Usedom Tilts – Why 60 Percent for the AfD Could Become Reality in Eastern Mecklenburg-Vorpommern!!
On Usedom, a political rupture is taking shape. Greifswald political scientist Jochen Müller expects approval ratings of up to 60 percent for the AfD in the 2026 state election in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, especially in the eastern part of the state. This is not exaggeration, but a sober assessment of the situation. The party there has long been more than a protest valve. It has established itself in regions where outmigration, insecure employment, and the feeling of political neglect shape everyday life. Seasonal prosperity on the island barely conceals for many that perspectives are missing. In this vacuum, a politics takes hold that offers simple blame and is therefore heard.
The CDU and SPD are fighting this trend on Usedom, but they are doing so late and under a cloud of mistrust. Explanations for the lack of improvements in infrastructure, education, and public services convince only a few. Trust cannot be rebuilt overnight. Making matters worse is that, as in Germany as a whole, investigative journalism is now rarely present. Where oversight, context, and continuous reporting are missing, political promises are checked less often. Agency reports do not replace this kind of work. This encourages simplification and shifts public debate further. Müller’s forecast shows how deep the shift already runs. The 2026 state election on Usedom will not only decide mandates, but whether democratic parties can still find footing there, or whether political reality will orient itself backward for a longer period.
When Construction Sites Fall Silent – How ICE Raids Paralyze South Texas and Make Housing Unaffordable!
People are arrested without documents being checked. Even when individuals want to show them, this is ignored.
In McAllen, in the heart of the Rio Grande Valley, everything ran as usual that morning until a video appeared in a chat group. It showed federal agents leading workers away from a construction site while concrete was still being poured for a single-family home. For Mario Guerrero, CEO of the South Texas Builders Association, this was no longer an isolated case, but the moment when silence became impossible. Similar footage had circulated for months, reports of arrests, rumors of further operations. But now it was clear: the construction sites themselves had become the stage.
At present, we are handling 62 cases from this region. The facts: 54 workers had work authorizations, mostly valid until 2028, as well as valid visas through 2026 or 2027. Only eight had no work authorization. And this is still moderate compared to mass arrests in states such as Minnesota, Louisiana, North Carolina, Florida, or Illinois. The chain reaction arising from this arbitrariness is severe: companies lose contracts, cannot pay employees or suppliers, detainees effectively have no money for adequate legal defense. We work more than 90 percent pro bono, many attorneys as well or at significantly reduced rates. Research and necessary defense steps must still be taken. They are not free, but they are necessary.
Seventy-five percent of those held in ICE detention or deportation centers have neither a criminal record nor have they violated immigration or labor laws. More than 40 percent hold valid visas, the large remainder are in asylum proceedings or in regular contact with immigration authorities and check in as agreed. The madness currently unfolding across the United States defies normal language and logic. And yet people need help, rights are being suspended, and Europe is increasingly seeing imitators of these practices.
The event is open to all local decision-makers, opinion leaders, and businesspeople directly affected by the new immigration rules. Together, we want to name real concerns and work on concrete solutions. Our goal is clear: to secure the economic strength of the Rio Grande Valley for our businesses, our families, and the future of our children.
Far beyond individual arrests, a domino effect is emerging. Workers stay home, not out of convenience but out of fear. Companies can no longer assemble teams, supply chains stall, projects are delayed or frozen entirely. According to research, more than 9,100 people have been arrested by immigration authorities in South Texas alone, nearly one-fifth of all such arrests statewide since Trump took office. The figures come from official data analyzed through a public records request. Their impact is already visible on the ground. Guerrero responded publicly. In a video, he addressed construction companies, local politicians, and the public. He began with a sentence that says much about the climate: he said he was a US citizen, and that it was crazy one even had to emphasize that today. He made clear that he does not question law enforcement. What alarms him is the practice: operations without judicial warrants, arrests at construction sites, of people mostly holding valid work authorizations. That, he said, is now happening regularly in the Valley.
A few days later, the rows of chairs in an event center in Pharr filled up. More than 380 people came to a hastily organized meeting. Concrete suppliers sat next to lumber wholesalers, construction financiers next to real estate brokers, local politicians next to tradespeople. For the first time, an entire industry spoke openly about what had previously been said only behind closed doors: without workers, everything stops. And stoppage costs money. “Business is collapsing massively,” said association president Ronnie Cavazos to the audience. If this course continued, many companies would fail. Others detailed the consequences. A building materials dealer reported double-digit revenue declines since the operations began. Customers paid invoices later or not at all. That hit cash flow, planning, survival.
But it did not remain at business figures. Again and again, speakers shifted the focus to the people at the center. Cavazos reminded listeners that hardly anyone believes in the American dream as strongly as those who work as immigrants on construction sites. They want to work, support their families, be part of this society. Instead, they now live in permanent uncertainty.
A construction worker who did not want to give his last name described daily life. On the way to work, he scans for enforcement vehicles nearby. He no longer accepts many jobs. His income has dropped by about sixty percent. He works only enough to keep his family barely afloat. Four children, a marriage, a house, all depend on a wage that is earned less and less often. The fear has long spread beyond the construction site. People barely dare go out. The economic consequences go further. Economists warn that the lack of labor will tighten the supply of new homes. Delays today mean higher prices tomorrow. This is not theory. Earlier crackdowns on deportation already produced similar effects. In the years after 2008, construction employment nationwide declined, new builds dropped sharply, prices rose. Back then it was a few percentage points. Today, with a much faster pace of deportations, the effects could be more severe.
