Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem at a Nashville press conference on July 18, 2025, to discuss arrests of immigrants during recent Immigration and Customs Enforcement sweeps. (Photo by John Partipilo/Tennessee Lookout)
WASHINGTON — Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem announced Wednesday the end of temporary protected status for roughly 330,000 nationals from Haiti by February, opening them up to deportations.
In her reasoning, Noem said extending temporary protected status to Haitians would be “contrary to the national interest of the United States” and will end on Feb. 3.
TPS is granted to nationals who hail from countries deemed too dangerous for a return, due to violence or major natural disasters.
While TPS was granted to Haitians due to the 2010 earthquake, conditions in the country have worsened amid rising gang violence since 2021.
“Moreover, even if the Department found that there existed conditions that were extraordinary and temporary that prevented Haitian nationals …from returning in safety, termination of Temporary Protected Status of Haiti is still required because it is contrary to the national interest of the United States to permit Haitian nationals … to remain temporarily in the United States,” according to the notice in the Federal Register.
The notice is meant to comply with a court order earlier this year that barred DHS from ending TPS for nationals from Haiti until protections were set to expire in February.
States with large Haitian immigrant populations include Florida, New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania, according to the Migration Policy Institute, a think tank that studies global migration.
Noem, who stated in her confirmation hearing that she planned to curtail TPS renewals, has moved to end protections for nationals from Afghanistan, Cameroon, Honduras, Nepal, Nicaragua, Syria and Venezuela.
Prisoners look out of their cell as Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem tours the Terrorist Confinement Center, or CECOT, in Tecoluca, El Salvador, on March 26, 2025. (Photo by Alex Brandon-Pool/Getty Images)
WASHINGTON — The Department of Justice acknowledged in a court filing that Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem made the call to continue removals of Venezuelans to a brutal Salvadoran prison, despite a federal judge’s order to stop the deportations.
The Tuesday filing noted that Noem was advised by top officials at the Justice Department she did not need to comply with the March 15 judicial order to halt the deportations because it had been issued after the flights took off. The Venezuelan nationals were deported under an obscure wartime law called the Alien Enemies Act.
“After receiving that legal advice, Secretary Noem directed that the AEA detainees who had been removed from the United States before the Court’s order could be transferred to the custody of El Salvador,” according to the DOJ filing. “That decision was lawful and was consistent with a reasonable interpretation of the Court’s order.”
Noem’s decision sent 137 Venezuelan men to a mega-prison for months until the Venezuelan government could broker a prison swap with El Salvador and the United States to have the men returned.
In an emergency March 15 order, U.S. District Judge James Boasberg said the planes carrying the Venezuelans had to return to the United States.
They did not have the opportunity to challenge their removal, which was a violation of their due process rights, the American Civil Liberties Union has argued in its case against the Trump administration.
Tuesday’s filing represents a shift in legal strategy from the administration, which had initially argued that because Boasberg’s order was verbal and not written, his temporary restraining order carried no weight.
Contempt probe
The filing comes after Boasberg resumed a contempt investigation to identify the Trump administration officials involved in authorizing the Venezuelans’ removals.
Last week, Boasberg ordered the administration to submit filings on how to proceed with the contempt inquiry.
“I certainly intend to find out what happened that day,” Boasberg said last week.
Tuesday’s filing argued that contempt proceedings are not needed and that “the Government maintains that its actions did not violate the Court’s order.”
The ACLU, which is representing the deported men, in its filing on the contempt issue urged Boasberg to request testimony from nine current and former officials from the Homeland Security and Justice departments.
The ACLU also said the government should identify “all individuals involved in the decision… regardless of whether they were the ultimate decision-maker or had direct input into the decision, as well as all those with knowledge of the decision-making process.”
Once those people had been identified, Boasberg could determine in what order testimony should be gathered.
A sign is seen outside the FEMA Disaster Recovery Center at Weaverville Town Hall on March 29, 2025 in Weaverville, North Carolina. (Photo by Allison Joyce/Getty Images)
WASHINGTON — The review council that President Donald Trump tasked with overhauling the Federal Emergency Management Agency was supposed to release its recommendations before Monday but missed the deadline.
A spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security declined to say when the report would be published, but wrote in a statement that it would “inform this Administration’s ongoing efforts to fundamentally restructure FEMA, transforming it from its current form into a streamlined, mission-focused disaster-response force.”
A congressional staffer, not authorized to speak publicly, said the report could be published as soon as mid-December. A spokesperson for Virginia Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin, a council member, said the review council will vote to finalize the report at an upcoming public meeting.
Trump established the 12-person council through an executive order he signed back in January and tasked the group with releasing the report within 180 days of its first meeting, which it held on May 20.
That should have meant a release this past weekend, though it’s possible staff writing the report were furloughed or tasked with other work during the 43-day government shutdown.
Hegseth, Noem are co-chairs
The council, co-chaired by Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, held three public meetings earlier this year, where members spoke about possible ways to restructure FEMA but didn’t preview what recommendations they would actually put in the report.
Trump said in June “the FEMA thing has not been a very successful experiment” and that he would like states to shoulder more of the responsibility for natural disaster response and recovery.
