Senior Democrat to Retire After Viral Primary Challenger Announced

Illinois Representative Jan Schakowsky is planning to announce her retirement next month, leaving the Democratic primary for her district wide open.

“I’m going to announce my plans on May 5th. Stay tuned,” Schakowsky said, Politico reported Wednesday. That’s the day that Schakowsky’s annual Ultimate Women’s Power Lunch is scheduled in Chicago.

The veteran Democrat’s exit announcement will invite other Democrats to try to grab her seat. State Senator Laura Fine and Evanston Mayor Daniel Biss are both expected to announce bids for Illinois’s 9th congressional district after Schakowsky officially makes her plans public.

But there’s another opponent already in the field. While Schakowsky has been on retirement watch for at least a few months, 26-year-old lefty content creator Kat Abughazaleh revealed her own gambit for Illinois’s vote. Abughazaleh announced her campaign on March 24.

In a potential sign of the times, Abughazaleh’s campaign outpaced Schakowsky’s first-quarter fundraising in just one week after she announced her candidacy, reportedly raising more than $379,000 in eight days, according to Abughazaleh.

However, less than 1 percent of Abughazaleh’s fundraising stemmed from campaign contributions of more than $200 within the region that she intends to represent, which stretches from Chicago’s North Side through southeast McHenry County.

Abughazaleh’s campaign manager, Sam Weinberg, said that the political newcomer had received more than 1,100 donations from people within Illinois, though the vast majority were under $200—something that Weinberg blamed on the “economic struggles” faced by many Americans that Abughazaleh is “seeking to address.”

“The average American can’t spare $200 or more to donate to a political campaign, and we shouldn’t fault people for that,” Weinberg told WTTW News. “This is the result of an economy that is working for the few rather than the many, and this dynamic should be entirely unacceptable in the richest country in the history of the world.”

The U.S. government is reportedly preparing to deport immigrants to Rwanda who can’t be sent back to their country of origin due to fears of prosecution.

The Handbasket newsletter reported Tuesday that a State Department cable sent from the U.S. Embassy in Rwanda’s capital, Kigali, on March 13 stated that the country would be willing to accept such people. A new cable sent Tuesday from the State Department said that a refugee from Iraq, Omar Abdulsattar Ameen, became the first person to be officially deported to Rwanda thanks to this arrangement.

It’s quite a departure from the public deal the U.S. cut with El Salvador to accept deported immigrants in January, which resulted in legal challenges and at least one immigrant, Kilmar Abrego Garcia, being mistakenly sent to the country. The use of Rwanda as a third country for deportations has not been publicly disclosed by the country or the U.S. government.

“This successful relocation—and Rwanda’s subsequent agreement to accept additional third-country nationals (TCNs)—proved the concept for developing a new removal program to relocate TCNs from the United States to Rwanda,” Tuesday’s cable states, according to The Handbasket.

The cable mentions a “wish list” from Rwanda, including policy concessions as well as a single $100,000 payment for “social services, residency documents, and work permits.” The newsletter confirmed that the payment was made, but how the U.S. responded to other items on the list is unknown.

“Rwanda also agreed to accept another ten TCNs of various nationalities,” the cable also states, while adding that the country “seeks a bilateral dialogue to develop a durable program to facilitate these relocations and avoid reinventing the wheel with time-intensive ad hoc negotiations.”

Similar to Abrego Garcia, Ameen was accused of being a terrorist by the first Trump administration, who called him a member of ISIS and said he abused the refugee resettlement program. In 2014, Ameen and his family were granted refugee status, but he was arrested in 2018 by “dozens of armed men” at his Sacramento home.

The administration claims that Ameen murdered an Iraqi police officer as part of an ISIS plot, and tried to have him deported back to Iraq to stand trial. Ameen maintains that he is innocent, saying that he was in Turkey at the time of the murder, awaiting refugee status with the United Nations.

