Beware of ICE Activity! We’ve word that ICE and TN Highway Patrol plan to increase detentions of immigrants in the greater Knoxville area over the next 2-3 weeks. ICE was spotted in Alcoa near McCammon Ave on July 15th.  If you see something, please report it to the Knoxville Migrant Watch Hotline at 865-226-9052. If you have an Apple device, consider downloading the ICEBlock app that allows you to share information on nearby ICE activity.

Actions for Week of January 11, 2026

• Support War Powers Resolution – A bipartisan group of Senators voted on Thursday to advance a war powers resolution to block use of US Armed forces against Venezuela unless authorized by Congress. The resolution will be voted on this week. The resolution needs 51 votes to pass, and the vote this past week was 52-47.  Please contact our Senators (contact information below) and ask them to vote for the resolution.

• Support Defunding ICE – The deadline for the next phase of funding for the Department of Homeland Security is January 30th. The Continuing Resolution must pass by that time or the government may shutdown again. Some Congressional Democrats are calling for funding of ICE to be removed from the DHS appropriation bill. So far Sen. Schumer and Rep. Jeffries are not supporting the idea. Let’s reach out to them with feedback on this idea. 

  1. Sen. Schumer: 202-224-6542, 212-486-4430, https://www.schumer.senate.gov/contact/message-chuck

  2. Rep. Jeffries: 202-225-5936, 718-237-2211; https://democraticleader.house.gov/contact

  3. Also sign this petition.

• Good News!

  1. The House passed a bill to extend ACA healthcare subsidies for 3 years, and it moves on to the Senate.

  2. The Senate rejected the call to cut National Park Service funding for fiscal year 2026, and it will remain flat. However, the appropriations bill strips language that affirms national parks must remain federal lands.

  3. Learn about all the performers who have canceled shows at the Kennedy Center, as well as resignations from the board of trustees and advisory committee. The Washington National Opera is also leaving.

  4. Avelo Airlines is ending its contract with DHS to deport detainees, and Spotify has stopped running ICE ads on its site.

  5. Good judicial rulings:

     • A judge ruled the acting US Attorney investigating Letitia James is serving unlawfully.

     • A judge blocked the regime from freezing $10 billion in childcare funds to 5 blue states.

     • SCOTUS did not make an expedited ruling in Louisiana v. Callais, so the state cannot eliminate one or both majority Black districts before the midterms.

     • A federal judge ruled prosecutors must turn over some documents to the defense in their case again Kilmar Abrego Garcia.

     • Another federal judge blocked key parts of the regime’s anti-voting executive order.

     • A court ruled the regime cannot slash NIH research funding.

• Educate Yourself

  1. According to the Comptroller’s report, most students using the ESA vouchers in TN are not leaving low-performing schools, and they are underperforming their public school peers.

  2. The House passed HR. 845 (Pet and Livestock Protection Act) that removes gray wolves from Endangered Species Act protections. It now heads to the Senate.

  3. State lawmakers and the EPA may try to ban abortion pills on the basis they are pollutants.

  4. Fish & Wildlife Service Director, Brian Nesvik, has ordered a comprehensive review of Wildlife refuges and related projects that is aimed at identifying sites and programs to close without public comment.

  5. Note that USPS is changing how mail is post marked and letters are no longer marked on the day they are dropped off. The new rule affects all time sensitive materials, including tax payments, charitable contributions, mail-in ballots, etc.

  6. The US factory sector contracted for the 10th straight month in December, and the latest US jobs report is bleak.

  7. Read about the 1917 Treaty of Danish West Indies that sold St. Thomas, St. John, and St. Croix islands to the US (i.e. US Virgin Islands) and in return, the USA agreed to recognize all of Greenland as Danish territory.

• Cruelty, Oppression & White Supremacy

  1. Texas is shutting down its civil rights commission.

  2. Read about a local immigrant family and the challenges they face.

  3. The regime’s SAVE tool that looks for noncitizen voters is flagging US citizens and cancelling their voter registrations.

  4. Sen. Mark Kelly is being censured and his retirement pay docked by Peter Hegseth because of Kelly’s public statements reminding the military they do not have to obey illegal orders.

  5. The regime has expanded the list of countries whose citizens must pay up to $15,000 bonds to apply for visas.

  6. This past Wednesday, the regime withdrew the US from 66 international treaties and organizations, endangering the planet and peoples everywhere.

