Politics and views in the United States.

Anti-ICE protests sweep the nation, as the Trump administration defends the actions of the agent who shot a Minnesota woman. The SCOTUS is set to debate transgender student athletes rights and Dems wrestle with a 'diploma divide.'

TRANSCRIPT

Welcome to 2026 Talks, where we're following our democracy in historic times.

It was really important to reassure folks who are scared, folks who are concerned for themselves or their neighbors, and then they are energized for the next steps that they can take to preserve democracy.

Moline, Illinois Mayor Sangeetha Araya Putty joined a wave of events over the weekend, protesting the killing of Renee Good by an ICE agent in Minneapolis.

A coalition called Ice Out for Good says it organized more than a thousand rallies nationwide.

Homeland Secretary Kristi Noem continues to defend the shooting, labeling Good's actions as "domestic terrorism," saying Good used her car as a weapon against agents.

That is the definition.

That is an act of domestic terrorism.

He defended himself and he defended those individuals around him.

Video footage shows Good turning the car away from officers and the ICE agent firing his gun after he was outside the path of the vehicle.

Nationwide, ICE has taken 65,000 people into custody, some 600 of them children.

Michigan teachers are calling for their release.

Kristen Shuttle is a Detroit high school ESL teacher.

She says it's painful to see teenagers who follow the law separated from their families and treated like criminals.

They're good kids.

They've done nothing wrong.

Honestly, if this was 10 years earlier, they would have had access to DACA and had more protections.

So, it's just, for me, it's the cruelty.

Tomorrow, the U.S. Supreme Court will hear arguments about the rights of transgender student-athletes.

A 2020 court case ruled that gay and transgender employees are protected under the Civil Rights Act.

A former Boise State University student and a West Virginia middle school teacher argue that should let students compete in sports that align with their gender identity.

Sasha Bookert with Lambda Legal says instead, schools are policing the gender of all students based on arbitrary factors.

We're increasingly hearing about non-transgender students and athletes being questioned or accused based on their appearance or their athletic ability, which is a predictable consequence of laws that encourage scrutiny of young people's bodies and identities.

State legislatures have passed more than 100 laws restricting the rights of transgender people.

As the midterm primary season ramps up, Democrats are buoyed by their party's major victories and unexpected strength in special elections.

Iowa Republicans failed to get a state senate supermajority when the first black woman elected to the body won her West Des Moines district by more than 40 points.

Kamala Harris won it by 17.

But Laura Bellin, with news outlet Leading Heartland, says Democrats will have to contend with the so-called diploma divide there and around the country, with level of education becoming a strong indicator of party affiliation.

White voters without a college degree have been increasingly trending toward the Republican Party.

It's the same reason that Donald Trump was able to win Wisconsin and Minnesota and Pennsylvania, the Iowa electorate statewide is predominantly made up of white people without a college degree.

Only about 40 percent of Americans have a college degree.

I'm Zimone Perez for Pacifica Network and Public News Service.

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