On Wednesday, September 10, Charles “Charlie” Kirk was shot and killed while speaking at an event at Utah Valley University. Kirk’s death has become the main target of discussion since then. On one hand, he was a highly public figure, and his death will impact national politics. I do get why his death was substantial and newsworthy. But on the other hand, he was one man, and his death has been distracting from other major issues that are happening around us. So, I want to take some time to at least briefly list some of those.
(Yes, before anyone thinks it: I recognize that I’m the one saying it, and I wrote the article summarizing what we know to date about Charlie Kirk’s death.)
The trial of Ryan Routh began in Florida. Routh is accused of trying to assassinate Donald Trump while golfing in September of 2024. He was apprehended on a golf course with a rifle he allegedly brought to shoot Trump with. He is also facing charges related to obstructing federal officers and resisting arrest. Routh is representing himself after saying he was dissatisfied with his defense attorneys.
Also on September 10, 16-year-old Desmond Holly brought a revolver into Evergreen High School in Colorado. He injured two students, who, as of September 11, were still in critical condition, before shooting himself. Holly died of self-inflicted injuries. A spokeswoman for the local sheriff’s department, Jacki Kelley, told reporters that he was radicalized by an extremist network, which led to his actions, but declined to say which one. Evergreen High School is part of the same district as Columbine High School, of the infamous 1999 school shooting.
Naasón Joaquín García, the current “apostle” of Mexico-based megachurch La Luz de Mundo (“The Light of the World”), was federally indicted alongside his mother and four associates on charges of racketeering, sex trafficking, and child pornography. García is already serving a 16-year sentence for sex abuse in California. His lawyers deny the allegations, though victims have claimed this is part of a 100-year-long system of sexual abuse perpetuated by the church’s leadership. The details of the allegations are more graphic than I feel comfortable publishing in this article.
Speaking of sexual abuse scandals, following the release of the birthday card allegedly signed by Trump for Jeffrey Epstein, Senator Chuck Schumer attempted to force a vote to release the Epstein files. Schumer’s attempt (like several before it) failed, but it was the first that successfully forced members of Congress to go on the record about whether or not the files should be released. Only two Republicans, Josh Hawley and Rand Paul, voted to release the files. With the swearing in of James Walkinshaw to the House of Representatives, a petition to vote on the release of the files is now one signature away from taking effect (it would take 218, and Walkinshaw has brought it to 217). In the meantime, several victims have said they intend to put together their experiences to release their own Epstein files.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) crackdowns have also been continuing across the country. On September 11, a plane with 330 people, detained at a Hyundai plant as part of a raid during the previous week, left Atlanta for South Korea. Most of the individuals were from South Korea, though some were from China, Japan, and Indonesia. They were part of roughly 475 people detained during the raid; the others are still in custody. The South Korean and US governments disagree about whether the workers are voluntarily departing or being deported.
In the case of five migrants deported to Ghana, US District Court Judge Tanya Chutkin scolded the US government for not following orders of protection for the removal of the immigrants, but indicated her hands may be tied, preventing her from ordering their return. The Trump administration is accused of “indirect refoulement” of the migrants. Refoulement is the process of deporting people to a location where they are unsafe or under imminent threat of harm; all five immigrants in question had orders of protection preventing return to their home countries due to concerns of refoulement. However, Ghana appears to be prepared to deport them back to their home countries anyway (one of whom has already been deported), and the US government is accused of not doing enough to prevent this.
Several migrants being detained in Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, also had to be moved recently. Agents cited water issues that would keep the island without running water for at least another week. The migrants are currently being held in a naval detention base. Organizations such as the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) say this incident further provides evidence that the island is incapable of housing the 30,000 migrants Trump has promised to house there, and that living conditions there are unsafe for human habitation.
In Franklin Park, a Chicago suburb near O’Hare, Silverio Villegas-Gonzalez allegedly drove a car into ICE agents, one of whom fatally shot him while trying to arrest him. Governor JB Pritzker has called for an investigation into Villegas-Gonzalez’s death.
Trump has also identified Memphis, Tennessee, as the next target for the National Guard. Unlike Los Angeles and Chicago, it appears that Tennessee Governor Bill Lee and Memphis Mayor Paul Young are cooperating with Trump.
Additionally, it’s unclear what happens next for Washington, DC. Trump’s National Guard deployment officially ended there on September 10. (The law he used to implement it has a 30-day expiry on troop deployment without Congressional consent, and the operation began on August 11.) Congress appears reluctant to extend the use of federal troops there. However, individuals are still reporting masked federal officers on the streets. This is part of an ongoing struggle over home rule of the city, with some Republicans looking to repeal what few protections the district currently has.
