Fascism, ice, Immigrant Rights

PA County Jails Earn Millions of Dollars Detaining Immigrants for ICE

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Sister Anne McCarthy with the Benedictine Sisters of Erie looks through her signs protesting President Donald Trump’s nationwide immigration crackdown.

By Kate Huangpu and Danielle Ohl

Spotlight PA

April 6, 2026 HARRISBURG — A group of Pennsylvania counties has billed the federal government more than $21 million in recent years to detain immigrants in their jails, a first-of-its-kind review by Spotlight PA has found.

While these agreements predate the second Trump administration by years or even decades, they are receiving new attention as the president executes a mass deportation campaign that relies heavily on local partners.

They also highlight how counties in Pennsylvania already cooperate with ICE and other federal agencies to detain immigrants. Earlier this year, the Department of Homeland Security purchased two Pennsylvania warehouses to turn them into detention centers capable of holding 9,000 people collectively.

In those cases, local and county lawmakers say they were blindsided by the planned facilities, which they have limited power to block. The detention agreements involving jails that Spotlight PA has identified require the backing of elected county leaders, prison oversight boards, or both.

Five county jails have or recently had agreements with federal immigration enforcement agencies to hold people in their jails, sometimes for months, in exchange for significant fees, Spotlight PA found.

Clinton, Erie, Franklin, and Pike Counties collectively charged more than $21 million for detention in 2024 and 2025, invoices obtained by Spotlight PA show. A fifth county, Cambria, has a similar detention arrangement, according to federal records and a county official — but denied Spotlight PA’s September 2025 request seeking payment information because ICE did not start sending detainees to its jail until later in the month.

Local government officials in favor of the agreements told Spotlight PA that the revenue generated supports services such as the county jail or general fund expenses.

“You’re always going to have pushback one way or another, but we haven’t really experienced it to this point,” Cambria County Commissioner Scott Hunt told Spotlight PA in early March. “This is a relationship that has gone back many years.

“So I realize that emotions are kind of flared now, but this is something we’ve been a part of for years,” he added, “and I don’t see a reason why it wouldn’t continue.”

At least one county leader concerned about ICE’s actions nationally told Spotlight PA the payments have become a crucial source of income that would take careful study and planning to replace.

But at a time when ICE and other federal immigration agencies face scrutiny for aggressive and sometimes deadly tactics during sweeping enforcement operations, Pennsylvanians have pushed back against local government collaboration.

During a February meeting of the Erie County Council, dozens testified for or against the county jail’s contract to hold people for federal immigration agencies.

“We believe that participating in any way in the enhanced enforcement is immoral,” said Sister Anne McCarthy with the Benedictine Sisters of Erie, a monastery that has vocally opposed local cooperation with Trump’s nationwide immigration crackdown.

Others at the meeting asked the county council to keep the agreement intact.

Federal agents won’t stop enforcing the law just because Erie County stops holding people, they argued.

Ending the agreement could draw the ire of the president, one speaker speculated. Another suggested ending local detention would increase the number of people being sent to other jails hundreds of miles away.

And multiple speakers asked: What about the money the county stands to lose?

“ICE will find a different location to house their detainees,” said Fred Petrini, a Wesleyville resident and borough council member. “We will just be out a half a million dollars in funds that could help the county with expenses.”

Spotlight PA sent public records requests to more than 30 counties for invoices showing payments in exchange for arresting, detaining, holding, or processing people for ICE. The news organization also reviewed federal detention data. (Continued)

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    2026 Elections, Afghanistan, Democrats, Fascism, Iran, Iraq, Nuclear Weapons, Pittsburgh

    Rep. Chris Deluzio Stakes Out Leadership Role Among Elected Iraq Veterans Critical of Conflict in Iran

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    Chris Deluzio in body armor in Iraq during his deployment in 2009-10 with U.S. Army Civil Affairs.

    The Pittsburgh-area congressman has positioned himself as a leader among veteran voices on Capitol Hill since his election in 2022

    By Sam Janesch

    Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

    March 12, 2026 – WASHINGTON — By the time Chris Deluzio first arrived in Iraq, the pretext for the war had faded away long beforehand.

