On Friday, September 19, 2025, the Trump Administration released new rules that will enable the Pentagon to label journalists as security threats and revoke press passes for those who obtain or publish information that the agency says is unfit for public release.
On Saturday, Trump made multiple posts on social media directed at U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi declaring that “Justice Must Be Served, Now,” “They impeached me twice,” and “We can’t delay any longer, it’s killing our reputation and credibility,” potentially referring to the release of the Epstein files. He also posted that if Afghanistan “doesn’t give Bagram Airbase back to those that built it, the United States of America, BAD THINGS ARE GOING TO HAPPEN!!!” Trump also retweeted a post of The White House showing the extrajudicial killings of passengers of a vessel supposedly on route to the U.S. in what the administration is calling the termination of narcoterrorists by Trump.
On Sunday morning as Trump left the White House headed for far-right activist Charlie Kirk’s funeral, he told reporters: “We’re going to celebrate the life of a great man today. It will be a tough day.” Since Kirk’s assassination on September 10, many critics of the Trump administration have been targeted and fears remain that Trump will use Kirk’s death to justify continued efforts to suppress the voices of his critics and political opponents
Every day, we wake to a new assault on our fundamental rights and words or actions by the U.S. President that make us question the extent to which he will follow through on his threats. It can be overwhelming.
- Our right to free speech and to a free press are under attack in more ways than we can name from the most recent changes for media access to the Pentagon to the chilling response of the federal government and various institutions following the assassination of right-wing activist Charlie Kirk
- Our right to be free from unreasonable searches and seizures, our unenumerated rights such as the right to privacy, and the right to due process have been under attack and now are being challenged in unprecedented ways
- Our Miranda rights and the right to know the charges against us are under attack when masked individuals are able to disappear us into federal holding without explanation. California has now banned the use of masks by law enforcement.
- Our rights to be free from cruel and unusual punishment are under attack when individuals suspected of civil violations of U.S. immigration laws are arrested and sent to foreign prisons known for human rights violations
- Our right to equal protection under the law is under attack when federal troops and officers are deployed to our cities and are allowed to act on their race-based or language-based suspicions.
And ultimately, our ability to maintain a just government that upholds a separation of powers that protects our democracy will be under attack as long as we have a federal administration that is hostile to the very freedoms this country espouses it has represented since the signing of the U.S. Constitution and our Declaration of Independence.
Read below for the latest from the Trump Administration.
Trump’s March toward Fascism
Trump’s march toward fascism continues, literally, as he works to deploy federal troops nationwide in cities like L.A., D.C., Chicago, and even Memphis despite the city reporting an historic drop in crime with crime being at a 25 year low in the city.
After making a threatening post aimed at Chicago, stating that he loved “the smell of deportations in the morning” and presumably referring to the Department of Defense as the Department of War, Trump has since abandoned his initial plan to send troops to Chicago and instead turned his attention to Memphis. The lack of federal troops has not stopped the ICE raids that continue in the city as documented in a recent edition of Movement Memos, an independent publication produced in Chicago by veteran community organizer Kelly Hayes.
In D.C., after one month, the emergency order was lifted in the city yet ICE continues to carry out operations and the National Guard remains with more than 2,300 guardsmen on duty. Following a Supreme Court decision that allows ICE to use factors such as race, language, and job type to target their arrests, many in D.C. have gone into hiding.
The vast majority of D.C. residents continue to oppose use of the national guard in the city for local law enforcement, and they must express their opposition without any voting representation in Congress nor without support from the mayor’s office. On September 6, over 10,000 people gathered in D.C. to call for an end to Trump’s federal occupation of the city.
Trump’s policies have contributed to a decline in tourism to the U.S. For example, more U.S. residents drove into Canada in June and July than Canadians making the reverse trip, according to Canada’s national statistical agency. Statistics Canada said it was the first time that has happened in nearly two decades with the exception of two months during the pandemic.
