Jul 16, 2026
A.I. Takes A Turn
I don't like the idea that people are threatening the AI guys. I understand it, but I don't think it's any kind of good idea. That said, it wouldn't hurt my feelings if a general 1793 kinda thing came around pretty soon.
The AI Backlash Has Tech Executives Fearing for Their Lives
Violent threats against AI companies are rising and spilling over into real-world security incidents
SAN FRANCISCO—A security guard at Anthropic rushed to stop the man sneaking into the lobby of the world’s most valuable AI startup.
The man had entered by following closely behind a badge-swiping employee. He showed the guard an envelope marked with the name of a top Anthropic executive.
The executive was “going to be killed,” he told the guard, and he needed to warn someone, according to records of the April 15 incident viewed by The Wall Street Journal.
The encounter, which took place five days after an attempted firebombing of OpenAI Chief Executive Officer Sam Altman’s house, ended without violence or an arrest. But for executives at Anthropic—and across the artificial-intelligence industry—the threat was far from over.
In recent months, mounting opposition to AI has given rise to a surge of violent rhetoric, threats against people and property, and a serious attempt at harm. The phenomenon has executives at tech companies large and small reconsidering their personal-security arrangements and how they talk about their products to a public that is increasingly wary of the technology and the societal changes it is ushering in.
The Texas man who allegedly threw an incendiary device at Altman’s house was charged with attempted murder and attempted arson. Officers found a manifesto advocating for the killing of AI CEOs and investors. He pleaded not guilty.
That same month, a man who had applied for a job at Anthropic using a fake name allegedly posted a threat to skin the children of company employees as “punishment” for what he alleged was the theft of his work, according to police records. Police categorized the incident as a terroristic threat but made no arrest. The man said he had “no actual desire to physically harm anyone.”
In June, Anthropic security officials reported an Oklahoma man to police after he threatened violence while seeking a refund, according to police records. He wanted to talk to a human.
“Since yall refuse to have a real person to contact me and refund my money ill be coming to your office with my pistol and then we will have a f—ing talk about my money,” the man wrote.
The volume of digital threats targeting AI chiefs and data centers grew sevenfold between late February and May, according to Liferaft, which scans social media and the dark web for Fortune 100 companies.
“What has surprised me is how bad it’s gotten over such a short period of time,” said Jonathan Graff, Liferaft’s CEO. The number of threats declined somewhat in June.
Aware of the backlash, some tech leaders have begun traveling with armed guards. Some stay quiet on the topic of AI to avoid attention. Industry leaders who had been issuing dire warnings about the risks AI poses to the workforce have pivoted to talking up its potential benefits. Still, they are pushing ahead on developing more-sophisticated models, just as Americans increasingly use the technology while expressing misgivings about its impact on jobs, their children’s well-being and energy prices.
Altman responded to the attack on his home by posting a photo of his husband and baby “in the hopes that it might dissuade the next person from throwing a Molotov cocktail at our house, no matter what they think about me.” OpenAI didn’t respond to requests for comment.
‘Go for the pitchfork’
The AI insurance company Corgi runs a cafe in San Francisco’s Financial District. With about 200 employees, Corgi isn’t as well-known as Anthropic or OpenAI. Yet passersby stop outside the cafe daily, shouting or cursing, Corgi CEO Nico Laqua said. At times, they rail against AI “raising their rents and stealing their water,” Laqua said.
“We have pretty thick skin at this point,” he said.
Earlier this year, Laqua hired extra security for the cafe after someone vandalized the company’s free shuttle bus.
In 2025, 38.1% of S&P 500 technology companies disclosed spending on executive protection, according to an analysis of filings by Equilar, up from 26.8% in 2021.
Three companies reporting major jumps in security spending operate near the center of the AI boom. The spending by Palantir Technologies on executive protection rose 150% in a year to nearly $3 million in 2025. At Oracle, spending rose 85.5% to $5.6 million from $3 million in the prior year. Disclosures show that most of that money funded Larry Ellison’s residential security in an environment with “specific threats and safety concerns.” Salesforce’s spending grew to about $4 million, about $1 million more than in 2024.
Salesforce declined to comment. Oracle and Palantir didn’t respond to requests for comment. At a conference this year on AI and labor hosted by American Compass, Alex Karp, Palantir’s CEO, said fear of unemployment is feeding a backlash. When told “your job is going to disappear,” he said, “people go for the pitchfork.”
“Tech CEOs, a few years ago, definitely did not have security,” said Dakota Dominguez, vice president of client relations at JPT Security, which is based in Silicon Valley. “A lot of tech companies now are incorporating that into their budgets.”
Dominguez said tech companies are increasingly requesting armed guards because of the backlash against the industry. Unlike music stars or politicians who often prefer hulking bodyguards, tech execs usually ask for less-conspicuous security, he said.
“In tech environments, what I see is a lot more of a slender profile,” he said.
AI companies discourage their rank-and-file workers from wearing corporate logos because of the risk of targeted attacks, particularly in unfamiliar areas, said Nabih Numair, a longtime security professional in Silicon Valley.
A current Anthropic security employee and a former one said in online posts viewed by the Journal that security has grown considerably at the company in the past few years. One said that in 2025, his role was to protect CEO Dario Amodei, but that the remit soon expanded to support founders, other C-suite executives and their families globally. The security employees didn’t respond to requests for comment.
Anthropic has run round-the-clock security since 2024 and communicates regularly with employees about emerging threats, a company spokesman said.
“We track concerning behavior over time through a person-of-interest process, allowing us to catch escalation patterns early,” the spokesman said.
The spokesman said several individuals involved in incidents reported to police were already being tracked by Anthropic security. In the case of the man who sneaked into the lobby, the spokesman said the company’s security team is instructed to seek de-escalation and not to detain people.
‘You can’t go back to serfdom’
In polls, which show public enthusiasm for AI has been plummeting, Americans regularly express concern about the technology’s effects on jobs and affordability. Employee anger with AI has mounted as companies attribute layoffs to the efficiencies it creates.
Daniel Green, a Kansas City, Mo., consultant who works on AI training and corporate-tech adoption, said people he encounters have absorbed executives’ rhetoric that the technology is a job killer and that using it is akin to training a replacement.
“People talk about AI in the context of the Industrial Revolution, and the Luddites were actually very violent,” he said.
In May, Mark Zuckerberg’s yacht was spotted in Seattle. Meta Platforms had just announced around 1,400 layoffs, in the midst of an AI pivot, in Washington state. Online commenters said they wished someone would light it ablaze, blow it up or sink it. Meta declined to comment.
At the conference on AI and labor, Palantir’s Karp called political unrest the industry’s No. 1 challenge. Karp said he would advise his peers that “none of us are going to make any money when the country blows up.”
Americans concerned about AI outnumber those who aren’t by more than a 4 to 1 margin, according to a March survey of about 1,400 U.S. adults by Quinnipiac University. A growing share of respondents to that survey—55%—said they believed AI was doing more harm than good.
Bonnie Kate Wolf, 34 years old, a Pinterest designer, was laid off as the company embraced AI in operations. Before her accounts were deactivated, she posted to an office Slack channel: “PLS DO NOT FORGET ALL OF US WHO ARE BEING LEFT BEHIND AND REPLACED BY THE AI. RESIST.” Hundreds responded with emojis of hearts or raised fists.
Wolf, of Seattle, said it seems executives accept that job loss is reasonable because the potential to make money with AI is so great. “That’s why people are setting warehouses on fire,” she said. “You can’t go back to serfdom. It really feels like the people in power want to be kings. Historically, that doesn’t work out for kings.”
Maybe some "good" can come of it if the MegaTech Bros start to rethink their dreams of world conquest, or whatever the fuck they've got in mind, but it's more probable just to make them dig in and get more aggressive - the backfire effect, dontcha know.
One thought: We haven't yet seen the rise of any jolly pranksters who gain great notoriety - intentionally or not - by throwing the proverbial sabot into the machinery.
Violent threats against AI companies are rising and spilling over into real-world security incidents
SAN FRANCISCO—A security guard at Anthropic rushed to stop the man sneaking into the lobby of the world’s most valuable AI startup.
