Bobby Pulido is in the middle of everything. 

The famed Tejano singer is trying his hand at politics in his home state of Texas, which is a crucial part of Democrats’ pathway to a potential House majority in Washington. And the blue wave that has made those lofty ambitions more and more realistic has been partially fueled by Latino voters’ shift away from President Donald Trump amid mounting anger with ICE and his mass deportation agenda. 

The alarm bells are ringing. Five House Democrats appeared at a shadow hearing on Wednesday during which they warned that President Donald Trump and his allies are actively trying to interfere with next month’s midterm elections. While the members of Congress were clearly concerned about Trump’s ongoing efforts to suppress voting, they also touted their work to confront the issue and expressed optimism the president will not, ultimately, be able to derail the democratic process. 

“We know this playbook. We know his personality. He’s a cheater. He’s tried it before. He’ll continue to try it,” Rep. Grace Meng (D-NY) said to TPM following the event. “We are prepared. … We have a collective legal team to push back.”

Other representatives emphasized to TPM the importance of voter awareness, and of turnout, and expressed optimism that those two factors together would blunt efforts to undermine democracy. 

“As Donald Trump continues to try to prevent people from voting and to reduce voter turnout, that’s gonna reverberate where the American people will be more determined to come out to vote, to make sure that they have a voice,” Rep. Gregory Meeks (D-NY) said. Trump’s actions, he said, make “it clear to them every day who is a threat to our democracy and they will want to reverse that.”

The shadow hearing, which took place in Meng’s Queens district, was convened by Democrats on the Committee on House Administration, who have put together an election security task force led by Ranking Member Joe Morelle (D-NY). That task force, which was put together at the behest of House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, has been focused on wargaming potential threats to the vote and coordinating with legal and civil rights groups. As part of that work, Morelle has been barnstorming the country holding shadow hearings, which are unofficial proceedings convened by members of the House minority, to hear from local experts about their concerns and to raise public awareness. 

Meng praised Morelle for “traveling the country to spread the word,” checking in with local election boards, and helping to build a “collective legal team.” While Meng noted Trump’s dramatic attempts to overturn his loss in the 2020 presidential election, she is confident the work being done to prevent similar threats this year will succeed. 

“I’d be shocked if he didn’t try to cheat, right? Like, that is literally his M.O.,” Meng said of Trump, adding, “We saw it in Georgia. We saw it on January 6th. But again, democracy will prevail.”

Morelle took a similar tack as he opened the hearing, which was also attended by Meeks , Rep. Adriano Espaillat (D-N.Y), and Rep. Paul Tomko (D-N.Y.), and congressional candidate Brad Lander. While he noted Trump and his allies — many of whom were directly involved in the various plots and schemes to reverse the result in 2020 — have actively worked to block mail in ballots, to spread false claims about the election, and even to consider plans to avoid seating new members of Congress, Morelle also pointed out the administration has lost every single court case related to their efforts to curb voting. 

“In my view there is nothing more urgent in this moment than protecting American democracy. … Ballots must be counted fairly and accurately and the House that is reflective of the will of the American people must be organized and seated properly on January 3, 2027. … In this fight for a free and fair election we are winning. So, for people who are concerned about threats, we are winning every time.”

Morelle rattled off several things the Trump administration has done that could affect the voting process, including threatening to deploy ICE agents at polls, which is a clear violation of federal law, and defunding cybersecurity agencies that combat foreign election interference. In the face of this, Morelle also encouraged people to “make a voting plan,” to be aware of their polling places and deadlines, and to sign up as a poll worker or watcher if they are able.

The members heard from several experts including Bethany Li, who is executive director of the Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund (AALDEF), and who explained how Asian voters can be harmed by the “misinformation around non-citizen voting” that is being spread by President Trump and other Republicans. 

“Already we have been hearing from local community partners across the country about how this administration’s misinformation has created confusion and fear among naturalized citizens who are unsure if they are eligible to vote as a result of the federal government’s attacks on birthright citizenship,” said Li. 