“When you have a tornado or a hurricane, or you have a problem of any kind in a state, that’s what you have governors for,” Trump said. “They’re supposed to fix those problems. And it’s much more local. And they’ll develop a system. And I think it will be a great system.”
The FEMA Review Council’s report is supposed to include an
“assessment of the adequacy of FEMA’s response to disasters during the previous 4 years,”
“comparison of the FEMA responses with State, local, and private sector responses” and
“analysis of the principal arguments in the public debate for and against FEMA reform, including an appraisal of the merits and legality of particular reform proposals,” among several other elements.
FEMA action underway in Congress
Any major changes to FEMA would likely need to move through Congress before they could take effect. But a bipartisan group of lawmakers hasn’t waited for the review council’s suggestions to get started.
The House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee voted 57-3 in September to send a bill to the floor that would make significant changes to FEMA, including making it a Cabinet-level agency.
House GOP leaders have yet to schedule the legislation for a vote. If passed, it would need Senate approval and Trump’s signature to become law.
Across the country, school districts are rethinking what it means to move students safely, efficiently and responsibly. For some, that includes exploring or expanding electric bus fleets. For others, it means keeping an eye on how technology and infrastructure evolve before making the switch.
When it comes to powertrain innovation, Thomas Built Buses meets both realities — designing solutions for those ready to make a switch today and learning alongside those who have already gone through the process.
From Insight to Innovation
When Thomas Built introduced the Saf-T-Liner® eC2 Jouley®, it marked a milestone — the company’s first Type C electric school bus became an early signal of its commitment to cleaner, smarter student transportation. But Jouley wasn’t just an innovation; it was a learning experience.
Years of real-world operation, supported by feedback from school districts, drivers, dealers and service teams, gave Thomas Built invaluable insight into what electrification looks like in practice — how buses perform in different environments, how charging infrastructure evolves and how drivers adapt to new technology.
That continuous feedback inspired the Saf-T-Liner® eC2 Jouley® Gen 2, released earlier this year — a reimagined version built on those lessons, delivering greater efficiency, serviceability and driving dynamics. And it was that same cycle of collaboration and learning that paved the way for Thomas Built’s next step forward: the Saf-T-Liner® eHDX2 Wattson, the company’s first Type D electric school bus.
“Customer feedback has become one of our most valuable design tools,” says Kendra Eads, vice president of engineering at Daimler Truck Specialty Vehicles, a division of Daimler Truck North America, which includes both Thomas Built Buses and Freightliner Custom Chassis Corporation (FCCC). “Every insight from the field helps us refine performance, comfort, driver experience, reliability and serviceability. Those real-world insights translate directly into real innovation.”
No One-Size-Fits-All
Every school district approaches electrification differently. Geography, fleet size, infrastructure and route patterns all play a role in determining what works — and what doesn’t. Rather than offering a one-size-fits-all solution, Thomas Built has embraced flexibility, ensuring that both Jouley Gen 2 and the new eHDX2 Wattson are available to meet the unique needs of each customer.
With its sales and dealer teams serving as the “ears to the ground,” Thomas Built continually gathers input from the field — capturing what customers value most and where improvements can be made. That feedback moves directly into engineering and design, ensuring that every advancement — from ease of operation to serviceability — is informed by the people who rely on these buses every day.
Co-Creation in Motion
The development of Wattson became a true collaboration, fueled by the lessons learned from Thomas Built’s years of EV leadership with Jouley. Engineers worked hand in hand with districts and dealers to refine everything from torque response and drivability to serviceability and charging accessibility.
The result is a next-generation Type D electric bus that embodies Thomas Built’s learning-driven approach: pairing proven durability with cutting-edge EV technology. Features like the Accelera 14Xe e-Axle, 800-volt battery system and optional 20kW onboard charger reflect customer feedback around performance and infrastructure flexibility.
“Electrification isn’t static — it’s a journey,” adds Eads. “We’re still learning, and so are our customers. That’s what makes this work exciting. Each new model represents what we’ve learned together.”
A Balanced Path Forward
As national policies and state-level commitments shift, the future of electric school transportation remains fluid. Some districts are moving forward with confidence. Others are watching closely as funding and priorities evolve.
For Thomas Built Buses, that reality reinforces the importance of choice. The company continues to invest in advanced diesel, alternative fuels, and electric solutions alike — ensuring that every district, no matter where they are on their journey, can find the right fit for their needs.
With the introduction of Wattson, Thomas Built demonstrates that progress doesn’t mean abandoning practicality. It means offering solutions that balance innovation with reliability, vision with readiness and ambition with real-world application.
Because at the end of the day, the road ahead isn’t just about where the industry is headed — it’s about helping customers get there on their own timeline.
A September 2025 view of Drumgoon Dairy, which Dorothy and Rodney Elliott opened in 2006 near Lake Norden, South Dakota. (Photo by Makenzie Huber/South Dakota Searchlight)
LAKE NORDEN — The names on the list included some of Dorothy Elliott’s best employees: hardworking, reliable, honest.
Most had been working at Drumgoon Dairy for years. Some worked there for nearly two decades, playing a role in the operation’s expansion and success.
