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      Texas killed in-state tuition for undocumented college students – what happened next?

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      Ximena had a plan.The 18-year-old from Houston was going to start college in the fall at the University of Texas at Tyler, where she had been awarded $10,000 a year in scholarships. That, she hoped, would set her up for her dream: a PhD in chemistry, followed by a career as a professor or researcher.“And then the change to in-state tuition happened, and that’s when I knew for sure that I had to pivot,” said Ximena, who is from Mexico but has attended schools in the US since kindergarten. (The Guardian and its partner the Hechinger Report, which produced this story, is using her first name only because she fears retaliation for her immigration status.)In June, the Texas attorney general’s office and the Trump administration worked together to end the provisions in a state law that had offered thousands of undocumented students like Ximena lower in-state tuition rates at Texas public colleges. State and federal officials successfully argued in court that the longstanding policy discriminated against out-of-state US citizens who paid a higher rate. That rationale has now been replicated in similar lawsuits against Kentucky, Oklahoma and Minnesota – part of a broader offensive against immigrants’ access to public education.At UT Tyler, in-state tuition and fees for the upcoming academic year total $9,736, compared to more than $25,000 for out-of-state students. Ximena and her family couldn’t afford the higher tuition bill, so she withdrew. Instead, she enrolled at Houston Community College, where out-of-state costs are $227 per semester hour, nearly three times the in-district rate. The school offers only basic college-level chemistry classes, so to set herself up for a doctorate or original research, Ximena will still need to find a way to pay for a four-year university down the line.Her predicament is exactly what state lawmakers from both political parties had hoped to avoid when they passed the Texas Dream Act, 2001 legislation that not only opened doors to higher education for undocumented students but was also meant to bolster Texas’s economy and its workforce in the long term. With that law, Texas became the first of more than two dozen states to implement in-state tuition for undocumented students, and for nearly 24 years, the landmark policy remained intact.Conservative lawmakers repeatedly proposed to repeal it, but despite years of single-party control in the state legislature, not enough Republicans embraced repeal even as recently as this spring, days before the Texas attorney general’s office and the federal Department of Justice moved to end it.Now, as the fall semester approaches, immigrant students are weighing whether to disenroll from their courses or await clarity on how the consent agreement entered into by the state and justice department affects them.Immigration advocates are worried that Texas colleges and universities are boxing out potential attendees who are lawfully present and still qualify for in-state tuition despite the court ruling – including recipients of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (Daca) program, asylum applicants and temporary protected status holders – because university personnel lack immigration expertise and haven’t been given clear guidelines on exactly who needs to pay the higher tuition rate.At Austin Community College (ACC), members of the board of trustees are unsure how to accurately implement the ruling. As they await answers, they have so far decided against sending letters asking their students for sensitive information in order to determine tuition rates.“This confusion will inevitably harm students because what we find is that in the absence of information and in the presence of fear and anxiety, students will opt to not continue higher education,” said Manuel Gonzalez, vice-chair of the ACC board of trustees.Policy experts, meanwhile, warn that Texas’s workforce could suffer as talented young people, many of whom have spent their entire education in the state’s public school system, will no longer be able to afford the associate’s and bachelor’s degrees that would allow them to pursue careers that would help propel their local economies. Under the Texas Dream Act, beneficiaries were required to commit to applying for lawful permanent residence as soon as possible, giving them the opportunity to hold down jobs related to their degrees. Even without legal immigration status, it’s likely they will still work – just in lower-paying, under-the-radar jobs.“It’s so short-sighted in terms of the welfare of the state of Texas,” said Barbara Hines, a former law school professor who helped legislators craft the Texas Dream Act.The legislation was first introduced in the state’s lower chamber by retired army national guard Maj Gen Rick Noriega, a Democrat who served in the Texas legislature from 1999 to 2009, after he learned of a young yard worker in his district who wanted to enroll at the local community college for aviation mechanics but could not afford out-of-state tuition.View image in fullscreenNoriega called the school chancellor’s office, which was able to provide funding for the student to attend. But that experience led him to wonder: how many more kids in his district were running up against the same barriers to higher education?So he worked with a sociologist to poll students at local high schools about the problem, which turned out to be widespread. And Noriega’s district wasn’t an outlier. In a state that has long had one of the nation’s largest unauthorized immigrant populations, politicians across the partisan divide knew affected constituents, friends or family members and wanted to help. Once Noriega decided to propose legislation, a Republican, Fred Hill, asked to serve as a joint author on the bill.The legislation easily passed the Texas house, which was Democratic-controlled at the time, but the Republican-led senate was less accommodating.“I couldn’t even get a hearing,” said Leticia Van de Putte, the then state senator who sponsored the legislation in her chamber.View image in fullscreenTo persuade her Republican colleagues, she added several restrictions, including requiring undocumented students to live in Texas for three years before finishing high school or receiving a GED. (Three years was estimated as the average time it would take a family to pay enough in state taxes to make up the difference between in-state and out-of-state tuition.) She also included the clause mandating that undocumented students who accessed in-state tuition sign an affidavit pledging to pursue green cards as soon as they were able.Van de Putte turned to Texas business groups to hammer home the economic case for the bill. And she convinced the business community to pay for buses to bring Latino evangelical conservative pastors from Dallas, San Antonio, Houston and other areas to Austin, so they could knock on doors in support of the legislation and pray with Republican senators and their staff.After that, the Texas Dream Act overwhelmingly passed the state senate in May 2001, and the then governor, Rick Perry, a Republican, signed it into law the following month.Yet by 2012, a new slew of rightwing politicians was elected to office, many philosophically opposed to the law – and loud about it. Perry’s defense of the policy came back to haunt him during the 2012 Republican presidential primary, when his campaign was dogged by criticism after he told opponents of tuition equity during a debate: “I don’t think you have a heart.”Still, none of the many bills introduced over the years to repeal the Texas Dream Act were successful. And even the current Texas governor, Greg Abbott, a Republican border hawk, at times equivocated on the policy, with his spokesperson saying in 2013 that Abbott believed “the objective” of in-state tuition regardless of immigration status was “noble”.By 2017, the same year Trump began his first term, polling showed a plurality of Texans in support of in-state tuition for undocumented students. More recently, research has indicated time and time again that Americans support a pathway to legal status for undocumented residents brought to the US as children.But arguments against in-state tuition regardless of immigration status also grew in popularity: critics contended that the policy is unfair to US citizens from other states who have to pay higher rates, or that undocumented students are taking spots at competitive schools that could be filled by documented Americans.The justice department leaned on similar rhetoric in the lawsuit that killed tuition equity in Texas, saying the state law is superseded by 1996 federal legislation banning undocumented immigrants from getting in-state tuition – over US citizens – based on residency.View image in fullscreenIn Texas, the sudden policy change is causing chaos. Even the state’s two largest universities, Texas A&M and the University of Texas, are using different guidelines to decide which students must pay out-of-state rates.“Universities, I think, are the ones that are put in this really difficult position,” said Luis Figueroa, senior director of legislative affairs at the advocacy group Every Texan. “They are not immigration experts. They’ve received very little guidance about how to interpret the consent decree.”Meanwhile, young scholars are facing difficult choices. One student, who asked to remain anonymous because of her undocumented immigration status, wondered about her future.The young woman, who has lived in San Antonio since she was nine months old, had enrolled in six courses for the fall at Texas A&M-San Antonio and wasn’t sure whether to drop them. It would be her final semester before earning her psychology and sociology degrees, but she couldn’t fathom paying for out-of-state tuition.“I’m in the unknown,” she said, like “many students in this moment.”