    It was 2009, years after the assertion that Saddam Hussein’s regime possessed weapons of mass destruction proved to be false. Mr. Deluzio — a Thornburg native who’d resolved to join the Navy even before the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks when he was a high school senior — had graduated from the Naval Academy and already deployed twice at sea.

    His first tour on the ground arrived after it was “pretty clear this was a strategic failure” — when the country he fought for, he believed, “had wasted American lives and money.”

    “We used to joke before or after missions, ‘Did you find the WMDs? Anyone find the WMDs?’” said Mr. Deluzio, now a Democrat who represents all of Beaver and most of Allegheny counties in the U.S. House. 

    U.S. Rep. Jason Crow, D-Colorado, speaks alongside Reps. Chris Deluzio, D-Fox Chapel, and others who learned Tuesday that federal prosecutors had tried and failed to indict them over statements asking the military to “refuse illegal orders.”

    Sam Janesch

    Rep. Chris Deluzio rebukes Trump again after DOJ ‘tried and failed to indict me’

    “People in those situations make jokes to get through it,” he said in an interview in his Capitol Hill office. “But the fact that our government sent Americans to bleed and die and fight on the basis of lies absolutely shapes the job I have now. I thought it was my duty to do a good job with my unit as best I could, but there was always a source of frustration and anger.”

    Mr. Deluzio is now among the hundreds of members of Congress with the authority to decide whether American service members will be sent into war. (Continued)

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    2026 Elections, African-Americans, antiwar, Democrats, Fascism, GOP, Immigrant Rights, Iran, Israel/Palestine, Nuclear Weapons, Organizing, Right Wing, Seniors, Solidarity, trade unions, trump, Voting Rights, Women, Youth and students

    ‘No Kings 3.0’ Draws Over 1000 to Beaver County Courthouse

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    Beaver County residents from all groups–workers, retirees, African Americans, youth, women–united in a militant rally aimed at blocking the Trump regime. ‘No Kings, No ICE, No Wars!’ was the overall thrust. This time, rallies took place in 12 Western PA towns in addition to Pittsburgh, and an additional 10 over last year. The event was called by the local Democrats, but supported by dozens of organizations.

    African-Americans, Aliquippa, ATF Killing, elections, Youth and students

    Aliquippa: Community Comes Together To Remember 18-Year-Old Shot And Killed By ATF Agent

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    By Ricky Sayer
    CBS Pittsburgh

    Sept 21, 2025 – Aliquippa community comes together to remember 18-year-old shot and killed by ATF agent 02:17
    The Aliquippa community both honored the life of 18-year-old Kendric Curtis and called for accountability and transparency during a vigil on Sunday.

    An ATF agent shot and killed the Aliquippa High School student on Thursday after state police say Curtis shot at an officer in Aliquippa’s Linmar Terrace neighborhood.

    The emotional vigil featured Curtis’ sisters and girlfriend.

    “When I heard what happened, it felt like it ripped my heart out, and it took a part of my soul,” Curtis’ girlfriend said. “I just want answers for my boyfriend.”

    While the event focused heavily on Curtis’s life, the bubbling anger in the community was also present.

    Pennsylvania State Police say officers ahead of the shooting tried to make contact with Curtis before he ran away and shot at them. The ATF and FBI were working on a joint investigation when the shooting took place.

    His sisters said their brother was being painted in a bad light, calling him a “good person” who “everyone loved.”

    “I feel like my son was targeted and wrongfully killed by the police,” Curtis’ father wrote in a letter that was read aloud at the vigil. “I don’t know what happened, but I know my son is not here to share his side of the story.”

    Neighbors told KDKA-TV on the night of the shooting that the ATF agent, whom they believed had shot Curtis, was in plain clothes.

    Community leaders have asked for patience as more information comes out. Skeptical community members, some of whom don’t believe law enforcement’s version of what happened, want more information now.

    “We demand an answer why, we demand that answer why. Give us that answer,” said organizer George Powell. “Give us those cameras, give us that man in handcuffs who took that little kid’s life. It’s been three days and we’ve heard nothing.”

    Neighbors hoped to change more than just a narrative about Curtis.

