Fog of War
Week of February 20-26, 2026
Welcome to TRACKING THE CRISIS, a weekly round-up from The Democracy Collaborative tracking the administrative, legislative, and other actions of the 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. This round-up is produced by humans, not by Artificial Intelligence. TDC should not be understood as endorsing or otherwise any of the specific content of the information round-up.
TRUMP TRACKER: Administration actions
Israel and the United States launch war of aggression against Iran, igniting wider conflict across the region; Ayatollah Khamenei killed in early attack. At approximately 9:30 AM local time on Saturday, February 28, massive explosions were seen and heard in central Tehran as Israel launched several missiles toward Ayatollah Khamenei’s residence and National Security Council headquarters. Iranian officials said at the time that the Ayatollah had been traveling and was at an undisclosed safe location. After the first strike, Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu made a statement declaring a state of emergency in Israel and claiming responsibility for the “preventative” attacks, which were aimed to “remove the existential threat” posed by Iran’s regime. As air raid sirens went off across Israel in anticipation of a retaliatory strike from Iran, Trump posted his own video message to Truth Social, announcing that the United States and Israel had launched a ‘major combat operation’ targeting Iran’s leadership and military capability, revealing the name of the the mission as ‘Operation Epic Fury’. In the message, Trump summarized decades of long-simmering conflicts between the United States and Iran and reiterated claims that Iran was developing a nuclear weapon, thereby constituting an ‘immediate threat to our national interests.’ He spoke directly to the Iranian Revolutionary Guard, telling them to “put down their weapons… or face certain death,” as the the United States will "annihilate their navy” and “raze their missile industry to the ground.” He warned that it could become a ‘prolonged’ conflict, raising the probability that U.S. troops could lose their lives. He encouraged the Iranian people to use the opportunity to “take over” their government. In retaliation, Iran launched several waves of drones and short-range missiles at Israel and U.S.-affiliated targets in at least 12 other Gulf states. Cellphone service went down throughout Iran almost immediately, but leaked photos and videos via Telegram show a slew of damage across more than ten cities in Iran, including the holy city of Qom.
After striking Iran on Saturday, Israel also launched several missiles into southern Lebanon’s Bekaa region, where Hezbollah is rumored to be headquartered, stoking long-standing fears that the war would spill over and engulf the region. A senior Iranian official promised a vigorous response to the attacks, saying there “were no red lines… all American and Israeli assets in the Middle East are now a legitimate target.” Iran, having learned from last year’s Twelve-Day War, launched an immediate and aggressive response within two hours of the first strike, firing missiles at more than 25 U.S. military-affiliated facilities across the Middle East in a bid to “expand the theater of war” and make it “very costly for the U.S. to continue.” Iranian missiles struck bases in Kuwait and the U.S. 5th Fleet Naval Support Unit in Bahrain, where an Iranian missile caused major damage. Hundreds of missiles were also launched at sites in Qatar, Jordan, Iraq, the United Arab Emirates, and Saudi Arabia, damaging buildings and causing a fire at the world’s busiest international airport in Dubai. Early missiles from Iran were intercepted; but more appear to be hitting their marks, and one passed through Israel’s Iron Dome, hitting a building in Tel Aviv and killing one. Iran confirmed early Saturday that a U.S./Israeli missile struck a girl’s elementary school in the southern town of Minab, killing at least 165 children; the death toll is still rising as rescuers look through the rubble. The IDF says it dropped over 1,200 bombs on Iran on the first day of the conflict; U.S. military confirmed on Sunday that strikes have been carried out against nearly 1,000 military targets and 48 members of Iranian senior state and military leadership have been killed. In Israel, war casualties so far stand at 10, mostly from the town of Beit Shemesh, which was hit by an Iranian missile that reportedly breached a local bomb shelter. As the second day of the war unfolded, U.S./Israeli missiles appear to be increasingly hitting civilian infrastructure, challenging Trump’s initial statement that the United States is fighting to ‘save’ the Iranian people and was only focusing on military targets. Netanyahu announced on Sunday that strikes on Tehran “will only increase” over the next few days. As of this writing, Iranian forces have effectively ‘closed’ the Strait of Hormuz, through which a fifth of the world’s oil passes. Tanker captains have seen projectiles launched across the Gulf, and economists are warning that de-escalation must be a priority in order to prevent inflationary energy price shocks and avert a wider economic crisis.
