Megan O'Matz

‘So sudden, so jarring’: Immigration ruling streamlines deportations to countries asylum seekers barely know A Board of Immigration Appeals decision makes it easier for federal officials to toss thousands of asylum cases and send applicants to a “third country” where they have never lived. But the mechani…

ICE arrested a man in Manitowoc seeking asylum from Nicaragua before his Nov. 4 hearing before an immigration court judge. Now he may be deported to a third country: Honduras. A system where rule of law is replaced by "crazy arbitrariness" @wisconsinwatch.org wisconsinwatch.org/2025/11/wisc...

Brad D. Schimel Appointed as Interim United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Wisconsin

Here is the announcement www.justice.gov/usao-edwi/pr...

Who Is Elon Musk Helping Now? A Judicial Candidate Who’s a Big Trump Fan.

Wisconsin Judge Brad Schimel, a Trump loyalist, lost his 2025 race for the state Supreme Court, even though Elon Musk poured over $20 million into his campaign. Now, the Trump administration appointed Schimel as the US Attorney for the Eastern District of Wisconsin. www.nytimes.com/2025/03/13/u...

He Vowed to “Protect the Unborn.” Now He’s Blocking a Bill to Expand Medicaid for Wisconsin’s New Moms. Splitting with anti-abortion members of his own party, Wisconsin Assembly Speaker Robin Vos has refused to join 48 other states in ensuring that vulnerable women have access to potentially lifesaving ...

In 48 other states, new moms have access to Medicaid for up to one year after they give birth. Not in Wisconsin.

There, the limit remains two months. And it’s only because of one man: Assembly Speaker Robin Vos. / My latest story for @propublica.org www.propublica.org/article/wisc...

“I Lost Everything”: Venezuelans Were Rounded Up in a Dramatic Midnight Raid but Never Charged With a Crime Authorities said Tren de Aragua “terrorists” had taken over the building. A ProPublica investigation found little evidence to back up the government’s claims. For the first time, the Venezuelans arres...

“It’s 20,000 of them running through my house like we got Saddam Hussein in the closet." Read the definitive story of the US military-like raid on a Chicago apartment building & the false claims that led to extraordinary force. / by @melissa-sanchez.bsky.social + www.propublica.org/article/chic...

How Trump Has Exploited Pardons and Clemency to Reward Allies and Supporters The president’s second term has brought a flood of clemency for allies and donors — as well as felons, like him, who were convicted of financial wrongdoing.

Trump had a rare opportunity to fix the clemency system. Instead, experts said, he has exploited it.

“If you’re a donor or political supporter, you move to the front of the line.” /by @jeremykohler.bsky.social www.propublica.org/article/trum...

Trump pardons Wisconsin fake electors & two legal architects of the effort to overturn the 2020 election: Carol Brunner, Mary Buestrin, Darryl Carlson, Andrew Hitt, Kelly Ruh, Bob Spindell, Pam Travis, Kenneth Chesebro, Jim Troupis. / by @mollybeck.bsky.social www.jsonline.com/story/news/p...

Families of the missing in Syria were looking in the wrong place. Using drone footage, journalist @mcneill.bsky.social & @reuters.com team proved the Assad government ordered bodies trucked from a known mass grave & dumped in new secret trenches. A ghastly story: www.reuters.com/investigates...

Wisconsin's governor today signed a bipartisan bill banning cellphone use in classes by July 2026. "It’s really tough to be a kid these days & we know that cellphones can be a major distraction from learning, a source of bullying & a barrier to our kids’ important work of just being a kid," he said.

U.S. Postal Service Cuts Funding for a Phoenix Mail Room Assisting Homeless People The loss of support comes at a time of uncertainty for one of Arizona’s largest homeless services providers as the Trump administration calls for reducing and restructuring homelessness assistance gra...

Can Americans save a Phoenix mail room that provides a small but valuable service: helping unhoused people obtain their mail? The US Post Office cut its contribution - only $24,000 a year, as @nicolesantacruz.bsky.social discovered. www.propublica.org/article/phoe...

These Activists Want to Dismantle Public Schools. Now They Run the Education Department. Under Trump, the Department of Education has been bringing in activists hostile to public schools. It could mean a new era of private and religious schools boosted by tax dollars — and the end of publ...