    “We have to stand up and show everyone that Aliquippa is not just about guns, drugs, death, murder, football, [or] sports,” said one of the speakers. “We got young men growing up and dying daily, and we’re going to stand up.”

    elections, Environment, Fracking, Marcellus Shale, West Virginia

    In Appalachia, Fracking Is Not The Job Creator The Industry Claims

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    Oil and gas production isn’t translating to more jobs for residents of heavily fracked communities, new research shows.

    By Kathiann M. Kowalski

    Canary Media

    Aug 14, 2025 – As the Trump administration aims to bolster fossil fuels at the expense of clean energy expansion, new research shows the oil and gas sector has so far failed to become a major jobs creator for heavily fracked areas of northern Appalachia.

    “To the degree that we allocate resources to help develop that industry, we’re diverting those resources from other industries that actually could deliver” more jobs and higher per-capita incomes, said Sean O’Leary, author of the recent report from the Ohio River Valley Institute.

    The report uses the term ​“Frackalachia” to describe 30 top oil- and gas-producing counties in Ohio, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia. As a group, the counties have smaller populations and a net loss in the number of jobs compared to 2008, just before Appalachia’s shale-gas boom began.

    The counties’ growth in per-capita income also has lagged behind the national average, even as their nominal gross domestic product nearly doubled, increasing their share of the country’s GDP by 6%. Basically, comparatively high economic output from the counties did not produce higher-than-average incomes for their residents.

    “Despite immense economic growth as measured by GDP, Frackalachia is in a position of actually having lost jobs since the beginning of the natural-gas boom,” O’Leary said. In his view, the numbers contradict pro-industry pitches for more oil and gas development.

    “Whatever else it is, the natural-gas boom is not an engine for economic prosperity,” O’Leary said. He thinks the gas industry is ​“structurally incapable” of delivering lasting growth in jobs and income for the people living in heavily fracked areas. The Frackalachia counties have also seen relatively few jobs from ​“downstream” industries, such as the production of plastics, he added.

    Oil and gas development is ​“highly capital-intensive, but not very labor-intensive,” O’Leary explained. Most earnings go to shareholders, investors, and suppliers based far from where fossil fuels are extracted, so only a small share of project income stays in the community to stimulate more economic activity.

    Completed wells don’t need many permanent employees, O’Leary said. And many people who work in drilling and fracking come from outside the local area.

    Canary Media’s review of data from the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services is consistent with that observation. From 2012 through 2022, the agency issued annual reports about the economic impact of the state’s oil and gas industry, including data for both ​“core” jobs and ​“ancillary” industries, which support oil and gas development.

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    elections

    PennDOT Considering Plans To Overhaul Busy Interchange In Aliquippa

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    Truck moves through old J&L Tunnel at the intersection

    By Rachel Pierce

    WPXI Pittsburgh

    Changes may be on the horizon for Route 51 (Constitution Boulevard) and the Route 3016 Franklin Avenue interchange in Aliquippa.

    PennDOT says the potential changes will allow for safer access to downtown Aliquippa and the Aliquippa Industrial Park.

    Aliquippa Mayor Dwan Walker says he would like to see the Route 51 land bridge demolished, and then the creation of an intersection with traffic lights.

    “I’m born and raised here, 50 years of my life. I’ve been here and this has been a headache for the city as a whole and it’s residents,” Walker said. “It’s an all-hands-on-deck callout to get this done.”

    Walker says this redesign could help open up Aliquippa and spur economic growth.

    “Instead of just passing Aliquippa, you can actually take a visit to us,” Walker said.

    Walker says the busy intersection gives drivers little space to accelerate and decelerate, including trucks from the industrial park. Walker says the intersection is also a prime spot for speeding.

    Walter says these changes are a matter of life and death.

    “We’ve had countless accidents, a loss of life, NyKasia Johnson. She lost her life and the goal is to name this street after her, to honor her,” said Walker.

    PennDOT says the project could cost up to $19 million, with a projected start date in the spring of 2027.

    PennDOT and Walker encourage the public to voice their opinions on the proposed changes here.