But after an audit of the dairy at the end of May by the federal Department of Homeland Security, 38 of those employees are gone.
The department said they each had inaccurate, outdated or incomplete proof of U.S. citizenship or permission to work in the country.
Co-owner Dorothy Elliott is pictured at Drumgoon Dairy near Lake Norden, South Dakota, on Sept. 17, 2025. (Photo by Makenzie Huber/South Dakota Searchlight)
Elliott co-owns the farm near Lake Norden, 5 miles from Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem’s eastern South Dakota home. Elliott asked the affected employees for updated documentation but ultimately had to fire those who weren’t able to adequately resolve the problems with their documents. One person returned home because his visa was expiring, and another quit.
The audit decimated Elliott’s workforce, once more than 50 employees, dropping it to just 16.
Audits at dairy farms under the Trump administration’s escalated immigration enforcement efforts have “created unrest” among workers and owners, Elliott said. It’s made for a tough summer in an industry that was flourishing after decades of support from state government.
Elliott’s remaining employees have been working without breaks, she said. Without a pathway or plan to create a sustainable workforce in agriculture and by “removing everyone working in it,” she worries some agricultural operations will go out of business. She hopes Drumgoon isn’t one of them.
“Basically, we’ve turned off the tap, but we’ve done nothing to create a solution as to how we find employees for the dairy industry,” she said.
Never previously audited
Elliott is required to file I-9 forms with documentation proving her workers’ identity and eligibility to work in the U.S. It puts employers in a difficult position, said Scott VanderWal, president of the South Dakota Farm Bureau, because applicants may present fraudulent documents an employer doesn’t catch. Yet employers could also be sued for mistakenly rejecting valid documents.
“If employers are presented with documentation that looks real and legitimate, they’re obligated to accept it,” VanderWal said. The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services offers similar guidance, saying employers must accept documentation if it “reasonably appears to be genuine.”
Elliott could use the federal government’s web-based system, E-Verify, that allows employers to confirm their employees’ eligibility to work in the country. But E-Verify is not mandated for new hires in South Dakota, and Elliott said she doesn’t use it because of “unreliable results.” Organizations ranging from the libertarian-leaning Cato Institute to the American Civil Liberties Union have opposed the use of E-Verify, citing reasons including errors that cost people jobs because the system wrongly flagged them.
So Elliott evaluates applicants’ documents herself. If their IDs are out of date or if they have a visa and are applying from another farm without returning home, she passes on hiring them. She’s turned people away a dozen times over the years, she said.
Drumgoon was never audited before. In her past dealings with the Department of Homeland Security during nearly two decades of running the dairy, Elliott said, Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents would merely tell her they were searching for a person and ask for a notification if the person applied for a job.
This time was different. After an audit, employers are required to terminate unauthorized workers who can’t prove their employability, according to a Department of Homeland Security spokesperson. Audits — which are distinct from raids or other immigration enforcement operations — are meant to ensure businesses comply with federal employment laws.
Elliott does not know where her 38 former employees went. They could be working at other dairies in the U.S. They could have left the country. They could be anywhere.
Because the dairy is near a farm owned by Noem, the former governor of South Dakota, and because Noem was in the state during the month of the audit to receive an honorary degree, South Dakota Searchlight asked the Department of Homeland Security if Noem had a direct role in the audit. The department didn’t respond to the question.
Elliott declined to talk about Noem, saying she recognizes that federal immigration authorities “have a job to do.”
South Dakota Farmers Union President Doug Sombke called federal dairy audits “stupid,” because they needlessly displace workers.
“Why the heck can’t we continue to use them there as an intern or apprentice or whatever you want to call it and make it legal? Why is it so important we grab them and call them a criminal? No one wants those jobs,” Sombke said. “I don’t understand why you’d cripple or cause problems for a labor shortage when all you have to do is get them legalized.”
Immigrants hiring immigrants
Elliott’s connection to immigrants isn’t limited to her employees. She was born in the United States but married her husband, Rodney, in Northern Ireland, where they had their children.
Eliott worked in health care and her husband operated their 140-cow dairy farm in Northern Ireland when a newspaper ad, “Wanted: Dairy farmers in South Dakota,” caught their attention. Moving to America meant fewer regulations, cheaper land, cheaper feed and the ability to grow their business, she said.
Dorothy Elliott interacts with cows at Drumgoon Dairy near Lake Norden on Sept. 17, 2025. (Photo by Makenzie Huber/South Dakota Searchlight)
The couple used the EB-5 investment-for-visa program to secure backers for their operation, opened the dairy in 2006, paid off the investors within a few years and have been expanding ever since. They started with about 1,500 cows in 2006 and have grown to 6,500.
Elliott’s children got their citizenship shortly after moving to the U.S., and her husband became a citizen about eight years after they moved. That experience helps her empathize with her workers, many of whom are Hispanic. She said everything they’re doing is to support their families back home, even though many aren’t able to see their families for years at a time.
“All they’re guilty of is working and doing a job that isn’t currently being filled by an American,” Elliott said.
Taneeza Islam advocates for immigrants as executive director of South Dakota Voices for Peace. She’s spoken to immigrant workers in other industries who were scared and confused after being terminated due to stricter immigration enforcement.
