conspiracy" inquiry into former law-enforcement and intelligence officials who investigated Donald Trump, with subpoenas issued in recent weeks now reaching the FBI's 2016 investigation of ties between the Trump campaign and Russia and FBI interviews probing the 2020 false-electors case. The expansion built on subpoenas the Miami office issued in November 2025 — which went to figures including former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper and former FBI officials Peter Strzok and Lisa Page — and a broadened late-January 2026 round seeking documents about the January 2017 intelligence-community assessment on Russian election interference. The Times noted there is no evidence the separate inquiries were a single plot, and that tying the Washington-based Russia and false-electors matters to the Florida classified-documents case lets prosecutors use a Miami grand jury drawn from a less Democratic jury pool.

Kansas invalidates driver's licenses and birth certificates of 1,000+ transgender residents

On February 26, 2026, Kansas invalidated the driver's licenses and birth certificates of more than 1,000 transgender residents who had previously corrected the sex marker on those documents, acting under a new state law that requires records to reflect sex assigned at birth. The same law bars transgender people from using bathrooms and locker rooms matching their gender identity in government-owned or -leased buildings. Affected residents were directed to obtain replacement documents with no grace period.

Riverside County Sheriff Bianco seized 650,000 election ballots and launched unauthorized fraud probe, defying AG's halt order

On February 26, 2026, Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco—a Republican candidate for California governor—seized approximately 650,000 ballots from a November 2025 special election and opened an unauthorized criminal investigation into alleged election fraud, relying entirely on disputed claims from a local activist group that county election officials had already publicly rejected. After California Attorney General Rob Bonta ordered him to halt the probe, Bianco defied the directive and seized an additional 426 boxes of ballots. On April 8, 2026, the California Supreme Court ordered Bianco to pause the investigation and preserve all seized materials while legal challenges to the seizure proceed.

Federal judge declared Trump administration's third-country deportation policy unlawful

U.S. District Judge Brian Murphy ruled on February 25, 2026 that DHS's policy of deporting people to countries other than the one designated in their removal proceedings — without meaningful notice or a chance to raise a fear of persecution there — violated the Administrative Procedure Act and due process, vacating the policy nationwide. The ruling capped nearly a year of litigation that began after DHS attempted to deport a group of men to South Sudan in violation of a standing injunction, forcing them into weeks of detention at a U.S. naval base in Djibouti; the government secured a stay from the First Circuit within weeks and continued third-country removals while its appeal remained pending as of this filing.

FBI fires about 10 employees who worked on Trump's Mar-a-Lago classified-documents case

Around February 25, 2026, the FBI dismissed roughly 10 employees who had worked on the criminal investigation into President Trump's retention of classified documents at Mar-a-Lago. The firings came hours after FBI Director Kash Patel publicly characterized the inquiry — under which his and White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles's phone records had been subpoenaed — as Biden-era overreach, and followed reporting that those subpoenas had surfaced. The bureau dismissed additional personnel the next day, bringing the total to roughly a dozen.

Trump administration halts $259.5M in Medicaid reimbursements to Minnesota

On February 25, 2026, Vice President JD Vance announced that the Trump administration would temporarily halt $259.5 million in federal Medicaid reimbursements to Minnesota, citing alleged fraud in the state's social programs and giving the state 60 days to overhaul its systems. Vance said Minnesota — where roughly 1.3 million residents rely on Medicaid — was the first of several states the administration expected to target this way. Minnesota sued, with Attorney General Keith Ellison arguing the withholding violates Fifth Amendment due process and the Administrative Procedure Act's bar on arbitrary and capricious agency action.

ICE detained McAllen mariachi student brothers and their parents at a routine check-in, held them at Dilley for two weeks

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement detained McAllen, Texas high school mariachi musicians Antonio and Caleb Gámez-Cuéllar, their younger brother Joshua, and their parents on February 25, 2026, during what family members and Rep. Nanette Barragán described as a routine immigration check-in. The family, who had passed a credible fear interview and had an outstanding asylum case with no missed court dates, was held at the Dilley detention facility for roughly two weeks.

ICE vehicle pursuit in Newark causes multi-vehicle crash, injuring three children

On February 25, 2026, ICE agents pursuing a fleeing van during a targeted operation in Newark, New Jersey, caused a multi-vehicle crash that sent three children to University Hospital with injuries. Mayor Ras Baraka condemned the pursuit as reckless, noting that New Jersey law bars law-enforcement vehicle chases absent an immediate threat and that roads were still being cleared from a snowstorm. DHS said the operation targeted a man with a 2017 final removal order, who was taken into custody after the collision.

Puerto Rico enacted a law barring transgender people from government restrooms matching their gender identity

On February 25, 2026, Puerto Rico Governor Jenniffer González-Colón signed House Bill 165, the "Public Government Restroom Facilities Regulation Act" (Law 26-2026), requiring multi-occupancy restrooms in government buildings — including the University of Puerto Rico — to be segregated by sex assigned at birth. The law bars transgender and nonbinary people from facilities matching their gender identity, prohibits designating any government restroom as inclusive or neutral, and imposes fines of up to $15,000 per violation. Puerto Rico became the first U.S. territory to enact a transgender bathroom ban.

EPA repealed Mercury and Air Toxics Standards for coal- and oil-fired power plants, again declining to monetize health benefits

On February 24, 2026, the EPA under Administrator Lee Zeldin finalized a repeal of the 2024 Mercury and Air Toxics Standards (MATS) amendments for coal- and oil-fired power plants, citing a 2020 finding that residual cancer risk was already below a presumptive acceptable threshold and eliminating continuous emissions monitoring requirements. As it had five weeks earlier in a separate rule for stationary combustion turbines, EPA did not monetize the health benefits of the toxic-pollutant reductions the standards had achieved, presenting only projected industry cost savings of $670 million through 2037. A coalition of 21 environmental and public-health organizations sued in the D.C. Circuit the following month.

Rep. Omar's silent State of the Union guest forcibly removed, injured, and charged

During President Trump's State of the Union address on February 24, 2026, Aliya Rahman — a Minneapolis software engineer attending as Rep. Ilhan Omar's invited guest — stood silently in the House gallery and was forcibly removed by U.S. Capitol Police after declining to sit. Rahman, who had disclosed injured shoulders and is autistic with a traumatic brain injury, was aggressively handled, required treatment at George Washington University Hospital, and was booked and charged with "Unlawful Conduct," a misdemeanor carrying up to six months. Rep. Omar condemned the response as a heavy-handed, chilling reaction to peaceful expression and demanded a full explanation.

DOJ withheld and removed Epstein-file records tied to a Trump sexual-abuse allegation

An NPR investigation published February 24, 2026 found that the Justice Department's public Epstein-files database was missing dozens of pages of FBI records connected to a woman's allegation that Donald Trump sexually abused her as a minor in the early 1980s. NPR reported that roughly 53 pages of interview notes were withheld or removed — some briefly taken offline and not fully restored — while other Epstein materials remained public. The DOJ said unpublished records were privileged, duplicative, or under review, and House Democrats and the Republican committee chair each announced investigations into the omissions.

ICE agents stopped and arrested A.M.C. as she was entering her apartment building in Brooklyn, New York

On February 24, 2026, ICE agents in Brooklyn, New York, stopped a woman identified in court filings as A.M.C. as she was entering her apartment building, arresting and detaining her without a judicial warrant for seven days. Her arrest is one of eight named in the April 2026 class-action lawsuit Benitez v. DHS, which alleges ICE and CBP agents have conducted a systematic pattern of warrantless stops and arrests of Latino residents across New York based on race and ethnicity.