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The Brief

The most important stories for you to know today
  • Community colleges defeat rule change
    Two young women sit and chat at a table outside as a man in business clothes walks by holding a briefcase.
    Emma Bogart, 19, and Jordin Raven Tauzer-Pardo, 19, knit and chat between classes at Santa Rosa Junior College in Santa Rosa on Sept. 26, 2024.

    Topline:

    Existing law caps part-time faculty at teaching 67% of a full-time load, which typically equates to three courses, at any single California community college campus during a semester. On Sept. 22, Gov. Gavin Newsom vetoed Assembly Bill 2277, which would have raised the cap for part-time faculty to 85% of a full-time load, or about four courses, at a single community college.

    What happened: The state Legislature approved the bill earlier this month. In his veto message, Newsom wrote that “this bill continues to create unknown, but potentially significant costs or cost pressures in the millions to tens of millions of dollars.”

    Why it matters: An ever-fluctuating schedule and lower pay compared to full-time colleagues is common across the California community college system, where 68% of faculty, about 35,000 of them, are classified as part-time.

    The context: The administrators association has also opposed previous iterations of the bill due to concerns that allowing part-time faculty members to teach more courses at a single campus could trigger the Affordable Care Act, requiring colleges to expand health care coverage for part-timers.

    Meanwhile, faculty unions say AB 2277 wouldn’t have triggered the Affordable Care Act because of a provision in the bill stating part-time faculty assignments at any single community college must be fewer than 30 hours per week.

    Read on... for more on the battle over community college adjunct faculty rules.

    Adrian Castillo is not accustomed to job security. He’s a part-time professor who simultaneously teaches media arts courses at three different Los Angeles-area community colleges, while also working as a high school substitute teacher to make ends meet. Castillo often doesn’t know which colleges will offer him classes to teach next, or whether those classes will be online or in person.

    “It is stressful just trying to balance everything,” said Castillo, who has taught at the community college level for 10 years.

    Castillo’s experience — an ever-fluctuating schedule and lower pay compared to his full-time colleagues — is common across the California community college system, where 68% of faculty, about 35,000 of them, are classified as part-time.

    Existing law caps part-time faculty at teaching 67% of a full-time load, which typically equates to three courses, at any single California community college campus during a semester.

    On Sept. 22, Gov. Gavin Newsom vetoed Assembly Bill 2277, which would have raised the cap for part-time faculty to 85% of a full-time load, or about four courses, at a single community college. The state Legislature approved the bill earlier this month. In his veto message, Newsom wrote that “this bill continues to create unknown, but potentially significant costs or cost pressures in the millions to tens of millions of dollars.”

    The Association of California Community College Administrators argued in a letter opposed to the bill that “AB 2277 would infringe upon the local authority of community college districts to collectively bargain their own paid leave provisions at the district level.”

    Fragmented health care coverage a concern

    The administrators association has also opposed previous iterations of the bill due to concerns that allowing part-time faculty members to teach more courses at a single campus could trigger the Affordable Care Act, requiring colleges to expand health care coverage for part-timers.

    Meanwhile, faculty unions say AB 2277 wouldn’t have triggered the Affordable Care Act because of a provision in the bill stating part-time faculty assignments at any single community college must be fewer than 30 hours per week.

    The vetoed legislation was supported by the California Part-Time Faculty Association, which said in a letter that AB 2277 would “improve quality of life for part-time faculty” by “allowing them greater opportunities to be a resource to their students and participate in the campus community.”

    Health care is a focal point for part-time faculty, with many not receiving health insurance from the colleges where they teach. In 2022, the state provided $200 million to a fund to help community colleges pay for health care for their part-time faculty, and that funding is ongoing. But it doesn’t fully bridge the gap.

    Kirsten Olson, a part-time anthropology professor in Oakland, relies on receiving benefits through her partner, who is a full-time professor at Laney College. The districts where she teaches offer some health coverage for part-timers who qualify based on their per-semester course load. However, she said she prefers her partner’s plan because it’s “automatic, easy and I don’t have to fill out paperwork every semester.”

