David J. Bier In 2025, President Trump’s Department of Homeland Security (DHS) attempted and carried out so many unlawful, unconstitutional, immoral, and economically and socially damaging actions in the name of “immigration enforcement” that it is difficult to rank them. Nonetheless, it is worth considering which DHS actions were the most impactful. Banning legal immigrants: As I predicted, President Trump’s ...
Clark Neily Looking back on a markedly tumultuous year in American politics—and a few months forward to the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence—we might well dub 2025 “the year of the jury.” The current administration—like some prior ones, but more conspicuously and aggressively—has used the criminal justice system as a tool of retribution and oppression, with the president ...
Romina Boccia and Ritvik Thakur Medicare spending is the largest driver of the US debt crisis. Medicare accounts for more than $53 trillion of the long-term unfunded obligations of the US, or about 72 percent of the total. Just over the next decade, Medicare represents $9.5 trillion, or 45 percent of the $21 trillion projected federal deficit. Many prominent figures, ...
Mike Fox We’ve all been there. You get the notification: “Package Delivered.” You head to the door, heart full of anticipation, only to find an empty porch. Years ago, while living in a duplex, I had a slightly different experience. An Amazon package of mine was mistakenly placed in my upstairs neighbor’s mailbox. Oblivious to the name on the label, ...
Romina Boccia and Ivane Nachkebia The United States is already experiencing the consequences of fiscal excess, driven in part by the growing imbalance in major entitlement programs, including Social Security. Federal interest costs now exceed spending on national defense, surpassing $1 trillion per year and projected to roughly double over the next decade as debt continues to rise. The government ...
Robert A. Levy In anticipation of our nation’s semi-quincentennial, here are my reflections—some previously published—on a dozen key questions related to America’s founding documents. 1. What foundational political question did the Declaration and the Constitution seek to answer? The essence of both documents is to establish the proper relationship between individuals and their government. The Declaration framed a two-part answer: ...
David J. Bier In March, the US government deported—or more accurately, rendered—about 240 Venezuelans from the United States to El Salvador’s notorious CECOT prison without trials, convictions, or due process. CBS News canceled a 60 Minutes report on the detainees this weekend, stating in part that the story required more reporting. At the time, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) ...
Alex Nowrasteh American identity is based on belief in a broad creed, not on ethnicity, religion, or ancestry. That point should be uncontroversial. Yet a small, ultra-online nationalist subculture now disputes it. The dispute publicly surfaced recently after Vivek Ramaswamy’s New York Times op-ed and his speech at the Turning Point USA AmericaFest conference, which basically made that point. The wild ...
Matthew Cavedon On April 23, 2021, the City of Marco Island installed automatic license plate readers (ALPRs) at each of the three bridges connecting Marco Island to mainland Florida. These devices automatically record and archive the precise locations of every vehicle entering or leaving the island, storing that information in a database accessible to law enforcement for three years. The ...
Romina Boccia and Tyler Turman The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), formerly known as Food Stamps, served 41.7 million Americans and cost taxpayers $100 billion in fiscal year 2024. Congress established firm income and asset limits to target households with the greatest financial need. Yet, states have found a way around these rules. Through a policy called broad-based categorical eligibility ...