A federal judge ruled in 2021 that the case against Ameen was “dubious” with “unreliable” witnesses and allegations that were “simply not plausible,” ordering his immediate release. But just after he was released, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, under the Biden administration, picked him up again and began deportation proceedings.

Last year in May, Ameen said in a statement that “I am so grateful to the judge for listening to all the evidence, and I thank God that in this country, I had the right to defend myself and be found innocent. I love America and want to enjoy living here with my wife and children for the rest of my life. It saddens me that I still have to fight for my freedom again.”

Yet Ameen was let down by the U.S. and is now the first person to be deported by the Trump administration to Rwanda, and on the basis of weak evidence to boot. Will he get any restitution, or will he be stuck overseas like Abrego Garcia?

Immigration was one of Donald Trump’s winning priorities with American voters, but not anymore.

Three recent polls have practically spelled disaster for Trump on the issue, with Americans increasingly disapproving of the president’s immigration policies amid a flurry of rushed deportations.

A YouGov/Economist poll released Wednesday indicates that Americans have soured on Trump’s immigration stances, with 50 percent of respondents disapproving compared to 45 percent approving.

The poll comes on the heels of a Reuters-Ipsos poll published Monday that indicated that 46 percent of the country disapproved of Trump’s immigration policies. And earlier this month, a Quinnipiac survey found that 50 percent of polled respondents didn’t agree with Trump on immigration.

During his second inaugural address in January, Trump promised to “eliminate the presence of all foreign gangs and criminal networks bringing devastating crime to U.S. soil.” But in the months since Trump has returned to the White House, he has defied court orders, ignored the Supreme Court, and challenged the Constitution in order to advance his nativist immigration agenda.

In March, the Trump administration deported more than 200 alleged members of a Venezuelan gang to El Salvador by invoking a Japanese internment-era wartime policy. That gave the administration the cover to deport the men without due process, a critical error that has only continued to mire the administration in more controversy, as it has become increasingly apparent that some members of the charged group—such as Kilmar Abrego Garcia—had never been convicted of a crime.

The administration has since had to admit that it mistakenly deported Garcia, though it has simultaneously appeared unable to retrieve him from the crowded foreign prison where the government is paying El Salvador $6 million to house the alleged gang members.

The YouGov/Economist poll found that 50 percent of Americans wanted Trump to bring Garcia back, while 28 percent agreed with the president’s actions.

The White House has said that Garcia “will never live” in the U.S. again.

“When President Trump declared MS-13 to be a foreign terrorist organization, that meant that (Abrego Garcia) was no longer eligible, under federal law … for any form of immigration relief in the United States,” said White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller last week.

Despite the White House’s insistence, just 27 percent of Americans are convinced Abrego Garcia’s a member of MS-13, according to the YouGov survey.

In a meeting with Trump, El Salvador’s President Nayib Bukele referred to a question regarding Garcia’s potential release as “preposterous.”

“How can I smuggle a terrorist into the United States?” Bukele said, claiming that he did not have the authority to return Garcia to his family in the U.S.

Meanwhile, the Trump administration has pitched immigration alternatives such as the “gold card” that seem to be little more than opportunities to sell American democracy to the “highest bidder,” allowing America’s longtime adversaries—including Russian oligarchs—to effectively buy their way into the country.

Donald Trump’s most recent attack on Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy over Crimea couldn’t be more pro-Russian if it had been written by Vladimir Putin himself.

In an angry post on Truth Social Wednesday, Trump criticized Zelenskiy for refusing to recognize Russia’s occupation of Crimea, which Moscow seized in 2014, after the U.S. president pushed for a peace deal that would allow Russia to keep all of the territory it had seized from Ukraine.

“This statement is very harmful to the Peace Negotiations with Russia in that Crimea was lost years ago under the auspices of President Barack Hussein Obama, and is not even a point of discussion,” Trump wrote. “Nobody is asking Zelenskyy to recognize Crimea as Russian Territory but, if he wants Crimea, why didn’t they fight for it eleven years ago when it was handed over to Russia without a shot being fired?”

