Weekly Spotlight: Intimidation Tactics

May 24, 2025

Join our fight for a more effective and accountable government. Sign up for our Weekly Spotlight newsletter and occasional updates on POGO’s work.

EXECUTIVE POWER GRAB

Administration tries to punish a lawmaker for conducting oversight — her job

The Justice Department has filed felony charges against Congresswoman LaMonica McIver (D-NJ) following a scuffle involving Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents during a visit to Delaney Hall Detention Facility in Newark, New Jersey earlier this month. It is McIver’s congressional duty to conduct oversight of federal agency operations, and she was well within her rights to enter and inspect the facility. Since its start, the second Trump administration has dismantled crucial oversight guardrails, and this blatant attempt to punish McIver for simply doing her job is an alarming escalation. POGO is urging Congress to hold strong against intimidation and to continue being a check on the executive branch. A failure to do so would invite even more — and worse — abuses of power.

Lawmakers were attempting to visit the privately-owned detention center following reports that it is operating without required permits and violating numerous safety protocols.
This is not a one-off incident. With the recent arrests of Newark Mayor Ras Baraka and Wisconsin judge Hannah Dugan, the administration is prosecuting and attempting to silence public officials who are trying to faithfully carry out their duties and conduct oversight. “That is textbook authoritarianism,” says POGO’s David Janovsky in a press statement.
The charges against McIver have drawn criticism from across the political spectrum. A group of former Republican members of Congress issued a statement denouncing the administration’s “extreme response.”
Delaney Hall is operated by private prison giant GEO Group, ICE’s top contractor. GEO Group was awarded a $1 billion federal contract to reopen and run the detention center.
POGO has extensively investigated the conditions inside ICE detention facilities, including at private detention centers like Delaney Hall. Widespread reports of overcrowding, medical neglect, and abuse make it extremely clear why it is important that Congress conducts rigorous oversight of these facilities.

ANALYSIS

A Power Grab at the Library of Congress

Trump’s appointment of a Department of Justice official as acting librarian of Congress encroaches on the legislative branch’s independence and power, write POGO’s Faith Williams and Tim Stretton.

ABUSING POWER AND RIGHTS

More lawless deportations, now to South Sudan

On Tuesday, the Trump administration carried out more lawless renditions, this time removing a group of migrants of various nationalities with the apparent goal of sending them to South Sudan. A federal judge has ruled that the administration is “unquestionably in violation” of court orders barring them from sending migrants to ‘third countries’, and specifically where they could face dangerous conditions, without first giving them a “meaningful opportunity” to contest their removals. The men are currently being held in Djibouti, and the U.S. government is under a new court order to ensure they receive due process before they are moved anywhere else. South Sudan has a Level 4 travel advisory from the State Department, marking the country as extremely dangerous for visitors. The administration cannot continue to blatantly disregard court orders and constitutional rights. We must hold them accountable.

ANALYSIS How Trump is Disappearing Migrants: The administration’s escalating use of incommunicado detention is making it nearly impossible for people to invoke their legal protections, writes POGO’s Katherine Hawkins.
“The non-citizens at issue had fewer than 24 hours’ notice, and zero business hours’ notice, before being put on a plane and sent to a country.”: The federal judge’s order gives insight into the utter lack of due process before the renditions.
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said that habeas corpus is, “a constitutional right that the president has to be able to remove people from the country.” She couldn’t have been more wrong, and her nonsensical answer should concern everyone.

TAXPAYER TRANSPARENCY

Finally, some traction for right to repair

A recent Public Interest Research Group report found that Americans overwhelmingly want Congress to secure the military’s right to repair, so service members can actually mend and maintain the equipment they use without having to wait and rely on corporate contractors. This ability for service members to repair their own equipment greatly improves their safety, promotes military readiness, and reduces taxpayer costs — and the time is ripe for action. In Congress, House Armed Services Committee Chairman Mike Rogers (R-AL) expressed full support for right-to-repair legislation, as has Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA). Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, Army Secretary Daniel Driscoll, and Air Force Secretary Troy E. Meink have all signaled support for prioritizing right-to-repair. The lack of right-to-repair is a setup that puts contracting companies first, but with significant and bipartisan support behind the issue, we can change that.

TAKE ACTION: Get involved by emailing your member of Congress and telling them to ensure right-to-repair provisions make it into the 2026 National Defense Authorization Act.
ANALYSIS How Right-to-Repair for the Pentagon Can Save You Money: Pentagon contractors keep service members from repairing their own equipment — it’s damaging military readiness and costing taxpayers money, writes POGO’s Eryn Scheyder.