‘We’ve had a lot of good energy here’: University students handed cookies for voting early in Michigan
In the heart of the University of Michigan’s Ann Arbor campus, a cookie is handed out for an early vote.
Artisanal doughy treats piled with square chocolate chips and cream-coloured cookies with blue icing are laid out in boxes on top of a Harris/Walz stand in the main square next to a blue wall of boxes plastered with “students for Harris and Waltz” signs.
Alec Hughes, co-president of College Democrats at the University of Michigan, says voting has ‘been going great so far’
“We’ve had a lot of good energy here and because Ann Arbor is such a blue area so much of the obligation falls on us to not just convince students but to actually turn them out to vote,” says Alec Hughes, co-president of College Democrats at the University of Michigan.
“It’s been going great so far. We’ve had I think, if I had to guess, 15 to 20% on campus that voted early and we’re still five days out from election night.”
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Students hand out cookies to early voters
I trace the stream of students collecting their free cookies to the early voting centre around the corner.
Through the glass wall of the modern campus building, I see first-time voter Olamiposi move through the voting centre to cast her ballot.
“It would be really amazing to be able to witness the first female president this country has ever had. So I wanted to be a part of making that happen,” she says, buzzing with excitement.
Based on early voting data, Gen-Z-led organisation Voters of Tomorrow predicts youth voters are on track to break turnout records.
Students built a ‘blue wall’ of boxes
‘It’s important to vote’
In the University of Michigan campus in Flint, early voting is crucial for underprivileged students to have a say.
“Our students have incredibly complicated lives,” says Dr Jason Kosnoski, professor of political science at the University of Michigan-Flint.
“They’re non-traditional. They might have families. They might have all sorts of obligations. So, I mean, these are people whose voices usually aren’t heard.”
Dr Kosnoski says early voting is particularly important for his students as it means they have enough time to cast their ballots.
“If they were only allowed to vote on one particular day, they may not get the chance to,” he adds.
Women worry what will happen if Trump wins
Back on the Ann Arbour campus, 20-year-old Elena Mann is happy to vote in a swing state for her first time.
“New Jersey is very Democratic and so I’m lucky to be from a very Democratic area. But I’m also very happy that I can be in a swing state where my vote will carry a little bit more than New Jersey,” she says.
But fear for her safety sits underneath her excitement. Like many other women on campus she’s worried about what will happen if Donald Trump wins.
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Is there a fear around criticising Mr Trump? She is the third student I speak to who alludes to Mr Trump without mentioning his name.
“I would definitely say so,” she responds.
“In areas where you don’t know what people’s opinions are – among friends, of course it’s a different story – but just out and about I would feel a little bit uncomfortable about it. You don’t know how they will react.”
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Supporters of Mr Trump at the local bar
‘I feel compelled to vote’
Students are pouring into nearby bar Good Time Charley’s to start their night. Among them are Trump supporters having a quick drink – young men who work in Michigan’s vital automobile industry and are banking on the former president to fix the economy.
There is no visible conflict with the enthusiastic young Democrats around them, just a feeling of contempt for the status quo and a need to stop the continuation of a Biden administration through Kamala Harris.
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“This year I am compelled to vote for Trump,” says autobody technician Joseph Michael Grant.
“I turned 18 and I didn’t feel compelled to vote. I am 22 now and I feel compelled to vote.”
Donald Trump has said he is considering “taking away” the US citizenship of actress and comedian Rosie O’Donnell, despite a Supreme Court ruling that expressly prohibits a government from doing so.
In a post on Truth Social on Saturday, the US president said: “Because of the fact that Rosie O’Donnell is not in the best interests of our Great Country, I am giving serious consideration to taking away her Citizenship.”
He also labelled O’Donnell, who has moved to Ireland, as a “threat to humanity” and said she should “remain in the wonderful country of Ireland, if they want her”.
O’Donnell responded on Instagram by posting a photograph of Mr Trump with Jeffrey Epstein.
“You are everything that is wrong with America and I’m everything you hate about what’s still right with it,” she wrote in the caption.
“I’m not yours to silence. I never was.”
Rosie O’Donnell moved to Ireland after Donald Trump secured a second term. Pic: AP
O’Donnell moved to Ireland with her 12-year-old son in January after Mr Trump had secured a second term.
She has said she’s in the process of obtaining Irish citizenship based on family lineage and that she would only return to the US “when it is safe for all citizens to have equal rights there in America”.
