Two Democrats, two Republicans seek attorney general seat

(The Center Square) - Graham Platner, a Maine oyster farmer, is projected to move forward in a general election for U.S. Senate against incumbent Republican Sen. Susan Collins.

Platner overcame a series of controversies to secure a lead in Maine’s ranked choice Democratic Senate primary. He was one of many candidates across the state who secured partisan victories on Tuesday

Here are some of those races.

U.S. Senate

Platner will face off against Susan Collins, who is seeking a sixth term in the United States Senate. Collins ran unopposed in the Republican primary.

Platner drew endorsements from Democrats in Congress including Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., and Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., who caucuses with Democrats.

One woman accused Platner of physically threatening behavior while they were dating. He also underwent controversy over a tattoo he received that is widely recognized as a Nazi symbol.

Platner denied the allegations of threatening behavior and said he was not aware his tattoo was a Nazi symbol.

“I’m not proud of who I was then, but I am proud of the work I’ve done since, and the movement we are building in Maine,” Platner said in a statement.

Platner has advocated for a 5-6% tax on wealth over one billion dollars and a “cost-of-living” tax exemption for middle-class Americans.

“The federal government could adopt a property tax fairness credit—similar to Maine’s—that ensures low- and middle-income families do not pay more than 4% of their income in property taxes,” Platner wrote.

Collins has skated on thin ice with President Donald Trump over the past year after she did not vote to advance his signature legislation, the “One Big Beautiful Bill” over concerns it made improper cuts to Medicaid and rural hospital funding.

“I did the right thing for the people of Maine and I am proud of my no vote,” Collins said.

Trump did not endorse Collins in the Republican primary. It is unclear whether he will endorse her heading into the general election, as the Republican majority in the U.S. Senate hangs in the balance.

U.S. House

District 1

Incumbent Democrat Rep. Chellie Pingree will face off against either Ronald Russell or Joshua Pietrowicz in November. Pingree ran unopposed in the Democratic primary for Maine’s first Congressional district.

The Republican nomination race was too close to call late on Tuesday night. Russell barely edged ahead of Pietrowicz at 10:30 p.m. Eastern on Tuesday.

Pingree focused her campaign on lowering prescription drug costs and increasing affordable healthcare. She has advocated for Medicare for All, a single-payer healthcare system that she said would reduce costs for Americans with medical concerns.

“We can address unreasonable out-of-pocket costs and confusing administrative hurdles, and ensure that every American, no matter their age, income level, disability, or health history, can access the care they need when they or their families need it,” Pingree’s website reads.

Russell has focused his campaign on reducing crime and lowering taxes for middle class families. He supported the tax cuts provided through the “One Big Beautiful Bill.”

“We need to protect the temporary tax relief gains made by passage of the Big Beautiful Bill and make them permanent,” Russell’s website reads. “We must back extra inflation adjustments for lower and middle brackets so cost‑of‑living increases don’t quietly push Mainers into higher federal tax brackets.”

Pietrowicz has focused his campaign on increased defense spending, affordable housing and raising taxes for billionaires.

District 2

Former Maine Gov. Paul LePage will head to the November general election against a Democratic candidate who is yet to be determined. LePage ran unopposed in the Republican primary and floated through the race with an endorsement from Trump.

Lepage called for lowering taxes, cutting government regulations and supporting the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement efforts.

“He will work to eliminate wasteful spending which drove up inflation under Biden,” Lepage’s website reads.

Maine Sen. Joseph Baldacci led the pack of candidates with 32.6% of the vote followed by state auditor Matthew Dunlap with 29% of the vote at 10:30 p.m. on Tuesday. 

Baldacci has fiercely opposed cuts to Social Security and Medicare. He has focused his platform on supporting the right to abortion and securing public school funds.

He criticized the cuts to Medicare in the “One Big Beautiful Bill” and touted his record preventing cuts to the program.

