Politics and views in the United States

The White House is toughening its immigration rhetoric – which could motivate the base. Mail-in ballots are going out and disability rights advocates encourage voters and highlight access.

Transcript

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

The president wants to restore law and order, and you cannot bring down crime if you have criminals running rampant in your cities.

In an effort that could motivate immigration hardliners to vote, Homeland Security Secretary Mark Wayne Mullen is striking a tough tone.

A Politico review found Homeland Security and White House social media accounts focusing more on enforcement and deportations, with mentions of ICE and illegal aliens up by half months.

Mullen has kept a lower profile than his controversial predecessor, Christine Noem, but some MAGA allies are criticizing the administration for failing to deliver on President Donald Trump's promises of mass deportations, especially for violent criminals.

Data show the vast majority of those deported have no criminal record, but that may in fact be mathematically inevitable.

Immigrants, legal and illegal, are much less likely to commit offenses than native-born Americans, and deportation of criminal migrants has been standard practice for decades.

Meanwhile, DHS has worked to drive up the total number of removals, forcing it to rely on traffic stops and mass sweeps of job sites and neighborhoods.

Three states are now sending out mail-in ballots, even as the White House is asking the Supreme Court to lift a federal injunction, blocking its efforts to sharply restrict that.

President Donald Trump insists it's intended to stop mass cheating.

But since 2000, the Conservative Heritage Foundation has recorded only 200 confirmed cases of mail-in ballot fraud and 70 cases of non-citizen voting out of hundreds of millions of ballots cast.

Sawyer McCraib with Fix Democracy First says people can vote with confidence.

Be prepared to vote this electoral cycle.

If you want to vote by mail, that is still a safe and secure process.

Just be conscious of the delays that are there in the postal service and vote as soon as you get your ballot.

Don't wait on that.

Disability rights advocates are highlighting questions about ballot box accessibility for millions.

Even as mail-in voting is under fire, they say getting a ride to a rural polling site can be a serious barrier and voting in a wheelchair can be a challenge in the city and country alike.

Carrie Carlson with the Tennessee Disability Coalition says some polling sites don't meet the requirement of having at least one accessible voting machine, but she says help is available.

If any person with a disability goes to the poll to vote on election day or early voting, right?

They can ask for assistance.

They can also have somebody come with them to help them vote.

A new poll by CBS News finds that the election is likely to be a referendum on Trump, and that's what'll draw voters to the polls.

A majority of Democrats say they're motivated by their opposition to the president, rather than by Democratic policy proposals.

In contrast, a majority of Republicans say they want to advance Trump's agenda.

In Chicago, Mayor Brandon Johnson announced he would run for re-election, despite only a little more than 10% of voters in a poll supporting him.

Johnson, who won a tight race three years ago, is arguing his progressive coalition will prevail again.

He already faces a daunting field of more moderate Democratic challengers, including Illinois Secretary of State Alexei Janoulias, Illinois Comptroller Susanna Mendoza, and Congressman Mike Quigley.

I'm Zamone Perez for Pacifica Network and Public News Service.

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