  7. Five Native Americans were detained by ICE this past week in Minnesota.

Actions for Week of January 4, 2026

• Provide Feedback on Attacking Venezuela – The TN Congressional delegation has announced their support for the attack and for the capture of Pres. Maduro despite the illegal nature of the action. The action violated Article 2(4) of the UN charter and is an act of war that has not been sanctioned by Congress. The abduction of a foreign leader is a violation of international law. Please contact our MoCs with feedback. Contact information is below. Consider calling all of their offices and also using ResistBot and the 5Calls app. You can also use this link from 5Calls to reach  them.

• Jack Smith Deposition – You can watch the Jack Smith Deposition before the House Judiciary Committee here. He testifies that they have proof that 47 incited a resurrection.

• Petitions to Sign

  1. This petition opposes H.R.3898 that undermines the Clean Water Act.

  2. This petition opposes drilling in Alaska’s Western Arctic Reserve.

  3. This petition asks AT&T to stop contracting with ICE and pledges not to purchase any AT&T products until they do so.

  4. This petition opposes the Union Pacific-Norfolk Southern railroad merger.

  5. This petition supports the Military in Law Enforcement Accountability Act, which denies the president the ability to militarize and deploy federal agents.

  6. This petition and this petition oppose new rules to weaken the Endangered Species Act.

  7. This petition opposes privatization of the US Postal Service.

• Good News!

  • More lawsuits:

    1. The National Trust for Historic Preservation is suing 47 over his ballroom addition.

    2. Six residents of Minnesota are suing Kristi Noem for infringing on their civil rights.

    3. Learning Resources is suing the regime over its tariffs, and the Crocs shoe company has also filed a suit.   

    4. TN Court of Appeals will hear the challenge to the National Guard deployment in Memphis.

    5. The American Association of Pediatrics is suing HHS for cutting $12 million in grants.

    6. Nineteen states have sued HHS over their plans to curtail gender-affirming care for trans youth.

    7. A Chicago nonprofit and teachers union hves sued the Dept. of Education for canceling grants and failing to spend $16 million in congressionally-mandated funds.

  • A judge has temporarily barred the regime from ending temporary protective status for South Sudanese immigrants that was due to go in effect on Jan. 6th, and another judge blocked end of TPS for folks from Honduras, Nepal, and Nicaragua.

  • A statue of Barbara Rose Jones, who at the age of 16 led a walkout at her segregated high school, has replaced a statue of a Confederate general in the US Capitol.

  • The US government cancelled a $760 million contract with Moderna to develop a bird flu vaccine but the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations will fund the phase three trial at a cost of $54 million.

  • Following a legal compromise, NIH will now review grant proposal frozen, denied or withdrawn by DOGE/the regime.

• Educate Yourself

  1. TN majority leader, Jack Johson, wants to establish Turning Point USA chapters in every TN high school.

  2. Ford will no longer manufacture electric trucks at Blue Oval in TN; they will build gas-powered trucks instead.

  3. Nearly 19 million rural Americans live in states with the most restricted access to abortion.

  4. Learn about outdated and dangerous antiquated laws that give the president tremendous power.

  5. NASA’s largest research library was closed on Friday, and portions of the collection may be trashed.

  6. The regime plans to close the National Center for Atmospheric Research because it reports on the effects of climate change.

  7. The regime has expanded the travel ban to more countries.

• Cruelty, Oppression & White Supremacy

  1. The American Alliance for Equal Rights has sued the Women of Knoxville and the Women Foundation for providing small loans to Black-owned businesses, claiming they discriminate against white people.

  2. Isreal barred 37 aid groups from Gaza, including Doctors Without Borders, which has never been barred before from any country. Here is a list of the banned NGOs.

  3. The regime wants to escalate denaturalization of foreign-born US citizens.

  4. Learn about Operation Irish Goodbye, the plan to arrest immigrants at the US-Mexican border who are voluntarily returning home.

  5. The CDC awarded $1.6 million in a non-bid contract to controversial Danish researchers to start an unethical study of hepatitis B vaccines in babies in Guinea-Bissau. Babies who receive the placebo will likely contract hepatitis B.

  6. Cholera deaths have surged in Sudan after USAid was cut, and Congolese rape survivors have lost access to HIV prevention medications.

  7. The House passed HR 4371 that allows ICE to detain unaccompanied children longer; house them in prison-like facilities; block their release to relatives who aren’t US citizens; and subject them to invasive strip searches for tattoos.