The announcement by Trump and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem says the council, established first in 2002, will provide “real-time, real-world and independent advice on homeland security operations.”
The
list includes right-wing political commentator Mark Levin, as well as
Giuliani, who helped lead efforts to try and overturn the 2020 election
results and was later sued for defamation by two Georgia election
workers; a lawsuit he lost before a jury in Washington, DC.
“This new-look, America First HSAC will draw upon a deep well of public and private sector experience from homeland security experts committed to fulfilling President Trump’s agenda,” the press release on the new council states.
The appointments also include Corey Lewandowski, a Trump campaign leader in 2016 who is currently a chief adviser to Noem.
In 2018, Lewandowski featured in Sacha Baron Cohen's prank comedy series Who Is America?, discussing the presidency and views of Donald Trump with Baron Cohen's alter-ego, conspiracy theorist Billy Wayne Ruddick Jr. During that interview, Lewandowski suggested that one "had to respect" white supremacists while discussing the racist and violent 2017 Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, Virginia.[115]
In September 2021, Lewandowski was removed from his role as chairman of a super PAC called Make America Great Again Action after reports of sexual harassment accusations from a donor.[116][117]
That same month, conservative media outlet American Greatness reported that Lewandowski was having an extramarital affair with South Dakota governor Kristi Noem, for whom he had long been a political advisor. Noem called the report a "disgusting lie", saying, "these old, tired attacks on conservative women are based on a falsehood that we can't achieve anything without a man's help."[118][119][120] In September 2023, the New York Post and the Daily Mail published similar reports about Noem and Lewandowski, which Noem's spokesman denied.[121][122]
A coalition of immigrant rights, faith and pro-democracy organizations presented a letter with 12,000 signatures Tuesday to the National Sheriffs' Association Conference in Florida, urging them to protect public safety rather than work with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
The letter urges sheriffs agencies to refrain from immigration-related issues, and stay away from what the organizers consider as the dangers of President Donald Trump's “anti-immigrant rhetoric and harmful immigration agenda.”
About 30 people attended a rally outside Broward County Convention Center in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, where the annual sheriffs' association conference was taking place.
“When sheriffs take on the responsibility of federal immigration authorities, it undermines your core mission, stretches already limited resources, and most importantly, causes real harm," the letter said.
“I haven’t seen it like this since Covid,” manager Lorena Marin said in Spanish as cumbia music played on loudspeakers. A US citizen, Marin even texted customers she was friendly with, encouraging them to come in.
“No, I’m staying home,” a customer texted back. “It’s really screwed up out there with all of those immigration agents.”
Increasing immigrant arrests in California have begun to gut-punch the economy and wallets of immigrant families and beyond. In some cases, immigrants with legal status and even US citizens have been swept into Donald Trump’s dragnet.
The 2004 fantasy film A Day Without a Mexican – chronicling what would happen to California if Mexican immigrants disappeared – is fast becoming a reality, weeks without Mexicans and many other immigrants. The implications are stark for many, both economically and personally.
“We are now seeing a very significant shift toward enforcement at labor sites where people are working,’ said Andrew Selee, president of the nonpartisan Migration Policy Institute. “Not a focus on people with criminal records, but a focus on people who are deeply integrated in the American economy.”
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement is holding around 59,000 detainees in facilities across the country, likely setting a record high as the Trump administration aggressively expands nationwide immigration arrests, according to internal government data obtained by CBS News.
On Monday, June 23, ICE's detention level was — on paper at least — at over 140% capacity, since Congress last allocated 41,500 detainee beds for the agency, the figures show.
The federal statistics show nearly half — or 47% — of those currently detained by ICE lack a criminal record and fewer than 30% have been convicted of crimes, a sign of the widening scope of President Trump's escalating crackdown on illegal immigration. On the campaign trail, Mr. Trump vowed to expel dangerous criminal migrants, though top officials in his administration have said no one in the U.S. illegally will be immune from deportation.
Recent deportations of immigrants have caused a nationwide outrage leading to widespread protests and a heightened sense of fear among immigrants and their families. This blog post summarizes some of the major themes associated with an upcoming webinar Wednesday June 25, featuring this author team that focuses on the implications of these deportations and the larger climate on Latino immigrants. The panel will make reference to their recently fielded (April to May, 2025) Latino Immigrant National Attitude Survey (LINAS) (n=1,000) which provides a timely snapshot to how immigrants are faring in the first five months of a second Trump administration.
The webinar will highlight findings related to the deportation policy’s implications for everyday life among Latino immigrants, along with how the threat of deportation is shifting the behavior of these vulnerable communities. Below are some of the highlights that the panel will be discussing in more detail:
- The survey makes clear that Latino immigrants are feeling the effects of this shift in political and policy climates, with over half (53%) of Latino immigrants reporting that they worry a family member or close friend will be deported, and nearly one-in-five (19%) reporting that they worry a great deal and all the time.
