The early morning military strike quickly drew strong rebukes from Democratic lawmakers, who said the action superseded Congress’ authority to declare war. Republicans in Congress stood by the president’s decision, saying it was justified.

As we head into 2026, here's a look at how many of the recommendations outlined in Project 2025 that the Trump administration accomplished over the last year. Story by @19thnews.org

COMMENTARY: Putting Steve Pearce at the helm of BLM would put Arizona’s cherished landscapes at risk of being stripped of protections, ransacked by extractive industries and sold to the highest bidder.

Our most-read stories of 2025 detailed how Trump administration policies impacted Arizonans — particularly Indigenous and immigrant communities — political drama in state government and former state lawmaker and Turning Point Action leader Austin Smith's guilty plea for attempted election fraud.

“The President is not above the law,” the judge wrote in her order. “Neither are his cabinet officials."

The move follows the Supreme Court’s decision last week that found Trump could not deploy guard members to Chicago, ruling that the president did not meet the requirements to send guard members to the Windy City for the purpose of assisting with federal immigration enforcement.

Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes was one of 17 attorneys general who sued in April over $783 million in frozen grants.

As the year comes to a close, the Arizona Mirror is looking back on its reporting from 2025, including stories that shined a light on the intersection of technology and people, showing how new and evolving surveillance technologies has and will continue to impact Arizonans. By @jerodmacevoy.com

Redistricting plans demanded by President Trump in states like Texas and Missouri — meant to capitalize on his stronger showing among some urban voters in 2024 — could backfire, as cities in Florida, New Jersey and Virginia returned to Democratic voting patterns in 2025's off-year elections.

In a typical month, our stories are reprinted more than 150 times in news outlets across the state. We let any publication republish our work for free, because we think our watchdog journalism is a public service that everyone should benefit from.

This year produced a seemingly endless array of history-making events and nearly constant change to immigration policy, tariffs, the Education Department and federal health care programs.

COMMENTARY: The decision to dismantle the U.S. Agency for International Development will cost more lives, undermine more health systems and increase global health risk more than any other public health policy choice made this year.

As the year comes to a close, the AZ Mirror is looking back on some of our most important stories from 2025. The Trump administration's mass deportation campaign has caused fear and anger and sparked resistance in Arizona. We'll keep reporting on it in 2026. Story by @glorihuh.bsky.social

Arizona Mirror in the Washington Post today

“Seeing well over 1 million people lose their work authorization in a single year is a really huge event that has ripple effects for employers and communities and families and our economy as well."

“I was pushed out for refusing to fall in line,” Sun said. She resigned from the AZ House in 2024 after an ethics panel found she'd violated the chamber's rules by reportedly using her office to intimidate a school superintendent and threatening to kill a lobbyist. By @glorihuh.bsky.social

COMMENTARY: Rural hospitals need Medicaid revenue to cover the cost of services and pay for the doctors and nurses who deliver care. One quarter of rural Americans rely on Medicaid, and it covers nearly half of all rural births, plus 60% of individuals in rural nursing homes.

“As long as we keep polishing those arguments and repeating them to each other, we are going nowhere."

The woman's family says that she has lymphocytic leukemia and has been denied medical care while inside, losing 70 pounds during her 10-month detention. ICE says they're lying.

Jovan Pulitzer says he’s trying to raise nearly $400k to preserve the images. Arizona law says ballots and ballot images must be destroyed after two years. Story by @jerodmacevoy.com

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said “there will be serious legal and political consequences” if the Trump administration withholds documents required by law to be released.

President Trump falsely claimed that the "warrior dividend" checks were largely funded by tariff revenue, but they're actually from a basic housing allowance approved as part of the "One Big, Beautiful Bill" that Republicans passed in July.

The increase in arrests has left some students from mixed-status families in greater need but struggling with an unwillingness to reach out, aiming to avoid endangering their relatives. Story by @glorihuh.bsky.social

Arizona is one of 27 states that already ban or restrict gender-affirming care for transgender minors.

We want the Mirror to grow even bigger and better in 2026. But that's only possible with the support of readers like you. By making a tax-deductible donation, you'll fuel our nonprofit journalism through next year, and many more. Are you in? azmirror.com/donate/?oa_r...