The man had entered by following closely behind a badge-swiping employee. He showed the guard an envelope marked with the name of a top Anthropic executive.
The executive was “going to be killed,” he told the guard, and he needed to warn someone, according to records of the April 15 incident viewed by The Wall Street Journal.
The encounter, which took place five days after an attempted firebombing of OpenAI Chief Executive Officer Sam Altman’s house, ended without violence or an arrest. But for executives at Anthropic—and across the artificial-intelligence industry—the threat was far from over.
In recent months, mounting opposition to AI has given rise to a surge of violent rhetoric, threats against people and property, and a serious attempt at harm. The phenomenon has executives at tech companies large and small reconsidering their personal-security arrangements and how they talk about their products to a public that is increasingly wary of the technology and the societal changes it is ushering in.
The Texas man who allegedly threw an incendiary device at Altman’s house was charged with attempted murder and attempted arson. Officers found a manifesto advocating for the killing of AI CEOs and investors. He pleaded not guilty.
That same month, a man who had applied for a job at Anthropic using a fake name allegedly posted a threat to skin the children of company employees as “punishment” for what he alleged was the theft of his work, according to police records. Police categorized the incident as a terroristic threat but made no arrest. The man said he had “no actual desire to physically harm anyone.”
In June, Anthropic security officials reported an Oklahoma man to police after he threatened violence while seeking a refund, according to police records. He wanted to talk to a human.
“Since yall refuse to have a real person to contact me and refund my money ill be coming to your office with my pistol and then we will have a f—ing talk about my money,” the man wrote.
The volume of digital threats targeting AI chiefs and data centers grew sevenfold between late February and May, according to Liferaft, which scans social media and the dark web for Fortune 100 companies.
“What has surprised me is how bad it’s gotten over such a short period of time,” said Jonathan Graff, Liferaft’s CEO. The number of threats declined somewhat in June.
Aware of the backlash, some tech leaders have begun traveling with armed guards. Some stay quiet on the topic of AI to avoid attention. Industry leaders who had been issuing dire warnings about the risks AI poses to the workforce have pivoted to talking up its potential benefits. Still, they are pushing ahead on developing more-sophisticated models, just as Americans increasingly use the technology while expressing misgivings about its impact on jobs, their children’s well-being and energy prices.
Altman responded to the attack on his home by posting a photo of his husband and baby “in the hopes that it might dissuade the next person from throwing a Molotov cocktail at our house, no matter what they think about me.” OpenAI didn’t respond to requests for comment.
‘Go for the pitchfork’
The AI insurance company Corgi runs a cafe in San Francisco’s Financial District. With about 200 employees, Corgi isn’t as well-known as Anthropic or OpenAI. Yet passersby stop outside the cafe daily, shouting or cursing, Corgi CEO Nico Laqua said. At times, they rail against AI “raising their rents and stealing their water,” Laqua said.
“We have pretty thick skin at this point,” he said.
Earlier this year, Laqua hired extra security for the cafe after someone vandalized the company’s free shuttle bus.
In 2025, 38.1% of S&P 500 technology companies disclosed spending on executive protection, according to an analysis of filings by Equilar, up from 26.8% in 2021.
Three companies reporting major jumps in security spending operate near the center of the AI boom. The spending by Palantir Technologies on executive protection rose 150% in a year to nearly $3 million in 2025. At Oracle, spending rose 85.5% to $5.6 million from $3 million in the prior year. Disclosures show that most of that money funded Larry Ellison’s residential security in an environment with “specific threats and safety concerns.” Salesforce’s spending grew to about $4 million, about $1 million more than in 2024.
Salesforce declined to comment. Oracle and Palantir didn’t respond to requests for comment. At a conference this year on AI and labor hosted by American Compass, Alex Karp, Palantir’s CEO, said fear of unemployment is feeding a backlash. When told “your job is going to disappear,” he said, “people go for the pitchfork.”
“Tech CEOs, a few years ago, definitely did not have security,” said Dakota Dominguez, vice president of client relations at JPT Security, which is based in Silicon Valley. “A lot of tech companies now are incorporating that into their budgets.”
Dominguez said tech companies are increasingly requesting armed guards because of the backlash against the industry. Unlike music stars or politicians who often prefer hulking bodyguards, tech execs usually ask for less-conspicuous security, he said.
“In tech environments, what I see is a lot more of a slender profile,” he said.
AI companies discourage their rank-and-file workers from wearing corporate logos because of the risk of targeted attacks, particularly in unfamiliar areas, said Nabih Numair, a longtime security professional in Silicon Valley.
A current Anthropic security employee and a former one said in online posts viewed by the Journal that security has grown considerably at the company in the past few years. One said that in 2025, his role was to protect CEO Dario Amodei, but that the remit soon expanded to support founders, other C-suite executives and their families globally. The security employees didn’t respond to requests for comment.
Anthropic has run round-the-clock security since 2024 and communicates regularly with employees about emerging threats, a company spokesman said.
“We track concerning behavior over time through a person-of-interest process, allowing us to catch escalation patterns early,” the spokesman said.
The spokesman said several individuals involved in incidents reported to police were already being tracked by Anthropic security. In the case of the man who sneaked into the lobby, the spokesman said the company’s security team is instructed to seek de-escalation and not to detain people.
‘You can’t go back to serfdom’
In polls, which show public enthusiasm for AI has been plummeting, Americans regularly express concern about the technology’s effects on jobs and affordability. Employee anger with AI has mounted as companies attribute layoffs to the efficiencies it creates.
Daniel Green, a Kansas City, Mo., consultant who works on AI training and corporate-tech adoption, said people he encounters have absorbed executives’ rhetoric that the technology is a job killer and that using it is akin to training a replacement.
“People talk about AI in the context of the Industrial Revolution, and the Luddites were actually very violent,” he said.
In May, Mark Zuckerberg’s yacht was spotted in Seattle. Meta Platforms had just announced around 1,400 layoffs, in the midst of an AI pivot, in Washington state. Online commenters said they wished someone would light it ablaze, blow it up or sink it. Meta declined to comment.
At the conference on AI and labor, Palantir’s Karp called political unrest the industry’s No. 1 challenge. Karp said he would advise his peers that “none of us are going to make any money when the country blows up.”
Americans concerned about AI outnumber those who aren’t by more than a 4 to 1 margin, according to a March survey of about 1,400 U.S. adults by Quinnipiac University. A growing share of respondents to that survey—55%—said they believed AI was doing more harm than good.
Bonnie Kate Wolf, 34 years old, a Pinterest designer, was laid off as the company embraced AI in operations. Before her accounts were deactivated, she posted to an office Slack channel: “PLS DO NOT FORGET ALL OF US WHO ARE BEING LEFT BEHIND AND REPLACED BY THE AI. RESIST.” Hundreds responded with emojis of hearts or raised fists.
Wolf, of Seattle, said it seems executives accept that job loss is reasonable because the potential to make money with AI is so great. “That’s why people are setting warehouses on fire,” she said. “You can’t go back to serfdom. It really feels like the people in power want to be kings. Historically, that doesn’t work out for kings.”
Today In 1969
Launch Control Center personnel rise to watch through a window
as Apollo 11 lifts off from the pad, 3½ miles away
JoAnn Hardin Morgan (born December 4, 1940) is an American aerospace engineer who was the first female engineer at NASA's John F. Kennedy Space Center and the first woman to serve as a senior executive at Kennedy Space Center.
For her work at NASA, Morgan was honored by U.S. President Bill Clinton as a Meritorious Executive in 1995 and 1998. Prior to her retirement in 2003, she held various leadership positions over 40 years in the human space flight programs at NASA.
Morgan served as the director of the External Relations and Business Development during her final years at the space center.
Worth A Repeat
Two roid rangers showed up at this guy's place to chill free speech.
They weren't there because they needed to check out some he posted on social media. They were there to intimidate - to send us all a message that armed, unidentified assholes are being sent to our homes to fuck with us.
By the way, I've been visited by FBI agents. They never come to your house dressed like fuckin' cowboys with shootin' irons strapped to the hips.
They show up in cheap suits and comfortable shoes. They lead with their ID, and make damned sure nobody gets nervous about anything they're doing.
