How a digital dragnet is powering Trump’s immigration crackdown
The Trump administration’s immigration crackdown in Minneapolis is providing insights into the surveillance technologies the government is using in its mass deportation campaign. Department of Homeland Security officials insist their immigration enforcement operations are “highly targeted.” But some American citizens have been caught up in the raids as the Trump administration has built new surveillance tools and fused together datasets on citizens and noncitizens alike. Over the last year, the agency’s expanding digital dragnet has empowered federal agents to collect and analyze vast volumes of information. The Department of Homeland Security says it will not disclose law enforcement-sensitive methods.
Fannie Mae officials ousted after concerns over confidential data
A confidant of Bill Pulte, the Trump administration’s top housing regulator, provided confidential mortgage pricing data from Fannie Mae to a principal competitor. Emails reviewed by The Associated Press reveal the disclosure alarmed senior officials of the government-backed lending giant, who warned it could expose the company to claims that it colluded with a rival to fix mortgage rates. The emails show the data was shared with rival government-backed lender Freddie Mac by an associate of Bill Pulte, who was working on the Federal Housing Finance Agency director's behalf. Fannie Mae and the FHFA both say they take compliance with the law seriously.
How leaders of the MAHA movement benefit from anti-science advocacy
Powerful anti-vaccine advocates and people selling potentially harmful goods such as raw milk are profiting from the push to write anti-science policies into law across the U.S. They portray the Make America Healthy Again movement as grassroots, but it’s fueled by a web of well-funded national groups led by people who’ve profited – financially and otherwise – from sowing distrust of medicine and science. The Associated Press found state legislation that includes language in the text or public testimony that explicitly spells out that a reason to change the law is to make money or increase sales for dairy farmers.
AP investigates Tesla's aggressive legal strategy in China
Tesla has sued its own customers and journalists in China for defamation – and won just about every time. Elon Musk’s company has pioneered an aggressive legal strategy in China and leveraged the patronage of political leaders to silence critics, reap financial rewards and limit its accountability. That’s led some car owners to take drastic action. As concerns mount about eroding checks and balances in the U.S., Tesla’s record in China shows how Musk has thrived in a system in which regulators, the media and the courts are by design intertwined.
Dozens of deaths reveal risks of sedating people restrained by police
An investigation led by The Associated Press has found that the practice of giving sedatives to people detained by police has spread quietly across the nation over the last 15 years, built on questionable science and backed by police-aligned experts. The injections are given by medical personnel during police encounters. The investigation shows how a strategy intended to reduce violence and save lives has resulted in some avoidable deaths. While sedatives were mentioned as a cause or contributing factor in a dozen official death rulings, authorities often didn’t even investigate whether injections were appropriate in the 94 deaths identified by the AP over a decade. About half of the 94 who died were Black.
Hidden prison labor web linked to foods from Target, Walmart
In a sweeping two-year investigation, The Associated Press found goods linked to prisoners wind up in the supply chains of everything from Frosted Flakes cereal and Ball Park hot dogs to Gold Medal flour and Coca-Cola. They are on the shelves of most supermarkets, including Kroger, Target and Whole Foods. They’re also exported. The prisoners who help produce these goods are disproportionately people of color. Some are sentenced to hard labor and forced to work – or face punishment – and are sometimes paid pennies an hour or nothing at all. They also are excluded from protections guaranteed to almost all other full-time workers, even when they are seriously injured or killed on the job. And it can be almost impossible for them to sue.
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