ICE Detainees Are On Hunger Strike (5/20/26)
Help spotlight a brave act of resistance in Adelanto. Plus we've got our picks for key House races, movement on reconciliation and war powers, and more
⚡ Data centers could hike power costs by 50% in some states over the next four years… let’s join Food & Water Action TONIGHT at 8PM ET for a training on how to identify pressure points where we can stop them in local fights ⚡
TOO LONG, DIDN’T READ
Push for coverage of a hunger strike at a California ICE detention camp
New slate of Democratic nominees for November confirmed, volunteer for Keisha Lance Bottoms and Jon Ossoff in Georgia and Bob Brooks, Paige Cognetti and Janelle Stelson in Pennsylvania
Full Senate could start votes on ICE/CBP/ballroom funding by tomorrow, we may be near a breakthrough on Iran war powers
Trans rights under assault: tell senators to protect access to student loan forgiveness, reps to oppose a don’t say trans law, and HUD to stop trying to put non-gender conforming people on the street
Tomorrow at 7PM ET, learn about your volunteer options for voter protection OR how you can lead registration drives, canvasses and more this summer
If you have questions, comments, and especially submissions for actions, please email us at roganslisttips@gmail.com!
HUNGER STRIKE IN ONE OF THE MOST NOTORIOUS ICE CAMPS
Over the last 48 hours, we’ve learned via local activists and independent journalist Nick Valencia that approximately 20 detainees being held at the notorious Adelanto ICE Processing Center are on a hunger strike. In their press release, they reported already being in poor health and underfed due to staff neglect, and are demanding due process, bond reform, improved conditions, adequate medical and mental health care, decent food, accountability for deaths at the facility and the right to organize and communicate.
At least four people - Ismael Ayala-Uribe, Gabriel Garcia-Aviles, Alberto Gutierrez Reyes and Jose Guadalupe Ramos-Solano - have died while being held at this GEO Group-run detention camp in San Bernardino County, California since September, with multiple accusations of staff denying folks necessary medical care. Detainees have reported physical and sexual abuse, said they’ve been refused a change of clothes, underwear or towels, and advocates have reported inadequate access to clean food and water and other unsafe and unsanitary conditions. It’s been the subject of multiple federal investigations and civil rights lawsuits, and as reported here by Popular Information the California Attorney General’s office has found staffing has failed to keep up with the growing number of detainees.
Families of migrants held at Adelanto and advocates are holding a virtual press conference this morning at 10AM ET/7AM PT. We’re being asked to help get more coverage of this hunger strike and detainees’ demands. Let’s do our part! We can reach out to local outlets to urge them to cover this protest, such as:
Los Angeles Times here or at tips@latimes.com
CalMatters at 916-502-9986 or tips@calmatters.org
KCAL (CBS affiliate) here, at kcalkcbsdesk@cbs.com or at 818-221-2222
KNBC (NBC affiliate) here
KMEX (Univision affiliate) here
KABC (ABC affiliate) here or at 877-777-6397
KVEA (local Telemundo affiliate) here
KVCR (local PBS station) here
KOCE (local PBS station) here
ELECTION NIGHT RUNDOWN: WELL, THE GOOD NEWS IS WE’VE GOT A GREAT SLATE IN PENNSYLVANIA
But first, the bad news from yesterday’s elections: both Republican-appointed supreme court justices will retain their seats in Georgia, with Sarah Warren defeating former state senator Jen Jordan by more than 18 points and Charlie Bethel leading trial attorney Miracle Rankin 51.2-48.8 with 96% of expected votes in. This is a pretty bitter disappointment for those of us watching and volunteering on this race, but it should be placed in context: as an ostensibly non-partisan race, the only markings on the ballot were the “I” for incumbent next to Bethel and Warren, and no sitting justice has been voted out since 1922. Clearly, there’s still a lot of work to do to change how voters see these races. Regardless, thank you to every member of the Rogan’s List community who was part of this.
In a more predictable troubling development, Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) became the latest victim of Trump’s efforts to crush any Republican who dare speak up against him, falling 54.9-45.1 to farmer Ed Gallrein and the full weight of the White House’s political machine. This confirms again: it’s His party, and given the choice between supporting exposing pedophiles and supporting Dear Leader, a lot of this primary electorate is going to go with the latter. An important message for the campaign trail: no Republican with a future is going to deny Trump anything.
Now for some more positive news!
Democrats continued to substantially outrun their 2024 performance in special elections, with Ron Ruman earning 43.7% in a district that only gave Kamala Harris 33%.
We have our nominees for the top offices in Georgia, as former Atlanta mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms secured enough support to lock up the primary for the governor’s race. Both she and Senator Jon Ossoff will have a head start on the general, with Republicans headed to a June 16 runoff between Lieutenant Governor Burt Jones and healthcare billionaire Rick Jackson for governor and scandal-plagued Rep. Mike Collins and lousy football coach Derek Dooley for senator. 🙋🏻♂️ Clearly we’ve still got a ways to go to make Georgia a blue state, so let’s get to it! We can sign up to volunteer for Keisha Lance Bottoms here and Jon Ossoff here. 🙋🏻♀️
We also now have our full slate of challengers for four competitive congressional races in Pennsylvania!
