Stories

Browse major news stories and see what officials have said.

Aug 28, 2026

After Losing Four Times in Court, the Administration Appeals the Order Forcing It to Keep Paying for the $16 Billion Gateway Tunnel — a Project Trump Declared "Terminated" Because It Was Money "Schumer Has Worked 20 Years to Get"

On Friday, August 28, 2026, the Trump administration filed notice that it will appeal to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit a ruling by U.S. District Judge Jeannette Vargas that permanently barred the Department of Transportation from freezing federal funding for the Gateway Hudson Tunnel Project. Judge Vargas ruled on June 29, 2026 that the freeze violated federal law. It was the administration's fourth straight loss in the case, which New York and New Jersey brought in February 2026. Gateway is a $16 billion program to bore new rail tunnels under the Hudson River and rehabilitate the existing 116-year-old North River Tunnel, the single two-track bottleneck carrying roughly 200,000 Amtrak and NJ Transit passengers a day between New Jersey and Penn Station. The federal share is $6.88 billion under a Capital Investment Grants full funding grant agreement signed before Trump returned to office. The fight began on October 16, 2025, when Trump said of the money that Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer had spent two decades securing, "Tell him it's terminated." The Transportation Department publicly disputed that the program was cancelled — Secretary Sean Duffy had called the projects "important" days earlier — but the department stopped reimbursing the Gateway Development Commission for completed work. By early February 2026 the commission had gone more than four months without payment and construction stopped, idling roughly 1,000 union workers. New York and New Jersey sued on February 3, 2026; a court blocked the freeze days later, and DOT released $235 million in withheld reimbursements on February 18. Work resumed. Judge Vargas made the block permanent on June 29. The New York–New Jersey congressional delegation has been on this continuously — a January 28, 2026 letter led by Schumer, Kirsten Gillibrand, Cory Booker and Andy Kim warning the funds had to move before the February 6 stoppage, and a February 6 press conference in which nine members of the New Jersey delegation denounced the freeze as political retaliation. Rep. Rob Menendez said flatly that Trump froze the money "to target Democratic lawmakers." Reaction to the August 28 appeal was near-uniform among the region's Democrats, who noted the administration's unbroken losing record. No Republican member of the New York or New Jersey delegation is on record supporting the appeal.

“Mr. President: keep the project on track, and support the hundreds of thousands of hard-working Americans who rely on this train line each and every day to get to work, appointments, and see friends and loved ones.”
Josh Gottheimer (D-NJ) · Aug 28, 2026

The Third Circuit Rules 2-1 That the Speech or Debate Clause Does Not Shield Rep. LaMonica McIver — Sending the Only Member of Congress Indicted by Trump’s Justice Department to Trial Ten Weeks Before the Midterms

On August 26, 2026, a divided panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit ruled that Rep. LaMonica McIver (D-NJ) is not immune from prosecution on charges arising from a May 2025 congressional oversight visit to the Delaney Hall immigration detention facility in Newark. The 2-1 panel allowed two of three counts of impeding and interfering with federal officers to proceed to trial and remanded the third to the district court. Writing for the majority, Judge Cindy Chung held that the charged conduct — physical contact with two officers — was "unambiguously non-legislative" and that the Speech or Debate Clause immunizes legislative acts only. Judge Thomas Ambro dissented in part, writing that the Constitution does not permit the Executive to wield prosecutorial discretion in retaliation against disfavored legislators, and would have allowed McIver discovery into the government's motives. McIver, who is running for reelection while under indictment, said the court "got it wrong" and that the ruling "chills" congressional oversight authority. The charges were originally brought by Alina Habba, whose appointment as U.S. Attorney for New Jersey the same court later found unlawful. Rep. Frank Pallone (D-NJ) and New Jersey Gov. Mikie Sherrill both said publicly they stand with her. No Republican member of Congress was on record about the ruling in the first 48 hours.

“I continue to stand with my friend LaMonica. Trump weaponizing the Department of Justice to target members of Congress simply for doing their jobs is straight out of his corruption playbook. It's a brazen, unlawful abuse of power and a direct attack on congressional oversight.”
Frank Pallone (D-NJ) · Aug 26, 2026

Two More Deaths Tied to Newark's Delaney Hall ICE Jail; Senate Republicans Block Booker's Bid to Close It as ICE Stops Reporting Deaths That Happen After Release

Delaney Hall, the 1,000-bed private ICE detention facility in Newark operated by GEO Group, recorded two more detainee deaths in the space of two weeks in the summer of 2026 — the second and third connected to the facility in less than a year. Edwin Jovanny Lopez Cornejo, a 41-year-old Salvadoran national from Plainfield, died in ICE custody at Delaney Hall on the first weekend of August. His family said he had been denied medication. New Jersey's Democratic officials — Gov. Mikie Sherrill, Sen. Cory Booker, Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman, and Rep. Analilia Mejia — demanded answers and renewed calls to close the facility. On August 6, Booker went to the Senate floor to seek unanimous consent for a measure forcing Delaney Hall's closure. Sen. Eric Schmitt (R-Mo.) objected, blocking it, and argued that the Democrats' diagnosis of the detention system was "ideological." A third death surfaced separately, and only because a member of Congress disclosed it. Jose Chajon-Raxon, a Guatemalan man arrested by ICE on July 18, was treated for "seizure-like activity" a day later, taken to a hospital, and released from ICE custody on July 22 before dying. ICE had recently dropped a Biden-era rule requiring it to review and report detainee deaths occurring within 30 days after release, and DHS did not disclose the death until confirming it on August 12 after Rep. Rob Menendez (D-N.J.) revealed it. DHS said that "per ICE policy, when an individual is no longer in ICE custody then ICE will no longer be responsible for monitoring or reviewing deaths." Menendez and Rep. LaMonica McIver (D-N.J.) called the policy change a deliberate accountability loophole. All nine Democrats in New Jersey's House delegation signed a letter to DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin and Acting ICE Director David J. Venturella demanding answers. Delaney Hall was already the subject of an existing oversight fight: in May 2026, Sen. Andy Kim was pepper-sprayed outside the facility and Sherrill was denied entry during a detainee hunger strike. More than 50 immigrants have died in ICE custody since the start of the administration.

“ICE is killing people on American streets and in detention centers across the country. They can try to evade accountability, but the American people deserve answers and transparency, which is exactly what I intend to deliver alongside my House Democratic colleagues.”
Robert Menendez (D-NJ) · Aug 12, 2026