• The One Big Beautiful Bill Made ICE Shutdown-Proof and Eroded Fiscal Norms

    DHS is temporarily funded until February 13 – but whether the DHS is shut down or not, ICE and CBP will still be able to pursue their immigration crackdown largely undisrupted due to the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA). By shifting immigration enforcement and defense spending outside the normal appropriations process, Republicans have short-circuited the system of checks and balances that restrain the growth and abuse of government power. The long-term result will be less oversight, weaker constraints on fiscal irresponsibility, and greater partisanship.

  • Former DHS Secretary Says “Systemic DHS Problems” Existed Before, but He No Longer Recognizes Today’s ICE Operations

    In an unflinching conversation on immigration and enforcement, homeland security experts Juliette Kayyem and Jeh Johnson discuss ICE.

  • A Terrorism Label That Comes Before the Facts Can Turn “Domestic Terrorism” into a Useless Designation

    Shortly after Alex Pretti was killed by ICE agents, DHS Secretary Kristi Noem said he committed an “act of domestic terrorism.” Noem made the same accusation against Good. But a “domestic terrorism” label that comes before the facts does not just risk being wrong in one case. It teaches the public, case by case, to treat the term as propaganda rather than diagnosis. When that happens, the category becomes less useful precisely when the country needs clarity most.

  • Gun Sellers Have Made Millions from Trump’s Deployment of Immigration Agents

    Firearms companies – faced with plummeting sales to the general public – found a lucrative new opportunity last year: arming President Donald Trump’s immigration operation. Last year, DHS spent a record sum on guns and ammunition, a Trace analysis found.

  • States Reeling from Winter Storm Encounter a Smaller FEMA

    The Trump administration was quick to mobilize initial aid, but it’s not clear how a shrunken agency will handle the long-term recovery costs.

  • The Real Story Behind the Midnight Immigration Raid on a Chicago Apartment Building

    The Trump administration has claimed the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua had taken over the building. But new documents make no mention of the gang and reveal federal agents had information about “illegal aliens unlawfully occupying apartments.”

  • Two CBP Agents Identified in Alex Pretti Shooting

    The two federal immigration agents who fired on Minneapolis protester Alex Pretti are identified in government records as Border Patrol agent Jesus Ochoa and Customs and Border Protection officer Raymundo Gutierrez.

  • Mayors Describe ICE Presence in Their Cities

    As federal immigration enforcement agents continue to clash with protesters in cities around the country, U.S. mayors gathering last week in Washington, D.C., said they’re anxious about what might be coming next. “We were told the actions would be precise. They were not,” said Edina, Minnesota, Mayor Jim Hovland.

  • Turmoil at FEMA Adds to the Revolt Against Kristi Noem

    DHS Secretary Kristi Noem’s handling of the killing of Alex Pretti follows sustained criticism of her management of FEMA. Lawmakers, disaster response experts, and disaster survivors say her policies have all but halted the agency’s disaster spending, thus slowing emergency response and delaying recovery funding.

  • Beware: Government Using Image Manipulation for Propaganda

    Last week DHS posted a picture of a woman arrested by ICE in Minneapolis. A short while later, the White House posted the same photo – except that version had been digitally altered to darken the woman’s skin and rearrange her facial features to make it appear she was sobbing or distraught. This incident of darkening an arrestee’s skin to reinforce stereotypes and stoke racial prejudice raises the question of whether the administration feels emboldened to manipulate other photos for other propaganda purposes.

  • States, Cities Are Hard-Pressed to Fight Violent ICE Arrest Tactics

    State leaders who want to curb the increasingly violent arrest tactics of immigration enforcement agents in Minneapolis and elsewhere are struggling to push back. Potential approaches include state civil rights laws and a refusal to cooperate.

  • ICE Is Using Medicaid Data to Find Out Where Immigrants Live

    A recent court ruling has cleared the way for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to resume using states’ Medicaid data to find people who are in the country illegally. States fear immigrants will shy away from seeking health care.

  • Report: Americans Pay for 96% of Trump's Foreign Tariffs

    New research shows Americans are paying almost the entire cost – 96% — of President Donald Trump’s tariffs, directly challenging his repeated assertion that foreign nations absorb the burden.“The claim that foreign countries pay these tariffs is a myth,” said Julian Hinz, research director at the Kiel Institute and one of the authors of the study. “The data show the opposite: Americans are footing the bill.”

  • Vaccine Myths That Won’t Die and How to Counter Them—Part 2

    This article and its Part 1 catalogue the debunked myths driving the vaccine skeptics who now run HHS. These myths share four fundamental errors: First, the conflation of temporal association with causation. Second, the confusion of regulatory paperwork with the totality of scientific evidence. Third, the demand for impossible standards. Fourth, the selective citation of evidence. The current political moment has given unprecedented platforms to vaccine skepticism. But politics cannot change biology.

  • Vaccine Myths That Won't Die and How to Counter Them—Part 1

    Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the Secretary of Health and Human Services, has spent decades promoting vaccine skepticism. He has replaced scientists at different HHS such as CDC and NIH with vaccine skeptics and anti-vaccine activists. They have polluted the information environment with, and base their policy changes on, myths about the supposed risks of vaccines. Each of these myths has been studied extensively. Each has been refuted. And yet each persists, because misinformation travels faster than correction and because these myths tap into fears that are genuinely human.