      This story was originally produced by the Hechinger Report, a non-profit, independent news organization focused on inequality and innovation in education More

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      Texas house passes redrawn electoral map aiming to help Republicans keep majority in 2026 midterms – US politics live

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      Hello and welcome to the US politics live blog. My name is Tom Ambrose and I will be bringing you all the latest news lines over the next few hours.We start with news that the Texas legislature’s lower chamber passed a contentious new electoral map on Wednesday that aims to help Donald Trump’s Republican party retain its razor-thin US House majority in the 2026 midterm elections, AFP reported.The vote had been delayed by two weeks after Democratic legislators fled the southern state to halt the redistricting drive, which carves out five new Republican-friendly districts.More than 50 Democrats walked out, stalling legislative business and generating national headlines as they sought to draw attention to the rare mid-decade redistricting push.The Democratic lawmakers returned this week, but not before their protest had set off a national map-drawing war, with Trump pressuring his party’s state-level officials to do everything they can to protect the majority in the US House of Representatives.The stakes are sky-high for Trump, who will be bogged down in investigations into almost every aspect of his second term if Democrats manage to flip the handful of districts nationwide needed to win back the House in next year’s midterm elections.Trump hailed the “Big WIN for the Great State of Texas“ on Wednesday night. “Everything Passed, on our way to FIVE more Congressional seats and saving your Rights, your Freedoms, and your Country, itself,” he wrote on his Truth Social platform. “Texas never lets us down.”The president also suggested Florida, Indiana and other states were looking into pursuing similar redistricting to benefit Republicans while once again calling to “STOP MAIL-IN VOTING.”Trump – who has long railed against postal ballots, even though they have benefited his party and he has voted by mail – said in a separate post:
      END MAIL-IN VOTING, AND GO TO PAPER BALLOTS. 100 additional seats will go to Republicans!!!”
      In other developments:

      The vice-president, JD Vance, the defense secretary, Pete Hegseth, and the White House deputy chief of staff, Stephen Miller, staged a photo op with National Guard troops at Union Station in the nation’s capital. They were roundly booed and jeered on their way in and out of the station.

