u/rusticgorilla

##IMMIGRATION

Sept. 1: “Haitian student dies by suicide after ICE issued him an ankle monitor,” NBC

Sept. 1: “US may ask parents to prove citizenship or immigration status to get passports for their children,” Reuters

Sept. 2: “States now must report undocumented immigrants to DHS or risk federal funding, DOJ says,” CNBC

Sept. 2: “ICE hasn’t paid for detainee medical care since October. Advocates call it the ‘death policy’,” SF Chronicle

Sept. 2: “ICE detainee dies just hours after he was admitted into detention,” NPR

Sept. 3: “These Judges Take Months to Decide If Immigrants Have Been Unlawfully Detained,” ProPublica

Sept. 3: “ICE Skipped Basic Checks in Rush for Recruits, Whistle-Blower Says,” NYT

Sept. 3: “Federal prosecutor fired after investigating ICE officer for civil rights offenses in Minnesota shooting, sources say,” CBS; “Trump’s DOJ Blocked Serious ICE Shooting Charge Over Federal Prosecutor’s “Strongest Possible” Objections,” ProPublica

Sept. 4: “ICE Wants to Know Everyone Who Bought a Certain Green Beanie From REI in the Last 2 Years,” Wired

Sept. 4: “An Ex-Ecuadorian Official Said He Was in Political Danger. The U.S. Deported Him.” Washington Sun

Sept. 5: “ICE given permission to force-feed Cuban hunger striker with gastric tube,” Guardian

Sept. 8: “A Secretive DHS ‘Predictive Policing’ Unit is Analyzing Americans’ Financial Habits and Pulling Them Over,” 404 Media

Sept. 9: “An ICE holding facility in Phoenix is racking up 911 calls for medical emergencies,” KJZZ

Sept. 14: “DHS watchdog finds immigrants were held at ‘Alligator Alcatraz’ in outdoor cages the size of phone booths,” NBC

Sept. 14: “Immigrants’ Lawyers Say U.S. Is Redacting Documents Proving Legal Status,” NYT

Sept. 15: “ICE lost count of miscarriages, while detaining a record number of pregnant women,” Guardian

Sept. 16: “The Trump Administration Is Imprisoning Somali Immigrants at Gitmo,” Mother Jones

Sept. 16: “U.S. Fast-Tracked Deportation of Ecuadorean Politician Despite Torture Fears,” NYT

Sept. 18: “Men deported from US bound and beaten in Equatorial Guinea detention hotel, lawyers say,” Guardian

Sept. 18: “ICE launches massive private system to transport detainees across Texas under armed guard,” San Antonio Express News

Sept. 20: “ICE officer shoots Venezuelan man delivering food in Austin, lawyer says,” NBC

• “Venezuelan man shot by ICE agent hospitalized for paralysis treatment, returned to detention, lawyer says,” Reuters

• “ICE officer in Texas shooting was recruit not using a body camera,” WaPo

• “Austin man shot by ICE agent charged with assault, resisting arrest,” Texas Tribune

Sept. 21: “ICE hides locations of thousands of detainees with final removal orders,” AP

Sept. 21: “How Trump turned a refugee bureau into a $410 million deportation operation,” WaPo

Sept. 21: “Extreme overcrowding and abuse plague Florida ICE facilities, whistleblowers say,” Miami Herald

Sept. 22: “Costa Rican immigrant died while in ICE custody, agency says,” ABC; “Costa Rican man complained of lack of care for diabetes before his death in ICE custody, family says,” AP

Sept. 22: “Trump administration tells Congress it will admit 17,500 white South African refugees,” Chicago Tribune

Sept. 22: “DHS Opens ‘Black Site Docket’ for Immigrants Without Lawyers at 26 Federal Plaza,” City Reporter

Sept. 23: “Guatemalan man dies in crash during attempted ICE traffic stop,” NBC

Sept. 24: “Guatemalan national pinned under ICE vehicle while running from agents, state patrol says,” CBS

Sept. 24: “US citizen injured after ICE agents reportedly mistook him for fugitive,” Guardian

Sept. 28: “Judge Finds Trump Admin in Contempt of Court Again for Wrongful Deportation,” TPM

Sept. 29: “Supreme Court allows Trump’s ‘third country’ deportation policy,” NBC

Sept. 29: “DHS Expands Pop-Up Immigration Courts, Blocking Public Access,” Bloomberg

Sept. 29: “ICE to buy modified Boston Dynamics robot dogs in $1.3 million contract,” Boston Globe

Sept. 30: “ICE Deleted Reviews for Deaths in Custody That Cited Shoddy Medical Care,” Intercept

---

##DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE, WARS, AND FOREIGN POLICY

Sept. 1: “Hegseth Targets 7 More Officers as His Frustrated Army Secretary Quits,” NYT

>Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has fired or blocked the promotions of more than 80 generals and admirals, a purge that has hit about 10 percent of the military’s top officers and shows no signs of slowing.

Sept. 2: “Pentagon cuts access to classified information amid Iran war concerns,” WaPo

Sept. 2: “In Small Iranian Town, a U.S. Attack Turns a Wedding Into a Tragedy,” NYT

Sept. 3: “Pentagon expands hormone screening guidance to include female service members,” Military Times

Sept. 4: “Pentagon Agreement With N.I.H. on Biodefense Draws Alarm From Democrats,” NYT;

Sept. 4: “In Major Leak Hunt, Pentagon Gives Polygraph Tests to Joint Staff Members,” NYT

Sept. 7: “Pentagon searching medical records to identify transgender troops,” Federal News Network

Sept. 10: “Pentagon in Talks to Get Into AI Infrastructure Funding With a $5 Billion Loan,” WSJ

Sept. 15: “Trump’s planned sale of controversial bombs to Israel is largest in years,” WaPo

Sept. 15: “New photos show widespread damage at U.S. positions caused by Iranian missile, drone attacks,” CBS

Sept. 18: “More U.S. troops have died amid Iran war than Pentagon has disclosed publicly,” WaPo

Sept. 19: “Judge refuses to block Pentagon from firing Stars and Stripes journalists,” Politico

Sept. 20: “Pentagon invites Paul Brothers, YouTube influencers, to speak to troops,” Task & Purpose

Sept. 24: “8 sailors assigned to USS Abraham Lincoln strike group attempted suicide, Navy secretary tells Congress,” CNN

Sept. 28: “Pentagon breach exposed sensitive data on nearly 3 million people,” ABC

Sept. 28: “Trump Brought Venezuelan Gold to the U.S., but Refiners Won’t Touch It,” NYT

Sept. 30: “Judge Questions Secrecy Around Trump Administration’s Memo on Boat Strikes,” NYT

Sept. 30: “Pete Hegseth appoints Elon Musk to US taskforce on future of warfare,” Guardian

---

##DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE

Sept. 9: “Trump administration fires prosecutor in dropped case against politically linked Indian billionaire,” NBC

Sept. 10: “Trump admin pick to oversee a conspiracy investigation into president’s foes resigns after DOJ clashes,” CNN

Sept. 14: “Prosecutor details ongoing 'grand conspiracy' probe into Trump’s enemies,” Politico

Sept. 15: “DOJ seeking reporter’s LinkedIn records in secretive First Amendment court fight,” Politico

Sept. 18: “DOJ says recent Supreme Court ruling shields Maurene Comey firing,” Politico

Sept. 22: “The FBI Anti-Corruption Squad Was Circling Susan Collins — Until Trump Got in the Way,” ProPublica

>After the Corner Bakery meeting, Navatek’s CEO, Martin Kao, sent an initial $150,000 to the Collins super PAC using the shell company. Two months later, he told Navatek executives that Collins committed to getting the company $32 million in naval contracts, according to an internal company email reviewed by ProPublica.

Sept. 25: “DOJ says it has ended more than 50 decades-old school desegregation cases,” CBS

Sept. 28: “Second Prosecutor Quits Trump’s ‘Grand Conspiracy’ Case,” NYT

Sept. 29: “Two senior FBI agents ousted over investigation into alleged harassing calls to wife of Trump adviser Stephen Miller,” CNN

---

##ENVIRONMENT

Sept. 8: “Trump Is Quietly Planning to Majorly Change How National Parks Are Run,” Washington Sun

Sept. 11: “Trump administration blocks $25 million in funding for national parks,” WaPo

Sept. 11: “EPA to Loosen Methane Rules, Boosting Pollution From Oil and Gas Wells,” ProPublica

Sept. 14: “US ends limits on coal and gas plant emissions, removing key tool to fight climate crisis,” Guardian

Sept. 14: “US aims to issue deep-sea mining permits within months, Interior Secretary Burgum says,” Reuters

Sept. 17: “Killing endangered wildlife is legal if they aren’t the target, new Trump rule says,” AP

Sept. 28: “Trump administration lowers fuel economy standards, critics say at a significant environmental cost,” AP

Sept. 28: “Trump administration considers building baseball park in Grand Teton National Park,” WaPo

Sept. 29: “Trump’s border wall construction cut into an ancient ground carving older than Stonehenge,” NBC

---

##LEGACY PROJECTS, CORRUPTION, AND GENERAL SHADINESS

Sept. 1: “Whistleblower says USPS system Trump ordered for mail ballots is flawed and untested,” NBC

Sept. 1: “Coinbase Co-Founder Seeks Fields in Venezuela Oil Shakeup,” Bloomberg

Sept. 2: “Trump approves disaster relief funds for 7 red states, after denying aid to blue states,” MS Now

Sept. 2: “Kennedy Center disassembles Blue sculpture from its grounds,” AP

Sept. 3: “Secret Service is getting the fortified White House that past presidents resisted,” WaPo

Sept. 4: “Trump administration quietly closes criminal probe into Venezuela businessman amid oil deal,” CNN

Sept. 5: “Trump administration to dig at triumphal arch site despite no final federal approvals,” NPR

Sept. 8: “Trump gave $45,000 cash gifts to Natalie Harp, two other close aides,” WaPo

Sept. 11: “Contractor Blames Its Own Repairs, Not Vandals, for Reflecting Pool Failure,” NYT

Sept. 11: “Trump Heads to Ireland for the Irish Open at His Golf Course,” NYT

Sept. 11: “Howard Lutnick Has Doubled His Net Worth To Over $7B As Commerce Secretary,” Forbes

Sept. 13: “Kennedy Center Warns of Bankruptcy Unless Trump’s Name Is Added,” NYT

Sept. 13: “The Latest Spot for a Trump Tower: An Ex-Soviet Republic Moving Closer to Russia,” WSJ

Sept. 14: “Donald Trump Jr.’s Bahamas Wedding Was Secretly Bankrolled by Russian Oligarch Close to Putin,” ProPublica

Sept. 14: “Whistle-Blower: Federal Agents May Have Broken State Laws in Search for Voter Fraud,” NYT

Sept. 15: “Trump says Kennedy Center is closed hours after a judge ruled he can’t put his name on it,” Politico

Sept. 16: “Trump’s arch will harm historic sites but must proceed, federal officials say,” WaPo

Sept. 18: “RFK Jr. Got Free Flights to Fiji and Greece From a Top Donor,” WSJ

Sept. 20: “Trump says his D.C. arch will serve as 'military complex' with snipers and drones,” NPR; “Officials cast doubt on Trump’s plan for drones, snipers at proposed arch,” WaPo

Sept. 23: “‘I am the code’: Trump clashed with ballroom architect over safety issues,” WaPo

Sept. 24: “Trump officials sideline local historians in arch review,” Politico

Sept. 24: “From 16,000 to 185 to Zero: Trump’s Claims of Illegal Voting in Nevada Fizzle.” NYT

Sept. 28: “White House Drove Users to Official App Fraught With Trackers,” Washington Sun

Sept. 28: “US Tax Dollars Now Used to Secure Deals for Trump Family Cronies,” TPM

Sept. 28: “The Untold Origins of Trump’s Plan to Sharply Restrict Mail-In Voting,” ProPublica

Sept. 30: “Trump Media’s Merger With Nuclear Fusion Company Moves Closer to Completion,” NYT

Sept. 30: “Trump officials changed forms for overseas voters amid a GOP push to restrict voting,” NPR

---

##CULTURAL CONTROL

Sept. 3: “Trump Moves to Strip Tax Exemption From Schools That Aid Minority Students,” NYT

Sept. 7: “Administration strips language that criticized Confederate statue at Arlington,” WaPo

Sept. 8: “Smithsonian Institution secretary to retire amid Trump attacks on museum independence,” Guardian

Sept. 9: “‘Jimmy Kimmel Live’ Moves Interview With Texas Senate Candidate James Talarico From TV to YouTube Due to FCC Threats,” Variety

Sept. 10: “Trump administration claims UC Berkeley law school discriminates against white, Asian applicants,” AP

Sept. 16: “Trump administration plans ideological warning signs for Smithsonian,” NPR

Sept. 17: “FCC Approves Paramount-Warner Bros. Merger Foreign Investment,” The Wrap

>Foreign investors will own 49.5% of the non-voting equity in Paramount, with 38.5% of that total controlled by three Middle Eastern sovereign wealth funds.

