An advocacy group says immigrants in Michigan can take steps to keep themselves from being deported if they plan for the possibility ahead of time.

The Trump administration is conducting a series of raids nationwide, following the president’s campaign pledge to launch a massive effort to deport undocumented immigrants.

That concerns the head of the metro Detroit-based Arab-American Civil Rights League, Nabih Ayad.

He tells WDET that the speed with which federal agents are carrying out the deportations stacks the odds against even immigrants who are in the process of becoming U.S. citizens.

Listen: Nabih Ayad of Arab American Civil Rights League urges immigrants to be proactive, ‘know your rights’

The following interview has been edited for clarity and length.

Nabih Ayad: What protection they have is very little, because the section of the law that the government is using most likely is going to be the expedited removal statute. Basically, they can arrest you, detain you, put you on a plane and get you out of here literally within days. And that’s very dangerous because the officer that’s arresting these individuals does not know the background, does not know the law to a certain degree, does not know if that person has a pending application of some kind of relief. There may be an asylum claim that he or she may be eligible to apply for.

Quinn Klinefelter, WDET News: What do you suggest a person in those kinds of situations should try to do?

NA: They should call our hotline, possibly even before something is happening. Just to know what their rights are, to make sure that they understand they have certain protections under our U.S. Constitution. They may have relief, for instance, if they came to this country and like a lot of individuals, they are afraid to return because they’ll be persecuted or tortured because of their political opinion, background, religion. They can have protections there. They can go ahead and stop the expedited removal and send them through normal removal proceedings where they can adjudicate their application.

Another one is maybe they’re married to a United States citizen, or their wife is about to get citizenship, say, next month, maybe she can apply for them. That could protect them. Maybe they have some litigation pending that could actually allow them to stay here under the expedited removal statute. There’s a number of different forms that possibly are available to them.

QK: It sounds as if things would be happening at such a rapid speed. Is it possible for somebody to take some of the steps you’re talking about while, perhaps, an agent is trying to hustle them out of the country?

NA: That’s the thing, once they arrest you, it’s going to be pretty hard for you to exercise those rights if you don’t know where to call, or the family is not aware who to call. Because it happens so fast, that’s the danger of it. If we step into federal court, it’s going to take us as attorneys a couple days to draw up the complaint for an injunction to stop the government from removing this individual. So it’s always better to act proactive as opposed to post-active.

QK: You are also suggesting that people should carry around with them some identification and other documents?

NA: Absolutely, especially in these circumstances. If you’re not a green card holder, a United States citizen, absolutely have every type of documentation you have to show that you have roots in this community for a number of years. I would ask something that shows at least two to three years, the more years, the better.

QK: Why would that matter that they have roots here?

NA: Because the expedite removal statute, technically, is only to be applied for individuals that just recently came in. Now, if I arrest you as an immigration custom enforcement officer and I don’t know you, I just see that you have no documentation, I can just say you came in last week or two weeks ago. And I can arrest you and put you on a plane, get rid of you. But if I see documentation showing that you’ve been here for a number of years, then the laws are different. Then they have to put you through normal removal process with an immigration court in charge. Which allows you to remain here for a number of years while you litigate that process.

WASHINGTON (AP) — A federal judge on Tuesday temporarily blocked a push from President Donald Trump to pause federal funding while his administration conducts an across-the-board ideological review to uproot progressive initiatives.

The Trump administration plan plunged the U.S. government into panic and confusion and set the stage for a constitutional clash over control of taxpayer money.

The order from U.S. District Judge Loren L. AliKhan came minutes before the funding freeze was scheduled to go into effect. The administrative stay lasts until Monday afternoon and applies only to existing programs.

Administration officials said the decision to halt loans and grants — a financial lifeline for local governments, schools and nonprofit organizations around the country — was necessary to ensure that spending complies with Trump’s recent blitz of executive orders. The Republican president wants to increase fossil fuel production, remove protections for transgender people and end diversity, equity and inclusion efforts.

But a vaguely worded memo issued by the Office of Management and Budget, combined with incomplete answers from the White House throughout the day, left lawmakers, public officials and average Americans struggling to figure out what programs would be affected by the pause. Even temporary interruptions in funding could cause layoffs or delays in public services.

“This sort of came out of the blue,” said David Smith, a spokesperson for the Shawnee Mission School District in Kansas, one of countless districts that receive federal funding. Now they’re trying to figure out what it means “based on zero information.”

AliKhan, who was appointed by President Joe Biden, said in halting the freeze, “It seems like the federal government currently doesn’t actually know the full extent of the programs that are going to be subject to the pause.”