On September 11 and 12, several historically Black colleges and universities (HBCU’s) closed due to bomb and shooting threats. The FBI said they considered these to be hoaxes and not credible, though Yvette Clark, chairman of the Congressional Black Caucus, has called for further investigation, calling the threats “terroristic.” (Terroristic threats, even those done as a hoax without any intent of following through, are often criminal in nature.) Some students and faculty have said they believe these threats are misplaced retaliation for Kirk’s death. Around 60 campuses received these threats, believed to be affiliated with the online group Purgatory. In a prior interview with WIRED, the co-leader who goes by the online moniker “Gores” says they offer a threat-for-hire service, and the group has claimed responsibility for other threats to colleges.
University of California, Berkley handed over documents about campus antisemitism to the federal government that contained the names of about 160 students and faculty members. UC Berkley has said the individuals whose names are included in the documents have been notified. This is part of a federal crackdown on schools that allegedly failed to protect Jewish students, including threats to funding and admission policies. It’s unclear what (if anything) has or will happen to the people named in the file, though there are concerns foreign-born students might be deported, like Mahmoud Khalil or Rümeysa Öztürk. Some students have compared this to Red Scare lists under McCarthyism.
Additionally, Education Secretary Linda McMahon announced $350 million in funding cuts to “minority-serving colleges”. It’s unclear what colleges and universities have been specifically targeted by these cuts, but they likely target HBCU’s, and Hispanic-serving, Asian-serving, and Native American-serving institutions. It’s also unclear if all these institutions are minority-serving by history or design (such as HBCU’s), or if any are just colleges and universities that simply have high percentages of minority students due to being in an area with a high minority population; for instance, an institution with a student body that is at least 25% Hispanic-identifying can qualify as “minority-serving”. The Department of Education, and McMahon in particular, have indicated that these will be the first of many cuts to these institutions.
Education is not the only thing facing federal cuts. A bill passed the House on September 10 largely along party lines that would provide funding for the Pentagon, while cutting gender-affirming care and abortion coverage for service members. This is the third consecutive year that the House has pushed through a bill with issues like this. Democrats such as Adam Smith say the funding of the bill is largely positive, but they voted against it due to the culture-war issues tacked on. The bill still needs to pass the Senate. It’s unclear how likely that is, though it will almost certainly be signed if it makes it to Trump’s desk.
In more general Congressional policy, the Senate has done away with the filibuster for executive branch nominees. The decision was made to avoid Democratic opposition to more extreme nominees. Immediately following, Senator John Thune introduced a motion to push through 48 nominees together (ranging from the inspector general at the CIA to the ambassador to Greece.) There is currently a backlog of over 100 nominees (out of roughly 1000 positions that require Senate confirmation). Republicans have framed this as Democratic reticence and unreasonableness, while Democrats have framed this as a stand against woefully underqualified candidates.
A lawsuit against the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) has been filed, alleging that its new funding restrictions are not informed by policies to end homelessness and are overly restrictive so as to prevent most grant recipients from qualifying. The suit claims that the intent is not to achieve any recognizable policy directive, but rather to force this organization to fall in line with Trump’s ideologies. It particularly cites concerns over immigration and transgender policies. The core argument is that the Trump administration is committing “impoundment”, the unconstitutional overriding of the Congressional power of the purse by the executive branch, refusing to distribute certain funding. It’s unclear how much of a chance this suit stands, as the Supreme Court has appeared willing to roll back protections against impoundment in other cases.
In another case against the federal government, a judge ruled that the mass firings of probationary federal workers earlier this year were illegal. Judge William Alsup issued a ruling that stated the firings were not handled properly. He particularly disagreed with the claims that the employees had other avenues to address their concerns, as those were effectively rendered useless by government decisions, and said the government “fabricated” context. He ordered the government to issue letters to each employee saying they were not terminated for performance reasons. However, it’s unclear what other remedies, if any, will be available to the employees. Due to the length of the case, most have already moved on in their careers, whether that was getting rehired or finding employment elsewhere. Some positions have also been eliminated in the meantime. Alsup appeared uncertain about what would be the right course of action in a case like this. All that said, it’s unclear how long this ruling will stand. While Alsup made this ruling in a district in Northern California, a Maryland appeals court appears to have ruled the plaintiffs in a separate but parallel case lack standing to sue. On appeal, and especially if it makes it to the Supreme Court, this ruling may still be undone.
Finally, in an unusual move for the Trump administration, Trump says he will impose more sanctions on Russia if NATO does. Trump has long been sympathetic towards Russia and has sometimes sided with it on the invasion of Ukraine. It is so far unclear if this is part of a larger position reversal. However, it does show Trump may be changing to a stronger support of Ukraine in this conflict.
I’m not saying that Kirk’s death wasn’t significant. What I’m instead saying is that all of these stories and more that I haven’t even included here are significant. All these stories were announced between when Kirk was shot on Wednesday, September 10, and the submission deadline for TechNews on Saturday, September 13. Most of these have gone unreported or underreported due to Kirk’s death. These are major shifts that deserve publicity. We should acknowledge Kirk’s death and what it means for our political society, but we should not let that distract us from the larger context in which this is happening. Kirk’s story is only one of many rights now.