Sept. 19: “CNN, MS NOW, Politico reporters denied access to White House following Trump ban,” NPR; “Judge restores White House access for POLITICO, CNN and MS NOW,” Politico

Sept. 21: “Russel Vought will reportedly be given veto power over all NIH grants,” ArsTechnica

Sept. 23: “Paramount weighs tapping Musk for equity investment,” Semafor

Sept. 25: “Trump administration guts data collection on US education as math and reading scores plummet,” Guardian

Sept. 28: “Trump administration uses taxpayer money to air 2024 Trump campaign ad,” PBS; “Trump Directed Use of Taxpayer Money for Ads Praising His Presidency,” NYT

Sept. 28: “Education Department formally rescinds Title IX protections for LGBTQ students,” Hill

Sept. 28: “White House Tries to Cancel Millions for International Ed Programs,” Inside Higher Ed

Sept. 29: “Hegseth halts tenure appointments for civilian faculty at military academies,” Military Times

---

##HEALTHCARE, REPRODUCTIVE RIGHTS, AND LGTBQ+ RIGHTS

Sept. 3: “Kennedy asked to remove Pennsylvania measles death from CDC tally, sources say,” Reuters

Sept. 4: “HHS Cancels Infant Mortality, Postpartum Grants to Focus on Sperm Counts, ED,” Washington Sun

Sept. 4: “Kennedy Hires Covid Vaccine Skeptic to Look at Dubious Claims of Military Deaths,” NYT

Sept. 4: “Mount Sinai reaches deal with Trump DOJ to end gender-affirming care for minors,” Gothamist

Sept. 7: “‘Nakedly political’: US attempts to link trans support to authoritarianism in new health department report,” Guardian

Sept. 14: “Abortion opponents claim ‘tremendous victory’ as EPA tests water for abortion pills,” Politico

Sept. 16: “States Delayed in Getting Covid Shots for Children’s Immunization Program,” WSJ

Sept. 17: “Kennedy Overhauls Powerful Health Panel Whose Work He Has Blocked,” NYT

>At least three of them, including the new chairman, have denounced or work with groups that denounce gender-affirming care for transgender teenagers. At least two have criticized Covid vaccines or suggested that fewer people should take them. And several are specialists in one or two medical fields, in contrast to the experts in primary care and prevention who normally serve on the panel.

Sept. 18: “NYU Langone strikes deal with Trump DOJ to end gender-affirming care for minors,” Gothamist

Sept. 22: “RFK Jr.’s Enhanced Security Was Funded With Money From Minority Health Office,” WSJ

Sept. 22: “Trump administration cuts ACA coverage for 750,000 people it says were ‘fraudulently’ enrolled,” NBC

Sept. 24: “Trump’s FDA pick sidesteps questions on abortion pill and vaccines at confirmation hearing,” NBC

Billionaires are pouring record amounts of money into political committees and super PACs ahead of the midterm elections, with the majority going to Republican and conservative-aligned causes. According to an accounting by the New York Times, the largest individual donors (excluding companies, non-profits, etc.), have given over $718 million so far this election cycle. GOP donors make up $614 million, or 85%, of that total. In this post, /r/keep_track looks at who these billionaires are and where they are spending their money. All data comes from FEC campaign finance records, which can be searched by the public here.

• To support my work, you can subscribe to the non-paywalled Keep_Track newsletter or contribute via Patreon or Venmo/Paypal.

---

Jeffrey Yass, co-founder of trading firm Susquehanna International Group, has given over $94 million to political PACs and campaigns since January 2025. The majority of his donations have gone to V-PAC, MAGA Inc., libertarian PACs, and pro-school choice PACs.

• $29 million to Protect Freedom, Club for Growth, and Win it Back, which raise money for libertarian candidates

• $21.5 million to School Freedom Fund and AFC Victory Fund, PACs that raise money for pro-school choice candidates

• $20 million to V-PAC, a super PAC supporting Vivek Ramaswamy's campaign for Governor of Ohio

• $16 million to MAGA Inc., Trump's flagship super PAC

Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla and Space X, has given over $90 million to political PACs and campaigns since January 2025. The majority of his donations have gone to America PAC, MAGA Inc., V-PAC, Fight for Kentucky, and Republican House and Senate Committees.

• $50 million to America PAC, a pro-Trump super PAC created by Musk

• $20 million to the Congressional Leadership Fund and Senate Leadership Fund

• $10 million to Fight for Kentucky, a super PAC that supported businessman Nate Morris during the GOP primary for Senate

• $5 million to V-PAC, a super PAC supporting Vivek Ramaswamy's campaign for Governor of Ohio

• $5 million to MAGA Inc., Trump's flagship super PAC

Richard and Elizabeth Uihlein, co-founders of the shipping supply company Uline, have given over $71 million to political PACs and campaigns since January 2025. The majority of his donations have gone to Restoration of America, Fair Courts America, Northwoods, and Republican House and Senate Committees.

• $57.7 million to Restoration of America, a super PAC that supports Republican candidates in swing states

• $5 million to the Senate Leadership Fund, Congressional Leadership fund, National Republican Senate Committee, National Republican Congressional Committee, and Defend our Majority (a joint fundraising committee led by GOP Rep. Steve Scalise).

• $4 million to Fair Courts America, a super PAC that supports Republican candidates in judicial races

• $2.5 million to Northwoods, a super PAC that supports Republican candidates in Wisconsin

Miriam Adelson, widow of Las Vegas casino magnate Sheldon Adelson, has given $68 million to political PACs and campaigns since January 2025. The majority of her donations have gone to MAGA Inc. and Republican House and Senate Committees.

• $41.7 million to the Senate Leadership Fund, Congressional Leadership fund, National Republican Senate Committee, National Republican Congressional Committee, and Republican National Committee.

• $25 million to MAGA Inc., Trump's flagship super PAC

Paul Singer, hedge fund manager and CEO of Elliot Management, has given $52 million to political PACs and campaigns since January 2025. The majority of his donations have gone to STW, United Democracy Project, MAGA KY, America 21, and Republican House and Senate Committees.

• $24 million to the Senate Leadership Fund, Congressional Leadership fund, National Republican Senate Committee, National Republican Congressional Committee, and Republican National Committee.

• $15 million to STW PAC, a super PAC created by Singer which has not spent any money on the midterm elections yet

• $2.5 million to the United Democracy Project, and AIPAC-aligned super PAC

• $1 million to MAGA KY, a super PAC that opposed the re-election of Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY), and $3 million to America 21 PAC, a super PAC that primarily spent money opposing Massie

Marc Andreessen, cofounder of venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz (A16z), has given over $42 million to political PACs and campaigns since January 2025. The majority of his donations have gone to Leading the Future, Fairshake, MAGA Inc., and Republican House and Senate Committees.

• $25 million to Leading the Future, a pro-AI super PAC

• $11.9 million to Fairshake, a pro-crypto currency super PAC

• $3 million to MAGA Inc., Trump's flagship super PAC

• $1.6 million to the Senate Leadership Fund, Republican National Committee, National Republican Senatorial Committee, National Republican Congressional Committee, and House Speaker Mike Johnson’s Grow the Majority PAC

Ben Horowitz, cofounder of venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz (A16z), has given over $45 million to political PACs and campaigns since January 2025. Like his business partner, Marc Andreessen, the majority of Horowitz’s donations have gone to Leading the Future, Fairshake, MAGA Inc., and Republican House and Senate Committees.

• $25 million to Leading the Future, a pro-AI super PAC

• $11.9 million to Fairshake, a pro-crypto currency super PAC

• $6 million to MAGA Inc., Trump's flagship super PAC

• $1.3 million to the Senate Leadership Fund, Republican National Committee, National Republican Senatorial Committee, National Republican Congressional Committee, and House Speaker Mike Johnson’s Grow the Majority PAC

Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss, investors and crypto-currency entrepreneurs, have given over $35 million to political PACs and campaigns since January 2025. The majority of their donations have gone to MAGA Inc., First Principals Digital, and Republican House and Senate Committees.

• $22 million to MAGA Inc., Trump's flagship super PAC

• $8.9 million to the Senate Leadership Fund, Republican National Committee, National Republican Senatorial Committee, National Republican Congressional Committee, Congressional Leadership Fund, Senate Leadership Fund, and various state GOP committees

• $1 million to First Principals Digital, a GOP super PAC that raises money for pro-crypto candidates

---

##The largest pro-AI super PAC: Leading the Future

As noted above, Marc Andreessen and Ben Horowitz have each given the PAC $25 million, for a total of $50 million from the pair. Their venture capital firm A16z has additionally donated $50 million to Leading the Future. OpenAI’s Greg Brockman and his wife, Anna, have donated a total of $25 million to the PAC, as well.

Funds:

• Think Big, a super PAC that supports pro-AI Democrats. Think Big spent over $8 million to defeat AI safety advocate and New York Assemblyman Alex Bores, who was running for a U.S. House seat in the state. The PAC has also spent $1.1 million to support Ben McAdams, a Democratic nominee in Utah; $1.1 million to support the re-election of Rep. Ritchie Torres (D-NY); $639k to support the re-election of Rep. Rob Menendez, Jr., (D-NJ); $599k to support the re-election of Rep. Jimmy Penetta (D-CA); $571k to support the re-election of Rep. Joe Morelle (D-NY).

• American Mission, a super PAC that supports pro-AI Republicans. American Mission has spent $960k to support Jim Kingston, a GOP candidate in Georgia; $779k to support Amanda McKinney, a GOP candidate in Washington state; $747k to support Chris Gober, a GOP candidate in Texas; $686k to support the re-election of Rep. Clay Fuller (R-GA); $676k to support Rep. Andy Barr (R-KY), who is running to replace Sen. Mitch McConnell; $667k to support the re-election of Rep. Julia Letlow (R-LA); $616k to support Jay Feely, a GOP candidate in Arizona.

##The largest pro-crypto super PAC: Fairshake

In addition to the $23.8 million from Marc Andreessen and Ben Horowitz, Fairshake has gotten nearly $50 million since January 2025 from Ripple Labs, a crypto company based in San Francisco, California, and $33 million from Coinbase.

• Fairshake has spent $10 million so far opposing Illinois Lieutenant Governor Juliana Stratton, who is running for election to the U.S. Senate, and another $2.4 million opposing La Shawn Ford, who is running for a U.S. House seat in Illinois.

Funds:

• Protect Progress, a super PAC that supports pro-crypto Democrats. Protect Progress has spent $6.4 million to support the re-election of Rep. Christian Menefee (D-TX); $5.2 million to support Adrian Boafo, a Democratic candidate in Maryland; $4.2 million to support Jasmine Clark, a Democratic candidate in Georgia; $1.7 million to support the (failed) re-election of Shri Thanedar (D-MI); $1.4 million to support the re-election of Rep. Ritchie Torres (D-NY); $1 million to support the re-election of James Walkinshaw (D-VA). Protect Progress has also spent $268k to oppose DSA member Donavan McKinney, running for a U.S. seat in Michigan, and $119k to oppose Illinois Lt. Gov. Stratton’s U.S. Senate campaign.

