The Standing Record

This is the Standing Record for July 20, 2026. We recorded 1 event from July 19, 2026 that erode our democratic ideals and added 81 more from earlier dates — 608 so far this month, bringing the total archive to 1158. If you saw something happen — yesterday, or any other day — that belongs here, send it to our tip line.

FBI told agents to stop investigating ICE confrontations while officials publicly denied any policy change

Event: July 19, 2026 Location: Washington, D.C. Jurisdiction: Federal Abuses: Obstruction of government investigations, Shielding officers from prosecution

In guidance circulated in mid-July 2026, federal agents were told the FBI would no longer investigate physical confrontations involving ICE officers, shifting review of such incidents to ICE's own Homeland Security Investigations unit. The Justice Department and Department of Homeland Security publicly denied any policy change despite the guidance having already been distributed to agents nationwide.

People & Organizations: - Federal Bureau of Investigation - U.S. Department of Justice - Kash Patel (FBI Director)

Read the full entry: https://standingrecord.com/entries/2026/07/19/federal-obstruction-of-government-investigations-1409a603/ Primary source: Federal Agents Were Told FBI Will No Longer Investigate ICE Confrontations

Filling out the archive

We're steadily backfilling the archive — working backward through the record so the timeline is complete, not just current. These are older events we archived yesterday. If you know of something from months or years back that belongs here, send it to our tip line.

