•U.S. Sens. Alex Padilla (D-California), Elizabeth Warren (D-Massachusetts), and Mark Kelly (D-Arizona) spearheaded a recent letter—co-signed by 45 government officials—that urged Department of Homeland Security (DHS) offices to launch an investigation into the department’s stops, arrests, detentions, and deportations of U.S. citizens. “Sweeping enforcement operations by [DHS] agents—particularly within Immigration and Customs Enforcement—threaten the safety, due process, and civil liberties of Americans around the country,” the Aug. 11 letter states. “When immigration agents arrest Americans without sufficient cause or simply because they are near an enforcement action, detain them without access to counsel, or ignore proof of citizenship, DHS fails in its core duty to protect the public and undermines trust in its operations.” The letter asked DHS to provide, by Sept. 5, clarity on its policies and guidelines related to the arrests or detentions of U.S. citizens, along with data on stops, arrests, detentions, and deportations of citizens this year; information about how agents are trained to verify citizenship status; and any ongoing reviews or investigations of wrongful detentions of citizens.
•In an Aug. 15 letter to U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE), U.S. Sen. Adam Schiff (D-California) requested details on the Trump administration’s decision to change the water level at Caesar Creek Lake in Ohio during a trip for Vice President J.D. Vance’s birthday earlier this month. Schiff highlights the potential inappropriate use of funds to alter water outflow levels of the lake for personal use and sought information on the processes and documentation of the decision. “Reporting suggests that the request from the Secret Service to alter the outflow request for Caesar Creek Lake was not just to ensure safe or secure conditions, but also to create favorable kayaking conditions. If true, this is an inappropriate and embarrassing abuse of power over publicly owned resources by the Trump administration,” Schiff wrote in the letter. “Army Corps leadership improperly leveraged access to public services for personal use and waived standard documentation requirements to identify and justify risks associated with this deviation from normal practice. Accordingly, I request an explanation of this USACE action and a commitment to no longer using federal resources for such unjustified and frivolous purposes.” Schiff also pointed to President Donald Trump’s release of billions of gallons from California reservoirs earlier this year as another instance in which the Army Corps executed questionable abuses of water by the Trump administration. Schiff sought answers from the Army Corps on those releases in February, according to the senator’s office.
• U.S. Rep. Salud Carbajal (D-Santa Barbara) recently announced his reintroduction of the Central Coast Heritage Protection Act, which would designate approximately 250,000 acres of public land in the Los Padres National Forest and Carrizo Plain National Monument as wilderness, the highest form of federal protection available. A wilderness designation would protect the land from future oil or gas drilling, while helping sustain the ecological future of 468 species of wildlife and more than 1,200 plant species, according to a release from Carbajal’s office. “From the rugged trails of the Los Padres National Forest to the sweeping Carrizo Plain, the Central Coast is home to some of the most pristine public lands in the country,” Carbajal said at an Aug. 6 press conference. “With my Central Coast Heritage Protection Act, we’ll take bold steps to ensure these landscapes are safeguarded so that future generations can continue to enjoy the natural beauty that defines our region.”
This article appears in Aug 21-31, 2025.
