Attention to the Unseen

Democracy Docket reports: Idaho’s Republican attorney general’s office accused President Donald Trump’s Department of Justice of potentially violating state ethics rules by threatening the state’s top election official with a criminal prosecution while suing him for the state’s voter rolls. In a sharply worded letter sent Friday, the office of Idaho Attorney General Raúl Labrador told DOJ Civil Rights Division chief Harmeet Dhillon to stop contacting Secretary of State Phil McGrane (R) directly and urged the department to dismiss its…

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WISN 12 reports: The bipartisan Wisconsin Elections Commission has referred two complaints to the Brown County District Attorney after finding probable cause that Elon Musk violated the state’s election bribery law ahead of the 2025 Wisconsin Supreme Court election. The commission voted 5-1 in closed session late last week to find probable cause that Musk, the tech billionaire and one-time advisor to President Donald Trump, violated state law “by making a social media post that offered one million dollars to…

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Democracy Docket reports: President Donald Trump and his two eldest sons’ $10-billion lawsuit against the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) was brought for “an improper purpose,” a Florida-based federal judge ruled. The judge also recommended attorney sanctions for the Trumps’ lawyers. In a blistering ruling Monday, U.S. District Judge Kathleen Williams issued the strongest rebuke of Trump’s lawsuit from the judiciary yet, characterizing it as an unparalleled expression of self-dealing. “The nature of the suit itself and the conduct of the…

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Sidney Blumenthal writes: Neither of the supreme court majority opinions in Trump v Barbara, the 5-4 decision upholding the constitutionality of birthright citizenship, mention the true architect of the case. Donald Trump’s Executive Order 14160, which would deny citizenship to children born on American soil if their parents are undocumented immigrants or on temporary visas, is extensively noted, but not the man responsible for it. The omission of Stephen Miller is like Dracula without Dracula. The vampire identified is chief…

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Bloomberg reports: The US government is moving ahead with plans to create its own fleet of government-owned aircraft to bolster deportations. The Department of Homeland Security is beginning a search for a company to operate planes that would help carry out deportation flights, respond to emergencies and transport senior officials. The department asked aviation companies this week to describe how they would operate and maintain the fleet, which would include two C-37B or equivalent Gulfstream 650ERs and seven Boeing 737-700s…

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The New York Times reports: The Homeland Security Department told employers on Friday that they must let go in coming weeks the hundreds of thousands of foreign workers who have been allowed to live in the United States through a humanitarian program the Trump administration has sought to dismantle. The work permits of Haitians with Temporary Protected Status will expire on July 24. Such permits will also lapse on July 17 for those from Ethiopia, Myanmar, Somalia, South Sudan, Syria…

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The Washington Post reports: The three men who were arrested during an immigration operation that resulted in the fatal shooting of Lorenzo Salgado Araujo said a federal officer fired at them almost immediately after exiting his vehicle and that at no point did the driver veer in his direction. The migrants are disputing key elements of the Department of Homeland Security’s account of what transpired during a chaotic traffic stop in a predominantly Mexican American neighborhood in Houston on Tuesday….

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Axios reports: Mexico plans to file criminal complaints in the United States over the deaths of Mexican nationals in ICE custody, Mexico’s Foreign Minister Roberto Velasco Álvarez said Thursday. Why it matters: Mexico had already made diplomatic complaints about the deaths, but taking the United States to court would raise the stakes for the Trump administration as foreign governments and rights advocates continue to scrutinize ICE deaths. What they’re saying: “We’re going to do everything we can in our power,” Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum told reporters at…

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Greg Sargent writes: After a federal agent killed an undocumented Mexican man in his van during a traffic stop in Houston on Tuesday, the government rushed to follow a familiar template. Just as it has after other shootings, the Department of Homeland Security released a statement insisting that the man, Lorenzo Salgado Araujo, had “weaponized his vehicle” against the officer, who then justifiably opened fire. DHS offered no evidence of this. But it appears three other people were in the…

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Reuters reports: A U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent fatally shot a motorist in Houston on Tuesday while officers were trying to stop the ‌man’s vehicle, the agency said in a statement, in the midst of an escalating federal crackdown on migrants. The man shot to death was identified as Lorenzo Salgado Araujo, described by ICE as a Mexican national and “illegal alien” who attempted to evade arrest during a “targeted enforcement operation” by federal immigration officers. Ronaldo Salgado, who…

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Zach Despart This story was originally published by ProPublica Two weeks before this year’s primary elections, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton announced the creation of a tip line for the public to report people or groups suspected of voter fraud. “Free and fair elections are a cornerstone of a thriving republic, and with the authority granted to my office by the Legislature, we will stop at nothing to uncover and stop any illegal voting activity,” Paxton said in a February…

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