    Olson teaches “an extraordinary number” of classes — eight to 10 per semester across four colleges. That’s twice the load typically taught by full-time faculty.

    “I’m very honest with my students because I’m great at getting into the classroom, (but) I may not have their work graded for them by the next class,” Olson said. “I will get to it as quickly as I can. But they have to understand that I’m as much of a gig worker as many of them are.”

    Students feel effects of absent professors

    When part-time faculty are spread thin, it can have an adverse effect on students, said Ivan Hernandez, a computer science major at Diablo Valley College who serves as the president of the Student Senate for California Community Colleges. Hernandez said most of his peers probably don’t notice if their professors are part-time or full-time, but their learning can be harmed when part-time faculty don’t have time to be on campus often or hold regular office hours. That’s why Hernandez said he supported AB 2277.

    Long term, Hernandez said he hopes part-time faculty receive “more fair compensation” and are able to teach at just one campus, not just for the sake of their own wellbeing, but for the sake of students, too.

    “When you’re part-time and doing multiple things, like teaching at different institutions, that affects the flexibility of the professor,” Hernandez said. “And they work really closely with the students. ”

    AB 2277 was authored by Assemblymember Greg Wallis, a Republican representing Rancho Mirage in Riverside County, who issued a statement saying he was “disappointed” by the veto.

    “While this is a setback, I am confident we can find a solution,” Wallis said in the statement. “We must be fiscally responsible, especially in tough budget years, but improving our education system remains one of my top priorities.”

    Faculty say more needs to be done

    Scott Douglas, a part-time professor at several community colleges in the San Diego area, worked as part of the California Part-Time Faculty Association to push for the bill.

    Five days a week, Douglas drives a 100-mile loop between MiraCosta, Palomar and San Diego City colleges and the University of San Diego to teach math. He works out of his mobile office, a 2016 Ford Escape that has about 120,000 miles on the odometer. A lengthy commute has been Douglas’ reality since he started as a part-time professor in 1987.

    “Adjunct faculty are so dislocated,” Douglas said. “They’re so spread out on all these different campuses and disengaged, that they don’t become faces or names that their full-time counterparts are aware of, and they’re not incorporated into the system and part of the system.”

    He said AB 2277 would have helped.

    “It’s sort of psychological, if you can get more work on a single campus, be more present, helping students, be more engaged, more in the faculty meetings,” Douglas said.

    But some other part-time faculty, such as Siobhan McGregor-Gordon, aren’t as disappointed by the veto as much as in the situation overall.

    McGregor-Gordon has taken on many responsibilities as a part-time faculty member at Santa Rosa Junior College. She teaches courses under the English for Multilingual Students umbrella, represents her college on the Faculty Association for California Community Colleges and serves on her college’s Academic Senate, among other roles.

    McGregor-Gordon said AB 2277 “perpetuates the same bad system.”

    “Our California Community College system is run on the backs of part-timers, just like Walmart,” she said. “And it infuriates me.”

    Part-time faculty looking for job security often have to rely on their seniority. Jeff Judd, a part-time professor of 20 years at Las Positas College and five years at Contra Costa College, says his work is more stable than part-time professors who are just getting into the field because he gets preference in the courses he can teach. That’s because Las Positas College, where he began his teaching career, gives priority to faculty who have been there the longest. Contra Costa College allocates a certain number of units per semester after teaching for several semesters. Both systems put new part-timers at a disadvantage, making it hard to get even one class on campus.

    The changes AB 2277 proposed could “certainly make life easier” for part-timers, Judd said, but would require the professors to do more professional development, such as attending workshops and conferences, in some community college districts including his. In Judd’s district, the more units a professor teaches, the more hours they must commit to professional development. If a professor teaches at multiple campuses, as many part-timers do, those hours can become untenable.