“We have two very separate worlds right now: the community that’s impacted and worried about getting detained and deported, and the community that doesn’t know this is happening here,” Islam said.
State recruited dairies
The Elliotts are among many new South Dakotans who’ve helped the dairy industry boom in the last two decades. Then-governor and now-U.S. Sen. Mike Rounds, a Republican, focused on supporting the industry in the early 2000s, which included efforts to recruit farmers from overseas.
“We’ve achieved our goals we set out for ourselves: build a dairy, milk cows and grow the dairy industry in South Dakota,” Elliott said. “Is it a sustainable goal if there’s nobody to work on these dairies? No. So all the time, money, effort, investment and hard work that has gone into it will be null and void if there isn’t a workforce.”
A torn soccer goal stands in front of the Drumgoon Dairy office and near tractors on the operation on Sept. 17, 2025 near Lake Norden. (Makenzie Huber/South Dakota Searchlight)
Sombke, the state Farmers Union president, said the state’s investment in dairy “has been a good thing,” but he isn’t surprised by the recent disruption in the industry.
South Dakota Searchlight requested the number of audits conducted in South Dakota so far in 2025, but a Department of Homeland Security spokesperson said the department “does not disclose specific data on audits or enforcement actions by state or industry.”
Sombke said dairy audits are “way up” in the state compared to last year. He said nobody should be surprised to find workers at dairies without permission to be in the country.
“What do you expect? The unemployment rate is less than 2% in the state,” Sombke said. “You’re going to be looking for labor anywhere you can find it.”
Aftermath of an audit
Drumgoon Dairy’s remaining employees have made mistakes because of the long hours they’ve had to cover — like reversing a payloader into a manure pond — or because they’re new to working on the farm.
“Some of them only get one or two days off in a 15-day period,” Elliott said. “But what else do you do? Do you just let cows starve or calves die because there’s no one there to take care of them?”
Some nearby farms sent workers to help at Drumgoon for a couple of days at a time this summer after the audit. Elliott and her husband have spent over $110,000 on recruiters and transportation so far to hire 22 visa workers from Mexico. But the visas come with restrictions on the types of jobs workers can do, so Elliott hired a dozen or so new employees locally, and still wants to hire another 10 to 15 people to replace terminated staff.
Elliott is struggling to find local applicants, which she is required by law to attempt before hiring visa workers.
“If raising wages even more will bring Americans to work on the farm, we can try it,” Elliott said, “but there is a limit to how high you can raise wages when you don’t get to set the price of milk. Can I afford to pay a milker $25 an hour? At some point, you’d produce milk for more than you’re receiving for it.”
Trump could lead immigration reforms, Thune says
After a panel discussion at the annual Dakotafest agricultural trade show in Mitchell in August, U.S. Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-South Dakota, told South Dakota Searchlight that he believes President Donald Trump is interested in legal immigration and work visa reforms.
South Dakota Republican congressional delegates, from left, Senate Majority Leader John Thune, Sen. Mike Rounds and Rep. Dusty Johnson speak at Dakotafest in Mitchell, South Dakota, on Aug. 20, 2025. (Photo by Makenzie Huber/South Dakota Searchlight)
“If we can find some willing partners in the Democrats, some sort of an immigration policy or a piece of legislation that we could pass is not outside the realm of possibility,” Thune said. “Ultimately, that’s the best long-term solution, and I’ve heard him talk about it.”
Sen. Rounds told Searchlight that as more people are deported and industries are disrupted, “we will get enough support from the administration to begin looking at a legal system again.”
Republican U.S. Rep. Dusty Johnson, who is running for South Dakota governor next year, said some visa programs should be modified to meet the needs of the dairy industry. Some visas are seasonal programs that require participants to return home after a few months. The programs don’t fit the needs of dairy operations that require workers year-round.
Elliott has broached the issue for years to Thune, Johnson, Rounds and other federal officials.
“All I hear is, ‘I’ll mention that. We’ll talk about that.’ But nothing,” Elliott said. “What we hear is there is absolutely no passion for any kind of change to the status quo.”
Farmers suggest solutions
Lynn Boadwine of Boadwine Farms in Baltic has “run out of gas” trying to advocate for visa and immigration policy changes to support the dairy industry. But he was heartened to hear the congressional delegates’ comments.
“There’s rhetoric, but are you really working on it?” Boadwine said. “I hope they are, because the clock is really ticking on all of these issues and we’re going to start to run out of people.”
Lynn Boadwine surveys the Boadwine Farms operation near Baltic, South Dakota, which is an over 4,300-head dairy operation featuring a milking parlor, freestall barns and a methane digestion system. (Photo by Makenzie Huber/South Dakota Searchlight)
Boadwine shared immigration reform ideas with congressional offices but hasn’t heard back on the topic. His hope is to modernize and simplify the H-2A visa program for dairies. His proposal would remove the seasonality requirement and allow workers in the country without legal permission to transition to guest-worker status. Long-term guest workers would have a path toward permanent residency by proving they are law-abiding, hardworking employees.
