Last month, the U.S. Supreme Court handed down a blow to President Donald Trump’s executive order ending birthright citizenship. Sen. Bernie Moreno, R-Ohio, is still looking to take action, and he’s using a late Democrat Senate icon to do it. This past week Moreno introduced a bill to eliminate birthright citizenship, citing longtime Nevada Sen. Harry Reid, who introduced a similar bill in 1993. On Wednesday, Moreno introduced the Harry Reid Immigration Stabilization Act, which he previewed immediately following last month’s decision in Trump v. Barbara. I will reintroduce this exact bill when I return to DC. Let’s see how today’s DC Democrats will vote when offered the ideas of the Democrat party that used to love this country and the American people! https://t.co/ezw50vEaoD— Bernie Moreno (@berniemoreno) June 30, 2026 A press release from Moreno’s office had decried the decision, saying “the Supreme Court gave a gift to America’s enemies by upholding birthright citizenship.” It also says his bill “would eliminate birthright citizenship, institutes a cap on refugee admissions, reforms the broken asylum system, and streamlines the deportation process, among other border security measures.” Election integrity is another matter discussed. The bill “[c]larifies that birthright citizenship does not apply to children of illegal immigrants and makes it a federal crime for non-citizens to vote in any federal, state, or local elections.” Ira Mehlman, media director for the Federation for American Immigration Reform, categorized any effort as “a long shot,” given that it has to get 60 votes in the Senate, though he did say “more power to” Moreno for trying. If passed the bill will be challenged, Mehlman predicted, with the court having to decide if it would rule again on birthright citizenship. The court had been particularly restrictive in the Barbara decision, though Trump has said he wants Congress to act and the court to hear the issue again. Mehlman also referenced Justice Brett Kavanaugh‘s concurrence. Although Kavanaugh voted with the majority, did so because he did not think an executive order was the way to address birthright citizenship. Kavanaugh wrote that “Congress could—consistent with the Fourteenth Amendment—amend §1401(a) or otherwise enact new legislation establishing exceptions to birthright citizenship for children born to foreign citizens unlawfully or temporarily in the country.” “This would sort of change the dynamics a little bit because Congress has more authority over this than simply an executive order,” Mehlman offered. From Reid to Open Borders Moreno is leaning heavily on Reid’s efforts a generation ago, with a message for today’s Democrats. “Democrats of the past like Harry Reid knew birthright citizenship is a gift to foreign adversaries. Today, the party that used to advocate for working Americans has become the anti-American party,” Moreno said. “They now have a choice: stand with the American people or stand with our enemies.” Birthright citizenship is a gift to the enemies of America. Harry Reid knew it. Senate Democrats will have a choice: side with Americans and their longtime leader, or side with foreign adversaries who will exploit this irresponsible ruling to harm our nation. pic.twitter.com/cE6ycfx2ac— Bernie Moreno (@berniemoreno) June 30, 2026 Reid introduced the Immigration Stabilization Act of 1993, with Fox News referring to Moreno’s bill as “a mirror image” of that Reid bill. Reid warned in 1993 that “our borders have overflowed with illegal immigrants, placing tremendous burdens” on several programs, and that “our federal wallet is stretched to the limit by illegal aliens getting welfare, food stamps, medical care and other benefits, often without paying any taxes.” Despite Reid’s status as a Democratic icon, members of his party today celebrated the Barbara decision. The suit was brought by several Democrat attorneys general immediately after Trump signed his executive order during the first few days in office for his second term. Immigration has gotten worse since 1993, especially during the Biden administration, all while Democrats have become more liberal on the issue. Mehlman also addressed the surge in illegal immigration under Biden, who “opened up the borders to a point where the American public got a sense of what it’s like to have our immigration laws massively abused and the American public said, ‘We’re not going to tolerate it,’ and they voted for change.” “If we see that there is a massive abuse of birthright citizenship, that could lead to a response from the American people that this cannot be tolerated,” he continued. “That might present an opportunity,” and “the court would also have to reckon with the fact that” such a ruling “just opened the door to people abusing our laws.”

