Blue 812 News Issue 35 - Aug 31

Aug 31, 2025

It’s totally normal and totally cool to do sneaky stuff during Labor Day weekend, a time when most Americans are offline and otherwise disengaged from the news cycle (but not you, dear reader!). That’s why THIS MORNING SUNDAY MORNING the LORD’s DAY the Trump administration tried to send 600 unaccompanied children to Guatemala without any legal hearings. The report outlining the plan was released on Friday, at which time it was not immediately clear whether the children had appeared before an immigration judge and stated that they wished to return home voluntarily, which could be considered a repatriation.

The complaint, filed just after 1 a.m. Sunday by the National Immigration Law Center (NILC), names 10 plaintiffs identified only by initials, ranging in age from 10 to 17. Two are listed simply as "minors." The emergency relief motion followed within 30 minutes. U.S. District Judge Sparkle Sooknanan, issued an emergency order that halted the Trump administration's plan. Sooknanan's order came after attorneys alerted the court that Guatemalan children were already being moved toward removal. The judge instructed the government to stop all transfers and confirmed that the class includes minors in the custody of the ORR who lack executable removal orders. Sooknanan rescheduled a hearing to 12:30 p.m. after learning that some children were already being prepared for removal, ruling the government to immediately cease all efforts to transfer or repatriate any child covered by the lawsuit. During the hearing, Deputy Assistant Attorney General Drew Ensign acknowledged that one flight may have departed but returned. He added that all children covered by the lawsuit remain in U.S. custody and no further flights will leave under the court's directive.

The NILC lawsuit accuses the Trump administration of coordinating with the Guatemalan government to repatriate more than 600 minors without legal hearings. According to NILC attorneys, the Trump administration intended to deport the children within hours under a "pilot program" coordinated with the Guatemalan government that reportedly included transferring minors from ORR custody to ICE for removal, bypassing ongoing immigration proceedings. The complaint argues that this violates federal statutes protecting unaccompanied children and denies them the opportunity to seek asylum or contest removal. Federal law exempts unaccompanied children from expedited removal and guarantees them access to immigration court hearings. The lawsuit further argues that the administration's actions violate TVPRA, the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA), and constitutional due process rights. More at Newsweek.

An appeals court ruled that most of President Trump's tariffs are illegal — but held off on enforcing the decision until mid-October, given expectations that Trump is going to go cry to the Supreme Court. The ruling from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, in Washington, D.C., focused on the "reciprocal" tariffs Trump imposed in April, as well as separate tariffs on China, Canada, and Mexico that the administration put in place, citing emergency powers granted under a 1970s-era law. The appeals court ruled that the president had overstepped his authority in invoking the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) to impose most of his tariffs. The act from the 1970s gives the president the power to respond to "unusual and extraordinary" threats during times of national emergencies. The ruling from the Washington court comes just months after the U.S. Court of International Trade declared the tariffs illegal, ruling checks notes exactly the same thing the appeals court just said. More at NPR.

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Last week was just full of MAHA drama. First, CDC Director Susan Monarez, who has only led the agency since July 31st, was fired. Sources who were not authorized to speak publicly on the matter told NPR that Monarez had a meeting that went very badly last week with HHS Secretary RFK Jr., kicking off the drama. The Washington Post broke the story, then HHS confirmed Monarez was out in a post on X. Later, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said that she had been fired, but Monarez's attorneys said ‘nuh-uh’ and the firing has not been communicated to her by President Trump, which is necessary because it is a Senate-confirmed position.

Acting CDC Director Jim O’Neill, who thinks people should be able to be compensated for donating human organs to help incentivize more supply (can’t see any problems there…), is not a physician or a scientist, despite most CDC directors having medical degrees. Following his confirmation by the Senate, Dr. Deb Houry, the chief medical officer of the CDC, resigned. Besides Houry, two other top CDC leaders also resigned this week: Dr. Demetre Daskalakis, who led the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases, and Dr. Dan Jernigan, who led the National Center for Emerging and Zoonotic Infectious Disease.

The Senate HELP Committee will be giving Monarez a hearing, but that committee is chaired by Republican Sen. Bill Cassidy of Louisiana (boo). He voted to confirm RFK Jr (another boo) as the Senate’s only physician (WTF) after RFK promised not to mess with vaccines. Now that he has, Cassidy is pissed (…okay, let’s let him cook then). Cassidy said this week that his committee will conduct oversight of these CDC resignations. The committee's ranking member, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT), has called for a hearing on the leadership shakeup. Cassidy has yet to confirm whether that will happen. More at NPR.

Indiana Republicans' visit to D.C. — where lawmakers met with Vice President J.D. Vance and top legislative leaders met with Trump — appeared to soften the stances of some lawmakers who were either on the fence or opposed to redrawing the maps before the 2026 midterm elections. The president himself was not in attendance at the four-hour Aug. 26 meeting in the Eisenhower building, attended by an estimated 60 or so lawmakers. Politico reported that Trump later met privately in the Oval Office with Indiana House Speaker Todd Huston and Senate President Rodric Bray.

Following the meeting, State Rep. Jim Lucas (R-Seymour) said, "I'm not as opposed to it as I was," During an interview with NPR, Republican State Rep. Andrew Ireland, who represents some of the outlying areas of Indianapolis, argued that Republicans have a "constitutional right to draw maps" in their favor, because they represent the state's majority, and they have for nearly a decade. Right, since the last time you gerrymandered it. Rep. Heath VanNatter, R-Kokomo, told IndyStar he is still undecided, though he said he's leaning toward supporting redistricting, and is still talking to constituents, who he said have given him mixed reactions. According to the Indiana Capitol Chronicle, a new statewide poll shows most Hoosiers don’t want to see the state’s congressional maps redrawn mid-decade.