“We need to protect your benefits while ensuring that generations to come are able to enjoy the fruits of their labor,” Baldacci’s website reads. “This can all be done without taxes on your benefits, increasing the retirement age, or cutting programs that help seniors afford their much-needed prescriptions.”

Dunlap has called on expanding Medicare for All, abortion rights and lowering inflation costs.

“I’ll fight for universal childcare, good-paying jobs, and a surge in affordable housing to help our neighbors manage a middle-class life again,” Dunlap’s website reads.

MISSOULA, Mont. — A Missoula homicide case from 1990 moved forward after investigators used newer DNA testing to revisit the deaths of two women at a nursing home.

The Missoula County Attorney’s Office said 64-year-old Nickie Dean Gardiner was charged with two counts of deliberate homicide in the deaths of Bertha Scott and Nancy Lagerquist.

Authorities said both women were killed months apart in 1990 at what is now Missoula Health and Rehabilitation, formerly Riverside Health Care Center.

For decades, investigators did not identify a suspect in the case. The Missoula County Sheriff’s Office said its cold case unit started reviewing the case in 2019.

Officials said biological evidence from the original investigations had been preserved and was re-tested with modern forensic DNA techniques.

That work involved the Montana State Crime Lab, Bode Technology, the Missoula Police Department and the Missoula County Sheriff’s Office cold case unit.

Mac Bloom of the Missoula County Attorney’s Office said the outcome brought long-awaited answers.

“Finally having an answer and a conclusion of this is just really really important. We want to see justice done for the community, for the victims, for their families and I’m just really glad that we were able to solve this because anytime you have two murders like this and you don’t have a suspect, you don’t have any charges filed, people are fearful… it’s just good to have answers,” said Bloom.

Investigators said those advances in technology helped identify a suspect more than 35 years after the killings.

Gardiner was being held at the Missoula County Detention Facility while the case moved through court.

(The Center Square) - A one-year ban on new large-scale data centers was approved by the full Seattle City Council on Tuesday. 

The ban comes after 98,000 residents emailed comments to the city, almost all in support of the ban over the last several months, city council members said on Tuesday. 

"Large AI data centers are popping up across the country, driving up utility costs for residents and small businesses, while creating water and noise pollution, said  Councilmember Eddie Lin, who sponsored the legislation.

“We’ve heard from tens of thousands of residents – Seattleites should not be subsidizing record profits of large corporations from the AI boom." 

Lin said at the same time, the city hosts smaller facilities that provide data processing for 911 call centers, municipal activities, hospitals, universities and cancer research.

‘We can support these essential services while also developing appropriate safeguards around mega AI data centers locally and regionally,” he said. 

The council's approval is a victory for Seattle Mayor Katie Wilson, who first called for a pause on data centers in March. 

While Seattle has several dozen data centers, none are the large-scale, football-field-sized complexes that have sprung up across the country.

In a packed Tuesday council meeting, a diverse coalition of dozens of community members — including climate activists, engineers and tech professionals — voiced overwhelming support for new legislation.

Ben Jones, a staff member with the climate justice organization 350 Seattle, said Seattle has become the largest city in the United States to successfully pass a moratorium on data centers.

"I urge you all to set the national agenda for what it looks like to put people before big tech," Jones stated during the public comment period, capturing the prevailing sentiment of the room.

The newly passed resolution does not permanently alter city policies regarding data center construction. 

Instead, it institutes a strategic pause on the creation of new facilities.

This temporary halt is designed to give city leaders the time needed to thoroughly study the long-term impacts of larger data centers on municipal infrastructure, with a focus on future power demand, water and land use, public health and local job growth.

Former Ohio State assistant coach Matt Guemmer is making his return to the Mizzou softball program as an assistant coach, per the team. He will oversee the outfield and provide recruiting insight to head coach Larissa Anderson.

He most recently worked as an assistant coach at Ohio State, helping them achieve a 45-14-1 record. Before that, Guemmer was an assistant coach with Rutgers from 2023-24, where his focus was on coaching the outfield and the defense. He also assisted with the offense during that time.

