In today’s newsletter: The Trump administration’s unprecedented plan to turn over IRS records to Homeland Security; inside ICE Air; the rising costs of climate change; and more from our newsroom.
ProPublica has obtained the blueprint for the Trump administration’s unprecedented plan to turn over IRS records to Homeland Security in order to speed up the agency’s mass deportation efforts.
Earlier this year, reporter McKenzie Funk spoke with current and former flight attendants for GlobalX, the private charter airline at the center of Trump’s immigration crackdown. They expressed concern about their inability to treat passengers humanely and to keep them safe. Here are some highlights from that investigation:
Unexpected Role: Flight attendants were told they would fly rock bands, sports teams and sun-seekers. Then Global Crossing Airlines started expanding into federal deportation flights.
Human Struggles: Some flight attendants said they ignored orders not to interact with detainees. “I’d say ‘hola’ back,” said one flight attendant. “We’re not jerks.”
Safety Concerns: Flight attendants received training in how to evacuate passengers but said they weren’t told how to usher out detainees whose hands and legs were bound by shackles.
Estimated cost of the damage from major storms in the U.S. in 2024; that’s nearly 10 times the average annual toll during the 1980s, after accounting for inflation. Read more about how climate change is making disasters more common, more deadly and far more costly, even as the federal government is running away from the policies that might begin to protect the nation.