VanderWal, with the South Dakota Farm Bureau, said he met this spring with Noem in Washington, D.C., in his capacity as vice president of the American Farm Bureau Federation. He urged Noem and the Trump administration to back off on audits in the agricultural industry in hopes that Congress would “fix the system.”
“We wanted to impress upon the administration that if they started removing illegal workers up and down the food chain, from production to processing to transportation to grocery stores to restaurants, we’d see a disaster worse than the pandemic,” VanderWal said.
The administration has since “backed off ag,” VanderWal said, but the consequences linger for producers like the Elliotts and their employees. He said that unless President Trump “gets real forceful and goes after it,” he doesn’t expect Congress to undertake legal immigration reforms.
Economic consequence predicted
At Drumgoon Dairy, Elliott has tried automating aspects of her operation. She and her husband put in 20 robots a few years ago with the expectation they could hire students from nearby Lake Area Technical College’s robotics program to maintain them.
A robotic milking system milks a cow at Drumgoon Dairy near Lake Norden on Sept. 17, 2025. (Makenzie Huber/South Dakota Searchlight)
They posted robotics maintenance positions to attract graduates, but the response was deflating.
“To date, no one,” Elliott said.
She plans to remove the robots because the cost of running and servicing them is too expensive. So far, they’ve sold three. If the cost of technology continues to be prohibitive or there aren’t reforms to workforce visa or immigration programs, she said, “I wonder how we will become a sustainable industry.”
Elliott fears there will be consequences and higher prices for milk and other consumer dairy products without action at the federal level. Boadwine agreed.
“If we keep down this road we’ll have no choice but to import more food,” Boadwine said, “and the reason we’d import more is because it’s gotten so much more expensive here because we crippled ourselves.”
This story was originally produced by South Dakota Searchlight, which is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network which includes Wisconsin Examiner, and is supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity.
The Dirksen Federal Courthouse is pictured in Chicago. (Capitol News Illinois photo by Hannah Meisel)
CHICAGO — Illinois and Chicago filed a federal lawsuit Monday to block the Trump administration’s planned deployment of National Guard troops to the state — a move Gov. JB Pritzker called an “invasion.”
Trump pushed forward with the plan to activate hundreds of National Guard soldiers, including some from Texas, despite monthslong opposition from state and local leaders, as well as objections from civic and business groups in the city.
“We must now start calling this what it is: Trump’s Invasion,” Pritzker said in a statement Sunday night. “It started with federal agents, it will soon include deploying federalized members of the Illinois National Guard against our wishes, and it will now involve sending in another state’s military troops.”
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem asked President Donald Trump and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to deploy troops to Illinois to protect federal immigration officers and facilities. The Immigration and Customs Enforcement processing center in Broadview, a near-west suburb of Chicago, has been the site of several clashes between ICE agents and demonstrators in recent weeks.
But Pritzker, who said Saturday that he refused the Trump administration’s “ultimatum” to activate the National Guard himself, has insisted there is no emergency necessitating guardsmen on the ground. He also warned that White House officials would use any conflict between immigration agents and civilians as a “pretext” for military occupation.
“It will cause only more unrest, including harming social fabric and community relations and increasing the mistrust of police,” the lawsuit said.
The suit, filed in the Northern District of Illinois, names Trump, Noem and Hegseth as defendants.
Texas National Guard also activated
Illinois filed its lawsuit hours after Republican Texas Gov. Greg Abbott announced he will send 400 guardsmen to cities around the country, including Chicago, and after a federal judge in Oregon blocked National Guard deployments to Portland.
The order is “effective immediately for an initial period of 60 days” and subject to extension, according to the memo, signed by Hegseth. It comes a day after Pritzker confirmed Trump’s intention to federalize 300 members of the Illinois National Guard.
“The American people, regardless of where they reside, should not live under the threat of occupation by the United States military, particularly not simply because their city or state leadership has fallen out of a president’s favor,” the lawsuit reads. “To guard against this, foundational principles of American law limit the president’s authority to involve the military in domestic affairs. Those bedrock principles are in peril.”
The opening paragraph of Illinois’ lawsuit against the federal government argues that the “foundational principles of American law” that limit the president’s powers to involve the military in domestic affairs are at risk. (Capitol News Illinois illustration with highlight added)
The promised deployment comes as ICE has ramped up activity in Chicago and its suburbs as part of “Operation Midway Blitz,” which has so far resulted in more than 800 arrests according to the Department of Homeland Security.
There have also been two shootings since the clashes began. On Saturday, the governor called the administration’s National Guard activation a “manufactured performance” and not about protecting public safety.
Though the Trump administration insists ICE is targeting undocumented immigrants who have criminal backgrounds, reports have mounted of agents arresting those with no history of illegal activity, detaining children along with their parents and even handcuffing U.S. citizens and children with zip ties. Immigrant and civil rights groups have alleged ICE is arresting people without warrants in violation of a federal consent decree.
The lawsuit also alleges ICE activity in Chicago and its suburbs has already subjected Illinois “to serious and irreparable harm.”
“It also creates economic harm, depressing business activities and tourism that not only hurt Illinoisians but also hurt Illinois’s tax revenue,” the complaint said.