This is Blue Ribbon Grade A fascist bullshit.
Wow this guy owns the FBI who turn up at his house because of a Social Media Post
— The White Rabbit (@TheWyteRabbit1) July 15, 2026
Look at the shame on their faces.
This dude wins the internet today hands down. pic.twitter.com/stqmm7Jqjq
Belle
We live in a country where 10% of us think the Earth is flat, 15% don't believe we landed on the moon, and 28% think Bigfoot is real.
Stop wondering how 35% of us can still think Trump is a good president.
But anyway - it's the economy, stupid.
Providers and Moochers
I haven't seen a good comparison, and you have to be careful not to confuse correlation with causation, but there seems to be a pretty strong connection between places that are really good for businesses and really bad for the people living there.
And it seems like a bad sign that Arkansas gets a grade of D- on livability, while being one of the most improved states.
Could be some really bad shit comin'.
Key Points
- Crime rates, air quality, healthcare access, worker protections, and civil rights laws are among factors that can hurt a state in quality of life rankings.
- With more states touting their quality of life when trying to attract business, CNBC is giving it more weight in the 2026 America’s Top States for Business rankings.
- Based on the data, quality of life in some states does not make the grade.
“Quality of place, especially investing in quality of place, is the top thing you can do for talent attraction and retention,” said site selection consultant Larry Gigerich, managing executive director of Ginovus in Indianapolis, and chairman of the Site Selectors Guild.
CNBC is placing increasing emphasis on Quality of Life, one of the 10 categories of competitiveness in our annual America’s Top States for Business study. It is our annual ranking of every state’s business climate, now in its 20th year. Under this year’s methodology, the category makes up 11.6% of a state’s overall score, up from about ten percent last year.
To score the states for quality of life, we use hard data on factors like crime rates, air quality and healthcare. We also consider the cost and availability of childcare, inclusiveness of state laws, and reproductive rights. Some states offer exemplary quality of life. But these ten states do not make the grade.
Arkansas
- Strengths: Childcare, Air Quality
- Weaknesses: Crime, Health, Inclusiveness
- 2026 Quality of Life score: 103 out of 290 points (Top States grade: D–)
Arkansas is a most-improved state overall this year in our annual rankings, but nearly 19% of its households lack the resources to put adequate food on the table, placing the Natural State dead last for food insecurity, according to the United Health Foundation. Last year, Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders signed legislation guaranteeing free breakfast in public schools, but there is clearly more work to do. Arkansas also has one of the highest violent crime rates in the nation, according to FBI statistics, and among the weakest protections against discrimination, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.
Oklahoma
Oklahoma
- Strengths: Childcare, Air Quality
- Weaknesses: Reproductive Rights, Worker Protections
- 2026 Quality of Life score: 103 out of 290 points (Top States grade: D–)
Oklahoma imposes one of America’s strictest bans on abortion, even though studies, including one by the National Bureau of Economic Research last year, found abortion bans increase net migration outflows, particularly among single adults. The Sooner State ranked 40th for worker protections last year, according to Oxfam America, which said that the state’s $7.25 minimum wage covers only about 19% of the cost of living for a family of four, and noted that state law prohibits municipalities from setting their minimum wages any higher. A ballot measure last month to have voters approve a minimum wage increase failed.
Alabama
Alabama
- Strengths: Childcare, Air Quality
- Weaknesses: Worker Protections, Health, Inclusiveness
- 2026 Quality of Life score: 99 out of 290 points (Top States grade: D–)
Alabama ranks dead last for mental health providers per capita, even though nearly a quarter of residents have been told by a health professional that they have a depressive disorder. Alabama also ranks at the bottom for its worker protections, which include only two of the 16 measures that Oxfam America considers critical (mandating equal pay by gender and race, and restricting access to salary history). Workers lack other basic protections including mandatory paid sick leave and protections against sexual harassment. Alabama is one of five states with no public accommodation law protecting non-disabled people against discrimination, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.
Missouri
Missouri
- Strengths: Air Quality, Worker Protections
- Weaknesses: Crime, Health, Inclusiveness
- 2026 Quality of Life score: 98 out of 290 points (Top States grade: D–)
With 462 violent offenses per 100,000 residents in 2024, according to FBI crime statistics, Missouri is among America’s most violent states. The Show-Me State also ranked in the top 10 for firearm deaths last year. In June, Gov. Mike Kehoe signed a sweeping crime bill aimed at helping to get the situation under control. It includes tougher sentences, a greater ability to charge juveniles as adults, and several new offenses involving cyberstalking and the use of drones.
Utah
Utah
- Strength: Crime
- Weaknesses: Health, Childcare, Worker Protections, Air Quality
- 2026 Quality of Life score: 95 out of 290 points (Top States grade: F)
For all its natural beauty, Utah is not the healthiest place to live, ranking No. 47 for primary care providers. Air quality leaves something to be desired, with high ozone levels, according to the American Lung Association. The Beehive State gets its nickname from the industriousness of its workers. But the state doesn’t do much to make their lives easier. The state minimum wage of $7.25 an hour covers just 16.5% of the cost of living for a family of four, according to Oxfam America. And Utah has just 513 licensed childcare centers in a state with 3.5 million people, according to Child Care Aware of America.
Georgia
Georgia
- Strength: Childcare
- Weaknesses: Inclusiveness, Health, Worker Protections
- 2026 Quality of Life score: 89 out of 290 points (Top States grade: F)
Georgia offers few protections for LGBTQ+ people, making it one of America’s least inclusive states.
“Georgia still remains a state where there is no place for hate, and I can assure all Georgians of that today,” Republican Gov. Brian Kemp said in April, when he signed a bill aimed at protecting religious freedom.
But critics feared the law could be used to permit other types of discrimination, especially because Georgia is another of the five states with no public accommodation law protecting non-disabled people.
The Peach State offers minimal worker protections, particularly when it comes to the right to organize.
Louisiana
“Georgia still remains a state where there is no place for hate, and I can assure all Georgians of that today,” Republican Gov. Brian Kemp said in April, when he signed a bill aimed at protecting religious freedom.
But critics feared the law could be used to permit other types of discrimination, especially because Georgia is another of the five states with no public accommodation law protecting non-disabled people.
The Peach State offers minimal worker protections, particularly when it comes to the right to organize.
Louisiana
- Strengths: Childcare, Air Quality
- Weaknesses: Crime, Inclusiveness, Reproductive Rights
- 2026 Quality of Life score: 89 out of 290 points (Top States grade: F)
Louisiana has the nation’s fifth-highest violent crime rate. The state recorded 495 homicides in 2024, and it has the nation’s second-highest firearm death rate after neighboring Mississippi. Louisiana has among the nation’s strictest abortion bans, enshrined in the state constitution. Gov. Jeff Landry, a Republican, has been on a rampage against diversity, equity and inclusion policies, which he calls “woke” and discriminatory.
In January, he announced on Facebook that he was removing affirmative action requirements from the state’s civil service code, to be replaced by hiring “strictly on the basis of merit.” And he asked the U.S. Department of Education’s civil rights division to expand its investigation of DEI policies at colleges and universities in the Pelican State.
While Landry contends the changes make the state “color blind,” critics say they freeze in place the disadvantages minority Louisianans continue to face.
Indiana
In January, he announced on Facebook that he was removing affirmative action requirements from the state’s civil service code, to be replaced by hiring “strictly on the basis of merit.” And he asked the U.S. Department of Education’s civil rights division to expand its investigation of DEI policies at colleges and universities in the Pelican State.
While Landry contends the changes make the state “color blind,” critics say they freeze in place the disadvantages minority Louisianans continue to face.
Indiana
- Strength: Crime
- Weaknesses: Childcare, Air Quality, Health
- 2026 Quality of Life score: 82 out of 290 points (Top States grade: F)
With just 779 licensed childcare facilities in a state with nearly 7 million people, Indiana finishes at the bottom for childcare availability on a per capita basis. And what is available is expensive, eating up 15% of the median income for a household with two working parents in the Hoosier State. In June, Indiana’s childcare agency unveiled a sweeping new policy proposal aimed at expanding access by, among other things, easing licensing requirements. Critics allege the proposal sacrifices quality.