Bucks County Commissioner Bob Harvie will take on pro-SAVE Act, pro-tariff, pro-Iran War “moderate” Brian Fitzpatrick in the First District, one of just three won by Kamala Harris and a Republican congressman in 2024. We’ll be keeping up with ways to help him out!
Bob Brooks, Working Families Party-endorsed union leader and former firefighter, won the chance to take on Ryan Mackenzie in PA-7, one of the swingiest districts in the country. Mackenzie was a crucial vote to pass the MAGA murder budget to slash Medicaid and pour billions into ICE, hijack our voting systems, and defund USAID, NPR and PBS. 🙋🏻♂️ We can sign up to volunteer for Bob Brooks here. 🙋🏻♀️
Scranton Mayor Paige Cognetti was the only qualified candidate to make the ballot in PA-8 and is now confirmed to go up against habitual stock trader Rep. Rob Bresnahan. 🙋🏻♂️ Hum The Office’s theme song and sign up to volunteer for Mayor Cognetti here. 🙋🏻♀️
Former news anchor Janelle Stelson easily won the nod for a rematch with Trump coup co-conspirator Scott Perry, after falling just 5,000 votes short in 2024. 🙋🏻♂️ We can sign up to help hold Perry accountable here. 🙋🏻♀️
CONGRESS INCHES TOWARDS THE FINISH LINE ON FUNDING DEPORTATIONS, FACES A TURNING POINT ON IRAN WAR
Senate Republicans have been scrambling to rewrite their ICE-CBP funding bill after the parliamentarian ruled several major pieces, including Trump’s ballroom funding, wouldn’t be able to pass with 51 votes through the reconciliation process. The most recent version is likely to get voted out of the Senate Budget Committee today, putting it in position for a floor vote. Its current price tag is $62 billion, including $38 billion for ICE and $16 billion for the Border Patrol in addition to the $170 billion they gave them in last year’s budget, and all without a single additional restraint to stop them from terrorizing our communities.
Leadership hopes to start the long, draining process of amendment votes before the full Senate tomorrow, although there’s still a lot of kinks to work out – including the $1 billion for Trump’s ballroom, which is still in the latest draft in spite of enough Republicans being in opposition to force its removal.
Senator Thom Tillis (R-NC) has indicated he won’t support the bill for the moment, meaning fast passage could be dicey. We’ve obviously seen this movie before and it ends with the GOP giving Trump what he wants. But there’s now a decent number of Senate Republicans with critical votes whose career Trump has ended, which could create some drama. 🗣️ Just in case, let’s make sure we’re calling our electeds and telling them we want not a single penny going to the deportation machine’s lawlessness and violence. We can find call scripts for GOP senators here and GOP House members here and an email tool for Democrats here. 🗣️
There is genuine reason for us Charlie Browns to run at the football again, as we’ve already seen Trump’s vengeance tour shift the political ground this week. Yesterday, Senator Bill Cassidy, fresh off coming in third in the Louisiana GOP primary after being targeted by the president, became the fourth Republican to join all non-Fetterman Democrats in favor of advancing an Iran war powers resolution. This provided enough votes to discharge the resolution from committee and send it to the full floor. With a final vote of 50-47, the three GOP absences would still be enough to allow J.D. Vance to block it… if previous Trump purge victim Tillis and John Cornyn, whose primary opponent the president just endorsed, stay on the no side.
Today, we’ll see the House vote on a similar resolution. After last week’s 212-212 tie, there is a real chance we’ll see passage this time around – Rep. Jared Golden (D-ME) has indicated he is finally prepared to join the rest of the party in supporting the end of the war, and Rep. Frederica Wilson (D-FL) may be set to return to DC after undergoing surgery. 🗣️ We can find language here to demand our reps support a war powers resolution and here to tell them we expect them to oppose further spending for Trump’s bombings. We can also join Indivisible in phonebanking to drive more calls to Congress against Trump’s wars from 2:30-4:30PM ET today here.🗣️
TWO CALLS AND A COMMENT TO SUPPORT TRANS RIGHTS
Trans rights are under assault in this country. Republicans think they can push this marginalized community out of public life with minimal resistance, and there’s been far too much talk within the political class and the commentariat about the Democratic Party needing to sacrifice them to win back votes. We need to make sure elected officials on both sides of the aisle understand how many Americans care and will hold them accountable for how they treat our trans siblings. We have a few ways to do so this week.
