Government - federal, state, local | Homeland Security Newswire

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.
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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.
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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.”
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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.
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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?
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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Administration Promotes Speculative Lab Leak SARS-CoV-2 Origin Theory
Visitors to the Covid.gov and Covidtests.gov websites are now being were websites directed to White House webpage dedicated to promoting the lab-leak theory of the origins of SAR-CoV-2. There is no direct scientific evidence to support this speculative theory, or any other Covid-origin theory.
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Experts Cast Doubt on State’s Report That Undocumented Immigrants Cost Texas Hospitals $122M in a Month
Texas hospitals incurred $121.8 million in health care costs in November from patients who were not “lawfully” permitted to be in the country, according to data released by the Texas Health and Human Services Commission. Policy experts say undocumented immigrants’ cost to hospitals is a small fraction of the total cost from uninsured Texans.
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From Help to Harm: How the Government Is Quietly Repurposing Everyone’s Data for Surveillance
The data that people provide to U.S. government agencies for public services such as tax filing, health care enrollment, unemployment assistance and education support is increasingly being redirected toward surveillance and law enforcement.
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Reinvigorating Naval Shipbuilding: Meeting the President's Challenge
To respond to the Trump administration’s call for the reinvigoration of the U.S. shipbuilding industry, policymakers should examine past failures, seek an improved shipbuilding workforce, and consider enlisting the help of close allies like Japan and South Korea.
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Trump Denies Disaster Aid, Tells States to Do More
In the wake of recent natural disasters, state leaders across the country are finding that emergency support from the federal government is no longer a given, as the White House says states must have an ‘appetite to own the problem.’
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The Trump Administration Says It Wants a “Nuclear Renaissance.” These Actions Suggest Otherwise.
For nuclear advocates, it’s an open question whether the Trump administration’s energy officials recognize the scale of the effort that would be required to achieve their purported ambition for a nuclear revival. In fact, some of the actions the administration has taken, such as tariffs and a shake-up at the Tennessee Valley Authority, could be getting in the way of such revival.
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Government - federal, state, local