Texas
Texas
- Strengths: Childcare, Air Quality
- Weaknesses: Health, Crime, Inclusiveness, Worker Protections, Reproductive Rights
- 2026 Quality of Life score: 78 out of 290 points (Top States grade: F)
While Texas continues to lead the nation in attracting workers, those workers are finding a broad array of challenges when they get there. The Lone Star State has America’s highest rate of people without health insurance at 16.7%, according to the United Health Foundation, more than twice the national average. More than 17% of Texas adults said they had to forgo a doctor visit that they needed in the past year because of the cost. Even those who do have health insurance can have trouble finding a doctor. The state finishes dead last in primary care physicians per capita.
In May, Republican Gov. Greg Abbott announced $56 million in federal grants to rural hospitals. “We will deliver state-of-the-art treatment for everyone who calls Texas home,” the governor said in a statement. Some 31 million people call Texas home, so the grants amount to about $1.80 apiece, or about $350,000 for each of the state’s nearly 160 rural hospitals.
America’s Worst Place to Live in 2026: Tennessee
“The nuclear family, consisting of one husband, one wife, and any biological, adopted, or fostered children, is God’s design for familial structure and has been the bedrock of society since the creation of the world,” the resolution states.
Its sponsors deliberately timed the observance to coincide with the month when Tennessee’s more than 300,000 LGBTQ+ people celebrate Pride.
Inclusiveness isn’t the only area where the Volunteer State falls short. Tennessee also has one of the highest violent crime rates in the nation, according to FBI statistics. And it has the third-highest rate of drug deaths, according to the United Health Foundation.
The 10 worst state economies in America in 2026
Key Points
States know it, too, so many continue to market themselves as economic havens.
“Companies can thrive in a world-class business environment with the most diverse economy in the nation,” Illinois’ economic development site proclaims.
“In Michigan, you’ll find a global network of leading companies across numerous industries,” its state site notes. “From Fortune 500 companies to fast-growing startups and hundreds of thousands of small businesses, companies of all sizes are driving economic opportunity in every corner of our state.”
CNBC analyzes every state’s marketing pitch as part of our annual America’s Top States for Business study. This year, we found the economy to be the second most frequently mentioned attribute (after infrastructure). So, under our methodology, the Economy category carries the second-heaviest weight in 2026—worth 16.6% of a state’s total score.
To measure each state’s economy, we consider job growth, economic growth, and the number of major companies headquartered in the state. We also measure each state’s fiscal health, including its budget situation, its long-term obligations and its debt ratings, as well as the health of the residential real estate market. We also consider the impact of tariffs, the potential impact of federal budget cuts, and small business survival rates.
Some states clearly deliver on their economic promises, but these are not those states. Here are America’s worst state economies in 2026.
10. Oklahoma
Oklahoma is among the most dependent on federal funding, according to the National Association of State Budget Officers. More than 40% of state spending in Oklahoma comes from Washington, D.C., putting the state in the top 10 for reliance on the feds.
“That’s not rugged individualism; that’s a subsidy,” wrote Shiloh Kantz of the Oklahoma Policy Institute in August. “And it means that the hard fiscal choices some of our leaders brag about are possible only because someone else is footing the bill.”
It also leaves the Sooner State vulnerable to potential federal cuts.
Economic growth was moderate last year, which is leaving the housing market under some stress.
2026 Economy score: 172 out of 415 points (Top States grade: D)
Real GDP (2025): $213.5 billion (+1.5%)
Debt Rating and outlook (Moody’s): Aa1, Stable
Share of state spending from federal funds: 40.4%
International goods trade: $24.9 billion (9% of GDP)
Major corporations: Paycom Software, ONEOK, The Williams Companies
9. North Dakota
The days of North Dakota’s oil frenzy back in the early 2000s and 2010s are long gone, and even the surge in oil prices at the start of the Iran war earlier this year was not enough to get companies to resume drilling in the Bakken Shale in a meaningful way. Economic growth in the Peace Garden State was the lowest in the nation last year. New business formations were also among the lowest. One thing the state did right was to build up its reserves during the flush times. The state could last nearly a year on its total fund balance if all else failed, according to the Pew Charitable Trusts.
2026 Economy score: 171 out of 415 points (Top States grade: D)
Real GDP (2025): $63.6 billion (+0.3%)
Debt Rating and outlook (Moody’s): Aa1, Stable
Share of state spending from federal funds: 34.5%
International goods trade: $14.5 billion (17.6% of GDP)
Major corporations: None
8. New Hampshire
New Hampshire’s fiscal situation is anything but rock solid. The Granite State’s spending outpaces revenues, according to the most recent financial disclosures. New Hampshire’s public employee retirement systems are underfunded to the tune of more than $5.5 billion, among the worst pension gaps in the country. Job growth is tepid, and the survival rate for new businesses is among the lowest in the country, according to data provided to CNBC by business research firm Construction Coverage. The state’s economy is growing at a healthy pace, however, with the help of new residents fleeing higher taxes in neighboring states like Massachusetts.
2026 Economy score: 170 out of 415 points (Top States grade: D)
Real GDP (2025): $96.87 billion (+2.1%)
Debt Rating and outlook (Moody’s): Aa1, Stable
Share of state spending from federal funds: 39.4%
International goods trade: $17.2 billion (13.7% of GDP)
Major corporation: Iron Mountain
7. Alaska
Alaska is heavily dependent on the federal government, which accounts for more than 45% of state spending. Only Louisiana (48.6%) and Indiana (46.3%) rely more on Uncle Sam. The Last Frontier also has among the largest percentages of federal employees in its workforce. Alaska did turn in solid economic growth last year, even before the surge in oil prices this past February. And optimism is growing as the Trump administration moves to expand drilling in the North Slope and pursues an 807-mile natural gas pipeline to deliver gas from Prudhoe Bay on the North Slope to the Kenai Peninsula and the world.
“Alignment of state and federal leadership means potential for major moves in Alaska’s mining and oil and gas development,” wrote state economist Karinne Wiebold in January, though the pipeline — and any economic windfall that comes with it — is still years away.
2026 Economy score: 169 out of 415 points (Top States grade: D–)
Real GDP (2025): $57.5 billion (+2.8%)
Debt Rating and outlook (Moody’s): Aa2, Stable
Share of state spending from federal funds: 45.3%
International goods trade: $9.8 billion (13.1% of GDP)
Major corporations: None
6. South Dakota
Economic growth was modest last year in South Dakota, but to hear state officials tell it, things are looking up — and they are not referring to the Mount Rushmore State’s most famous, lofty attraction. Earlier this year, in her first-quarter economic update, Secretary of State Monae Johnson pointed to nearly 4,000 new business filings in the quarter, “surpassing first-quarter filing totals from each of the previous six years.” She did not mention that the comparisons were relatively easy. According to Census data, South Dakota ranked 35th in new business formations per capita last year, growing only about 4% from 2024. Once businesses do get off the ground in South Dakota, however, they stand a good chance of surviving. The state ranks No. 15 in Construction Coverage’s small business survival index.
2026 Economy score: 168 out of 415 points (Top States grade: D–)
Real GDP (2025): $58.5 billion (+1.4%)
Debt Rating and outlook (Moody’s): Aaa, Stable
Share of state spending from federal funds: 42.4%
International goods trade: $4.88 billion (6% of GDP)
Major corporations: None
5. Kansas
The housing market in Kansas is a study in contrasts. Inventory is tight, with around a two-month supply of homes on the market as of May, according to Redfin. Yet, price appreciation has been modest, and seller gains have been weak, according to ATTOM Data Solutions. It all means that the real estate market is not the economic engine it might normally be. One reason may be that the Sunflower State is not doing well in attracting workers, according to data from labor market analytics firm Lightcast. Job growth in the state is weak, though overall economic growth was reasonably good last year.
