Dragnet
Week of May 2-8, 2025
Welcome to TRACKING THE CRISIS, a weekly round-up from The Democracy Collaborative tracking the administrative, legislative, and other actions of the new Trump Administration as well as the many forms of legal and movement response from across a broad range of social, political, and economic actors. TDC is providing this service for collective informational purposes, as a tool for understanding the times during a period of disorientingly rapid flux and change in the U.S. political economy. TDC should not be understood as endorsing or otherwise any of the specific content of the information round-up.
TRUMP TRACKER: Administration actions
Speaker Johnson struggles to rally Republicans around Trump’s ‘big, beautiful’ budget bill as rifts deepen around SNAP, Medicaid cuts. House Speaker Mike Johnson faced an uphill battle to rally Republican lawmakers to agree on spending cuts in the proposed 2026 budget bill. Republicans remain divided over proposed cuts to Medicaid, which could kick as many as eight million people off of healthcare benefits, according to a Congressional Budget Office report released this week. CNN maps the 64 Republican districts with the highest numbers of Medicaid recipients, illustrating the high political risks GOP lawmakers are taking in considering program cuts. While Johnson appears to have taken the most aggressive cuts off the table, David Dayen in the American Prospect reviews the ‘menu’ of alternative options Republicans have proposed to trim Medicaid spending, including cost-sharing schemes that would increase healthcare costs for recipients, cutting hospital taxes, and imposing work requirements; each of which would still impact millions of Americans and cost thousands of lives. Republicans are also considering a major overhaul of the SNAP food benefit program which would force states to shoulder a share of the costs and expand work requirements, impacting a large portion of the 40 million Americans currently receiving benefits from the program. On Thursday, May 8, Trump threw another wrinkle in the budget process by urging Speaker Johnson to pursue a tax hike for the wealthiest tax brackets. The Revolving Door Project reviews the current draft budget as released by the Trump Administration last week.
Immigration Updates: Trump seeks deals with Rwanda, Libya to detain migrants despite judicial blocks; ICE raids target labor organizers. On Saturday, May 3, CBS News reported that the Trump Administration is in talks with the Rwandan government to hold U.S. migrant detainees, as part of the Administration’s push to recruit third-party countries to play a role in its mass deportation program. Plans to send a group of Southeast Asian migrants to Libya this week were stymied by the courts; U.S. District Court Judge Brian E. Murphy issued an emergency ruling on Wednesday, May 7 saying that the deportations would violate previous court orders barring deportations without due process. Libya’s detention centers, like El Salvador’s CECOT prison, are notorious for human rights violations, and the country is currently in the midst of a civil war; both rival governments in Libya have said they would reject U.S. deportees. Trump denied knowledge of the planned flight to Libya when asked by reporters on Wednesday. Documents obtained by the Washington Post also showed that the Trump Administration also urged Ukraine to take U.S. deportees amid the nation’s escalating war with Russia. Another judge barred the Trump Administration from using the Alien Enemies Act to deport migrants to El Salvador from the New York District Court’s jurisdiction this week, echoing the rulings of several other district court judges over the last two weeks. As Judge James Boasberg questioned the Trump Administration this week over the return of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a Maryland district judge ordered the return of another wrongly detained man sent to El Salvador. The Trump Administration invoked state secrets privilege in a bid to avoid answering questions in court about the detained men. The Intercept reports that an ICE raid in western New York State targeted farmworkers involved in efforts to unionize year-round farmworkers in the state; a witness saw that ICE agents ‘had a list’ of names of targeted union organizers. Hundreds of undocumented workers were rounded up in Washington DC and Nashville this week, and CNN reports of over a dozen recent ICE arrests in courthouses has public safety officials worrying about the chilling effect the raids may have on local justice proceedings. The Washington Post reports on how the Trump Administration is using the militarization of the U.S.-Mexico border to hit migrants with additional charges of trespassing on restricted military zones. U.S. border agents are also expanding the surveillance state in its immigration dragnet, including taking photos of every person crossing the border by car. The U.S. Customs and Border Protection agency also quietly rescinded Biden-era protections for pregnant women, infants, and elders in immigration custody this week. While the Trump Administration’s effort to revoke asylum protections for over half a million migrants goes to the Supreme Court, the Lever reports on how the Trump Administration is tapping refugee funds to bring in white South Africans.
