Shia Dem News

shiawasseecountyde
Sep 5
8 min read

September, 2025 Newsletter

Shia Dems: Celebrating and fighting for democratic values

Know Your Rights training this Friday!

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) is fighting back against President Trump's deployment of military troops and federal agents into U.S. communities – with over 270,000 ACLU supporters (and counting) urging Congress to stop this abuse of power. This militarization is about control, not safety. And now the administration is threatening to target people exercising their First Amendment right to protest.

The ACLU is inviting concerned citizens to a Know Your Rights Training on Friday, September 5, 8:00 p.m. ET.

WHAT: ACLU People Power's Know Your Rights TrainingWHEN: Friday, September 5, 8 p.m. ETWHERE: Online. Register here: RSVP Today

You can also find a library of resources including guides to disability rights, healthcare providers, discrimination awareness, protester rights, what to do if stopped by police, and more at KYR | American Civil Liberties Union

USAHello has updated its list of resources related to immigration and citizenship, temporary protected status, and deportations. According to the organization, there are record backlogs in immigration applications, and new rules are creating added challenges.

Screening for "Anti-Americanism”

Officers reviewing immigration applications can deny benefits based on what they believe are anti-American or antisemitic ideas, groups, or activities. There is no clear definition of “anti-Americanism,” so officers have broad discretion (even social media posts and online groups may count against you).

Learn more about social media and digital safety.

Good moral character for citizenship

Officers reviewing citizenship applications now have more power to decide based on an applicant’s overall behavior.

Positive factors: community service, caregiving for family, education level, steady work, paying taxes, and years of lawful residence.
Negative factors: repeated traffic violations, harassment, DUIs, unlawful voting, drug offenses, or other socially questionable behavior.

Learn more about citizenship requirements.

House takes axe to Michigan budget

After lawmakers missed a statutory July 1 deadline and offered months of noncommittal answers about when the House would pass a state budget for the next fiscal year, the GOP majority unveiled — and within an hour approved — an 800-page spending plan that proposed big cuts nearly across the board. Just five of 20 state departments and agencies avoided cuts. The House GOP plan would broadly slash state government funding, cutting thousands of state government jobs and eliminating a bevy of programs, in part to boost state and local road spending by more than $3 billion next year.

Republican legislators hailed the plan as a direct attack on “waste, fraud and abuse.” Democrats called it unrealistic and unworkable austerity. The drama unfolded nearly two months after the budget was supposed to have been finalized so schools could get an idea of how much funding they’d receive. With just about a month before the end of the fiscal year — and, absent a budget deal, a government shutdown — a large gap needs to be bridged.

Read: Michigan House GOP budget cuts spending, workers and DEI to pave way for roads

State curricula must remove references to gender identity or lose funding

Michigan must stop making references to gender identity in sex educational materials provided to schools or risk losing millions of dollars in federal funding, according to the Trump administration. Michigan receives about $3.4 million a year from the federal government to fund the program, which is taught to students from ages 12 to 18.

In a Tuesday letter to the state health department, the federal Administration for Children and Families mandated that Michigan “remove all content concerning gender ideology from its curricula, program materials and any other aspects of its program delivery within 60 days.” According to the letter, “Should Michigan fail to make the appropriate modifications to its PREP curricula and program materials, ACF may take additional enforcement action allowing HHS to withhold, disallow, suspend, or terminate Federal awards if imposing additional conditions on a grantee does not cure noncompliance.”

The order is specific to sex ed curriculum materials the state provides through its federally funded Personal Responsibility Education Program. Michigan’s current curriculum materials teach students about gender identity, gender expression and pronouns. There are also lessons that tell students biological sex is different from gender, define transgender and gender-nonconforming people and what it means to identify in that way.

Trump’s Signature Bill: Help spread the word about when exactly the tax law’s most harmful provisions kick in. You can download the below graphic for social media use here: WHO GETS HURT WHEN

Distill Social needs volunteers to gather signatures for two important ballot initiatives

Distill Social, a Michigan-based grassroots organization focusing on the next generation of voters, has announced that two of their ballot proposals were approved by the Board of Canvassers! Volunteers are needed to start collecting signatures for Invest in MI Kids and Michigan for Money Out of Politics so they can appear on the ballot in 2026.

The Invest in MI Kids ballot initiative is a constitutional amendment designed to generate $1–1.7 billion per year by adding a 5% “fair share” surcharge to income above $500,000 for single filers and $1 million for joint filers. The Michigan for Money Out of Politics initiative will seek to ban political contributions from regulated monopoly utilities (like DTE and Consumers Energy) and corporations that seek or hold large state and local government contracts, over $250,000.

Want to get involved?

Step 1. Complete a training via Zoom (sign up to one of the sessions using the links below)

Step 2. Complete the short (less than 10 minutes) online test (which will be sent to you after your Zoom training session)

Step 3. You will either be contacted by a local area distributor to arrange pickup of your ballot petition kit (which will include Invest In MI Kids AND Michigan For Money Out Of Politics ballot petitions, a clipboard & instructions), or you will receive your kit in the mail (if you live in an area where there isn’t a distributor).