While speaking at the Heritage Foundation on Thursday, Colombia’s incoming foreign minister Omar Bula reaffirmed his commitment to following in the footsteps of the United States in making Western civilization and its hemisphere a beacon of freedom. Having just won the elections this spring, with the endorsement of President Donald Trump, the incoming conservative administration has already resumed relations with Israel, which were previously cut by anti-Israel and former communist guerrilla fighter President Gustavo Petro, created “hope with all of our partners,” and begun to develop a plan to combat China’s influence and narcoterrorism. “All of the foreign ministers whom I’ve spoken to in the last weeks have had a sigh of hope, Bula said. “These last four years, Colombia wasn’t very helpful.” In addition to the incoming administration’s keynote achievements, Bula asserted that for the next four years, the new presidential administration will work hard to protect Western civilization. “The focus is strengthening our place in the Western Hemisphere for the people of Colombia, providing security, and to the extent possible, listening to the people who haven’t really been listened to,” Bula said. Bula added that his administration understands the importance of preserving the Christian-rooted principles, cultural points of view, and linguistic components that define Colombia and the Western Hemisphere. Christian principles are practiced and enshrined in the culture of every country in South, Central and North America. “We have to take this series of steps to defend which of civilization in the Southern hemisphere,” and “perfectly in line in terms of the ideological direction of the United States,” Bula said, hinting at a new and stronger Colombia and U.S. alliance. Bula, guided by Heritage Foundation President Dr. Kevin Roberts, began to discuss why his administration plans to curb Chinese influence in and around Colombia, which Roberts referred to as an imminent “threat.” As of 2026, the Council on Foreign Relations, the Brookings Institute, and GIS Reports have all noted the infrastructure, technological and industrial investments the Chinese Communist Party has exerted in South America. The China Global South Project has identified that through economic leverage, political party exchanges, and media control, the CCP has been able to uplift communist, socialist, and far left regimes, such as the ones in Cuba, Venezuela, Brazil, Chile, Uruguay, Nicaragua, Bolivia, and, formerly, Petro’s administration in Colombia, from rising to power. “They [China] took a lot of advantage of the last few years, clearly,” Bula added. “China became the first commercial partner in South America; we still have Brazil, very close to them, the bricks, so we’ll have to deal with that as well.” One of the strategies Bula outlined, which will further distance Colombia from being controlled by China’s communist regime in the future, is to strengthen an alliance with the United States. The alliance, Bula added, could be strengthened particularly through trade agreements, given that Americans consume Chinese-made products in unprecedented amounts. “We’re aware of the fact that even though we can, from an economic standpoint, provide you with many of the products that are being produced in China,” Bula said. “We spoke about rare earth critical minerals,” Bula added. “We can replace China in terms of its impact on the economy in the region in the coming years. That’s one of our priorities.” The transfer of power in Colombia is set to take place on Aug. 7, 2026.

While Dr. Jay Bhattacharya, the director of the National Institutes of Health, calls himself pro-life, he said that is not a prerequisite for opposing research on aborted babies.  In January, Bhattacharya ended the use of NIH-supported research involving human fetal tissue from elective abortions. “I personally am pro-life, but that’s not enough of a justification,” he said in an exclusive interview with the Daily Signal. “What needs to happen is we have to have neutral principles for why you’re making decisions, and I have two that I’ve established. I apply those to this.” "That was a relatively easy decision."@NIHDirector_Jay tells @DailySignal why you don't have to be pro-life to oppose aborted fetal cell research. "I personally am pro-life, but that's not enough of a justification," he said. What needs to happen is we have to have neutral… pic.twitter.com/b2uEf8tIrK— Elizabeth Troutman Mitchell (@TheElizMitchell) July 17, 2026 Bhattacharya said NIH research must be ethically acceptable to as broad a segment of the population as possible. “Imagine I do some amazing study, but I violate horrible ethical norms so that most of the population, most people, believe that I’ve done something terrible,” he said. “The fruits of that terrible thing would be broadly unacceptable to most of the population. So no matter how brilliant the idea that comes out of that would be, it’s not achieving the mission of the NIH, which is to improve health, extend life.” The scientist said research involving human tissue from aborted babies is ethically unacceptable to a substantial portion of the population. “Regardless of where anyone stands on abortion or these issues, which are obviously issues where people disagree pretty fundamentally, the NIH needs to focus its resources, our resources, on ideas and projects that are broadly ethically acceptable,” he said. Secondly, Bhattacharya said data show the controversial practice has declined in recent years. “It’s not surprising that there were technological advances: the use of adult stem cells, other technologies that substituted for aborted human fetal tissue in research,” he said. “Researchers tended to increasingly adopt those new technologies rather than use aborted human fetal tissue.” As a result, ending aborted fetal tissue research was a “relatively easy decision” for Bhattacharya. “You have two sorts of neutral principles that push in the same direction,” he said, “and I think it makes the NIH portfolio much more ethically acceptable to the population at large.” Because of these “neutral principles,” Bhattacharya said he thinks it will be difficult for the next NIH director who is not pro-life to bring back aborted fetal tissue research. “If there’s a NIH director several years from now, and they want to reverse it, they’ll have to run up against neutral principles,” he said. “They’ll have to say, ‘Yeah, it’s OK to do research that results in products and ideas that are ethically unacceptable to, you know, half the population. That’s fine. That’s a good idea.’ They’re not going to be able to do that with a straight face.”

