Former DHS Secretary plotted last ditch move to distract from scandals

Kevin R. Johnson

29 Mar 2026 — 1 min read

Department of Homeland Security Official Photo

From the Daily Beast: Former Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem tried to launch a new border wall project to pull attention away from her mounting problems.

"Noem . . . proposed to build 500 miles of border wall near Big Bend National Park in Texas. The plot went against Border Patrol’s plans to secure the region, according to a Friday report from the Washington Examiner." Sources said the project was “an attempt to distract” from Noem’s scandals following the two fatal shootings of U.S. citizens in Minneapolis and her $200 million ad campaign. The new stretch of wall was first proposed on the same day as Renee Good’s killing on January 7.

Immigration Article of the Day: Sanctuary and the Data State by Fatma Marouf & Huyen Pham

Sanctuary and the Data State by Fatma Marouf & Huyen Pham, Columbia Law Review, Vol. 126, Forthcoming 2026 Abstract Historically, sanctuary policies focused on protected physical space and limits on police cooperation with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE)—rejecting detainer requests, restricting jail access, and declining formal collaboration agreements. But

In an anti-fraud measure, U.S. government freezes Microsoft, Adobe, Infosys lawful permanent resident applications

Reuters reports (and here) that the Trump administration has frozen some lawful permanent resident filings by Microsoft (MSFT.O), Adobe(ADBE.O) and major IT outsourcers and opened probes into nine top universities, including Harvard, Yale, Stanford, Brown, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, University of Pittsburgh, Arizona State, and UC

Human Rights Watch: "To Scare People": US Expulsions of Third-Country Nationals to Countries in Africa

From a press release from Human Rights Watch: US: Deportations to African Countries Not Their Own Denied Due Process; Some Returned to Danger in Home Countries * The United States has sent more than 500 people whom it cannot deport to their own countries, because of the danger they would face,

Immigration Article of the Day: Recalibrating the Plenary Power Doctrine After Trump v. Hawaii, Thuraissigiam, and Loper Bright by Abdul Aziz Meslat

Recalibrating the Plenary Power Doctrine After Trump v. Hawaii, Thuraissigiam, and Loper Bright by Abdul Aziz Meslat Abstract This Article reexamines the constitutional foundations and contemporary operation of the plenary power doctrine in U.S. immigration law. For more than a century, the doctrine has afforded Congress and the Executive

Read more

Immigration Article of the Day: Sanctuary and the Data State by Fatma Marouf & Huyen Pham

In an anti-fraud measure, U.S. government freezes Microsoft, Adobe, Infosys lawful permanent resident applications

Human Rights Watch: "To Scare People": US Expulsions of Third-Country Nationals to Countries in Africa

Immigration Article of the Day: Recalibrating the Plenary Power Doctrine After Trump v. Hawaii, Thuraissigiam, and Loper Bright by Abdul Aziz Meslat