Jessica Morton, an attorney for the National Council of Nonprofits which brought the suit, said the group has tens of thousands of members around the country that could be affected.

“Our client members have reported being extremely concerned about having to shutter if there’s even a brief pause,” Morton said.

Justice Department attorney Daniel Schwei said the plaintiffs hadn’t identified anyone specifically who would lose funding right away if the pause does go into effect.

Trump administration officials said programs that provide direct assistance to Americans would not be affected, such as Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security, student loans and food stamps. They also defended the funding pause, saying Trump was following through on his promise to turn Washington upside down if elected to a second term.

However, the effects were being felt far from the nation’s capital. Organizations like Meals on Wheels, which receives federal money to deliver food to the elderly, were worried about getting cut off.

“The lack of clarity and uncertainty right now is creating chaos,” spokeswoman Jenny Young said. She added that “seniors may panic not knowing where their next meals will come from.”

The National Science Foundation postponed this week’s panels for reviewing grant applications. Officials in Prichard, Alabama, feared they wouldn’t receive infrastructure funding to fix their leaking drinking water system. Republican leaders in Louisiana said they were “seeking clarity” to ensure nothing was “jeopardizing financial stability of the state.”

“Trump’s actions would wreak havoc in red and blue communities everywhere,” said Sen. Patty Murray of Washington, the top Democrat on the Senate Appropriations Committee. “We are talking about our small towns, our cities, our school districts.”

The full scope of the administration’s review was spelled out in a 51-page spreadsheet sent to federal agencies and viewed by The Associated Press. Each line was a different government initiative, from pool safety to tribal workforce development to special education.

Officials were directed to answer a series of yes or no questions for every item on the list, including “does this program promote gender ideology?” or “does this program promote or support in any way abortion?” Responses are due by Feb. 7.

Trillions of dollars are potentially under review. Grants that have been awarded but not spent are also supposed to be halted if they might violate one of Trump’s executive orders.

“The use of Federal resources to advance Marxist equity, transgenderism, and green new deal social engineering policies is a waste of taxpayer dollars that does not improve the day-to-day lives of those we serve,” wrote Matthew Vaeth, the acting director of the Office of Management and Budget, in a memo distributed Monday.

Vaeth wrote that “each agency must complete a comprehensive analysis of all of their Federal financial assistance programs to identify programs, projects, and activities that may be implicated by any of the President’s executive orders.” He also wrote that the pause should be implemented “to the extent permissible under applicable law.”

The pause on grants and loans was scheduled to take effect at 5 p.m. ET, just one day after agencies were informed of the decision.

Democrats described the Trump administration’s decision as capricious and illegal. They argued that the president had no right to unilaterally stop spending money appropriated by Congress.

New York Attorney General Letitia James planned to ask a Manhattan federal court to block the funding pause.

“There is no question this policy is reckless, dangerous, illegal and unconstitutional,” she said.

Separately, a group of nonprofit organizations filed a lawsuit in Washington saying that the funding pause is “devoid of any legal basis or the barest rationale.”

The issue dominated the first briefing held by White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt. She said the administration was trying to be “good stewards” of public money by making sure that there was “no more funding for transgenderism and wokeness.”

She denied that Trump was deliberately challenging Congress to establish his dominance over the federal budget.

“He’s just trying to ensure that the tax money going out the door in this very bankrupt city actually aligns with the will and the priorities of the American people,” she said.

The Environmental Protection Agency confirmed that it would implement the pause to “align federal spending and action with the will of the American people as expressed through President Trump’s priorities.” The Department of Energy also said it was conducting a review of its spending.

The funding pause is the latest example of how Trump is harnessing his power over the federal system to advance his conservative goals. Unlike during his first term, when Trump and many members of his inner circle were unfamiliar with Washington, this time he’s reaching deep into the bureaucracy.

For example, federal employees are being asked to report their colleagues if they try to continue diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives.

“They are pushing the president’s agenda from the bottom up,” said Paul Light, an expert on the federal government and professor emeritus of public service at New York University.

He also said there are risks in Trump’s approach, especially with so many voters reliant on Washington.

“You can’t just hassle, hassle, hassle,” Light said. “You’ve got to deliver.”

Fears about interruption in government services were exacerbated as states reported problems with the Medicaid funding portal, where officials request reimbursement for providing healthcare to poor residents.

Democrats condemned the Trump administration, connecting the issue to the funding pause.

But Leavitt said the portal would be back online soon.

“We have confirmed no payments have been affected — they are still being processed and sent,” she posted on social media.

Reporting by Chris Megerian, Associated Press. Associated Press writers JoNel Aleccia, Moriah Balingit, Collin Binkley, Matthew Daly, Lisa Mascaro, Adithi Ramakrishnan, Amanda Seitz, Michael Sisak, Lindsay Whitehurst and Tammy Weber contributed to this report.

