Stories

Four Armed ICE Agents Show Up at a Sacramento Immigration Law Firm With a List From Washington and Ask to Tour the Offices "For Beds" — Then Threaten to Come Back at 3 A.M. and Breach the Windows

On the morning of Friday, August 14, 2026, at least four armed ICE officers arrived in a convoy of vehicles at the Morris Law Group, an immigration law firm in the North Natomas neighborhood of Sacramento. Staff say the agents told them they had a list from Washington, D.C. that named the building's address as the primary mailing address for a large number of people they planned to arrest, and asked to tour the office looking for beds. The firm serves as a mailing address for clients working through the asylum and citizenship process — a standard arrangement in immigration practice, and the reason its address appears repeatedly in federal records. Employees turned the agents away for lacking a judicial warrant. According to the firm, the agents stayed in the parking lot for roughly an hour, and one threatened to return at 3 a.m. and breach the windows to force entry. The Department of Homeland Security's account is that officers approached "an unmarked door" they believed was a target address and left once they realized it was a law firm — an account the firm disputes, noting its signage and the length of the standoff. California's two senators announced investigations. Adam Schiff called the attempted warrantless entry unconscionable; Alex Padilla said he does not put anything past the administration. Sacramento City Council member Lisa Kaplan, whose district includes the firm, called it a direct assault on the rule of law. On August 27, 2026, Schiff and Padilla formally demanded a federal investigation into the operation.

“The attempt by ICE to target an immigration law firm with an illegal search in District 1 is a flagrant abuse of power meant purely for harassment and intimidation and a direct assault on the rule of law.”

A 4-Foot-11 Man Walking to Work in Arlington Is Tasered by ICE and Wakes Up With a Brain Bleed — Then the Ankle Monitor ICE Fitted Him With Blocks the MRI His Doctors Ordered

At about 6:30 a.m. on August 11, 2026, José Mejía Hernández, 45, was walking to work in Arlington, Virginia when two trucks pulled up and men got out and ran at him. He did not know who they were, according to his attorney, and he ran. He believes he was hit in the back with a stun device. He remembers nothing after that. He woke in a hospital with a brain hemorrhage, blackened eyes, facial lacerations and cuts requiring stitches — and two ICE officers at his bedside, who his lawyer Carlos Jurado says never left, meaning he was never given a private moment with his doctors. He was discharged within 72 hours, fitted with a GPS ankle monitor and handed immigration forms. When doctors ordered an MRI more than a week later to measure the bleeding and swelling in his brain, the metal ankle monitor made the scan impossible, and ICE refused to remove it. "Mr. Mejia Hernandez is 4'11," Jurado said. "He's 125 pounds. This man is not a Division 1 athlete." The Department of Homeland Security disputes the account. It said Mejía Hernández "attempted to flee from the scene requiring ICE to use necessary force to gain control of the situation," and called it "FALSE" that he was unconscious and woke in a hospital bed, saying officers rendered aid and asked the responsive individual if he was okay. The incident occurred a day after an ICE agent pointed a loaded gun at U.S. citizen Carolina Molina a few miles away in Falls Church — an encounter her dashcam contradicted DHS's account of — and Rep. Don Beyer (D-Va.) said he was "certainly very concerned that it's the same group of ICE agents running the corridor along Columbia Pike." Beyer called the injuries "extremely disturbing" and told constituents to "exercise extreme caution," saying ICE agents in Northern Virginia "are disappearing people, and they are all too frequently becoming out of control or violent." Arlington's elected prosecutor and county board chair both said publicly that they were investigating what they could. Arlington Commonwealth's Attorney Parisa Dehghani-Tafti said "no one is above the law — not any individual, not law enforcement, and not federal officials." County Board Chair Matt de Ferranti said ICE does not communicate with the county about its operations at all.

“We’re certainly very concerned that it’s the same group of ICE agents running the corridor along Columbia Pike.”

ICE Agent Points a Gun at a U.S. Citizen in Northern Virginia; Her Dashcam Video Contradicts the DHS Account

On Monday, August 10, 2026, ICE officers conducting what the Department of Homeland Security described as a targeted enforcement operation in the Bailey's Crossroads area near Falls Church, Virginia, drew a firearm on Carolina Molina — a U.S. citizen, Northern Virginia native and licensed professional counselor who performs psychological evaluations in immigration cases. Molina says she was driving between immigration attorneys' offices dropping off business cards when she saw agents making arrests, and that she shouted at them from her car. DHS said in a statement that an "anti-ICE agitator began to drive her car in circles around our ICE officers and then attempted to harm officers by weaponizing her vehicle against them — all in an attempt to help illegal aliens get away," and that officers stopped her vehicle fearing for their safety. Molina's dashcam footage, which she released and which went viral on August 12, does not show her driving at the officers; a masked agent is seen approaching her window with a gun pointed at her, telling her "you almost ran us over." Molina was not arrested or charged. Fairfax County's Mason District Supervisor Andres Jimenez said the federal account "does not match the video." Northern Virginia's House delegation responded within a day. Rep. Don Beyer (D-VA-8), whose district includes Falls Church, said his office had contacted Molina and that he would demand "answers and consequences." Rep. James Walkinshaw (D-VA-11), who represents most of Fairfax County, called it a product of ICE's broken accountability system. Rep. Suhas Subramanyam (D-VA-10), in whose district Molina lives, tied the encounter to a national pattern of armed confrontations between ICE agents and American citizens. The incident landed as ICE was promising to have every field officer equipped with a body camera by the end of August — a rollout already under scrutiny over provisions letting agency leadership withhold footage after serious injuries or deaths in custody.

“Carolina Molina is not only a constituent, she’s a mother. She’s a wife, she’s a daughter, she’s a sister. If not for her dash cam on her car, I don’t know what would have happened to Carolina Molina. In so many situations there is not a camera, and it’s the ICE officers sometimes making up stories about the person they have harassed or intimidated or pulled a gun on.”

Grassley and Ron Johnson Say the FBI Used a Fake Classification Marking — "Round River" — to Wall Off Biden Family Records From Congress, and Demand Blanche, Patel and Clayton Release Them

In a letter dated August 17, 2026, Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley and Sen. Ron Johnson asked Attorney General Todd Blanche, FBI Director Kash Patel and Director of National Intelligence Jay Clayton to release records tied to "Operation Round River," an FBI effort that whistleblowers have said sought to discredit derogatory information about Hunter Biden as disinformation ahead of the 2020 election. The senators' central allegation is procedural: documents obtained by Grassley's office carry classification banner markings that list "Round River" itself as a classification code. Grassley wrote that this made it appear the FBI under then-Director Christopher Wray was treating Round River as a Special Access Program when, by every account the committee has received, it was not one — the practical effect being to bury the material in a compartment neither Congress nor the public could reach. The senators asked for the underlying records to be declassified to the fullest extent permitted by law, including a December 2019 email. As of publication no responsive statement from the Justice Department, FBI or ODNI had been reported, and no Democratic member of the Judiciary Committee had responded on the record.

“To date, the available records cause serious concerns about how federal law enforcement and the Intelligence Community used its resources to downgrade allegations of criminality relating to the Biden family apparently without sufficient investigation. The records also cause concern about how federal records were stored and managed.”

Senate Confirms Jay Clayton as Director of National Intelligence on a Party-Line 51-47 Vote

The Senate confirmed Walter "Jay" Clayton III as Director of National Intelligence on the evening of Tuesday, July 28, 2026, by a party-line vote of 51-47 with no Democrats voting in favor. The Senate Select Committee on Intelligence had advanced the nomination 9-8 on July 21. Clayton, a former SEC chairman and U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, replaces Bill Pulte, whose temporary appointment following Tulsi Gabbard's resignation had drawn sharp Democratic criticism. Majority Leader John Thune and Intelligence Committee Chairman Tom Cotton pointed to Clayton's prosecutorial record, including terrorism cases and the indictment of Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro. Democrats objected to his committee testimony, particularly his answers about subpoenas issued in connection with New York Times reporting and about the 2020 election; Sen. Ron Wyden said there were credible allegations Clayton had provided false testimony. Vice Chairman Mark Warner, who had worked with Clayton at the SEC, said he came away from the process with serious reservations about whether Clayton would resist political pressure.

“Jay Clayton’s record inspires confidence in the type of DNI that he will be.”

Administration Admits in Court It Canceled $7.6 Billion in Clean Energy Grants Based Solely on Recipients’ States Voting for Harris

In a July 15, 2026 filing in a class action lawsuit, the Trump administration acknowledged that the Department of Energy sent the Office of Management and Budget a list of more than 600 grants recommended for cancellation drawn from recipients in states that Kamala Harris won in 2024 and that are represented by two senators who caucus with Democrats. OMB terminated 284 of those grants in October 2025, totaling roughly $7.6 billion across hundreds of clean energy projects. The filing stated the terminations were made "based solely on the political identity of the grant recipient's state." Affected projects were located in California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Vermont and Washington. The admission contradicted repeated public assertions by Energy Secretary Chris Wright that the cuts were routine "business decisions" about whether projects were a good use of taxpayer money. Democrats seized on the filing when it was reported on July 25, accusing the administration of weaponizing federal spending to punish voters in states that opposed the president.

“The cancellations were "business decisions" about whether the projects were a good use of taxpayer money, and the projects were canceled because they did not adequately advance the nation’s energy needs.”

