This past year has been a lot to digest. President Donald Trump has consolidated power, repeatedly violated the Constitution and brought this nation down a darker, more authoritarian path.
On Jan. 3, the administration invaded Venezuela and captured Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and his wife, in a move widely regarded as illegal under international law, according to the International Federation for Human Rights. The administration has faced no real consequences from the international community.
The actions of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) under the Trump administration’s direction have also raised legal concerns. A group of immigrants recently filed a class action lawsuit which alleges that ICE’s practice of arresting migrants in courthouses strips people of their Fifth Amendment due process rights, according to the National Immigrant Justice Center.
The administration has also directly violated court orders in a number of immigration cases, including when it attempted to deport seven people to South Sudan, when it deported people to CECOT — a notoriously harsh detention center in El Salvador — and when it attempted to deport children to Guatemala. According to an analysis by the Washington Post, Trump officials have refused to comply with one in three overall court orders.
Moreover, many, including Supreme Justice Sonia Sotomayor and the American Civil Liberties Union, have accused ICE of using racial profiling in its arrest process.
In 2025, 32 people died in ICE custody, according to The Guardian. Sixteen people were shot by immigration officials last year, resulting in four deaths, according to ABC’s WCVB.
In January, immigration agents fatally shot Renee Good and Alex Pretti, both U.S. citizens, in two separate incidents, both in Minneapolis. Trump administration officials had the same story after both shootings — that the person killed was attacking agents — but eyewitness reports and videos show them as peaceful bystanders. According to CBS, Good’s last words were to an agent: “I’m not mad at you,” while, according to The Nation, Pretti’s were to a woman who had been pushed by an officer: “Are you OK?”
The use of force by federal agents against American citizens is ironic, given that, according to a poll by The Economist, U.S. citizens rank civil rights and civil liberties as No. 5 and 6 on their list of priorities. Trump’s own campaign platform included promises to “defend our Constitution, our Bill of Rights and our fundamental freedoms“ and “end the weaponization of government against the American people.”
One of the biggest scandals for Trump this year has been the Epstein files. The Epstein Files Transparency Act was signed into law on Nov. 19, 2025, requiring the U.S. attorney general to release all the files it had on sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein by Dec. 19, 2025.
To date, less than one percent of the files have been released, many heavily redacted, according to The Guardian. In late December 2025, at least 16 files relating to Epstein — including a photo of Trump — were released, then subsequently disappeared from the Department of Justice’s webpage, according to PBS.
If reading this article has you feeling sick to your stomach, you’re not alone. Trump and his policies aren’t popular.
Various polls conducted in January calculate Trump’s overall net approval rating to be between -8 and -28 points, with an average of 41% of Americans approving of the president’s performance, according to The New York Times.
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During their second terms, Presidents Obama, Bush and Clinton had average approval ratings of 46.7, 36.5 and and 60.6% respectively, according to Gallup. During his first term, Trump had an average approval rating of 41.1%, according to Gallup. This term, according to The Economist, he is underwater on every issue U.S. citizens prioritize.
Additionally, a poll by YouGov shows that 57% of Americans “somewhat or strongly disapprove of the way ICE is handling its job,” while a poll conducted by CNN and SSRS found that only 6% of Americans are satisfied with the information released about the Epstein case.
The actions of this administration can feel overwhelming, but we can’t look away. Try to remember what is important to you and stay up-to-date on news relevant to that.
Call your representatives in Congress about issues that are important to you, join protests and help your community get through this time however you can. No one person can fix everything, but if every person makes a concerted effort to make something better, we can move forward.
In such a turbulent time, we have to take care of ourselves and each other and keep fighting for the world we know we deserve.
Eliza Sullivan is a second year double majoring in diplomacy and global politics and Russian, Eastern European and Eurasian studies. She writes for the opinion section of The Miami Student. She is also involved with Model Arab League and Miami University College Democrats.
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