- A robust 69% of the sample feels that there is “a lot” of anti-immigrant, and anti-Hispanic, sentiments, policies, and attitudes in the United States. Similarly, 82% of the sample believe that there is either some or a lot of discrimination directed at immigrants right now.
- One of the most well-documented implications of the increasing threat of deportation is the shift in behavior associated with fear of being deported or putting friends or family in harm’s way. According to the survey, 16% of Latino immigrants have avoided contacting police to report a crime or calling the police due to the deportation plans of the Trump administration and the current political environment. Similarly, one-in-10 Latino immigrants have avoided going to their children’s school or interacting with educational professionals in their children’s school.
The panel will also examine the policy attitudes of Latino immigrants as reflected in the survey, as well as the implications of the current political climate on the health and political behavior of Latino immigrants. Below are some of the data points and emerging political views of Latino immigrants that the panel will discuss.
- The president’s campaign suggested their deportation efforts would focus on removing violent criminals, a consistent theme across messaging from the White House more recently. However, only 29% of Latino immigrants believe that most Latino immigrants who are held in immigration detention facilities have probably committed serious crimes in the United States.
- When asked if any aspects of their health or their personal behavior have shifted since President Trump was re-elected in 2024, over one-in-five (22%) of the sample reported that their mental health has gotten worse.
- Political scientists have found that Latino immigrants have mobilized themselves in response to discriminatory immigration policies, which has led to an increase in both naturalization and voter registration in the past. There is early evidence that this same process is starting to develop now, as nine percent of the sample reported that they have registered to vote and eight percent have started the process to acquire permanent residency or citizenship since the Trump administration came into office in 2025.
Hundreds of activists flooded San Francisco’s City Hall Monday to protest cuts to nonprofit funding in the city’s pending budget, saying the mayor is pulling back support for working-class and low-income San Franciscans at a time these communities are facing threats from the federal government.
During more than eight hours of public comment on the city’s spending plan, hundreds of housing caseworkers, immigrants’ rights advocates and nonprofit employees set to have their budgets and roles slashed to cure the city’s massive shortfall, voiced their frustrations to city supervisors.
“San Francisco was built on the backs of immigrants and working-class communities of color, and right now, we need San Francisco to put its money where its mouth is,” said Claire Lau, a campaign coordinator with the Chinese Progressive Association. “We see that in all levels of government, our social safety net is already falling apart … We need the city to strengthen our social safety net here, right at home.”
[. . .]
The coalition is especially concerned about reduced services for immigrants, given the recent escalation of Immigration and Customs Enforcement actions throughout the state.
Lurie’s budget plan cuts $250,000 from the Office of Civic Engagement and Immigration Affairs during its second year, and makes deep cuts to nonprofits that serve immigrant families in need of legal support and housing.
In recent weeks, at least 20 people have been disappeared by ICE agents at court hearings and asylum case check-ins in San Francisco. In Southern California, ICE agents have arrested people at high school graduations, workplaces and gas stations.
“Immigrant families are being torn apart at schools, at workplaces, and in communities,” Lau said. “Some are afraid to go to school, some are afraid to go work and those who do go to work are afraid to speak up when their rights are being violated.”
But Orlando Democratic Congressman Maxwell Frost is angered by the plan. He has concerns about the potential living conditions.
“They want to make a mass tent detention facility in the middle of the Everglades, in the hot, burning Florida sun, in the swamp, and have these people living in damn tents. It's cruel. It's a tragedy. It's horrible, and we're gonna do everything we can to fight against it,” he said.
Frost, who has visited other immigrant detention facilities in Florida, told WFSU he will visit it if it opens.
“I went to Baker here in Florida unannounced, and that's a building that has real infrastructure, and the conditions are horrible, so I can only imagine what the conditions will be in a place that's being built up in about a month,” he sai.d
Women’s Health Protection Act comes as Trump and Congressional Republicans move to restrict a woman’s right to choose and toward a national abortion ban
Washington, D.C. — Today, on the third anniversary of the U.S. Supreme Court overturning Roe v. Wade, U.S. Senators Patty Murray (D-WA), a senior member and former chair of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP), Tammy Baldwin (D-WI), and Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), led the entire Senate Democratic caucus in introducing the Women’s Health Protection Act of 2025, legislation to guarantee access to abortion everywhere across the country and restore the right to comprehensive reproductive health care for millions of Americans. The bill’s introduction comes as the Trump Administration further attacks a woman’s right to choose and Congressional Republicans barrel ahead with a bill that defunds Planned Parenthood. Put together, Trump and Congressional Republicans’ assault on Americans’ reproductive rights is a backdoor national abortion ban, ripping away millions of women’s access to abortion care and right to control their bodies.