American politics has long had too many lobbyists and too much money fueling campaigns. But Donald Trump’s administration breaks records. The total net worth of billionaires involved with it amounts to over $382 billion, which is more than the GDP of 172 different countries.

Today on The Metro, we discussed how wealthy individuals are now influencing our politics, and how much of a change that is from past administrations.

Guests:

• Graeme Robertson – Professor of political science at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and director of the Center for Slavic, Eurasian and East European Studies. His work focuses on political protest and regime support in authoritarian regimes.
• Bilal Baydoun – Director of Democratic Institutions at Roosevelt Forward, an advocacy affiliate of the Roosevelt Institute, a progressive think tank. 

Subscribe to The Metro on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, NPR.org or wherever you get your podcasts.

We also asked listeners:

“Should the government be run like a business?”

Christian in Grosse Pointe Park said: “I don’t think it’s black and white. I think we need to look at each individual situation and realize if we make it primarily like that we’re going to be opposing each other as opposed to working together to find tenable solutions to issues.”

Use the media player above to hear the full conversation.

Tomorrow’s question: Should the U.S. government get rid of diversity, equity and inclusion? 

Join the conversation by calling 313-577-1019 or leaving us an Open Mic message on the WDET app. 

More stories from The Metro on Jan. 28, 2024:

• Black Bottom Archives is a community archive that’s committed to preserving Black Detroit stories, and the organization is celebrating its 10th year. 

• Being from Detroit has created a strong foundation for Emmy-award winning journalist and Fresh Air co-host Tonya Mosley. She joined the show to talk about her hometown and career.

• Detroit’s Adopt-A-Park program is asking groups like block clubs, churches, and nonprofits to become stewards of a city park. Executive Director of the Detroit Parks Coalition Sigal Hemy joined the show to discuss the magic of Detroit’s parks and what it means to adopt one.

Listen to The Metro weekdays from 10 a.m. to noon ET on 101.9 FM and streaming on-demand.

Michigan’s top elections official is facing a campaign finance complaint from the state Republican Party.

Republicans argue Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson should be fined for taking questions from reporters about her gubernatorial campaign in a state office building when she first filed to run.

Tyler Henningsen, political director of the Michigan Republican Party, said the complaint merits action.

“We call on the Bureau of Elections to take this complaint seriously and to hold Jocelyn Benson accountable for her flagrant abuses of the public’s trust. We also request that the Bureau of Elections enjoin Secretary Benson and her campaign from future violations and fine them the maximum amount permitted by law,” Henningsen said in a press release. “The integrity of our public office holders must be maintained, and the misuse of taxpayer-funded resources for personal political gain will not be tolerated.”

Michigan election law bans the use of public resources, including state offices, for political causes.

“A public body or a person acting for a public body shall not use or authorize the use of funds, personnel, office space, computer hardware or software, property, stationery, postage, vehicles, equipment, supplies, or other public resources to make a contribution or expenditure or provide volunteer personal services that are excluded from the definition of contribution,” the statute reads.

But the law does make an exception for public facilities, “if any candidate or committee has an equal opportunity to use the public facility.”

When asked earlier this month about why she was speaking inside the Richard H. Austin Building when other candidates typically address reporters outside when filing their paperwork, Benson noted the single digit weather.

Benson said it’s never come to her attention if other candidates have been unable to do the same, replying, “Of course,” when asked if others would have the same opportunity.

On Monday, after the MIGOP complaint had been filed, Benson’s campaign defended the location of her address.

Alyssa Bradley is a campaign spokesperson.

“The lobby space used is a public space where First Amendment activity can occur as long as it doesn’t interfere with the operation of the building,” Bradley said in a written statement.

 A spokesperson with the Michigan Department of State confirmed Monday that the Bureau of Elections had received a complaint from Henningsen and noted that, since the complaint deals with Secretary Benson, who heads that department, it will automatically go to the Michigan Department of Attorney General for consideration, as required by law.

President Donald Trump is making good on a campaign promise to take swift action against undocumented immigrants.

With a slew of executive actions and the passage of the bipartisan Laken Riley Act, Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents are conducting raids in immigrant communities.

Though, some of those raids are subjecting American citizens and documented immigrants to harassment by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials.

Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib (D-Detroit) has been a fierce critic of President Trump’s policies going back to his first term.

“Our immigrant neighbors, no matter their status in the United States are under attack right now and being vilified and seen as violent,” Tlaib said. “It’s incredibly hateful and divisive.”

Legal and illegal crossings at the U.S.-Mexico border has been characterized as an “invasion” by conservatives.