That argument echoes one made by a group of Chicago business and civic groups over the weekend.
“National Guard troops on our streets, like those reportedly being ordered here by the federal government, have the potential to sow fear and chaos, threatening our businesses’ bottom lines and our reputation,” the Chicagoland Chamber of Commerce, Civic Committee of the Commercial Club of Chicago and the Civic Federation said in a joint statement Saturday.
Attorney General Kwame Raoul argues the troop deployment violates Illinois’ rights as sovereign state to carry about its own law enforcement, as well as 1878 Posee Comitatus Act that bans the military from participating in domestic law enforcement.
The lawsuit also claims the Trump administration failed to meet any criteria that could allow the president to federalize the National Guard. The president can federalize the National Guard to stop a foreign invasion, when the president can’t execute the laws of the country or to stop a rebellion.
Raoul and state leaders have argued for weeks that Trump would use protests in Broadview as a “flimsy pretext” to claim a rebellion.
Several protestors have been arrested near the facility in recent weeks on charges of assaulting officers. Federal agents have sprayed tear gas and fired nonlethal ammunition into crowds that have gathered there.
Over the weekend, a U.S. Border Patrol agent shot a woman on the city’s Southwest Side in a confrontation with protesters. Prosecutors eventually charged the woman and another protestor with attempting to “assault, impede, and interfere with the work of federal agents in Chicago.” According to the Chicago Sun-Times, agents fired “defensive shots” when they saw the woman was allegedly “armed with a semi-automatic weapon,” and she was taken to a nearby hospital for treatment before she was charged.
Further, the lawsuit argues the Trump administration has entirely manufactured any public safety crisis in Illinois that would require military intervention. It cites a 2013 social media post by Trump, two years before he announced his candidacy for president, that suggested the military should be deployed to Chicago. It lists several other derogatory comments Trump made about the city, state and their leaders over the years, including as president.
Illinois’ lawsuit against the federal government includes several posts that President Donald Trump has made about the city over a period of at least 12 years. (Screenshots from Illinois’ lawsuit against the federal government)
The lawsuit argues that animosity culminated last week with Trump claiming during a speech to military generals that there was an “invasion from within” and suggesting cities like Chicago should be used as “training grounds” for the military.
How soldiers will be deployed
The lawsuit includes new details about how federal officials communicated with state leaders and gave Pritzker an ultimatum.
DHS sent a memo to the Illinois National Guard on Sept. 28 stating troops “would integrate with federal law enforcement operations, serving in direct support of federal facility protection, access control, and crowd control.”
On Saturday morning, Illinois National Guard Adjutant General Rodney Boyd received a formal email from the Defense Department National Guard Bureau saying Trump asked for at least 300 soldiers, and if Boyd did not activate them within two hours, Hegseth would federalize them. Boyd responded that Pritzker declined to activate the guard. Defense officials sent a new memo late Saturday saying the guard was federalized.
Illinois National Guard leaders received another memo on Sunday informing them soldiers from Texas would be sent to Chicago beginning Monday.
Abbott, a Republican and ardent Trump supporter, has been a frequent foil of Pritzker, bussing thousands of asylum-seeking migrants from the border to Chicago in 2023 and 2024 and criticizing the Illinois governor for welcoming Texas Democratic legislators who fled their state this summer amid a partisan redistricting fight. He said in a social media post that Pritzker “can either fully enforce protection for federal employees or get out of the way and let the Texas Guard do it.”
Prior to this year, the last time a president federalized a state’s National Guard without a request from a state’s governor was in 1965, when President Lyndon B. Johnson sent federal troops to protect civil rights protesters in Alabama without the cooperation of segregationist Gov. George Wallace.
Capitol News Illinois is a nonprofit, nonpartisan news service that distributes state government coverage to hundreds of news outlets statewide. It is funded primarily by the Illinois Press Foundation and the Robert R. McCormick Foundation.
Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem at a Nashville press conference on July 18, 2025, to discuss arrests of immigrants during recent Immigration and Customs Enforcement sweeps. (Photo by John Partipilo/Tennessee Lookout)
WASHINGTON — The U.S. Supreme Court Friday again allowed the Trump administration to strip temporary protections for more than 300,000 Venezuelans, opening them up for quick deportations as the president continues with his plans for mass deportations.
The conservative justices granted, 6-3, President Donald Trump’s request from last month to pause a federal judge’s ruling that found Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem lacked the authority to revoke Temporary Protected Status granted to hundreds of thousands of Venezuelan immigrants under the Biden administration.
All three liberal justices sided with the lower court, with Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson writing a dissent with the conservative Supreme Court majority. She criticized the high court’s use of the emergency docket, also known as the shadow docket, which can allow the justices to avoid explaining their reasoning for decisions brought on an emergency basis.
“We once again use our equitable power (but not our opinion-writing capacity) to allow this Administration to disrupt as many lives as possible, as quickly as possible,” Jackson wrote.
The conservative justices did not explain their reasoning but said the harms faced by the Trump administration remained the same as when the case was first brought to the high court in May.
Jackson said that not only were the lower courts correct in their orders to block the removal of TPS protections to limit harm, but that the Supreme Court should have denied the emergency request from the Trump administration.
