Author: Sky York Journal

Sky York Journal Congressional Republicans have been musing about the possibility of a second reconciliation package for some time now. The conversations picked up recently after Senate Republicans tried to convince President Donald Trump to drop his objections on a possible Department of Homeland Security (DHS) funding deal, promising the president that they will pass the SAVE America Act through the reconciliation process — as a way to circumvent the filibuster. So far, Republicans have said they want to include funding for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) — and possibly even all of DHS — the Department of Defense (DoD)…

Sky York Journal As DHS officers flooded into Minneapolis on an early December day, Mahamed Eydarus was out with his mom, shoveling snow.  In a subsequent declaration filed in a lawsuit, Eydarus would detail what unfolded over the next few minutes: An unmarked car suddenly drove up. A group of masked men wearing vests labeled “POLICE” and patches labeled “ICE” exited, and began questioning him and his mother: could they produce citizenship documents to prove that they were “not illegal”?  For Eydarus, a 25-year-old Somali-American U.S. citizen, the experience was harrowing. But amid the stress, he noticed that two men…

Sky York Journal The Supreme Court will consider President Trump’s effort to rewrite who gets to be an American citizen Wednesday, an attempt to pervert the Constitution and law that was born in the far-right fever swamp.  In Trump v. Barbara, the Trump administration is trying to erase the 14th Amendment’s promise of birthright citizenship to anyone born on American soil, with very narrow exceptions. The Supreme Court has already upheld that interpretation of the Citizenship Clause, and Congress has codified it in law multiple times.  Trump wants to exclude “temporary visitors” and “illegal aliens” from that sacred right, questioning…

Sky York Journal This story was originally published by Grist. Sign up for Grist’s weekly newsletter here. At the Department of Agriculture’s research division, everyone knows there’s one word they should never say, according to Ethan Roberts. “The forbidden C-word” — climate. Roberts, union president at the National Center for Agricultural Utilization Research in Peoria, Illinois, has worked for the federal government for nearly a decade. In that time, the physical science technician has weathered several political administrations, including President Donald Trump’s first term. None compare to what’s happening now.  The sweeping transformation became apparent last March, after a memo…

Sky York Journal March 2026 was a big month for anyone keeping tabs on the increasingly important intersection between the Trump administration and combat sports.  On March 11, FBI Director Kash Patel announced a partnership between his agency and the Ultimate Fighting Championship. Less than two weeks later, on March 24, the U.S. Senate voted to confirm Mixed Martial Arts fighter–turned–Senator Markwayne Mullin (R-OK) as secretary of the Department of Homeland Security. TPM has been on top of all of this with original reporting on how Patel’s deal with the UFC raises legal and ethical questions and how the MMA…

Sky York Journal Shortly after President Donald Trump on Friday signed a presidential memo directing the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to pay Transportation Security Administration (TSA) employees, a key House committee meeting descended into conspiracy theories as it debated whether to take action on a Senate bill that would do the same.  Trump’s executive action, on dubious authority, comes as the Senate-passed bill that would fund DHS without Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Customs and Border Protection (CBP) is stalled. “America’s air travel system has reached its breaking point,” Trump declared in the memo authorizing the payments. “I…

Sky York Journal President Donald Trump’s attempts to intimidate the Federal Reserve into doing whatever he says have so far done much more harm than good for the president.  Trump has, over the past year, sought to use social media threats and grumbles in the press to intimidate the Federal Reserve Board of Governors into lowering interest rates at his command and in spite of the governors’ interpretations of economic data. But by escalating those attacks into two highly dubious and politically unpopular legal battles, the administration appears to be doing more harm than good to Trump’s ultimate goal of…

Sky York Journal Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) said Republicans sent Senate Democrats “our last and final offer” for the ongoing Department of Homeland Security funding negotiations. “I think the Dems are now in possession of what I think is our last and final” offer, Thune told reporters on Thursday. “So let’s hope this gets it done.” Republicans’ “final” proposal comes as lawmakers on Capitol Hill have been negotiating for weeks to end the DHS-specific government shutdown, which started on Feb. 14. Senate Democrats have been filibustering the DHS funding bill and demanding reforms and constraints be placed on…

Sky York Journal The momentum to end the ongoing Department of Homeland Security shutdown picked up Monday evening.  Key Republican senators reportedly seemed more optimistic about a possible deal to restore funding to the majority of the agency following a Monday afternoon White House meeting. Sens. Katie Britt (R-AL), Steve Daines (R-MT), Lindsey Graham (R-SC) and Bernie Moreno (R-OH) met with President Donald Trump, Border czar Tom Homan, Stephen Miller and other administration officials to pitch a plan to fund the majority of the DHS — including, critically, the TSA — and later addressing the ICE portion in a party-line…

Sky York Journal Airline travelers across the country were greeted with the sight of armed Department of Homeland Security and ICE agents on Monday. President Trump ordered the officers to be dispatched to at least 13 airports in what he claimed is an effort to ease long security lines caused by the ongoing shutdown of DHS.  What those agents are doing on the ground is less clear. Photos and videos from New York City’s JFK International and LaGuardia Airports, Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson and Houston’s Bush Intercontinental — some of the facilities with the worst delays — showed armed, uniformed officers walking…