    Several part-time faculty said they would like to see community colleges across the state offer more full-time roles. They also want the campuses to offer better pay and benefits to part-timers teaching across multiple colleges, with course loads that are equivalent to their full-time counterparts.

    Castillo, the part-time professor in Los Angeles, said teaching is a passion that “outweighs the cons.” So Castillo, a community college graduate himself, will keep at it despite the challenges he and many of his colleagues face.

    “I made a lot of great friends (as a community college student) and it really just kick-started my career,” Castillo said. “I try to pay that forward.”

    Desmond Meagley, Amy Moore and Lizzy Rager contributed to this story. Brumer, Meagley, Moore and Rager are fellows with the College Journalism Network, a collaboration between CalMatters and student journalists from across California. CalMatters higher education coverage is supported by a grant from the College Futures Foundation.

  • Trump says U.S. will leave Iran within a few weeks

    Topline:

    President Donald Trump said today that the United States will be leaving Iran very soon, giving a two to three week timetable.

    Why now: Trump's remarks came in response to a question about gas prices — which earlier today hit a national average of $4 a gallon. Asked what he would do about it, Trump said: "All I have to do is leave Iran, and we'll be doing that very soon, and they'll become tumbling down."
    His timeline?: "I would say that within two weeks, maybe two weeks, maybe three," Trump said.

    Updated March 31, 2026 at 20:14 PM ET

    President Trump said on Tuesday that the United States will be leaving Iran very soon, giving a two to three week timetable.

    Trump's remarks came in response to a question about gas prices — which earlier Tuesday hit a national average of $4 a gallon. Asked what he would do about it, Trump said: "All I have to do is leave Iran, and we'll be doing that very soon, and they'll become tumbling down."

    "I would say that within two weeks, maybe two weeks, maybe three," he added.

    Trump also appeared to reverse previous promises about reopening the Strait of Hormuz.

    "We'll be leaving very soon. And if France or some other country wants to get oil or gas, they'll go up through the strait, the Hormuz Strait, they'll go right up there, and they'll be able to fend for themselves. I think it'll be very safe, actually, but we have nothing to do with that. What happens with the strait? We're not going to have anything to do with it," he said.

    Just on Monday, though, Trump offered this threat on social media over the strait reopening: "If for any reason a deal is not shortly reached, which it probably will be, and if the Hormuz Strait is not immediately 'Open for Business,' we will conclude our lovely 'stay' in Iran by blowing up and completely obliterating all of their Electric Generating Plants, Oil Wells and Kharg Island (and possibly all desalinization plants!), which we have purposefully not yet 'touched.'"

    The White House later said Trump would speak to the nation about the war at 9 p.m. ET on Wednesday.


    Here are more updates from the war in the Middle East:

    Kidnapped journalist | Troop visit | Peacekeeper deaths | Iran | Rubio on Spain | Trump slams allies | Dalai Lama


    American journalist kidnapped in Iraq

    Iraqi authorities reported a foreign journalist was kidnapped in Baghdad Tuesday. It turned out to be an American freelance reporter, Shelly Kittleson, according to Al-Monitor, a Middle Eastern news site for which she has written articles.

    Iraqi security forces said they intercepted a vehicle that crashed and arrested one of the suspected kidnappers, but are stilling searching for the kidnapped journalist and other suspects.

    U.S. officials say they're working to get her released.

    "The State Department previously fulfilled our duty to warn this individual of threats against them and we will continue to coordinate with the FBI to ensure their release as quickly as possible," Dylan Johnson, the assistant secretary of state for global public affairs, said on social media.

    He said Americans, including media workers, have been advised not to travel to Iraq and should leave the country. The statement did not condemn the kidnapping or express concern.

    Johnson said Iraqi authorities apprehended a suspect associated with Iran-backed Iraqi militia Kataib Hezbollah, believed to be involved in the kidnapping.

    This comes as the U.S.-Israeli war in Iran enters its second month, and the fallout ricochets across the region.