“Having opted instead to join the fray, the Court plainly misjudges the irreparable harm and balance-of-the-equities factors by privileging the bald assertion of unconstrained executive power over countless families’ pleas for the stability our Government has promised them,” Jackson wrote.
“Because, respectfully, I cannot abide our repeated, gratuitous, and harmful interference with cases pending in the lower courts while lives hang in the balance, I dissent,” she continued.
The suit in the Northern District of California will continue despite Friday’s emergency ruling from the high court.
U.S. Solicitor General D. John Sauer argued that Noem had the authority to revoke extended protections initially granted to Venezuelans under the Biden administration.
Former President Joe Biden granted TPS for Venezuelans who came to the U.S. in 2021 and 2023. Those TPS protections were set to last until October 2026.
TPS is granted when a national’s home country is deemed too dangerous to return to due to violence, political instability or extreme natural disasters. It’s renewed every 18 months and protects immigrants from deportation and allows them access to work permits.
This is the second time the Trump administration has appealed to the high court to allow it to end TPS protections for Venezuelans. In late May, the Supreme Court paved the way for the Trump administration to temporarily terminate TPS for more than 300,000 Venezuelans while the case continued in lower courts.
The new U.S.-based manufacturing of the Micro Bird joint venture between Blue Bird and Girardin Minibus of Quebec is underway, with the plant in Plattsburgh, New York, officially opening this past week.
The formation of Micro Bird USA LLC was announced last November with the factory, formerly a Nova Bus plant, acquired in December with a $38 million investment. The first U.S. manufactured Micro Birds in 15 years began rolling off the production line in July
Micro Bird said the 156,000-square-foot plant currently employs 225 workers with a goal of growing the number to 350 when it reaches full production capacity. The project is supported by the Empire State Development with nearly $10 million in performance-based Excelsior Jobs Program tax credits and a $2.5 million capital grant from the North Country Regional Economic Development Council.
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul was on hand Wednesday for the ribbon cutting ceremony.
“Today’s grand opening celebration marks a new chapter for Plattsburgh,” she said. “We are proud to welcome Micro Bird to the North Country, where the company is tapping into our skilled workforce, thriving transportation cluster, and major regional investments. This new facility strengthens the local economy, creates good jobs, and builds a brighter future for the region and all of New York.”
The current Micro Bird joint venture dates to Sept. 14, 2009, when Blue Bird and Quebec-based school bus manufacturer and dealer A. Girardin Inc. entered a 50-50 partnership agreement to create Micro Bird, Inc. and jointly market the Type A school bus branded as Micro Bird by Girardin. Girardin provided all body design, manufacturing and assembly.
Blue Bird and Girardin also entered a supply marketing agreement in 1991 to sell the Type A vehicles through Blue Bird’s sales network. The school bus was mostly assembled at Girardin’s Brantford, Ontario, plant but also at Blue Bird’s Fort Valley, Georgia, plant from 2006-2010, said Steve Girardin, the executive chairman of Micro Bird, Inc. He also noted that Girardin designed the very first Micro Bird for Blue Bird in the 1970s.
The Plattsburgh plant opening returns a significant portion of Micro Bird production to the U.S. to supplement ongoing manufacturing in Quebec but with a much larger footprint. Micro Bird USA said last year it expects the new facility will double the company’s Type A production. NBC5 reported Micro Bird USA expects the plant will help increase daily production to 15 buses a day from its current five a day.
The new plant is also fully compliant with the Buy America Act.
“This grand opening is a proud moment for the entire team,” said Eric Boulé, president and CEO of Micro Bird. “With our new facility, we are doubling our production capacity and increasing our ability to deliver high-quality, long-lasting small and mid-size buses to our customers.”
Boule added Micro Bird had been planning expansion “for some years.”
“Plattsburgh was the perfect choice for us, the availability of a highly skilled workforce, proximity to major markets, and within a community with a strong manufacturing ecosystem,” he continued.
Tony and Ryan discuss regulatory updates, the importance of vendor partnerships, a sensationalized incident involving a Texas school bus, and this year’s Garage Stars.
Charles Chilton, vice president and general manager of IC Bus, discusses his engineering and school bus driver background, navigating the uncertain clean bus market, and supporting IC Bus customers.
Engine manufacturers using selective catalytic reduction (SCR) emission control technology have new federal guidance allowing them to more gradually “derate” systems when diesel exhaust fluid (DEF) depletes.
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Lee Zeldin announced during the Iowa State Fair last week the new action designed to protect American farmers, truckers and other diesel equipment operators from sudden speed and power losses caused by DEF systems.
“We have heard loud and clear from small businesses across the U.S. that the current DEF system is unacceptable,” Zeldin said in a statement. “It is unacceptable that farmers, truckers, construction workers, and many other small businesses continually experience failures of diesel-powered equipment when they need it most—costing millions of dollars in lost productivity. Today, we are responding to those concerns by calling on manufacturers to take action to update their software and eliminate the unnecessary sudden loss of power and frustrating shutdowns that too many Americans have experienced.”