Guemmer served as a student manager for the Tigers before graduating from the university in 2013. He got his first stint as a coach by coaching De Soto High School in De Soto, Missouri.

“Bringing Matt back to Mizzou is a tremendous addition for our program. He is a Tiger through and through, and his passion for this university, our softball program and the people of Missouri runs deep,” Anderson said in a release. “Matt was part of our program in 2012 and 2013, and since then he has established himself as one of the most respected coaches in the country through successful tenures at Virginia Tech, Rutgers and Ohio State.”

Before his stint in the Big 10, Guemmer spent 2020-22 with Southeast Missouri State. He advised the outfield, serving as an offensive and defensive coach. Guemmer aided in back-to-back 30-win seasons, along with a 2021 Ohio Valley Conference regular-season title.

Guemmer’s first Division I job was at Virginia Tech in 2019, serving as a volunteer assistant coach.

Consistency is one of the truest metrics for success.

Sports are often defined by singular moments — a game-winning shot or a walk-off hit. But consistency is measured differently. Unlike talent or luck that might create the spark, consistency is a behavior you can control. It's refined through repeated performance, when expectations are high but results follow just the same.

Few teams in collegiate track and field have embodied the meaning of consistency quite like Mizzou's women's javelin squad.

Since the USTFCCCA's national event squad rankings were first published April 28, the Tigers have occupied the No. 1 spot. And with the NCAA Outdoor Championships at Hayward Field in Eugene, Oregon looming, the Tigers will look to transform their consistency into some hardware.

"I haven't felt that as a pressure," Skylar Ciccolini said of her squad's high ranking. "I think instead of adding pressures, it just kind of added this excitement level that we've been kind of carrying all season as a team that Valentina and I get to take into one last meet."

Behind Valentina Barrios and Ciccolini, Mizzou's javelin contingent has been a force to reckon with. The duo has consistently ranked in the nation's top 10 and has raked in numerous individual titles. Morgan Cannon and Val Galligan have given the group the depth it needs to top the charts.

Ahead of the final bout in Eugene, Barrios sits in third in the nation with a season-best throw of 191 feet, 3 inches, a mark that earned her the conference title at the SEC Outdoor Championships. Ciccolini holds fifth nationally with a personal best mark of 188-5 that she recorded to win the individual title at the Yellow Jacket Invitational.

"We've been teammates for the past four or five years now, and every year she pushes me like crazy to be better," Ciccolini said of Barrios. "It's always great to have someone that's just right at your level, or even a little better than you. It's great to have somebody to chase."

Ciccolini, a grad student pursuing a Ph.D. in natural resources, is entering her fourth NCAA Championships appearance, with her highest placement being fifth in 2023. Barrios is tasked with defending her title. In 2025, the product of Colombia took the national crown with a program-record throw of 203-5. 

Should Barrios defend her title, she'd be the second Mizzou woman to earn more than one national title after MU legend Karissa Schweizer earned five. 

In Eugene, Ciccolini and Barrios will contend with the best in the NCAA. Bucknell's Evelyn Bliss leads the nation with a season best throw of 201-2, followed by Rice's McKayla Van Der Westhuizen with a mark of 193-9. As their last meet as Tigers, Ciccolini said they will put their best foot forward. 

"I want to walk away knowing that kind of whatever the results, whatever the throws, that I put everything out there," Ciccolini said. "I gave everything I had, and if I do that, I'm not going to walk away too disappointed."

Representing the men's team is Sam Innes, who is primed for his first-ever NCAA Outdoor Championships appearance. The Battle alum advanced to the finals with a hammer throw of 222-6 at the NCAA West First Round. Innes ranks ninth nationally with a season-best mark of 235-0 that earned him second at the SEC Championships.

Innes is also the only Tiger this year to compete in both the indoor and outdoor nationals. He finished sixth in the weight throw at the NCAA Indoor Championships in March.

