Think More: Thursday, July 16, 2026
Trump overrules DHS on ICE stops, Krasner subpoenaed, California's racialist turn, the post-Barbara census fight, and more.
Lead · The President’s Hand
Trump Overrules DHS to Keep the Immigration Traffic Stops Coming
After a fatal shooting during a Maine traffic stop, Senator Susan Collins pressed Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin to halt non-urgent vehicle stops, and DHS complied. Within 24 hours President Trump reversed the pause, signaling that even minor enforcement calls will run through the White House rather than career officials. The stops rest on Terry v. Ohio, the 1968 ruling permitting detentions on reasonable suspicion.
The President’s Hand
Jordan Subpoenas Philadelphia’s Larry Krasner Over Sanctuary Policies
House Judiciary Committee | judiciary.house.gov
House Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan has subpoenaed Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner after the office produced not a single document in more than two months. Jordan contends Krasner’s under-prosecution of foreign nationals is designed to spare them immigration consequences, encroaching on Congress’s authority over immigration and possibly violating federal civil rights law.
Building the Base
A Taxpayer-Funded Nonprofit Builds an Immigrant “Voter Base From Scratch”
Tyler O’Neil | The Daily Signal
The Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights drew 67.9% of its revenue, $80.7 million, from government grants across four years, then partnered with its action arm on an Immigrant Political Power Project built to grow a voter base. A California watchdog alleges an immigration-to-elections pipeline; CHIRLA insists its three entities are legally distinct.
A Cuba-Tied Network Pre-Builds a Protest Army for the Next U.S. Strike
Ashe Short | The Rod Martin Report
The National Network on Cuba has circulated a blueprint to mount coordinated protests at ICE offices and military bases within 24 hours of any U.S. strike on Cuba, aiming, in its words, to make war “politically and materially costly.” The coalition ties back to a Cuban state body Washington sanctioned in June.
Sorting by Race
California Erects a Permanent Reparations Bureaucracy in Pursuit of Racial Equity
Christopher F. Rufo & Ryan Thorpe | City Journal
Christopher Rufo and Ryan Thorpe trace how 15 years of one-party rule have made race an organizing principle of California government, from Newsom’s 2022 equity order to the new Bureau for Descendants of American Slavery. A reparations task force floated payouts that one estimate put at $500 billion, against a state budget near $350 billion.
Temple’s $1.3 Million Anti-Racism Center Has No Published Research to Show
James Samuel | The College Fix
Five years and $1.3 million in Pennsylvania tax dollars after its founding, Temple University’s Center for Anti-Racism has published no scholarship and hosted only a handful of events, a College Fix review finds. Neither the center’s director, Timothy Welbeck, nor the university answered questions. One critic called it “a slush fund with a nameplate.”
The Court Under Siege
Barrett and Kagan Ask Congress for Security as Threats Against the Court Climb
Testifying before Congress for the first time since 2019, Justices Amy Coney Barrett and Elena Kagan backed the Court’s request for $14.6 million security as threats climbed 38% this year. John Yoo argues the danger flows from a progressive campaign, from Schumer’s courthouse warnings to talk of court-packing, to bend the justices to political ends.
After Barbara, the Next Fight Is Whether Illegal Aliens Count in the Census
Ben Weingarten | The American Mind
With the Roberts Court’s Trump v. Barbara ruling extending birthright citizenship to the children of illegal aliens, Ben Weingarten asks whether the same Court will let the administration strike their parents from the census figures that apportion House seats. Every administration since Carter has counted them; Trump vows this one will not.
The Watchdogs
A GAO Audit Finds the Obamacare Marketplace Runs on an Honor System
House Ways and Means Committee | waysandmeans.house.gov
A new Government Accountability Office report found at least 160,000 federal Marketplace applications in 2024 with likely unauthorized changes, enrolling or switching Americans into plans without consent. Investigators say no one at CMS verifies that consumers requested coverage, and confirmed complaints of unauthorized enrollments rose more than 450% from 2023 to 2025.
A DEA Whistleblower Exposed a Fentanyl Failure; His Ally Now Faces Retaliation
Empower Oversight has asked the Justice Department’s inspector general to investigate fresh retaliation tied to DEA Special Agent David Howell, who disclosed that Albuquerque agents let large quantities of fentanyl reach the streets against protocol. A 31-year veteran contractor, Kevin Small, was told “if you support David Howell, we’re through,” then resigned effective August 31.
GAO’s findings on unauthorized enrollments in the Obamacare Marketplace
160,000
Applications with likely unauthorized changes in 2024
450%
Rise in unauthorized-enrollment complaints since 2023
100%
Fake test applicants the Marketplace approved in late 2024