      A federal judge denied the justice department’s bid to unseal records from the grand jury that indicted Jeffrey Epstein in 2019. US district judge Richard Berman said the small number of documents seen by the court pale in comparison with the 100,000 records the government already has on Epstein and that disclosing them could harm victims.

      Lisa Cook, the Federal Reserve governor Trump has called on to immediately resign over an accusation that she falsely declared a property she obtained a mortgage on was her primary residence, responded on Wednesday that she has “no intention of being bullied to step down”.

      Trump has bought at least $100m of bonds since he returned to office in January, according to a CNBC analysis of new filings from the president with the US Office of Government Ethics.

      A young American citizen who was violently arrested by federal immigration officers in Los Angeles county in June, after he objected to the arrest of an older man in a Walmart parking lot, was charged with conspiracy to impede a federal officer. More

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      Obama calls California’s redistricting plan ‘a responsible approach’

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      Barack Obama waded into states’ efforts at rare mid-decade redistricting efforts, saying he agreed with California governor Gavin Newsom’s plan to counter the new Texas congressional map by launching an effort to redraw his own state’s map and create more Democratic-friendly districts, calling it “a responsible approach”.“I believe that governor Newsom’s approach is a responsible approach. He said this is going to be responsible. We’re not going to try to completely maximize it,” Obama said at a Tuesday fundraiser on Martha’s Vineyard in Massachusetts. “We’re only going to do it if and when Texas and/or other Republican states begin to pull these maneuvers. Otherwise, this doesn’t go into effect.”Obama also called Newsom’s strategy “measured”, as it only temporarily grants the California legislature the ability to redraw maps mid-decade.While noting that “political gerrymandering” is not his “preference,” Obama said that, if Democrats “don’t respond effectively, then this White House and Republican-controlled state governments all across the country, they will not stop, because they do not appear to believe in this idea of an inclusive, expansive democracy”.According to organizers, the event raised $2m for the National Democratic Redistricting Committee and its affiliates, one of which has filed and supported litigation in several states over Republican-drawn districts. The former House speaker Nancy Pelosi and Eric Holder, who served as Obama’s attorney general and heads up the group, also appeared.The former president’s comments come as Texas lawmakers approved a plan to redraw the state’s congressional districts, passing a new map on Wednesday that fulfills Donald Trump’s desire to tilt the US House map in his favor before the 2026 midterm elections.The vote was 88 in favor and 52 against.The map could give Republicans five new House seats in 2026 and took more than two weeks to pass, after Democratic state lawmakers staged a walkout over what they described as a “a power grab”. Several legislators traveled to states run by Democrats, and the protest ultimately set the stage for a redistricting battle now playing out across the country.Spurred on by the Texas situation, Democratic governors including Newsom have pondered ways to possibly strengthen their party’s position by way of redrawing US House district lines, five years out from the census count that typically leads into such procedures.In California – where voters in 2010 gave the power to draw congressional maps to an independent commission, with the goal of making the process less partisan – Democrats have unveiled a proposal that could give that state’s dominant political party an additional five US House seats in a bid to win the fight to control Congress next year. If approved by voters in November, the blueprint could nearly erase Republican House members in the nation’s most populous state, with Democrats intending to win the party 48 of its 52 US House seats, up from 43.skip past newsletter promotionafter newsletter promotionA hearing over that measure devolved into a shouting match Tuesday as a Republican lawmaker clashed with Democrats, and a committee voted along party lines to advance the new congressional map. California Democrats do not need any Republican votes to move ahead, and legislators are expected to approve a proposed congressional map and declare a 4 November special election by Thursday to get required voter approval.Newsom and Democratic leaders say they’ll ask voters to approve their new maps only for the next few elections, returning map-drawing power to the commission following the 2030 census – and only if a Republican state moves forward with new maps. Obama applauded that temporary timeline.“And we’re going to do it in a temporary basis because we’re keeping our eye on where we want to be long term,” Obama said, referencing Newsom’s take on the California plan. “I think that approach is a smart, measured approach, designed to address a very particular problem in a very particular moment in time.”The Associated Press contributed reporting More

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      Texas threatens to sue organizations and doctor for increasing abortion pill access