    Press freedom organizations expressed deep concern. The Committee to Protect Journalists called on "Iraqi authorities to do everything in their power to locate Shelley Kittleson, ensure her immediate and safe release, and hold those responsible to account."

    Based in Rome, Kittleson has reported on Iraq, as well as Syria and Afghanistan, for years, according to Al-Monitor.

    Reporters Without Borders said she is "very familiar with Iraq, where she stays for extended periods."

    "RSF stands alongside her loved ones and colleagues during this painful wait," the organization said.

    Al-Monitor said in a statement it is "deeply alarmed" by her kidnapping. "We stand by her vital reporting from the region and call for her swift return to continue her important work," it said.


    U.S. defense secretary visits troops

    U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth made an undisclosed trip to the Middle East to visit troops over the weekend. He did not divulge the location for the troops' safety.

    "I spoke to Air Force and Navy pilots on the flight line who every day both deliver bombs deep into Iran, but also shoot down drones defending their base. Many had just returned from the skies of Iran and Tehran," he told reporters in a briefing Tuesday.

    He said he "witnessed an urgency to finish the job" and tried to draw a comparison with America's earlier drawn-out wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

    He said the U.S. is improving bunkers and layered air defenses as a priority to protect troops and aircraft.

    This comes after more than a dozen U.S. service members were injured, several severely, and U.S. aircraft were damaged in Iranian strikes on a base in Saudi Arabia last Friday. The Pentagon says 13 U.S. service members have been killed and 300 wounded in what it calls Operation Epic Fury.

    He repeated the administration's assertion that the U.S. is negotiating with Iran, despite Iranian officials' denial that talks are happening.

    He said the U.S. prefers negotiations, but would not rule out using ground troops.

    "In the meantime, we'll negotiate with bombs," Hegseth said. "Our job is to ensure that we compel Iran to realize that this new regime, this regime in charge is in a better place if they make that deal."

    President Trump told the New York Post he is in talks with Iran's parliamentary speaker, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf.

    Loading...


    Security Council meets after U.N. peacekeeper deaths

    Countries denounced the killings of three U.N. peacekeepers in Lebanon this week as they met for an emergency meeting of the U.N. Security Council.

    "These are sadly not the only dangerous incidents faced by UNIFIL's courageous peacekeepers," Jean-Pierre Lacroix, the head of U.N. peacekeeping, said, using the acronym for the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon. "There has been a worrying increase in denials of freedom of movement and aggressive behavior."

    Lacroix said initial findings suggested two Indonesian peacekeepers were killed Monday in a roadside explosion in southern Lebanon. A day earlier another peacekeeper from Indonesia was killed when a projectile hit a U.N. base, Lacroix said.

    Their deaths came as Israeli forces have invaded Lebanon, intensifying a second front in the war in the Middle East. Israel says it is targeting the Iran-backed Lebanese militant group Hezbollah.

    The U.N. has not pinned blame and is investigating the incidents.

    Ahead of the Security Council meeting, Israel's ambassador to the U.N., Danny Danon, expressed condolences for the Indonesian peacekeepers' deaths.

    Displaced people warm up around a fire outside their tent along Beirut's seafront area on March 30, 2026.
    (
    Dimitar Dilkoff
    /
    AFP via Getty Images
    )

    Danon blamed Hezbollah for laying explosive devices that killed two peacekeepers on Monday.

    U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Mike Waltz paid tribute to the Indonesian peacekeepers and urged Security Council members not to jump to conclusions but to allow the U.N. to investigate.

    Indonesia's foreign minister called for a swift, thorough and transparent investigation.


    Iran executions, Starlink arrests

    Meanwhile, Iran says it has arrested 46 people who were selling Starlink internet connections — one of the few ways that people in Iran have been able to connect to the global internet while authorities block communication. Starlink allows users to connect directly to the internet via satellite, bypassing government firewalls.

