Republican Senator Warns Noem to Keep ICE Center Out of His State

A Republican senator wants Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and ICE to stay out of his state.

Mississippi Senator Roger Wicker has come out against a proposed ICE detention facility in Byhalia, noting that the facility’s construction in the small town would not give the community anything in return.

“While I support the enforcement of immigration law, I write to express my opposition to this acquisition and the proposed detention center,” he wrote in his letter to Noem Wednesday. “This site is currently positioned for economic development purposes.... Converting this industrial asset into an ICE detention center forecloses economic growth opportunities and replaces them with a use that does not generate comparable economic returns or community benefits.”

Wicker also noted “serious feasibility concerns” like water and energy costs and medical care. “Existing medical and human services infrastructure in Byhalia is insufficient to support such a large detainee population. Establishing a detention center at this site would place significant strain on local resources,” he continued.

Wicker’s rejection reaffirms reports of discontent among red states that are being forced to become proving grounds for immigration raids on the whims of the Trump administration. It also comes as multiple Democratic states and cities, including Maryland and California, have moved to place greater restrictions on the actions of federal immigration agents.

Democratic Representative Maxine Waters caught Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent in a clear and obvious lie during a congressional hearing.

“Did you write a letter to investors raising concerns about the impact of tariffs, writing that ‘tariffs are inflationary’? Did you say that at that time, yes or no?” Waters asked.

“Uh, no,” Bessent replied.

“OK … we have a New York Times article that agrees that you said that,” Waters said.

“Great, New York Times,” Bessent said, smiling.

Waters continued:

“Last summer, when you testified before a Senate committee, you said, and I quote, ‘There is no inflation. Tariffs are not being passed on to consumers.’ You were quite definitive, and even claimed that critics had ‘tariff derangement syndrome,’” she said. “Well, those comments are at odds with the statement you made to investors that tariffs are inflationary.... Are tariffs inflationary? Yes or no?”

“According to the San Francisco Federal Reserve … tariffs do not cause inflation,” Bessent said.

Bessent may have very well perjured himself, given the letter he claimed doesn’t exist certainly does. In that January 2024 letter, which Semafor’s Eleanor Mueller first highlighted, Bessent wrote: “Tariffs are inflationary and would strengthen the dollar--hardly a good starting point for a US industrial renaissance.” He then goes on to argue that Trump will weaken the dollar to “make US manufacturing competitive.”

Bessent attacked The New York Times to distract from Waters’s question, as if nothing reported about him in the paper could possibly be true. When asked to clarify, Bessent stated that if he even said that tariffs were inflationary, he was wrong.

This is all part of an effort to shield the average American from the harsh reality that they, not other countries, are shouldering most of the economic burdens of Trump’s tariff wars.

“Not only did he lie, but his advice was horrible on every level,” Representative Sean Casten commented. “Under Trump and Bessent they have imposed tariffs, overseen a collapse in the US dollar and delivered a collapse in US manufacturing jobs.”

The chief strategist during the president’s first term has a grim vision for the 2026 midterm elections, and it involves armed federal agents.

“You’re damn right we’re gonna have ICE surround the polls come November,” Steve Bannon said on his War Room podcast on Tuesday.

“We’re not gonna sit here and allow you to steal the country again,” Bannon continued, repeating Donald Trump’s thoroughly debunked 2020 election conspiracy. “And you can whine and cry and throw your toys out of the pram all you want, but we will never again allow an election to be stolen.”

Caroline Wren, a GOP fundraiser that was on the podcast, agreed with Bannon, claiming that dissent against ICE activity and its funding was fueled by individuals who “don’t want ICE at the polling stations to stop illegals from voting.”

It is, and has been, illegal and impossible for noncitizens to vote in U.S. elections.

Bannon’s comments seem to be the latest escalation in a nationwide Republican push to tighten up voter restrictions to a dystopian degree. Last year, conservative lawmakers passed the SAVE Act, requiring people to confirm their names with documented proof of citizenship before they register to vote—a detail that legal experts have warned could prevent droves of married women from casting their ballot.

Trump seemed to be on the same wavelength as Bannon the day prior, telling former FBI Deputy Director Dan Bongino during an interview Monday that Republicans should “take over and nationalize” elections in several states.