Li said her organization is doing poll monitoring in Asian-American communities in ten different states. Asians make up approximately 44 percent of the population in the Queens district where the shadow hearing took place. AALDEF is part of a coalition of civil rights groups that filed a lawsuit against the potential deployment of ICE at the polls. Li further explained the impact of those threats.

“For Asian American communities, the potential consequences of such encounters really are not an abstract concern,” she said, adding, “Our communities include millions of immigrants. Just the insinuation that immigration enforcement could be near a polling location can create fear and confusion about who’s safe to vote.” 

The members and experts who spoke at the hearing also emphasized voter turnout as a way to counter election threats. In response to a question from Meeks, John Cusick of the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, stressed that the public has the ability to resist attempts to “sow distrust” in the voting process.

“Turnout is that solution. People should continue to show up,” Cusick said. “They’re expecting voters to not turn out.”

Meeks echoed that notion when TPM asked him about Trump’s recent Oval Office meeting with election conspiracy theorist Tina Peters, a former Colorado county official who was convicted of multiple felonies for her role in efforts to overturn the 2020 vote. Peters, who helped her fellow election deniers access election systems, was released after just a quarter of her sentence amid pressure from Trump. Meeks said he hoped people would react to learning about Trump’s efforts to interfere by turning out in strong numbers. 

“What we’re doing and what we think will happen as a result of the work is that the American people see what’s happening also,” he said. “My confidence is in the American people.”

For his part, Morelle said the coalition of politicians, local officials, lawyers, and advocates who are confronting this issue are making progress. Thanks to the legal victories and other progress, he said the number of dangers being monitored by the task force is ticking down. 

“We have monitored over 150 threats. The good news is: that threat list is getting shorter. By no means is it all gone away, but it gets shorter every day and we’re watching every single day as well,” Morelle said. “And I want to, you know, shout out to all the unsung heroes. I mean, there are thousands of people daily working throughout this country, attorneys, community activists, communicators, influencers … there’s so many people engaged in this effort.”

TPM asked Lander, who is in the midst of his first campaign for Congress, about one consequential Trump administration change to voting that has not gone away. Recent cuts to the Postal Service are continuing to cause delays to postmarking that could affect voter registrations and even ballots. Lander noted that’s another area where public awareness matters since people need to know they might need extra time for their paperwork. 

“There’s no silver bullet here to protecting the integrity of our elections, but making sure people are paying attention is critical,” Lander said. “All we can do is  make sure people know their rights.”

Along with the efforts of advocates and the task force, another reason for the Democrats’ optimism about turnout swamping Trump’s interference efforts is the president’s record low poll numbers. In his comments after the hearing, Espaillat suggested those could have the biggest impact of all. 

“The way to stop a bully is to punch him in the nose,” Espaillat said with a laugh. “And the American people are punching Trump right in the nose.”

Editor’s note: Nicole is taking some much-deserved time off around her birthday this week, so other TPM staffers will be filling in on Where Things Stand. She’ll be back on Tuesday Oct. 13.

‘So That No One Will Escape’

So-called “challenge coins” have become particularly popular souvenirs in the Trump era. Some have been distributed at the highest levels of government and inside facilities playing a key role in the deportation surge. Others are novelty items popular among both fans and foes of the current administration. And one being sold online as a token of an ICE division in Arizona features a particularly dark comment about “hunting” people. 

The coin in question was listed for sale on eBay and is branded “U.S. ERO Yuma ICE.” Along with a snarling wolf-like creature, the coin, which is in the shape of a police badge, features two twisted mottoes.

“There is no hunting like the hunting of man,” it says.

On the other side, the coin has a small emblem with a horse’s head emblazoned over crossed swords and the phrase “NE QUIS EFFUGIAT,” which is Latin for “So that no one will escape.” That second ominous slogan also popped up in court documents that alleged a federal agent who used a prohibited chokehold on an immigrant in Massachusetts during a traffic stop was wearing a hat emblazoned with the motto.  