This is coming from the same person who has repeatedly attempted to rewrite history to place Ukraine at fault for Russia’s invasion. Trump has also totally abdicated any responsibility in the situation. During his first term, Trump repeatedly undermined Zelenskiy and emboldened Putin. Crucially, after Trump’s first term, the situation in Ukraine was largely the same as it was under Obama. During peace negotiations, Trump has continued to barter on behalf of Russia, carving out a deal that punishes Ukraine for accepting U.S. military aid.

On some level, Trump must’ve realized how inane he sounded, because he quickly jumped on the defensive. “I have nothing to do with Russia,” he wrote. “But have much to do with wanting to save, on average, five thousand Russian and Ukrainian soldiers a week, who are dying for no reason whatsoever.

“The statement made by Zelenskyy today will do nothing but prolong the ‘killing field,’ and nobody wants that! We are very close to a Deal, but the man with ‘no cards to play’ should now, finally, GET IT DONE,” Trump added.

Russia currently controls roughly 20 percent of Ukraine’s territory.

Trump’s latest attack comes as Vice President JD Vance issued a stark ultimatum for the two European countries to come together over peace talks or risk the U.S. walking away. Meanwhile, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Trump envoy Steve Witkoff decided not to attend a planned meeting in London between the U.S., Ukraine, and other European leaders, due to what Rubio’s spokesperson called “logistical issues.”

The U.S. government detained a U.S. citizen for 10 days on claims he was an undocumented immigrant, and then lied in their official account.

Jose Hermosillo is a 19-year-old New Mexico resident who visited his girlfriend’s family in Tucson, Arizona, earlier this month. After suffering from a seizure, he was transported to a hospital by ambulance and did not have his state ID. After being released from the Tucson hospital, Hermosillo did not know how to get back to where he was staying, he told the Popular Information newsletter. He sought out a police officer for help.

That officer happened to work for Border Patrol, and asked Hermosillo where he was from and if he had papers. Hermosillo said, “New Mexico,” to which the officer replied, “Don’t make me [out] like [I’m] stupid. I know you’re from Mexico.” Hermosillo was then arrested.

But the Department of Homeland Security’s account says something completely different. According to the DHS X account, “Hermosillo’s arrest and detention were a direct result of his own actions and statements.”

“Jose Hermosillo approached Border Patrol in Tucson Arizona stating he had ILLEGALLY entered the U.S. and identified himself as a Mexican citizen,” the account stated Monday. The DHS also released a supposed transcript of Hermosillo’s conversation with a Border Patrol agent, signed “JOSE,” in which Hermosillo said he was born in Mexico and illegally entered the U.S.

According to Hermosillo’s girlfriend, he has learning disabilities and is only able to write his own name. He told Popular Information that he did not graduate from high school, only finishing the tenth grade. According to the DHS report, Hermosillo “read” their document or had it read to him, but he says that never happened. On top of that, the documents contain inaccurate information, claiming that Hermosillo was detained “at or near Nogales, Arizona,” which is more than 70 miles away from Tucson.

Hermosillo was then held in a cell with 15 other men at Florence Correctional Center, a privately run immigration detention facility, for 10 days before being released on April 17. Two days into his detention, he told a judge that he was a U.S. citizen, but prosecutors then asked that his hearing be rescheduled, with Hermosillo remaining in detention until then. Seven days later, at the next hearing, his family provided the immigration court with his birth certificate.

While in detention, Hermosillo contracted the flu but was not provided with any medicine after he requested it. His pleas to prison staff that he was a U.S. citizen were met with replies of, “Call your lawyer.”

Ultimately, while Hermosillo managed to secure his release, his account is a horror story of how quickly someone can be detained on the suspicion of being an undocumented immigrant, and how the government will even lie to keep someone in detention. The Trump administration is staunchly resisting any kind of legal safeguard to protect the rights of immigrants or those mistakenly detained, blatantly denying people the right of due process.