    Civil Liberties, Fascism, Immigrant Rights, Low Wage workers, Organizing, Pittsburgh, Racism, Right Wing, Solidarity, trump

    On The Ground With The Volunteers Tracking ICE Across The Pittsburgh Region

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    A group of people and a dog stand in a circle, talking, in a parking lot at night in front of a strip mall.
    Jaime Martinez, community defense organizer at Casa San José, coordinates with Rapid Response Network volunteers outside Emiliano’s Mexican Restaurant in Gibsonia on June 17, after reports that federal agents were idling nearby in unmarked vehicles.

    Casa San José has trained hundreds of volunteers to monitor and respond to immigration enforcement. Public Source followed them through raids, courthouse watches and late-night calls.

    Avatar photoBy Quinn Glabicki

    Public Source

    July 31, 2025 – As federal immigration enforcement intensifies across the country, a local response has quickly scaled up across the Pittsburgh region. In Beechview, the nonprofit Casa San José has built a Rapid Response Network of trained volunteers who monitor and document ICE activity across Allegheny County and beyond.

    The network launched during the first Trump administration but has ramped up since January. As of July 30, it includes more than 250 trained volunteers — with nearly 175 more signed up for future training.

    Lea este artículo en español aquí.

    Casa San José, founded in 2013, focuses on immigrant rights and the Pittsburgh region’s Latino community — a mission amplified as the Trump administration rolls back protections for immigrants and directs federal resources toward a crackdown and mass deportations.

    Organizers traverse city neighborhoods, gather in church basements and empty parking lots, and educate residents about their rights and federal immigration tactics. Along with trained volunteers, who are prepared to legally observe, document and accompany people at risk of being detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement [ICE], they respond in real time to sightings, arrests and raids.

    Pittsburgh’s Public Source spent more than a month embedded with Casa San José’s organizers and volunteers, tracking their efforts from the courthouse to restaurants as they responded to immigration enforcement and supported families under threat.

    Photo: June 14 at the City-County Building, Downtown 

    Monica Ruiz, executive director of Casa San José, speaks to thousands of people gathered in front of the City-County Building in Downtown during a day of nationwide protest against the Trump administration.

    “They are disappearing our people. This is our reality. Every single day. Just because you don’t see it doesn’t mean it’s not happening. We cannot continue to allow this to happen in our communities,” said Casa San José Executive Director Monica Ruiz.

    “Casa San José is the only organization on this side of the state that is doing this kind of work.” 

    Ruiz said she has received five death threats since November, forcing her to relocate Casa San José’s office and to reconsider speaking publicly.

    Photo: June 17 at Emiliano’s Mexican Restaurant, Gibsonia

    As volunteers monitor the scene, Jaime Martinez, community defense organizer at Casa San José, speaks by phone with nine workers sheltering inside the restaurant — part of the network’s effort to document enforcement activity and support those at risk.

    Sharon Bonavoglia was the first to arrive at a quiet strip mall in Gibsonia late on June 17. She had received the call because she lives nearby, and because she’s one of a growing network of volunteers responding to reports of federal immigration enforcement in and around Allegheny County.

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    Democrats, GOP, Harrisburg, labor, Low Wage workers, Minimum Wage

    PA. House Passes Bill To Raise The Minimum Wage

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    Signs are Senate Republicans may be more open to a hike this time around.

     Photo: State Rep. Roni Green (D-Philadelphia) speaks at a rally in the Capitol rotunda on Tuesday, on raising the state’s minimum wage to $20 an hour

    By: Ian Karbal 

    PennCapital-Star

    June 11, 2025  – The state House voted along party lines Wednesday to raise the minimum wage to $15 for most Pennsylvanians, and to $12 for those working in smaller, rural counties.

    It’s a significant step in the latest effort by Democrats to get it above the federal rate of $7.25. 

    Pennsylvania’s minimum wage has not been hiked since 2008 and is lower than all surrounding states — New York, Ohio, New Jersey, West Virginia, Maryland and Delaware.

    The measure’s sponsor, House Labor and Industry Committee chair Jason Dawkins (D-Philadelphia), said the bill is in an attempt to compromise with Republicans who have long warned about the potential impacts on businesses, especially in smaller counties with a lower cost of living.

    “Since I’ve been chair, we’ve been trying to figure out a different approach to get this done,”  Dawkins told the Capital-Star. “This time around, we had a little bit more insight into where our challenges lie, one particularly being that some of our counties were worried about moving too quickly, and some were not comfortable going over $12.”