Trump reshuffles political appointees amid controversy. Trump withdrew Ed Martin’s nomination for the D.C. Attorney post this week in the face of Senate Republicans’ opposition to Martin’s extremist background and support for the January 6th rioters, much to the dismay of many MAGA supporters. On Thursday, May 8, the Trump Administration announced it would replace Ed Martin’s appointment with Fox News host Jeanine Pirro, who will serve as interim U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia while Martin is reassigned to other roles within the Justice Department. Trump also withdrew his nomination for U.S. Surgeon General this week, replacing Dr. Janette Neshiwat with wellness influencer Dr. Casey Means, who does not hold an active medical license and whose brother is a top adviser to HHS Secretary RFK Jr. Trump also made his first round of judicial appointments this week; The Nation reviews the new appointees’ far-right backgrounds and warns of more to come as Trump continues to struggle with the judiciary over his use of executive power. Trump is also expected to name former FedEx board member David Steiner to succeed Louis DeJoy as head of the U.S. Postal Service, drawing protests from the Letter Carriers Union over fears that the USPS may be on track to privatization.
Trump Administration fires FEMA head, guts environmental programs and information services ahead of anticipated disaster season. On Thursday, May 8, the Trump Administration fired FEMA acting administrator Cameron Hamilton one day after Hamilton spoke out against dismantling the federal disaster aid agency. Trump and DHS Secretary Kristi Noem have repeatedly discussed eliminating the agency entirely, and hundreds of cuts to FEMA staff over the last several weeks has reportedly left the agency unprepared for this year’s ‘disaster season’ of hurricanes and wildfires. FEMA also announced this week that it would be ending its door-to-door canvassing program for disaster survivors, raising concerns from agency workers that it will ‘severely hamper our ability to reach’ vulnerable people in the wake of disasters. The Trump Administration also announced this week that it would be ending NOAA’s data tracking of costs related to weather- and climate-related disasters, as well as the shuttering of NOAA’s Northwest Climate Resilience Collaborative program that helps states, cities and Tribes in the Pacific Northwest prepare for climate change impacts. The Department of Interior has suspended air quality monitoring at national parks as thousands of additional layoffs hit public land management agencies. As temperatures in Alaska climb to record highs, the House Natural Resources Committee advanced a budget bill to encourage oil and gas drilling in Alaska and other sensitive areas in what critics call the ‘most extreme anti-environment bill in history.’ Also this week, the National Science Foundation is eliminating all of its 37 research divisions and suspending new and existing grants as the agency is radically overhauled to fit Trump Administration priorities. NBC News reports on the emerging U.S. ‘brain drain’ as a generation of the ‘best and brightest’ young scientists are increasingly looking for work outside the United States. The Union of Concerned Scientists reviews four ways the Trump Administration is accelerating public safety risks ahead of this year’s disaster season.
Supreme Court allows Trump Administration to purge transgender troops from military, with implications for LGBTQIA+ rights in general. On Tuesday, May 6, the Supreme Court voted 6-3 to allow the Trump Administration to immediately begin enforcing a ban on transgender military service members while litigation on the constitutionality of Trump’s executive order plays out in court. Approximately 1,000 openly identifying transgender servicemembers will be dismissed immediately from the military per a Pentagon order. The New Republic breaks down how the ruling will affect Trump’s other anti-trans executive orders and transgender rights in general. Two lawsuits challenging Trump’s executive order are currently pending. The ruling comes amid other attacks on transgender and LGBTQIA+ rights, including the release of an HHS report this week considering religious conversion therapy for transgender youth, the revocation of a $20,000 NEA grant for an arts festival raising awareness for LGBTQIA+ resistance to anti-gay and anti-trans repression in foreign countries, and the freezing of over $400 million in NIH grants addressing LGBTQIA+ health issues.