Trump posted on Truth Social Saturday afternoon to announce the news that Iranian leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was killed in a U.S. attack, which caused some confusion among reporters as well as the CIA as it could not immediately be independently confirmed. Trump and Netanyahu had apparently been informed by Israeli intelligence before he held his press conference Saturday afternoon. Iranian officials confirmed Khamenei’s death nearly 12 hours later on Sunday morning, as his body was recovered from the rubble of his residential bunker which had been destroyed. Trump wrote on Truth Social that Khamenei was “one of the most evil people in history” and that this moment of his killing offered the “single greatest chance for the Iranian people to take back their Country.” Iranians are divided over the meaning of Khamenei’s death; while many in Iran and across the diaspora are celebrating, thousands also came out to the streets of Tehran to mourn the Ayatollah and call for ‘revenge’ as an official 40-day period of mourning commences. In Pakistan, 22 people were killed by security forces as protestors condemning Khamenei’s killing attempted to storm the U.S. Embassy in Karachi. Iran’s remaining leadership has initiated its constitutional succession process to elect a new Supreme Leader, and an interim three-member leadership council has been announced, including President Pezeshkian, Gholamhossein Mohseni Ejei, chief of the judiciary, and Alireza Arafi, a cleric and jurist from the Guardian Council; security chief Ari Larijani, who was tapped by Khamenei as a de facto leader during the protests in January, will also play a key role in the succession. Experts warned that in the absence of a coherent and credible alternative for leadership in Iran, the consequences of killing Khamenei might end up working against Trump and Netanyahu’s regime change goals, as Khamenei’s death – especially given the context of their war of aggression, with little support in domestic and international public opinion – will be painted as ‘martyrdom’ used to bolster the Islamic regime’s position both domestically and in the wider Muslim world. President Pezeshkian said on Sunday that Khamenei’s killing represented a “declaration of war against Muslims,” framing Iran’s response as a “legitimate duty and right.” Iranian citizens who oppose the regime, says Trita Parsi of the Qunicy Institute for Responsible Statecraft, will also have lost any trust they might have had in U.S. intervention for regime change after the missile strike that killed 165 schoolchildren in the city of Minab, saying the fact it was hit on the first day of the war has “made it very clear that it will come at their expense, on innocent Iranians, instead of this fantasy that is being sold to many people from outside, that this would be some sort of a glorious and dignified regime change war.”
International Reaction and Response to Attack on Iran: UN Security Council holds emergency meeting, Congressional Dems to force War Powers vote. Trump and Netanyahu’s surprise midnight declaration of war on Friday, and Iran’s response widening the conflict into a regional conflagration, has brought widespread reaction, condemnation, and demands for answers from leaders across the globe. Some national leaders have issued statements denouncing the ‘unprovoked’ U.S./Israeli attack, Saudi Arabia has issued a statement condemning Iran’s attacks and drawing them into the conflict, while Qatar, UAE, and Kuwait have said they “reserve their full right to respond” to the Iranian counter-attacks. By Sunday morning, three U.S. troops had been killed by Iranian missiles that have targeted U.S. military facilities throughout the Gulf region in retaliation for the strikes. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has called for an immediate end to the conflict and a return to diplomatic relations, and reportedly had a conversation with Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi about finding a way of bringing the conflict back to the negotiating table. Congressional Democrats are set to force a vote on war powers as early as Tuesday in the Senate; though unlikely to pass, given party defections on both sides, Rep. Thomas Massie, who is sponsoring the House resolution alongside Ro Khanna, believes it is still important to keep holding the vote and asserting the constitutional power of Congress to declare war.On Saturday, a joint statement was issued by the leaders of France, Germany, and Britain urging Iran to drop their nuclear program and “seek a negotiated solution” to the conflict. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and European Council President Antonio Costa also issued a joint statement describing the developments in Iran as "greatly concerning" and reaffirming their "steadfast commitment to safeguarding regional security and stability." Just twelve hours prior to the attack, the Omani negotiator conducting talks between the United States and Iran in Geneva had appeared on CBS’ “Face the Nation” to express optimism that a deal could be reached on Iran’s nuclear program, especially in light of Iran’s new concessions to give up all stockpiles of enriched uranium and ensure no enriched material was kept in the country. But just as in last summer’s Twelve Day War, it was revealed that the U.S. and Israel had been planning the attack for months, regardless of the outcome of diplomacy, and had apparently used the negotiations to buy time until U.S. military assets were in place. The negotiator posted a statement after the attacks, saying he was “dismayed” that “active and serious negotiations have yet been undermined” by the Americans and Israel, and said just the day before, a deal on Iran’s nuclear resources had finally gotten ‘within reach.’ In another rare joint move, Russia and China requested an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council per Araghchi’s request. Both nations strongly opposed the attacks, with Putin quoted as saying “Khamenei’s killing was a cynical murder, in violation of all standards of human morality and international law.” Chinese officials expressed that the government was “highly concerned” that the Middle East would be pushed into a “dangerous abyss,” and said “the international community must send a definite and clear message opposing the world’s regression to the law of the jungle.” The meeting convened on Saturday evening, where members heard from both sides, and nearly universally expressed the urgent need for de-escalation and restraint. UN Secretary General Antonio Gutierres told the assembled leaders that everything must be done to prevent further escalation and demanded an immediate return to negotiations to “pull the region, and our world, back from the brink.” He condemned both the U.S./Israel strikes as a violation of the U.N. Charter and a “grave threat to international peace and security.” He also condemned Iran’s retaliatory strikes for “violating the sovereignty and territorial integrity” of the Gulf states. U.S. ambassador Mike Waltz justified the strikes, saying Trump has “met the moment” on Iran and reiterating that in the Trump Administration’s view, the strikes were necessary to “ensure that Iran can never, ever have a nuclear weapon.” Iranian ambassador Amir Saeid Iravani denounced the strikes as a clear violation of Article 2, saying this war was a “war against the UN Charter,” and invoked Iran’s “inherent and lawful right” to self defense under Article 51, saying that the strikes on surrounding countries were aimed at U.S. military facilities involved in supporting the attack. Israeli ambassador Danny Danon invoked Auschwitz to say that the strikes were necessary to prevent the “existential threat” of genocide, and “ensure that no radical regime armed with nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles can threaten our people or the entire world." The Council fell short of a resolution, with Western leaders putting more responsibility on Iran to end the conflict, while countries from the Global South and the human rights bodies condemned the U.S./Israel ‘preemptive’ strike.
Now that the ‘Supreme Leader’ and a significant amount of the senior leadership of the country have been killed by strikes, the lack of clarity around what America’s and Israel’s ultimate endgame and objectives are – especially as they indicate offensives will escalate and people will need to prepare for prolonged military operations – has become an open question. Mainstream media commentators, including neocons who supported the war in Iraq and have long desired the fall of Iran’s regime, pointed out that Trump had not even bothered to attempt to construct a case for war or seek the consent of Congress, and that Trump Administration officials are struggling to define a viable justification for the conflict. Much less clear is a defined objective, or “offramp” for the operation at this point, indicating some milestone at which the United States and Israel would be expected to withdraw. Trump said Sunday that he expected to fulfill all his objectives in about “four weeks,” though military leaders have warned him that the supply of missiles and interceptors is finite and that he must move to destroy Iran’s capabilities quickly or put U.S. assets at risk. In terms of regime change, it appears as though Trump and Netanyahu had expected significant defections from the Revolutionary Guard and a mass uprising from which some kind of new government would emerge; both of which now appear less likely as the attacks continue, not least because of the potential rise of nationalist sentiment around threats such as old enemies and a war of aggression. Experts, analysts and generals are pressing Trump for a plan, fearing that the lack of a clear strategy could mire the United States in another years-long conflict in the Middle East. The lone outside contender for leadership, Reza Pahlavi, elicits divided opinion within Iran, not least among the generation that ousted his father, the Shah, via a popular uprising in 1979; and in recent months his alliance with the Israeli government and intelligence forces raise questions about the breadth and depth of his domestic appeal. Military observers note that Iran has a larger population and more well-resourced armed forces than either Iraq or Afghanistan, with the correspondingly larger potential for bogging down the United States into a protracted quagmire. Only 21% of the U.S. population support a war in Iran according to recent polling; and Trump’s willingness to pursue another Middle East war has divided his MAGA base, as it is a direct reversal of one of his strongest campaign promises.
