National Populist Newsletter
June 8th-15th
United States
Immigration
After receiving pressure from Agricultural Secretary Brooke Rollins, President Trump has ordered ICE to largely pause raids and arrests in the agricultural industry, hotels, and restaurants. The email sent by a senior ICE official, Tatum King, to regional leaders of the ICE department explained that investigations involving “human trafficking, money laundering, and drug smuggling in these industries are OK.” But it said — crucially — that agents were not to make arrests of “noncriminal collaterals,” a reference to people who are illegally in the country but who are not known to have committed any crime. Rollins has always been notoriously weak on immigration, advocating for amnesty back when she ran a think tank and during the first Trump term. It is no surprise that she is once again pushing Trump to back off from his campaign promises. (The New York Times)
House Republicans, joined by eight Democrats, passed a bill that would ward off noncitizens from receiving Small Business Administration loans. (Politico)
Economy
Consumer sentiment soared in early June, rising for the first time in six months and posting its most substantial monthly gain since January 2024, according to preliminary data released Friday by the University of Michigan. Fears of tariff-driven inflation have subsided as prices for cars, clothing, and durable goods have declined. (Breitbart News)
President Trump approved U.S. Steel’s merger with Japan’s Nippon Steel after the companies signed a national security agreement with the U.S. government. U.S. Steel and Nippon stated that the national security agreement will grant the U.S. government a “golden share” and entail specific commitments related to governance, domestic production, and trade. The national security agreement calls for Nippon to make $11 billion in new investments by 2028, including the hiring of thousands of new domestic steel workers. (CNBC)
Government data showed that the size of the workforce shrank in May, in part due to the most significant back-to-back decline in the number of foreign-born workers in the labor force since 2020. An estimated one million foreigners have left the labor force since March. This suggests that Trump’s plan to have illegal immigrants self deport is working, early numbers from CDC Wonder also saw a slight decrease in Latino and Asian birthrates, though the numbers only go till April, so more data will be needed to show a correlation between declining ethnic birthrates and decreased labor force participation among immigrants. (Bloomberg News)
Tech
ChatGPT indulged users with wild conspiracy theories and created digital relationships, causing several users to spiral out of control. Some users claim that the program is designed to validate users’ doubts, fears, and anger. (The New York Times)
Electric bills across the country are rising faster than the rate of inflation, partially due to the increased expense of natural gas and investments in the national grid. Still, a significant reason in some states is the construction of new data centers. The “unprecedented” demand from new and planned data centers is the primary driver, according to a report from Monitoring Analytics, the independent grid monitor for PJM, which provides power to 13 states and Washington, D.C. (The Wall Street Journal)
Four senior executives from tech giants like Meta and Palantir are being sworn in as direct-commissioned officers in the Army Reserve at the unusually high rank of lieutenant colonel as part of a new program aimed at recruiting private-sector experts and accelerating the adoption of technology. (Task and Purpose)
Education
Chicago’s public schools are facing a significant enrollment decline, having lost over 70,000 students in the last decade. Still, the school district has refused to close schools, leaving 150 half empty and 47 with a student population that’s a third of the population capacity. This has led to the cost of educating each student being higher than the median $18,700 that the district pays per student. The most extreme example is Frederick Douglass Academy High School, which has 28 students this year and a per-student cost of $93,000. (Pro Publica)