• Defend American Jobs, a super PAC that supports pro-crypto Republicans. Defend American Jobs has spent $12 million to support the re-election of Rep. Barry Moore (R-AL); $7 million to support the re-election of Rep. Andy Barr (R-KY); $1.6 million to support the re-election of Rep. Randy Fine (R-FL); $771k to support Jessica Steinmann, a GOP candidate in Texas; $735k to support the re-election of Rep. Kevin Hern (R-OK); $708k to support Houston Gaines, a GOP candidate in Georgia; $615k to support Carlos De La Cruz, a GOP candidate in Texas.

With the 2026 midterms two months away, the Trump administration is ramping up its attempts to interfere with and undermine the election. The main threat to be aware of is the USPS’s plan to screen ballots being mailed to voters and, reportedly, reject entire batches of ballots if even a single one could not be verified by its own internal system.

>“As presently designed, if even one bar code on one single ballot in a bulk-mailing of 10,000 ballots fails to properly scan during the verification process, the entire batch is rejected and sent back to the state — effectively stopping the ballots from being mailed to voters,” the complaint reads. “Even under ordinary circumstances this would be problematic because of predictable errors in any barcode scanning process.”

As a result, states would have to resend thousands of ballots, potentially resulting in ballots reaching voters late and/or being returned late. While the plan is currently blocked by a federal judge, the Trump administration is sure to appeal the case to the Supreme Court (again). Keep Track will cover this and other election interference in more detail next week.

• To support my work, you can subscribe to the non-paywalled Keep_Track newsletter or contribute via Patreon or Venmo/Paypal.

---

##IMMIGRATION AND DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY

Aug. 4: “Some Haitian immigrants in Ohio told to report to ICE and given ankle monitors,” ABC

Aug. 3: “Salvadoran Man Held at Delaney Hall Dies in ICE Custody,” City Reporter

Aug. 4: “A Man Died After Being Detained By ICE — And They Didn't Report It, Congressman Says,” HuffPost

Aug. 5: “DHS Wants Protesters’ Signal Group Chats,” Wired

Aug. 5: “Homeland Security buys former prison in west-central Minnesota for $500 million,” MPR

Aug. 5: “DHS Is Hiring Bounty Hunters to Find and Photograph Deported People’s Homes Abroad,” Wired

Aug. 5: “Trump’s immigration crackdown has detained more than 50 military spouses and parents,” AP

Aug. 7: “Trump signs new orders targeting birthright citizenship, weeks after Supreme Court ruling,” NPR

Aug. 7: “Trump Officials Deport Group of Mexicans Despite Torture Risk,” NYT

Aug. 7: “ICE will release body camera video only when seen in the agency’s ‘best interests,’ policy says,” AP

Aug. 7: “Questions over the death of Prisciliano Trejo: he got sick while in ICE custody and did not receive medical treatment,” El Pais

Aug. 8: “Private prisons announce $1.4 billion in revenue as immigration detentions climb,” NPR

Aug. 9: “CoreCivic sells Kansas ICE prison to the feds as activists allege medical neglect,” Kansas City Star

Aug. 10: “ICE to Pay LexisNexis Millions for Data to Feed to Palantir,” 404 Media

Aug. 11: “ICE plans to give officers gloves that can deliver painful electric shocks,” AP

Aug. 12: “Law firm [Burke Law Group] with ties to Trump administration declines offer to represent migrant children,” AP

Aug. 12: “Controversial group wins $158M-contract to represent unaccompanied immigrant children,” NPR; “Ex-ICE agent’s group awarded $158 million to represent migrant children,” WaPo

>Our Rescue was founded in 2013 by Tim Ballard, a former U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent who quit his job and embarked on efforts to rescue children from sex trafficking rings in countries such as Colombia, Haiti, Mexico and Thailand. His work was loosely fictionalized in “Sound of Freedom,” a 2023 film starring Jim Caviezel that drew acclaim from conservatives. Others, however, said the movie catered to conspiracy theories, including those peddled by the far-right group QAnon.

>Ballard abruptly left Our Rescue in July 2023, days before “Sound of Freedom” was screened at Trump’s private club in Bedminster, New Jersey. Three months later, a group of five women filed a lawsuit in Utah alleging Ballard had coerced them into sexual acts as part of his trafficking rescue missions tied to the organization, then known as “Operation Underground Railroad.” A separate federal lawsuit in 2024 accused him of sex trafficking and forced labor. Both lawsuits remain active.

Aug. 13: “CBP Workers Allegedly Used Government Databases to Spy on Exes, Crushes, and Colleagues,” Wired

Aug. 13: “Documents show how feds spied on protesters, left-wing organizations and unions during Metro Surge,” Minnesota Reformer

Aug. 14: “People detained at Mississippi ICE facility say they were sickened by gas leak and denied medical care,” Guardian

Aug. 15: “Justice Department expands military's power to detain migrants accused of trespassing,” CBS

Aug. 16: “ICE Shot a Journalist and Threw Him in Detention. He’s Approaching 300 Days Behind Bars With a Festering Wound,” Intercept

Aug. 18: “Minnesota attorney general sues Texas governor to compel extradition of ICE agent for trial,” AP; “Judge denies Minnesota bid to extradite ICE officer from Texas, paving way for his release from custody,” PBS

Aug. 18: “U.S. quietly deporting Mexican migrants to Guatemala and Honduras, angering Mexico,” CBS

Aug. 19: “Liberia agrees to take 1,200 third-country deportees from the U.S.,” NPR

Aug. 20: “Church group says ICE surveillance operation violated order banning agents from property,” MPR; “Judge orders federal government to justify spying at Minneapolis church,” MPR

Aug. 20: “ICE begins deporting Haitians who lost TPS back to homeland,” WaPo; “ICE sends second deportation flight to Haiti in a week. There are kids aboard,” Miami Herald

Aug. 25: “Deportees who refused to exit a U.S. flight in Liberia are sent to Equatorial Guinea,” NBC; “U.S. deportees assaulted, threatened at gunpoint in Equatorial Guinea, three say,” Tucson.com

Aug. 27: “Trump administration pauses all immigrant visa applications amid new screening policy,” NBC

Aug. 27: “These Local Jails Were Supposed to Detain Immigrants for Only 72 Hours. One Woman Was Held for a Total of 26 Days.” ProPublica

Aug. 27: “Trump administration starts border wall project in Arizona over tribe's objections,” ABC

Aug. 28: “ICE Plans to Spend Millions on Boston Dynamics Dog Robots,” 404 Media

Aug. 28: “ICE awards contract for San Antonio [warehouse] immigration detention center,” San Antonio Express News

Aug. 28: “White South Africans could get $4,500 in aid if they come to U.S. as refugees,” WaPo

Aug. 29: “Trump’s DHS is using an obscure law to secretly snoop on journalists, non-profits and unions,” Guardian

>...DHS served Google with a different request for the YouTube information. This time, DHS utilized a different method that didn’t require approval from a judge, only a sign-off from a DHS official. It served Google an administrative summons citing an arcane provision of federal law – 19 USC 1509 – dealing with customs imports. The provision gives the DHS broad power to inspect records in order to determine whether duties and taxes are being correctly levied on imported items. It also instructed the recipients of the summons to keep it secret.

Aug. 29: “Relative of Afghans Who Helped U.S. Military Is Deported to Africa,” NYT

Aug. 30: “Deportees Recount Harrowing Journeys to Africa: Shackles, a ‘Freezer’ and Blows,” NYT

---

##DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE, WAR, AND FOREIGN POLICY

Aug. 1: “Scope of Hacks on U.S. Water Supply Widens as Evidence Points to Iran,” NYT; “Trump blames Minnesota water hacks on Walz, while evidence points to Iran,” Politico

Aug. 1: “Trump’s Fixation on Arctic Ships Led to Billions in No-Bid Contracts,” NYT

Aug. 3: “‘They are murder victims’: Senator suggests US strikes have killed people who weren’t involved in drug trafficking,” CNN

Aug. 4: “U.S. has used ‘virtually all’ of its long-range precision missiles during Iran war,” CNBC

Aug. 4: “Landmark Deal Would Officially Add Laser Weapons to US Army Arsenal,” Wired

Aug. 4: “Navy Suddenly Ends 43-Year Blue Angels Uniform Deal with Florida Business,” Military.com

Aug. 6: “Women’s Share of Top Military Promotions Falls as Hegseth Blocks Nominees,” NYT

Aug. 8: “Sailors on the USS Abraham Lincoln reportedly dealing with poor conditions, weak morale, families say,” Task & Purpose

Aug. 8: “Greenland issues ‘strong warning’ as Trump-linked oil firm prepares to drill,” Guardian

Aug. 11: “Multiple USS Abraham Lincoln sailors have tried to go overboard amid extended deployment, families say,” Military Times; “Navy sailor who jumped off USS Lincoln faces disciplinary charges,” MS Now

Aug. 12: “They Spoke English, Wore U.S. Flags and Attacked Fishermen. Who Were They?” NYT; “Covert CIA program said to be behind mysterious attacks on Galápagos boats,” WaPo

Aug. 13: “Trump orders Pentagon to redesign US aircraft carrier to use steam catapults to launch jets,” Guardian

Aug. 17: “Trump says US to reduce military drills with South Korea after it stayed out of Iran war,” BBC

Aug. 20: “Navy weighs renaming carrier slated to honor Black war hero, potentially switching it to Trump,” CNN

Aug. 21: “Pentagon dismisses Stars and Stripes leadership after editor, reporter oppose military interference,” AP

Aug. 26: “Before Hegseth fired him, top general was advised to drop Kid Rock probe,” WaPo

Aug. 26: “Troops fighting against Iran and alleged drug smugglers say they are being asked to violate international law,” MS Now

Aug. 27: “Trump’s war on Iran is rapidly draining US navy budget, documents and interviews reveal,” Guardian

Aug. 27: “US Patriot missile stocks in Europe are ‘beyond critical’ due to Iran war, officials say,” AP

Aug. 27: “CIA chief asked Russia not to share intelligence with Iran, sources say,” NBC

Aug. 28: “Trump says U.S. has entered deal with Venezuela to take control of 65 billion barrels of oil reserves,” NPR

Aug. 31: “Army Secretary Dan Driscoll resigns amid tensions with Hegseth,” ABC

---

##CORRUPTION, LEGACY PROJECTS, AND PARDONS

Aug. 2: “Capital One says it closed Trump Organization accounts over money-laundering concerns,” NPR

Aug. 3: “Park Service Finds Trump’s Arch Could Detract From Dozens of Historic Places,” NYT

Aug. 4: “Trump orders changes to new helipad after weeks of around-the-clock work,” WaPo

Aug. 5: “Freedom 250 Sponsors Failed to Disclose Donations — A Potential Lobbying Law Violation,” NOTUS

Aug. 5: “Trump Said Qatari Jet Was Destined for His Library. That May Change.” NYT

Aug. 5: “Trump Seeks a Boost for Hemp That Would Benefit a Top Aide’s Family,” NYT

Aug. 9: “Trump Crypto Took $100 Million From a Businessman With Red Flags,” NYT

Aug. 10: “Trump nominates loyalist to office that would oversee Reflecting Pool review,” WaPo

Aug. 10: “Contradicting public statements, Trump took secret flight from Turkey amid Iranian threat,” WaPo

Aug. 10: “Duffy’s son-in-law gets a natural gas boost,” Politico

Aug. 11: “Democrats want answers about 18-karat gold ring given to Trump: Weeks after Belgium’s diamond industry gave Trump a ring with 321 diamonds, 56 sapphires, 13 emeralds and six rubies, it was exempted from paying a U.S. tariff,” MS Now

Aug. 12: “Treasury Scales Back Scrutiny of U.S. Shell Companies,” NYT

Aug. 12: “Trump administration set to spend at least $900 million on White House construction,” WaPo

Aug. 13: “Kennedy Center Board Decides to Inscribe Trump’s Name on Building,” NYT

Aug. 14: “Top Trump official asked for more aircraft to fight a small fire near his Idaho ranch,” WaPo

