The DOJ cracks down on “sanctuary city” Los Angeles, Trump continues his feud with Jerome Powell, and Harvard and Democrats try to slow Trump’s budget bill as the clock ticks down on the president’s self-imposed July 4 deadline.

It’s Tuesday, July 1, and this is the news you need to know to start your day.

Morning Wire is available on video! You can watch today’s episode here: 

If you’d rather listen to your news, today’s edition of the Morning Wire podcast can be heard below:

L.A. On ICE

Topline: The Trump administration has sued the city of Los Angeles over its “sanctuary” status.

The Justice Department filed a lawsuit on Monday against L.A., arguing that its “sanctuary city” policies violate the U.S. Constitution. Local law enforcement in L.A. is prohibited from directly enforcing federal immigration law or collaborating with ICE on immigration enforcement actions. The DOJ argues that L.A. is discriminating against the federal government, specifically treating immigration officers differently than other law enforcement officials. The suit says L.A.’s sanctuary policies are “invalid” and should be blocked.

In a statement, Attorney General Pam Bondi blamed these sanctuary policies for the recent anti-ICE riots, which she said were the “driving cause of the violence, chaos, and attacks on law enforcement that Americans recently witnessed in Los Angeles.” She added that jurisdictions like L.A. “that flout federal law by prioritizing illegal aliens over American citizens are undermining law enforcement at every level.” The DOJ has also targeted other sanctuary city policies, including in New York.

The Trump administration has consistently made detaining and deporting illegal aliens one of its main policy priorities. Recently, dozens of workplace raids have been carried out across the nation, in states like California, Florida, Texas, Pennsylvania, and many others. It appears that illegals with and without criminal backgrounds – aside from illegally entering the U.S. – have been picked up. Daily immigration arrests have also skyrocketed. In June, ICE has averaged around 1,200 daily arrests, with some days surpassing 2,000 – nearly double the daily average during Trump’s first 100 days, though still short of the administration’s target of 3,000 per day.

There are currently 59,000 immigrant detainees in federal custody – officials say that number is the highest in U.S. history, and these facilities are reportedly well over capacity. Additional funds for immigration enforcement and facilities are included in the Big, Beautiful Bill, currently making its way through Congress.

Meanwhile, as reported by The Daily Wire, Customs and Border Protection raided a Los Angeles residence that it says was being used to harbor Iranian illegal aliens with ties to terrorists. On Friday, two unidentified individuals were arrested, and that followed a previous raid at the same home that resulted in the arrest of seven Iranian nationals, some of whom are on the FBI terror watch list and associated with an Iranian human smuggling network.

And DHS Secretary Kristi Noem will end Temporary Protected Status, known as TPS, for up to 500,000 Haitians on September 2. DHS said in a press release that this decision “restores integrity in our immigration system and ensures that Temporary Protective Status is actually temporary.” A spokesperson added that the “environmental situation in Haiti has improved enough that it is safe for Haitian citizens to return home.”

Trump Hammers Harvard, Pummels Powell

Topline: Trump continues his assault on Jerome Powell and Harvard, targeting both the Fed chairman and the Ivy League institution.

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt opened Monday’s White House press briefing by showing the White House Press Corps a scathing letter that President Trump sent to Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell, which included a handwritten note from the president in which Trump urges Powell to lower interest rates by “a lot.”

“Jerome. you are as usual TOO LATE! You have cost the USA a fortune and continue to do so. You should lower the rate by a lot. Hundreds of billions of dollars are being lost, and there is low inflation.”

Meanwhile, the Trump administration informed Harvard that it found the university in “violent violation of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act,” which prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, color, and national origin, through its treatment of Jewish and Israeli students. If Harvard fails to take action immediately to “institute adequate changes,” the university could lose all federal funding.

“[A] majority of jewish students experienced negative bias, felt physically unsafe, assaulted and spit on, concealed kippahs for fear of being harassed, and concealed identities from classmates for fear of ostracization,” Leavitt told reporters. “These are all facts that Harvard cannot dispute and that’s why the admin has found them in violation of Title VI and threatened to withhold their funding, because if you break federal law, you are not entitled to federal tax dollars.”

Dems Drag Big, Beautiful Bill

Topline: Democrats are pulling out all the stops to thwart President Trump’s sweeping legislative agenda, which is slowly pushing its way through the two chambers despite some Republicans joining the opposition.