Conservative education activists such as Moms for Liberty co-founder Tiffany Justice have access to the top levers of the government.

“If America’s public schools cease to exist tomorrow, America would be a better place,” Justice told ProPublica.

@megomatz.bsky.social @jsmithrichards.bsky.social

Five Ways the Department of Education Is Upending Public Schools The Trump administration has made a rapid succession of hires and decisions at the Department of Education that could spur profound changes in how schools operate and children learn. Here’s what to kn...

Education Secretary Linda McMahon has tapped Meg Kilgannon, who advocates for more Christian leadership in school districts, as a top adviser.

Kilgannon has decried the removal of spirituality as a topic from classrooms.

By @megomatz.bsky.social and @jsmithrichards.bsky.social

Wisconsin's food stamp program (called FoodShare) will run out of funding in a matter of days due to the federal government shutdown, the governor said, affecting nearly 700,000 residents. "Benefits may not be available in November," the state website says. content.govdelivery.com/attachments/...

This Is Ground Zero in the Conservative Quest for More Patriotic and Christian Public Schools Oklahoma has spent years reshaping public schools to integrate lessons about Jesus and encourage pride in America’s history. By the time the second Trump administration began espousing its “America Fi...

Oklahoma has spent years reshaping public schools to integrate lessons about Jesus & foster patriotic pride in US history. By the time the 2nd Trump admin began espousing its “America First” agenda, OK had been there, done that. / by @jsmithrichards.bsky.social
www.propublica.org/article/trum...

What You Should Know About Russ Vought, Trump’s Shadow President Vought is the architect of President Trump’s broader plan to fire civil servants, freeze government programs and dismantle entire agencies. Here are some key things to know about the D.C. insider who wants to take a hatchet to the federal government.

NEW: Vought is the architect of President Trump’s broader plan to fire civil servants, freeze government programs and dismantle entire agencies.

Here are some key things to know about the D.C. insider who wants to take a hatchet to the federal government.

More Than 170 U.S. Citizens Have Been Held by Immigration Agents. They’ve Been Kicked, Dragged and Detained for Days. The government does not track how often immigration agents grab citizens. So ProPublica did. Our tally — almost certainly incomplete — includes people who were held for days without a lawyer. And near...

When federal officers roll through communities in the way the Supreme Court permitted, the constitutional rights of both citizens and noncitizens are inevitably violated, argued David Bier, the director of immigration studies at the libertarian Cato Institute. www.propublica.org/article/immi...

Justice Brett Kavanaugh ruled that ICE could consider race in LA raids & that citizens shouldn’t be concerned about being swept up. He was wrong. Reporter @nicolefoy.bsky.social found more than 170 citizens have been detained, sometimes for days, without charges or with flimsy premises.

These Activists Want to Dismantle Public Schools. Now They Run the Education Department. Under Trump, the Department of Education has been bringing in activists hostile to public schools. It could mean a new era of private and religious schools boosted by tax dollars — and the end of publ...

Among the Education Department’s new appointees is Lindsey Burke, the lead author of Project 2025’s education section.

She envisions dramatic enrollment declines for public schools: “We’re going to have a lot of empty school buildings.”

By @megomatz.bsky.social @jsmithrichards.bsky.social

How Trump is Building a Violent, Shadowy Federal Police Force Trump’s DHS appointees have dismantled civil rights guardrails, protected agents’ anonymity and encouraged them to wear masks, threatened groups that stood in their way, and overwhelmed legal challeng...

When ICE stormed through Santa Ana, CA, panicked calls flooded into the city’s emergency response system.

Recordings obtained by @propublica.org captured the terror residents felt as they watched masked men ambush people and force them into unmarked cars. / Story by @davidmcswane.bsky.social

Help ProPublica Report on Education ProPublica needs your help to track how the upheaval of public education is affecting schools and colleges in your community. Take a few minutes to join our source network and help guide our coverage.

Current and former Department of Education employees: We want to hear from you.

Use Signal to contact our reporters @jsmithrichards.bsky.social at jsmithrichards.93, @jodiscohen.bsky.social at jodireporter.88 or @megomatz.bsky.social at 414-207-6225.