DOGE consolidates database of federal data amid privacy, security risks. The Washington Post reported this week that DOGE is working to compile an unprecedented central database of federal data including private information from Social Security, the IRS, health diagnoses and more, putting millions of Americans’ most sensitive personal information at risk of exposure to cybersecurity failures. Privacy experts decry the collapsing of government data silos as a pretext for the Trump Administration to ‘weaponize’ Americans’ personal information for an authoritarian surveillance state, similar to how Nazi Germany consolidated data on citizens in the 1930s. Wired reports on how DOGE employees intend to deploy AI agents across federal agencies to process the vast amount of data on U.S. citizens and legal immigrants, including biometric data, amplifying concerns over privacy and civil liberties previously raised by the General Accounting Office. The VA has recently come under fire for improperly sharing veterans’ personal information databases with DOGE. DOGE is reportedly rolling out software to speed up federal layoffs as Elon Musk steps back from his advisory role at the White House, and ICE has announced a partnership with Peter Thiel’s firm Palantir to use federal data to track, identify, and arrest undocumented immigrants in its mass deportation dragnet. Truthout reports on how DOGE has been marking millions of Social Security holders erroneously as ‘dead’ in its effort to root out ‘waste’ in the benefits program.
Trump announces US-UK trade deal, Bessent to enter China talks as tariff woes hit consumers, US economy. On Thursday, May 8, Trump announced that the U.S. is planning to sign a trade deal with the UK, the first bilateral trade deal announced since Trump’s tariff war began in April. Britain reportedly will reduce tariffs on U.S. exports of beef, ethanol, and certain other products, and buy $10 billion worth of Boeing planes, while the U.S. will reduce tariffs on car imports and steel, while leaving a 10% general levy on all British products. Global justice advocates and progressive economists slam the trade deal as a ‘con’ on American workers and an attempt to manipulate markets to paint the trade war in a positive light. As Trump minted former senator David Perdue as the new U.S. Ambassador to China this week, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and trade negotiator Jamieson Greer are preparing to meet Chinese officials in Geneva this weekend to begin trade talks in a bid to de-escalate tensions between the two countries. U.S. tariffs against China are currently at a minimum of 145%, and Trump has indicated that he will not drop tariffs ahead of the trade negotiations; not much relief is expected from this initial meeting. While Asian economies are generally seeing an uptick in global markets, boosted by China’s macroeconomic interventions and deepening of ties with the EU, the Federal Reserve left interest rates unchanged amid deep uncertainty and risk within the U.S. economy. On Wednesday, May 7, Fed chair Jerome Powell warned of the impact of continuing tariffs on the emerging ‘stagflation’ effect in the U.S. economy, sparking angry reactions from Trump on social media. Economic policy experts took Powell’s remarks as an acknowledgement that Trump’s tariff policies are brewing the ‘perfect storm’ for a pronounced recession in the U.S., as Trump’s rhetoric shifts to encouraging austerity for U.S. consumers ahead of tariff impacts. Trump downplayed the threat of looming supply shortages this week as global shipping magnate Maersk warned of dropping container volumes amid the trade war, and retailers struggle to toe the line between rising costs and inflation of retail prices as higher prices for consumer goods hit Americans’ pockets from used cars to groceries and apple juice. Trump’s touted use of tariffs to bring back U.S. manufacturing is running into doubts among voters in the Rust Belt; Inequality.org released a report showing how Trump’s tariffs are concentrating wealth for the rich while straining resources for the poor and working class.