Fortunes of War: Tracking the Money in and around the Iran conflict. Another unanswered question around the U.S./Israeli attack concerns the timing of the offensive, and why Netanyahu and Trump decided that now was the time to pursue regime change. Both leaders have critical electoral tests coming up this year, with U.S. midterm primaries beginning in earnest Tuesday, and an Israeli election could be set as early as September. Netanyahu clearly has much to gain in Israeli politics from conducting a war against Iran, given that most of the Jewish Israeli population tend to support Israeli military offensives against its neighbors; less so, however, with Trump, where only 21% of voters support military action against Iran and, as some analysts see it, the war could serve as a negative yet useful distraction from other scandals at home. AIPAC, meanwhile, has amassed an enormous war chest of $96 million to support pro-Israeli candidates, mainly in Democratic primaries, as establishment figures who tend to be pro-Zionist square off with insurgent progressives who represent a base mainly opposed to the Gaza genocide. As Iranian forces move to close the Strait of Hormuz, oil price movements, particularly in the ‘shadow’ market for sanctioned crude, are also a possible motivation. This article explains the delicate “U.S.-China-Iran oil triangle” where small Chinese refineries called ‘teapots’ exploited a loophole in the gray market for sanctioned oil to access deeply discounted prices; another article compares Iran and Venezuela, showing how U.S. military intervention in those two places – resulting at least in Venezuela with the ending of sanctions in favor of more direct administration – effectively ended this price advantage mechanism for small Chinese refineries. While China has not been dependent on this kind of deeply discounted oil, it will very likely cause a recalibration of this sector of the Chinese economy to the benefit of U.S. oil export competitors. Another article this week explores the extent to which Russia and China have been quietly shepherding Iran’s development of its military capabilities since the Twelve-Day War, having an interest in Iran’s ability to defend itself as a key geographical nexus for both Russia and China’s international infrastructure initiatives.
New war profiteering interests are emerging via predictive markets such as the ‘Polymarket’ platform, as well as cryptocurrency spaces. Blockchain monitors reported this weekend that a small number of high-value transactions for six accounts on Polymarket earned over $1.2 million each by betting on the probability that the United States would strike Iran on February 28; the specificity of the bet, as well as the condition of the accounts that appeared to have been created to place that specific bet showed probable evidence of insider trading. In total, over $529 million was traded on predictive markets on questions regarding the probability and timing of strikes on Iran. Critics have decried the use of predictive markets to ‘get rich quick’ on questions related to war or geopolitical turmoil, not only for the possibility of insider trading but also for the ethical dangers of incentivizing war acts. Weekend trading on digital assets tied to oil futures surged 5% on crypto exchange Hyperliquid on news of the war and its potential disruption of the global oil market, partially offsetting another Bitcoin value crash that took Bitcoin briefly below the critical $60,000 level. Binance, the crypto platform whose owner was pardoned by Trump last year, published an article on February 28 profiling how Iran’s government and many of its citizens have been heavily utilizing crypto exchanges (for the government, to the tune of $7.8 billion of its annual budget) as an end run around sanctions and to sustain international trade.
As primary season begins, leaked draft of memo circulated by White House reveals Trump is ‘mulling plans’ to declare an emergency to subvert the midterm elections. On Thursday, February 27, the Washington Post revealed that pro-Trump legal activists, who say they are in coordination with the White House, have been circulating a 17-page memo claiming that China had interfered in the 2020 elections and is therefore just cause for Trump to assume ‘extraordinary’ presidential powers over the upcoming federal elections. Sources close to the White House say Trump has repeatedly reviewed a plan to mandate voter ID and ban mail-in ballots in November by executive order. According to Peter Ticktin, a Florida lawyer who was part of Trump’s legal team in his unsuccessful lawsuit against Democrats for their ‘Russiagate’ investigation and one of the authors of the memo, appears to be turning the tables this time by using a similar argument that “the president is aware that there are foreign interests interfering in our election process,” to justify the declaration of a “national emergency” that would empower the president to ban mail-in ballots and voting machines as “vectors of foreign interference.” A National Intelligence Council report from 2021 found that the Chinese government had briefly considered the possibility of election interference but ultimately decided against following through. Last month, National Intelligence Director Tulsi Gabbard was at the scene of an FBI ‘raid’ on a state elections office in Fulton County, Georgia; some Trump officials have said it was related to an investigation into “foreign involvement” in the 2020 election, although Gabbard has not reported to Congress on the issue.