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      The heated US war over abortion pills warmed up another degree on Wednesday, as the Texas attorney general, Ken Paxton, sent cease-and-desist letters to two organizations and an individual that he accused of mailing abortion pills to Texans or facilitating their shipment. Paxton threatened to sue if they do not stop their alleged activities.“These abortion drug organizations and radical activists are not above the law, and I have ordered the immediate end of this unlawful conduct,” Paxton said in a news release announcing the letters.The state of Texas bans virtually all abortions.Paxton sent the letters to Plan C, a website that provides information about how to obtain abortion pills; Her Safe Harbor, an organization that provides abortions through telemedicine; and Rémy Coeytaux, a doctor who has been accused of mailing abortion pills to a Texan.Debra Lynch, a nurse practitioner who works with Her Safe Harbor, said that Paxton’s letter would not stop the organization from sending abortion pills to people. If anything, Lynch suggested, it would spur the group on.“None of our providers are primarily concerned with our own wellbeing or our own legal status,” Lynch said. “All the horrors that women are facing because of these ridiculous bans and restrictions outweigh anything that could possibly happen to us as providers, in terms of a fine or a lawsuit or even jail time, if it were to come to that.”Lynch said that in the hours after news of Paxton’s letter broke, Her Safe Harbor received more than 150 requests from Texans who were afraid about abortion access and want to obtain pills that they may use in the future. Normally, Her Safe Harbor has around four to five providers taking calls from patients. Now, they plan to have at least 10 working “until this wave of fear subsides”.Neither Plan C nor Coeytaux immediately replied to the Guardian’s request for comment.In the three years since the US supreme court overturned Roe v Wade and unleashed a wave of state-level abortion bans, abortions have surged in the United States. This rise is due in large part to the availability of abortion pills and the emergence of “shield laws”, which have been enacted by a handful of blue states and aim to protect abortion providers who mail pills across state lines from out-of-state prosecution.By the end of 2024, clinicians working through shield laws were facilitating an average of 12,330 abortions per month, according to data from #WeCount, a research project by the Society of Family Planning.Enraged by this development, anti-abortion advocates have in recent months stepped up their campaign to crush abortion pill providers. In his cease-and-desist letters, Paxton – a Republican who is running to become a US senator – repeatedly cited the Comstock Act of 1873, an anti-vice law that bans the mailing of abortion-related materials. Although legal experts have long regarded the Comstock Act as a dead letter, several anti-abortion activists now believe that the fall of Roe has left the federal government free to fully enforce the act.Alongside 15 other state attorneys general, Paxton earlier this summer signed onto a letter imploring Congress to pass a law that would pre-empt states’ shield laws. He has also sued a New York-based doctor whom he accused of mailing abortion pills into Texas. Then, after a New York county court official said that the state’s shield law prohibited New York from enforcing a fine against the doctor, Paxton sued the official.Paxton’s cease-and-desist letters also follow similar letters sent by the Arkansas attorney general, Republican Tim Griffin. In July, Griffin sent a cease-and-desist letter to Possibility Labs, the parent company of Plan C, and to Mayday Medicines, the parent company of Mayday Health. Like Plan C, Mayday Health offers information about abortion pills, but does not directly sell them.Other anti-abortion activists are going after abortion providers through other legal avenues. A Texas man who said that Coeytaux supplied abortion pills to aid his female partner’s abortion has also sued Coeytaux in a federal wrongful death lawsuit. The man is being represented in court by Jonathan Mitchell, an anti-abortion attorney who masterminded a six-week abortion ban that took effect in Texas in 2021.Last week, Mitchell filed another federal wrongful death lawsuit against a different abortion provider. More

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      Justice department reportedly investigating DC police for allegedly manipulating crime data – live