NEWS OF NATIONAL IMPORTANCE

Public comments needed on proposed repeal of National Forest Protection Rule

The Trump administration, led by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), is in the process of repealing the 2001 Roadless Rule, which protects millions of acres of national forest land from new road construction, logging, and timber harvesting. A public comment period was opened on August 27, 2025, as the next step in the rulemaking process to rescind the rule, which the administration claims will allow for better forest management, including fire prevention and economic growth.

Environmental groups oppose the repeal, arguing that the rule protects critical wildlife habitats and water resources and that removing these protections will harm the environment. The U.S. Department of Agriculture is giving the public just three weeks to weigh in on a key step of its attempt to scrap the Roadless Rule, which protects almost 59 million acres of forest land from road construction and timber harvesting.

Comments must be submitted no later than Sept. 19, 2025, via the Federal Register at www.federalregister.gov/documents/2025/08/29/2025-16581/special-areas-roadless-area-conservation-national-forest-system-lands. Public comments will be considered during the development of the draft environmental impact statement.

Experts caution that the truncated comment period limits the opportunity for public comment, a key part of rulemaking and a hallmark of the original rule.

Florida first in nation to eliminate vaccine mandates

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis announced plans on Tuesday to eliminate Florida’s longstanding vaccine mandates, framing the move as a defense of parental rights and medical freedom. The announcement, made alongside Surgeon General Joseph Ladapo and First Lady Casey DeSantis, drew immediate pushback from parents, physicians, and pediatric leaders who fear the change will put children and communities at risk.

Ladapo promised Florida would go further than any state in removing requirements. He announced plans to repeal all childhood vaccine mandates—comparing them to “slavery”—sparking outrage from public health experts who warn the move will endanger children and undo decades of disease prevention.

CDC staffers demand Kennedy resignation

More than 1,000 current and former HHS employees signed a letter demanding Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s resignation as health secretary, accusing him of endangering Americans with anti-vaccine policies, installing political ideologues, and fueling CDC chaos after the firing of its director, while the Trump administration and Kennedy defended their actions as necessary reforms.

In response to turmoil at the CDC under Kennedy, Democratic governors Gavin Newsom (CA), Tina Kotek (OR), and Bob Ferguson (WA) launched the West Coast Health Alliance to coordinate vaccine policy and provide science-based guidance, rebuking Trump’s politicization of public health and pledging to protect millions of residents with evidence-driven decision-making.

Use of IEEPA to impose tariffs ruled unconstitutional

On August 29, a federal appeals court ruled Trump illegally used emergency powers to impose sweeping tariffs, putting more than $200B in potential business refunds on the line if the Supreme Court upholds the decision. The 7-4 decision largely upheld a lower trade court ruling from May 2025 that determined the "power to impose tariffs, duties, or the like" is a "core Congressional power" and is not granted to the executive branch through the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA). While the court ruled the use of IEEPA was illegal, it allowed the tariffs to remain in effect until the deadline to give the administration time to appeal.

Epstein survivors fight to force release of files

Survivors of Jeffrey Epstein’s abuse joined lawmakers at the Capitol to back a bipartisan resolution forcing release of all unclassified Epstein files, with co-sponsors Rep. Thomas Massie and Rep. Ro Khanna nearing the 218 House signatures needed to bypass leadership. Trump dismissed the effort as a “Democrat hoax” while his critics accused the administration of redacting records to shield Trump’s allies. The survivors at the conference said that if Congress isn’t willing to release all of the investigative documents pertaining to Epstein, they would compile their own list of names to hold those in Epstein’s orbit accountable. "Together as survivors, we will confidentially compile the names we all know, who were regularly in the Epstein world,” said Lisa Phillips, one of the young women leading the effort.

The Rural Caucus of the MDP presents Nate Engle, Director of Community Engagement for MDARD, on How tariffs, Executive Orders and ICE actions affect Michigan agriculture

WHEN: Monday, September , 7 p.m. ETWHERE: Online.

Register here: MeetingRegistration - Zoom

Nate Engle serves as the Director of Community Engagement for MDARD, the Michigan Department of Agriculture and Rural Development. Engle previously served in the immediate executive offices of two Michigan governors and a state representative. He earned a Master of Public Administration at Grand Valley State University, an undergraduate degree in urban and regional planning at Michigan State University and holds several technical and leadership certificates.

Engle spent the better part of two decades abroad, most recently working in Madagascar where he designed, built, and operated a chocolate factory and one of the global chocolate industry’s most innovate supply chain models. Engle also set up and implemented an agricultural extension system in South Sudan; managed several USAID-funded projects as apart of reconstruction efforts in Afghanistan for the International City/County Management Association (ICMA); and volunteered for two years an agriculture extension technician with the US Peace Corps in Madagascar. He grew up on a 5th generation, small family farm in Michigan’s Osceola County.

Engle will speak on how tariffs, Executive Orders, and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) actions all have significant, wide-ranging impacts on Michigan's agriculture, a critical component of the state's economy. Michigan is a border state with strong ties to Canada and Mexico, making it especially vulnerable to changes in trade and immigration policy. Tariffs impose significant financial burdens on Michigan farmers, increase costs for consumers, and create market instability.