The Senate held a so-called vote-a-rama stretching past 21 hours as of early Tuesday morning, with Democrats forcing votes on amendments to the bill as a way of stalling – but also forcing Republicans to go on the record regarding topics like Medicaid funding and tax cuts for the wealthy, two issues on which Democrats believe Republicans are out of touch.

A few months ago, the idea of passing such a contentious piece of legislation through Congress seemed unlikely, given Republicans’ slim majority in both chambers and the competing interests within the party. Typically, in these situations, the president would push for their agenda to be broken up into smaller pieces and voted on piecemeal, but Trump has been adamant from the start that everything be included in one bill. 

Polling shows that the Big, Beautiful Bill is not all that popular with Americans — Pew has it with a net favorable rating of minus 20, Fox has it at minus 21, and Quinnipiac has it at minus 26. The White House says it is confident that once it passes and folks see the extra money in their paychecks, they’ll quickly change their tune.

President Donald Trump is set to visit Florida’s newest illegal alien detention facility — dubbed “Alligator Alcatraz” — later today. Officials say the site will not only increase the federal government’s holding capacity, but also provide ICE with a detention facility that is nearly impossible to break out of.

Construction began on the location, an old aircraft training site, in early June, and the facility is expected to have space for around 5,000 illegal aliens. It is expected to be operational this week and will include laundry facilities, air conditioning, and medical care.

The facility’s construction costs, Department of Homeland Security officials say, will be paid for in part by FEMA funds that were used under the Biden administration to house illegal aliens in hotels.

The site’s nickname is a nod to the harsh conditions that made escape from the notorious California prison, Alcatraz, incredibly treacherous and virtually impossible. Though Alligator Alcatraz isn’t tucked away on an island like its namesake, the facility’s security is similarly bolstered by a harsh landscape that would require escapees to contend with the forces of nature.

Satellite images indicate that the ICE detention facility is being built at the Dade-Collier Training and Transition Airport, a 39-square-mile site nestled deep within Florida’s Everglades, a nearly 40 mile drive from Miami.

Illegal aliens detained at the new ICE facility have little hope of escape. If they were to make it out of the detention facility’s walls, they’d be forced to navigate forests, marshes, challenging terrain, and a variety of fearsome predators — including, but not limited to, alligators — as they make a grueling trek towards civilization.

Both White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt and Florida Governor Ron DeSantis touted the security of the site, and the natural deterrents that await illegal aliens who somehow break out of the facility.

“There is only one road leading in and the only way out is a one-way flight,” Leavitt noted. “It is isolated, and surrounded by dangerous wildlife in unforgiving terrain.”

“They ain’t going anywhere once they’re there, unless you want them to go somewhere,” DeSantis added. “Because good luck getting to civilization. So the security is amazing — natural and otherwise.”

If illegal alien escapees were somehow able to walk along the one road connecting the facility to the western edge of Miami, it would take anywhere from 10 to 12 hours to make it to the city on foot. But the route would almost certainly result in their recapture, forcing escapees to brave the surrounding marshlands, waterways, forests, and swamps that separate Alligator Alcatraz from the city.

Satellite images show the facility — the long vertical runway on the west side of the map — up against a sprawling marsh.

Google Earth Screenshot

The few available Google Earth images show vast, open lakes and waterways that only appear navigable by airboat and would be virtually impossible to traverse without specialized equipment, even if one was fortunate enough to evade predatory wildlife.

Google Earth Screenshot

The Everglades are home to several predators, perhaps most notably, the American alligator. Growing up to 15 feet long and weighing up to 1,100 pounds, the American alligator is among the most fearsome animals on the North American continent and the species is known to be common in the Everglades.

“Do not swim, snorkel, or dive … in any canal, pond, freshwater lake, marked channel, or boat basin,” the National Park Service warns visitors to the Everglades.

Escapees from the ICE detention facility would also run the risk of encountering the Burmese python, an invasive species with no natural predators in the region that can grow up to 20 feet long.

Experts aren’t sure just how many Burmese pythons are roaming around the Everglades, with Rory Feeney, the bureau chief of land resources at the South Florida Water Management District, saying that “it could be tens of thousands, or it could be hundreds of thousands.” The population is so difficult to estimate, experts say, because of the challenging and often inaccessible terrain of the Everglades. The Everglades are also home to the black bears and a dwindling number of Florida panthers.

“It presents an efficient, low-cost opportunity to build a temporary detention facility because you don’t need to invest that much in the perimeter,” Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier said of Alligator Alcatraz. “If people get out, there’s not much waiting for them other than alligators and pythons.”