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      The US attorney for DC has launched a criminal investigation into the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) for allegedly manipulating crime data, the Washington Post is reporting.This investigation comes after NBC Washington reported that the MPD put police commander Michael Pulliam on leave in May, and began investigating him for allegedly making “questionable” changes to the city’s crime data.Sources tell the Post that the justice department’s investigation is set to go beyond investigating Pulliam, and examine actions of other local officials.The president has repeatedly claimed that crime in DC is the “worst its been”, despite a DOJ report that shows a 30-year low in violent crime in the nation’s capital.Earlier this week, Trump wrote on Truth Social that an investigation was taking place, but did not give any specifics. “D.C. gave Fake Crime numbers in order to create a false illusion of safety. This is a very bad and dangerous thing to do,” he said.Texas Democrats are tearing up the “permission slips” they signed in order to leave the chamber, joining state representative Nicole Collier ahead of Wednesday’s vote on the controversial Texas congressional redistricting maps.The slips are part of new surveillance protocols set by Texas Republicans in the House chamber, stating that Democrats would “be granted written permission to leave only after agreeing to be released into the custody of a designated [Texas department of public safety] officer” who would ensure their return to the chamber.The move follows a two-week quorum break that had delayed Republicans’ effort to redraw the state’s congressional districts to align with Donald Trump’s push to reshape the US House map in his favor before the 2026 midterm elections.On Tuesday, Collier chose to remain confined inside the Texas house chamber until lawmakers reconvene on Wednesday, refusing to comply with what she condemned as a “demeaning” protocol.US to ‘root out anti-Americanism’ in reviewing immigration applicationsThe Trump administration said on Tuesday that it will look for “anti-American” views, including on social media, when assessing the applications of people wanting to live in the United States.In an announcement, US Citizenship and Immigration Services, which handles requests to stay in the United States or become a citizen, said it would expand vetting of the social media postings of applicants and that “reviews for anti-American activity will be added to that vetting”.“America’s benefits should not be given to those who despise the country and promote anti-American ideologies,” said agency spokesperson Matthew Tragesser. “US Citizenship and Immigration Services is committed to implementing policies and procedures that root out anti-Americanism and supporting the enforcement of rigorous screening and vetting measures to the fullest extent possible. Immigration benefits – including to live and work in the United States – remain a privilege, not a right.”The US Immigration and Nationality Act, which dates back to 1952, defines anti-Americanism, which at the time primarily focused on communists.Read the full story here:Donald Trump called on Texas Republicans in the legislature to pass the new congressional map “as is”, what he called “ONE BIG, BEAUTIFUL CONGRESSIONAL MAP.”“With the Texas House now in Quorum, thanks to GREAT Speaker Dustin Burrows, I call on all of my Republican friends in the Legislature to work as fast as they can to get THIS MAP to Governor Greg Abbott’s desk, ASAP,” Trump said in a post on Truth Social.In the post, he’s linked a Texas border security map to a push for the congressional map.California senator Adam Schiff, one of Donald Trump’s fiercest political opponents, formed a legal defense fund after the president threatened him with federal investigations.Last week, FBI director Kash Patel declassified and released interview notes from a former House Intelligence Committee staffer. In 2017, the staffer accused Schiff of directing illegal leaks of classified information about Trump and Russia. Federal prosecutors had already investigated these claims during Trump’s first term and questioned the staffer’s credibility.Still, Trump used the allegations to call on attorney general Pam Bondi to open an investigation into the California Democrat.“I’m looking at Pam because I hope something’s going to be done about it,” Trump said on Wednesday. “It was a hoax created by the Democrats, but in particular, Schiff, crooked Hillary, the whole group.”The paperwork for the “Senator Schiff Legal Defense Fund” filed with the Internal Revenue Service is dated 14 August.National intelligence director Tulsi Gabbard said Tuesday she has stripped security clearances from 37 current and former national security officials, including some who worked on the intelligence community’s assessment that Russia interfered in the 2016 presidential election.In a memo posted on X, Gabbard accused the targeted individuals of having engaged in “politicizing and manipulating intelligence, leaking classified intelligence without authorization, and/or committing intentional egregious violations of tradecraft standards”.This move is the latest act in a series of retributions by the Trump administration against national security officials and political opponents he views as adversaries. In March, Trump revoked security clearances for Joe Biden, Kamala Harris, and several other Democrats and critics. The order also stripped access from former secretary of state Antony Blinken, former representatives Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger, New York attorney general Letitia James – who prosecuted Trump for fraud – and Biden’s entire family.

      The US attorney for DC has launched a criminal investigation into the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) for allegedly manipulating crime data, according to the Washington Post. It comes as the president repeatedly claims that crime in DC is the “worst its been”, and has accused city officials of issuing fake crime statistics.

      In today’s White House press briefing, Karoline Leavitt said that there will be “many discussions” with members of Congress when they return from recess about the president’s push to end mail-in ballots and the use of voting machines. She also said that the issue was a “priority” for Trump. A reminder that yesterday the president said that an executive order is being drafted to end mail-in voting. He also repeated baseless claims that the process is “corrupt”. Another reminder, the decision to end mail-in voting, and overhaul the way states conduct their elections is not up to the executive branch.

      Also at today’s press briefing, Leavitt confirmed that Trump has ‘definitively’ ruled out American boots on the ground in Ukraine, but the US will help coordinate security guarantees. Leavitt added that Trump has directed his national security team to coordinate with Europe, and continue to discuss these matters with Ukraine and Russia. My colleague, Lucy Cambpell, is tracking the latest here.

      The White House also confirmed the latest batch of arrest data following the surge in federal law enforcement in DC. There have been over 450 arrests by federal law enforcement in the nation’s capital since 7 August, according to a White House official. The official also said that throughout this period, 68 firearms have been seized, and three known gang members have been arrested – including a MS-13 gang member.