Innes competes in the hammer throw finals at 2:30 p.m. Wednesday, and Barrios and Ciccolini kick off the javelin finals at 6:15 p.m. in Eugene.

(The Center Square) – Social Security's retirement trust fund will be depleted in 2032, triggering an automatic 22% reduction in benefits for about 70 million Americans unless Congress acts, federal trustees warned Tuesday.

Social Security paid $1.6 trillion in benefits to 70 million Americans in 2025. The program provides a majority of income for 43% of older Americans, more than 25 million families, according to AARP, an advocacy organization representing older Americans. Any reduction would apply across the board to all beneficiaries.

The combined Social Security retirement and disability trust funds are projected to be depleted in 2034. At that point, payroll tax revenue and other income would be sufficient to pay about 83% of scheduled benefits, according to the 2026 annual report of the Social Security Board of Trustees.

The program's financial outlook worsened over the past year. Trustees said Social Security's 75-year funding shortfall increased to $29.3 trillion, while the long-range actuarial deficit grew from 3.82% to 4.42% of taxable payroll.

The projected depletion date for the retirement trust fund moved one year earlier than last year's estimate. The $29.3 trillion shortfall is about equivalent to three-quarters of the current national debt of $39.2 trillion, according to Treasury Department data, and about 15 times the $1.9 trillion federal deficit projected for this year by the Congressional Budget Office.

The trustees attributed the deterioration to three factors: lower long-range fertility assumptions, reduced projected immigration levels and provisions of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, a Republican-passed tax and spending law signed by President Trump on July 4, 2025. Lower projected immigration translates into a smaller future workforce and less payroll tax revenue.

The trustees also said changes affecting the taxation of benefits reduced projected income to the trust funds. The Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget projected in June 2025 that the legislation would reduce revenue from the taxation of Social Security benefits by roughly $30 billion annually, enough to accelerate depletion of the retirement trust fund by one year.

Commissioner of Social Security Frank Bisignano said improving service and eliminating waste, fraud and abuse remain priorities for the agency.

"To protect the promise of Social Security, it is important for lawmakers and the Social Security Administration to work together to ensure the trust funds continue to provide financial stability now and for future generations," Bisignano said.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, the board's managing trustee, said the reports "reinforce the need for lawmakers to take action to support the long-term viability of these programs."

Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., said in a radio interview Monday that mandatory spending programs must be addressed.

"That's your entitlement programs like Medicare, Medicaid, and then things like Social Security – they have to be adjusted and fixed," Johnson said on "The Moon Griffon Show." "We have a plan to do that next year."

Romina Boccia, director of budget and entitlement policy at the Cato Institute, said the administration's focus on fraud does not address the program's underlying financial challenges.

"Social Security's long-term shortfall is driven by demographics and benefit promises that outpace dedicated revenues – not by widespread fraud," Boccia told The Center Square. "Focusing on waste, fraud, and abuse is good governance, but it should not distract from the structural reforms needed."

She added that "delaying reform only makes the eventual adjustments more difficult" and that "every year of delay means fewer choices, steeper adjustments, and a larger burden on younger workers and future taxpayers."

Maya MacGuineas, president of the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, said policymakers continue to underestimate the urgency of the situation.

"In just six years – during the next Senate class's term – Social Security's retirement fund will run out of money," she said. "Yet our leaders have no plan to prevent the abrupt 22% benefit cut that would ensue."

Michael Peterson, CEO of the Peter G. Peterson Foundation, echoed the concern.

"The senators we elect this year will be in office when Social Security becomes unable to pay out full benefits," he said.

House Ways and Means Committee Ranking Member Richard Neal, D-Mass., and two Democratic colleagues said in a joint statement that the report "demonstrates the urgent need for Congress to act to protect Social Security and Medicare."

"This crisis is both highly predictable and fully avoidable, as there are many well-known solutions available," Peterson said. "Now is the time for responsible, bipartisan leadership to strengthen Social Security and Medicare."

