DHS announces plan for immigration detention center in Nebraska
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced it will open a new migrant detention facility in Nebraska as part of President Trump’s efforts to bolster Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (Ice) detention network.
The facility, located in the south-western part of the state, has been called “Cornhusker Clink” by the department and will hold undocumented migrants arrested by Ice. The project is a partnership between the Nebraska department of correctional services and Ice, adding up to 280 new detention beds.
“Today, we’re announcing a new partnership with the state of Nebraska to expand detention bed space by 280 beds,” DHS secretary Kristi Noem said in a statement.
“Thanks to Governor Pillen for his partnership to help remove the worst of the worst out of our country. If you are in America illegally, you could find yourself in Nebraska’s Cornhusker Clink. Avoid arrest and self-deport now using the CBP Home App.”
Officials are repurposing the state’s minimum-security prison work camp in McCook, about 210 miles west of Lincoln.
“This is about keeping Nebraskans – and Americans across our country – safe,” governor Jim Pillen said in a statement.
The Nebraska facility is the latest in a string of new detention centers opened under the Trump administration. DHS recently opened “Alligator Alcatraz” in the Florida Everglades, launched a new site in El Paso, Texas, and plans to detain up to 1,000 migrants at Indiana’s “Speedway Slammer”.
Key events
Closing summary
Our live coverage is ending for the day, but we’ll be back on Wednesday. Thanks for reading along with us. Here is a summary of the key developments from today:
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The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced it will open a new migrant detention facility in Nebraska as part of President Trump’s ongoing efforts to bolster Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (Ice) detention network. The facility, located in the southwest part of the state, has been called “Cornhusker Clink” by the department and will hold undocumented migrants arrested by Ice. The project is a partnership between the Nebraska Department of Correctional Services and Ice, adding up to 280 new detention beds.
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National guard members from West Virginia, South Carolina, Mississippi and Louisiana began arriving in Washington on Tuesday, the Associated Press reports, to help with President Donald Trump’s federal crackdown on crime and homelessness. The Joint Task Force District of Columbia, the military unit overseeing the Guard, told the news wire that those troops will perform similar duties to local Guard members already on the streets. These tasks include protecting landmarks and crowd control.
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The White House launched an official TikTok account, joining the social platform with more than 150 million US users. Reuters first reported the move. The first video posted by the White House on TikTok shows a video montage with a Trump voiceover saying: “Every day I wake up determined to deliver a better life for the people all across this nation. I am your voice.” More here.
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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.
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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”.
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Federal prosecutors have launched a criminal investigation into allegations that Washington DC police systematically manipulated crime statistics to make the city appear safer than it actually is. The probe, anonymous sources tell the Washington Post, NBC News and Fox News, being conducted by the US attorney’s office for the District of Columbia under Jeanine Pirro, is the latest escalation between the Trump administration and DC officials over federal control of local policing. More here.
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The 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”. More here.
Lucy Campbell
‘Boston will not back down’: mayor hits back at Trump officials’ sanctuary city threats
Boston’s mayor Michelle Wu has hit back sharply at the Trump administration’s legal threats over sanctuary city immigration policies, declaring that “Boston will not back down”.
Wu told a news conference outside Boston’s city hall on Tuesday: “The US attorney general asked for a response by today, so here it is: stop attacking our cities to hide your administration’s failures. Unlike the Trump administration, Boston follows the law. And Boston will not back down from who we are and what we stand for.”
Last week, the US Department of Justice sent letters to 13 states, from California to Rhode Island, and 22 local governments, from Boston to Seattle, that it has deemed “sanctuary jurisdictions”, threatening their leaders with prosecution for allegedly “undermining” and “obstructing” federal immigration enforcement.
The letters warned that they could lose federal funds or face legal action if they do not assist with Donald Trump’s sweeping, aggressive and highly controversial immigration enforcement and mass deportation efforts.
Attorney general Pam Bondi has warned that she intends to prosecute political leaders who are not – in her view – sufficiently supportive of immigration enforcement.