2026 Economy score: 162 out of 415 points (Top States grade: D–)
Real GDP (2025): $185.1 billion (+2%)
Debt Rating and outlook (Moody’s): Aa2, Stable
Share of state spending from federal funds: 27.4%
International goods trade: $29.4 billion (12.2% of GDP)
Major corporations: None
4. Louisiana
Louisiana faces serious exposure to a pair of stiff headwinds in the economy: tariffs, and a shrinking federal government in a state that disproportionately relies on Washington. No state has more of its spending funded by the federal government. And with nearly one-third of the Pelican State’s GDP made up of international goods trade, Louisiana’s tariff costs have skyrocketed, according to Washington, D.C.-based research firm Trade Partnership Worldwide, which provided data to CNBC. Perhaps as a result, Louisiana has seen some of the weakest economic growth in the nation. Overall job growth has been strong but uneven. The latest forecast from Louisiana State University’s E.J. Ourso College of Business, through the first quarter of next year, calls for more job growth, “but employment in only 4 of the state’s metro areas is forecast to grow at a rate of 1% or greater.” The forecast calls for modest improvement in GDP, growing at a rate of about 1.5% into the beginning of 2027.
2026 Economy score: 160 out of 415 points (Top States grade: D–)
Real GDP (2025): $259.9 billion (+1.1%)
Debt Rating and outlook (Moody’s): Aa2, Stable
Share of state spending from federal funds: 48.6%
International goods trade: $109.4 billion (32.2% of GDP)
Major corporations: Pool, Entergy
3. West Virginia
West Virginia is not handling the transition from a coal-centered economy to whatever comes next well. The Mountain State’s labor force participation rate is the lowest in the nation, even as prices rise — putting more and more everyday needs out of reach. Economic growth and job growth rank near the bottom. One potential bright spot — and maybe a lifeline — is the state’s housing market. Inventory is near optimum, affordability is good, and yet prices are appreciating well.
2026 Economy score: 146 out of 415 points (Top States grade: F)
Real GDP (2025): $83.2 billion (+0.5%)
Debt Rating and outlook (Moody’s): Aa2, Positive
Share of state spending from federal funds: 20.5%
International goods trade: $9.5 billion (8.7% of GDP)
Major corporations: None
2. Maryland
Economic growth and job growth nearly flatlined in Maryland over the past year. The Old Line State’s deep connection with the federal government next door has a lot to do with that, as Gov. Wes Moore pointed out in his State of the State address in February.
“In just the last year, the federal government has fired around 25,000 Marylanders who have federal jobs in our state alone,” said Moore, a Democrat. “It’s the biggest federal job cut of any state in the country.”
But the Maryland Chamber of Commerce also blames “high costs, unpredictable taxes, and growing regulatory burdens.”
“If we want a stronger future, we must prioritize an economy that supports business investment, expansion, and long-term growth,” the organization said.
Whatever the reason, Maryland finds itself in a deep hole in 2026, with no easy way out of it.
2026 Economy score: 143 out of 415 points (Top States grade: F)
Real GDP (2025): $436.17 billion (+0.7%)
Debt rating and outlook (Moody’s): Aa1, Stable
Share of state spending from federal funds: 31.2%
International goods trade: $56.6 billion (10% of GDP)
Major corporations: McCormick and Company, Lockheed Martin, Marriott International
1. Rhode Island
To hear Rhode Island Gov. Dan McKee tell it, the state is about to have its moment. McKee, a Democrat, writes on a website devoted to what he calls the RI 2030 Plan that “National shifts in defense spending, the return of advanced manufacturing, and rapid technological innovation are aligning with Rhode Island’s long-standing strengths in defense, ocean technology, and the life sciences.”
But if, indeed, the Ocean State’s ship is about to come in, it is taking a long time getting there. In the meantime, economic growth was the ninth weakest in the country last year. Foreign direct investment was practically nonexistent, as were new business formations.
Rhode Island is also especially vulnerable to tariffs. Costs skyrocketed last year in a state where international goods trade makes up over 18% of nominal GDP.
2026 Economy score: 121 out of 415 points (Top States grade: F)
Real GDP (2025): $64.2 billion (+1.1%)
Debt rating and outlook (Moody’s): Aa2, Stable
Share of state spending from federal funds: 38.5%
International goods trade: $15.5 billion (18.5% of GDP)
Major corporations: Hasbro, Citizens Financial Group, CVS Health
In May, Republican Gov. Greg Abbott announced $56 million in federal grants to rural hospitals. “We will deliver state-of-the-art treatment for everyone who calls Texas home,” the governor said in a statement. Some 31 million people call Texas home, so the grants amount to about $1.80 apiece, or about $350,000 for each of the state’s nearly 160 rural hospitals.
America’s Worst Place to Live in 2026: Tennessee
- Strength: Air Quality
- Weaknesses: Crime, Inclusiveness, Worker Protections
- 2026 Quality of Life score: 64 out of 290 points (Top States grade: F)
“The nuclear family, consisting of one husband, one wife, and any biological, adopted, or fostered children, is God’s design for familial structure and has been the bedrock of society since the creation of the world,” the resolution states.
Its sponsors deliberately timed the observance to coincide with the month when Tennessee’s more than 300,000 LGBTQ+ people celebrate Pride.
Inclusiveness isn’t the only area where the Volunteer State falls short. Tennessee also has one of the highest violent crime rates in the nation, according to FBI statistics. And it has the third-highest rate of drug deaths, according to the United Health Foundation.
Key Points
- While fears of a recession have subsided, lingering concerns about inflation, geopolitical tensions and an AI bubble have companies considering the local economy when deciding where to set up shop.
- State economic development organizations are touting their states’ economic strength and stability in their pitches to lure businesses.
- Economy is a key category in CNBC’s America’s Top States for Business study, now in its 20th year. It finds some states do better than others — and some do substantially worse.
States know it, too, so many continue to market themselves as economic havens.
“Companies can thrive in a world-class business environment with the most diverse economy in the nation,” Illinois’ economic development site proclaims.
“In Michigan, you’ll find a global network of leading companies across numerous industries,” its state site notes. “From Fortune 500 companies to fast-growing startups and hundreds of thousands of small businesses, companies of all sizes are driving economic opportunity in every corner of our state.”
CNBC analyzes every state’s marketing pitch as part of our annual America’s Top States for Business study. This year, we found the economy to be the second most frequently mentioned attribute (after infrastructure). So, under our methodology, the Economy category carries the second-heaviest weight in 2026—worth 16.6% of a state’s total score.
To measure each state’s economy, we consider job growth, economic growth, and the number of major companies headquartered in the state. We also measure each state’s fiscal health, including its budget situation, its long-term obligations and its debt ratings, as well as the health of the residential real estate market. We also consider the impact of tariffs, the potential impact of federal budget cuts, and small business survival rates.
Some states clearly deliver on their economic promises, but these are not those states. Here are America’s worst state economies in 2026.
10. Oklahoma
Oklahoma is among the most dependent on federal funding, according to the National Association of State Budget Officers. More than 40% of state spending in Oklahoma comes from Washington, D.C., putting the state in the top 10 for reliance on the feds.
“That’s not rugged individualism; that’s a subsidy,” wrote Shiloh Kantz of the Oklahoma Policy Institute in August. “And it means that the hard fiscal choices some of our leaders brag about are possible only because someone else is footing the bill.”
It also leaves the Sooner State vulnerable to potential federal cuts.
Economic growth was moderate last year, which is leaving the housing market under some stress.
2026 Economy score: 172 out of 415 points (Top States grade: D)
Real GDP (2025): $213.5 billion (+1.5%)
Debt Rating and outlook (Moody’s): Aa1, Stable
Share of state spending from federal funds: 40.4%
International goods trade: $24.9 billion (9% of GDP)
Major corporations: Paycom Software, ONEOK, The Williams Companies
9. North Dakota
The days of North Dakota’s oil frenzy back in the early 2000s and 2010s are long gone, and even the surge in oil prices at the start of the Iran war earlier this year was not enough to get companies to resume drilling in the Bakken Shale in a meaningful way. Economic growth in the Peace Garden State was the lowest in the nation last year. New business formations were also among the lowest. One thing the state did right was to build up its reserves during the flush times. The state could last nearly a year on its total fund balance if all else failed, according to the Pew Charitable Trusts.