This 4-year-old's heart is failing. A federal grant that might help him was canceled A Cornell University researcher has been developing an artificial heart for children for more than 20 years. Now, his research is on hold and his lab is shut down.

How Trump's research cuts affect a 4-year-old in heart failure

www.npr.org/2025/10/09/n...

Five Ways the Department of Education Is Upending Public Schools The Trump administration has made a rapid succession of hires and decisions at the Department of Education that could spur profound changes in how schools operate and children learn. Here’s what to kn...

Five Ways Trump’s Department of Education Is Upending Public Schools, by @megomatz.bsky.social @jsmithrichards.bsky.social

These Activists Want to Dismantle Public Schools. Now They Run the Education Department. Under Trump, the Department of Education has been bringing in activists hostile to public schools. It could mean a new era of private and religious schools boosted by tax dollars — and the end of publ...

To understand the Trump administration’s vision for American education, @megomatz.bsky.social and I studied dozens of hours of political appointees’ speeches and podcasts and essays. What emerged is a desire to dismantle the nation’s system of public schools.

These Activists Want to Dismantle Public Schools. Now They Run the Education Department. Under Trump, the Department of Education has been bringing in activists hostile to public schools. It could mean a new era of private and religious schools boosted by tax dollars — and the end of publ...

The Trump administration is working to dramatically expand school choice, moving kids to a range of private & religious schools or homeschooling. Ultimately, what percentage of children would remain in public schools? A Moms for Liberty co-founder told me: “I hope zero. I hope to get to zero.”

These Activists Want to Dismantle Public Schools. Now They Run the Education Department. Under Trump, the Department of Education has been bringing in activists hostile to public schools. It could mean a new era of private and religious schools boosted by tax dollars — and the end of publ...

A policy expert described Education Secretary Linda McMahon’s push in favor of private schools as a “great American heist,” funneling money from public schools: “It’s a strategic theft of the future of our country, our kids and our democracy. @propublica.org

Kristi Noem Fast-Tracked Millions in Disaster Aid to Florida Tourist Attraction After Campaign Donor Intervened The DHS chief has been widely criticized for slowing down FEMA’s response after natural disasters. Texts and emails obtained by ProPublica point to an effective way to get help faster: have one of Noe...

The DHS chief has been widely criticized for slowing down FEMA’s response after natural disasters. Texts and emails obtained by ProPublica point to an effective way to get help faster: have one of Noem’s big donors make the ask. www.propublica.org/article/kris...

A 700% APR Lending Business Tied to Dr. Phil's Son Is Dividing an Alaska Tribe Tribal lender Minto Money has boosted the economy of its Alaska town. But some tribal members are appalled by the millions it's made off desperate borrowers -- much of which, lawsuits allege, has gone to outsider Jay McGraw, son of Dr. Phil.

Two lawsuits allege that Jay McGraw, son of Dr. Phil, is the “principal beneficiary” of tribal lender Minto Money.

CreditServe, a company that McGraw plays a key role in, controls the operation while “the Tribe is merely a front,” the suits said.

(Published May w/ @adn.com)

A Florida Home Insurer Was Allowed to Bypass the Courts During Claim Disputes. It Won More Than 90% of the Time. State legislators and executives at Citizens Property Insurance touted mandatory arbitration as advantageous for both consumers and insurers. In practice, homeowners were left with few avenues for rec...

Are you a Floridian with Citizens Insurance? Know if you have a dispute with them and go to arbitration, as required, you most likely will lose. Reporter @marioarizabaez.bsky.social explains... www.propublica.org/article/citi...

Amid Rise of RFK Jr., Officials Waver on Drinking Water Fluoridation — Even in the State Where It Started As federal agencies review their guidance on fluoridation and the nation’s top health official calls fluoride “industrial waste,” state and local governments are pulling back on the practice, upending...

State & local officials are pulling back on fluoridation in MI, FL & elsewhere, even though it is the most cost effective method to prevent tooth decay, especially for vast numbers of people in the US without insurance or access to a dentist. / by @annaleighclark.bsky.social

Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice Rebecca Bradley announces she will not run for reelection next year blaming "bitter partisanship, personal attacks & political gamesmanship." Will work to "rebuild the conservative movement," rather than continue to serve in the minority on the court, led by liberals.