Opponents of the rapid buildout of data centers held 142 protests across 42 states on Saturday in the first nationwide effort to channel anger at the AI infrastructure expansion that has ramped up over the past year and roiled local politics. The protests were coordinated by HumansFirst, co-founded by a former leader of the modern-day Tea Party. She compares growing opposition to data centers to the right-wing populist movement that emerged in 2009 to protest what it saw as excessive taxation and government overreach. Protesters rallied against what HumansFirst calls the “unaccountable” buildout of data centers and “unacceptable infringement on our liberty.” In Fredericksburg, Virginia, one young man carried a sign reading, “We thrive on water not data.” In Atlanta, a small knot of protesters wiealded signs reading, “Georgia never voted for hyperscale AI data centers.” Nationwide and city-specific counts of protesters were not immediately available, said Chris Barron, president at Right Turn Strategies, who is handling press relations for HumansFirst. Attendance was lower than expected in some rural areas and major cities such as Atlanta, local organizers told Reuters. But HumansFirst praised the efforts of community activists. “We were thrilled with the turnout,” Barron said. Data center opposition is among the few issues uniting Americans across ideological lines, with just a third of Americans approving of the pace of data center construction in the U.S., according to a June Reuters/Ipsos poll. Only 14% of respondents would support a data center being built in their community to support artificial intelligence projects for technology firms such as Meta,  Alphabet, Amazon, Microsoft and Elon Musk’s xAI. “The data center industry is continuing to work with policymakers, stakeholders, and residents to ensure data centers strengthen, not strain, the areas where they operate — while mitigating any negative impacts to households and businesses,” said Josh Levi, president of the Data Center Coalition, the industry’s association and lobbying group. Red and Blue States Represented Although HumansFirst co-founder Amy Kremer compared her current efforts to the Tea Party movement’s early days in 2009, she said the anger against data centers is nonpartisan. “They just woke up one day and found out they’re going to have this monstrosity in their community, and they don’t want it,” said Kremer, who predicted data centers will be a defining issue in November’s midterm elections and the 2028 presidential race. Kremer has criticized Republicans for giving Big Tech a “free pass,” but she and some organizers also said they do not support policies like moratoriums on data center approvals like the one adopted by the Democratic state of New York. Demands made by organizers from the groups involved include transparency in the development process, protection of resources and environmental health, community benefits such as the creation of well-paying union jobs, and a way to hold developers accountable if they break their promises. The Republican stronghold of Texas, a hotspot for data center development, hosted 18 protest events, the most of any state. The battleground state of Georgia had 11 rallies. Democratic-dominated California had eight, while the swing state of Pennsylvania and the Republican-leaning states of Florida and Indiana came in at seven each. Saturday’s Atlanta protest, one of a number of similar actions this month, attracted about a dozen participants who traveled from smaller Georgia towns where the largest data centers are being built, said Jake Watts, 26, a volunteer at that event. Left-leaning Ivan DelSol, 54, helped lead a protest in the California desert’s Imperial County, where a proposed data center project could use 260 million gallons (984 million liters) of water per year from the Colorado River. “It’s dystopian that you would use this much fresh water for AI,” said DelSol, who later added around 50 people attended despite temperatures that soared above 100 degrees Fahrenheit (38 degrees Celsius). Although water is frequently cited as a top public concern, especially in water-stressed regions, the data center industry says its water use is not as significant as other industries. In Tyler, Texas, first-time activist and self-described “political nomad” Eva Cardona, 31, organized a protest that also drew about a dozen people. “I’ve been hearing about unregulated AI and the rapid growth was alarming me. I wanted to do something more hands-on than just your standard Facebook post,” Cardona said. Reporting by Valerie Volcovici in Washington, Lisa Baertlein in Los Angeles and Evelyn Hockstein in Fredericksburg, Virginia; editing by Stephen Coates, Chris Reese and Sergio Non