FAA in chaos as Newark airport suffers major outage. The Federal Aviation Administration is coming under increased scrutiny after a harrowing 90-second outage at Newark Airport last week left air traffic controllers without radar or tracking equipment to guide planes safely at the busy air hub; an unnamed air traffic control worker warned the public to avoid Newark Airport this week citing dangers to public safety. On Thursday, May 9, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy announced a plan to rapidly modernize air traffic control systems in a bid to fix longstanding problems with equipment and staffing that have plagued the FAA for years. Reuters reports on the major hurdles the Trump Administration faces in reforming the embattled aviation agency, especially in the wake of DOGE layoffs and the suspension of independent review of FAA’s oversight of air traffic control operations. The New Republic examines the combined effect of Trump Administration cuts at the FAA and other agencies’ critical data operations on public safety. Democratic minority leaders Hakeem Jeffries and Chuck Schumer have each called for an investigation into the impact of Trump Administration cuts on FAA operations.
Tracking the Money: conflicts of interest and privatization in the Trump Administration. As the Trump Administration pursues trade deals with countries facing high tariffs, news emerged this week that the United States is pushing countries to sign internet deals with Elon Musk’s Starlink ahead of trade negotiations. The Atlantic warns that Musk’s push to take Starlink global would give him unprecedented power over communications around the world. Public Citizen released a report this week mapping the scope of Elon Musk’s many conflicts of interest with DOGE and federal agency operations, warning that the sheer scope ‘should alarm every American.’ The Verge reports on how grifters and scammers have thrived under the Trump Administration, particularly those involved in Trump’s cryptocurrency schemes. Trump announced on social media this week that he will be hosting an exclusive Mar-A-Lago dinner for top investors in his $Trump cryptocurrency, leading watchdogs to decry the ‘debasement of the presidency’ for personal gain, as companies are buying in to Trump’s cryptocurrency in the hopes of influencing trade barriers in their favor. Truthout reports that the Trump family has personally made over $1 billion from cryptocurrency schemes since Trump took office in January. While Senate Democrats called for accountability by introducing the ‘End Crypto Corruption Act’ this week, critics slammed Dems for continuing to support the GENIUS Act in the Senate, a ‘toothless’ regulation bill “crafted by cryptocurrency giants that is sure to line the pockets of the Trump family crypto empire.” The Washington Post notes that while large investors are seeing benefits from their association with Trump’s memecoin, smaller holders of the currency are seeing their investments go bust. Forbes reports that a report filed on Trump’s British assets shows that despite Trump’s stated commitment to step back from his personal businesses while in office, Trump still holds a large degree of control over his business interests. Trump’s visit to the Middle East next week will include three countries with Trump-branded properties or ongoing developments.
MOVEMENT TRACKER
Boycotts expand as Tesla, Target heavily impacted and travel to U.S. declines; arts community hit back against Trump, Israel. Consumer boycotts continue to generate results against Tesla and Target, as new numbers on the companies’ falling profits emerge. Unsold Tesla Cybertrucks are piling up as sales plummet even with deep discounts offered on its sticker price, and some analysts say that the company may have to consider slowing or halting production after falling far short of its sales targets. Tesla sales in the UK have plummeted 62% as the boycott reaches UK shores. Target CEO Brian Cornell addressed employees in a memo Tuesday after foot traffic has fallen for three months straight and his compensation, tied to the company’s performance, fell 87% this year compared to his peak in 2020. Boycott leaders Nina Turner, Pastor Jamal Bryant and Tamika Mallory addressed the issue of where to go next after the Target Boycott in an Instagram Live event on Thursday, May 8. The People’s Union has called for a week-long boycott of Amazon from May 6-12. Several cast members of the musical ‘Les Miserables’ will be boycotting its performance at the Kennedy Center on June 11, where Trump is expected to be in attendance. As the Eurovision music competition commences this week, over 70 former contestants call for a boycott of Israel’s Eurovision entry and its broadcaster over its actions in Gaza. Forbes reports that 60% of Canadians have changed their travel plans to avoid visiting the United States, as border checkpoints near Vancouver report 51% less traffic and the airline WestJet cancels nine U.S. summer routes as Canadians fly elsewhere. As Trump convened the first meeting of the 2026 World Cup Task Force this week, calls are growing on social media for international visitors to boycott the World Cup, as the Trump Administration and ICE signal a limited welcome for sports-related international tourists.