      Beyond Washington, Republican lawmakers in California filed an emergency petition with the state supreme court that seeks to block governor Gavin Newsom’s fast-track redistricting effort, designed to counter a redrawn congressional map sought by Donald Trump in Texas. The lawsuit argues that the state legislature is violating California’s constitution by advancing the bills before a required 30-day review period. This comes as Texas Democrats returned to the Austin state capitol this week, with a vote on the GOP-drawn redistricting plan scheduled for Wednesday 20 August.
      The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) is urging that children as young as six months and up to 23 months old receive the Covid-19 vaccine – a position that diverges from the current federal guidance given by the Trump administration’s health agencies.The AAP released its updated childhood immunization schedule, which outlines recommendations for vaccines against Covid-19, influenza and RSV for individuals under 18.“It differs from recent recommendations of the advisory committee on immunization practices of the CDC, which was overhauled this year and replaced with individuals who have a history of spreading vaccine misinformation,” the organization said in a statement.The announcement follows a decision from health and human services secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr in late May to halt CDC recommendations for healthy children to receive the Covid-19 vaccine. Previously, the CDC advised vaccination for everyone six months and older with the latest available dose.The CDC currently advises that Covid-19 vaccinations for children aged six months through 17 years should be determined through “shared clinical decision-making”.The AAP recommends vaccination for anyone under 18 who is at higher risk of serious illness from Covid-19, resides in a longterm care or congregate living facility, has not previously been vaccinated, or shares a household with someone at elevated risk.The president announced on Truth Social today that lawyers from the administration will “go through the Museums, and start the exact same process that has been done with Colleges and Universities”, referring to the the ongoing showdown between the White House and many of the countries leading public and private higher education institutions.The president railed against many of the permanent collections and exhibitions across the country’s museums, declaring them the “last remaining segment of ‘WOKE’”.He added:
      Everything discussed is how horrible our Country is, how bad Slavery was, and how unaccomplished the downtrodden have been — Nothing about Success, nothing about Brightness, nothing about the Future. We are not going to allow this to happen…We have the “HOTTEST” Country in the World, and we want people to talk about it, including in our Museums.
      This comes after the White House announced a review of the Smithsonian museums earlier this month – ahead of the 250th anniversary of the country’s founding – to ensure that they “reflect the unity, progress, and enduring values that define the American story”.The US attorney for DC has launched a criminal investigation into the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) for allegedly manipulating crime data, the Washington Post is reporting.This investigation comes after NBC Washington reported that the MPD put police commander Michael Pulliam on leave in May, and began investigating him for allegedly making “questionable” changes to the city’s crime data.Sources tell the Post that the justice department’s investigation is set to go beyond investigating Pulliam, and examine actions of other local officials.The president has repeatedly claimed that crime in DC is the “worst its been”, despite a DOJ report that shows a 30-year low in violent crime in the nation’s capital.Earlier this week, Trump wrote on Truth Social that an investigation was taking place, but did not give any specifics. “D.C. gave Fake Crime numbers in order to create a false illusion of safety. This is a very bad and dangerous thing to do,” he said.Leavitt was asked several times about the location of a meeting between Trump, Zelenskyy and Putin but wouldn’t divulge anything, refusing to comment on reports about Budapest and that the Kremlin had even suggested Moscow.Politico is now reporting that the White House is planning for the summit to be held in Budapest, citing a Trump administration official and a person close to the administration.This would probably be an uncomfortable choice for Zelenskyy given the Hungarian prime minister Viktor Orbán is a longtime Putin ally.Republican lawmakers in California filed an emergency petition with the state supreme court that seeks to block governor Gavin Newsom’s fast-track redistricting effort designed to counter a redrawn congressional map sought by Donald Trump in Texas.The Democratic-led California legislature set to work this week advancing a series of bills that they need to pass by the end of the week in order to get the redistricting measure on the ballot in time for a special election this November.The lawsuit, filed Monday, argues that the state legislature is violating California’s constitution by advancing the bills before a required 30-day review period. Democrats, who hold a supermajority in both legislative chambers, introduced the redistricting bills on Monday and aim to pass them by Thursday.“Instead of a months-long transparent and participatory process overseen by an independent citizens redistricting commission for such a sensitive matter,” the lawsuit states, “the public would be presented instead with an up-or-down vote on maps unilaterally prepared in secret by the Legislature.”The Republicans’ case centers on when a bill is officially “introduced” under the state Constitution. In the lawsuit, the Republicans argue that the clock should start on after full legislative text is available, while Democrats say the initial drafts and bill numbers are sufficient to begin the review period. The Republicans also raise concerns about the potential impact of redistricting on Asian American and Hispanic communities, saying the rushed process limits input and debate.The redistricting fight in California is part of a widening redistricting arms race pitting red and blue states against each other in a battle that was kicked off when Trump asked Texas to redraw its congressional map to help Republicans maintain control of the US House in the midterm elections. Texas Democratic lawmakers fled the state to deny Republicans the quorum necessary to pass their redistricting plan – and used their time to call on other blue states to respond.After Newsom announced that California would ask voters to temporarily override the state’s independent redistricting commission and approve a US House map that would deliver five additional seats for their party in a tit for tat with Texas, the lawmakers returned to the Austin state capitol this week.The Republican lawmakers asked the California state supreme court to weigh in by Wednesday.In today’s press briefing Karoline Leavitt says that there will be “many discussions” with members of Congress when they return from recess about the president’s push to end mail-in ballots and the use of voting machines.Leavitt says that the administration will also be “talking to our friends in state legislatures across the country to ensure that we’re protecting the integrity of the vote for the American people.”A reminder that, legally, the decision to end mail-in voting, and overhaul the way states conduct their elections is not up to the executive branch. The US constitution gives states the power to regulate the “The Times, Places and Manner” of federal elections. Congress can override those rules by passing federal laws.Yesterday, the president said that an executive order is “being written right now” to end mail-in voting. Trump repeated baseless claims that the process is “corrupt”.Today, Leavitt doubles down on Trump’s plans:
      I think Republicans generally, and the president generally, wants to make it easier for Americans to vote and harder for people to cheat in our elections. And it’s quite mind boggling that the Democrat party could stand in opposition to common sense. He wants to ensure election integrity…I can assure you, this is a priority for the president. More

