By Madison McVan | Reporter
Good morning, Reformers.
I’ll be in Rochester this afternoon for the final meeting of the Minnesota Truth Council, which will hear testimony on national immigration policy changes and systemic problems from a former senior Immigration and Customs Enforcement official, a former high-ranking immigration judge and national legal experts, among others.
Caitlin Dickerson, one of the country’s best immigration reporters, published a story yesterday in The Atlantic about a new family separation crisis: parents deported without their children.
“In 2017 and 2018, career bureaucrats worked from within the government to try to prevent separations, alert the press when they happened, and reunite families under court orders that high-level DHS officials were trying to defy. But many civil servants deemed insufficiently loyal to Trump were fired en masse during the early months of his second term,” Dickerson writes.
“Also different: The separations of the first Trump administration were the result of a distinct policy (“Zero Tolerance”) that, once brought to light, could be challenged in federal court. Today, family separations appear to be incidental — the consequence of a ruthless effort to hit a quota, no matter the cost.”
And, in CNN this morning: Inside the Texas courtroom where toddlers face immigration judges.
To the Reformer:
2026 Republican candidate for Minnesota attorney general Ron Schutz (Courtesy photo)
By Max Nesterak
If Republican Ron Schutz wins the attorney general’s race in November, he will be responsible for enforcing Minnesota’s laws against the country’s biggest and most powerful corporations.
His own personal fortune is staked on many of them.
Schutz owns more than $10,000 of stock in 174 companies — at least $1.74 million altogether — according to his economic disclosure. His expansive investment holdings span industries that are often the subject of litigation like pharmaceuticals, banking and artificial intelligence and include at least six companies that are currently being sued by the state of Minnesota.
By David Lightman
The challenges and dire threats surrounding the unchecked growth of artificial intelligence appear unlikely to move Congress or President Donald Trump to act as the U.S. Senate enters its last week before the midterms.
The rapid emergence of the technology has sparked a host of policy debates, with some warning of an existential threat to humanity, requiring urgent attention. But the only action Congress could plausibly take before November’s elections is a relatively toothless measure aiming to control the massive consumer electricity costs of AI.
“A lot of people are afraid of the dark and change is difficult,” said Sen. Jim Justice, R-W.Va. “The amazement of AI just dumbfounds us all.”
By Jennifer Shutt
The Trump administration has, once again, infuriated lawmakers from both political parties by using a controversial maneuver to cancel funding previously approved by Congress.
The $810 million in the “pocket rescission” would have gone to refugee assistance programs at the Department of Health and Human Services, a Treasury Department program that provided “debt forgiveness to foreign countries that make climate change-related investments for coral reefs and tropical forests” and a grant program at the Minority Business Development Agency, among several others.
IN OTHER NEWS
Governors pledge to oppose federal overreach — even when their party runs Washington | Reformer via Stateline
OH BY THE WAY
Goodbye and good luck to JJ McCarthy, whose first-round value I questioned ever since the 2023 Michigan/Penn State game, in which the Wolverines didn’t ask McCarthy to make a single pass in the second half.
(My lobbying for a Reformer sports section continues.)
And, a song for your Tuesday. Have a great week!
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