Undocumented immigration is characterized as a drain on the economy — though migrants generate nearly $100 Billion in taxes.

The Laken Riley Act allows for the deportation of non-citizens for low-level crimes like shoplifting.

Tlaib abstained from voting on the bill.

“It sounds like this is, that it’s going to make us safer. It’s not,” Tlaib said. “It literally would target people — merely accuse them of a crime, no conviction. Just accuse them of a crime, and they would be in mandatory detention.”

All of Michigan’s Republican Congressional delegation voted for it — as well as two Democrats in the House (U.S. Reps. Kristen McDonald Rivet and Hillary Scholten) and both U.S. Senators Gary Peters and Elissa Slotkin.

Tlaib says fearmongering about immigrants while refusing to address income inequality isn’t an accident.

“It’s the corporations, the big tax breaks and all of the things that we see in policy that make it easier for the wealthy to continue to make money off of these broken systems,” Tlaib said.

She says it’s important for her constituents to know their rights.

“Don’t open the door if an immigration agent comes knocking. ICE has no right to enter your home without a valid warrant. Don’t answer any questions from immigration agent if they try to talk to you. You have a right to remain silent. You don’t have to sign anything or hand anything over. You can ask for a lawyer…” she said.

Trump has expressed interest in using the U.S. Department of Justice to go after political opponents. Former President Biden issued blanket pardons to much of his family and political allies because of it.

WDET asked Tlaib if the possibility she might be targeted concerned her at all.

“I don’t think he knew both of my sittys, my grandmothers, if he met them, he’d know I’d be ready for them,” she said.

Bills to address racial disparities in maternal health care are making a comeback in the Michigan Legislature.

The Senate bills would increase data reporting, include pregnant people in protections outlined in state civil rights law, and expand Medicaid coverage for pregnancy-related care.

Similar bills were reintroduced last legislative session. Those bills passed the Michigan Senate but got caught up in other politics during the last weeks of the year.

Sen. Sarah Anthony (D-Lansing) said she and other package sponsors are hitting the ground running this time.

“An early start provides us an opportunity to not only continuing to collect stories from people across the state who would benefit from these bills, but it also gives us an opportunity to have really strategic conversations with both sides of the aisle,” Anthony said Friday.

State health department numbers show Black women die from pregnancy-related causes more than twice as often as white women.

The first time around, some of the bills in the package received at least a few Republican votes in the Senate.

Unlike then, Republicans now control the Michigan House. That means the package would need bipartisan buy-in to come to a vote, let alone pass the Legislature, should the bills make it out of the Senate.

Anthony said she’s feeling undeterred, saying people expect lawmakers to work on their behalf.

“Part of that is for us to sit down and find common ground on things that are not partisan and quite honestly are not wedge issues, and making sure that women have the resources they need as they are planning their family is something that I think we can find some common ground on,” Anthony said.

The GOP-led Michigan House passed two bills this week to curb some of the changes to the state’s minimum wage and paid sick leave laws set to take effect next month following a Supreme Court ruling. This week on MichMash, host Cheyna Roth and Gongwer News Service’s Zach Gorchow talk to Danielle Atkinson of Mothering Justice and state Rep. Bill Schuette (R-Midland) about the general support and opposition towards the change. They also discuss Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson’s entry into the 2026 gubernatorial race.

Subscribe to MichMash on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, NPR.org or wherever you get your podcasts.

In this episode:

• Jocelyn Benson’s bid for Michigan governor
• Pros and cons of Michigan’s new minimum wage, paid sick leave laws
• Michigan House passing bills to scale back new minimum wage/sick leave laws

Last summer, the Michigan Supreme Court struck down the controversial “adopt and amend” tactic used by the Legislature in 2018 to gut a voter-approved initiative to increase the state’s minimum wage and expand paid sick time. As a result, the state’s minimum wage is set to increase to $12.48 per hour beginning next month, and all Michigan companies will be required to provide their workers at least 40 hours of earned paid sick time annually.

But the ruling has created contention at the state capitol, and bills passed in the Michigan House on Thursday aim to scale back the paid sick leave and minimum wage laws before they take effect.

Atkinson says she opposes the changes House Republicans have presented, stressing the importance of paid sick time for all workers — especially the state’s most vulnerable populations.

“People who work in small businesses that often are exempt from policies. Individuals that are working to survive the effects of domestic violence,” she said. “We wanted to make sure this law covered ‘safe days,’” or paid days off for those facing unforeseen circumstances.

Schuette called the new paid sick leave law an “unworkable policy” for most small businesses in Michigan and said it will result in fewer opportunities and fewer jobs.