While it is not clear that the “hunting of man” coin is an official government product, ERO is the abbreviation for “Enforcement Removal Operations,” which is an ICE division that, per the agency’s website, “manages all aspects of the immigration enforcement process, including the identification, arrest, detention and removal” of people who are in the country illegally. As a result, it has played a key role in President Donald Trump’s mass deportation agenda. 

The eBay seller who listed the coin described it as being from Yuma, Arizona, where ICE has had an ERO presence. While the seller did not respond to a request for comment from TPM, their eBay store page indicates they are a manufacturer based in China. Their other offerings include challenge coins associated with military units, local sheriff’s departments, and other federal law enforcement agencies. 

Along with the other slogans and the snarling animal, the coin features desert imagery, a watchtower, and the words “SILENT,” “PATIENT,” and “RELENTLESS.” 

Challenge coins have long been a tradition at various government agencies, particularly among military and law enforcement. During Trump’s second term, several top administration officials have apparently crafted and distributed their own challenge coins including former White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, FBI Director Kash Patel, who had an especially elaborate custom piece featuring the Punisher logo, and the president himself. 

Within the Department of Homeland Security, which oversees ICE, challenge coins have been created and handed out by officials; private, not-for-profit employee associations within the agency; and more unofficial sources like unions, outside political groups, and merchandisers. The coins have become popular with collectors in addition to members of the government. 

An ICE spokesperson provided a statement to TPM saying the coin was not “purchased with department funds or produced through official department channels.” The spokesperson did not answer a question about whether the agency had any concerns about the coin.

Back in April, we reported on a challenge coin that was distributed to staff inside of a federal building in Minnesota that served as a hub for the controversial “Metro Surge” operation that led to a surge of deportations and detentions around Minneapolis. At the time, a DHS spokesperson provided a statement indicating the department and its component agencies had processes for reviewing “branded merchandise” and for addressing “coins or patches that may not have been properly approved.”

Since doing that story, we have kept an eye on the robust online marketplace for ICE-themed challenge coins. New items consistently pop up. Like other law enforcement challenge coins, they often feature violent and offensive imagery. For example, one recent eBay listing for a coin branded “NYC ERO” was decorated with a depiction of the Statue of Liberty as a menacing skeleton. The ICE spokesperson also said that coin was not “purchased with department funds or produced through official department channels.” 

The eBay seller offering the Liberty coin for sale indicated it had been crafted for federal agents. In a message to TPM, they said their coins “are either sourced directly from other agencies or directly from the manufacturer who has been charged with the distribution of the coins on behalf of the agency or a particular unit within the agency.” 

“This one came directly from the manufacturer,” they added.

Whether these twisted tokens are coming from inside ICE or simply from the agency’s fans, they are a telling symbol of our current moment. They are evidence that, for some people in this country, the promise of Lady Liberty welcoming the huddled masses yearning to breathe free has been replaced with a vision of hunting down humans and a far more disturbing motto: No one will escape. 

‘They Are the Party of Data Centers’

Sen. Jon Husted (R-OH) has some major data center skeletons in his closet from his time as lieutenant governor of Ohio.

He knows it, his Democratic challenger — the longtime Ohio elected official Sherrod Brown — knows it, his colleagues in the Senate know it, voters back home are well aware (thanks to an ad blitz from Brown’s campaign in recent months). For the past several weeks, Husted has been trying to convince his Democratic and Republican colleagues in the Senate to pass a piece of legislation that functions as little more than a press release to state utility regulators; I’ll get into that more below. The bill would, essentially encourage our nation’s Big Tech oligarchs to cover the cost of rising utility expenses tied to data centers and AI model training.

I wrote about the dramatic saga surrounding Husted’s legislative push as a remedy for his past fervent support for data center development in Ohio extensively here if you’d like to catch up. The TL;DR is that after years of championing new data center construction in the state as Ohio’s lieutenant governor, Husted is now calling for regulations to be placed on who foots the electric bill for data center-related spikes in energy prices in local communities. He is also joining Ohio Republican Gov. Mike DeWine in supporting a pause on sales and tax breaks for tech companies that want to build new facilities in Ohio. (It’s not just Republicans and it’s not just Ohio; several other states and even blue cities are passing new regulations or have placed temporary moratoriums on data center construction in their areas.)