(The Center Square) – Republicans in Congress on Tuesday sent their $70 billion bill funding federal immigration enforcement agencies through 2029 to President Donald Trump’s desk.

The 214-212 U.S. House vote caps off Republicans’ months-long struggle to provide annual funds for Immigration and Customs Enforcement and U.S. Border Patrol.

The Secure America Act, which Trump will sign into law Wednesday, authorizes three years of advance annual funding for ICE and CBP, allocating $38.5 billion and $22.6 billion, respectively. It also gives the Department of Homeland Security an extra $5 billion and provides $3.5 billion for border security infrastructure.

“Today, House Republicans ensured that ICE and Border Patrol have the resources they need to keep America safe,” U.S. Rep. Vern Buchanen, R-Fla., posted on social media after the vote.

“Border security is national security, and we cannot allow these critical agencies to be held hostage by political games in Washington. This legislation gives law enforcement the certainty and support they need to build on the progress already made and keep our border secure for years to come.”

Republicans’ unconventional tactic of providing advance annual appropriations via the filibuster-proof budget reconciliation process is a response to Democrats shutting down the Department of Homeland Security for 76 days.

Senate Democrats had refused to support any appropriations bill funding ICE and U.S. Border Patrol for the current fiscal year unless it instituted a laundry list of agency reforms, causing Republicans to eventually walk away.

“I do not regret the objective of our actions today, but I am appalled by the complete failure of Senate Democrats that led us to this moment,” House Appropriations Committee Chairman Tom Cole, R-Okla., said Tuesday after the vote.

“I hope the months-long charade that led us to this moment serves as a reminder that no partisan fixation is worth shutting down the government, abandoning constitutional responsibilities, and forcing Congress into extraordinary measures simply to perform its most basic duties.”

Although Democrats initially held up funding for ICE and CBP, it was Republican lawmakers who stalled the budget reconciliation bill as it neared the finish line.

The legislation was initially supposed to pass both chambers by June 1. But Republican infighting over certain controversial additions to the bill, which were eventually stripped, prevented timely advancement in the Senate.

Republican leaders had initially included a $1 billion earmark for the Secret Service, which would have funded “security adjustments and upgrades” to the East Wing Modernization Project, which the Trump administration is replacing with a ballroom.

After multiple Senate Republicans objected, the provision was ultimately scrapped, and passage of the bill seemed likely to occur before Memorial Day.

However, the Trump administration again complicated matters by introducing a $1.77 billion “Anti-Weaponization Fund” under the Department of Justice.

The money – sourced from Trump’s settlement with the IRS after he sued the agency for the leakage of his 2019 and 2020 tax returns – would support people claiming that the former Biden administration unfairly targeted them for political or ideological reasons.

Republicans in vulnerable states immediately demanded that the budget reconciliation bill include an amendment nullifying the fund. Senators deadlocked over the issue and left for their week-long Memorial Day recess without passing the bill.

Once a federal judge issued a temporary restraining order on the fund, the DOJ backed down, with the acting attorney general promising lawmakers soon afterward that the fund would never be created. That decision persuaded enough Republican lawmakers to vote for the reconciliation bill.

Other major legislation, including bills tackling housing supply and farm aid, took a backseat while the budget reconciliation fight dragged on, further proof, Democrats claim, that Republicans are “out of touch” with the needs of taxpayers.

“Today, Republicans voted to add another $70 billion slush fund to the lawless and unaccountable agencies of ICE and CBP with zero reforms,” Rep. Pramila Jayapal, D-Wash., stated. “We should be investing in the American people, not sending billions more to these agencies.”

(The Center Square) - Advocates urged lawmakers on Tuesday to implement legislation that will provide for greater accountability of taxpayer dollars in military contracts.

The Department of War requested a historic $1.5 trillion in funding for fiscal 2027, a steep increase from previous years. Analysts said the department’s funding requests are not being backed up by responsible budgeting practices.