    A previous bill sponsored by Dawkins passed the House in 2023, but died in the Republican-controlled Senate. And in 2019, the Senate passed a Democratic-led bill to raise it to $9.25, which died in the then-GOP-controlled House.

    Dawkins’ latest bill would see the minimum wage rise gradually each year, reaching $15 in most counties on Jan. 1, 2028. It would also raise the tipped minimum wage from $2.83 to 60% of the minimum.

    Counties with populations below 210,000, with the exception of Centre, Monroe and Pike counties, would only see the minimum wage rise to $12 in the same timeframe. A spokesperson for the House Democratic Caucus said the three smaller counties were put in the $15 bracket at the request of Democratic members who represent them.

    One exception to the gradual rise to $15 would be Philadelphia County, which Dawkins represents. There, the minimum wage would rise to $15 on January 1, 2026.

    “Philadelphia has the highest population of folks who are in what we call deep poverty levels,” Dawkins said. 

    He added there is particular urgency given the possibility some of those people may lose access to federal benefits like Medicaid and food assistance under a proposed bill moving through the GOP-controlled U.S. Congress.

    “We wanted to have some type of safety net there because we know those folks might be losing benefits and other services,” he said.

    But Dawkins’ attempt to offer an olive branch to GOP lawmakers in the form of gradual wage hike and a lower target in small counties appears to have failed in his own chamber. Every House Republican voted against the bill, and many criticized it during a two-hour debate on the floor Wednesday afternoon.

    “Not every wage is designed to be a livable wage,” Minority Leader Jesse Topper (R-Bedford) “My 16-year-old son is not working for a livable wage. Someone who is retired and is helping out part-time, that is not necessarily a livable wage.”

    He also warned that raising the minimum wage could result in the elimination of low wage jobs and harm small businesses in particular.

    Others opposed the very provisions Dawkins said were intended to earn bipartisan support.

    Rep. Kate Klunk (R-York) warned that creating different minimum wages across counties could lead to confusion for businesses that cross county lines, or encourage business owners to set up shop where the wage is lower.

    “This county-based patchwork of minimum wages is going to be a mess,” Klunk said. She used examples of businesses with locations in York and Adams counties as examples, including golf courses that straddle the border between them.

    “This bill is truly unworkable,” she said. “It is a compliance nightmare.”

    Rep. Mike Jones (R-York) was one of few Republicans to signal openness to raising the minimum wage during debate, but said he could not support Dawkins’ bill.

    “I do commend the majority chair for what I think is a good faith attempt at a reasonable compromise,” he said.

    However, he added that he would want to see exceptions to the minimum wage for nonprofits and high-school aged employees.

     ‘Potential to find middle ground’

    To become law, the bill will have to pass the Republican-controlled Senate.

    Senate Majority Leader Joe Pittman (R-Indiana) said that there may be room for compromise on a minimum wage increase, especially if paired with Republican-backed deregulation efforts he said could help grow “maximum wage jobs.”

    “Making sure working families have access to good, family-sustaining jobs is key to helping our commonwealth grow and thrive,” Pittman told the Capital-Star in a statement. “There is potential to finding [sic] a middle ground for an increase, but any possible action would need to be a commonsense adjustment, and sensitive to the impact changes would have on small businesses and non-profit organizations.”

    Republican Sen. Dan Laughlin (R-Erie), who has previously introduced a bill to raise the minimum wage to $15, commended the House’s effort, but said he would not support a bill with a county-by-county approach.

    “While I appreciate that the House is trying to advance the conversation, I do not support HB 1549 in its current form,” Laughlin said in an emailed statement. “A minimum wage tied to county size just deepens the economic divides we’re supposed to be addressing. If we’re going to get serious about raising the minimum wage, we need to do it uniformly across the state, not with a patchwork approach that leaves people behind based on where they live.”

    Laughlin was an early Republican supporter of raising the minimum wage to $15 in Pennsylvania. But national trends may indicate more openness from members of his party this time around.

    On Tuesday, conservative U.S. Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Missouri) introduced a bill to raise the minimum wage to $15 for all Americans.