Husted’s long-shot bid to try to pass the bill, called the Ratepayer Protection Act, was blocked by Senate Democrats this afternoon. While Sens. Jon Ossoff (D-GA), Raphael Warnock (D-GA), Maggie Hassan (D-NH), and Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) voted with Republicans today, it wasn’t enough to overcome the 60 vote filibuster in the upper chamber and Senate Dems were able to block it on a procedural vote, 57-43.

While the bill passed the House 417-3 earlier this month, Senate Democrats (besides the four who voted with Republicans) have been roundly criticizing the legislation as nothing more than a show pony for Husted to use during the waning days of his campaign to combat Brown’s relentless attacks.

Also, the bill is simply limp. It requires that state utility regulators consider implementing the new federal standards that direct Big Tech companies to cover the cost of rising electric bills and grid updates needed to run their data centers — within two years of the bill’s passage. Republicans like Husted have argued that the legislation would compel state utility regulators to act on the new federal standard. But even some Senate Republicans have joined Democrats in saying the bill is little more than a suggestion. Per MS NOW:

“Would I like to do more? Yeah,” Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., said. “But on the other hand, is it better than nothing? Yeah.”

Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., agreed that the bill doesn’t accomplish much, noting that most utilities are “managed through local and state decision making.” 

But he also agreed that it “probably would help” Husted in his re-election efforts.

My colleague Emine Yücel was up on the Hill this afternoon as senators headed in to vote on the legislation. She was able to catch up with Sens. Chris Murphy (D-CT) and Mark Warner (D-VA), who each slammed the measure and the GOP’s last-minute attempts to do clean up on its past position on accelerating nationwide AI development.

“Donald Trump is going to tweet 10 times between now and the election how much he loves data centers. Their position is clear. They are the party of data centers. They are the party of fealty to the AI industry and this fakery that they are putting on the floor right now isn’t going to fool anybody. So they’re desperate,” Murphy told reporters including TPM.

Murphy continued, going off on the Trump administration and President Trump personally for his role in encouraging the Big Tech oligarchy:

The data center conversation is a proxy for corruption. You know, people see that there is a deep integration between these big billion dollar tech companies and the Trump administration, and they don’t like it, and the proliferation of data centers is a sign to people that the only thing that matters in this administration is money and billionaire corporate power … Yes, sometimes this is about water use and land use, but it’s really a question of corruption and the data centers are an avatar for a corrupt relationship between the technology companies and the Trump administration. That’s why, that’s why the last bill they’re doing is an attempt to change two years of this corruption story. It’s going to laughably not work.

Warner put his opposition to the legislation quite frankly.

“The American public does not like data centers, capital data centers. They’re concerned about job dislocation, and they’re now concerned about safety,” he said. “And we are ignoring not just the CEOs, but frankly, you talk to the banks, you talk to corporate America … they need the safety assurance as well.”

— Nicole LaFond

TPM has found fairly definitive evidence proving Sen. Eric Schmitt (R-MO) misread text messages when he attempted to corner former special counsel Jack Smith during a congressional hearing on Tuesday. 

A federal judge decried the “cruelty” detainees experienced inside Manhattan’s infamous ICE detention center in a court ruling filed on Thursday. 

Federal Judge Lewis Kaplan offered graphic depictions of “overcrowding, sleep deprivation, insufficient food and water, inadequate medical care, and restrictions on access to counsel” at 26 Federal Plaza in his ruling, which permanently limited the number of detainees that can be held at the facility going forward. The scathing assessment and court ordered changes were the conclusion of a class action suit filed against Immigration and Customs Enforcement that originated with a man who had been held in the building. 

Along with detailing holding cells that he described as “anything but sanitary,” Kaplan recounted multiple instances where ICE personnel were found to be “lying” about the conditions inside the building.