Community defense networks thwart ICE raids as movement groups push for solidarity in practice. Students at Mundo Verde school and community defense mobilizations by Migrant Solidarity Mutual Aid organized rapid response efforts that prevented ICE arrests in Washington, DC as ICE swept through neighborhoods this week. Activists in Nashville, TN mobilized to watch and protect approximately 100 migrants detained by ICE in a sweep over the weekend, prompting concern from local politicians, and many detainees were released the next day. In San Diego, activists with Union del Barrio are organizing local patrols to protect immigrant communities from ICE by providing early warning of ICE activity in neighborhoods. In Worcester, MA, over 30 community members surrounded ICE agents who were attempting to arrest a woman and her daughter, resulting in additional arrests. DHS Secretary Kristi Noem was ‘kicked out’ of Springfield, IL as protestors and hecklers surrounded her vehicle during a visit. Truthout provides a primer on the principle and practice of community solidarity in the age of Trump 2.0; and General Strike US has launched an online resource bank with tutorials on practical organizing for community defense, including pod mapping, mutual aid, and more. As DOGE and the Trump Administration undermine data protections, Wired is re-circulating its guide to protecting oneself from government surveillance over social media.
Freed Columbia student Mohsen Mahdawi launches legal aid initiative in Vermont as education advocates mobilize to defend schools, science, and public media. One week after Palestinian student activist Mohsen Mahdawi was freed from ICE detention per court order, Mahdawi has announced the launch of a $1 million fund for immigrant legal aid in Vermont to ‘strengthen the legal safety net’ for migrant workers and students. University campuses continue to band together to resist Trump Administration attempts at controlling higher education, as the UMass Lowell Faculty Senate adopted a resolution this week to join the Mutual Academic Defense Compact initiated by Rutgers University. The American Federation of Teachers and the Student Borrower Protection Center launched a campaign this week calling for an investigation into ‘potential mismanagement and corruption’ at the Department of Education and student loan servicer MOHELA; a call echoed by Sen. Dick Durbin at a committee hearing on Tuesday, May 6. Students at the University of Virginia successfully rebuffed a right-wing attempt to shut down the university’s historical tours discussing the realities of slavery in the region. Three scientific organizations have called for a Week of Action to Save the NSF, urging the public to utilize a number of tactics to protect scientific research, including a media toolkit that can be found at this link. Over 18,000 U.S. clergy members have also signed the Clergy Letter Project to protect independent science from right-wing ideological and religious influence; and over 3,000 scientists signed a letter sounding the alarm over attacks on NOAA and the elimination of vital scientific data tracking and public information. The American Coalition of Public Radio and APTS Action has launched an online initiative to Protect Public Media as the Trump Administration guts federal support for NPR and PBS. Harvard faculty “graded” a letter sent to the university by DOE Secretary Linda McMahon and released their comments on social media this week.
Federal employees and unions continue the fight against layoffs and cuts. Fired federal employees sat on the steps of the Capitol this week to urge lawmakers to fight back against DOGE and proposed cuts in the federal budget. Federal workers at the #AltGov account Alt Department of Labor are circulating an action guide for federal employees facing RIF (Reduction In Force) notices at their workplace. The Federal Unionists Network is distributing a Public Comment guide for the general public to take action against OPM’s plan to move most federal employees to Schedule F status, which guts job protections and allows the Trump Administration to replace career civil servants with political appointees. The journal Science also provides comment and analysis on the implications of implementing Schedule F at independent federal agencies responsible for science, health and safety. On Thursday, May 8, SEIU members rallied for 24 hours at the U.S. Capitol to protest cuts to Medicaid and other services that help working families. Conservative website The Bulwark reported favorably on labor unions that rallied on May Day in support of wrongly detained migrant Kilmar Abrego Garcia. The American Postal Workers Union released a poll showing that 60% of Americans across the political spectrum are opposed to the privatization of the US Postal Service. Labor Notes has published a guide on how non-unionized federal workers can still ‘act like a union’ and mobilize together to resist cuts and layoffs; and Association of Flight Attendants-CWA head Sara Nelson called for a general strike on a union-serving podcast this week.