2026 Economy score: 171 out of 415 points (Top States grade: D)
Real GDP (2025): $63.6 billion (+0.3%)
Debt Rating and outlook (Moody’s): Aa1, Stable
Share of state spending from federal funds: 34.5%
International goods trade: $14.5 billion (17.6% of GDP)
Major corporations: None
8. New Hampshire
New Hampshire’s fiscal situation is anything but rock solid. The Granite State’s spending outpaces revenues, according to the most recent financial disclosures. New Hampshire’s public employee retirement systems are underfunded to the tune of more than $5.5 billion, among the worst pension gaps in the country. Job growth is tepid, and the survival rate for new businesses is among the lowest in the country, according to data provided to CNBC by business research firm Construction Coverage. The state’s economy is growing at a healthy pace, however, with the help of new residents fleeing higher taxes in neighboring states like Massachusetts.
2026 Economy score: 170 out of 415 points (Top States grade: D)
Real GDP (2025): $96.87 billion (+2.1%)
Debt Rating and outlook (Moody’s): Aa1, Stable
Share of state spending from federal funds: 39.4%
International goods trade: $17.2 billion (13.7% of GDP)
Major corporation: Iron Mountain
7. Alaska
Alaska is heavily dependent on the federal government, which accounts for more than 45% of state spending. Only Louisiana (48.6%) and Indiana (46.3%) rely more on Uncle Sam. The Last Frontier also has among the largest percentages of federal employees in its workforce. Alaska did turn in solid economic growth last year, even before the surge in oil prices this past February. And optimism is growing as the Trump administration moves to expand drilling in the North Slope and pursues an 807-mile natural gas pipeline to deliver gas from Prudhoe Bay on the North Slope to the Kenai Peninsula and the world.
“Alignment of state and federal leadership means potential for major moves in Alaska’s mining and oil and gas development,” wrote state economist Karinne Wiebold in January, though the pipeline — and any economic windfall that comes with it — is still years away.
2026 Economy score: 169 out of 415 points (Top States grade: D–)
Real GDP (2025): $57.5 billion (+2.8%)
Debt Rating and outlook (Moody’s): Aa2, Stable
Share of state spending from federal funds: 45.3%
International goods trade: $9.8 billion (13.1% of GDP)
Major corporations: None
6. South Dakota
Economic growth was modest last year in South Dakota, but to hear state officials tell it, things are looking up — and they are not referring to the Mount Rushmore State’s most famous, lofty attraction. Earlier this year, in her first-quarter economic update, Secretary of State Monae Johnson pointed to nearly 4,000 new business filings in the quarter, “surpassing first-quarter filing totals from each of the previous six years.” She did not mention that the comparisons were relatively easy. According to Census data, South Dakota ranked 35th in new business formations per capita last year, growing only about 4% from 2024. Once businesses do get off the ground in South Dakota, however, they stand a good chance of surviving. The state ranks No. 15 in Construction Coverage’s small business survival index.
2026 Economy score: 168 out of 415 points (Top States grade: D–)
Real GDP (2025): $58.5 billion (+1.4%)
Debt Rating and outlook (Moody’s): Aaa, Stable
Share of state spending from federal funds: 42.4%
International goods trade: $4.88 billion (6% of GDP)
Major corporations: None
5. Kansas
The housing market in Kansas is a study in contrasts. Inventory is tight, with around a two-month supply of homes on the market as of May, according to Redfin. Yet, price appreciation has been modest, and seller gains have been weak, according to ATTOM Data Solutions. It all means that the real estate market is not the economic engine it might normally be. One reason may be that the Sunflower State is not doing well in attracting workers, according to data from labor market analytics firm Lightcast. Job growth in the state is weak, though overall economic growth was reasonably good last year.
2026 Economy score: 162 out of 415 points (Top States grade: D–)
Real GDP (2025): $185.1 billion (+2%)
Debt Rating and outlook (Moody’s): Aa2, Stable
Share of state spending from federal funds: 27.4%
International goods trade: $29.4 billion (12.2% of GDP)
Major corporations: None
4. Louisiana
Louisiana faces serious exposure to a pair of stiff headwinds in the economy: tariffs, and a shrinking federal government in a state that disproportionately relies on Washington. No state has more of its spending funded by the federal government. And with nearly one-third of the Pelican State’s GDP made up of international goods trade, Louisiana’s tariff costs have skyrocketed, according to Washington, D.C.-based research firm Trade Partnership Worldwide, which provided data to CNBC. Perhaps as a result, Louisiana has seen some of the weakest economic growth in the nation. Overall job growth has been strong but uneven. The latest forecast from Louisiana State University’s E.J. Ourso College of Business, through the first quarter of next year, calls for more job growth, “but employment in only 4 of the state’s metro areas is forecast to grow at a rate of 1% or greater.” The forecast calls for modest improvement in GDP, growing at a rate of about 1.5% into the beginning of 2027.
2026 Economy score: 160 out of 415 points (Top States grade: D–)
Real GDP (2025): $259.9 billion (+1.1%)
Debt Rating and outlook (Moody’s): Aa2, Stable
Share of state spending from federal funds: 48.6%
International goods trade: $109.4 billion (32.2% of GDP)
Major corporations: Pool, Entergy
3. West Virginia
West Virginia is not handling the transition from a coal-centered economy to whatever comes next well. The Mountain State’s labor force participation rate is the lowest in the nation, even as prices rise — putting more and more everyday needs out of reach. Economic growth and job growth rank near the bottom. One potential bright spot — and maybe a lifeline — is the state’s housing market. Inventory is near optimum, affordability is good, and yet prices are appreciating well.
2026 Economy score: 146 out of 415 points (Top States grade: F)
Real GDP (2025): $83.2 billion (+0.5%)
Debt Rating and outlook (Moody’s): Aa2, Positive
Share of state spending from federal funds: 20.5%
International goods trade: $9.5 billion (8.7% of GDP)
Major corporations: None
2. Maryland
Economic growth and job growth nearly flatlined in Maryland over the past year. The Old Line State’s deep connection with the federal government next door has a lot to do with that, as Gov. Wes Moore pointed out in his State of the State address in February.
“In just the last year, the federal government has fired around 25,000 Marylanders who have federal jobs in our state alone,” said Moore, a Democrat. “It’s the biggest federal job cut of any state in the country.”
But the Maryland Chamber of Commerce also blames “high costs, unpredictable taxes, and growing regulatory burdens.”
“If we want a stronger future, we must prioritize an economy that supports business investment, expansion, and long-term growth,” the organization said.
Whatever the reason, Maryland finds itself in a deep hole in 2026, with no easy way out of it.
2026 Economy score: 143 out of 415 points (Top States grade: F)
Real GDP (2025): $436.17 billion (+0.7%)
Debt rating and outlook (Moody’s): Aa1, Stable
Share of state spending from federal funds: 31.2%
International goods trade: $56.6 billion (10% of GDP)
Major corporations: McCormick and Company, Lockheed Martin, Marriott International
1. Rhode Island
To hear Rhode Island Gov. Dan McKee tell it, the state is about to have its moment. McKee, a Democrat, writes on a website devoted to what he calls the RI 2030 Plan that “National shifts in defense spending, the return of advanced manufacturing, and rapid technological innovation are aligning with Rhode Island’s long-standing strengths in defense, ocean technology, and the life sciences.”
But if, indeed, the Ocean State’s ship is about to come in, it is taking a long time getting there. In the meantime, economic growth was the ninth weakest in the country last year. Foreign direct investment was practically nonexistent, as were new business formations.
Rhode Island is also especially vulnerable to tariffs. Costs skyrocketed last year in a state where international goods trade makes up over 18% of nominal GDP.
2026 Economy score: 121 out of 415 points (Top States grade: F)
Real GDP (2025): $64.2 billion (+1.1%)
Debt rating and outlook (Moody’s): Aa2, Stable
Share of state spending from federal funds: 38.5%
International goods trade: $15.5 billion (18.5% of GDP)
Major corporations: Hasbro, Citizens Financial Group, CVS Health
Jul 15, 2026
What Is This?
We're plagued by flesh-eating screwworms, and explosive diarrhea. We've got a deadly heat wave and the worst drought in a hundred years going. A third of the country is on fire, we're losing a war, and the wanna-be king has his personal army of thugs running around killing our neighbors in the streets, even as he builds monuments to himself in the capital. And all while, at least half of everybody we know may not be able to feed themselves and keep a roof over their heads for very much longer.