“I think this is about protecting both employees and small businesses, it’s both sides,” Schuette said. “That’s why you’re seeing a lot of workers saying ‘I like my current structure…I like to be able to bank my leave [of absence]’…It would be better to have small businesses with flexibility in their paid time off policy, than this one size fits all, top-down dogma.” 

The House bills now go to the Democrat-controlled Senate.

More from WDET:

• House committee advances bills to slow minimum wage increases, scale back paid sick leave guarantee
• MichMash: Michigan minimum wage increase to take effect in February
• Detroit Evening Report: Gov. Whitmer advocates for guaranteed paid leave in Michigan

With ample support from Michigan’s congressional delegation, the Laken Riley Act is the first bill on the way to President Donald Trump’s desk for his signature — though opponents called the bill anti-immigrant and said it threatens civil liberties.

The bill is named after Laken Riley, a University of Georgia student who was murdered by a man who authorities say unlawfully crossed into the United States in 2022 and had been previously charged with shoplifting.

The U.S. House vote Wednesday was 263-156, with 46 Democrats, including Michigan’s Kristen McDonald Rivet (MI 8) and Hillary Scholten (MI 3) joining all Republicans in support of the bill. In the Senate, the vote on the bill was 64-35 with 12 Democratic votes, including both Michigan senators.

The measure requires the Department of Homeland Security to detain those without legal status who have been arrested for burglary, theft, larceny, and shoplifting. It also includes assault of a law enforcement officer and acts causing death or bodily harm to the offenses that would trigger federal detention.

Those provisions have sparked concern among civil rights groups, who argue they could lead to people being jailed and deported based on decades-old accusations, without facing trial or being convicted of a crime.

The bill would also give states the permission to sue the federal government for decisions related to immigration enforcement.

This marks the second time the legislation has been considered by Congress. The bill was first introduced last March, a few weeks after Riley was killed. At the time the bill failed to get enough votes in the Senate.

Scholten, a Democrat from Grand Rapids and a former immigration attorney, voted in favor of the bill when it came up in the last Congress. Scholten declined an interview but sent the following statement referencing the story of Ruby Garcia. Garcia was found dead on the side of a Grand Rapids highway in March of last year after her boyfriend, who did not have legal status, shot her four times.

“Just last year, our community was devastated by the tragic death of Ruby Garcia, a young woman who lost her life to domestic violence at the hands of someone who had illegally entered our country,” Scholten wrote. “I have heard from countless West Michiganders who sent me to Washington to work towards humane immigration solutions; that means growing our workforce and helping those who have contributed to our community step out of the shadows — but it also means ensuring that individuals who commit crimes are held accountable.”

This isn’t the first time politicians use Garcia’s story to talk about their their stances on immigration. At a rally in Grand Rapids last year, President Trump said the murder was an example of former President Joe Biden’s “bloodbath”.

Garcia’s family have since called Trump’s comments shocking. In an interview with NBC affiliate, Wood TV, Ruby’s sister Mavi Garcia said, she doesn’t believe her sister died because of illegal immigration.

“It’s always been about illegal immigrants,” she explained. “Nobody really speaks about when Americans do heinous crimes, and it’s kind of shocking why he would just bring up illegals. What about Americans who do heinous crimes like that?”

Like Scholten, Michigan U.S. Senator Elissa Slotkin also voted for the bill the first time around. In a statement earlier this month she wrote that she was in support of the bill even when it doesn’t provide “all solutions to immigration concerns.”

“But no matter what, this bill certainly doesn’t address the root causes of our broken immigration system, which we need to do to ever truly deal with immigration issues writ large in this country,” Slotkin wrote.

But not everyone in Michigan’s congressional delegation supported the bill. Representative Rashida Tlaib (MI 12), whose district is in southeast Michigan, voted against the measure. She said in an interview with Michigan Public that the legislation will put a target on the back of immigrants and increase militarization of local neighborhoods.

“It’s going to fuel hate for their communities,” Tlaib told Michigan Public. “It’s profiling our immigrant neighbors as somehow violent when we know we’ve all been living next to each other, within community together and feeling safe.”

Immigrant rights advocates questioned the bill’s constitutionality.

Ruby Robinson, a managing attorney at the Michigan Immigrant Rights Center, said this change would be a dramatic departure from the current state of play in immigration courts.

“In the United States, people arrested or charged of a crime or an offense are innocent until proven guilty, and this law turns that on its head,” Robinson said.

“A child who goes to a gas station and takes a candy bar by mistake, regardless of their age, if they are cited for that offense, that child will be subject to mandatory detention and taken away from their parent” if they’re in the country without documentation, said Robinson.