EPA issued the guidance urging diesel engine and off-road farm equipment manufacturers to revise DEF system software in existing vehicles and equipment to prevent these sudden shutdowns. Starting with model year 2027, all new diesel on-road trucks and motorcoaches must be engineered to avoid sudden and severe power loss after running out of DEF.
EPA said it also has a fix for derate issues in legacy diesel vehicles with SCR.
“To fix the problem for vehicles already in use, EPA’s new guidance, developed in collaboration with manufacturers, will work to ensure that the necessary software changes can be made on the existing fleet,” the press release notes. “In addition to providing certainty to manufacturers about how EPA wants this issue resolved, the agency is not requiring separate approvals beyond that provided in EPA’s guidance. This ensures that bureaucratic steps do not delay manufacturers’ ability to put solutions into the field.”
Since 2010, SCR has used on-board diagnostics sensors to detect when DEF runs out or diesel particulate filters clog and then initiate a rapid derate of the engine. Within four hours of DEF depletion, vehicles automatically slow to five miles per hour.
But the results for industries have been “catastrophic,” said EPA, as disruptions have occurred to logistics, agriculture and construction. Several diesel engine manufacturers also initiated recalls over their SCR technology. Cummins recalled 2010 to 2015 medium- and heavy-duty engines, including the ISB 6.7 for school buses, because the SCR unit catalysts degraded faster than expected.
“At Cummins, we recognize our responsibility in powering some of the country’s most economically vital applications, from the buses that take our kids to and from school to the trucks that deliver critical goods,” a statement from the company reads. “Collaboration with our customers is at the heart of what we do, ensuring we deliver solutions that meet their business needs while continuously innovating to improve fuel efficiency, reduce costs and enhance reliability. SCR is a widely accepted, proven technology utilized in many applications, and we are committed to working closely with the EPA and the select customers affected by SCR inducements. Together, we aim to provide regulatory certainty, greater flexibility and the dependable solutions that contribute to the American economy.”
Daimler Truck North America told School Transportation News it welcomes the new guidance.
“We are supportive of the efforts to provide more flexibility with regard to DEF inducement and are actively working on solutions to support our customers,” the statement reads.
“EPA has heard from users of diesel trucks, tractors and equipment and, working with manufacturers, has responded with these adjustments to improve operational performance while ensuring emissions integrity,” Executive Director Allen Schaeffer said. “EPA’s announcement [Aug. 12] provides new guidance that allows manufacturers to adjust these systems to ensure that farmers, motor coach operators, and truckers, who all rely on diesel engines and equipment, will be able to complete critical work with sufficient lead time for scheduling maintenance and repairs.”
Phoenix Motor Inc., known for building heavy-duty transit buses and helping electrify medium-duty vehicles, announced John Walsh is stepping in as the new president of Phoenix Motor and CEO of PhoenixEV, the company’s U.S.-based commercial electric vehicle brand.
Walsh will oversee the company’s American operations, focusing on scaling production, accelerating adoption of zero-emission solutions and expanding market share in the commercial and transit EV space. While it’s unclear why Denton Peng is stepping down as President of Phoenix Motor, he will continue to serve as the chief executive officer of Phoenix Motor Inc. leading the company’s global strategy, innovation initiatives, and international operations.
John Walsh
“We’re excited to welcome John to our team,” said Peng in a press release. “He brings a deep understanding of the transit and EV markets, along with a demonstrated ability to scale high-growth transportation companies. With more than three decades of experience and a record of operational excellence, we’re confident John will help PhoenixEV accelerate its mission to deliver clean, quiet, and intelligent mobility solutions across the U.S.”
Walsh is an experienced executive with more than 35 years of leadership experience in the transit and electric mobility industries. His most recent role was as president of EO Charging Americas, where he led large-scale commercial fleet electrification across North America.
Prior to that, he served as chief commercial officer at Proterra, overseeing record-setting electric transit bus sales and managing its transit, powered and energy business units. He also held key leadership positions as president and COO of Davey Coach, president of REV Bus Group, which included nine business units such as ENC and Collins Bus Corporation and CEO of MV-1/VPG, a specialty OEM for the paratransit market.
Walsh brings not only deep operational expertise, but also a strong track record in business development, negotiation and strategic planning, honed through decades of executive experience in the automotive and commercial transportation sectors. A graduate of Methodist University in North Carolina, he holds a bachelor’s degree in business administration.
“I’m honored to join Phoenix Motor at such an important inflection point,” said Walsh in a statement. “PhoenixEV has a remarkable legacy in electric transportation, and with our coast-to-coast operations, industry-leading EV platforms, and deep customer relationships, we are poised for strong growth. I look forward to working with our team to strengthen execution, build backlog and deliver outstanding zero-emission products for our partners and communities.”
In his role as CEO, Phoenix Motor said Walsh will be responsible for driving the brand’s U.S. business strategy, expanding production capacity and accelerating adoption of its all-electric transit and commercial vehicles. The appointment comes as Phoenix ramps up its efforts to serve municipal, corporate and government fleet customers across the nation amid growing demand for sustainable transportation solutions.
RENO, Nev. — The STN EXPO West Trade Show gathered dozens of vendors and hundreds of attendees to connect on the latest in school transportation products and services.
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