Politics and views in the United States

The Trump administration has aggressively pursued public land policies. But for the moment the White House is backing down on immigration, amidst widespread backlash and the Supreme Court lets a blue-tinted California congressional map go ahead.

TRANSCRIPT

Welcome to 2026 Talks, where we're following our democracy in historic times.

The Trump administration has really cut the public out of public lands by limiting the amount of work that companies need to do to get a permit and limiting the opportunities for public participation in permitting.

Kate Grotzinger with the Center for Western Priorities says their analysis finds the administration has implemented roughly four-fifths of the public lands agenda in Project 2025, despite President Donald Trump publicly disavowing it during the campaign.

The White House argues faster permitting boosts energy production, jobs and tax revenue.

The Center says environmental review and public input are being gutted, while congressional Republicans are moving to roll back federal land protections across Western states.

After weeks of protests and two killings by federal agents, the administration is withdrawing about a quarter of the immigration officers from the Twin Cities.

Borders Czar Tom Homan says the shift reflects better coordination with local authorities, not a retreat.

This is smarter enforcement, not less enforcement.

President Trump fully intends to achieve mass deportations during this administration and immigration enforcement actions will continue every day throughout this country.

Negotiations continue in Congress over possible ICE reforms.

In the meantime, Maryland legislators are pushing to limit local law enforcement cooperation with the agency, arguing those partnerships erode public safety.

And in Arkansas, teacher groups are training educators on how to respond if immigration agents come to a school.

They say state officials have been offering little guidance.

Lawmakers in Indiana are moving forward on expanding that cooperation.

A bill headed to the House floor would require schools, colleges and local governments to fulfill detention requests, and would let the state attorney general sue businesses that hire undocumented migrants.

But Monday, hundreds of high school students blocked streets in central Indiana, protesting the immigration sweeps, and civil rights activist and attorney Chip Pitts says the violent raids are violating the Constitution.

They use brutality and really aggressive tactics, breaking windows, without having a probable cause of individualized fact-based suspicion, as required by the Fourth Amendment, and then hauling pregnant women out.

And they've done this to hundreds of U.S. citizens.

The Supreme Court says California can use its new congressional map for the midterms, ruling that it was not based on race and partisan gerrymandering is legal.

The redistricting was pushed by Democrats to offset a similar Republican-led effort in Texas.

Fulton County, Georgia, has asked a federal court to mandate the return of hundreds of boxes of 2020 ballots and other election materials seized during an FBI raid.

The county is arguing that the seizure raises national concerns about ballot custody, transparency, and how election records are handled after votes are cast.

I'm Farah Siddiqui for Pacifica Network and Public News Service.

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