The paradox is that politicians simultaneously promise to make housing more affordable. In reality, the raids do the opposite. Fewer workers mean fewer homes. Fewer homes mean higher prices. In the end, this hits exactly those families who can already barely afford ownership. For Guerrero, it did not stop at a meeting. His openness brought him attention he never sought. A member of Congress requested a meeting. Later, there was a brief conversation with the governor, where Guerrero extended an invitation to another gathering. Many had not yet understood the scale, he says. That is precisely why people must come together and call the situation by its name. In the Rio Grande Valley there are houses that are not being finished. Bills that are not being paid. Families that no longer feel safe going to work. And an industry that for the first time is saying out loud what was previously only murmured: if these operations continue, construction cannot continue. And with it, far more is destabilized than concrete and wood, even if right-wing populists in Germany should receive a governing mandate at the state or federal level.
Health Policy Against Its Own Base
The Trump administration is pursuing a line that hits hardest those who support it most strongly. Deregulation of air and water pollutants, retreat from consistent vaccination policy, and massive cuts to the healthcare system hit miners, firefighters, factory workers. Respiratory diseases, preventable infections, and environmental exposure increase. Experts expect tens of thousands of additional deaths in the United States alone. Added to this are millions of people without health insurance because subsidies are cut and programs reduced. None of this happens in secret, but openly and by political design. Families in regions that largely voted for Trump pay the price. The promise to make America healthier collides with figures that show the opposite.
The rupture is particularly clear in vaccination and research. Falling vaccination rates reopen the door to old diseases, including measles and polio. Epidemiologists warn of tens of thousands of additional deaths over the coming decades if the trend continues. At the same time, funding for medical research is being drastically cut, universities lose money, projects are halted. Less research means fewer therapies, shorter life expectancy, billions of life-years lost. Here too, the impact is strongest in regions where vaccine opposition and MAGA support are strong. The policy harms not abstract groups, but its own base. What is sold as a promise of freedom ends in illness, insecurity, and avoidable death.
Golden Age on Credit
So much for Donald Trump’s promised golden age. In the United States, corporate bankruptcies have reached their highest level since 2010. Quietly and without major headlines, companies collapse that long appeared stable. Rising interest rates, weakening demand, and drying credit act together like a slow vise. Retail, construction, smaller manufacturing, and services are particularly affected. Many businesses are surviving only through payment delays and emergency financing. The bankruptcies are not surprising, they were merely obscured for a long time. Now they are visible. The narrative of an upswing collides with business reports, layoffs, and empty accounts. Anyone who looks closely sees: the problem is not panic, but reality. And it hits first those without political protection.
Insolvency statistics tell a different story than political self-congratulation. More bankruptcies than during the financial crisis, despite promises of growth. Many companies fail not because of poor management, but because conditions are deteriorating. Credit becomes more expensive, supply chains remain fragile, labor is missing, consumption becomes cautious. Reserves are depleted, room to maneuver gone. While records are spoken of at the top, businesses at the bottom fight for survival. This is not a short-term blip, but a structural warning signal. Economic strain is unevenly distributed, as are profits and losses. Anyone ignoring this declares figures exceptions. But they accumulate. And they contradict the narrative of secure growth. Every AfD voter should look these facts squarely in the face. This is the policy of right-wing populism.
Judge Stops Deportation Attempt Against Disinformation Critic
Imran Ahmed, a British anti-disinformation activist and permanent resident of the United States, may not be arrested or deported for the time being. A federal judge in New York barred the government from detaining or transferring him before his case is heard. Ahmed lives in New York, his wife and child are US citizens. The trigger was a visa sanction decision by the State Department that effectively sought to strip him of residency. Washington accuses him of participating in online censorship. Ahmed sued against the measure, invoking free speech and due process. The court scheduled a hearing and temporarily halted any enforcement action. The case touches on the question of how far the state may go when dealing with politically inconvenient work.
The sanctions affected five Europeans in total, including former top politicians, and were justified by the government with alleged foreign policy risks. Also affected was the German organization HateAid. A lawsuit would be urgently advisable, and the chances of success are high, as we deal with the courts daily. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said their presence could harm US interests. Ahmed countered that he would not be deterred from his work protecting children from the harms of social media and combating antisemitism online. The judge made clear that even in immigration matters there are limits when fundamental rights are at stake. The dispute joins other cases in which courts have blocked deportation attempts due to political activity. At its core is the balance between state power and individual freedom.
The New Sharpness on the Oder, or What Have They All Been Putting in Their Breakfast Cereal
Karol Nawrocki declares Poland ready to defend the western border of the republic, explicitly meaning the border with Germany. The wording is no coincidence. It shifts the focus from openness to demarcation and sends a signal inward and outward. Poland sees itself as a national community, open to the West, but at the same time determined to protect its border. This is more than rhetoric. It reflects a political climate in which security and sovereignty once again take precedence over trust. The statement marks a new tone in relations with Germany. Not a break, but a warning. Borders are not only administered, they are politically defended. And that is exactly what is happening here.
Nawrocki’s sentence is aimed less at Berlin than at his domestic audience. It serves the need for control in a time of growing uncertainty. Migration, war, and economic pressure condense into a feeling of permanent threat. The western border becomes a symbol. Not of concrete dangers, but of state capacity to act. Whoever defends borders demonstrates strength. That this rhetoric fuels tensions is accepted. Between cooperation and isolation, little space remains.
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