Michiganders should remain protected from unreasonable searches under the Fourth Amendment, Robinson said, and individuals can still request that enforcement agents show proper legal authority for searches to enter private areas like homes or schools.

Others who oppose the bill, like the American Civil Liberties Union, have called the bill a threat to civil liberties and constitutional principles because of the broad authority it grants to Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

Even when an immigrant without legal status is arrested for shoplifting, the bill would keep them from being released from jail on bond or from arguing their case in front of an immigration judge. Under this bill, a parent of a U.S. citizen child who has been accused of stealing would be placed in mandatory detention without a bond hearing and separated from her child, wrote the ACLU’s National Director for Policy and Government Affairs Mike Zamore in a letter to Congress.

Zamore also called the bill “unprecedented” and “likely unconstitutional” in his letter.

The bill “would result in a significant spike of racial profiling of longtime residents,” Zamore said.

As President Trump prepares to sign the bill, concerns remain about how it would be implemented. Earlier this month ICE sent a memo to lawmakers stating the bill would be “impossible to execute with existing resources,” citing $26 billion dollars in costs needed in the first year in order to be able to implement it.

That doesn’t worry Michigan Republican Congressman Tom Barrett (MI-7). He said he views the bill as an opportunity to keep America safe and that he’s expecting funds for implementation to be figured out during the budget reconciliation process.

“If the federal government is providing extravagant benefits for individuals that have crossed the country illegally, I think it would be wise to shift those enforcement mechanisms and things that we need to prevent people from coming and ultimately lead to the removal of those that are here without our permission as a country,” Barrett said.

Immigrants without legal status are not eligible to receive most federal public benefits. Programs like Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), non emergency Medicaid or Supplemental Security Income are reserved for U.S. citizens.

The Michigan Senate voted Wednesday to let its Democratic leadership sue on behalf of the chamber to have nine bills that passed the Legislature last session forwarded to the governor.

The bills deal with topics like corrections worker pensions, state employee health insurance premiums and museum millages.

They passed both chambers of the state Legislature last session but procedurally never made it to the governor’s desk before party control of the Michigan House switched from Democratic to Republican.

Senate Majority Leader Winnie Brinks (D-Grand Rapids) said there’s no timetable yet for filing a lawsuit to have the bills sent over, and what comes next depends on the new speaker of the House Matt Hall (R-Richland Twp).

“We’ll make that decision as facts become clearer about how the speaker intends to respond. Ideally, he would take this opportunity to do the right thing and send those bills to the governor without us having to pursue further legal action,” Brinks told reporters Wednesday.

The House Clerk’s Office was in the process of presenting the final bills passed during the 2023-2024 legislative session to the governor when the new lawmakers were sworn in. After taking charge, Hall said he asked the new House clerk to pause pending a legal review.

Brinks said Wednesday that the review has taken long enough.

“I believe there’s an obligation if legislation has been passed properly by both bodies, it should be delivered to the governor’s desk,” Brinks said.

Hall views things differently.

“There’s just a lot of legal and constitutional questions and, the more we look into it, the more we find,” Hall said during a press conference Wednesday afternoon. He added, “The Senate has no role in telling the House what to do.”

Hall and other Republicans have blamed Democrats for dragging their feet in sending the bills along in the first place, arguing the problem is their fault.

He said he felt like a lawsuit from the Senate would be, “wasting taxpayer dollars.”

It’s unclear what specific legal arguments any potential lawsuit would make in a court. But Brinks said she feels the Senate, and other state employees who could see their benefits plan costs go down, are harmed parties.

Brinks said the Senate has both internal and outside legal counsel at its disposal.

The state constitution doesn’t outline a timeline for forwarding bills on to the governor after passing the Legislature.

Michigan’s Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson officially launched her Democratic bid for governor on Wednesday, running to succeed Gov. Gretchen Whitmer in 2026.

Benson is the first high-profile Democrat to launch a gubernatorial campaign in the state, with Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan — a longtime Democrat — announcing he’ll be running for the seat as an independent. 

I don’t care if you’re a Democrat, Republican, or Independent, we can and must all work together to build a better Michigan.

Choosing our next governor isn’t about politics — it’s about the values we share and the future we want for ourselves, our families, and our communities. pic.twitter.com/fmP0vaPbNj

— Jocelyn Benson (@JocelynBenson) January 22, 2025

Whitmer, whose own statewide wins mirror Benson’s in 2018 and 2022, is term limited and has said she does not plan to endorse anyone in the race to be her successor.

Reporting by Isabella Volmert, Associated Press. WDET’s Jenny Sherman contributed.

