Trump Admin Pauses More Than $1 Billion in Medicaid Funding to California and Minnesota

Back in the U.S., the Trump administration has paused more than $1 billion in Medicaid funding to California and Minnesota. That includes more than $867 million for California and about $200 million for Minnesota. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. claims it’s part of the administration’s strategy to “stop the fraud before it happens.” But in their news conference Tuesday, neither RFK Jr. nor Dr. Mehmet Oz, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services administrator, offered new evidence of fraud. California Governor Gavin Newsom wrote on X, “California isn’t being targeted because Trump has evidence of fraud. We are being targeted for political reasons — and because Dr. Oz doesn’t understand that we are SAVING taxpayers money by keeping seniors and people with disabilities out of far more expensive nursing homes! We hate fraud. That’s not what this is.” www.democracynow.org

Equal Employment Opportunity Commission Ends Requirement for Employers to Collect Demographic Data

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, the agency responsible for enforcing civil rights and anti-discrimination laws, has ended a decades-old requirement for private sector employers to collect demographic data in the workplace, slashing a policy that had been in place for more than 60 years. The EEOC’s Republican majority voted 2-1 Tuesday to rescind the data collection requirement. EEOC Chair Andrea Lucas is a Trump ally and outspoken critic of diversity, equity and inclusion policies. The EEOC was created under the 1964 Civil Rights Act establishing protections that prohibited discrimination based on race, gender, sex, national origin and religion. Kalpana Kotagal, who is the sole Democrat left on the EEOC since Trump overhauled the agency, said, “Today, the commission discusses whether to turn back time to a period before the civil rights movement, kneecapping its ability to protect workers.” www.democracynow.org

Federal Judge Blocks Trump Admin from Revoking Work Permits of Immigrants with Temporary Protected Status

A federal judge on Tuesday temporarily blocked the Trump administration from revoking work permits for tens of thousands ​of asylum seekers and immigrants with temporary protected status, TPS. U.S. District Judge Nathaniel Gorton said in his decision, “The consequences faced by plaintiffs are potentially severe.” Gorton is expected to issue another ruling on August 5. The lawsuit was filed earlier this month by Democracy Forward on behalf of the plaintiffs. In response to the ruling, Democracy Forward President Skye Perryman said in a statement, “Without this relief, families who have followed the law and relied on longstanding humanitarian protections faced the sudden loss of their employment authorization and ability to support themselves through no fault of their own.” www.democracynow.org

Federal Judge Prohibits DHS from Deporting Key Witness in Fatal Shooting of Lorenzo Salgado Araujo

In Texas, a federal judge has prohibited Trump’s Homeland Security Department from deporting one of the key witnesses in the fatal shooting of Lorenzo Salgado Araujo, the 52-year-old Mexican father killed by an ICE agent on July 7 in Houston. The order comes in the case of José Trinidad Rojas, who was in Salgado Araujo’s van at the time ICE killed Araujo. Rojas is from Mexico and has lived in the United States since 1998. The two other passengers in the van the morning of the fatal shooting — Daniel Tirado Pantoja and Salgado Araujo’s younger brother Victor — have also filed petitions to be released from ICE custody. Click here to see our coverage of the case. www.democracynow.org

Trump Administration Arrests Record Number of Immigrants in June

The Trump administration arrested a record more than 43,000 immigrants in the month of June, the highest number since Trump returned to office. That’s according to an analysis by The Guardian, which reports more than 65,000 immigrants are estimated to be in ICE detention, while the Trump administration has deported more than a half a million immigrants since January of last year. The majority of immigrants targeted by Trump officials have no criminal record. In related news, Time magazine reports the Trump administration is planning to expand immigrant detention across over a dozen locations nationwide, including the Virgin Islands and Guantánamo Bay, the U.S. military base in Cuba. This comes as Citizens Bank has announced it will officially begin to cut ties with two of the nation’s largest private operators of ICE jails — GEO Group and CoreCivic — amid growing calls to boycott the bank over its financing of the two for-profit prison companies. Click here to see our interview on the subject. www.democracynow.org

Appeals Court Overturns Decision to Release Palestinian Rights Activist Mohsen Mahdawi

A three-judge federal appeals panel has overturned a lower court’s ruling that ordered the release from ICE custody of Palestinian rights activist Mohsen Mahdawi, in a ruling that could allow the Trump administration to rearrest the Columbia University graduate. In May, the U.S. Board of Immigration Appeals reinstated deportation proceedings against Mahdawi, who is a green card holder. In April of last year, masked and hooded ICE agents detained him when he appeared for what he believed would be a naturalization interview in Vermont. He spent two weeks in ICE custody before a federal judge ordered his release. After his release, he came back to Columbia University and graduated. He’s now a graduate student. Click here to see our interviews with Mohsen Mahdawi. www.democracynow.org

Israeli Military Builds Giant Barrier Separating the Portion of the Gaza Strip It Controls

In Gaza, the Israeli military is moving to quickly build a giant barrier separating the portion of the Gaza Strip it controls from the rest of the enclave. In recent months, more than 23 kilometers, about 14 miles, have been constructed. Israel currently controls just over 50% of the territory. This comes as an Israeli airstrike killed a family of six, including four children, in Gaza City Tuesday. Since last October’s so-called ceasefire, more than 1,100 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli attacks. www.democracynow.org