Co-authors Carolyn Bray and Sierra Barajas
Welcome back, Pirates—The Megaphone hopes that you had a great summer break! I’m sure for a lot of us, summer is meant to be a break to turn off our brains. The academic year is busy; when else do we have time to decompress? Yet, while we were off resting, major events were happening. For starters, the flooding in Texas due to massive rain, the No Kings Protests, the Big Beautiful Bill, and much more. To say this summer break was an uneventful one for news media would be unfathomable, given every Apple News and New York Times alerts I received over the span of a couple of weeks.
ICE Protests
During early June, several protests took place across the U.S. against ICE, or Immigration and Customs Enforcement, most notably in LA. American citizens gathered to protest against ICE’s policies and their use of fear and aggression to mass deport immigrants—a reminder from your team at The Megaphone to keep up to date with and know your rights.
To quickly summarize what happened in LA, ICE agents began enacting immigration sweeps and detaining immigrants. The people of LA noticed what was happening and began protesting against the agents. Soon after the protests began, President Trump deployed 2,000 National Guard members to LA, despite not receiving authorization from Governor Gavin Newsom. Both government officials and American citizens pointed out that this unauthorized deployment of the National Guard were “acts of a dictator, not a president”. However, despite the backlash for this decision, President Trump still ordered more National Guard troops to LA to provide ICE support, thus bringing the number of National Guard troops to over 4,000.
The LA protest sparked protests in other cities, including our own Austin, Texas. Organized by the Party for Socialism and Liberation’s Austin branch, people walked downtown before turning around and heading towards the Capitol. Dallas, San Antonio, and Houston soon followed suit with their own protests against the ICE immigration sweeps.
The Big Beautiful Bill
President Trump’s Big Beautiful Bill, or BBB, was signed into law on July 4, 2025, passing with an astoundingly close vote in the Senate (51-50) and House (218-214). This bill sparked controversy amongst many and became one of the most discussed topics this summer for a variety of reasons.
There are some temporary benefits for the remainder of this year through 2028. Some of these benefits include:
- No taxes on tips, overtime, or car loan interest
- Increasing state and local tax deduction, thus allowing citizens to keep more of their income
- Senior citizens can claim more tax deductions on taxes
These benefits are helpful for students who work on or off campus, allowing more disposable income to spend, but at the cost of something greater. The major cuts in this bill include:
- Healthcare and food benefits:
- This will result in millions of Americans losing their health care, and the defunding/shutdown of hospitals in rural areas that are impacted by the Medicaid restrictions
- New restrictions on Medicaid, such as:
- Working at least 80 hours a month
- Requiring states to check the eligibility of people every six months instead of annually
- Limiting premium tax credits for immigrants
- An increased budget of $170.7 billion for immigration and border-enforcement related to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and its sub-agencies, ICE, Customs and Border Protection (CBP), and Department of Defense (DOD)
- Turned immigration into a pay-to-play system by significantly increasing fees on benefit requests such as asylum applications and temporary protected status (TPS), thus making it harder for many immigrants to be protected
- $45 billion of the funding is going towards building new detention centers, including family detention centers
- Provides a lump sum of $29.9 billion towards ICE enforcement and deportation operations, including the funds for hiring 10,000 ICE officers
- Funnels $46.6 billion towards the US-Mexico border construction
All of these cuts will add to the nation’s debt by $3.4 trillion over the next 10 years and impact those who need access to affordable healthcare.
Texas Flooding
To touch on a subject close to home, the usual July 4th celebration of Independence Day was replaced by fear the next morning as many Texans woke to the crashing sound of water rising to their homes. This unexpected disaster left a large number of Texans homeless and officials scrambling to protect those in immediate danger. While the heavy rainfall didn’t last very long, the damage was already done.
Georgetown’s very own San Gabriel River flooded almost to the apartments near the river; luckily, residents were able to evacuate quickly before it could rise any higher. The Austin Avenue bridge crossing over the river was shut down due to extremely high water levels. After the water subsided, the damage was evident: houses on the river barely standing, parts of the cliffside washed away, and trees uprooted.