In other state redistricting news, following President Trump's request, Missouri Republicans are poised to redraw their state's congressional lines to help maintain the GOP majority in the U.S. House. Gov. Mike Kehoe announced a special legislative session to draw a new voting map would start next Wednesday.

IndyStar delved into how detaining immigrants became "a cash cow" for Clay County Jail, which has grown to become a major detention center in the Midwest. Just seven months into President Donald Trump’s second term, ICE has already funneled more than 3,000 men and women through the jail, paying the county $85 for each day it holds an immigration detainee. For more than a decade, the partnership with ICE has been a lucrative revenue source for the small county (population 26,400 people). The county's general fund soared to $13.5 million this year, thanks in part to the jail's partnership with ICE, a 224% jump from 2013, when the county first began housing ICE detainees. In the first four months of this year alone, Clay County has already billed ICE $2.7 million for housing, transporting, and feeding detainees, according to invoices from the Clay County Sheriff's Department.

County Commissioner Paul Sinders explained the rationale for the partnership during a conversation with a reporter in 2021: Immigrants detained by ICE are going to be jailed somewhere, so why not here? Three more Indiana counties, including Marion, have reached agreements to house ICE detainees. The other two counties, Clinton, located outside of Lafayette, and Clark, across the Ohio River from Louisville, referred inquiries about those partnerships to ICE, which has not responded with records requested by IndyStar. The Miami Correctional Facility, a maximum-security prison north of Indianapolis, and Camp Atterbury, a military training facility to the south, are also slated to house up to 2,000 ICE detainees altogether. Gov. Mike Braun told reporters in early August that his goal is for the Trump administration to compensate Indiana for its efforts.

The Trump Administration has proposed a rule that would strip abortion access and even abortion counseling from the VA’s health benefits. They’re trying to make it seem like this rollback is what veterans want. But the public comment page on the regulation is being flooded by copy-paste spam from anti-choice activists who are trying to game the system to push Christian nationalist policies in our nation's best and largest unified healthcare system.

If finalized, the VA’s new rule would:

What you can do right now

Leave a public comment opposing the VA’s anti-choice rule.

Speak from your own experience, your own values, your own understanding of what this country owes its veterans.

The most effective comments include your personal or professional perspective, identify how this rule would affect you or your community, and offer a specific recommendation or concern. More info at On Offense.

A small group of “web ninjas” launched an effort to preserve key climate data that theTrump team has taken offline. Climate.gov now redirects users to a different NOAA website controlled by political appointees, Rebecca Lindsey, a former project manager for climate.gov, said. The library of information the public used to have access to, on everything from El Niño to rising greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere, is no longer available. The info from climate.gov will now be hosted on a privately-run site: climate.us. “It’s absurd to think that they’re going to just take it all down and hide it away,” one of the sleuths said.

Those involved in the climate.us project are also seeking seed funding and planning a crowdfunding campaign to save other climate information that is going dark or being modified with misinformation by the Trump administration, Lindsey said. For example, earlier this month the Department of Energy released a report written by five climate contrarians that attempted to poke holes in widely accepted climate science findings and argued the problem isn’t nearly as significant as mainstream climate research shows. More info at CNN.

Nasty Women - Vigo County calendar | Indivisible Wabash Valley calendar

Monday, September 1st at 10:30am: Labor Day 2025: Terre Haute Parade. Lineup begins at 10 a.m. at 11th Street and Wabash Avenue. The parade route runs west on Wabash Avenue and ends at Fairbanks Park, where a bean dinner and other activities are often held. More info here.

Tuesday, September 2nd at 5pm: Vigo County Council meeting in Annex building Council Room.

Tuesday, September 2nd at 6pm: Mile with the Mayor at Rea Park. A 1-mile walk with the mayor.

Thursday, September 4th at 6pm: Terre Haute City Council meeting at City Hall

Monday, September 8th at 6pm: Vigo County School Board meeting at 501 W. Olive Street - Boardroom

Tuesday, September 9th at 3pm: Mingle with the Mayor at Grand Traverse Pie Co. At this informal and relaxed gathering, various topics will be covered each month with opportunities to ask questions and voice concerns. Free pie and coffee will be served courtesy of Clinton Gardens.

Tuesday, September 9th at 5pm: Vigo County Council meeting in Annex building Council Room.

Thursday, September 11th at 6pm: Terre Haute City Council meeting at City Hall

Saturday, September 13th at 3pm: Terre Haute Pride Fest at Fairbanks Park. 3-8pm. More info here

A judge has blocked Trump from cutting funding from 34 cities and counties over 'sanctuary' policies. The cities covered by the ruling include Chicago, Denver, and Los Angeles.

Nancy Mace had to cancel a speech after only 8 people showed up, Susan Collins (R-ME) got booed at a ribbon-cutting ceremony, Rep. Barry Moore (R-AL.) got booed out of his town hall, Rep. Warren Davidson got jeered and yelled at at his Town Hall in rural Trenton, Ohio.

A Trump-appointed federal judge threw out the Trump administration’s lawsuit against Maryland’s entire federal bench. He slammed Trump officials’ actions: Allowing the case to move forward would “run counter to overwhelming precedent, depart from longstanding constitutional tradition, and offend the rule of law.”

Salvadoran native Kilmar Ábrego Garcia can’t be deported until October at the earliest, one judge ruled.

CBS and others are reporting that Senator Joni Ernst will not be running for re-election.

Let’s not forget Tuesday’s win in Iowa! That was a 21-point swing for Catelin Drey, a young mom, content creator, and first-time candidate who flipped this seat to break the Republican supermajority against all odds. So far, Democrats have won or overperformed in 39 out of 40 key elections this year.

Trump's time in the White House runs out in:

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