    Global internet monitor NetBlocks said the country's "internet blackout has entered day 32."

    "Extended digital isolation is bringing new challenges for Iranians, from expired domains and accounts to unpatched servers on a degrading national intranet," it said on X.

    Iran said it executed two people who had taken part in opposition activities as well as two citizens it accused of spying for the U.S. and Israel.


    Rubio accuses Spain's prime minister of "bragging"

    Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Monday responded to news that Spain had closed its airspace to U.S. planes involved in the Iran war by lashing out at the NATO partner. In an interview with Al Jazeera, Rubio answered a question about whether the EU and NATO countries had "betrayed the U.S." by focusing on Spain, a NATO member who has publicly adopted a position opposing the war in Iran.

    Gas prices are displayed at a Mobil gas station on March 30, 2026 in Pasadena, California. The average price of one gallon of regular self-service gasoline rose to $5.99 today in Los Angeles County, climbing from $4.69 one month ago, amid the ongoing war with Iran.
    (
    Mario Tama
    /
    Getty Images North America
    )

    "We have countries like Spain, a NATO member that we are pledged to defend, denying us the use of their airspace and bragging about it, denying us the use of our – of their bases," Rubio said.

    Earlier on Monday, Spain Defense Minister Margarita Robles said the country had closed its airspace to U.S. planes involved in the Iran war. It is unclear when the closure started — Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez had hinted at the measure during a parliamentary debate on March 25.

    The weekend the U.S. and Israel launched the attack on Iran, flight records showed at least 15 in-flight refueling planes leaving two jointly operated military bases in the south of Spain after not being allowed to provide support for the military action in Iran. Robles later confirmed the decision by the Spanish Government. That triggered a spat between President Trump and Spain's leadership the week after the war started. Trump said from the Oval Office that he would cut off all trade with Spain if the Spanish government did not allow U.S. forces to use the jointly operated bases. In response, Sánchez doubled down on his stance on the war in the Middle East.

    Sánchez has relied on his opposition to the war, making it his main platform at the domestic level. Sánchez's Socialist Party has struggled to keep a government coalition from breaking apart, as he faces pressure to keep his party's hopes alive ahead of a parliamentary election due in 2027.


    Trump slams allies

    President Trump criticized France and the United Kingdom, among others, on his social media platform.

    "All of those countries that can't get jet fuel because of the Strait of Hormuz, like the United Kingdom, which refused to get involved in the decapitation of Iran, I have a suggestion for you: Number 1, buy from the U.S., we have plenty, and Number 2, build up some delayed courage, go to the Strait, and just TAKE IT," Trump wrote on Truth Social.

    Trump had asked allies for help after Iran largely blockaded the vital waterway, sending up oil and gas prices. But they have been hesitant to join in the war, with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer repeating again this week that Britain would not get involved.

    "You'll have to start learning how to fight for yourself, the U.S.A. won't be there to help you anymore, just like you weren't there for us. Iran has been, essentially, decimated. The hard part is done. Go get your own oil!" Trump's post concluded.

    He also said France "wouldn't let planes headed to Israel, loaded up with military supplies, fly over French territory." and called the country "VERY UNHELPFUL."


    Dalai Lama calls for peace

    Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama on Tuesday posted an appeal for an end to war in the Middle East.

    "History has shown us time and again that violence only begets more violence and is never a lasting foundation for peace," he said on his official account on X.

    "An enduring resolution to conflict, including the ones we see in the Middle East or between Russia and Ukraine, must be rooted in dialogue, diplomacy and mutual respect — approached with the understanding that, at the deepest level, we are all brothers and sisters," he said.

    He said he was adding his plea to one made at the Vatican by Pope Leo during his Palm Sunday Mass, adding: "His call for the laying down of arms and the renunciation of violence resonated profoundly with me, as it speaks to the very essence of what all major religions teach."