Aug. 15: “Trump-linked crypto venture World Liberty Trust granted bank status in unprecedented move for president,” ABC

Aug. 16: “Trump says White House needs ‘military complex’ as courts block his ballroom,” WaPo

Aug. 19: “Trump, Who Has Amassed Enormous Wealth in Crypto, Hosts Industry Leaders,” NYT

Aug. 20: “New details of plans for the Kennedy Center and White House ballroom include columns carved in Italy, plaza named for Trump,” CBS

Aug. 21: “Supreme Court allows Trump to continue White House ballroom construction for now,” CNBC

Aug. 22: "Trump’s stock disclosure shows more than 1,000 trades in June,” Fortune

Aug. 27: “Before an emergency hearing, the Kennedy Center's board threatens to demolish it,” NPR

Aug. 27: “$900 million from a canceled wind deal will benefit a Trump donor,” NYT

Aug. 29: “Trump lauded low prices at Freedom Fuel. A supplier says some gas wasn’t paid for.” WaPo

Aug 31: “Supreme Court allows Trump to move forward with White House ballroom construction,” NBC

---

##DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE

Aug. 3: “Justice Dept. moves to dismiss Jan. 6 class action lawsuit,” CBS

Aug. 8: “Senate votes to confirm Todd Blanche as attorney general,” NPR

Aug. 11: “White House Asks Justice Department to Consider New Reflecting-Pool Prosecution,” WSJ

Aug. 12: “Extremism expert charged in case targeting Southern Poverty Law Center’s use of informants,” NBC

Aug. 14: “Little Thefts, Big Charges: Trump’s Justice Dept. Targets Lesser Fraud,” NYT

Aug. 17: “Trump Administration Moves to Restore Felons’ Gun Rights,” WSJ

Aug. 17: “Former federal prosecutor is suing DOJ for 'unlawful and retaliatory' firing,” NPR

Aug. 31: “DOJ Sues 4 More States Over In-State Tuition for Undocumented Students,” Inside Higher Ed

Aug. 31: “DOJ shuts down nearly 300 truck-driving schools in 23 states amid fraud investigation,” CBS

---

##ENVIRONMENT, INTERIOR DEPARTMENT, AND ENERGY

Aug. 3: “Documents Undercut Trump’s Claims About Utah National Monument: President Trump said recreation in Bears Ears National Monument was virtually impossible,” NYT

Aug. 7: “Trump administration to pay German firm $1.2bn to halt US wind projects,” BBC

Aug. 7: “Trump nominates Project 2025 author to be Interior Department watchdog,” Hill

Aug. 11: “Federal government ends support for key Arctic climate report,” ABC

Aug. 12: “EPA to trim environmental justice rules,” E&E News

Aug. 14: “‘Devastating’: bulldozers plough through Big Bend national park as Trump’s border work pushes ahead,” Guardian

Aug. 14: “The EPA’s data on cancer risk from air pollution has gone dark,” Grist

Aug. 18: “The National Park Service Is Using Flock. Rangers Are Pissed,” 404 Media

Aug. 18: “Trump administration moves to open untouched national forests to logging,” NPR

Aug. 20: “Under Trump, Protected Wild Horses Are Going to Slaughter,” NYT

Aug. 20: “How Trump Is Trying to Crush California’s Environmental Policies,” NYT

Aug. 21: “A White House official helped an oil company advance its projects. Now she’ll lead its DC office.” E&E News

Aug. 25: “E.P.A. Moves to Curb Public Input on Data Centers,” NYT

Aug. 28: “Trump’s Quietly Working to Give Part of Yosemite to a Private Developer,” NOTUS

Aug. 30: “Trump EPA is manipulating safety data around a highly toxic flame retardant, advocates allege,” Guardian

---

##CULTURAL CONTROL

Aug. 1: “Justice Dept. Subpoenas Times Freelancer in Effort to Identify Sources,” NYT

Aug. 5: “West Point won’t fight ban on school policy limiting professors’ speech,” WaPo

Aug. 6: “Johns Hopkins president helped craft Trump’s new higher education framework,” Banner

Aug. 14: “DOJ Declares 3 Race-Based STEM Programs Unconstitutional,” Inside Higher Ed

Aug. 17: “Paramount seeks $1.88 billion bond from state AGs to cover costs of WBD merger delay,” CNBC

Aug. 18: “ABC and Disney sue FCC, alleging First Amendment violations,” NPR

Aug. 18: “Whistleblower says probes into antisemitism at colleges were ploys to harass and strip millions,” MS Now

Aug. 21: “Trump Threatens Suit Over Report He Doesn’t Like, Aiming to Intimidate a Critic,” NYT

Aug. 21: “Trump Administration Has a Different Way to Drain Harvard Funding,” NYT

>The funding, from the National Institutes of Health, currently lags about 18 percent behind the average pace of grants during the Biden administration, the analysis shows.

>Last year, Harvard successfully sued the Trump administration, after the government announced it had frozen more than $2.2 billion in 2025, from multiple federal agencies. But unlike then, when Trump officials made a public spectacle out of announcing the cuts, the N.I.H. is mainly delaying, reducing or rejecting grant requests, often leaving researchers and university leaders in the dark about what is happening.

Aug. 21: “Trump administration recommends stripping American Bar Association of law school oversight authority,” Politico

Aug. 26: “West Point professor fired after pushing back on limitations to teaching climate change, lawsuit says,” Stripes

Aug. 26: “NSF shrinks support for social sciences in prestigious graduate fellowship program,” Science

Aug. 27: “Stars and Stripes employees sue Pentagon over firings at military newspaper,” WaPo

---

##HEALTHCARE, REPRODUCTIVE RIGHTS, AND LGBTQ+ RIGHTS

Aug. 4: “Medicaid work rule leaves homeless people in the cold,” NPR

Aug. 6: “Trump’s New CDC Head Said ‘Abortion Surveillance’ Will Be A Critical Focus,” HuffPost

Aug. 7: “White House drafting executive order linking vaccines and autism,” ArsTechnica

Aug. 8: “Federal funds can't be used to give test strips to drug users, raising overdose fears,” NPR

Aug. 13: “New regulation prohibits federal Medicaid funds from covering gender-affirming medical care for young people,” KFF

Aug. 14: “Judge wrongly blocked DOJ investigation into 'gender-affirming' telehealth clinic, Ninth Circuit finds,” Courthouse News (Note that the Trump administration lost a similar case last month seeking the medical records of young patients at UPMC Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh)

Aug. 25: “Two unvaccinated people die of measles in Pennsylvania outbreak, health officials say,” NBC

Aug. 27: “Cyclospora outbreak linked to recalled iceberg lettuce tied to 3 more states, FDA says,” CBS; “FDA travels to Mexico a month after linking Taylor Farms to cyclospora outbreak,” WaPo

Aug. 27: “RFK Jr. said a Samoa trip had nothing to do with vaccines. New documents refute that,” PBS

Aug. 28: “Trump suggests cattle ranchers could bypass USDA-inspected meat plants,” WaPo

There are more than 120,000 Flock cameras across the U.S., each one logging the license plate number, make, model, color, and other identifying details of every vehicle that passes. According to the company, its automatic license plate reader (ALPR) systems span over 6,000 communities and record 20 billion plate scans every month -- all without a warrant. Because these scans can be shared nationally, a police department in North Carolina can pull up vehicle information captured thousands of miles away in California.

That expansive kind of power is easily abused. A police chief in Georgia used Flock cameras to harass and stalk his ex-girlfriend. An officer in Wisconsin accessed Flock’s database 179 times to track a woman he was dating and her ex-partner. Another officer in California used Flock to surveil his mistress, someone else she was dating, and his own wife. A police sergeant in Texas resigned in the middle of an internal affairs investigation into his use of Flock cameras to track a female officer.

In other instances, law enforcement agencies have used Flock to target vulnerable populations and advance a political agenda:

• The Johnson County Sheriff’s Office in Texas searched Flock’s database for the license plate of a woman suspected of taking an abortion pill. Some of the cameras that were accessed were located in Illinois and Washington state, both states that protect abortion access. (As a side note, the sheriff in that case, Adam King, was later indicted on unrelated charges of sexual harassment, witness retaliation, and tampering with evidence).

• Border Patrol accessed Flock data collected by Washington police departments to locate, arrest, and deport immigrants. Some law enforcement agencies enabled direct sharing with immigration authorities, in violation of state law. In other cases, Border Patrol was able to gain “back door” access to Flock data in Washington despite direct sharing not being explicitly enabled. Additionally, at least one law enforcement agency -- the Yakima County Sheriff's Office -- accessed Flock databases on behalf of federal immigration agencies.

• Similarly, an investigation by 404 Media found that police departments across the country were searching Flock databases on behalf of ICE. Flock Safety has since implemented a so-called “safeguard” that is meant to prevent officers from searching the database for immigration enforcement purposes in states like Illinois, which prohibit such data sharing. However, the safeguard can easily be subverted by entering an alternate, false reason for the search.

Next week is DeFlock’s National Week of Action Against ALPRs, with rallies in 390 cities across the country to raise awareness about ALPRS and demand the cancellation of existing contracts. Visit NoALPRS.com for more information.

##People tracking

Despite Flock’s claims that its products only track vehicles, some of their cameras can, in fact, track people. Flock’s AI-enabled Condor cameras are equipped with "people detection alerts" and "Guardian mode" to automatically zoom in on people and catalog their appearance. Contracting parties (like police departments) can then search Flock’s nationwide database for distinguishing features of people caught on Condor cameras. A review of these searches conducted by 404 Media found police departments across the country using Flock’s “FreeForm” search feature to find people based on race, gender, weight, clothing, and tattoos.

>Milford CT PD looking for “male with tattoos,” “male with brown hair,” and “woman blue shirt,” across more than a hundred cameras […]

>The California Highway Patrol looking for someone wearing a “gray shirt” across 274 cameras […]

>Chamblee GA PD searching 85 camera networks for “white woman wearing grey shirt, blonde hair, black shorts with blue and white shoes.” [...]

>The California Highway Patrol was “Looking for a white male about 6ft 1in tall, longer brown hair almost to his shoulders, slender build, will have been wearing blue jeans, boots with white paint stains on the toes and possibly carrying a black helmet.”

Flock intends its Condor cameras to be integrated with the company’s more commonplace ALRP cameras, connecting individual people to specific vehicles and tracking them across neighborhoods, cities, and states.

>Kevin Cox, a Flock consultant who used to work for the Grand Prairie, Texas Police Department, said in the webinar that he built an “intel center” with a high “density” of Flock cameras in that city. “I am passionate about this because I’ve lived it. The background behind video [Condor] with LPR is rich with arrests,” he said. “That rich experience of seeing what happened kind of brings it alive to [judges]. So video combined with the LPR evidence of placing a vehicle at the scene or nearby is an incredibly game changing experience into the prosecutorial chain of events.”

>“You can look down a tremendous distance with our cameras, to the next intersection and the next intersection,” he said. “The camera will identify people, what they’re wearing, and cars up to a half a mile away. It’s that good.”

In December of last year, journalists discovered that Flock left at least 60 of its Condor cameras exposed on the open internet, revealing the AI-powered people trackers are located in parks, playgrounds, parking lots, and suburban streets from Atlanta to Bakersfield.

>We watched Condor cameras zoom in on a woman walking her dog on a bike path in suburban Atlanta; a camera followed a man walking through a Macy’s parking lot in Bakersfield; surveil children swinging on a swingset at a playground; and film high-res video of people sitting at a stoplight in traffic. In one case, we were able to watch a man rollerblade down Brookhaven, Georgia’s Peachtree Creek Greenway bike path. The Flock camera zoomed in on him and tracked him as he rolled past. Minutes later, he showed up on another exposed camera livestream further down the bike path. The camera’s resolution was good enough that we were able to see that, when he stopped beneath one of the cameras, he was watching rollerblading videos on his phone. [...]

>After finding links to the feed, “immediately, we were just without any username, without any password, we were just seeing everything from playgrounds to parking lots with people, Christmas shopping and unloading their stuff into cars,” Jordan told me in an interview. “I think it was like the first time that I actually got like immediately scared … I think the one that affected me most was as playground. You could see unattended kids, and that’s something I want people to know about so they can understand how dangerous this is.”