Trump has instituted changes to eligibility for the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program, excluding borrowers who work for organizations or institutions that serve LGBTQ+ youth, immigrants, reproductive health care, racial and social equity and survivors of gender-based violence. When this goes into effect on July 1st, as many as two million people will lose out on student debt relief. Senator Tim Kaine (D-VA) will force a vote on a resolution TODAY to repeal these changes and protect these services. 🗣️ Let’s urge our senators to vote yes on S.J. Res 182 – we can find an email tool from Advocates for Trans Equality here and call scripts from 5Calls here. 🗣️
We could also see a vote as soon as TODAY in the House on a national Don’t Say Trans and forced outing bill. H.R. 2616 would require educators to disclose a student’s gender identity to their legal guardians and obtain the guardian’s consent before allowing them access to appropriate bathrooms or even calling them by their chosen name and pronouns. Schools wouldn’t even be able to discuss gender identity or sexual orientation with their students – acknowledging a student or teacher is LGBTQ+ would cost them federal funding. 🗣️ Let’s get one more call in to our reps to oppose this attack on trans kids. We can find call scripts from 5Calls here and an email tool from Advocates for Trans Equality here. 🗣️
Meanwhile, comments are now open on a proposed rule by Trump’s Department of Housing and Urban Development that would eliminate gender identity protections in federal housing. This could allow federally-funded housing providers to discriminate against trans, intersex and nonbinary tenants and force federally-funded shelters to deny access to unhoused trans folks. This is particularly cruel for a community already experiencing disproportionate levels and risks of homelessness. ✍🏻 Let’s submit comments to the Federal Register here to make our opposition known before the June 29th deadline. We can find more information, talking points and guidance on how to comment effectively from A4TE here. ✍🏻
(Thanks to a reader for flagging this one!)
WE’LL WIN, AND WE’LL PROTECT THE WINS
After all the gerrymanders are over, analysis by G. Elliott Morris suggests that in the worst-case scenario Democrats will need to win the House popular vote by four points to flip the chamber. A poll earlier this week had them leading on the generic congressional ballot by 11. Needless to say, we’re still well positioned for a blue wave in November… if we can get our voters counted and our victories certified.
Tomorrow night, we’ll have two opportunities to get involved in the work of protecting this election. At 7:00PM ET, Third Act Maryland is bringing together folks from VoteRiders, VoPro Pros and Red2Blue to talk about how we can get plugged into the work of registering voters, educating folks about rule changes, ballot curing, staffing voter hotlines and poll watching. 🗳️ We can sign up for this info session here. 🗳️
If we’re familiar with the work and ready to lead, the organizers of the Good Trouble Lives On Weekend of Action scheduled for July 17-19 will be running a call for potential event hosts, also at 7PM ET! They’re asking folks to run registration drives, status checks, poll worker recruitment and Know Your Rights trainings in a summer festival of democracy! 🗳️ Hosts can sign up to learn more here. 🗳️
👀 KEEPING AN EYE ON… 👀
NEWS: Homeland Security Committee Republicans block Senator Gallego attempt to bar Trump’s slush fund for allies, deal revealed to have permanently barred IRS from examining Trump tax returns, Treasury Department legal chief resigns shortly after corrupt bargain announced - keep pushing reps to stop this steal
NEWS: Trump revealed to have traded millions in stocks while boosting companies publicly
NEWS: Victims in terror attack on San Diego mosque identified as Amin Abdullah, Nader Awad and Mansour Kaziha; security guard Abdullah was father of eight, credited with saving many lives
NEWS: NAACP urges Black athletes, donors to avoid schools in states suppressing Black political power
NEWS: 95% of Ohio ICE detainees had no violent criminal history
NEWS: High school senior leads fight against human warehouse in Surprise, Arizona
NEWS: Colorado Supreme Court orders Children’s Hospital to resume gender-affirming care for trans youth
Looking for ways to get engaged in the midterms? Here’s a full list!
Upcoming fights in Congress - oppose a Farm Bill preserving food assistance cuts, continued warrantless wiretapping, continuing the Iran war - plus start pushing members of Congress to block strikes on Cuba
Republicans are trying to redraw district lines to steal these midterms - demand blue states fight fire with fire
Project Salt Box reports ICE aims to start contracts for co-working spaces in June - see if your community is on the target list, push owners and agents not to deal with them
REI union calls for an anniversary sale boycott through May 25th
Good Trouble Lives On voting rights weekend of action July 17th-19th - register events here, join potential host call TOMORROW to learn more
Submit public comments against “warnings” of trans-related content on TV before Friday
Support the Starbucks workers union in encouraging customers to delete the app Saturday, take the #NoContractNoCoffee pledge
Apply to train as a tenant union organizer by June 15th, info session May 27th
De-ICE Citizens Bank coalition day of action at branches nationwide June 6th - find a protest near us or organize our own
Get Free, 50501 hold All of U.S. 250 mobilizations nationwide June 27th
Public Citizen identifies 446 hospitals at risk thanks to the MAGA murder budget, let’s make sure folks in our community know we’re in danger and who’s to blame
I think of these people being unlawfully detained every single day. This is SO wrong.