    Carrie Kahn in Tel Aviv, Israel, Lauren Frayer in Beirut, Jennifer Pak in Shanghai, Emily Feng in Van, Turkey, Miguel Macias in Seville, Spain, Kate Bartlett in Johannesburg, Jane Arraf in Amman, Jordan, Quil Lawrence in New York, Giles Snyder, Michele Kelemen and Alex Leff in Washington contributed to this report.
    Copyright 2026 NPR

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  • Homelessness agency blows federal deadline
    LAHSA-COMMISSION
    This April 2025 image shows an agency logo on a wall inside a LAHSA Commission meeting.

    Topline:
    The Los Angeles region’s homelessness agency missed a Tuesday deadline to submit a federally required annual audit of the agency’s financial records, which could jeopardize its federal funding.

    The agency's interim CEO blamed the blown deadline on leadership turnover and competing demands on the finance team.
    Why it matters: LAHSA manages hundreds of millions in federal dollars for homelessness services across L.A. County. Missing the audit deadline could put that funding at risk.

    LAHSA officials say the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development — or HUD — seems understanding. LAist reached out to HUD for comment but hasn't received any.

    How we got here: An outside auditor said LAHSA was supposed to turn over its financial statements around December but didn't submit them until March. The auditor's draft report also flags a "significant deficiency" in how LAHSA detects accounting errors — a finding LAHSA may contest.

    What's next: On Tuesday, LAHSA officials said the single audit would be filed within the next few weeks.

    LAHSA also said it has tapped accounting firm KPMG to overhaul its financial systems. The agency's interim CEO acknowledged that the current system "is not working at all."

    The Los Angeles region’s homelessness agency will miss a Tuesday deadline for submitting its federally required annual audit of the agency’s financial records, which could jeopardize its federal funding.

    LAHSA executives blamed the delay on a “perfect storm” of leadership changes and competing priorities within LAHSA’s finance department, including an L.A. County review of LAHSA’s delayed payments to contractors.

    “Our staff made a good-faith effort to meet the deadline,” interim CEO Gita O’Neill said at a LAHSA Commission meeting Tuesday. “However, over the past year, we've experienced several transitions. As a result, we could not get all the required materials to the auditors as quickly as needed.”

    Each year, LAHSA, like all non-federal agencies and organizations that get substantial federal dollars, is required to hire an outside auditor to determine whether it’s properly tracking and reporting the taxpayer funds it manages.

    LAHSA’s single audit report for last fiscal year was due March 31, nine months after fiscal year 2024-2025 ended. Earlier this month, LAHSA officials said they were on track to meet the March 31 deadline.

    Justin Measley, lead auditor for the firm CliftonLarsonAllen, had warned that LAHSA was months behind schedule turning over records.

    At a meeting Tuesday, Measley explained that because of LAHSA’s earlier delays, the firm would need at least an additional week to complete a quality-control review process.

    “We’re moving at the fastest pace we possibly can,” Measley said.

    On Tuesday, LAHSA officials said the single audit will be filed “at the earliest possible opportunity,” within the next few weeks.

    Federal funds at risk

    LAHSA manages hundreds of millions of federal dollars each year, through grants from the U.S. Office of Housing and Urban Development, or HUD.

    O’Neill said the agency has been communicating with HUD officials regularly about the missed audit deadline and is “hoping for understanding.”

    Janine Lim, LAHSA’s deputy chief financial officer, said she’s also been talking with HUD.

    “They seem amenable to our situation and to our stated timelines,” Lim said. “So, we are hopeful that this will be a good outcome, despite having missed the deadline.”

    HUD did not immediately respond to LAist’s request for comment Tuesday.

    What went wrong 

    Measley said LAHSA’s financial statements should have been turned over around last December, but LAHSA only submitted them this month, after blowing through multiple extended deadlines.

    Measley said he contacted LAHSA’s governing commission about the overdue documents March 3.

    He said he also previewed his firm’s findings, noting one “significant deficiency” in its draft report, related to LAHSA’s timeliness in detecting accounting errors.

