• Trump’s Use of the National Guard Against LA Protesters Defies All Precedents

    Unlike his predecessors, Trump has not mobilized the national guard to protect civil rights against a hostile police force. Instead, he appears to be using this as leverage to undermine a political opponent he views as blocking his agenda. Circumventing gubernatorial powers over the national guard in this way has no precedent and heralds the next stage in an extended conflict between the president and the state of California.

  • Twenty-One Things That Are True in Los Angeles

    To understand the dangers inherent in deploying the California National Guard – over the strenuous objections of the California governor – and active-duty Marines to deal with anti-ICE protesters, we should remind ourselves of a few elementary truths, writes Benjamin Wittes. Among these truths: “Not all lawful exercises of authority are wise, prudent, or smart”; “Not all crimes require a federal response”; “Avoiding tragic and unnecessary confrontations is generally desirable”; and “It is thus unwise, imprudent, and stupid to take actions for performative reasons that one might reasonably anticipate would increase the risks of such confrontations.”

  • From Kent State to Los Angeles, Using Armed Forces to Police Civilians Is a High-Risk Strategy

    I am a historian, and my recent book — Kent State: An American Tragedy —  examines a historic clash on 4 May 1970, between anti-war protesters and National Guard troops at Kent State University in Ohio. Troops opened fire on the demonstrators, killing four students and wounding nine others. Dispatching California National Guard troops against civilian protesters in Los Angeles chillingly echoes decisions and actions that led to the tragic Kent State shooting. Some active-duty units, as well as National Guard troops, are better prepared today than in 1970 to respond to riots and violent protests – but the vast majority of their training and their primary mission remains to fight, to kill, and to win wars.

  • States, Sheriffs Puzzle Over Trump’s Error-Filled List of Immigration Sanctuaries

    A list of 14 states, 298 counties and 200 cities deemed immigration sanctuaries by the Trump administration has disappeared from a government website but continues to hang over the heads of officials who face threats of losing federal funding. “The list is gone. Am I satisfied that it was rectified? Yes. Am I satisfied that it’s over? No,” said Sheriff Charles Blackwood of Orange County, North Carolina.

  • “The Intern in Charge”: Meet the 22-Year-Old Trump’s Team Picked to Lead Terrorism Prevention

    One year out of college and with no apparent national security expertise, Thomas Fugate is the Department of Homeland Security official tasked with overseeing the government’s main hub for combating violent extremism.

  • Trump Administration Knew Vast Majority of Venezuelans Sent to Salvadoran Prison Had Not Been Convicted of U.S. Crimes

    Homeland Security records reveal that the Trump administration knew that the vast majority of the 238 Venezuelan immigrants it sent to a maximum-security prison in El Salvador in mid-March had not been convicted of crimes in the United States. DHS still labeled them “terrorists” and deported them.

  • Surge of ICE Agreements with Local Police Aim to Increase Deportations, but Many Police Forces Have Found They Undermine Public Safety

    The federal 287(g) program allows ICE to train state and local authorities to function as federal immigration officers. The use of 287(g) has surged since January, and as a criminal justice scholar, I believe this surge sets a dangerous precedent for local policing, where forging relationships and building the trust of immigrants is a proven and effective tactic in combating crime. The expansion of 287(g) will erode that trust and makes entire communities – not just immigrants – less safe.

  • Vaccine Integrity Project Says New FDA Rules on COVID-19 Vaccines Show Lack of Consensus, Clarity

    Sidestepping both the FDA’s own Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee and the CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP), two Trump-appointed FDA leaders penned an opinion piece in the New England Journal of Medicine to announce new, more restrictive, COVID-19 vaccine recommendations. Critics say that not seeking broad input into the new policy, which would help FDA to understand its implications, feasibility, and the potential for unintended consequences, amounts to policy by proclamation.

  • U.S. Supreme Court Blocks Deportations Under Alien Enemies Act

    The U.S. Supreme Court on Friday extended a previous ruling blocking the Trump administration from deporting alleged Venezuelan gang members detained in northern Texas. The Court pointedly criticized the administration’s grudging approach to due process: “Under these circumstances, notice roughly 24 hours before removal, devoid of information about how to exercise due process rights to contest that removal, surely does not pass muster.”

  • States Are Telling Sheriffs Whether They Can — or Can’t — Work with ICE

    Cooperation between sheriffs and ICE lies at the heart of Trump’s immigration policy.

  • The Government Just Killed an Essential Way to Assess Climate Risk

    Cities, insurers, and the public used the Billion-Dollar Weather and Climate Disasters database to plan for the future. Now what will they do?

  • Real ID Is Useless, Unconstitutional, and Finally Here

    At its core, the mentality behind REAL ID is that every American is a potential airline terrorist first and a citizen of the Republic a very distant second. Among other problems, a REAL ID requirement potentially creates an end-run around direct regulation of the right to travel. REAL ID obliterates the idea of freedom of travel, which is why it should be abolished.

  • U.S. Poll Finds Shifting Vaccine Trust Amid Health Agency Overhauls

    Trust in vaccine information from government health agencies has shifted along partisan lines following health agency leadership changes and major agency restructuring under the Trump administration.

  • As U.S. Doubles Down on Fossil Fuels, Communities Will Have to Adapt to the Consequences − Yet Climate Adaptation Funding Is on the Chopping Block

    It’s no secret that warming temperatures, wildfires and flash floods are increasingly affecting lives across the United States. With the U.S. government now planning to ramp up fossil fuel use, the risks of these events are likely to become even more pronounced. Yet, the White House is proposing to eliminate funding for climate adaptation science in the next federal budget: With climate extremes likely to increase in the coming years, losing adaptation science will leave the United States even more vulnerable to future climate hazards.

  • The Battle for Pentagon Acquisition Policy: Tradition Versus New-and-Cheaper

    The weapons that get bought in larger or smaller quantities, or are launched or cancelled, will indicate whether US President Donald Trump’s administration will strengthen long-range deterrent forces, order a retreat under his Golden Dome missile-defense system, or spend four years trying to blend incompatible visions of industrial and technological strategy.