Since taking office for a second term, Trump has issued over 200 executive orders. For comparison, Trump issued 220 executive orders during his entire first term January 2017 - January 2021. A recent executive order directs Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth to “ensure the availability of a standing quick reaction force that shall be resourced, trained, and available for rapid nationwide deployment.”
Trump appears to be testing his law enforcement powers, whether in terms of border security or local law enforcement, and doing so thus far without using the Insurrection Act. In fact, members of the Senate have introduced legislation to limit the President’s authority under the Insurrection Act.
In California, a judge has ruled that Trump’s deployment of federal troops exceeded his authority; however that ruling only applies to California. In D.C., Trump has authority under the Home Rule Act to deploy federal troops as commander of the D.C. National Guard. In Memphis, Trump has the support of the state’s governor, making the deployment more likely legal but still unprecedented.
Trump’s Expansion of Federal Powers
Since taking office, Trump has declared numerous unfounded national emergencies to justify his use of expanded federal powers. To carry out its broader deportation agenda, the Trump administration expanded the use of “expedited removal” to cover immigrants found anywhere in the country. It also ended the “sensitive locations” policy that protected sites like schools and churches from immigration raids.
In the past month, a federal appeals court blocked Trump’s continued use of the Alien Enemies Act to quickly deport migrants in some cases without due process. Trump’s authority under the Alien Enemies Act is likely headed back to the U.S. Supreme Court for a ruling on whether the Trump administration has used the act lawfully.
Mahmoud Khalil, an Algerian citizen from Palestine with permanent legal residency in the U.S., was released from U.S. custody on June 20 but still fears being targeted for deportation because of his political speech. “What shocked me at the very beginning, when I was kidnapped [by U.S. immigration], was just how reminiscent that was to cases I witnessed in Syria,” he says. “You would have plainclothed officers without any warrant come and take you just because of your political speech.”
Following his release, a different immigration judge in Louisiana ruled on September 18 that Khalil should be deported based on the green card application allegations. Khalil’s legal team intends to appeal this decision and for now, he remains protected from deportation by a separate federal court order.
In another test case for Trump’s deportation policies and powers, the administration continues to target Salvadoran national Kilmar Abrego Garcia who before his arrest was able to live and work in Maryland for the past 10 years with a court order issued in 2019 that prevented his deportation back to El Salvador due to threats of violence directed towards him in his home country. On September 5, the U.S. government announced that Garcia would be deported to the African country of Eswatini after Garcia claimed he feared for his life if deported to Uganda. On Saturday, September 6, Eswatini government officials reported that they had received no communication regarding Garcia being deported to the country.
The U.S. initially deported Garcia to El Salvador but then returned him to the U.S. following a court order only to turn around and charge him with human trafficking based on a 2022 traffic stop in Tennessee.
A federal judge has ordered Garcia to remain in the U.S. until his rights to due process are fully realized.
On September 15, Garcia’s attorneys filed a motion to dismiss the Tennessee criminal case against him, arguing it was a clear example of “selective and vindictive prosecution” by the Trump administration.
Get caught up on the legal battles here.
Trump’s third party deportations
Since taking office, President Donald Trump has significantly escalated the use of third-country deportations in an unprecedented expansion of a rarely used provision in U.S. immigration law. So far, nearly a dozen countries have agreed to accept U.S. deportees, often in exchange for financial compensation or under diplomatic pressure. However, critics warn that such deportations violate international human rights standards and place vulnerable migrants at risk.
Trump’s retribution and the resistance
Since his reelection, Trump has moved aggressively to fulfill campaign promises, serving as what he calls the conservative right’s “retribution.” Over the past 8 months, he has targeted a range of individuals and institutions not in alignment with his values or agenda, including political opponents, news organizations, former government officials, universities, law firms, judges, international student protesters, late night talk show hosts, and the list continues to grow.
In over 100 cases, however, the courts have stepped in to issue preliminary injunctions or temporary restraining orders to prevent the actions of the administration.