This isn't America - this is a fucking bible story.
Fuck ICE
Six immigrant children spent as long as 505 days in federal custody as their families waited
Immigrant children now spend an average of more than six months in federal custody nationwide— triple the previous peak of the last decade — after the administration of President Donald Trump imposed stringent new requirements for their release.
During the three months CT Insider spent reporting this story this spring, more than two dozen immigrant children sat in federal custody in Connecticut — some in group homes, others in foster care. Court records show many had parents or close family ready to take them in. But the federal agency responsible for vetting those sponsors, the Office of Refugee Resettlement, has kept children in custody for months by imposing requirements no federal regulation or law demands and restarting vetting it already completed, a CT Insider investigation found. One child was held more than 500 days, most of it in a program in New Haven.
In at least six cases, all filed since December, families won their children’s release only by suing.
Federal rules require the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to transfer unaccompanied immigrant children within 72 hours to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of Refugee Resettlement — a child-welfare agency, not an enforcement one, charged with care for children who arrive alone. For these six children, that part worked. They were moved within days.
What came next didn’t work as well. Families answered every demand — birth certificates, DNA tests, home studies, background checks. But the children stayed in custody as the government kept adding requirements for their parents' applications to be considered complete.
Once a parent or guardian applies for a child’s release, ORR regulations require it to decide within 10 days, absent unexpected delays.
Only when lawyers went to federal court did anything change.
Each child was released shortly after a lawsuit was filed — before the government ever had to defend the delays in court.
The federal government would not answer any questions about these cases and declined to comment for this story.
The delays these children face trace to last year, when the Trump administration overhauled how the office of Refugee Resettlement vets the parents and relatives seeking custody of these children — changes the administration says protect them from being released to unsafe sponsors.
In a sworn declaration filed in one of these cases, a top ORR official wrote that, unlike law enforcement or state child-welfare agencies, the agency has no way to monitor children once they’re released or take them back if a sponsor turns out to be unsafe. So, the federal government argues, it must “front-load” its safety checks before release. The federal government would not answer questions about the length of detention, including whether it considers the delays appropriate or if they are doing anything to shorten these children’s stays.
Here are the stories of those six children drawn from court records in lawsuits where the children’s detention was challenged as illegal. CT Insider changed the names of the children to protect their identities. Most families declined interview requests, saying through their attorneys that they fear retaliation from the federal government.
Jean, 12 years old — 505 days in custody
What came next didn’t work as well. Families answered every demand — birth certificates, DNA tests, home studies, background checks. But the children stayed in custody as the government kept adding requirements for their parents' applications to be considered complete.
Once a parent or guardian applies for a child’s release, ORR regulations require it to decide within 10 days, absent unexpected delays.
Only when lawyers went to federal court did anything change.
Each child was released shortly after a lawsuit was filed — before the government ever had to defend the delays in court.
The federal government would not answer any questions about these cases and declined to comment for this story.
The delays these children face trace to last year, when the Trump administration overhauled how the office of Refugee Resettlement vets the parents and relatives seeking custody of these children — changes the administration says protect them from being released to unsafe sponsors.
In a sworn declaration filed in one of these cases, a top ORR official wrote that, unlike law enforcement or state child-welfare agencies, the agency has no way to monitor children once they’re released or take them back if a sponsor turns out to be unsafe. So, the federal government argues, it must “front-load” its safety checks before release. The federal government would not answer questions about the length of detention, including whether it considers the delays appropriate or if they are doing anything to shorten these children’s stays.
Here are the stories of those six children drawn from court records in lawsuits where the children’s detention was challenged as illegal. CT Insider changed the names of the children to protect their identities. Most families declined interview requests, saying through their attorneys that they fear retaliation from the federal government.
Jean, 12 years old — 505 days in custody
Jean was 12 when officials detained him at the U.S. border. He spent his 13th birthday in federal custody — and went on waiting.
The phone at the ORR shelter in California where he was staying would ring, but he refused to take the calls, according to records filed in a federal lawsuit challenging his detention. On the other end was his family — his father, his stepmother, his two sisters. Talking was too painful, a reminder that he could not be with them.
It was "not normal," he told his caseworkers, to be this alone. What he wanted — he said again and again — was to go home with his family in Fort Lauderdale.
By the spring, his family had answered every question the government raised, their lawsuit alleges. A corrected birth certificate. A favorable home study. Background checks that came back clean. In April, ORR released Jean’s two sisters to his stepmother — a sponsor it had already vetted and approved.
The agency kept Jean after a required DNA test showed his father was not his biological parent – a fact court records say his father didn’t know until the test came back His father said it changed nothing: the boy would always be his son. The government kept Jean detained anyway.
Average number of days the government held unaccompanied minors
National data from October 2024 to April 2026.
Then ORR asked for a record no one could obtain, according to the lawsuit. Jean's mother had died when he was three months old, and her death certificate sat in a Haitian government office the gangs now held — records the State Department itself had declared unobtainable. When his stepmother could not produce it, ORR pressed her to withdraw. She did — and ORR transferred him from California to a long-term foster care program in New Haven.
Then she applied again from the beginning. ORR ordered another home study — the first had come back favorable — and denied her by telephone, with nothing in writing, citing the birth certificate she had corrected 10 months before — the original, issued in Haiti, had listed his stepmother, the only mother he had ever known, rather than his biological mother, who died when Jean was three months old.
Two hundred days became 500.
It took a federal lawsuit to end it.
In a court filing responding to the petition for Jean's release, government attorneys gave a litany of reasons why the boy was still in custody — a translator had raised concerns about the family’s first birth certificate submission, his father’s DNA test came back with a 0 percent match and an initial home study found his father had used a belt to discipline a minor child. (Florida child protection officials declined to pursue the discipline issue, according to court filings, because it “did not meet their criteria for abuse or neglect.”)
Government attorneys also questioned Jean’s stepmother — saying they couldn’t confirm his biological mother was dead, or that the stepmother had a pre-existing relationship with him, and noted ORR policies bar sponsors who knowingly submit false information.
But just over two weeks after the government's filing, U.S. District Judge Vernon Oliver ruled for the family and ordered Jean's release.
In making that determination, Oliver called the government’s process in the case “arbitrary and capricious.”
"Every minute that someone is unlawfully denied freedom," Oliver wrote in his final order, quoting a different case "results in an injury that really can never be remedied."
Jean was finally reunited with his family after 505 days, court records show.
BenjamÃn, 16 years old — 143 days in custody
The arrests didn’t take long.
According to a federal lawsuit and a declaration filed in the case, two Buffalo police officers stopped Dennis’ car in August 2025 and collected his driver’s license. They also demanded proof that he and his passengers were in the country legally. Dennis and his brother Benjamin turned over their paperwork and their friend, a U.S. citizen, provided his passport.
They waited, terrified.
Twenty minutes passed and two cars pulled up. Officials from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security got out and approached. Dennis and Benjamin were arrested, handcuffed and transported to a nearby federal facility. Their friend was driven there in the other car.
“They said they were going to take all of us to the ICE station to fingerprint us and that if everything was clear, we could go home,” Benjamin wrote in the declaration. “I was so scared that I was shaking, and my skin felt prickly.”
For hours, he wrote, the ICE officers questioned them and told them America would pay them $2,000 to leave the country — even though the brothers explained they had Special Immigrant Juvenile Status and Deferred Action, protections from deportation. Since last year, the Trump administration has been paying immigrants to self-deport.
Then the officers told them to sign some papers, written in English. No one explained what they were, according to court documents.
"I didn’t think I had a choice to say no, so I signed," Benjamin wrote.
His brother, who had just turned 18, was put in handcuffs, and ankle chains and taken away.
“I cried and begged them to please let me go with my brother,” he wrote.
Dennis was deported home to Ecuador.
There's been a dramatic shift in the number of unaccompanied children processed by the government
The next day, Benjamin wrote he was flown to a shelter in Texas where he learned what he had signed: a form in which he agreed to leave the country on his own. Benjamin was held in Texas for two months, then moved to a shelter in Groton. He couldn’t understand why he was there. He had been through it once before.