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      Democrats return to Texas as California kicks off push to pass new electoral map

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      Texas Democrats returned to their state on Monday as California lawmakers kicked off a rapid push for voters to approve a new congressional map that could add as many as five Democratic seats in the US House.The Texas Democrats’ return ends a two-week walkout that stalled the Republican effort to redraw the state’s congressional districts to satisfy Donald Trump’s demands to reshape the US House map in his favor ahead of the 2026 midterm elections.The California plan was drafted in response to Texas’s push to redraw the congressional map there. On Friday, Texas’s Republican governor, Greg Abbott, called a second special session after Democrats remained out of the state for two weeks, denying Republicans a quorum to conduct legislative business.The Democrats said last week they would return once California moved ahead with its counter-proposal, all but ensuring that Texas’s new maps will pass.The protest began on 3 August, when dozens of Texas Democrats left the state for Illinois and other blue states in a high-stakes bid to deny their Republican colleagues the quorum needed to approve the redrawn maps. Although the Democrats’ return allows Republicans to advance their redistricting plan, the quorum-breakers have declared their two-week walkout a strategic success that set off a “redistricting arms race”.“We killed the corrupt special session, withstood unprecedented surveillance and intimidation and rallied Democrats nationwide to join this existential fight for fair representation – reshaping the entire 2026 landscape,” Gene Wu, the chair of the Texas house democratic caucus, said.“We’re returning to Texas more dangerous to Republicans’ plans than when we left.”Dustin Burrows, the Republican house speaker, did not mention the Republican redistricting proposal, but said the chamber would move swiftly to enact its legislative agenda during the second special session. Later on Monday evening, a house committee approved the new map, which will soon be sent to the floor for a full vote.“Representatives come and go. Issues rise and fall. But this body has endured wars, economic depressions and quorum breaks dating back to the very first session,” Burrows said during Monday’s session. “Now is the time for action.”He also outlined new surveillance protocols that would apply to the Democrats who had civil arrest warrants issued in their absence, stating they would “be granted written permission to leave only after agreeing to be released into the custody of a designated [Texas department of public safety] officer” who would ensure their return to the chamber.One Democrat is refusing to accept the conditions. Nicole Collier, a state representative for Fort Worth, vowed to remain confined inside the Texas house chamber until lawmakers reconvene on Wednesday, declining to comply with what she condemned as a Republican “permission slip” – a document authorizing a round-the-clock law enforcement escort.“I refuse to sign away my dignity as a duly elected representative just so Republicans can control my movements and monitor me with police escorts,” Collier, a seven-term lawmaker and a former chair of the Texas Legislative Black caucus, said on Monday.Collier’s demonstration is the latest act of Democratic resistance to the Republican redistricting plan. “When I press that button to vote, I know these maps will harm my constituents – I won’t just go along quietly with their intimidation or their discrimination,” she said.The new California map, released on Friday, would create three new safely Democratic districts and two new districts that are Democratic leaning but still competitive.The plan, led by the California governor Gavin Newsom, must be approved by the state legislature before it is put to vote in a special election this fall. If voters agree to override the house map created by the independent redistricting commission after the 2020 census, the proposed boundaries would replace current ones through 2030. Democrats said they will return the mapmaking power to the commission after that.Newsom praised the effort on Monday, calling it a necessary response to Trump’s influence over redistricting in Texas and other Republican-led states.“We are not going to sit idle while they command Texas and other states to rig the next election to keep power,” Newsom said, adding that the proposal gives Californians “a choice to fight back”.Internal polling presented to lawmakers showed voters favored the measure 52% to 41%, with 7% undecided, according to the local television station KCRA.Republicans in California condemned the proposal as an assault on the state’s voter-approved independent redistricting commission and said they plan to introduce legislation that advocates for creating similar map-drawing bodies in all 50 states.“Governor Newsom, this is nothing more than a power grab,” Tony Strickland, a Republican state senator, said during a Monday news conference in Sacramento.He warned the redistricting tit-for-tat sets a dangerous precedent that will not be easily undone. “The Golden Gate Bridge toll was supposed to be temporary,” he added. “You’re still paying the toll.”The legislature could hold floor votes to send the measure to voters for approval as soon as Thursday, KCRA reported.House Republicans currently hold a razor-thin three-seat majority in the US House and Trump has pushed to redraw district boundaries ahead of next year’s midterm elections, in which the president’s party typically loses seats. Republicans are also poised to redraw congressional districts in Ohio, Missouri and Florida, as well as potentially Indiana.Democrats have signaled they will try to redraw districts in other states where they hold power at the state level, such as New York and Maryland, though they do not have as many opportunities to draw districts as Republicans do. More