Arizona’s U.S. Rep. Yassamin Ansari is one of the members of Congress who were denied entry to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement facilities this year.

Trump spent several minutes addressing the economy, stating that prices on groceries and fuel are coming down. Both claims are false, according to government data.

COMMENTARY: Our monthly premium is jumping from $969 to $1800, which means we’ll pay over $20,000 next year, a significant increase and dramatic cut of our annual income.

Republicans on the panel, including Arizona’s Andy Biggs, argued immigrants admitted to the country under Biden were not vetted and allowed into the U.S. illegally, despite being given legal status. “It’s just B.S. to say ‘everybody’s fully vetted,’” Biggs said. “We don’t know.”

Wednesday’s ruling means the guard troops from the District of Columbia and nine states will continue patrolling Washington, D.C., through February, unless the appeals judges find a lower court order against the mobilization to be correct.

Alongside their plan for the 2026 legislative session, Senate Republicans pointed to a "study" by a moving company, which included only people who hired that company to move them out of Arizona, as proof that people are fleeing the Democratic governor’s policies. By @caitlinsievers.bsky.social

Johnson was confident that blocking the amendment would not lead centrist GOP lawmakers to oppose the Republican health care bill scheduled to get a vote Wednesday.

“If the Executive Branch were to move forward in any forum — criminal, disciplinary, or administrative — we will take all appropriate legal action on Senator Kelly’s behalf to halt the Administration’s unprecedented and dangerous overreach," Kelly's attorney said. Story by @jerodmacevoy.com

Marijuana is considered a Schedule I drug under the Food and Drug Administration’s classification of controlled substances. The FDA defines drugs on the list, such as heroin and cocaine, as lacking any medicinal value and carrying a high likelihood of abuse.

Among the Arizona Freedom Caucus member's endorsements is former caucus member and state Rep. Austin Smith, who pleaded guilty last month to personally forging signatures on his reelection petitions in 2024. Story by @jerodmacevoy.com

Those countries have universal health care, smaller, more homogenous populations and generous leave time for new parents that encourages them to stay home with their babies, putting them at lower risk of contracting illnesses. Story via @19thnews.org

The Supreme Court’s conservative majority appears likely to severely weaken the Voting Rights Act, a landmark 1965 civil rights law that bans racial discrimination in voting access.

“While ICE is detaining more and more individuals, targeting has shifted sharply to individuals without any criminal convictions.”

“Under the Republican plan, the big idea is essentially to hand people about $80 a month and wish them good luck.”

A federal judge ordered the Trump administration to “immediately” release Kilmar Abrego Garcia from ICE custody, but it’s unclear if it will comply

After nearly two years of court rulings, with wins and losses on both sides, one of the Republican challenges to Arizona’s elections rulebook is finally finished story via @caitlinsievers.bsky.social

U.S. District Judge Richard Berman issued the order to unseal the secret grand jury material in the government’s 2019 sex trafficking case against Jeffrey Epstein

A DOJ lawyer said that immigrants cannot rely on due process rights granted in the Constitution because they are only guaranteed for U.S. citizens

“This is the year where a lot of voters are going to realize that Trump and Republicans are lying to them.” story via @jerodmacevoy.com

“The bill not only fails to extend the tax credits, it increases costs, adds tons of new abortion restrictions for women, expands junk fees and permanently funds cost-sharing reductions.”

“Why wouldn’t they release it? They were so excited, the Department of Defense and Pete Hegseth, so excited to release all those videos until this part, and then, ‘Oh no, we can’t release that.’”

"The City and Axon’s effort to bypass the public’s referendum right and force an unwanted project through backdoor channels is improper and illegal," a lawyer for opponents of the Axon HQ wrote story via @jerodmacevoy.com

“Any educator will tell you that gutting standards around responsiveness to cultural backgrounds ... would be educational malpractice, and would erase what makes our students unique.” story via @caitlinsievers.bsky.social

Attorney General Pam Bondi must release the material by Dec. 19 in accordance with the law, which lawmakers dubbed the Epstein Files Transparency Act

States are already grappling with workforce shortfalls caused by exhausting work conditions that have led many nurses to burn out and leave the field