Bondi’s letter asked recipients to provide a response by 19 August that “confirms your commitment with complying with federal law and identifies the immediate initiatives you are taking to eliminate laws, policies and practices that impede federal immigration enforcement”.
Read the full story by The Guardian’s Lucy Campbell here:
Health secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr lashed out at the American Academy of Pediatrics after it said that children ages 6 months to 23 months should receive a Covid-19 vaccine, in defiance of federal health officials.
In a post on the social media platform X, Kennedy accused the group of engaging in a “pay-to-play scheme to promote commercial ambitions of AAP’s Big Pharma benefactors.”
Kennedy posted donations from Covid mRNA vaccine drugmakers Pfizer, Moderna, Merck and Sanofi to the pediatricians’ Friends of Children Fund, which supports projects related to children’s health and health equity.
Kennedy argued that the donations constituted a conflict of interest because, according to him, they led to the recommendation that young children receive Covid vaccines.
Sandra Laville
Leading US economists urge peers to fight Trump’s attack on environment
Three leading US economists are urging their peers around the world to push back against Donald Trump’s attack on environmental laws.
In what amounts to a call to action to economists, the trio say rollback of environmental regulations is “inconsistent or antithetical” to fundamental principles of economics over how to allocate the world’s limited resources for the greatest possible value to society.
The economists, Catherine L Kling, Stephen Polasky, and Kathleen Segerson, say the Trump administration, by focusing on tearing down environmental protections, is likely to reduce rather than increase economic efficiency, and its policies are a threat to Americans and the rest of the world.
Writing in the journal Environmental and Resource Economics, they urge economists to challenge from an economic perspective the administration’s undermining of science on climate and the environment.
Read the full story here:
DHS announces plan for immigration detention center in Nebraska
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced it will open a new migrant detention facility in Nebraska as part of President Trump’s efforts to bolster Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (Ice) detention network.
The facility, located in the south-western part of the state, has been called “Cornhusker Clink” by the department and will hold undocumented migrants arrested by Ice. The project is a partnership between the Nebraska department of correctional services and Ice, adding up to 280 new detention beds.
“Today, we’re announcing a new partnership with the state of Nebraska to expand detention bed space by 280 beds,” DHS secretary Kristi Noem said in a statement.
“Thanks to Governor Pillen for his partnership to help remove the worst of the worst out of our country. If you are in America illegally, you could find yourself in Nebraska’s Cornhusker Clink. Avoid arrest and self-deport now using the CBP Home App.”
Officials are repurposing the state’s minimum-security prison work camp in McCook, about 210 miles west of Lincoln.
“This is about keeping Nebraskans – and Americans across our country – safe,” governor Jim Pillen said in a statement.
The Nebraska facility is the latest in a string of new detention centers opened under the Trump administration. DHS recently opened “Alligator Alcatraz” in the Florida Everglades, launched a new site in El Paso, Texas, and plans to detain up to 1,000 migrants at Indiana’s “Speedway Slammer”.
National guard from other states start arriving in Washington
National guard members from West Virginia, South Carolina, Mississippi and Louisiana began arriving in Washington on Tuesday, the Associated Press reports, to help with President Donald Trump’s federal crackdown on crime and homelessness.
The Joint Task Force District of Columbia, the military unit overseeing the Guard, told the news wire that those troops will perform similar duties to local Guard members already on the streets. These tasks include protecting landmarks and crowd control.
The task force said that incoming troops from other states will be staying at military base housing and hotels.
In a post on Truth Social, Donald Trump said that Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell is “hurting” the housing industry “very badly” and said he should cut interest rates.
“Could somebody please inform Jerome ‘Too Late’ Powell that he is hurting the Housing Industry, very badly? People can’t get a Mortgage because of him. There is no Inflation, and every sign is pointing to a major Rate Cut,” Trump wrote.
