Stories

Browse major news stories and see what officials have said.

Sep 19, 2026

Seven Weeks Before the Midterms, California Makes It a Felony to Seize Ballots or Block a Mail Ballot's Delivery — Newsom Signs Thirteen Bills Saying Trump "Won't Stop Until He Can Exert Dictatorial Control Over Your Free Vote," While the Secretary of State Calls the Package "a Shield Against Multiple Attacks"

On September 19, 2026, Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a package of thirteen election bills at the Democracy Center of the Japanese American National Museum in Los Angeles, framing them as California's answer to federal interference in the November midterms. The package creates new felonies for seizing ballots, election records or voting equipment before certification (AB 282), for directing workers to interfere with the delivery or return of a mail ballot (SB 259) and for theft of election materials (SB 1418); restricts law-enforcement activity near polling places; requires election officials to notify the attorney general and secretary of state of any warrant or subpoena touching election records (AB 1664); expands ballot drop-off hours and language access; and tightens rules on AI-generated and deceptive campaign content. The signing followed the Justice Department's orders to states to preserve 2024 election records, its notices to two chief election officers that they were "under investigation," and its plan to send roughly 1,000 federal monitors to the midterm polls. Republican legislators argued existing law already criminalized ballot theft, and the state sheriffs' association objected that one bill gave the attorney general too much power.

“The Trump Administration is waging an all-out assault on our elections and voting rights, and California refuses to stand idly by.”
Rob Bonta (D-CA) · Sep 19, 2026

The Justice Department Withdraws a Clinton-Era Opinion and Tells Every Agency of Every State — DMVs and Public Universities Included — to Report Undocumented Immigrants to DHS or Put $76 Billion in Welfare Money at Risk

On Wednesday, September 2, 2026, the Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel published an opinion withdrawing a 1998 Clinton-administration opinion and sharply expanding which parts of state government must report people they know to be unlawfully present in the United States to the Department of Homeland Security. The 1996 welfare-reform law conditions participation in Temporary Assistance for Needy Families and Supplemental Security Income on reporting known undocumented immigrants to federal immigration authorities. The 1998 opinion read that duty narrowly, as binding only the state agencies that actually administer TANF and SSI benefits. The new opinion reads it to reach every agency of any state that takes the money — motor vehicle departments, public universities, and state and local bodies that never touch a welfare file. The stakes are large: federal TANF block grants run past $16.4 billion a year and federal SSI benefits exceed $60 billion. The Office of Legal Counsel said states that do not want the obligation are free to stop taking the funds. The opinion arrived days after a coalition of Democratic attorneys general sued to stop DHS from getting TANF data at all, and it is expected to draw its own legal challenge from Democratic-led states.

“Our clarification does not impose new obligations on states. It simply restores the original meaning of the statute Congress enacted and ensures that DHS receives the information it is legally entitled to.”
Joshua Craddock (R-DC) · Sep 2, 2026

San Diego County Votes 3-2 to Throw ICE and Border Patrol Off Its Firing Ranges — the Elected Sheriff Bans ICE but Keeps CBP, and the Acting ICE Director Calls It "Political Obstruction"

On August 18, 2026, the San Diego County Board of Supervisors voted 3-2 to terminate the agreements that let U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and U.S. Customs and Border Protection train at the San Diego Regional Firearms Training Center on Alta Road in Otay Mesa — a county-owned facility a few miles from the Mexican border — and at a Navy facility the county leases. The proposal came from Supervisors Paloma Aguirre and Terra Lawson-Remer, who framed it as a refusal to let county property underwrite federal immigration raids. Supervisor Monica Montgomery Steppe provided the third vote; Republican Supervisor Jim Desmond voted no, arguing that badly behaved agents are an argument for more training, not less. Separately and on the same day, Sheriff Kelly Martinez — an independently elected officer who controls the range's day-to-day operations — announced she was barring ICE from sheriff's training sites and firearms qualifications, but would continue to allow CBP access, citing the harm to cross-border communities if the roughly 1,700 CBP officers who qualify there had to go elsewhere. CBP Commissioner Rodney Scott called the board's vote "unprecedented." On August 20, Acting ICE Director David Venturella issued a statement saying the agency "will not allow political obstruction" to keep its officers from training.

“ICE will not allow political obstruction to prevent our officers and agents from receiving the training they need to safely and effectively enforce the laws of the United States and carry out President Trump's mandate to restore integrity to our immigration system.”
David Venturella (R) · Aug 20, 2026

One State Sues Another Over an ICE Agent: Minnesota Takes Greg Abbott to Court for Refusing to Extradite the Officer Charged With Shooting Into a Minneapolis Home

On August 18, 2026, Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison sued Texas Gov. Greg Abbott to force him to extradite Christian Castro, an ICE agent charged in Hennepin County with four counts of second-degree assault and one count of falsely reporting a crime. Castro is accused of firing his gun at the front door of an occupied Minneapolis home on January 14, 2026, during Operation Metro Surge, striking a Venezuelan man in the leg, and then lying about the circumstances of the shooting. A Hennepin County judge found probable cause on both sets of charges. Castro was arrested in Texas on May 29, 2026. Gov. Tim Walz's extradition warrant has sat with Abbott's office since June 3 unsigned. Extradition between states is ordinarily a ministerial act under the Extradition Clause of the Constitution and the federal Extradition Act; Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty said she had "never heard of anything taking this long." Abbott, asked about the suit at an Austin news conference the same day, tied his refusal to unrelated grievances against Minnesota, saying he did not trust Gov. Walz and would not respond "until they step up and do what's right." Ellison warned that Castro could walk free as early as August 26 if the warrant is not signed. The case is a rare state-versus-state clash arising directly from federal immigration enforcement.

“A Hennepin County District Court judge found probable cause to believe that ICE agent Christian Castro committed felony-level assault when he allegedly fired his gun into a Minnesota home with people inside it and hit someone. A Hennepin County District Court judge also found probable cause to believe that Castro falsely reported a crime because he allegedly lied about the circumstances surrounding the shooting. Now, Governor Abbott is trying to shield Castro from being held accountable for these serious charges by refusing to extradite him to Minnesota. Abbott’s refusal to extradite Castro is unconstitutional and violates federal law and Texas law. I will not stand for that, so I’m taking Abbott to court. Christian Castro will stand trial in Minnesota.”
Keith Ellison (D-MN) · Aug 18, 2026