Trump Orders "Warning Signs" Outside the Smithsonian's American History Museum

On July 24-25, 2026, President Trump signed an executive order, "Restoring Trust in the Smithsonian Institution," directing the National Park Service to install temporary signage on public sidewalks outside the National Museum of American History warning visitors about what the order calls the "ideological capture" of the museum. The order cites a Domestic Policy Council report asserting that Smithsonian leadership "does not present American history as a shared national inheritance to be taught and celebrated, but instead views American history as a 'prime tool' to advance ideas of social justice and the radical transformation of our society." Museum director Anthea Hartig and Smithsonian Secretary Lonnie Bunch rejected the report's characterization at a July 21 congressional hearing. House Administration Committee Democrats, led by ranking member Joseph Morelle (D-NY), issued a 16-page counter-report titled "The White House Campaign to Seize Control of the Smithsonian and Rewrite American History." Republicans on the panel backed the order, with Rep. Brandon Gill (R-TX) calling for Hartig to be fired.

“This EO is a clear political overreach, driven by an ideological agenda to rewrite American history.”

A UN Fact-Finding Mission Says There Are "Reasonable Grounds" to Believe the United States Committed War Crimes in Iran — Including the Strike on a Girls' Elementary School in Minab That Killed About 120 Children — Six Months After Trump Said "That Was Done by Iran" and the Pentagon's Own Investigation Stayed Secret

On September 17, 2026, the independent international fact-finding mission on Iran, commissioned by the UN Human Rights Council, reported that it had found "reasonable grounds" to believe the United States committed war crimes in two strikes during the opening of the February 2026 war — a pair of attacks the mission says killed at least 178 civilians. The central finding concerns the February 28 strike on the Shajareh Tayyebeh elementary school in the southern city of Minab, where Iranian officials say about 120 schoolchildren, most of them girls between 7 and 12, were among roughly 168 to 175 people killed. The mission concluded the strike was an indiscriminate attack causing loss of civilian life, amounting to a war crime under international law. The same report accuses Iran's government of crimes against humanity in its crackdown on anti-government protesters. The finding lands on a question US officials have refused to answer for six months. On March 7, aboard Air Force One, President Trump blamed Iran for the school bombing without evidence — "No, in my opinion, based on what I've seen, that was done by Iran" — while Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, standing nearby, declined to echo him, saying only "We're certainly investigating." Open-source analysts identified a US Tomahawk cruise missile in footage of the strike; the US is the only combatant in the war that fields Tomahawks. A preliminary US assessment reportedly found the United States "likely" responsible but not deliberately targeting the school. Congress has pressed for the Pentagon's findings all year without success. In March, Tim Kaine led more than 40 senators demanding a "swift investigation"; in July, Kirsten Gillibrand led 24 colleagues demanding the Department release the investigation it reportedly completed in April. As of the report's publication, the White House, State Department and Pentagon had not responded to requests for comment, and the Pentagon investigation remains unreleased. Stances below are relative to the finding of US responsibility and the demand for public accountability: "support" marks officials pressing for the investigation and its release, "oppose" marks officials attributing the strike elsewhere or resisting the accounting.

ICE Pepper-Sprays Senator at Delaney Hall as NJ Governor Denied Entry Amid Detainee Hunger Strike

Over Memorial Day weekend 2026, more than 300 detainees at Delaney Hall — a 1,000-bed private ICE detention facility in Newark, NJ operated by GEO Group — launched a hunger and labor strike protesting spoiled food, inadequate medical care, and lack of due process. New Jersey lawmakers attempted oversight visits and were blocked from entering; on May 26, Sen. Andy Kim was pepper-sprayed by ICE agents in riot gear as he tried to de-escalate clashes between protesters and officers outside the facility. Governor Mikie Sherrill was formally denied entry when she attempted to inspect the facility on May 25. Sen. Cory Booker, Rep. Rob Menendez, Rep. LaMonica McIver, and Rep. Frank Pallone also visited and condemned conditions. DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin flatly denied a hunger strike was occurring and accused the lawmakers of staging a "political stunt" for "fundraising clicks."

“What I witnessed and experienced today was shameful. Delaney Hall is a failure; it's this administration's failure. The only way to make this right for our communities is to shut it down and make sure the failures we've seen never happen again.”

House Votes to Hold Bill and Hillary Clinton in Contempt

The House Oversight Committee voted on January 21, 2026 to hold former President Bill Clinton and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in criminal contempt of Congress after they defied subpoenas issued as part of the committee's investigation into the government's handling of the Jeffrey Epstein case. The subpoenas had been approved unanimously and issued more than five months earlier. The vote on the former president was 34-8 with two members voting present, and a number of Democrats joined Republicans in support — a bipartisan margin Chairman James Comer (R-KY) singled out afterward. The matter was referred to the full House. The standoff ended without prosecution: both Clintons subsequently agreed to sit for transcribed, filmed depositions, with Hillary Clinton scheduled for February 26, 2026 and Bill Clinton for February 27, 2026.

“I'm very happy that we had a bipartisan vote today to hold the Clintons in contempt of Congress, and this shows that no one's above the law.”