Permanent residency

Ohio, which backed Donald Trump in 2016, 2020, and 2024, is showing early signs of a Democratic resurgence ahead of the midterms. According to Ohio Secretary of State data cited by CNN, Republicans' lead in pre-election voter affiliation in the state's most pro-Trump counties has shrunk from 30 points in 2024 to just five points this cycle, with Democrats showing stronger relative turnout even in heavily Republican areas. The data covers only early voting and should be treated cautiously, but the shift carries high stakes: Republicans are defending a U.S. Senate seat held by Jon Husted, the governor's office, and two competitive House seats.

Voter frustration over inflation and manufacturing-job losses appears to be driving disaffection among working-class voters who backed Trump in past cycles. Trump rallied for Husted in the Mahoning Valley this week, touting a new Defense Department facility in Cleveland and the continued operation of a Youngstown heat provider as evidence of his economic commitment to the region.

Florida voters will decide in the November midterm election on a constitutional amendment to expand homestead property tax exemptions for primary residents while reducing the annual assessment increase cap for non-homestead properties, including second homes and commercial real estate, from 10 percent to 5 percent.

Gov. Ron DeSantis has framed the measure as a way to shift tax burden away from year-round Florida residents, suggesting that tourists and non-resident property owners, including Canadian snowbirds, should help offset lost revenue rather than Floridians subsidizing tax relief for out-of-state owners. Under the proposal, a $250,000 exemption for non-school levies would go to those establishing Florida residency on or before December 31, 2026, while newer residents would initially receive only the existing $50,000 exemption for four years before qualifying for the larger benefit.

DeSantis cited rapidly rising property tax collections, projected to reach $83 billion by 2032, as justification for the reform. While he cannot place amendments on the ballot directly, he has made the issue a top priority.

Los Angeles artist Hedy Torres, once undocumented herself, began a portrait series nearly a decade ago depicting DACA recipients using charcoal sketches deliberately left unfinished to symbolize the precarity of their immigration status. One subject, Lino de Jesús Pérez Cuevas, was drawn in 2017 while pursuing a graduate degree at Cal State Northridge, shortly after the first Trump administration moved to rescind DACA. In late September, after Pérez Cuevas obtained a green card through marriage, Torres completed his portrait during a public event in West Hollywood, interviewing him about the psychological toll of years of immigration limbo.

DACA provides renewable work permits and deportation relief for people brought to the U.S. as children, but no path to citizenship. U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services no longer accepts new applications, and renewal processing times have lengthened substantially under the current administration, with some recipients losing jobs or facing deportation. Torres created four other unfinished portraits of DACA recipients, now held by the university, to be completed only if those subjects secure permanent residency.

Gov. Ron DeSantis and Florida officials announced felony charges against 20 more people accused of illegal voting, bringing total arrests and prosecutions by the state Office of Election Crimes and Security to more than 100 since its creation four years ago. Attorney General James Uthmeier said 12 of the 20 had been arrested as of the announcement, with "dozens more investigations" ongoing. Most of those charged are not U.S. citizens; four others were convicted felons allegedly voting while still on probation. Florida's Amendment 4 restored voting rights to many felons in 2018, but requires completion of sentence terms and payment of fines before eligibility.

DeSantis also unveiled a new group, the Association of State and Local Election Officials, to be led by Secretary of State Cord Byrd, aimed at promoting "election integrity" nationally. Nearly 3,500 complaints were filed with the state office in 2025 alone. Earlier prosecutions from the office's initial 2022 roundup have faced legal setbacks, with several cases dismissed over jurisdiction disputes now pending before the Florida Supreme Court.

New York City, Chicago, San Francisco, Seattle, Santa Clara County, King County and 22 states and the District of Columbia — including Illinois, California, Colorado, Washington and others, plus Pennsylvania's governor — have sued in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York over a Department of Homeland Security rule change to the "public charge" standard set to take effect Friday, Sept. 18. The rule lets immigration officials deny green cards or visas to applicants deemed likely to use any means-tested public benefit, including SNAP, Medicaid, housing vouchers or school lunch programs, reversing a narrower 2022 rule limited to cash assistance. It applies to family- and employment-based visa applicants; refugees, asylum recipients, TPS holders and certain trafficking or domestic violence victims are exempt. A similar policy from Trump's first term was blocked by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in 2020.

Plaintiffs, led by New York Attorney General Letitia James and joined by Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul, Washington Attorney General Nick Brown and Illinois Deputy Attorney General Cara Hendrickson, call the rule unlawful, "arbitrary and capricious," and lacking clear standards for how benefit use counts against applicants. They warn it could push eligible immigrant and mixed-status families, including U.S. citizen children, away from benefits out of fear, straining local health, housing and school systems and costing states billions. New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson and Colorado AG Phil Weiser led public criticism. DHS and USCIS defend the rule as protecting taxpayers from subsidizing dependent immigrants and dismiss the suits as politically motivated.

Armelle Bondonga, a Louisville resident who came to the U.S. as an asylum seeker from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, was taken into ICE custody on Aug. 12 after appearing for a scheduled marriage-based immigration interview. Her attorney, Arianit Osmani, says she has no criminal history and voluntarily attended the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services interview with her husband, a U.S. citizen, rather than evading authorities. The couple has a U.S.-citizen child.

Her husband's Form I-130 petition remains pending, and her father's related asylum case is before the Board of Immigration Appeals. Osmani says Bondonga now has a potential path to permanent residency through marriage, but an existing removal order complicates that process. Bondonga previously attended Waggener High School and was active with Future Ancestors, a student group formed after Breonna Taylor's death. Students at Louisville's J. Graham Brown School staged a protest opposing ICE policies, and local officials, including Councilwoman Shameka Parrish-Wright, have voiced support. State Rep. Nima Kulkarni has connected Bondonga's family with additional legal counsel through her immigrant legal defense fund.