One of Southwestern’s many beloved hangout spots, Blue Hole, is temporarily closed to the public as the City of Georgetown cleans up the debris and conducts post-flooding damage assessments. Along with Blue Hole, much of San Gabriel, including the duck bridge and the low-water crossing bridge, is also closed. As of August 4, the Randy Morrow Trail, Tales on the Trails, park playgrounds, pavilions, and picnic shelters are open to the public.
The swiftness with which the disaster escalated left people wondering why there was no warning prior. There were several factors:
- The slow-moving thunderstorm increased the chances of heavy rain and flash flooding due to its ability to sit for a long period of time
- The atmospheric conditions were enhanced by the tropical conditions from the Gulf Coast, monsoonal moisture from the eastern Pacific, and remaining moisture from Tropical Storm Berry
- Texas Hill County, also referred to as the “Flash Flood Alley”, is known for its high susceptibility to flash flooding due to its steep terrain, shallow soil, and repeated rain events
- Drought conditions also make certain areas more susceptible to flash flooding as the soil can’t absorb as much water
- While we were made aware of the flash flooding during the day, the timing of the emergency, which was in the middle of the night, was inconvenient
- There was a delay in sending out warnings and alerts to residents
- Despite a volunteer firefighter requesting a “CodeRED” be sent out, the dispatcher said that they needed special authorization. Some residents received it within the hour, while others didn’t receive it until 10 am
- There was a lack of central leadership and local alert infrastructure
Across Texas, the death toll exceeded 135, making this flooding one of Texas’s deadliest natural disasters. There’s a long road to recovery. Governor Greg Abbott has directed people to donate to the Central Texas Flooding Recovery Fund, and our San Gabriel has a fundraiser to help clean and restore the park.
No Kings Protests
Among the many protests that took place over the summer, this was one of the biggest ever single-day protests in US history. On the days preceding July 14, 2025, the Trump administration planned a military parade to mark the Army’s 250th anniversary and the President’s birthday. However, thousands of Americans planned protests against the Trump administration on the same day. The No Kings Protests were a national movement meant to “stand up for democracy and fight authoritarianism in the country.” Its number 50501 stands for 50 states, 50 protests, one movement. Trump told the press ahead of the event, “people that want to protest will be met with big force”, trying to intimidate American citizens.
The threat fell short as thousands of Americans filled the streets with posters, chanting, “No kings, no coup, democracy is what we do”. In San Francisco, people gathered on the beach and organized a sign that can only be seen from a drone above.
In New York, actor Mark Ruffalo also attended the protest, and when asked, “Why it matters, getting soaked in the rain to send a message?”, he responded, “Because we see our democracy is in real trouble. We see a president who has made himself a king and a dictator, and we don’t see an opposition that’s powerful enough to stand up against the trampling of our rights and the… constitution that’s happening every day…”. He goes on to point out, “It’s not the immigrants who are taking anything… It’s that there’s a few very, very, very wealthy, powerful people who are taking too much”.
Along with New York, people gathered at the Capitol in Austin, Texas to speak their mind against topics ranging from the immigration policies to cuts to federal workplace. Like New York, Austin residents came with signs, some saying “No human is illegal on stolen land”, or “When the power of love overcomes the love of power we’ll know peace”. Despite the protest being peaceful, the National Guard was still deployed to, not only Austin, but to cities across the state. Austin Mayor Kirk Watson did not agree with Governor Greg Abbott’s decision to deploy the National Guard, saying, “Much of what you see out of Washington is an attempt to create fear and chaos”.
Looking back, this past summer was anything but quiet. It reminded us of how fast events can change and the importance of community. If Summer 2025 taught us anything, there’s always something happening whether we want to or not. As we find our rhythm throughout the semester, we can take a more sensitive approach when interacting with our peers and find ways to navigate this challenging time.