O’Donnell and the US president have criticised each other publicly for years, in an often-bitter back-and-forth that predates Mr Trump’s move into politics.
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This is just the latest threat by the president to revoke the citizenship of someone he has disagreed with, most recently his former ally Elon Musk.
But the two situations are different as while Musk was born in South Africa, O’Donnell was born in the US and has a constitutional right to American citizenship.
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Amanda Frost, a law professor at the University of Virginia School of Law, said the Supreme Court ruled in a 1967 case that the fourteenth amendment of the constitution prevents the government from taking away citizenship.
“The president has no authority to take away the citizenship of a native-born US citizen,” he added.
“In short, we are nation founded on the principle that the people choose the government; the government cannot choose the people.”
A farmer who fell from a greenhouse roof during an anti-immigrant raid at a licensed cannabis facility in California this week has died of his injuries.
Jaime Alanis, 57, is the first person to die as a result of Donald Trump’s Immigration Compliance and Enforcement (ICE) raids.
His niece, Yesenia Duran, posted on the fundraising site GoFundMe to say her uncle was his family’s only provider and he had been sending his earnings back to his wife and daughter in Mexico.
The United Food Workers said Mr Alanis had worked on the farm for 10 years.
“These violent and cruel federal actions terrorise American communities, disrupt the American food supply chain, threaten lives and separate families,” the union said in a recent statement on X.
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The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said it executed criminal search warrants at Glass House Farms facilities on Thursday.
Mr Alanis called family to say he was hiding and possibly fleeing agents before he fell around 30ft (9m) from the roof and broke his neck, according to information from family, hospital and government sources.
Agents arrested 200 people suspected of being in the country illegally and identified at least 10 immigrant children on the sites, the DHS said in a statement.
Mr Alanis was not among them, the agency said.
“This man was not in and has not been in CBP (Customs and Border Protection) or ICE custody,” DHS assistant secretary for public affairs Tricia McLaughlin said.
“Although he was not being pursued by law enforcement, this individual climbed up to the roof of a greenhouse and fell 30ft. CBP immediately called a medivac to the scene to get him care as quickly as possible.”
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Four US citizens were arrested during the incident for allegedly “assaulting or resisting officers”, the DHS said, and authorities were offering a $50,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of a person suspected of firing a gun at federal agents.
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In a statement, Glass House, a licensed Cannabis grower, said immigration agents had valid warrants. It said workers were detained and it is helping provide them with legal representation.
“Glass House has never knowingly violated applicable hiring practices and does not and has never employed minors,” it added.
Donald Trump has said he is considering “taking away” the US citizenship of actress and comedian Rosie O’Donnell, despite a Supreme Court ruling that expressly prohibits a government from doing so.
In a post on Truth Social on Saturday, the US president said: “Because of the fact that Rosie O’Donnell is not in the best interests of our Great Country, I am giving serious consideration to taking away her Citizenship.”
He also labelled O’Donnell, who has moved to Ireland, as a “threat to humanity” and said she should “remain in the wonderful country of Ireland, if they want her”.
O’Donnell responded on Instagram by posting a photograph of Mr Trump with Jeffrey Epstein.
“You are everything that is wrong with America and I’m everything you hate about what’s still right with it,” she wrote in the caption.
“I’m not yours to silence. I never was.”
Rosie O’Donnell moved to Ireland after Donald Trump secured a second term. Pic: AP
O’Donnell moved to Ireland with her 12-year-old son in January after Mr Trump had secured a second term.
She has said she’s in the process of obtaining Irish citizenship based on family lineage and that she would only return to the US “when it is safe for all citizens to have equal rights there in America”.
O’Donnell and the US president have criticised each other publicly for years, in an often-bitter back-and-forth that predates Mr Trump’s move into politics.
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Will Trump address parliament on UK state visit?
This is just the latest threat by the president to revoke the citizenship of someone he has disagreed with, most recently his former ally Elon Musk.
But the two situations are different as while Musk was born in South Africa, O’Donnell was born in the US and has a constitutional right to American citizenship.
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Amanda Frost, a law professor at the University of Virginia School of Law, said the Supreme Court ruled in a 1967 case that the fourteenth amendment of the constitution prevents the government from taking away citizenship.
“The president has no authority to take away the citizenship of a native-born US citizen,” he added.
“In short, we are nation founded on the principle that the people choose the government; the government cannot choose the people.”
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