• April 5, 2016 — Mississippi Gov. Bryant signed HB 1523, authorizing religion-based denial of service to LGBT people
• March 10, 2017 — South Dakota Gov. Daugaard signed SB 149, shielding taxpayer-funded child-placement agencies that refuse LGBTQ+ parents
• March 30, 2017 — North Carolina Gov. Cooper signed HB142, repealing HB2 but preempting local LGBTQ nondiscrimination ordinances
• April 27, 2017 — Alabama Gov. Ivey signed HB95 letting providers refuse abortion, sterilization, cloning, and stem-cell services on conscience grounds
• June 15, 2017 — Texas Gov. Abbott signed HB 3859, shielding faith-based child welfare providers that refuse LGBTQ placements
• January 24, 2020 — Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee signed HB 836 shielding faith-based adoption agencies that deny LGBTQ+ families
• March 30, 2020 — Idaho Gov. Brad Little signed H0500, the nation's first law barring transgender athletes from women's sports
• March 26, 2021 — Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee signed SB 228, requiring K-12 school sports participation be based on sex assigned at birth
• April 30, 2021 — Montana Gov. Gianforte signed SB 280, requiring surgery and a court order to amend a birth certificate's sex marker
• May 5, 2021 — Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee signed SB1229, requiring parental notice and opt-out for LGBTQ curriculum
• May 7, 2021 — Montana Gov. Gianforte signed HB 112 barring transgender athletes from women's school sports
• May 18, 2021 — Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee signed SB0126, barring hormone treatment for prepubertal transgender minors
• May 19, 2021 — Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee signed HB1233, creating private right of action against schools over transgender students' bathroom access
• May 19, 2021 — Tennessee Gov. Lee signed HB1182, requiring businesses to post signs disclosing transgender-inclusive restroom policies
• June 30, 2021 — Ohio Gov. DeWine signed HB 110 budget rider letting medical providers refuse care on moral or religious grounds
• April 8, 2022 — Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey signed SB 184, nation's first felony ban on gender-affirming care for minors
• April 22, 2022 — Florida Gov. DeSantis signed HB 7 restricting classroom and workplace speech on race and sex
• April 28, 2022 — Georgia Gov. Kemp signed HB 1084, authorizing K-12 ban on transgender athletes in girls' sports
• May 4, 2022 — Georgia High School Association voted to bar transgender athletes based on birth-certificate sex
• March 22, 2023 — Idaho Gov. Little signed SB 1100, barring transgender students from K-12 school facilities matching their gender identity
• March 23, 2023 — Georgia Gov. Kemp signed SB 140 banning gender-affirming surgery and hormone therapy for minors
• April 4, 2023 — Idaho Gov. Little signed law criminalizing gender-affirming care for transgender minors
• April 20, 2023 — Indiana Gov. Holcomb signed HB1569, barring state funds for gender-affirming surgery for incarcerated people
• May 4, 2023 — Indiana enacted HB 1447, barring 'obscene' materials from school libraries and stripping educators' 'harmful to minors' defense
• May 17, 2023 — Florida Gov. DeSantis signed HB 1521 restricting facility access to birth sex and mandating birth-sex prison placement
• May 17, 2023 — Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed HB 1069, extending classroom restrictions on gender identity through grade 8 and mandating sex-based pronoun rules in schools
• May 17, 2023 — Florida Gov. DeSantis signed SB 254 banning gender-affirming care for minors and letting courts seize custody over such care
• May 19, 2023 — Montana Gov. Gianforte signed SB518, requiring parental permission for affirming pronouns and enabling forced outing of trans students
• May 25, 2023 — Oklahoma Gov. Stitt signed SB26, adding funding-cut and civil-liability penalties to the school transgender bathroom ban
• May 26, 2023 — Iowa enacted SF496, barring K-6 gender-identity and sexual-orientation instruction and requiring parental notification of students' gender requests
• June 2, 2023 — Texas Gov. Abbott signed SB 14 banning gender-affirming care for transgender minors
• August 16, 2023 — North Carolina legislature overrode Cooper's veto to enact H808 banning gender-affirming care for minors
• January 24, 2024 — Ohio legislature overrode DeWine's veto to enact HB68, banning trans youth gender-affirming care and trans athletes in girls' sports
• January 30, 2024 — Utah Gov. Cox signed HB257 mandating birth-sex facility use in schools, public buildings, and prisons
• March 21, 2024 — Idaho Gov. Little signed law shielding counselors' belief-based service refusals from licensing discipline
• March 27, 2024 — Idaho Gov. Little signed H0668, barring public funds and Medicaid coverage for gender-transition care
• April 10, 2024 — Idaho Gov. Little signed library-restriction law defining 'homosexuality' as harmful to minors
• May 24, 2024 — EEOC opened a pattern-or-practice discrimination investigation into Nike over its diversity programs
• June 3, 2024 — Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry signed the Women's Safety and Protection Act, mandating birth-sex facility designation in schools, prisons, and shelters
• June 19, 2024 — Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry signed the 'Given Name Act' restricting school use of students' chosen names and pronouns
• July 3, 2024 — South Carolina enacted a budget proviso barring transgender K-12 students from restrooms matching their gender identity