---

##WHAT’S NEXT

###Uber Flocks

According to a recent report by 404 Media, Flock has been pitching a plan to turn Nexar dashcams used by Uber and Lyft into ALPRs to expand Flock’s database of license plate scans.

>Flock planned to use dashcams installed in hundreds of thousands Uber, Lyft, and delivery drivers’ vehicles to scan license plates those drivers travelled passed, essentially turning Uber and Lyft drivers into roaming surveillance vehicles, according to a Flock presentation shared with 404 Media. [...]

>Flock told 404 Media in an email it never executed the partnership with Nexar. But the presentation still shows Flock’s ambitious plan to conscript rideshare and delivery drivers to collect license plate data for its network. It is not clear whether Uber or Lyft, or drivers working for those apps, would have been aware of the data collection.

Flock’s planned army of surveillance Ubers comes as a different company, called BusPatrol, reportedly plans to turn school bus cameras into ALPRs and sell the data to law enforcement.

>BusPatrol, a company that claims to be the nation's leading provider of school bus stop-arm cameras, currently has over 40,000 AI-powered stop-arm cameras across 24 states. These cameras, which are permitted in at least 30 states, are mounted on school buses and are designed to capture images of vehicles illegally passing when the bus is stopped. [...] Now the company has plans to expand its revenue, data collection, and partnership with local law enforcement by turning its stop-arm cameras into ALPR cameras, according to the leaked BusPatrol documents.

###Electronic signal tracking

Italian aerospace and defense company Leonardo S.p.A. already makes and sells ALPRs in the U.S. under its subsidiary, Leonardo DRS. Now, the company is marketing a new technology that allows ALPRs to capture mobile phones, wearables, and other Bluetooth-enabled devices in passing cars.

According to Leonardo’s website, the technology, called ELSAG SignalTrace, “bridges license plate recognition data with sensor-captured device identifiers – such as those from mobile phones, Bluetooth wearables, and vehicle systems – to create a unique, trackable ‘electronic fingerprintʼ for investigative use.”

>As the devices emit signals, SignalTrace sites capture and correlate them together, along with LPR data if present. The data collected shows what group of devices are travelling together. Algorithms can determine which specific mix of devices are predictably moving together. That specific mix of devices—linked by common time stamps and locations—are described as an electronic fingerprint and can help develop leads that aid investigations.

>For example: while 70 cars in 100 may contain iPhones, only one will have an iPhone 13rev2, an Audi radio, a pair of Bose headphones, a Garmin sports watch, a key finder, and the license plate ABC-1234. The collection of data represented by these specific things is an electronic signature.

Essentially, Leonardo plans to turn its car tracking cameras into people tracking cameras by collecting the identifiers of all devices that pass by, tying it to specific license plates, and storing that data in its databases “for future queries and analysis.” Furthermore, SignalTrace can be used to identify you -- via your unique mix of devices -- even if you use an alternative method of transportation, like an Uber or a friend’s car.

##MAINE

On Monday, July 13, ICE officers shot and killed Johan Sebastián Durán Guerrero, a 26-year-old father from Colombia legally authorized to work in the United States.

Very little is known about the circumstances of the killing. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) claims that ICE agents were surveilling the home of an undocumented immigrant with a final order of removal when Durán left the residence in a vehicle. According to DHS, agents attempted a traffic stop and Durán tried to flee. Notably, DHS does not claim that the agents feared for their lives. Instead, it says the officer fired because he "fear[ed] for public safety." Durán was not the intended target of the arrest operation.

Eyewitnesses say that after Durán was shot in the head, he was still alive when agents pulled him from the vehicle and handcuffed him. “I tried to stop,” he reportedly said:

>Daniel Boucher was getting ready for work Monday morning when he heard what sounded like fireworks going off outside of his home near downtown Biddeford. He rushed to the window, where he said he saw an SUV trying to ram a small white car in the intersection. Moments later, agents in vests stopped the car and pulled the driver out.

>“He was bleeding profusely from the head,” Boucher said later Monday morning. “He was talking. He said, ‘I tried to stop.'” Boucher watched in disbelief as the man’s legs stopped moving as he lay on the ground. He believes he watched him die. [...]

>“He was saying he was trying to stop and then he died. Why? Because he was driving a car?” he said.

Durán’s family was present in the car when he was shot. Neighbors described the aftermath:

>Cecelia Humiston woke up Monday morning to commotion outside her Chapel Street apartment in Biddeford. The 22-year-old walked out and saw what appeared to be a person on the ground on Pool Street, then heard yelling from other neighbors and cries from a family in distress — two women and a young child.

>“She couldn’t have been older than three,” said Humiston, who has a 2-year-old son. “She was still in her Bluey pajamas.”

>Just minutes after a man was shot and killed, reportedly by federal immigration officials, Humiston saw who she believes was the victim’s daughter. She said the older of the two women yelled to law enforcement, “You took her dad, you took her dad!” [...]

>Humiston described the law enforcement officials as “rude,” and said they barricaded the family’s car from leaving. Another yelled at the little girl, who she said was trying to smell flowers.

---

##TEXAS

On Tuesday, July 7, ICE officers shot and killed Lorenzo Salgado Araujo, a 52-year-old construction worker from Mexico who had lived in the United States for 35 years.

According to a statement from DHS, Salgado Araujo “attempted to evade arrest,” “rammed an ICE law enforcement vehicle,” and “weaponized his vehicle in an attempt to run over an ICE law enforcement officer,” prompting an ICE agent to fire “in self-defense.”

However, eyewitness testimony and video evidence contradict the federal government’s account. Shortly before encountering ICE, Salgado Araujo had picked up three co-workers — Jose Trinidad Rojas, Daniel Tirado Pantoja, and Victor Salgado (Lorenzo’s brother) — on the way to work at a construction site. The three men, all being held separately in immigration detention, recounted the same version of events to the Washington Post:

>When the van accelerated as the light turned green, the unfamiliar vehicle pulled out onto the shoulder, accelerated and cut in front of Salgado Araujo, who was driving, and tapped on the brakes, the men said. That’s when Salgado Araujo made a U-turn. At that point, officers turned on their police lights, according to the testimony they gave the attorney.

>As the vehicle continued onto Canal Street, they proceeded slowly because of heavy construction on the roadway. The men told Balderas-Ibarra they were moving at no more than 5 mph on the road. They said ICE rammed their vehicles into the work van, but that at no point did Salgado Araujo use his vehicle to hit law enforcement’s cars.

>At one point, there was an ICE vehicle on each side of the van, the men told the attorney. […] An officer then jumped out of one of the vehicles, ran toward them from the side and yelled, “Stop!” He started firing from the passenger side of the van, hitting Salgado Araujo in the abdomen. Victor Salgado, the driver’s brother, said he felt the force of the firearm as the agent pointed his gun toward his brother. [...]

>Salgado Araujo was able to stop the van and place it in park, the men said, but the officer or officers continued to unload additional rounds from the sides of the vehicle. Rojas described the agents violently pulling Salgado Araujo out of the driver’s seat and throwing him to the ground. They put shackles on the men’s wrists and ankles. Victor Salgado said his brother was yelling for help as he was bleeding out.

Video evidence analyzed by the New York Times likewise does not show Salgado Araujo ramming an ICE vehicle or attempting to run over an officer. Security camera footage cobbled together from nearby businesses and residences depicts two unmarked SUVs chasing the white van and attempting to force it off the road. The van is then seen driving away as ICE officers exit their vehicles before leaving the cameras' field of view. The shooting appears to have occurred during that gap in coverage. The next available footage shows the van slowing to a stop as two agents approach to arrest the occupants.

As in the Maine shooting, Salgado Araujo was not the intended target of immigration enforcement and DHS claims none of the officers involved in the shooting were wearing body cameras.

---

##TENNESSEE

Members of a federal “crime-fighting” task force shot and killed two people in two separate incidents over the span of four days last week.

The so-called Memphis Safe Task Force, deployed in the city since October 2025, consists of hundreds of federal officers, including FBI, DEA, ATF, and Homeland Security Investigations agents, and over a thousand Tennessee National Guardsmen. While the federal government claims that the task force has reduced crime, data from the Memphis Police Department shows that crime had been steadily declining before the task force was created, reaching a “historic” 25-year low. Instead, the task force appears to be political punishment of a Democratic city, similar to what we saw in the Twin Cities but without the comprehensive media coverage.

Memphis residents report rampant racial profiling targeting the city’s Black and Hispanic population, widespread violations of First Amendment rights, and immigration arrests in every neighborhood.

>Among those who have reported being harassed: a ride-share driver stopped for not wearing a seat belt despite having one on as she drove a passenger to the airport; a pastor pulled over for looking lost as she left a church gathering; and, in a case of mistaken identity, a 72-year-old man roused from bed and marched out of his apartment while clad in only his robe and underwear. [...]

>“I really believe that if I didn’t have that birth certificate, I would be somewhere in a facility,” said Williams, recalling one of the armed federal agents approaching him aggressively to ask if he was from Ethiopia or Ghana. “If you’re not white, we’re just all going to be targeted.”

The first fatal shooting took place on Sunday, July 5. Two National Guard soldiers responding to reports of gunshots in the early morning hours claim to have seen Tyrin Johnson, a 20-year-old Black man, leaving the area carrying a handgun. According to local police, the guardsmen opened fire after Johnson turned toward them with his weapon. Johnson died at the scene.

It should be noted that it is legal to publicly carry a handgun in Tennessee. Johnson’s grandfather has called for the release of video evidence, disputing the official account and questioning whether deadly force was justified.

>Johnson, a former correctional officer with the Davidson County Sheriff's Office in Nashville, disputes that his grandson would have tried to fire a gun at U.S. guard members and that deadly force would be needed if he was running away. His grandson, he said, was “no hoodlum.”

>According to his grandfather, Tyrin Johnson carried a gun for protection after being “jumped” recently in Nashville and was likely wary about being attacked again over a murky social media feud.

The second person killed by the task force last week was Alfonso Ivy, a 47-year-old Black man shot by DEA agents serving a drug warrant at a hotel room. According to the U.S. Marshals Service, agents opened fire after Ivy pointed a handgun at task force members. Few additional details about the encounter have been made public.

• In May 2026, members of the task force also killed Darrin Pigram, alleging he reached for a weapon, and Jonah Neal, claiming he was armed and threatening self-harm.

Trump’s authoritarian makeover of D.C. continued in June, funded with money stolen from the National Park Service. In total, the 18 major construction projects Trump has undertaken during his second term carry a potential cost of more than $1 billion. What have taxpayers gotten in return? A gaping hole where the East Wing used to be, a lifeless paved Rose Garden, dead grass from a corrupt UFC fight on the White House lawn, and an algae-choked Reflecting Pool.

• To support my work, you can subscribe to the non-paywalled Keep_Track newsletter or contribute via Patreon or Venmo/Paypal.

###Reflecting pool

June 16: “Algae thwart Trump’s $14.2m attempt to turn reflecting pool ‘American flag blue’,” Guardian

June 16: “Workers dump hydrogen peroxide into reflecting pool to fight algae,” Hill

June 19: “Blue Paint Seen Peeling Off From Bottom Of Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool ,” Forbes

June 22: “Company owned by Trump donor won $1.7 million no-bid Reflecting Pool cleaning contract,” CBS

>The no-bid contract to install a "Nano Bubble" filtration system went to Green Water Solutions, an Ohio-based company whose owner is listed on federal contracting documents as "JJ Cafaro Investment Trust." The president and CEO of that trust is identified as John J. Cafaro on Federal Election Commission filings…A businessman and real estate developer, Cafaro pleaded guilty to campaign finance violations in 2010 over donations to his daughter's congressional campaign. Nearly a decade earlier, he pleaded guilty to conspiring to bribe Democratic Rep. James Traficant, and cooperated with prosecutors.