Legal and voting rights experts. as well as state election officials who have since seen the memo, agree overwhelmingly the president does not have such powers, even in a national emergency, and any attempt on Trump’s part to claim those powers would be “blatantly unconstitutional” per Article I, Section 4 of the U.S. Constitution, which explicitly gives states sole authority over elections. Trump has also been urging Senate Republicans to pass the SAVE Act, which was passed by the House earlier in February; which would require proof of citizenship, such as a birth certificate, in order to vote; and if passed as strictly as written, could potentially disenfranchise tens of millions of U.S. citizens who may have changed their legal name since birth. Experts say it will almost undoubtedly be struck down by the courts, as two courts have already done with his first attempt to change election rules by executive order; however, as constitutional law professor Justin Levitt observes, hundreds of court decisions have hardly stopped the Trump regime from continuing to do unlawful actions: “It doesn’t require anybody to file anything in court to stop the impact… it just requires… not listening. Which is both easier and quicker.” Speculation that Trump may seek to interfere with the midterm elections has been the talk of Washington for months; many Congressional Democrats have made statements saying that they fear Trump is undermining faith in election systems in order to “subvert” the November midterms. Thursday, former MAGA lawmaker Marjorie Taylor Greene, who broke with Trump and left her seat in Congress in January, issued a warning to the American people over X, saying: “Everything in Washington will be purely performative, for the remainder of the year, to gaslight you to vote in the midterms.”
This latest development confirms many people’s fears about the upcoming election, and comes at a time when the chances for Republicans to maintain their party-line majority in Congress are fading fast as the MAGA base has fractured amid widespread disapproval for Trump’s policies and their outcomes. The most recent Washington Post-ABC News-Ipsos shows a 14% gap in voter enthusiasm between the parties, with 79% of registered Democrats saying they plan to vote in November, versus 65% of Republicans. In the closely-watched Texas primary taking place this Tuesday, many Latino voters who voted for Trump have turned away from the party due to the brutality and racial profiling they have seen inflicted on their peers in Minneapolis and Chicago at the hands of ICE agents and Trump’s mass deportation program. Top Republicans have reportedly advised Trump to ‘shake out’ some of the more controversial leaders within the Administration (such as Kristi Noem) either well before the midterm elections or after Election Day, and implored him to stay focused on economic issues, which is the overwhelming concern for voters this year and a prime reason why a significant and increasing number of Trump voters have stepped away from the MAGA coalition. The Trump Administration continues to try various avenues to ‘federalize’ the midterms, and sued 5 more states this week in a bid to gain access to sensitive voter data ahead of the elections. DHS has walked back an earlier threat made by JD Vance and Steve Bannon that ICE agents would be posted near voting precincts; state election officials were told Wednesday that ICE officers will not be stationed near polling places in a conference call organized specifically to inform them of the situation. Many state officials are relieved, though many are still wary, citing it as yet another set of “conflicting messages” coming out of Washington; one said, “it sounded like a cover your butt kind of call.”
Also in the News this Week:
Trump delivers longest State of the Union address hyping the ‘Golden Age of America’. On Tuesday, February 24, Trump delivered the longest-ever State of the Union address to a House chamber peppered with empty seats as more than three dozen Democratic lawmakers opted to boycott the speech and attend opposition rallies. Fresh off Trump’s tirade following their decision on tariffs, only four out of the nine Supreme Court justices were in attendance. Democrat Rep. Al Greene was ejected from the chamber for holding a protest sign referring to Trump’s posting of the Obamas as monkeys; Reps. Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib also disrupted the speech, while Omar’s guest Aliya Rahman, who was brutalized by ICE agents in Minneapolis, was arrested for her protests. Trump’s speech contained several misleading talking points, which various media outlets have fact checked.
Paramount Skydance acquires Warner Bros. Discovery, consolidating colossal media empire under the Ellison family. On Thursday, February 26, Netflix dropped out of the running to acquire Warner Bros. Discovery, consolidating nearly 40% of all media, including legacy news media stations CBS and CNN under the controlling stake of billionaire Trump allies Larry and David Ellison. CNN anchors and staff, including one who had to break the news on air, have been dreading this outcome, as they now fear heightened censorship under the new owners, such as the 60 Minutes CECOT report that was pulled by CBS head Bari Weiss.