• July 19, 2024 — New Hampshire enacted HB1205 barring transgender girls from girls' school sports in grades 5-12
• July 19, 2024 — New Hampshire Gov. Sununu signed HB 1312, mandating LGBTQ+ curriculum notice and parental disclosure of students' gender identity
• October 29, 2024 — Texas AG Paxton sued El Paso physician Dr. Hector Granados over alleged violations of state's transgender-care ban
• December 27, 2024 — Montana Senate President Jason Ellsworth steered no-bid state contract to close associate
• February 23, 2025 — Cuyahoga County jail staff failed to give dying detainee Jennifer Wade CPR for more than 20 minutes
• March 19, 2025 — Florida Capitol Police arrested a transgender woman for using the women's restroom under HB 1521
• May 1, 2025 — Montana Gov. Gianforte signed HB638, banning diversity statements referencing sexual orientation and gender identity in state hiring
• July 17, 2025 — Interior Secretary Burgum ordered personal approval of every wind and solar permit on federal land
• September 15, 2025 — Sen. Schiff report reveals USDA, Labor, and HHS departments spent over $55,000 in taxpayer funds on Trump tribute banners
• October 8, 2025 — Executive Office of the President signed a White House ballroom donor contract shielding donors and exempting conflict-of-interest rules
• October 27, 2025 — ICE arrested a misidentified Durango asylum-seeker and his two children without a warrant en route to school
• November 17, 2025 — DOJ sued California to block state laws requiring federal agents to visibly identify themselves and barring masks
• December 7, 2025 — FCC Chair Carr and Commissioner Trusty accepted Kennedy Center gala seats amid pending Paramount merger review
• December 23, 2025 — The State Department moved to exclude or deport five noncitizen researchers under a visa policy targeting online 'censorship'
• January 13, 2026 — CNN report reveals Pentagon directed dozens of active-duty military lawyers to prosecute civilians in Minneapolis
• January 24, 2026 — Texas AG Paxton issued opinion enabling exclusion of Islamic schools from voucher program over unsubstantiated terrorism claims
• February 5, 2026 — ICE agent Gregory Morgan pointed handgun at civilian motorists on Minneapolis highway during Metro Surge
• March 13, 2026 — Texas Supreme Court ordered PFLAG to turn over internal transgender-youth records in Paxton probe on a mere-belief standard
• April 13, 2026 — Texas Gov. Abbott threatened to strip $200 million from Houston, Dallas, and Austin over ICE-cooperation policies
• April 14, 2026 — DOJ fired 4 prosecutors who handled FACE Act cases against anti-abortion activists, citing 'weaponization'
• April 16, 2026 — Acting ICE Director Lyons acknowledged agency missed 48-hour death-notice requirement in two-thirds of in-custody deaths since 2025
• April 22, 2026 — Florida's emergency-management division resisted a federal order for Alligator Alcatraz detainee legal phone access, calling it unfeasible
• April 23, 2026 — HUD proposed a rule rescinding gender-identity protections across nearly 50 housing regulations, restricting shelters to biological sex
• April 23, 2026 — CBP border-wall contractor bulldozed the 1,000-year-old Las Playas Intaglio, a Tohono O'odham sacred site, in Arizona
• April 28, 2026 — ICE directed a Rhode Island prosecutor to conceal a homicide warrant from a federal court, and DHS branded the judge an 'activist'
• May 12, 2026 — Judge found ICE materially violated Colorado injunction restricting warrantless immigration arrests
• May 15, 2026 — DOJ and Texas AG Paxton secured $10M settlement forcing Texas Children's Hospital to end transgender youth care, create detransition clinic
• June 2, 2026 — North Carolina auditor's elections liaison pressured a Jackson County board chair to block a campus early-voting site
• June 11, 2026 — Texas AG Paxton's office intervened for Texas Tech in the Sorsby case a day after donor Cody Campbell gave $274,300
• June 30, 2026 — CFPB Acting Director Vought ordered scattered employees to relocate to Washington by November 2 or lose their jobs
• July 7, 2026 — Court filings revealed ICE and the State Department shared Iranian detainees' asylum records with Iran's government
• July 14, 2026 — CFTC ordered Kalshi to defy Michigan court's trade-cancellation order, invoking emergency power unused in 46 years
• July 14, 2026 — New York Times: Hegseth blocked promotions of seven senior Navy officers, five of them women or people of color, to two-star admiral
• July 15, 2026 — National Park Service replaced the President's House slavery exhibit in Philadelphia overnight, softening Washington's role as enslaver
• July 16, 2026 — Arizona prison agency defied inmate-healthcare injunction for 3 years and sought to hire unqualified doctors, federal judge found
• July 16, 2026 — ICE arrested a Bronx asylum seeker at a Manhattan immigration court in continued defiance of a judge's order barring such arrests
• July 17, 2026 — DHS Secretary Mullin threatened election officials with fines and prison time, citing unsubstantiated claim of 250,000 noncitizen voters
• July 17, 2026 — Trump ordered a seventh consecutive night of Iran strikes, still defying the war-powers resolution
• July 17, 2026 — White House ousted IRS chief counsel Ken Kies after he warned a request would violate audit-interference law
• July 18, 2026 — Trump ordered new Iran airstrikes after Jordan attack killed 2 U.S. troops, still defying war-powers resolution

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