Trump’s first 100 days have been felt across Massachusetts

The first days of President Donald Trump s second term have landed hard on the Bay State From his fights with institutions of higher learning over their use of DEI policies or the programs of students to his decision to target sanctuary jurisdictions for federal funding cuts here are particular of the actions taken by the th President or his administration during these first meager months that directly affect Massachusetts A crimson collision The Trump administration issued Harvard University a set of procedures demands and indicated their access to federal grant and research funding was contingent on their compliance Harvard refused with University President Alan Garber calling them unprecedented demands being made by the federal regime to control the Harvard locality The administration responded by ordering a halt to over billion in funding Harvard has since sued the Trump administration and a trial over the funding freeze is scheduled for July National Institutes for Medical Funding Trump s department of administration efficiency was created with the ostensible mission of finding and cutting waste from the federal budget Among the cuts identified by the administration were funds provisioned for scientific and biological research at the nation s top institutions After hundreds of Massachusetts institutions received billion in funding from the NIH in fiscal the cuts will be felt across the state according to Gov Maura Healey Each research dollar translates into two-to-three times as much economic activity in the state the governor has revealed and the full hit to our commercial sector will be much worse than the value of lost federal funding Bringing hell to Boston True to his word Trump boundary czar Tom Homan has brought the weight of the federal immigration apparatus down on Massachusetts During one five-day stretch in March immigration bureaucrats took almost illegal aliens into custody from across the commonwealth According to the Trump Administration multiple of the apprehended people have serious criminal convictions and charges including murder child rape fentanyl trafficking and armed robbery Society Robustness Grant cancellations In March the Healey administration condemned Trump s decision to cut billion in as-yet unobligated community vitality grants million of which were due to Massachusetts over the next year The funding is meant for group wellbeing centers state vaccine infrastructure and to assistance the core functions of the State Society Physical condition Laboratory where testing for diseases such as bird flu is conducted The taking of R meysa zt rk The Trump administration s plan to crack down on illegal immigration took a local and unprecedented turn in late March when Tufts University graduate attendee R meysa zt rk was surrounded by masked immigrations agents handcuffed placed in an unmarked car and whisked out of state despite a court order demanding she be kept in Massachusetts The Turkish national s novice visa had been revoked a fact she and her lawyers learned only after her sudden disappearance over her op-ed published in a Tufts trainee newspaper calling on the university to recognize the results of a vote by the trainee leadership regarding Israel s war in Gaza zt rk is now being held in Louisiana as the Trump administration fights a Vermont judge s order to return her to New England by May Sanctuary City ordeal Boston Mayor Michelle Wu was among a handful of Democratic municipal personnel called before Congress earlier this year to answer for their city s so-called sanctuary policies Boston does not choose to call itself a sanctuary city but its protocol of not inquiring about a resident s immigration status before providing city services and refusal to cooperate with immigration administrators over civil matters would likely qualify it as such On Monday Trump signed an executive order calling on his Secretary of Homeland Assurance and Attorney General to develop and publish a list of sanctuary jurisdictions and notify them they are at danger of losing all federal funding if those policies remain Cuts to K- funding In February the administration disclosed it would cut billion worth of Instruction Stabilization Funds million of which was meant for Massachusetts That money according to the governor was supposed to go right to Massachusetts students and schools The funding was allocated to pay for mental wellbeing services math tutoring high-quality instructional material with a focus on science enhanced screenings for students at exposure of poor reading outcomes school building upgrades and professional rise programs for teachers Lawsuits Attorney General Andrea Campbell suddenly finds herself in the middle of no less than a dozen lawsuits against the Trump administration various of them aimed at reversing the effects of Trump s numerous executive orders So far she has sued him or joined lawsuits over NIH funding cuts to the Department of Schooling mass firings of probationary federal employees and his plan to end the th Amendment s guarantee of birthright citizenship among other court actions The the greater part up-to-date lawsuit joined last Friday aims to block the administration s plan for federal schooling funding for state and local agencies that refuse to abandon lawful programs and policies related to diversity equity and inclusion according to Campbell s office That could mean a loss of million Offshore Wind What seemed to be the beginning of a growing new industry has been effectively stymied by Trump s longstanding thoughts on the efficiency and supposed dangers of wind power Among the president s first actions after taking office was an executive order calling for an end to new offshore wind leases and permits but leaving existing permits like those granted for a pair of projects presently under construction off the Bay State coast in place for now However in mid-April Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum ordered a halt to construction of a project off the coast of New York and latest reporting suggests that nationally the wind industry is feeling serious apprehension under Trump