“By detaining far more persons in the hold rooms than ever was intended and for far longer than ever was intended, ICE objectively deprived detainees of sleep, sanitary living conditions, basic personal hygiene needs, sufficient food and water, and adequate medical care. ICE prevented detainees from accessing counsel, who might have stood in the way of what it was doing,” Kaplan wrote, adding, “Some of these deprivations impacted detainees immediately; others only after longer periods. ICE knew, or should have known, that how it was treating detainees was wrong, yet it continued to do it anyway. It did so to inflict punishment on detainees and induce them to self-deport.”

The judge’s ruling provided a window inside 26 Federal Plaza, which has been ground zero in New York City for the unprecedented wave of immigration deportations and detentions that have taken place during President Donald Trump’s second term. TPM has previously reported from the halls of the building where migrants have been taken by masked ICE agents as they showed up for court appearances in ongoing immigration legal proceedings. Our prior coverage has noted how activists and members of Congress have previously raised alarms about the conditions inside the facility and the legality of these detentions, many of which were ultimately reversed by court order. The Department of Homeland Security, which oversees ICE, responded to this reporting from TPM and other news organizations by denying the existence of a “detention center” in the building and insisting migrants were only there for “processing.” 

However, in his ruling Kaplan detailed brutal circumstances in which migrants were held inside the floors occupied by ICE at 26 Federal Plaza. He noted the agency’s space in the building is not supposed to be a detention facility and only has “so-called ‘hold rooms’ that were intended and designed only for very short-term custody – twelve hours or less – of arrested persons pending their transfer to other facilities.” According to the judge, these rooms “have no showers, no beds, no cots, no windows, and lack many other things found in prisons and detention facilities.” In response to Trump’s “mass deportation” agenda, Kaplan said ICE was “misusing” 26 Federal Plaza.

“It has overcrowded severely the 26 Fed hold rooms, subjecting detainees for extended periods to inhumane conditions that violate the Constitution, not to mention any decent concern for the Golden Rule or the demands of humanity,” Kaplan wrote.

TPM reached out to ICE and DHS for a response to the judge’s ruling. Without providing any evidence, an unnamed DHS spokesperson gave TPM  a statement that, essentially, denied many of the judge’s conclusions. 

“DHS complies with all lawful court orders. 26 Federal Plaza is not a long-term detention facility; it is a short term-holding facility. Detainees are only at 26 Federal Plaza for a short period while they are being processed and awaiting transfer,” the spokesperson said. “Ensuring the safety, security, and well-being of individuals in ICE custody remains a top priority.”

The DHS spokesperson further argued that detainees place themselves in this situation by not leaving the country on their own.

“Being in detention is a choice. We encourage all illegal aliens to take control of their departure with the CBP Home App. The United States is offering illegal aliens $3,000 and a free flight to self-deport now,” the spokesperson said, adding, “We encourage every person here illegally to take advantage of this offer and reserve the chance to come back to the U.S. the right legal way to live the American dream.”

While self deporting is indeed an option, many of the people who have been placed in immigration detention centers during the second Trump administration are legally requesting asylum and have claimed they would be endangered in their home countries. Others have spent years lawfully living in the United States and have families here. 

Kaplan specifically focused on conditions at the facility last summer, as his ruling came in response to a class action lawsuit that originated in August 2025 with Sergio Alberto Barco Mercado, an immigrant who says he was detained at 26 Federal Plaza while trying to attend his court hearings in conjunction with seeking legal asylum. Mercado’s class action lawsuit included other detainees held at the facility as plaintiffs. Throughout legal proceedings surrounding the case, Kaplan previously ordered changes at the facility, including placing limits on the amount of people who could be  put in “hold rooms” and expanding access to attorneys for detainees. In his final ruling, Kaplan accused ICE of not complying with the court. 

“The facts show that ICE repeatedly has violated this Court’s orders either by intentionally flouting them or by employing so-called ‘best’ efforts that simply have not been good enough,” Kaplan wrote. 

Kaplan’s ruling included images showing just how cramped the hold rooms were inside 26 Federal Plaza. The pictures, which show detainees had no ability to lie down, are eerily reminiscent of similar documentation of slave ships.