    LAHSA could contest those findings, officials said. That would add additional back-and-forth between the homelessness agency and accounting firm before the audit report is ready to file.

    Justin Szlasa, a LAHSA commissioner who chairs the audit subcommittee, told LAHSA’s CEO he’s concerned that there was no time provided for LAHSA’s governing body to review the audit report.

    “Next year, we will absolutely do that,” O’Neill responded. “I think this year, we were under the gun, and so we felt it was the most important thing was to get it uploaded on time.”

    O’Neill said the agency hired accounting firm KPMG to help modernize LAHSA’s financial systems, with a focus on its contractor payments.

    “We have an outside, trusted voice to help us create a system that works going forward because the system we have is not working at all, in finance,” O’Neill said.

  • Trump wants lists of eligible voters from states

    Topline:

    President Donald Trump has escalated his efforts to influence American elections, signing an executive order that the White House says seeks to create a list of confirmed U.S. citizens who are eligible to vote in each state and use the U.S. Postal Service to "verify" mail ballots are for voters.

    Why it matters: Trump has long railed — baselessly — about widespread illegal voting by noncitizens and mail voting fraud. The executive order comes as Trump's Justice Department is seeking sensitive voter data from states, and is engaged in more than two dozen lawsuits for that data. The administration claims it needs the data to enforce states' voter list maintenance. The order also comes as Trump pressures Republicans in Congress to pass the SAVE America Act, a sweeping election overhaul that would impose new voter identification and documentation requirements. That bill is stalled in the Senate due to Democratic opposition and the legislative filibuster.

    What's next: Trump said he believes the order is "foolproof." But election experts have already said the order — which was first reported by The Daily Caller — would face immediate legal challenges.

    Updated March 31, 2026 at 20:44 PM ET

    President Trump on Tuesday escalated his efforts to reshape American elections, signing an executive order that seeks to create lists of U.S. citizens who are eligible to vote in each state, and instructing the U.S. Postal Service to send mail ballots only to verified voters.

    Trump told reporters in the Oval Office that he believes the order is legally "foolproof." But election experts said the order was unconstitutional, and voting rights advocates and Democratic state officials quickly pledged to sue to block the order from going into effect.

    A previous executive order on elections, signed about a year ago, has been blocked by federal judges who said the president lacked the constitutional authority to set voting policy.

    The Constitution says the "Times, Places and Manner" of federal elections are determined by individual states, with Congress able to enact changes.

    "This Executive Order is a disgusting overreach from the federal government and shows how little the Trump Administration understands about election administration," Adrian Fontes, the Democratic secretary of state of Arizona, said in a statement Tuesday. "We will not let this order stand without a fight and will meet the federal government in court," he added.

    Arizona is among more than two dozen states Trump's Department of Justice has sued over access to sensitive voter data.

    The Trump administration claims it needs the data to enforce states' voter list maintenance. Federal judges in three states have dismissed the Justice Department's lawsuits in those states.

    In another case, a DOJ official admitted in court last week that the department plans to share that voter data with the Department of Homeland Security, to run it through the so-called SAVE system to search for noncitizens.

    NPR has reported that some U.S. citizens have also been inaccurately flagged by SAVE.

    How the executive order seeks to change voting

    Trump has long railed — baselessly — about widespread illegal voting by noncitizens and fraud associated with mail ballots.

    The new executive order — which was first reported by The Daily Caller — takes aim at both.

    It instructs the Department of Homeland Security, working in conjunction with the Social Security Administration, to "compile and transmit to the chief election official of each State a list of individuals confirmed to be United States citizens who will be above the age of 18 at the time of an upcoming Federal election and who maintain a residence in the subject State."

    The order then "requires the USPS to transmit ballots only to individuals enrolled on a State-specific Mail-in and Absentee Participation List, ensuring that only eligible absentee or mail-in voters receive absentee or mail-in ballots," according to a White House fact sheet.