Cuban border guards engage in firefight with armed men in a boat from Florida approaching the Cuban coast; 4 dead, 6 taken into custody. As Cuba approaches a humanitarian crisis caused by the Trump Administration’s total blockade of oil and fuel, the Cuban government disclosed this week that Cuban forces killed four exiles and wounded six others who sailed into its waters onboard a Florida-registered speedboat and opened fire on a Cuban patrol. In a statement released shortly afterward, the government said the 10 people involved in the attack were Cuban nationals living in the United States who “intended to carry out an infiltration for terrorist purposes,” and that the guards confiscated assault rifles, explosives, and other materials that were present on the boat. Marco Rubio confirmed that no U.S. government personnel were involved in the confrontation, and pledged to open an investigation. The United States also eased the embargo slightly, allowing for some shipments of Venezuelan oil to reach the island.
MOVEMENT TRACKER
Anthropic AI stands up to the Pentagon over killer robots, mass surveillance. Secretary of War Pete Hegseth designated Anthropic AI, one of the leading U.S. artificial intelligence companies, as a ‘supply-chain risk to national security’ after the company’s CEO, Darin Amodei, balked at certain provisions in their $200 million defense contract that would allow the Pentagon to use its AI agent, Claude, for any purpose it sees fit. Amodei explained in a statement that the company had two ethical ‘red lines’ that they would not cross: the use of its AI agent for so-called ‘fully autonomous weapons’ (i.e. unmanned battlefield robots or drones armed with lethal weaponry) and the use of its AI agent to conduct mass surveillance on Americans. Anthropic’s AI agent has already been embedded in some defense systems as part of their contract and was reportedly used in the mission to abduct Venezuelan head of state Nicholas Maduro, but has safety restrictions in its code that Anthropic has refused to remove for the Pentagon. Hegseth issued a number of threats to Anthropic, including invoking the Defense Production Act to try to force Anthropic to allow the DOD to use it without any restrictions. Hegseth and Trump also began attempting to ‘blacklist’ Anthropic throughout the defense industry; Trump ordered all government employees to stop using Anthropic immediately, and ordered the AI agent to be removed from all government equipment, while Hegseth met with other contractors, such as Boeing and Lockheed Martin, to ‘warn’ them of the security risks of working with Anthropic. Amodei noted on his blog that the Trump Administration’s threats “are inherently contradictory: one labels us a security risk; the other labels Claude as essential to national security.” He noted that Anthropic is capitalized more than enough to weather the loss of a $200 million contract, and said, "Regardless, these threats do not change our position: we cannot in good conscience accede to their request."
Data center construction slowing nationwide as Bernie Sanders calls for national data center moratorium. Recent reports show that construction of new data centers fell for the first time in 2025, due to permitting delays as well as community backlash; one of the rare issues that has united Republicans and Democrats. Axios reports that as much as half of new data center projects coming online could face delays. Trump, in his State of the Union address Tuesday, offered a kind of compromise between communities who do not want higher electricity bills and the data centers: he would allow tech companies to produce and build their own power grid so that it would not ‘overburden’ them. Organizers in Denver celebrated a win this week as they compelled Palantir to move its headquarters out of the city; in Miami, where Palantir is reportedly headed, activists are planning their own fight. Having met with many local groups successfully opposing data centers as he traveled the country on his ‘Fight Oligarchy’ tour, Sen. Bernie Sanders renewed his call for a federal data center moratorium. Statewide moratorium bills have been introduced in Colorado and New York, while state legislatures in Maine, South Dakota, and Oklahoma are also considering moratoriums or limits on new data centers.
Project Salt Box launches to help communities fighting ICE detention facilities. Given the large number of communities fighting ICE’s purchases of empty warehouses to convert into detention camps, a group of activists have launched a new website, Project Salt Box. Based on the ‘civic infrastructure’ of the “salt boxes” used in Baltimore and other cities on the East Coast for residents to use to de-ice their driveways and sidewalks to make them safe to navigate, the site aims to provide local groups with publicly available information to verify if ICE has proposed a purchase or project buildout in their town, as well as public records requests for groups to learn the details of a proposed site and use the information as a weapon in their fight. The site also includes an ICE Warehouse Tracker, live chat, and periodic webinar events.