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      Judge restrains Beto O’Rourke’s group from sending funds to Democrats outside Texas

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      A Texas judge has expanded a restraining order against former congressman Beto O’Rourke and his political organization over its fundraising for Democratic state lawmakers who left Texas to prevent a legislative session on congressional redistricting.Tarrant county judge Megan Fahey, a member of the conservative Federalist Society and past president of the Fort Worth Republican Women’s Club, said in a four-page order published on Saturday that O’Rourke and his political group, Powered by People, are barred from sending money out of Texas.Fahey found that “harm is imminent to the State, and if the Court does not issue this order, the State will be irreparably injured” because “defendants’ fundraising conduct constitutes false, misleading, or deceptive acts under the Texas Deceptive Trade Practices Act”.Fahey said that financial institutions and political fundraising platforms, including ActBlue, the main online platform for Democrats, are “immediately restrained from removing any property or funds that belong to, or are being held for”, O’Rourke or Powered by People “from the State of Texas”.The order came in response to a complaint from Ken Paxton, the far-right Republican attorney general who is seeking to unseat Republican senator John Cornyn, and also attempting to revoke the charter of O’Rourke’s group.On Saturday, O’Rourke said his group had donated more than $1m to Texas Democrats since the start of the redistricting session prompted their out-of-state walk-out. He said the group received “more than 55,000 donations” and the money benefited the Texas legislative Black caucus, the Texas house Democratic caucus, and the Mexican American legislative caucus.Many Texas Democrats have been in Chicago under the protective wing of governor JB Pritzker since early August, each accruing fines of $500 a-day for failing to attend a session called by the Republican Texas governor, Greg Abbott, that would probably add five seats to the Republican slate in Congress after next year’s midterm elections.California’s governor, Gavin Newsom, has responded in kind, unveiling a plan last week to redraw voting lines in his state that could add five safe Democratic seats in Congress, if Texas proceeds. Currently, only one in five seats in the House of Representatives are considered competitive.The California plan came as Texas Democrats are reportedly preparing to make their way home to launch a new chapter in the redistricting war after a series of nationwide protests on Saturday called “Fight the Trump Takeover National Day of Action.”“We were playing chess and they were playing tic-tac-toe,” Texas sate representative Jolanda Jones told Austin’s KVUE. “We were able to stop them, so their numbers didn’t matter. I think it was a gangster move. It was boss, and I’m proud of us.”With members of the Democratic delegation expected to attended a second special legislative session in Austin on Monday, meeting the numbers required, the Texas redistricting measure is expected to pass.Paxton celebrated the judge’s decision, saying that in Texas, “lawless actions have consequences, and Beto’s finding that out the hard way.”Paxton said in a statement that O’Rourke’s “fraudulent attempt to pad the pockets of the rogue cowards abandoning Texas has been stopped” and that “the cabal of Democrats who have colluded together to scam Texans and derail our Legislature will face the full force of the law, starting with Robert Francis O’Rourke.”O’Rourke, who ran a brief campaign for the Democratic party presidential nomination in 2020, filed his own lawsuit against Paxton earlier this month that requested a block on an investigation into his group and alleged that Paxton was engaged in a “fishing expedition, constitutional rights be damned”.O’Rourke said at a protest in Austin on Saturday that Democrats were “not going to bend the knee. We’re going to stand and fight wherever we have to – from the state house to the court house, from Texas to California.” More