• U.S. Rep. Salud Carbajal (D-Santa Barbara) announced on Dec. 22 that the Honoring Our Fallen Heroes Act was signed into law. Carbajal co-sponsored this bipartisan legislation, which expands federal death and disability benefits for firefighters. It updates the Public Safety Officer’s Benefits Program, for example, to cover specific cancers linked to firefighting and emergency response. The legislation also makes this type of coverage retroactive, so families can claim Public Safety Officer’s Benefits Program benefits for deceased loved ones. “Firefighters and other first responders put their lives on the line every day, often facing deadly carcinogens in the process,” Carbajal said in a Dec. 22 statement. “Expanding the Public Safety Officer’s Benefits Program to cover service-related cancer deaths is the right thing to do to honor the first responders who made the ultimate sacrifice.” Prior to the legislation, firefighters were only eligible for support under the Public Safety Officer Benefits Program for physical injuries sustained in the line of duty or for deaths from duty-related heart attacks, strokes, mental health conditions such as post-traumatic stress disorder, and 9/11-related illnesses. “I’m proud this bipartisan legislation was signed into law, and I will keep working across the aisle to support first responders and their families,” Carbajal stated. Organizations that endorsed the Honoring Our Fallen Heroes Act include the International Association of Fire Fighters, the Congressional Fire Services Institute, the Fraternal Order of Police, and several other collectives that represent first responders.
•U.S. Sens. Adam Schiff (D-California) and Chris Murphy (D-Connecticut) recently co-introduced the Keeping Our Agents On the Line Act, a bill to improve border security by ensuring that Border Patrol agents aren’t diverted from their work at U.S. borders and reassigned to deployment operations in American cities. Over the past year, Border Patrol agents were repeatedly deployed for complex immigration enforcement operations in Los Angeles, Chicago, New Orleans, Minneapolis, and other cities. Several of these missions were hundreds of miles away from any land border, Schiff’s office stated in a Dec. 19 release. “The administration has continued to engage in indiscriminate and large-scale immigration raids—fomenting fear in our communities. In California, the administration has targeted citizens, noncitizens, and children while conducting raids far from any external border,” Schiff said in a statement. “These actions have torn apart families and adversely impacted the workforce of important industries, including agriculture. I am proud to join Sen. Murphy in limiting the Border Patrol agents’ jurisdiction within a reasonable boundary from our external land and sea borders, and to missions for which they are properly trained.”
• U.S. Sens. Alex Padilla (D-California), Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii), and Cory Booker (D-New Jersey) co-led a Dec. 19 letter to urge U.S. Department of Homeland Security Kristi Noem and U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services Director Joseph B. Edlow to withdraw a proposed public charge rule that “will lead to mass uncertainty, disparate and arbitrary outcomes for individuals applying for permanent status or admission into our country, and undue harm to U.S. citizens,” the senators wrote. Public charge is a ground of inadmissibility under which an immigration officer determines whether an immigrant is likely to become primarily dependent on the government for future assistance. “Research following [past public charge restrictions] showed that confusion about eligibility led large numbers of eligible immigrant families—including U.S. citizen children—to forego health insurance, nutrition supports, and early childhood programs vital to healthy development,” the senators wrote. More than 120 lawmakers signed the letter.
This article appears in January 1 – January 8, 2026.