    He told NBC News, “If we’re going to be a working people’s party, we have to do something for working people. And working people haven’t gotten a raise in years. So they need a raise.”

    His comments reflect an openness to his party’s increasing appeal to working class voters that was made apparent in the latest general election, which saw them move away from their traditional support of Democrats.

    Dawkins, the Pennsylvania bill’s sponsor, is also aware of the shift, and hopes that it will help the bill earn the support that it needs to pass.

    “I’m excited by the prospects, but I’m also disappointed that there could be a federal minimum wage that’s gonna be higher than the state minimum wage — and it’s being offered by one of the most conservative members of Congress,” he joked. “But I’m hopeful it’ll help folks come around to the idea.”

    “This is what I believe we got elected to do,” he added. 

    Ian Karbal covers state government for the Pennsylvania Capital-Star. He’s particularly interested in the influence of money in politics and how arcane policies affect Pennsylvanians across the state.

    Austerity, budget crisis, Congressional Progressive Caucus, Democrats, Economy, Education, elections, fair trade, Fascism, Immigrant Rights, labor, Low Wage workers, safety net, social security, Solidarity, trade unions, trump

    Are Working People Meeting the Moment? Prepare for Battle

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    https://www.weekendreading.net/p/the-trump-regimes-war-on-working

    The Trump Regime’s War on Working People: The First 100 Days

    Weekend Reading

    How Unions are Resisting Authoritarian Attacks on Workers’ Rights—and Why It Matters for Everyone

    By Michael Podhorzer

    Apr 28, 2025

    Over the course of the first 100 days, appropriate attention has been paid to Trump’s attacks on the judiciary, law firms, universities, philanthropy, non-profit groups and the media as dangerous in their own right, but more importantly as essential elements of authoritarian consolidation. Yet almost no one has mentioned the attacks on an equally proven constraint on oligarchy and autocracy: unions. Trump and Elon Musk’s destructive ransacking of our government should remind us of what previous generations of Americans understood intuitively: that “we may have democracy, or we may have wealth concentrated in the hands of a few, but we cannot have both,” as Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis put it. Like other attacks on civil society, the Trump regime’s attacks on unions and working people do not just injure those directly targeted, but all of us, as the labor movement is one of the most essential bulwarks against authoritarianism.

    I’ve covered the indispensable role of unions in creating and protecting democracy and freedom in earlier Weekend Readings (Oligarchs Understand Power. Do We?, As Go Unions, So Goes America, More Than the Weekend: Unions, the Past and the Future of Democracy, and Then they came for the trade unionists).

    If we all have a stake in unions as bulwarks against authoritarianism whether we belong to one or not, the same is true because of how unions foster shared prosperity and a healthy society, which I elaborate on here and here. In that regard, it is crucial to recognize the Trump actions as coming from the same playbook as Reagan’s decisive firing of over 11,000 striking air traffic controllers. It was more than punitive—it communicated a clear, aggressive stance against unions nationwide. The immediate aftermath saw corporate America follow Reagan’s lead, significantly increasing anti-union activities and adopting overt union-busting strategies.1 Reagan further entrenched anti-unionism by reshaping the NLRB into a body less protective of labor rights, reversing precedents that had previously safeguarded union activities.2

    As it did then, today’s federal war on working people comes at a key inflection point. Then it was the rush to globalization, coupled with financialization and deindustrialization. Now it is the imminent transition to artificial intelligence in the workplace. Musk’s firings are providing a new playbook for that transition—fire everyone so as to be able to start from scratch with AI with as little friction from a legacy workforce as possible. And, although not the topic today, it’s important to note here that with respect to DOGE cleaning house to make way for AI, it’s also cleaning house to make way for even more of the government to be privatized—providing a vast market for the tech companies’ AI products and services. Although this future is not certain, it seems to be Musk’s plan: first trash the government, then when the government fails, privatize.

    Today, I’ll lay out some of the most egregious actions taken by the Trump regime in the first 100 days to attack unions and working people in both the public and private sectors. Much of this is based on indispensable research by the Economic Policy Institute and its just released 100 Days, 100 Ways Trump Hurt Workers. (For more great reports like this, you can subscribe to EPI here.)