Along with sheer overcrowding, Kaplan’s report documented unhealthy conditions, including lack of water, food, medical care, clean clothes and bathroom facilities. He noted that ICE officials attempted to dispute this, however, the judge rejected their denials. In multiple instances, Kaplan referred to statements made by Nancy Zanello, who was the field office’s assistant director between July and October of 2025 as “not credible” based on the evidence.

“While Zanello refused to admit that the hold rooms ever smelled bad, that denial is belied by the fact that she at one point felt that a group of detainees’ complaints regarding the lack of showers had such merit that she personally went out and bought empty water bottles and baby shampoo, filled the bottles with warm tap water, and allowed those detainees to wash themselves one-by-one in an empty hold room,” Kaplan wrote. 

Text messages from Zanello and other officials that were previously exposed during the case revealed they were aware of infectious diseases, including tuberculosis, running rampant inside 26 Federal Plaza. 

Along with the physical conditions inside the building, Kaplan decried the lack of access to attorneys given to detainees at 26 Federal Plaza. The judge said the facility “essentially was a black site prior to his initial court orders. He claimed ICE engaged in various tactics including “lying,” “erecting procedural roadblocks,” and failing to update databases with information about detainees’ locations to prevent them from contacting attorneys. And Kaplan said these issues persisted following his initial interventions.

“Even after that point, ICE continued to prevent detainees from making confidential legal calls,” Kaplan wrote, adding, “No legitimate governmental interests could justify so depriving detainees of the ability to obtain timely legal advice, particularly when there are feasible alternatives that would minimize the burden on detainees’ First and Fifth Amendment rights.” 

Kaplan’s ruling includes witness testimony from detainees, including one who said “one guard . . . would sometimes hold a bottle of water up and people would wait to have him squirt some into our mouths, like we were animals and not people” and another who said people “had to drink water from the sinks next to the toilets.” Kaplan said “several” detainees recounted “ICE staff and contractors beating” people held at 26 Federal Plaza. Others claimed food was essentially “slop” that was provided only rarely. Multiple detainees described losing large amounts of weight while being held in the facility. Meanwhile, another witness quoted by the judge said “guards would eat their own food …  like pizza and hamburgers” in front of the detainees as though they were “jeering.”

These accounts from 26 Federal Plaza echo allegations that have surfaced about the conditions inside other ICE facilities around the country. Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL) and his staff on the Judiciary Committee have previously published reports detailing alarming conditions at ICE detention centers in Texas, Florida and Louisiana. 

“And 26 Fed is not unique,” Kaplan wrote in his ruling. “Comparable litigation has been brought in several other locations with respect to several other ICE detention and holding facilities.” 

Kaplan specifically referred to another federal judge who described a situation that “shocks the conscience” involving “chillingly brutal conditions of confinement” inside ICE holding rooms at a courthouse in Central Islip on New York’s Long Island. 

At multiple points in his ruling, Kaplan rejected arguments made by attorneys representing the government, including their attempts to claim the suit was “overbroad” and should not cover present and future detainees in the building regardless of how long they are being held. Along with mandating permanent improvements at 26 Federal Plaza including sufficient space for each detainee, lights being dimmed during overnight hours, sleeping materials, and three meals daily, Kaplan certified the class action suit to cover all present and future detainees. As he did so, Kaplan made clear that, despite all of the serious concerns and allegations, with the mass deportation wave ongoing, the detention facility at 26 Federal Plaza is expected to remain in operation. 

“ICE has detained thousands of individuals at 26 Fed,” Kaplan wrote. “There is little doubt that it will continue to detain thousands more.” 

President Donald Trump painted a terrifying picture during his rally in North Carolina on Wednesday night. Standing on stage at Gastonia Municipal Airport, Trump offered a dramatic retelling of a brutal murder that took place in the state last August. Iryna Zarutska’s death made headlines around the country, but the killing that Trump weaved into the Republican Party’s midterm pitch has also emerged as a persistent fixation and rallying cry for racist extremists on the far right. 

As he told Zarutska’s story, Trump spared no gory or dramatic details.