    Trump's executive order claims that "additional measures are necessary" to secure voting by mail, a form of voting he has used himself — including last week — but also falsely maligned for years. In the 2024 general election, nearly a third of all voters cast mail ballots.

    The Postal Service should also review the design of mail ballot envelopes to protect "the integrity of Federal elections," the order says.

    Collectively, the provisions would be a significant change to how mail ballot programs are currently administered in American elections, which are largely carried out by state and local officials.

    "Our government's citizenship lists are incomplete and inaccurate. The United States Postal Service is overburdened and inadequate. This combines a car crash with a train wreck," the Brennan Center for Justice, which advocates for expanded voting access and sued to block Trump's 2025 election executive order, said in a statement.

    Rick Hasen, an election law expert at UCLA, wrote on his blog that the order is likely unconstitutional. And regardless, he added, "the timing here makes this virtually impossible to implement in time for November's elections. … It seems highly unlikely any of this could be implemented for 2026, even if it were not blocked by courts."

    The order comes as Trump pressures Republicans in Congress to pass the SAVE America Act, a sweeping election overhaul that would impose new voter identification and documentation requirements.

    That bill is stalled in the Senate due to Democratic opposition and the legislative filibuster.

    The Supreme Court is also expected to rule this year on whether Mississippi should be allowed to count mail ballots that are postmarked by Election Day but received by election officials after Election Day.

    The legal challenge, which could have sweeping implications for mail voting nationwide, was filed by the Republican National Committee and Trump's 2024 presidential campaign.

    Copyright 2026 NPR

  • Majority in 2025 had no criminal records
    A federal agents guard is out of focus and stands in front of a stone building and an American flag.
    Federal agents stand guard outside of a federal building and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention center in downtown Los Angeles during a demonstration in June.

    Topline:

    Federal immigration officials arrested more than 14,000 people in the greater Los Angeles area in 2025 — the majority of whom had no criminal record, according to an LAist analysis of new data from the Deportation Data Project.

    What’s new: In 2025, federal officials arrested 14,394 people, up from 4,681 the year prior. Forty-six percent of people arrested had criminal convictions, 15% had pending charges and 39% had no criminal charges or convictions.

    Why it matters: Federal officials have highlighted the arrests of the “worst of the worst” in the immigration raids that began in June, including "murderers, kidnappers, sexual predators and armed carjackers,” but haven’t published the details of the number of people who had criminal records.

    Federal immigration officials arrested more than 14,000 people in the greater Los Angeles area in 2025 — the majority of whom had no criminal record, according to an LAist analysis of new data from the Deportation Data Project.

    The data project, an initiative between UCLA and UC Berkeley, publishes federal data obtained under the Freedom of Information Act.

    In 2025, federal officials arrested 14,394 people, up from 4,681 the year prior. Forty-six percent of people arrested had criminal convictions, 15% had pending charges, and 39% had no criminal charges or convictions.

    In a December news release, the Department of Homeland Security said it had arrested more than 10,000 people in the L.A. area since immigration raids began in June of last year, including "murderers, kidnappers, sexual predators and armed carjackers,” but did not publish details of the number of people who had criminal records.

    The data from the Deportation Data Project shows that arrests in L.A. spiked in June, and about two-thirds of people arrested that month had no criminal convictions.

    More than 313,000 people were arrested by ICE nationwide in 2025, according to an LAist analysis.

    In a statement, a DHS spokesperson said the agency has not “verified the accuracy, methodology or analysis of the project and its results” and said “this only reveals how data is manipulated to peddle the false narrative that DHS is not targeting the worst of the worst.” The spokesperson said 61% of people ICE arrested across the country either had criminal convictions or pending charges.

    The agency has regularly published press releases identifying people they have arrested and who they have called “the worst of the worst,” including from the raids in L.A. in June. But an LAist investigation and reporting from other outlets has found that some of the people on those lists already has been in custody and were serving lengthy sentences.