Gov. Gretchen Whitmer congratulated President Donald Trump on his inauguration Monday, saying that she wants to work on “shared priorities” with the President as well as Republicans in the Legislature.

Whitmer’s office released the statement after Trump took the oath of office and as he was delivering his inaugural address.

In the speech, Trump thanked auto workers and pledged to roll back EPA vehicle emissions standards, which he labeled “the EV mandate,” although the emissions rules do not require consumers to purchase any particular types of vehicles. Trump said new energy regulations would help save the auto industry and workers’ jobs.

Whitmer has expressed concern about how Trump’s tariff proposals could affect the state’s manufacturing sector.

“Here in Michigan, we are focused on creating good-paying, local jobs, fixing the damn roads, fighting for our advanced manufacturing industries including autos, defense, maritime, and aerospace, and working with our partners in Canada to keep costs low for working families and small businesses,” she said in Monday’s statement.

Whitmer has tempered her criticism of Trump since the election. She was a top advocate for Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic nominee. Trump won Michigan last year after losing the battleground state in 2020.

Whitmer will share more on her priorities next month in her State of the State address. Whitmer said she delayed delivering the speech to the Legislature this month in order to avoid conflicting with the presidential inauguration.

It is no surprise Michigan Republicans were pleased with Trump’s early actions and inauguration.

“Today is a monumental day in American history and the beginning of a much stronger and successful time for our nation,” said House Speaker Matt Hall (R-Richland Twp.) in an e-mailed statement. “The American people have spoken asking for real change, and now President Trump is taking bold, decisive action to immediately deliver on his promises to secure our borders, assert American energy dominance, and bolster Michigan’s auto industry.” 

The second inauguration of Donald Trump takes place Monday, Jan. 20, 2025. Watch NPR’s live special coverage of the event below, including his swearing-in ceremony and inaugural address, beginning at 11 a.m.

President-elect Donald Trump will sign a slew of executive orders on Monday after his swearing-in, including ones to end birthright citizenship, recognize only two sexes and declare an emergency at the border.

Here’s what else to watch today:

• How, when and what to watch: Trump is the second president to move his inauguration indoors to the Rotunda, from the West Front of the Capitol, due to a forecast of frigid weather. Here’s a look at what to expect today.
• Music: Some well-known artists will perform at inaugural events, including Carrie Underwood, Village People and Lee Greenwood.
• Poll: Trump will begin his presidency in a delicate position, the latest NPR/PBS News/Marist poll finds.

Gov. Gretchen Whitmer announced Friday that her second-to-last State of the State address to the public and a joint session of the Legislature will take place on Feb. 26.

In a statement released by her office, Whitmer said the address will focus on jobs, lowering costs and more investments in education.

“Michigan is a state on the move as we continue working together to create good-paying jobs, fix our roads, and invest in our students and schools,” Whitmer said. “I look forward to delivering my 2025 State of the State Address where I will lay out my plan to build on our years of strong, bipartisan progress and strategic, fiscally responsible leadership.”

This will be her first State of the State since Republicans won control of the Michigan House in last year’s elections. Democrats remain in control of the Senate.

As usual, the speech will take place at the state Capitol in the House chamber.

Republican House Speaker Matt Hall formally approved the request to use the chamber in a letter that also said he’s looking forward to hearing her plan for road funding.

“We delivered a detailed roads plan to you earlier today that would increase funding by more than $3 billion dollars and do it without raising taxes by one dime,” he wrote. “Perhaps your address on February 26 will be the right time to share the details of your plan to solve our state’s long-time roads and infrastructure crisis.”

Whitmer said earlier this week that the address will be later than usual out of deference for the inauguration of President-elect Donald Trump in Washington D.C. and lawmakers who want to attend.

A Republican-led committee opened hearings Tuesday on bills that would scale back parts of initiatives to increase the state minimum wage and guarantee workers paid sick leave. The goal is to send bills to the House floor as soon as this week.

The special committee is focused specifically on initiatives to set the same state minimum wage for tipped and non-tipped workers and to allow all workers to bank earned sick leave, which will both take effect Feb. 21 due to a Michigan Supreme Court decision. The court held a Republican-controlled Legislature skirted the Michigan Constitution when it adopted the petition initiatives in 2018 to keep them off the ballot and then amended them after the November election.

The Supreme Court set a schedule to bring the minimum wage and earned sick leave laws up to date. Many businesses say these provisions are onerous. And restaurant owners and tipped workers showed up to warn of reduced hours, layoffs and business failures if the laws aren’t changed.

“It doesn’t matter if you’re in Monroe or Marquette, Detroit or rural Michigan, it impacts everybody, it hits everybody hard, which is why it’s important that we fix it, said Rep. Bill G. Schuette (R-Midland), who chairs the special committee.  

