Today at Ms. | September 1, 2026 - With Today at Ms. —a daily newsletter from the team here at Ms. magazine—our top stories are delivered straight to your inbox every afternoon, so you’ll be informed and ready to fight back.
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‘If We Didn’t Do It, Who Would?’: Meet the N.C. College Students Leading the Fight for Campus Voting Access
By Claire Masquida and Kennedi Munson | Republicans on the Wake County Board of Elections voted 3-2 earlier this summer to remove North Carolina State University’s Talley Student Union as an early voting site. The student center had served as an early voting location during the 2012, 2018, 2020 and 2024 general elections.
This year, early voting will instead take place at the Business Services Center, about 1.7 miles from campus. Republican board member Donna Williams says the new location is “very easily accessible for everybody.” But turnout data suggests the student union was far more convenient for voters: During the 2020 and 2024 presidential elections, more than 21,000 people voted early there, compared with about 11,000 at the Business Services Center.
The move is the latest in a series of decisions eliminating on-campus polling locations across the state.
One of the schools losing their on-campus polling location, North Carolina A&T State University, has a long history of activism: Four NC A&T freshmen launched the Greensboro sit-in movement in 1960, helping ignite a wave of nonviolent civil rights protests across the South.
When election officials refused to approve an early voting site on campus ahead of the 2026 primary, students drew on that history—packing government meetings, organizing transportation and ultimately leading a march to an off-campus polling place.
Kennedy Bozeman, Khadijah Barry and Tatiana James were among the women at the center of that student organizing. They spoke with Ms. about the difference between nominal and meaningful access to the ballot, what political leaders misunderstand about young voters, and why they see their work as part of a much longer fight.
“Having a polling site on campus makes everything 10 times easier and more accessible.”
“This work can be emotionally draining. But there is joy in it, too, because I am fighting for what my ancestors fought for …”
“A big part of my motivation is John Lewis. He was 21 when he began his fight for civil rights, and we are all around that same age. That shows me I’m in the right place and doing what the leaders who came before me did.”
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Nine Books by Black Women About Travel, Belonging and the Search for Home
By Ebony Walden | Over the years, I’ve immersed myself in the stories of other Black women, not only as literary models, but as encouragement that the world might actually want to hear my story, my lessons and my truth. These books reminded me I am part of a long lineage of brave Black women who decided to leave home in search of adventure and themselves. The following memoirs, anthologies and novels explore movement across borders while grappling with history, race, identity, belonging, faith, joy and ultimately, home.
To read more, please visit: [link removed]
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The Deportation of 5-Year-Old Liam Tadeo Signals a Darker Era for Immigration Policy
By Mary Giovagnoli | Five-year-old Liam Tadeo and his dad, Victor Martinez Nieto, planned to spend the last day of summer before kindergarten playing soccer. Instead, on Sunday, Aug. 16, on the way to Liam’s game, ICE agents pulled them over, arrested them and sent both father and son to a family detention center in Dilley, Texas.
Victor begged ICE to release Liam to his mom, but according to their attorney, Kate Lincoln-Goldfinch, ICE ignored the request. (ICE did not respond to a request for comment.)
It became clear that if Victor—who does not have legal status in the United States—chose to fight his detention or deportation, he risked losing Liam. DHS would likely treat Liam as an “unaccompanied minor” and send him to the Office of Refugee Resettlement for placement in a shelter or foster care, despite the presence of his mother and other family members ready and able to care for him.
The family decided to accept the deportation order, despite the wrenching consequences of taking Liam from his family and his home. At least, this way, he will be with his dad in Mexico.
ICE deported Liam and Victor on Aug. 28.
According to Lincoln-Goldfinch, Liam wasn’t able to say goodbye to his mother.
Such cruelty has become the norm in Trump’s immigration regime, but it is carried out quietly and with brutal efficiency. ICE arrested more than 46,000 people in July alone; for the first time, arrests of people without a criminal record surpassed the number of individuals arrested based (however tangentially) on a past criminal arrest or conviction.
Change didn’t come in time for Liam and his family, but hundreds of thousands of children, regardless of their immigration status, can still be protected. Restoring a fair and just system demands political courage, public outrage, and major policy reform. But it begins by exposing the subtle, despicable tactics that turn children like Liam Tadeo into pawns of immigration policy.
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Tune in for a new episode of Ms. magazine's podcast, On the Issues with Michele Goodwin, at MsMagazine.com, ([link removed]) Apple Podcasts ([link removed]) or wherever you listen to podcasts.
In this episode, Dr. Goodwin breaks down what the latest Supreme Court ruling on voting rights actually says and what it doesn’t. (Of course, it means everyone’s hair is on fire.) Given that this Supreme Court has tried in every way possible to make it more difficult for people to vote, dismantling the Voting Rights Act—an act that had been supported over the years by both Republicans and also Democrats—what hot mess is next?
[link removed] We hope you'll listen, subscribe, rate and review today!
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