Power to the People News — March 25, 2026
Power to the People News for March 25, 2026: ICE cruelty, abortion attacks, and voting threats met with truth, dignity, and people power.
When Power Abuses, the People Respond
On March 25, 2026, the pattern is clear: those in power are normalizing state cruelty, hollowing out basic rights, and testing how much injustice the public will tolerate — from deadly ICE detention and racial profiling on tribal land, to attacks on abortion care, threats to voting by mail, and an assault on birthright citizenship itself.
But this is not the end of the story. Communities are organizing. Advocates are rising. Truth is breaking through. And people across this country are refusing to surrender their rights, their dignity, or their democracy. Power still belongs to the people — and together, we can protect our communities and each other.
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📰 Stories Shaping Power to the People Right Now
💀 Royer Perez-Jimenez, 19, Dies in Florida ICE Jail Previously Flagged for Abuse
Royer Perez-Jimenez, a 19-year-old from Mexico, died at Glades County Detention Center in Florida after being transferred to ICE custody over a misdemeanor scooter stop. ICE called it a “presumed suicide,” even though he had shown no intake behavioral health concerns, and the facility had already been flagged by Congress for abuse before Trump reopened it in 2025. Truthout
Why This Matters: Forty-nine people have died in immigration detention since Trump returned to office, and Congress still has not launched a single investigation.
🪶 ICE Is Profiling Native Americans on Sovereign Land — Tribes Are Organizing
ICE has been stopping enrolled tribal citizens in Washington state, including near Lummi Nation land, despite tribal IDs being federally recognized and Native people being U.S. citizens. In response, tribes are posting sovereignty signs, expanding ID protections, and building legal hotlines as fear disrupts community life and local markets. Seattle Times
Why This Matters: This is not immigration enforcement. It is racial profiling that targets Native people on their own land.
⚠️ ICE Whistleblower: Agents Graduate Without Knowing How — or When — to Use Deadly Force
Former ICE instructor Ryan Schwank told Congress the agency slashed training from 72 to 42 days and cut core instruction on constitutional limits, lawful arrests, deadly force, and protesters’ rights. ICE plans to rush more than 3,000 new agents through this weakened system. Seattle Times
Why This Matters: When officers are trained less on constitutional rights and use of force, harm is not a mistake. It is a policy choice.
🪖 The Pentagon Is Recruiting Civilian Workers to Volunteer for ICE Operations
The Pentagon asked civilian employees to volunteer for ICE and CBP operations, and hundreds have already been deployed to help with logistics, detainee management, and planning. This comes as DHS remains in a funding standoff with Congress. The Intercept
Why This Matters: Military infrastructure is being folded into domestic immigration enforcement while public accountability is bypassed.
🏛️ Trump’s HHS Opens Investigations Into 13 States for Protecting Abortion Coverage
HHS launched investigations into 13 states that require insurance coverage for abortion care, threatening funding cuts and DOJ action. Advocates say this is federal coercion aimed at states protecting reproductive freedom. The Hill
Why This Matters: This weaponizes federal power against states trying to preserve abortion access.
🚰 Rep. Mary Miller’s “Clean Water” Bill Is a Junk-Science Assault on Abortion Pills
Mary Miller’s bill would ban telehealth abortion care and criminalize medication abortion patients using false claims about water contamination. Researchers say there is no scientific basis for it. HuffPost
Why This Matters: It is an abortion ban disguised as public health policy.
🌴 Florida Advocates Rally for the Reproductive Freedom Act — and Refuse to Back Down
Advocates rallied at the Florida Capitol for the Reproductive Freedom Act and repeal of the state’s six-week abortion ban, even as Republicans hold a supermajority. WUSF
Why This Matters: Even in hostile states, people are still organizing for care and freedom.
🗳️ Supreme Court Hears Case That Could Eliminate Mail Ballot Grace Periods Across 29 States
The Court heard arguments in a case that could end mail ballot grace periods in up to 29 states, threatening access for millions of voters, including military and overseas voters. New York Times
Why This Matters: This is part of a broader effort to narrow who gets to vote and whose ballot counts.
⛪ Catholic Bishops File a Searing Moral Rebuke to Trump’s Birthright Citizenship Order
The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops urged the Supreme Court to reject Trump’s birthright citizenship order, calling it a moral and constitutional failure. Slate
Why This Matters: Birthright citizenship exists to stop governments from declaring some children less worthy than others.
💸 2,000 Tariff Lawsuits and Counting — Companies Demand Refunds as Trump Stalls
After the Supreme Court struck down Trump’s tariffs, more than 2,000 companies sued for refunds while the administration tried to delay accountability. Bloomberg
Why This Matters: Courts checked executive overreach once. Now they must make that accountability real.
💥 Your Power in Action: What You Can Do Today
💥 Take action: Tell Republicans: End the Shutdown by Reforming ICE and CBP
✅ Take action: Denounce Trump’s Inhumane Response to Robert Mueller’s Death
➡️ Take action: Stop the Republican Attack on Voting Rights
📢 Take action: Submit an official comment rejecting the criminalization of dissent
💸 Take action: This Tax Day, tell Congress to tax the rich and make life more affordable for working people and families
🗳️ Take action: Tell Congress to stop the SAVE America Act and defend the right to vote
🪖 Take action: Tell Congress to stop Trump from sending American troops into Iran and vote no on the draft
📣 Take action: Tell Congress to pass the War Powers Resolution and stop Trump’s illegal war in Iran
🛑 Take Action Now: Tell Congress: Block the $10 billion scam to fund Trump’s Orwellian Board of Peace
🗳️ Bonus action: Register to vote, vote in every election, and help your community do the same. Reproductive freedom is won and lost at the ballot box.
👑 Bonus action: Sign up for the next national No Kings Day of Action and show up in solidarity with everyone whose rights are under attack.
The movement for progress and power to the people starts here.
🔥 What Comes Next: The Work Is Ours
These are not random headlines. They are warning signs of a governing strategy built on cruelty, fear, and unchecked power: a young man dead in an ICE jail known for abuse, Native people profiled on sovereign land, undertrained agents rushed into the field, Pentagon support for immigration enforcement, and new attacks on abortion access, voting rights, and birthright citizenship. This is what abuse of power looks like when it stops pretending to be normal.
But the story does not end there. Courts are stepping in, advocates are sounding the alarm, and communities are refusing to surrender their rights or their dignity. Hope is not passive. It is people telling the truth, protecting one another, and showing up again and again until justice cannot be ignored.
Together, we can champion our rights, freedoms, and democracy, hold our leaders accountable to the people’s will, and inspire voters to make a meaningful difference.
Laurie Woodward Garcia (paid with hugs and kisses, not bought by special interests) Leader, People Power United
People Power United | In this community, we will always speak out against racism, xenophobia, Islamophobia, antisemitism, homophobia, misogyny, sexism, ageism, ableism, sizeism, elitism, transphobia, misogynoir, and bigotry!
This is our moment to rise, resist, and reclaim our rights, freedoms, rule of law, and democracy. Millions of Americans are already refusing to back down — in the streets, at the ballot box, and in their communities.
Every movement that was ever won started with people who refused to quit. We are those people.
The future is not lost. It is being built — by us, right now.