June 22: “A dead duck was seen in the Reflecting Pool. Then two more were found nearby.” WaPo; “D.C. Officials Are Investigating Dead Ducklings in the Reflecting Pool,” NOTUS

June 23: “Trump Blames Vandals for Reflecting Pool Problems. Internal Records Tell Another Story.” NYT

June 25: “Reflecting Pool now under surveillance as Trump blames vandals for green algae,” Reuters

###Ballroom

June 4: “Ballroom donors won $50B in contracts after giving to Trump project, watchdog group finds,” WaPo

June 5: “Trump could also tear down the Statue of Liberty, DOJ argues in defense of White House ballroom: Justice Department lawyers said the courts are powerless to intervene in the dispute over the former East Win,” Politico

June 16: “Trump said no taxpayer money would be spent on the ballroom. A contractor’s invoices show otherwise. An internal cost estimate in March by the project’s contractor put its cost at $600 million, with half coming from tax dollars,” WaPo

June 18: “Trump administration quietly shifts $352m in Secret Service funds for White House ballroom,” Guardian

June 30: “Trump is using a $500M no-bid contract to build his White House ballroom,” WaPo

###Arch

June 10: “Trump's arch construction to run 20 hours a day for 2 to 3 years, documents show,” ABC

June 19: “Trump’s arch — or any federal building — can flout D.C. height law, administration argues,” WaPo

###Kennedy Center

June 12: “Washington National Opera sues Kennedy Center over $17 million in withheld donations,” Courthouse News

June 12: “Kennedy Center Board Fights Court Order To Remove Trump’s Name,” Forbes

June 24: “Judge orders Trump administration to explain tarp obscuring Kennedy Center,” Guardian

###Other

June 4: “Trump administration spending $5M to restore, gold-plate Lincoln Memorial statues,” The Hill

June 11: “MAGA 250! $103M in Federal Contracts Flow to Trumpified ‘Freedom 250’ Events,” Public Citizen

June 15: “D.C. groups sue over Trump’s planned ‘Garden of American Heroes’,” WaPo

June 17: “Trump plan would fence Lafayette Square near White House long used by tourists, protesters,” WaPo

June 24: “Trump’s Unreal Destruction of White House Lawn Exposed,” Daily Beast

June 26: “Trump ripped up the walkway between the West Wing and the mansion to replace it with polished African granite carved in Italy. ‘Paid for by me,’ he claimed. Except that's not true. Taxpayers paid $689,232.” Atlantic

June 28: “Trump’s vision for White House park: 47 trees to mark his presidency,” WaPo

June 28: “Work on East Potomac Golf Links overhaul will begin Sept. 1, Trump says,” WaPo; “Photos from Trump’s golf course tour reveal extensive overhaul of East Potomac,” WaPo

>From what can be seen on the plan, the administration seems to have abandoned the short par-3 course that remained in the conceptual rendering that Burgum released in May. If built as shown, the redesign would reduce East Potomac from its current three-course, 36-hole layout to a single 18-hole championship course. It would also expand golf into roughly 50 acres of parkland now used for picnicking, fishing, cycling and other recreation.

June 30: “Trump begins construction of unannounced White House helipad,” WaPo

---

##CORRUPTION, PARDONS, AND SELF-DEALING

June 3: “Obscure Group With Trump Ties Plans to Route Funds to His Allies for Legal Fights: A little-noticed nonprofit founded by Trump donors has been raising millions of dollars to provide legal assistance to the president’s allies, including those who may want to sue the government over claims of unjust prosecution,” NYT

June 6: “Trump pardons former Republican Rep. Stephen Buyer who was convicted of insider trading,” ABC

June 7: “Ten Trump Officials Sit On Up To $44 Million In Record SpaceX IPO,” Yahoo

June 8: “Trump Administration Killed Criminal Investigation of GOP Senator’s [Jim Justice] Coal Companies,” ProPublica

June 9: “An Indian Billionaire Was Targeted by Trump. Then He Poured Money Into a Startup Secretly Backed by Donald Trump Jr.” ProPublica

June 9: “A Yearslong Effort to Woo Trump Culminates With the World Cup: For the past year, FIFA…has leased an office on the 17th floor of New York’s Trump Tower that has sat all but empty. The rent goes to President Trump’s family business” NYT

June 10: “US Department of Justice formally moves to drop Halkbank case,” Reuters

June 11: “Trump Isn’t Giving Up on His Slush Fund: Despite insisting that a $1.776 billion “anti-weaponization” fund has been scrapped, the administration is quietly assuring allies that payout plans remain on track.” Atlantic; “Trump officials refuse to sign document affirming end of slush fund,” Courthouse News

June 14: “UFC to pay White House fighters in crypto issued by Trump company,” Guardian

June 16: “Trump’s Family Crypto Firm Is Expected to Get Federal Banking Privileges,” NOTUS

June 16: “DOJ assists Musk’s xAI in NAACP air pollution suit, asks court to toss case,” CNBC

June 19: “Trump Unveils New Air Force One, Gifted by Qatar, After Reportedly Spending $900M on Modifications,” People

June 21: “Trump Administration Shuttered a Criminal Probe Into Fraudster’s Clemency,” NYT

>The investigation, which has not been previously reported, had begun examining whether improper payments were made to help facilitate the commutation awarded to David Gentile, a private equity executive who was convicted in a $1.6 billion scheme that defrauded thousands of mostly mom-and-pop investors, some of whom lost their retirement savings…Among the evidence they gathered was information about jailhouse communications in which Mr. Gentile discussed making payments of $2.5 million or more to people or companies to help facilitate his clemency

June 23: “Albanians are protesting a real estate deal with ties to Jared Kushner & Ivanka Trump,” NPR; “Kushner project being developed on disputed land, Albanian villagers say,” Reuters

June 25: “Trump’s Son-In-Law Present at Meeting With Gulf Leaders for Some Reason,” Rolling Stone

June 28: “Trump Cut a Billion-Dollar Mining Deal. His Sons Stand to Profit.” NYT

June 29: “Trump bought as much as $5 million in Axon stock before ICE sought $220 million Taser deal,” CNBC

June 30: “President Donald Trump’s reported income soared to more than $2.2 billion in 2025, as the president took in more than $1.4 billion from cryptocurrency, digital tokens and related partnerships,” WaPo

---

##DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE AND NATIONAL INTELLIGENCE

June 9: “Newly released ‘Broadview Six’ grand jury transcript shows prosecutors vouched for case, dismissed skeptical jurors,” CBS

June 12: “FBI searches offices of Ohio voting-rights group,” OCJ; “FBI probe of Ohio voting rights group expands to include an affiliated national advocacy network,” VoteBeat

June 13: “Trump Again Picks Personal Lawyer for a Top Job, as U.S. Attorney in Manhattan,” NYT

June 15: “California Gov. Gavin Newsom says Department of Justice is investigating him, his wife,” ABC

June 17: “Trump administration asks judge to halt first reparations program for Black people in US,” Hill

June 17: “Kash Patel accused of directing $1m to ‘slush fund’ to pay bonuses to loyalist agents,” Guardian

June 19: “Bill Pulte assumes role of US acting director of national intelligence,” Guardian; “Top intelligence agency begins mass firings under new Trump appointee, source says,” NBC

June 19: “Video contradicts FBI agent's account of shooting during gun trafficking sting in Country Club Hills,” CBS

June 21: “Tulsi Gabbard, her guru and the mysterious messages that helped shape her political career,” WaPo

June 26: “Bill Pulte Picks G.O.P. Election Operative for Spy Agency Job,” NYT

June 29: “The Trump administration is demanding that American intelligence officials turn over the names of all foreign espionage targets, including suspected spies and potential recruits, to create a master list,” NYT

June 30: “White House task force aims to boost Trump’s election claims with declassified intelligence documents,” NBC

---

##DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE, WAR, AND FOREIGN POLICY

June 1: “Pentagon bars journalists from its press office, saying it has become a ‘classified space’,” AP

June 2: “Pentagon appoints convicted January 6 rioter to sensitive counter-terrorism role,” Guardian

June 3: “Pete Hegseth removes all women and some Black service members from navy promotion list,” Guardian; “Female Navy officers say they fear a career cap after Hegseth cuts women from promotions list,” AP

June 4: “DOD Officially Drops 180 Faiths From Military's Recognized Religion List,” Military.com

June 4: “Pentagon likely to cancel missile deal with Germany over fears of Russia,” Politico

June 7: “Trump drags feet on drone deal with Ukraine, mystifying experts,” Hill

June 10: “Top Pentagon Official Admits Boat Strike May Have Killed Victims of Human Trafficking,” Intercept

June 10: “Analysis of Satellite Image and Videos Suggest Precision U.S. Strikes on Iranian Water Facility,” NYT

June 11: “India Says U.S. Strike on Tanker in Iran Blockade Killed Three Nationals,” WSJ

June 12: “U.S. Plan Is Said to Pull a Third of Fighter Jets It Provides NATO for Europe,” NYT

June 12: “Trump says alleged leader of Tren de Aragua gang killed in U.S. strike,” NBC; “In killing gang leader, Trump brings war-on-terror tactics to Latin America,” WaPo

June 17: “Musk’s AI, Grok, was used in strikes in Iran, reveals Pentagon,” Le Monde

June 22: “Flu cases rise to 222 at Texas base in outbreak blamed on Hegseth scrapping of vaccine mandate,” Hill; “Military services again requiring recruits to get flu shots as Air Force outbreak grows,” ABC

June 22: “US strike on an alleged drug boat kills 2, leaves 6 survivors, in the Caribbean,” AP (note: no mention that the survivors were rescued)

June 24: “Senior US General in Europe set to retire amid Hegseth’s review of US support for NATO allies,” CNN

June 24: “White House requests $87.6 billion supplemental spending for Iran war, farm aid,” CNBC

June 27: “Trump’s Board of Peace plans to grant itself sweeping immunity, documents show,” Guardian

June 29: “Trump Convert Marc Andreessen Gets Spot on Pentagon Policy Board,” Bloomberg

---

##DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY

June 1: “We Sued ICE to Get Its Spyware Contract. The Agency Is Redacting Essentially Everything,” 404 Media

June 3: “Louisiana ICE Facility Mistreated Immigrants, Federal Investigators Say,” NYT

June 3: “Zapata County landowners say border wall contractors bulldozed property before agreements were signed,” TPR

June 5: “ICE’s Plan to Let Cops Around the Country Scan Faces to Verify Immigration Status,” 404 Media

June 5: “ICE will no longer report deaths of detainees who have recently been released from custody,” NBC

June 5: “Spike in border wall spending goes mostly to 2 firms with GOP, White House ties,” WaPo

June 8: “Georgian migrant is 50th person to die in ICE detention during immigration crackdown,” ABC

June 8: “The Trump Administration Moves to Strip Citizenship From 17 People in Expansion of Aggressive Denaturalization Efforts,” Time

June 10: “ICE wasted millions, endangered detainees in largest immigration facility,” NPR

>At least three people have died while in custody at Camp East Montana. One of the deaths — detainee Geraldo Lunas Campos — was ruled a homicide by the El Paso County Medical Examiner's Office…”evidence associated with the incident was missing or destroyed," the report said.

June 12: “Feds Deport ICE Detainee Organizer to Ecuador ,” American Prospect

June 13: “US deports migrants, including Iranian women, to Central African Republic,” Le Monde

June 13: “A woman’s hypothermia death in Pittsburgh after her release from ICE custody is ruled a homicide,” AP

June 16: “ICE removed detainee protections after private outreach from top contractor: Geo [Group] asked that ICE remove lines saying contractors needed to follow state and local laws around the treatment of detainees,” WaPo

June 17: “ICE Appears to Be Buying Immigrants’ Tax Identifiers from a Data Broker,” 404 Media

June 18: “DOJ Invokes McCarthy-Era Law to Strip Somalia-born Minnesotan of Citizenship,” TPM

June 19: “Memo by Rubio Approved Detention of Immigrant Who Criticized Trump Ally,” NYT

>Franklin Humberto Coral Garrido, a progressive online activist known as Beto Coral, is a supporter of President Gustavo Petro of Colombia, a leftist who has clashed with President Trump. He has publicly criticized Abelardo De La Espriella, a right-wing candidate backed by Mr. Trump. Mr. Coral was arrested by immigration authorities on Tuesday, the same day Secretary of State Marco Rubio issued a memo determining that he was deportable from the United States.