The State Bank of India has announced it is opening a new branch in Frisco, Texas, with critics raising concerns about Indian workers sending remittances back to India with minimal fees. The branch is expected to open in mid-September and will be located off Coit Road. The Indian population in the Dallas-Fort Worth area is estimated at about 230,000, with many being in the U.S. on H-1B visas. The population increased by 20% from 2020 to 2024 as the federal government continued approving H-1B visas. The bank’s website states that customers can send remittances—money foreign workers send back to their home countries—with zero transfer fees.  Online customers can send up to $50,000 per day, while mobile customers can send up to $25,000 per day, according to the bank’s website. There is no stated limit for remittances sent from a branch. The bank specializes in remittance services to India and Bangladesh.  Employees at the bank speak multiple languages, including English, Hindi, Punjabi, and other Indian languages. State Bank of India is headquartered in Los Angeles and has multiple branches across California. The institution is also backed by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, which insures deposits of up to $250,000 per depositor. The new Frisco location has drawn criticism from those who say the services could be used to evade American laws. According to an article by Ammon Blair, a senior fellow with the Texas Public Policy Foundation’s Secure & Sovereign Nation Initiative, the United States is losing at least $200 billion annually from remittances leaving the domestic economy and supporting foreign economies. “Through the lens of gray-zone conflict, remittances are not neutral financial transfers. They function as an asymmetric economic weapon, weakening U.S. labor markets, eroding the rule of law, and stabilizing regimes that act contrary to American interests. In gray-zone conflict, the rule of law itself becomes contested terrain,” Blair wrote. Blair also told the Daily Signal that the bank is bringing the remittance issue directly to Texas. “This is not simply another community bank entering a growing suburb,” Blair said. “SBI California is a subsidiary of State Bank of India, which is controlled by the Indian government.” Blair said India received an estimated $129 billion in remittances in 2024, but there is little information about whether the funds came from lawful earnings or how much was transferred through digital channels. “That lack of visibility is the problem,” Blair said. “At scale, they move billions of dollars earned in the United States into foreign economies, supporting households, businesses, financial institutions, and governments abroad rather than recirculating in the communities where the income was generated.” Blair also raised concerns around the zero-transfer fees SBIC is offering. He told the Daily Signal that Texas should require a “clear, upfront disclosure of the total transaction cost, including the exchange-rate spread.” At the state level, Blair says Texas needs to address the issue through a “constitutionally sound approach.” “Texas can focus instead on conduct occurring within the state: banking compliance, consumer protection, deceptive pricing, fraud, identity theft, unlawful employment, public-benefit theft, money laundering, tax evasion, and organized crime,” he said. “Texas law already gives the banking commissioner authority to examine an interstate branch maintained by an out-of-state state bank and respond when that branch violates applicable Texas law. “ “The Legislature should determine whether that authority is sufficient and whether additional reporting, examination, subpoena, referral, or enforcement powers are necessary,” he added. At the federal level, Republican U.S. Rep. Keith Self of Texas told the Daily Signal that he filed legislation to address the issue by imposing a tax on foreign remittances. “I am fighting to protect America’s financial system because foreign remittance schemes—including zero-fee transfers from banks like the State Bank of India—are being used to evade our laws and cheat American taxpayers,” Self said. “That’s why I introduced the Foreign Remittance Accountability and Transparency Act (HR 5978), pushed to block illegal aliens from our banks (HR 8836), and am demanding we raise the excise tax on remittances sent abroad by foreign nationals to 50%. It’s time to end this exploitation and put American taxpayers first.”