    Then I’ll document the robust pushback unions are mounting against the Trump regime’s war on working people in the courts. Unions have also been in the forefront of mobilizing public action, most notably the AFL-CIO’s Department of People Who Work for a Living, which in addition to leading and participating in protests3, has organized town halls across the country.4 AFL-CIO President Liz Shuler declared:

    The labor movement is not about to let Trump and an unelected billionaire destroy what we’ve fought for generations to build. We will fight this outrageous attack on our members with every fiber of our collective being.

    And, significantly, even sectors mistakenly thought to be pro-Trump like the Building Trades powerfully responded to Trump’s executive order eviscerating collective bargaining for federal workers:

    This executive order is an unprecedented assault on worker freedom and a direct attack on those fundamental rights. Americans know that patriotic blue-collar workers built this country, not billionaires. They also know that one of the last best chances to make it to the middle class is collective bargaining. NABTU and our affiliated unions will stand shoulder to shoulder with the entire labor movement to fight this head-on — and we will not back down.

    Continue reading Are Working People Meeting the Moment? Prepare for Battle →
    Civil Liberties, Immigrant Rights, Pittsburgh, Youth and students

    Timeline: Pittsburgh Higher Ed Responds To Trump Moves, As La Roche Is Latest To See A Visa Nixed

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    A timeline of federal higher ed changes

    and responses by Pittsburgh-area colleges

    and universities.

    Photo: La Roche University, Friday, Feb. 10, 2023, in McCandless. (Photo by Stephanie Strasburg/PublicSource)

    By Maddy Franklin
    Public Source

    April 11, 2025 –
    Here’s how President Donald Trump’s administration has roiled higher ed, and how the University of Pittsburgh, Carnegie Mellon University and other local colleges and universities have responded.

    This timeline will be updated as developments occur.

    April 11
    A visa held by an undergraduate student at La Roche University is revoked, a university administrator shared with PublicSource.

    Revocations and wipes of international students’ records through a Department of Homeland Security system have been widespread over the week. Much of this is occurring, schools and students report, without communication from the government and with no reasons provided.

    U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said last month that there’s “no right to a student visa” and argued that visas would be cancelled in cases the government finds “appropriate,” such as participation in pro-Palestinian demonstrations.

    Without legal status, students with terminated visas risk deportation.

    We are local reporters who tell local stories.
    Subscribe now to our free newsletter to get important Pittsburgh stories sent to your inbox three times a week.

    April 9
    Visas held by two recent graduates and one current Pitt student are revoked, according to an email sent by a university administrator. The administrator said no known immigration agencies or authorities have been on campus, and the students were offered unspecified “support.”

    PublicSource reached out to Duquesne, Point Park, La Roche, Carlow, Chatham and Robert Morris universities to ask if students or recent graduates have been impacted by sudden visa terminations. Spokespeople for Duquesne, Point Park, Carlow and Chatham said there haven’t been any changes. RMU did not immediately respond.

    April 7
    Visas held by five recent graduates and two current CMU students are revoked, following a trend seen at universities across the country. The university reports that no immigration authorities have been on campus, and the students were connected with legal resources.

    March 19
    A congressional committee sends letters to six universities, including CMU, requesting information regarding Chinese students to assess national security risks. The letter states that U.S. higher ed institutions “are increasingly used as conduits for foreign adversaries to illegally gain access to critical research and advanced technology” and sets an April 1 deadline to turn over the details.

    March 14
    The U.S. Department of Education Office for Civil Rights opens investigations into CMU and 44 other universities nationwide for alleged Civil Rights Act violations following the guidance set out in the department’s “Dear Colleague” letter. The department said these institutions engaged in “race-exclusionary” practices within their grad programs by partnering with The Ph.D. Project, which “limits eligibility based on the race of participants.”


    March 13
    After Pitt paused faculty and staff hiring, administrators say that federal actions are not the only reason for the freeze. At a university faculty assembly meeting, Pitt’s Chief Financial Officer Dwayne Pinkney says enrollment trends, inflation and flat state funding were also behind the decision. The freeze would’ve happened “a little later” if not for recent events, he says — federal funding uncertainty was simply the catalyst.

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