Calls for impeachment grow as grassroots resistance spreads against Trump Administration attacks on transgender rights, health, and more. More than half a million Americans have signed a petition imploring lawmakers to launch impeachment proceedings against Trump for numerous instances of unconstitutionality and executive overreach. As the Trump Administration settles with the state of Maine over its standoff on transgender athletes, trans activist Zaya Perysian celebrated her victory over the Trump Administration’s ban on preferred gender markers on U.S. passports. LGBTQ Nation has shared an action guide on how to respond to the anti-trans HHS report that was released this week, and seven Democratic Senators sent a letter to HHS Secretary RFK Jr. urging him to rescind federal funding cuts to the LGBTQ suicide hotline. An autistic 4th grader rebuked RFK Jr’s mischaracterization of autistic individuals and HHS attempts to track autistic youth in his efforts to ‘cure’ autism. Communities in Annapolis, Maryland are rallying against the removal of nearly 400 books from the Naval Academy Library per Trump’s anti-DEI purge; and a photo of an elder woman being forcibly removed from Rep. Mike Lawler’s town hall went viral this week as an iconic image of constituent rage at townhall meetings over the last few months. The Substack account ‘We the People Dissent’ has published a guide to the many ways people can participate in grassroots protests and community resistance wherever they are in the United States.
Upcoming protests and events.
Friday, May 9: Activists are marching against Palantir’s role in the Gaza genocide at 5:30 PM at the Colorado State Capitol in Denver, CO.
Friday, May 9: United Farm Workers is calling for supporters to rally at the ICE facility in Batavia, NY at 6:30pm to demand the release of farmworker organizers detained this week.
Saturday, May 10: The CFPB Union (NTEU local 335) is holding a #SaveOurServices picket at the CFPB headquarters in Washington, DC starting at 2pm. Federal workers and union members, as well as community supporters, are encouraged to attend.
Monday, May 12: The Brennan Center for Justice is holding a symposium on the meaning of the Articles of Confederation today in the face of Trump Administration challenges to the Constitution. The symposium will be held in person in Philadelphia, PA and virtually (RSVPs linked in the text).
Saturday, June 14: A coalition of organizations is calling for a ‘No Kings’ Day of Action on Flag Day to protest Trump Administration overreach as well as Trump’s planned military parade. A map of scheduled protests and media toolkit can be found on their website.
Lawsuit Updates.
Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts defended the independence and authority of the judiciary at a live event in Buffalo this week, stating that the balance of powers that underlies U.S. constitutional government “doesn’t work if the judiciary is not independent,” in the strongest statement yet from the Chief Justice against Trump’s attacks on federal judges who block executive orders.
In the Mahmoud Khalil case, federal judge Farbiarz ordered the Trump Administration to produce a list of all cases since 1975 where the federal government has invoked the Secretary of State’s power to deport someone for foreign policy reasons. The order appears meant to prove the lack of precedent for Secretary Rubio’s justification for detaining and deporting international students for pro-Palestine advocacy.
West Virginia coal miners headed to court this week over a lawsuit seeking to block the Trump Administration’s cuts to worker safety agency NIOSH, which included a program for free screenings and medical care for the roughly 1 in 5 miners vulnerable to black lung disease.
A Virginia judge set a hearing date for a lawsuit filed by the ACLU against Secretary of Defense Pete Hesgeth over the Trump Administration’s sweeping censorship of LGBTQ+ and racial justice content in military schools. The case is set to go to court next month.
The Wall Street Journal reports that law firms that have made deals with the Trump Administration to avoid sanctions are rapidly losing staff as lawyers leave to take a stand on principle.
Democracy Forward has filed a lawsuit against the Trump Administration on behalf of immigrant children impacted by a new policy that prevents family members in the U.S. from sponsoring unaccompanied children because of their non-citizen status.
Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington has filed suit against the Trump Administration for removing a government spending database from public view, alleging that the action violates rules on government transparency.