June 22: “DHS proposes 75% increase in fees for US citizenship paperwork,” ABC

June 22: “Judge blocks Biden-era immigration rule hours after Texas AG and Stephen Miller’s group sued DOJ,” Texas Tribune

>A federal judge in Texas blocked a Biden administration rule on Monday that allowed immigration judges to indefinitely close a deportation case against immigrants on the same day Texas sued to stop the rule…Lawsuits usually take several months to years to settle, but in this case O’Connor ruled late on Monday in favor of Texas after the Department of Justice filed its response saying it agreed with Paxton’s office.

June 24: “Public Records Show FBI Secretly Extracted Data From ICE Protesters’ Phones,” Mother Jones

June 24: “Mexican man dies in ICE custody in Laredo, at least the 20th fatality this year,” Texas Tribune

June 25: “Trump administration plans to deport more than 500 migrant children within days, senator warns,” Hill

June 26: “Election worker says federal officers confronted her at polls over social media post criticizing ICE,” AP

June 26: “UN calls for ‘prompt investigations’ of deaths in US immigration custody,” Guardian

June 27: “Trump says he’ll nominate former Oklahoma state trooper Lance Schroyer as ICE director,” CNN

---

##DEPT. OF ENERGY AND ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

June 1: “Trump Administration to Dismantle Ocean Monitoring System,” NYT; “Trump administration ditches plan to close a critical ocean monitoring system after furious bipartisan backlash,” CNN

June 3: “A judge said the Trump administration can’t dismantle a weather research center. The damage may already be done.” Politico

June 4: “Trump directs hundreds of millions of dollars to support coal using emergency powers,” Reuters

June 4: “U.S. revokes endangered species listing for Permian Basin lizard, resolves Texas attorney general lawsuit,” Reuters

June 10: “Trump administration will bypass environmental laws for border project in Big Bend National Park,” AP

June 17: “Trump Administration to Pay $765 Million to Cancel 4 More Wind Projects,” NYT

June 18: “Tohono O’odham tribe sues Trump officials over border wall plans,” Border Report

June 23: “Court rules that challenge to Utah national monuments can continue,” KSUT

June 29: “Trump Administration Pays Duke Energy $129 Million to Halt Offshore Wind Farm,” NYT

June 29: “Trump officials to slash public input on fossil fuel drilling on federal lands,” Guardian

June 30: “After bold pledge, EPA shelves microplastics testing in U.S. drinking water,” LA Times

---

##CULTURAL CONTROL: EDUCATION, MEDIA, AND HISTORY

June 2: “Administration Argues for Power Over Philadelphia Slavery Memorial,” NYT

June 2: “CBS News fires ‘60 Minutes’ correspondent Scott Pelley after clash with new producer,” NBC; “Scott Pelley says Bari Weiss wanted 60 Minutes to say Renee Good was ‘driving toward officer’,” Guardian

June 4: “DoJ investigates 15 medical schools over alleged discrimination in admissions,” Guardian

June 4: “Park Service orders removal of ‘woke’ quotes at Boston’s Bunker Hill monument,” WaPo

>A visitor at the site complained to park staff about a quote related to women’s suffrage as being “woke” feminist ideology, the people familiar said, and the visitor later sent an email complaint.

June 10: “DOJ Investigates CUNY’s Black Male Initiative,” Insider Higher Ed

June 11: “Justice Department says UC Davis medical school discriminated in admissions; school strongly disagrees,” ABC

June 12: “Paramount-WBD merger wins approval from DOJ,” CNBC; “Top DOJ officials reportedly cleared Paramount-Warner Bros. merger before staff lawyers, who were ‘leaning’ toward antitrust lawsuit, could object,” Variety

June 17: “The U.S. National Park Service has removed at least 51 exhibits from 38 sites to carry out President Donald Trump's executive order targeting displays that ‘inappropriately disparage Americans past or living,’" Reuters

June 18: “Third Circuit greenlights Trump removal of exhibit on Washington's slaves,” Courthouse News

June 26: “Yale Seeks Trump Administration Deal as It Faces Sprawling Investigation,” NYT

---

##GENDER, REPRODUCTIVE RIGHTS, AND HEALTHCARE

June 2: “Trans Minors Sue to Stop Justice Department Access to Medical Records,” NYT

June 4: “RFK Jr. seeks to peek at Americans’ medical records for clues on autism and vaccines,” CNN

June 5: “Trump Judge Refers DOJ Lawyers for Discipline in Trans Hospital Subpoena Case,” TPM

June 13: “Trump admin eliminates health care programs for LGBTQ+ veterans,” Advocate

June 17: “Trump Administration Quietly Redefines Embryos As Children In Obscure Grant Program,” HuffPost

June 17: “Federal Trade Commission sues leading transgender health group,” Guardian

June 18: “Trump administration to phase out HIV funding for South Africa,” Politico

June 20: “DOJ memo stokes fear among disability advocates of a return to institutionalization,” NPR

June 26: “'It's coming from the top': Trump’s EEOC abandons trans man’s workplace discrimination case,” Advocate

June 26: “Federal health agency cancels most of its teen pregnancy prevention grants,” Stateline

---

##MISCELLANEOUS

• “White House Seeks to Impose Political Test on Billions in Federal Grants,” NYT

• “White House Secretly Swayed Board Meant to Stop Civil Service Politicization,” NYT

• “Trump administration expands options for firing federal employees deemed ‘unsuitable’,” Federal News

• “After FTC ruling, US Supreme Court turns away labor board member fired by Trump,” Reuters

A Trump-appointed judge in Texas sentenced eight participants in the Prairieland anti-ICE, anti-fascist protests to a combined 450 years in prison on Tuesday. Chief U.S. District Judge Reed O’Connor defended the extraordinarily harsh sentences by saying that he intended to "send a message to anyone who shares a similar ideology.” Those sentenced include Savanna Batten and Elizabeth Soto, who were each given 50 year prison terms despite never being accused of helping plan the demonstration or committing any act of violence, and Daniel Sanchez Estrada, who was sentenced to 30 years in prison for moving leftist zines at the request of his wife after she was arrested.

• To support my work, you can subscribe to the non-paywalled Keep_Track newsletter or contribute via Patreon or Venmo/Paypal.

The severity of these punishments stands in stark contrast to sentences imposed on figures involved in the January 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol. Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes was sentenced to 18 years in prison and Proud Boys leader Enrique Tarrio was sentenced to 22 years in prison for their roles in planning and carrying out the insurrection. Both men were later pardoned by President Trump and are now free.

This disparity reflects the Trump administration’s broader effort to criminalize dissent — whether through NSPM-7’s classification of leftwing protest as “Antifa” domestic terrorism or the deployment of the National Guard to detain civilians who dare touch the botched Lincoln Memorial reflecting pool in D.C. As the president’s political influence wanes, we should expect the Department of Justice to bring more cases like Prairieland in an attempt to shore up the burgeoning authoritarian regime.

---

##TWIN CITIES

Last week, federal prosecutors indicted 15 individuals on charges of “conspiracy to impede or injure federal officers” for their participation in protests against ICE mass deportations in Minnesota. According to the Department of Justice, the defendants were members of a direct action group known as Direct Action Minnesota (DAMN), which the indictment describes as a “decentralized coalition of working-class people engaged in various forms of community defense against the current Federal Occupation happening within the wider metro area, and against state and a far-right violence more broadly.”

Notably, none of the defendants are accused of causing injury to an officer. The majority simply exercised their First Amendment rights by organizing protest activities on Signal, sharing federal agents’ locations, and photographing Department of Homeland Security license plates. One of the indicted, Isaac Sant, is cited for writing an article on CrimethInc., which the government characterizes as “an anarchist blog,” about his experience at the protests.

Other activity the indictment seeks to criminalize includes social media posts like: “Welcome to America 2026 where the Second Amendment is the only thing that’s going to keep you fucking protected from literal fucking Nazi gun men that are killing innocent people in the street with impunity.” It is worth noting that Minnesota is an open-carry state for gun owners with permits.

In fact, the indictment's most concrete allegation of physical danger involves a defendant who allegedly brake-checked and sideswiped a federal vehicle. But, as we’ve seen time and time again, the Trump administration has a history of falsely accusing protestors and others of using their vehicles to attack federal agents.

---

##CHICAGO

Six individuals — Michael Rabbitt, Andre Martin, Catherine Sharp, Brian Straw, Joselyn Walsh, and then-congressional candidate Kat Abughazaleh — were indicted by a federal grand jury for allegedly conspiring to impede a federal law enforcement officer. According to the indictment, the defendants “surrounded” a government vehicle, prevented the car from entering the Broadview ICE facility, “banged aggressively” on it, and “scratched the body” with the word “PIG” (though prosecutors never ascribed the vandalism to a specific person).

• Video of the incident

U.S. attorney for the Northern District of Illinois Andrew Boutros ultimately dropped the charges in May after the court learned of prosecutorial misconduct including manipulating the grand jury makeup, “vouching” for the case, and communicating with jurors outside the courtroom.

“I have read hundreds — if not thousands — of grand jury transcripts involving prosecutors who are the most junior of prosecutors to several U.S. Attorneys who appeared before the grand jury,” Judge April Perry said. “I have never seen the types of prosecutorial behavior before a grand jury that I saw in those transcripts.”

• Grand jury transcripts

The defendants are now seeking permission to conduct discovery to reveal how the Department of Justice came to file charges against the six defendants, as well as evidence of a “cover-up” of the prosecutorial misconduct that ended the case.

>In a statement Thursday, Chris Parente, a lawyer for one of the former Broadview Six defendants, said the group is seeking evidence about how the indictment was secured because “the public has a right to know exactly what happened in the cover-up of the grand jury misconduct by the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Chicago.”

>“We also need to know whether or not the orders to pursue this sham political prosecution came from Washington, and how closely officials in the main Department of Justice were tracking or encouraging developments in this case,” he said.

---

##SPOKANE

Last summer, prosecutors charged nine individuals in Spokane, Washington, for allegedly participating in a “conspiracy to impede” federal law enforcement officers. According to the indictment, Former City Council President Ben Stuckart posted a call to action on social media after ICE detained a Venezuelan and a Colombian asylum seeker. Stuckart accompanied both men, who had work visas, to a routine immigration appointment when they were detained.

>“If you care at all about these illegal detainers you meet me at 411 West Cataldo by 2 p.m. I am going to sit in front of the bus. Feel free to join me,” he wrote. “The Latino community needs the rest of our community. Not tonight, not Saturday but right now!!!!”

Hundreds of people responded, some using their bodies to block transport vehicles from leaving the immigration office. More than 30 were arrested by Spokane police but only nine were later indicted on federal conspiracy charges: Stuckart, Justice Forral, Mikki Hatfield, Erin Lang, Collin Muncey, Thalia Ramirez, Bobbi Silva, Bajun Mavalwalla, and Jac Archer. Prosecutors allege all nine participated in blocking federal vehicles; Forrall and Lang were also accused of letting air out of the tires of a transport bus; Ramirez was accused of using a box cutter to slash the tires of a transport van; Hatfield was accused of deploying an “incendiary device" (which appears to have been a firework) in the direction of police; and Silva was accused of striking a federal officer from behind.

Six defendants — including Stuckart, Hatfield, Lang, Muncey, Ramirez, and Silva — ultimately accepted plea agreements that reduced the felony conspiracy charge to a misdemeanor. Archer, Forral, and Mavalwalla chose to fight the charges and were convicted by a jury last month.

Yet the trial was marked by significant evidentiary restrictions. Jurors were never informed that at least one of the detainees whose arrest sparked the protest was later released after a judge determined that his detention had been unlawful.

>“It’s rough these days,” [Stuckart] said. “The most disappointing thing of all this is we did do the right thing. The courts released Joswar because they illegally detained him.”