Lawmakers in the U.S. House Oversight Subcommittee on Delivering Government Efficiency held the hearing Tuesday to examine suggestions for increasing defense contract productivity.

Shelby Oakley, director of contracting and national security acquisitions at the U.S. Government Accountability Office, said lawmakers need to incentivize speed in defense contract implementation. She said it takes 12 years on average for a major defense acquisition program to be completed.

“Large contracts are awarded quickly, and success is often measured by how fast money is obligated on contracts rather than how fast useful capability is provided to the war fighter,” Oakley said. “Schedules slip, costs grow, requirements get scaled back, quantities are reduced, and taxpayers ultimately pay more to get less, and years later than promised.”

She pointed to an example where the Department of War terminated a 13-year, $7 billion planned upgrade for its Space Force satellite system due to low confidence it would meet military needs.

“Meanwhile, GPS satellites already in orbit cannot fully use some of their most advanced capabilities, because OCX [U.S. Space Force's cancelled GPS ground system] never materialized,” Oakley said. “Now the Space Force plans to just upgrade the existing ground system to provide those capabilities.”

The advocates said the private sector would criticize how the Department of War funding process works. Julia Gledhill, a researcher in the National Security Reform Program at the Stimson Center, said the government should take a more considerate approach to the kinds of technology it implements in weapon systems.

“Technology is always going to outpace law and regulation,” Gledhill said. “The challenge is not integrating every new technology but betting on the right capabilities.”

U.S. Rep. Eric Burlison, R-Mo., said all military contracts should undergo examination on whether it meets certified cost and pricing data requirements.

“If they say no, then one could speculate there’s maybe more to that contract than what meets the eye,” Burlison said.

Gledhill said many contractors are exempt from these requirements under the government’s parameters. She said contractors are often required to specialize products when it is not necessary.

“What I've found out to be is that a lot of these government programs won't do anything that's off the shelf. They want everything customized,” Burlison said. "That comes with a huge cost.”

Rep. Suhas Subramanyam, D-Va., said the U.S. needs to diversify its weapon system in order to deliver greater military victory against enemies. He said the defense industry needs to consider how it can prepare against attacks rather than invest in more technology.

“Right now we're engaging in asymmetric warfare but future adversaries are seeing this and they can say it doesn't cost much to really bother the U.S. in a conflict,” Subramanyam said.

Oakley agreed with Subramanyam. She said the government's approach to contracts needs to overhauled. 

“I think that shift to thinking about capability portfolios versus program by program management, platform management is really super important because maybe we don't need the $100 million dollar platform to be able to achieve our intended goal,” Oakley said.

(The Center Square) – U.S. forces have begun launching “self-defense strikes” against Iran after President Donald Trump announced a response to the Islamic Republic's shooting down of a U.S. Army helicopter over the Strait of Hormuz.

U.S. Central Command said the strikes against Iran began at 5 p.m. Eastern time Tuesday. CENTCOM says the strikes were directed by the president and the “mission is a proportional response to unjustified Iranian aggression.”

Iranian forces shot down the Army Apache helicopter on Monday evening. Two soldiers on board were rescued and uninjured in the incident.

It is unclear if the latest round will impact the fragile ceasefire, as it follows a handful of exchanges of fire between the U.S. and the Islamic Republic. Over the weekend, Israel and Iran exchanged missiles, with missiles launched toward Israel being either intercepted, flaming out or landing in open spaces.

Trump said earlier Tuesday that the U.S. would be responding to the unprovoked attack on the military helicopter.

“I have just been informed by our great military that last night the Iranians shot down one of our highly sophisticated Apache helicopters while patrolling over the Strait of Hormuz,” the president wrote in a Truth Social post. “There were two pilots involved, both are safe and uninjured. Nevertheless, the United States must, of necessity, respond to this attack.”

