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Federal judge orders Trump Administration to stop airing taxpayer-funded ads. On October 11th, a federal district court judge ordered the Trump Administration to stop airing government-funded ads that were legally challenged for their political message. One ad bragged about the capture of the former Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro while another echoed a 2024 campaign ad that denounced Trump’s political enemies as “villains.” While the Administration announced that Trump’s Super PAC, MAGA, Inc., would fund future ad reservations, taxpayers would not be reimbursed for the $19 million that was spent on the challenged ads that already aired. Federal judge orders Trump Administration to return gay man deported to Equatorial Guinea back to the U.S. District Judge John Hinderaker said the Department of Homeland Security violated Ahmed Soliman’s due process rights by sending him to Equatorial Guinea, a country to which Soliman has no ties. Soliman was born in Egypt and has lived in the U.S. since he was four years old, becoming a lawful permanent resident. He was arrested on assault and drug charges in 2023; deportation proceedings began in 2024; he was deported in April 2026. Soliman has faced beatings and other abuse in prison in Equatorial Guinea. Trump Administration refuses international election monitors for upcoming midterms. The Administration did not invite election observers from the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) to witness the midterms, making November’s elections the first since 2002 that will not be observed by the OSCE. This makes the U.S., along with Belarus and Russia, one of only three countries that do not currently invite the OSCE to monitor their elections. Federal agents search Rep. Ilhan Omar’s home as part of investigation into her family’s immigration paperwork. The court-approved search by Homeland Security Investigative agents took place on October 12th, 22 days before the midterm elections and within the 60-day pre-election window during which Justice Department policy urges federal prosecutors not to take any overt, unnecessary investigative steps that could affect the election. Medicaid cuts force closure of maternity wards. According to analysis by Protect Our Care, 52 maternity wards have closed since the federal budget reconciliation bill passed in July 2025, with eight more maternity wards having announced their upcoming closure. The bill, which will fully come into effect in 2027, will impose new work requirements and eligibility checks on Medicaid recipients while cutting federal funding for state Medicaid programs. Federal Transit Administration (FTA) releases proposal to tie transit project grants to marriage and birth rates. Under the transit proposed rule, the FTA would cover up to 10 percentage points more of a project’s costs if the area requesting the grant has birth and marriage rates that meet, exceed, or are just below nationwide thresholds. The FTA is accepting comments on the proposal through mid-November. ICE agent shoots man in New York City. On October 8th, an ICE agent shot Oscar Belgal, a Dominican immigrant, while Belgal was in a car with his 5-year-old son. Video footage from before and after the shooting shows the agent approached Belgal’s car in plain clothes with a gun drawn, the car pulling away from the curb, and pedestrians running or dropping to the sidewalk after the agent fired and other armed plainclothes officers converged around the car. Belgal survived the shooting but was injured, and his son was not physically harmed.
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