But advocates say those fears are overblown, and the wage and sick leave laws should take effect as the campaigns and the voters who signed the petitions intended.

Monique Stanton is with the Michigan League for Public Policy, a human services advocacy organization. She told the committee the proposed changes would come at a cost to workers.

“It would prevent nearly 1.5 million Michigan workers from being guaranteed earned sick time,” she said. “So, we’re talking about leaving 1.5 million people out of the ability to take time off if they have norovirus or their kid has pink eye.”

The committee has another meeting planned for Thursday, when the bills could be voted to the House floor. The legislation would have to be put on a fast track to be enacted before the wage and sick leave laws take effect next month.

Anything adopted by the House would also have to be agreed to by the Senate, which is controlled by Democrats. They would also have to be signed by Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer. 

LANSING, Mich. (AP) — Michigan’s top Republican leader in the state Senate announced Tuesday a candidacy for governor, becoming the first high-profile Republican to enter the race to succeed term-limited Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer.

State Senate Minority Leader Aric Nesbitt is the second well-known candidate to enter the race to succeed Whitmer, who has two years remaining in her final term after being reelected in 2022. The open governor’s seat in 2026 is expected to spark competitive primaries.

In December, Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan surprised many by announcing his departure from the Democratic Party to run for governor as an independent.

Democrats have yet for a top candidate to enter the race, but those weighing runs include Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson, Lt. Gov. Garlin Gilchrist II and Genesee County Sheriff Chris Swanson. U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg — who moved to Michigan in recent years — has also fielded calls pushing for him to run.

Nesbitt called himself a “small town farm boy” raised on “faith, patriotism, traditional family values” in a campaign video announcing his 2026 gubernatorial bid. A southwest Michigan Republican, Nesbitt has served in the state Senate since 2019, following his tenure in the state House.

Nesbitt, who has led Republicans in the Democratic-controlled Senate since 2023, was among the top names many in the party hoped would enter the race. Other potential candidates include U.S. Rep. John James and former state House Speaker Tom Leonard.

Nesbitt and Duggan both criticized inaction in Lansing, the state’s capitol in their announcements. While Democrats spent much of 2023 advancing their agenda after gaining control of all branches of government the previous year, 2024 saw fewer session days and stalled legislation.

The year ended with turmoil in the state House, as Republicans walked out in protest and Democrats struggled to coalesce, hindered by one lawmaker’s refusal to attend sessions.

“Michiganders deserve so much better than what they’re getting from these Democrats up in Lansing,” Nesbitt said in a video. “What we’ve seen is higher taxes, more spending, more debt and less jobs.”

Nesbitt’s campaign video released Tuesday mirrored much of the messaging that brought Republicans success in 2024, including flipping the Michigan state House and securing the state for President-elect Donald Trump.

In the video, Nesbitt called for ending electric vehicle “mandates,” expressed his support for Trump and pledged to pursue “a renaissance on manufacturing here in Michigan.”

Reporting by Joey Cappelletti, Associated Press

Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson — an early favorite to enter the race to become Michigan’s next governor — says she is considering a run for the state’s top position but right now is spending time talking with voters. 

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Fellow Democrat Gov. Gretchen Whitmer must step down in two years because of term limits. Benson says she’s held more than a dozen community conversations in towns scattered across the state.

“I’m really enjoying these conversations. I’m learning so much about where people are and what they want from their next governor,” she said. “And as those conversations conclude, then I’ll be making an announcement about my next steps.”

Many people in Michigan remain concerned about housing issues and the high price of goods and services, Benson said, adding that she remains a proud Democrat.

A potential rival gubernatorial candidate, Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan, is a long-time Democrat but recently announced he would run for governor as an independent.

-Reporting by Quinn Klinefelter, WDET

Other headlines for Tuesday, Jan. 14, 2024:

• The Centers for Disease Control says flu activity is high in Michigan, but less than 25% of state residents have gotten the flu vaccine.
• New laws signed by Gov. Whitmer Monday are aimed at boosting business in the state.
• The Scarab Club’s 112th Annual Gilda Snowden Memorial Exhibition is accepting submissions. Work on any theme and in any medium is welcome. Email callforentry@scarabclub.org with questions.
• Detroit Councilmember Fred Durhal’s office is hosting a “policy session” at the Edison Branch Library on Monday, Jan. 27, to offer residents a chance to take a comprehensive look at the Detroit Charter. 
• Gov. Whitmer is inviting Michiganders of all ages to submit their best drawing of the Detroit Lions logo to gear up for the NFL playoffs.

Do you have a community story we should tell? Let us know in an email at detroiteveningreport@wdet.org.