“Three years ago, Donald Trump and Republicans succeeded in overturning Roe, ripping away a Constitutional right for the first time in American history, and causing a full-blown health care crisis in our nation. Since then, we have seen with painful clarity how Republican abortion bans are putting women’s lives in danger, forcing providers to close their doors, decimating access to maternal health care, and forcing women to remain pregnant—no matter their circumstances,” said Senator Murray. “I’m proud to join my colleagues in reintroducing the Women’s Health Protection Act to restore the right to abortion and end the national nightmare Republicans created by overturning Roe. Democrats will never stop fighting to restore abortion access nationwide—nothing less.”
“First, Donald Trump and Republicans overturned Roe v Wade. Now, they are continuing their crusade for a national abortion ban, stripping away a woman’s right to choose and control her body, healthcare, and future. Republicans continue to show that they will stop at nothing in their pursuit to stop a woman from having the right to choose,” said Senator Baldwin. “In Wisconsin, we’ve seen how these attacks on women’s reproductive rights and freedoms have hurt our neighbors, friends, and families – and we won’t stand for it. The Women’s Health Protection Act is a necessary step to restore Americans’ constitutional right to choose what’s best for their families, stop Congressional and state-level Republicans from further putting themselves between a doctor and a woman, and once and for all, give women their rights and freedoms back.”
“This issue is about more than health care; it is about women’s rights, individual rights, and human rights. The foundation of the Women’s Health Protection Act is simply the right to make your own health care decisions. Three years after Dobbs, American women don’t have that right. Today, thanks to Republican lawmakers and conservative courts, a woman in America might walk into an ER and faint, bleeding, and be refused treatment. That woman might die,” said Senator Blumenthal. “By restoring abortion access and implementing basic protections against medically unnecessary restrictions on health care, the Women’s Health Protection Act overturns the death sentence handed down by Dobbs.”
President Trump appointed the Supreme Court Justices who ruled in the Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization case to overturn Roe v. Wade and nearly 50 years of precedent. Since the Dobbs decision, 19 states have banned abortion or severely restricted women from being able to access the procedure, leaving one in three American women without access to safe, legal abortion care. Additionally, state legislatures across the country have introduced hundreds of bills to include medically unnecessary restrictions that limit access to abortion care.
In his second term, President Trump has continued to relentlessly attack reproductive rights, including freezing Title X funding for clinics that offer reproductive care, cutting Biden-era emergency abortion protections, pardoning anti-abortion extremists, and fighting to defund Planned Parenthood. Additionally, the House-passed Republican budget bill kicks 16 million people off their health insurance and defunds Planned Parenthood – threatening the closure of 200 health centers across the country and putting access to vital reproductive care for millions of families at risk.
The Women’s Health Protection Act creates federal rights for patients and providers to protect abortion access. Specifically, the Women’s Health Protection Act would:
- Prohibit states from imposing restrictions that jeopardize access to abortion earlier in pregnancy, including many of the state-level restrictions in place prior to Dobbs, such as arbitrary waiting periods, medically unnecessary mandatory ultrasounds, or requirements to provide medically inaccurate information.
- Ensure that later in pregnancy, states cannot limit access to abortion if it would jeopardize the life or health of the mother.
- Protect the ability to travel out of state for an abortion, which has become increasingly common in recent years.
The legislation is sponsored by the entire Democratic caucus, including Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and Senators Angela Alsobrooks (D-MD), Michael Bennet (D-CO), Lisa Blunt Rochester (D- DE), Cory Booker (D-NJ), Maria Cantwell (D-WA), Chris Coons (D-DE), Catherine Cortez Masto (D-NV), Tammy Duckworth (D-IL), Dick Durbin (D-IL), John Fetterman (D-PA), Ruben Gallego (D-AZ), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), Maggie Hassan (D-NH), Martin Heinrich (D-NM), John Hickenlooper (D-CO), Mazie Hirono (D-HI), Tim Kaine (D-VA), Mark Kelly (D-AZ), Andy Kim (D-NJ), Angus King (I-ME), Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), Ben Ray Luján (D-NM), Ed Markey (D-MA), Jeff Merkley (D-OR), Chris Murphy (D-CT), Jon Ossoff (D-GA), Alex Padilla (D-CA), Gary Peters (D-MI), Jack Reed (D-RI), Jacky Rosen (D-NV), Bernie Sanders (I-VT), Brian Schatz (D-HI), Adam Schiff (D-CA), Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH), Elissa Slotkin (D-MI), Tina Smith (D-MN), Chris Van Hollen (D-MD), Mark Warner (D-VA), Raphael Warnock (D-GA), Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), Peter Welch (D-VT), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), and Ron Wyden (D-OR).
The full text of the bill is available here.
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