Interpreting the Legality of Federal Immigration Operations — Dec. 8, 2025

UPDATE: On Friday afternoon, Congresswoman Valerie Foushee (NC-04) responded to the Department of Homeland Security’s list of “sanctuary jurisdictions,” which includes Orange, Durham and Chatham Counties, each of which fall under her district. “This outrageous list is nothing more than a politically motivated stunt designed to intimidate and punish local governments that refuse to be […]

North Carolina operates under a law that prohibits any county or municipality from restricting local law enforcement’s ability to cooperate with federal immigration officials. And while that technically prohibits sanctuary cities in the state, most law enforcements choose what to prioritize in their respective towns. Chapel Hill Police Chief Chris Blue said immigration status hasn’t […]

Experts say Trump's executive order on bathrooms, for one, will be hard to defend in court (and not for the reason you think).

Trump wholeheartedly - and 40 percent say he ought to be impeached.

Prolonged detention has become more common in President Donald Trump’s second term, at least partly because a new policy generally prohibits immigration judges from releasing detainees while their deportation cases wind through backlogged courts.

This Week: Born into a blue collar and agricultural clan in rural Pennsylvania, Dr. Jim Crawford was the first in his family to graduate from college. Earning his PhD from the University of North Carolina, he taught US and World History at several universities in the piedmont North Carolina for several decades. He served as chairman of the Chatham County board of commissioners. He is a firm believer in American democracy and trusts that the constitution will hold firm now as it has in past crises despite the broken, distempered electorate. James Wood is currently Professor of Latin American and modern world history at North Carolina A&T State University. He is the author of The Society of Equality: Popular Republicanism and Democracy in Santiago de Chile, 1818-1851 and the co-editor of Problems in Modern Latin American History: Sources and Interpretations, now in its fifth edition with Rowman and Littlefield. As a Fulbright scholar for Chile in 2016 he was a visiting professor at the Universidad Diego Portales in Santiago (where he observed Chilean student activism up close).

One of the defining stories of 2025 was the impact of federal funding cuts on our community - from nonprofits to research and beyond.

Under a July executive order from President Donald Trump, federal substance abuse grants can’t pay for supplies such as cookers and tourniquets that it says “only facilitate illegal drug use.” Needles already couldn’t be purchased with federal money.

The hearing was Kristi Noem’s first public appearance before Congress in months, testifying at the House Committee on Homeland Security.

The Hill's Andrew Stuckey speaks with Chapel Hill Immigration Attorney Chris Barnes and University of North Carolina Law Professor Rick Su on Monday, December 8. They discuss the specific implications of federal immigration enforcement actions in the Triangle region in November. They also discuss the larger legal ramifications of recent immigration enforcement, both in national politics and as it affects people locally. They share insights on the current legal question marks surrounding immigration in the United States, talk about who is affected most by these policies, what they expect to see in 2026, and more.