Tracking ICE activity and more news from the states

It’s finally Friday! And we’re wrapping up another busy news week with top stories from Texas, Minnesota and more.

Seen any Flock cameras lately? At Republican Gov. Greg Abbott’s direction, the Texas Department of Transportation has stopped issuing permits allowing Flock cameras and other automated license plate readers to be installed along state roads. 

In Minnesota, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent Christian Castro, who is accused of unjustifiably shooting Julio Cesar Sosa-Celis through the closed door of a north Minneapolis home in January, made his first appearance in Hennepin County District Court.

And after a long legal battle garnering national attention, Alabama officials executed Jeffery Lee for two murders during a 1998 pawn shop robbery. Lee was executed by lethal injection about two months after a federal district court rebuffed the state’s attempt to put him to death by nitrogen gas.

Keep reading for more state policy and politics news from across the country. We’ll see you back here next week.

New Mexico: The state Supreme Court unanimously shot down two environmental groups’ challenges to regulatory proceedings for the Project Jupiter data center under construction in Doña Ana County. The groups had challenged the data center’s pending air quality permit application and its use of an emergency water well for construction.

Ohio: At least 138 Ohio municipalities and townships have active moratoriums on data centers as of Sept. 17, local government records and news reports show. Meanwhile, 23 communities have effectively banned data centers, with at least 23 more across seven counties considering similar proposals. 

Louisiana: The state health department has proposed new, larger contract extensions for the four health insurance companies that will remain a part of the Medicaid program. The deals follow the exit of two private companies that are leaving the state — and up to 580,000 enrollees — by the end of the year.  

Maryland: Just months after federal officials joined Chesapeake Bay states to renew their pledge to restore the nation’s largest estuary, President Donald Trump rescinded an Obama-era executive order that called for federal leadership in the effort. Trump’s executive order also railed against stormwater management fees.

Maine: Despite more than four hours of discussion on the conservation requirements for the long-embattled New England Clean Energy Connect project, the state environmental board held off on making a final ruling on the issue. Environmental groups argue that the conservation area set aside by the project doesn’t meet the board’s earlier standards.

See the rest of the news of the day from all 50 states, plus our D.C. Bureau and Stateline, on News From The States.

Earlier this month, two immigrants’ rights advocacy groups, the Pennsylvania Immigration Coalition and the Centre County Rapid Response Network, brought attention to what they were calling the “largest ICE workplace raid in Pennsylvania to date,” Pennsylvania Capital-Star reports.

They said more than 40 construction workers — nationals from Nicaragua, El Salvador, Honduras and other countries — were detained in a major U.S Immigration and Customs Enforcement operation while leaving work building an addition on the Geisinger Medical Center campus in Danville on Sept. 2. Several more, they said, were arrested under similar circumstances the following week on Sept. 8.

The groups added that eyewitnesses who spoke to them, but who were not identified to the Capital-Star, said aggressive policing tactics were employed, making them feel like they were part of a “manhunt.”

The Capital-Star has not been able to independently verify many of the details, and has received conflicting information from police departments in the county that assisted ICE, advocates and witnesses, including a Geisinger employee and a construction worker who was there the day of the raid.

Altogether, the incident paints a picture of how difficult it can be to get timely and accurate information on ICE activity at this phase of the Trump administration’s mass deportation campaign, which has gained steam since it began last year.

ICE is using migrant kids as ‘bait,’ a Texas lawyer says

An attorney who represents many unaccompanied children in U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody says federal agencies are using children to trap and detain the adults who come to ICE detention centers to pick the kids up. It’s left many families scrambling and trying to figure out when they’ll see each other again.

In Episode 46, you’ll hear from the managing attorney with the Galveston-Houston Immigrant Representation Project. She has represented many detained adults and children in their immigration cases.  

Subscribe to Stories From The States on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or YouTube.

The Maine Secretary of State’s office unveiled the first formal printing of the state’s constitution in 150 years. This version includes key treaty commitments made to the Wabanaki Nations that were cut from earlier printed copies of the document and restored by voters in 2023, Maine Morning Star reports.

In 1876, Maine added an amendment to its constitution to remove three sections, one being the Articles of Separation that outline Maine’s Native treaty provisions. Despite being omitted from printed copies, the Articles of Separation were to “remain in full force.” 

Roughly 73% of Maine voters supported the November 2023 ballot measure that amended the constitution, requiring that all provisions be printed in official copies of the document. 

The new version was printed using a 19th-century letterpress onto vellum — a traditional paper material made with animal skins — by Wolfe Editions of Portland and will be permanently housed at the Maine State Archives alongside the original 1820 copy and the 1876 version.