ICE Is Draining Funds From FEMA
Immigration and Customs Enforcement is siphoning ever more resources and personnel from the Federal Emergency Management Agency, threatening national preparedness for climate disasters.
90 Articles by: Katya Schwenk
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Katya Schwenk is a reporter with the Lever based in Phoenix, Arizona.
ICE Uses Celebrities’ Loophole to Hide Deportation Flights
Celebrities like Taylor Swift have long used a little-known Federal Aviation Administration program to shield their private jets’ flight records from public view. Now ICE is using the program to hide information about its deportation flights.
Private Equity Is Coming for Public Utilities
While extending its tentacles elsewhere, private equity has mostly stayed away from electric utilities because they often don’t yield quick returns. A BlackRock subsidiary’s campaign to take over a regional utility in Minnesota suggests that is changing.
Trump’s EPA Hid Risks at the Steel Plant That Just Exploded
The US Steel plant where two workers were killed and ten injured in an explosion on Monday had a history of chemical accidents. It was one of hundreds of chemical facilities whose risks were hidden from the public after lobbying by the chemical industry.
Airline Price-Gouging Could Become the New Normal
Led by Delta, many airlines are now working with AI firms to expand the industry’s use of big data for price setting. Using new surveillance techniques, these firms exploit consumer privacy to set “personalized” prices to jack up fares.
Trump’s SEC Chair Has Scored a Massive Tax Break
Donald Trump’s SEC chair, Paul Atkins, just sold his financial services firm for more than $25 million and is set to receive a huge tax break on the proceeds. He has refused to disclose who is behind the payout or if they have business with the SEC.
AIPAC-Backed Lawmakers Are Pushing AI Funding for Israel
Congressional Republicans have delivered on the pro-Israel organization AIPAC’s wish list in the latest military spending bill, including tens of millions of dollars a year for the Israeli military to develop AI technologies.
ICE’s Deportation Machine Runs on Private Security
Some of the world’s largest private security firms are making millions of dollars by aiding ICE with its mass deportations. Now the Trump administration’s record-breaking deportation spending blitz is poised to boost their profits even more.
A Tech-Backed Influencer Wants to Replace Teachers With AI
Backed by tech money, entrepreneur MacKenzie Price is growing a network of private K–12 schools that promises to replace all classroom teachers with an “AI tutor” that students learn from while glued to their laptop screens.
Florida’s New Investment: Israel’s War
New legislation in Florida introduces a financial model that would enable local governments around the country to invest virtually limitless sums in the Israeli war effort, despite the mounting financial risk of doing so.
Investors Are Pressing UnitedHealth Group to Deny More Care
UnitedHealth Group’s investors have profited from its sky-high coverage denial rates. Now, as the company faces mounting public pressure to approve more patient care, they are suing to stop the insurer from changing its “corporate practices.”
Corporations Are Working to Kneecap State Regulators
As Elon Musk and DOGE take a sledgehammer to federal agencies, corporate interests are mounting a coordinated effort to dismantle state-level rules and regulations, from environmental and consumer protections to worker safeguards.
Trump’s Social Security Head Is Getting a Massive Tax Break
As Donald Trump works to undermine the Social Security Administration, his ultrarich Social Security commissioner, Frank Bisignano, was just approved for a giant tax break on a $484 million capital gains sale.
Republicans Are Giving Rental Price-Fixing a Green Light
The GOP’s budget reconciliation bill includes a ban on state-level artificial intelligence regulations that could undermine efforts in several states to rein in pricing consultants like RealPage, a company that helps landlords use AI to “optimize” rent hikes.
Airlines Are Selling Your Data to ICE
An aviation industry clearinghouse is collecting data on air travelers from billions of flights — and selling it to Trump’s immigration enforcers.
Trump Plans to Channel Refugee Funds to White South Africans
As Donald Trump tries to bar almost all refugees from entering the US, his administration wants to use federal funds reserved for at-risk refugee populations to facilitate an influx of white South Africans.
Trump’s Pension Chief Pick Could Profit From Looser Rules
Donald Trump’s nominee to regulate retirement savings, Daniel Aronowitz, wants to protect employers and retirement fund managers from lawsuits alleging they fleeced retirees with exorbitant fees — a rule change his company could profit from.
Trump’s EPA Has Made It Harder to Track Toxic Chemical Plants
Bowing to the chemical industry lobby, the Environmental Protection Agency has quietly hid data that mapped out the locations of thousands of dangerous chemical facilities across the US.
Price Gougers Are Exploiting Trump’s Tariffs
“Price optimization” consultants are helping clients capitalize on Trump’s chaotic tariff rollout by using surveillance pricing tools, while Republican FTC chair Andrew Ferguson is reversing efforts to keep them in check.
Private Equity Is Getting Into the Airplane Repair Business
Private equity firms are increasingly gobbling up the companies that fix planes for commercial airlines, preying on an industry with already weakened oversight and further stoking the fears of aviation safety advocates.