The region around the Strait of Hormuz has seen its fair share of exchanges of fire between the U.S. and Iran in recent weeks, with the Islamic Republic essentially holding the vital waterway hostage since the conflict began on Feb. 28.

Trump has maintained a commitment to seeking a diplomatic resolution to the conflict, saying the U.S. could determine within a couple of days whether a deal can be struck.

The president quashed concerns that the recent dust-up between Israel and Iran was putting the fragile ceasefire in further jeopardy.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu "was hit hard by Iran, and he hit back. I can’t blame him for that. Now they’ve called it quits, so they’re going to leave each other alone for another week or something,” the president told reporters Monday evening. “They both agreed, through me to stop.”

Trump claimed once again, as he has for weeks, that a deal is on the horizon, reiterating his demand that Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon.

“We’re in the final throes of a very good deal that will not allow, in any way or form nuclear weapons.” The president added.

This is a developing story.

(The Center Square) – Abuses of the Department of Homeland Security's Temporary Protection Status program allowing foreign nationals of specifically designated countries to come to and remain in the U.S. were debated Tuesday at a congressional hearing.

The Task Force for Defending Constitutional Rights and Exposing Institutional Abuses held the hearing. Chairman Rep. Brandon Gill, R-Texas, noted that illegal immigration is down over 90% since the Biden administration, during which at least 14 million noncitizens entered the U.S. illegally.

The Biden administration abused the Temporary Protection Status (TPS) program, a system created in 1990 to provide work permits and protection from deportation for a limited amount of time, witness Mark Krikorian, executive director for the Center for Immigration Studies, testified.

“At the start of the Biden administration, there were just about 410,000 TPS beneficiaries from 10 countries. In four years, that number increased by over a million to 1.4 million,” Gill said.

“The vast majority of the people covered under TPS entered the U.S. illegally …that includes an estimated 95% of all Venezuelan TPS holders, and 91% of all estimated Haitian TPS holders,” Gill continued.

Krikorian said the TPS system has been repeatedly abused, with both legal and illegal immigrants using the taxpayer-funded federal welfare system at a rate of over 50%.

“They have low levels of skill, which means they earn low incomes, which means they qualify for benefits at a much higher rate than others and so they end up becoming a burden on the taxpayer ...” Krikorian said, adding that both Democrats and Republicans contributed to the abuse of the program.

“Over a period of decades, they have demonstrated that the executive branch simply cannot be trusted to exercise discretion responsibly in immigration matters,” Krikorian said.

Witness David J. Brier, the Selz Foundation Chair in Immigration Policy at the Cato Institute, countered that Trump’s immigration policies are negatively affecting affordability for American citizens, arguing that the have caused an increase in debt and a loss of food and services provided by these immigrants.

Rep. Lateefah Simon, D-Calif., stated that Trump's immigration enforcement efforts have become so violent that U.S. citizens are being separated from their families and even attacked and murdered because of them. She cited a number of U.S. citizens who were killed during confrontations with ICE officers.

Rep. Ayanna Pressley, D-Mass., said at the Dilley Immigration Processing Center in Dallas, Texas, individuals are being illegally detained. She said that according to ICE data, 4,000 children under the age of 18 have been detained there, including a 9-year-old girl.

“As a mother, I am heartbroken. As an American, I am ashamed,” Pressley stated.

While there were minimal solutions presented during the hearing, Krikorian proposed three actions Congress can take: repealing the Temporary Protection Status program, putting a cap on the number of noncitizens put on parole, and prohibiting the Department of Homeland Security from giving work permits to noncitizens who don’t qualify.

Witness Matt O’Brien, deputy executive director of the Federation for American Immigration Reform, called for accountability from Congress, stating that it has both the responsibility and authority to lawfully enforce immigration laws and that “all levels of government respect the constitutional separation of powers upon which our system depends.”

“Regardless of where one stands politically, we should all agree that immigration policy must be made through the constitutional process, not through unilateral executive action, selected enforcement or attempts by individual states to override federal law,” O’Brien concluded.