>Rodriguez Torres’ release was barred from being brought up at trial. “It’s too bad because that is getting lost in the story. It’s not about protesting – it’s about protecting your neighbor. When someone is illegally taken by the government, what are you supposed to do?”

The jury also did not hear that former acting U.S. Attorney Richard Barker resigned rather than sign the DOJ’s indictment. “None of the agents were hurt,” Barker said, “and none of the protesters were hurt either.”

>“This was the first conspiracy prosecution in Eastern Washington history under 18 U.S.C. Section 372 – a Civil War-era law dusted off to punish members of the Spokane community who stood up for two young men who were unlawfully detained by ICE,” Barker told The Spokesman-Review in a statement.

• Further reading: One sheriff’s deputy who was on the scene was captured on body camera saying “I want to hit someone with a stick today,” while an ICE agent who testified at the trial also spewed racist and anti-LGBTQ+ rhetoric in Facebook post

“The cruelty is the point.” So goes the common saying to explain the Trump administration's nonsensical policies with no apparent purpose other than harming people. It is a worthy adage, but misses an important point: cruelty is often a means to a broader political and economic project that serves two of the most powerful constituencies in America today - white Christian nationalists and the billionaire elite.

For the billionaire class, the goal is to preserve wealth and power within an increasingly insulated elite. Everyone else is reduced to a disposable lower class of worker drones, laboring to support the lifestyles and profits of the elite. White Christian nationalists similarly want to keep wealth concentrated among the worthy - white Christian males, particularly those who have demonstrated their godliness by already being blessed with wealth. Everyone else is distributed in a strict social hierarchy defined by skin color and gender.

Both groups get what they want through the Trump administration: the creation of a permanent underclass of disfavored people, whose labor, precarity, and diminished rights reinforce the privilege and dominance of those above them.

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---

##Reduce upward mobility

The first step in creating a permanent underclass is limiting the ability of “undesirable” groups to move up in the world. For White Christian nationalists, this means creating conditions that shut out minorities, women, and LGBTQ+ people from well-paying, high status jobs. The billionaire elite is pursuing a parallel goal, aiming to maintain a labor pool dependent on low income, precarious employment. In both cases, concentrated power depends on keeping large portions of the population economically insecure and politically diminished.

These factions also believe the underclass will be disproportionately left-leaning individuals. As Palantir CEO Alex Karp said earlier this year, artificial intelligence and related technologies "disrupts humanities trained, largely Democratic voters, and makes their economic power less,” adding that new technology will have the biggest negative impact on “highly educated, often female voters.”

Destroy education

• Dismantle the Department of Education.

• Expand school vouchers, redirecting taxpayer money away from public schools to private schools that discriminate against LGBTQ+ individuals and minorities.

• Restrict financial aid and student loans, ensuring education and higher job opportunities are only accessible to the wealthy.

• Target cuts so that minority-serving colleges and programs that are “female-coded” (e.g., nursing) are significantly curtailed.

• Cripple the Education Department’s Office for Civil Rights’ ability to ensure equal access to education regardless of race, sex, disability, or age: Last year, 90% of the more than 9,000 new complaints of discrimination were dismissed.

Establish curriculum that limits independent thought

• Eliminate courses that teach critical thinking, historical context, and cultural understanding (e.g., the humanities).

• Require schools teach American exceptionalism to inculcate discrimination (e.g., whitewashing slavery) and instill conservative ideals like “small government” and deregulation. For example, last year, Iowa lawmakers used taxpayer money to create the “Center for Intellectual Freedom” to counteract “overwhelmingly liberal viewpoints” in higher education. University students are now forced to take the Center’s classes in order to graduate.

Purge “undesirables” from high-ranking positions

• Resegregate the federal workforce: 75% of Black officials at independent agencies have been fired under Trump, according to a lawsuit filed last month.

• Resegregate the military: The Trump administration has fired all of the highest-ranking women and African Americans in the military, resulting in a Joint Chiefs of Staff that is entirely made up of white men. Additionally, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth has blocked the promotions of women and Black individuals, while attempting to ban transgender people from service.

• Encourage corporations to end initiatives that increased diversity. "Progress toward gender-balanced corporate boards is slowing and, in some areas, reversing," said Heather Spilsbury, CEO of 50/50 Women on Boards, a nonprofit that advocates for greater diversity on corporate boards.

• Weaponize the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) to target “reverse discrimination” in order to increase white representation in positions of power.

##Eliminate social welfare and other aid programs

The second component of creating a permanent underclass is dismantling social welfare programs, ensuring that the lower classes have to spend more of their limited income on daily needs and, therefore, (1) cannot accumulate wealth and (2) are more desperate for dangerous, unfulfilling, and low-paying employment.

For many white Christian nationalists and billionaire elites, austerity policies serve an additional purpose. Austerity measures, deceptively framed as rooting out fraud or reducing the deficit, often function as a form of eugenics. People like Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. and DOGE architect Elon Musk represent this approach: the former believing in the old eugenics of disease culling the weak and unworthy from society, and the latter embodying the new eugenics of longtermism, which devalues present human suffering in pursuit of speculative future outcomes.

• Impose strict limitations on SNAP (food benefits), including requiring vulnerable populations to comply with work requirements. As of the latest estimates, nearly 400,000 people were kicked off of SNAP in Arizona, nearly 500,000 people lost coverage in Georgia, and California, Texas, and Florida each saw approximately 250,000 people lose SNAP benefits.

  • Federal Reserve Bank of New York: “We find a remarkable increase in food insecurity, particularly among lower-educated and lower-income households and households with young children…[increases] were generally larger for non-whites, lower-income and lower-educated households.”

• Curtail affordable health insurance: The so-called One Big Beautiful Bill is projected to increase the number of people without insurance by 10 million in 2034.

• End programs that clean up the environment while simultaneously reducing regulations on polluters. Low-income and minority communities are disproportionately impacted by pollution, resulting in higher rates of illness and disease.

• Cut funding for child care costs, forcing more parents (usually women) out of the workforce.

• Institutionalize non-producers/non-consumers: People in the underclass who are unable to work will inevitably end up homeless as the social safety net is destroyed.

  • Impose strict limitations on housing aid: The Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) is proposing to institute work requirements and time limits for receiving housing assistance
  • Kick otherwise eligible people out of housing: HUD proposed a rule that would ban housing assistance for families with mixed immigration status, which, if enacted, would kick U.S. citizens and green card holders off housing aid programs if they live with an undocumented family member. HUD moved last week to limit what assistance animals are allowed in federally regulated housing, forcing disabled tenants to choose between their service animals or eviction.
  • Cut disability aid: The Trump administration has proposed a rule that would cut or end support for as many as 400,000 social security recipients who live with family.
  • Restrict who can stay at federally-funded homeless shelters, pushing more people onto the streets: HUD released a proposed rule that would ban transgender people from shelters that align with their gender identity.
  • Criminalize homelessness: Trump signed an executive order last year that threatens federal criminal prosecution of programs that offer harm reduction services and encourages the involuntary institutionalization of people who are homeless. State officials are dutifully enacting laws that put Trump’s order in action. For example, the Louisiana legislature has passed a bill that makes it a crime to sleep in public spaces, punishable by 6 months in jail. Those who are convicted of sleeping outdoors can be given the option to avoid jail time by entering into a mandatory treatment program for at least 12 months, but must pay for the treatment themselves. If they cannot afford treatment, they are required to perform unpaid labor for the government or a community organization to pay off their debt. Failure to do so can result in more jail time (where inmates, again, perform unpaid labor).

##Enforce strict gender roles

The goals of both white Christian nationalists and the billionaire elite also align with respect to gender roles. Christian nationalists embrace a patriarchal hierarchy, believing women are meant to be housewives submissive to their husbands. Evangelist Doug Wilson, supported by Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, exemplifies this worldview. Wilson has argued that women should not have the right to vote and has promoted male-dominated family and political structures.

Many members of the billionaire class have likewise demonstrated hostility toward gender equality, whether through personal beliefs, workplace practices, or support for reactionary social movements. Jeff Bezos, the fourth richest man in America, presided over a culture “rife with sexism” and allowed senior leaders to be “consistently inappropriate with women” at Blue Origin, according to whistleblowers. Larry Ellison, now the second richest person in America, settled a lawsuit alleging his company Oracle underpaid 4,000 female employees. And of course, Elon Musk, the richest man in America, has fully embraced the far right crusade of pronatalism, which holds that motherhood is a woman’s biological destiny and civic duty.

• Limit educational opportunities, career advancement, and social welfare programs (see above) that enable women to achieve economic independence, thereby increasing financial dependence on male partners.

• Restrict abortion access, which increases the economic and social burdens associated with childbearing and childrearing. According to the Guttmacher Institute, “nearly half (49%) of abortion patients in the United States are poor (living below the federal poverty level) and another 26% are low income.”

• Enact policies that allow the policing of gender, such as bans of transgender people in sports and private spaces, which use the law and vigilantism to enforce a social hierarchy. By promoting anti-trans ideology, leaders give permission to harass and oppress anyone who does not conform to traditional gender ideals (including cisgender women who are deemed insufficiently feminine).

• Restrict gender-affirming healthcare in an attempt to legislate transgender people out of existence. Christian nationalists tend to use religion to justify bigotry against the LGBTQ+ community, while many billionaires push [anti-LGBTQ+ causes](https://www.bangordailynews.com/2026/01/16/politics/elections/republican-megadonor-uihlein-maine-transgender-sports-referendum/0 because they find the community to be a convenient scapegoat to divide the lower classes (“fight culture wars, not class wars”).

##Redistribute wealth upwards

• Nearly $2.3 trillion of the One Big Beautiful Bill’s tax cuts flowed to the richest 10 percent of Americans through cutting the top marginal rate and estate tax, special-interest carveouts, and pass-through deductions.

• Trump’s tariffs imposed substantial costs on American households, with estimates showing families paid more than $1,700 on average between February 2025 and January 2026. Those higher prices fell most heavily on low-income households, which spend a larger share of their income on consumer goods. An analysis by Yale’s Budget Lab projected that the tariffs would push between 650,000 and 875,000 additional Americans into poverty. Yet while consumers absorbed the costs, tariff refunds have largely benefited major corporations, with some of America’s largest companies receiving billions of dollars from the federal government while ordinary households receive nothing.

• Direct lucrative federal tax contracts to regime-allied corporations, redistributing taxpayer money to the wealthy. In just the last month, Elon Musk’s SpaceX has been awarded over $6.3 billion in contracts.

• Payout taxpayer funds to ideological allies. The Trump administration has settled lawsuits worth millions of dollars with figures associated with election conspiracy theories and efforts to overturn the 2020 election, including Carter Page and Michael Flynn. Additionally, the Department of Justice has given the family of insurrectionist Ashli Babbitt nearly $5 million. The proposed $1.776 billion slush fund to pay out victims of “weaponization” would likewise redistribute taxpayer money to Jan. 6 insurrectionists, many of whom are Christian nationalists.

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##Conclusion

The informal alliance between white Christian nationalism and the billionaire elite is not merely a matter of shared political preferences or policy goals. As events in Belfast demonstrated yesterday, it can have violent consequences in the real world. Elon Musk, who is on the brink of becoming the world's first trillionaire, used his social media platform to incite a race war against black and brown immigrants in Northern Ireland. "You either fight back or you die," Musk posted alongside demands from far-right activist Tommy Robinson that all businesses close ahead of mass protests.

The planned “protests” looked more like a lynch mob, with masked men going door to door in minority areas, pulling people from their homes and setting their houses ablaze. “What you're seeing is a race-based pogrom,” Claire Hanna, Belfast MP and leader of the Social Democratic & Labour Party, told the BBC. “We are seeing men going door to door asking to get the foreigners out based exclusively on the colour of their skin.”

This is the danger of obscene wealth. Billionaires have the power to buy the world’s biggest social media platform, America’s largest media networks, and even elections - then use their resources to empower racists, neo-Nazis, and nationalists to commit violence. The alliance between concentrated wealth and ethnonationalist politics is not a theoretical concern. It is a force actively shaping political life, public discourse, and social conflict around the world.