Court records show Benjamin first came to the U.S. when he was 12 years old. He was detained then, too, and released to his dad within weeks after the government vetted him and approved him to be his sponsor.
When DHS arrested him this second time, ORR started the vetting process all over.
Weeks became months.
“I don’t understand why they have not let me go back to my papa,” he wrote. “I feel like I am never going to get out of here.”
In Groton, the days are identical, he wrote. The shelter is a house. Benjamin spends all his time in three rooms: his bedroom, the living room and dining room. Class happens at the dining table where children also eat — ages 13 to 17, one lesson for everyone. Showers are at 5 p.m. On Saturdays, nothing. He can’t go outside unless a staff member joins.
“I feel trapped,” he wrote. “I feel like a delinquent.”
Two days before Christmas, Benjamin was released from federal custody — 143 days after his arrest, and four days after lawyers filed a lawsuit over what they called an illegal detention.
With Benjamin released, his lawyers dropped the case — and the federal government never had to defend his detention, or the delay, in court.
Camila, 5 years old — 118 days in custody
Camila is five.
She paints. She dances. She runs. She likes being around other people. This is from court records, where her mother in a sworn declaration tried to describe who she was before the federal government detained her.
She was born in Atlixco, an agricultural city in central Mexico, and lived there for the first five years of her life, first with her parents, then after both parents left to find work in the U.S., with her grandparents. She spoke with her mother almost every day on video calls. Birthdays and Christmas gifts arrived in the mail.
In the summer of 2025, her mother told her on a video call that she was going to be a big sister. A few months later, Camila crossed the border into Arizona. How a five-year-old got from central Mexico to the border, and with whom, isn’t in the records and her mom declined to share those details during an interview. What is: her parents weren’t allowed to take her because of their immigration status, so the government labeled her ‘unaccompanied’.
She spent the next four months in federal immigration custody — first in a detention center run by U.S. Customs and Border Protection, then in a shelter in eastern Connecticut, where she was the youngest by far. And then she was moved to New Haven, the city where her mother lived. Camila's mother, who entered the country illegally, has a pending application seeking legal residency in the U.S.
At night Camila slept in a foster home. Her days were consistent: breakfast to evening was spent at an office building fitted with classrooms, where she was the only child in her class.
She got to see her mother once a week — for an hour.
A child psychiatrist who evaluated her in the final weeks of her detention wrote that she had nightmares and refused to talk about her family. The doctor wrote in that evaluation submitted to the court that Camila was processing what was happening to her through her play.
“She is having nightmares, is avoidant of discussion of her family and separation, and she manifests anxiety through her play,” Dr. Laine Taylor wrote. “Her play evaluation... clearly demonstrated that she is struggling with anxiety and fear.”
Camila is home now, released three days after lawyers filed a lawsuit challenging her detention. There is a new baby brother in the apartment.
She paints. She dances. She runs. She has a pink princess-themed room, but she sleeps with her mom.
“She doesn't like to be away from me,” her mom said during an interview. “When she's away from me, she thinks these people are going to come back for her.”
Liam, 15 years old — 255 days in custody
On Jan. 5, Liam’s mother received the call she’d waited eight months for. Her son Liam was finally coming home.
Minutes later, the shelter called her back. There was a mistake. She couldn’t pick Liam up yet, but they would call her back soon.
By the time U.S. District Judge Vernon Oliver heard arguments for and against Liam’s release on Jan. 15, his mother was still waiting for that follow-up call, according to the lawsuit she filed challenging his detention.
It all began in May 2025, when local police arrested Liam at 15 following a fight. Agents with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement arrived at the station after Liam’s father got there to pick him up, separated the two and took them both into custody. Liam went to an ICE office in Burlington, Massachusetts, then an ORR shelter in Texas for three months before finally landing at Noank Community Support Services, in Groton, Connecticut.
Whether, and how, ICE ever contacted Liam’s mother after his arrest is a matter of dispute.
Liam’s mother and his attorneys said in court filings that ICE called her when he was in Burlington but did not tell her she could pick him up there. She didn’t hear from him again until he was in Texas.
Meanwhile, the government made a series of seemingly contradictory statements, according to Oliver’s ruling. In one filing cited in the ruling, it said ICE couldn’t locate or contact her. In another, it said ICE asked her to pick Liam up but she didn’t show — and if she had, ICE would have also arrested her. That same filing said she was at the police station during his arrest.
In a May letter to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, which oversees ORR, U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., pointed to allegations that federal officials have used children as bait to arrest their sponsors. Officials, Wyden said, have used the threat that they will arrest and deport a sponsor to pressure a child to accept voluntary deportation.
ORR removed a Biden-era regulation last year that prevented it from sharing information about sponsors’ immigration status with ICE or disqualifying sponsors because of their immigration status.
The government’s full response to Liam's habeas petition isn’t open to the public. But in a court filing defending its decision to designate Liam as an unaccompanied minor instead of turning him over to his mother, the government said it acted appropriately.
“DHS had no choice but to declare Petitioner a UAC," the government said, using the acronym for "unaccompanied alien child," the legal term for such immigrant children.
Oliver was blistering in his assessment of the government’s claims in Liam’s case, calling them “disturbing” and saying they were “full of significant incongruities.”
Before his arrest, Liam liked to play in his neighborhood and help his mother in the kitchen. In the shelters, he grew anxious and depressed. A psychological evaluation last December recommended his release “as soon as possible so he can return to his family, which is crucial for his well-being.”
Oliver ordered ORR to release Liam in mid-January, 27 days after the lawsuit challenging his detention was filed. His mother was finally able to pick him up the following day.
Miguel, 14 years old — 167 days in custody
Miguel was 14 years old and wanted to be a teacher. He should have been in middle school. Instead, he was taught inside the building where he was held in New Haven — a converted office fitted with classrooms — alongside his 16-year-old brother and an 11-year-old, both in federal custody.
Not able to enroll in a neighborhood school, he had been "isolated from peers and deprived of basic opportunities for the educational and social-emotional growth that's critical to [his] development," the lawyers seeking his release wrote in the petition asking a federal judge to release him.
Miguel was born in the highlands of Guatemala, into a family too poor to keep him in school. He and his brother worked the family's field, but it was never enough. Last December they crossed the border illegally to join their father, who had left to find work in the U.S. years earlier.
Their father, in Providence, court records show, wanted only to bring his sons home. It would take more than five months. From the first week, his attorney says in court records, he told the government he wanted to sponsor them — and was told to find an English speaker to help with an application that wouldn't come for nearly four months. When an official finally called, she said his immigration status made him ineligible, that he should find someone else, that the people he lived with might doom the case. None of it was true, his attorney told him. He moved anyway, then resubmitted documents the system had lost. He took a DNA test for a relationship no one questioned, and sat for a home study that his lawyers say no rule required.
The waiting wore on Miguel. The separation from his father, he said in a sworn statement, was so "painful" that it was "hard to think about anything else." He cried often, and the stress brought headaches and fevers. He described his detention as “being stuck in a waiting room for something that never happens.” He was "desperate,” his attorney said, to feel his father's hug again.
On May 19 — four days after his lawyers sued, 167 days into his detention — the government released Miguel and his brother to their father.
Luis, 16 years old — 167 days in custody
Luis was 16 and wanted to be a lawyer, or maybe an architect.
But rather than spending time in school, he and his younger brother spent nearly every day inside the same New Haven building. There were occasional excursions — a park, the aquarium — but when the weather was poor or cold, they did not go outside at all. At night, they slept in the homes of foster parents — people who, when they first arrived, were strangers. They were dropped off each morning before breakfast and picked up just before dinner.
In one respect the detention fell harder on Luis: unlike Miguel, he still faced deportation. His brother's immigration case had been terminated in February, but Luis' remained open and was due in immigration court in Hartford on May 21.
The waiting hit him hardest at night.
He couldn't sleep and was prescribed sleeping pills. He called the prolonged detention a "nightmare" and said in a sworn statement that "the pain is getting worse every day." He came to fear that "the day will never come" and described his and his brother’s confinement as "waiting somewhere they don't belong."
On May 19 — two days before that hearing — records show he and his brother were released to their father.
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