“The Republicans should say, ‘We want to take over,’” Trump said. “We should take over the voting, the voting in at least many—15 places. The Republicans ought to nationalize the voting.”

Since he lost the 2020 election, Trump and his allies have obsessed over contrived claims of voter fraud—a statistical nonissue in U.S. elections. For instance, a statewide audit out of Georgia, the epicenter of Trump’s baseless theory, revealed in 2024 that just 20 noncitizens out of 8.2 million residents existed on the state’s voter roll, approximately 0.00024 percent of the state’s voting population. Out of those 20, only nine participated in elections years ago, before ID was required as a part of the voter verification process. The other 11 individuals were registered but never actually voted, according to the secretary of state of Georgia, Brad Raffensperger.

The Supreme Court ruled Wednesday to allow California to use a newly drawn congressional map that could earn Democrats as many as five additional House seats in the upcoming midterm elections.

Republicans sued California over the new district lines drawn by Democratic lawmakers and approved by voters in November, claiming that the new map was racially gerrymandered.

When a federal judge found late last month that the map had been drawn along partisan lines, not racial lines, Republicans, joined by the Department of Justice, filed an emergency appeal to the Supreme Court.

California Governor Gavin Newsom, who had championed the redistricting effort in his state, responded to the court’s decision Wednesday. “LFG,” he wrote on X.

The high court’s ruling represents another major victory for the Democrats in the face of Donald Trump’s vast gerrymandering scheme. Last month, Virginia’s Democrat-controlled legislature passed an amendment that would allow the state to redraw its own congressional map, potentially netting Democrats—who already control six of the state’s 11 districts—an additional three to four seats in November.

So far, five red states have moved to redraw their congressional maps at the president’s behest in order to hand a potential nine additional seats to the Republican Party: Missouri, North Carolina, Texas, Ohio, and Utah.

Last month, Trump told Republican lawmakers that he needed the party to maintain control of the House and Senate in order to avoid being impeached.

This seems increasingly unavoidable, as in a typical midterm cycle, the presidential party pretty consistently loses ground. Those basic odds, coupled with Trump’s dismal approval rating and Democratic candidates’ growing momentum, is a particularly bad sign for the president, who has started babbling about potentially canceling the midterm elections altogether.

Elections experts have cautioned that Trump does not have the legal authority or mechanism to cancel the midterm elections, but his continued ranting could hurt participation and spur distrust of election results.

This story has been updated.

The Justice Department attorney who told a Minnesota judge Tuesday to hold her in contempt because “this job sucks” has been removed from her post. 

Julie Le was filling in at the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Minnesota to help with a heavy caseload as immigrants challenge their detentions. In court, she was asked by Judge Jerry Blackwell why Immigration and Customs Enforcement wasn’t complying with several court orders to release detained immigrants. Le admitted that her office, depleted by resignations in protest of Trump administration policies, simply could not keep up. 

“They are overwhelmed, and they need help, so I, I have to say, stupidly [volunteered],” Le said, noting that getting ICE to follow court orders was like pulling teeth. The stress clearly had gotten to Le, who normally works directly for ICE in immigration court, and she was unable to keep herself together. 

“I wish you would just hold me in contempt of court so I can get 24 hours of sleep. I work days and nights just because people (are) still in there,” Le said. “The system sucks, this job sucks, I am trying with every breath I have to get you what I need.” 

Le will now leave the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Minnesota and return to her job at ICE. The Minnesota office has seen more resignations in the past month than it normally has in a year, thanks to the Trump administration’s violent immigration enforcement in Minnesota leading to the killing of Renee Good and Alex Pretti. Meanwhile, the government continues to flout court orders and violently detain immigrants based on scant evidence. 

Blackwell admonished the Trump administration in court Tuesday, warning Le that “a court order is not advisory and it is not conditional.” 

“It is not something that any agency can treat as optional while it decides how or whether to comply with the court order,” Blackwell said. “Having what you feel are too many detainees, too many cases, too many deadlines, and not enough infrastructure to keep up with it all, is not a defense to continued detention. If anything, it ought to be a warning sign.”