Trump has previously called on officials to seize control from Powell if he fails to cut interest rates. Earlier this month, Trump said he would remove Powell “in a heartbeat,” arguing that the Fed’s interest rate was too high, but added that others have said Powell’s removal would “disturb the market”.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Donald Trump has been testing a sound system at the Rose Garden for an upcoming party.
Leavitt reposted a video on the social platform X from White House deputy chief of staff Dan Scavino. The video shows the White House patio with God Bless the USA by Lee Greenwood in the background, a song that Trump frequently played during his campaign rallies.
Leavitt quoted Trump saying the party “will be the best event in the history of the White House.”
The Rose Garden renovations are part of Trump’s plans to renovate the White House, including an enormous $200m ballroom for hosting official receptions, one of the biggest projects at the White House in more than a century.
The Guardian’s Oliver Laughland, Stephanie Kirchgaessner and Raima Amjad report on how Ice used Marriott hotels to detain immigrants, despite the chain’s 2019 pledge not to cooperate:
A Sheraton hotel in Louisiana has been used by immigration officials to hold people who are being deported, in what appears to be a contradiction of a position Sheraton’s parent company, Marriott, took in 2019 when it said its properties would not be used in cooperation with Ice.
The Intercept first reported that the hotel, located on MacArthur Drive in Alexandria, Louisiana, near a major deportation hub and airport used by Ice, had been used by immigration officials earlier this month to hold a father and his teenage son for four days after their arrest in New York. They were then deported to Ecuador. The Intercept cited phone-tracking evidence that had been shared with the publication and was later seen by the Guardian.
The evidence corroborates the account of a source with knowledge of hotel operations in Alexandria, who told the Guardian that they believed the venue had been used to detain immigrant families and unaccompanied children since it was renovated in late 2023. The source observed Ice contractors known to assist in the transfer of unaccompanied minors operating at the Sheraton as recently as June of this year.
The source added that other hotels in the area have also been used to hold immigrant families.
It is not clear whether Marriott has a formal contract with Ice or what the company knows about Ice’s use of the Sheraton in Alexandria. In one case that emerged last year, Marriott sued a New York-based franchise after the hotel entered a partnership with the city for it to be used as an immigrant shelter, saying it had done so without Marriott’s consent.
Read the full story by Oliver Laughland, Stephanie Kirchgaessner and Raima Amjad here:
Secretary of homeland security Kristi Noem announced on Tuesday that the US-Mexico border wall will be painted black at the request of President Donald Trump as an effort to deter immigration into the United States.
Noem, speaking at a news conference at the border wall, said that painting the wall black “will make it even harder for people to climb.”
“Black gets hotter in this weather, and in this heat, and in this sun,” she said. “When you touch something that’s hot during these kinds of temperatures, it’s very difficult to climb it.”
She added that Trump “wants to make it as difficult as possible” for migrants to cross the southern border.
Mike Banks, chief of the US Border Patrol, echoed Noem’s reasons for painting the wall black.
“The black is going to protect the wall from rusting,” Banks said, “and it makes it more difficult to climb.”
The move is the latest step in Trump’s aggressive immigration crackdown. During his second term, large sections of the border were designated as militarized zones, which allowed US troops to apprehend immigrants and others accused of trespassing on military bases. This shift also enabled additional criminal charges that could carry prison sentences.
The number of attempted illegal crossings has plummeted, according to data from the US Customs and Border Protection.
White House launches official TikTok account
The White House launched an official TikTok account on Tuesday, joining the social platform with more than 150 million US users. Reuters first reported the move.
“The Trump administration is committed to communicating the historic successes President Trump has delivered to the American people with as many audiences and platforms as possible,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told Reuters as the site went live.
The first video posted by the White House on TikTok shows a video montage with a Trump voiceover saying: “Every day I wake up determined to deliver a better life for the people all across this nation. I am your voice.”
The video was posted at about 5:30pm ET. As I write this post, the account has about 1,400 followers.
Texas Democrats tear up ‘permission slips’ ahead of map vote
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.
Anna Betts
US to ‘root out anti-Americanism’ in reviewing immigration applications
The 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:
