By MIKE SCHNEIDER

The oldest baby boomers — once the vanguard of an American youth that revolutionized U.S. culture and politics — turn 80 in 2026.

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The generation that twirled the first plastic hula hoops and dressed up the first Barbie dolls, embraced the TV age, blissed out at Woodstock and protested the Vietnam War — the cohort that didn’t trust anyone over age 30 — now is contributing to the overall aging of America.

Boomers becoming octogenarians in 2026 include actor Henry Winkler and baseball Hall of Famer Reggie Jackson, singers Cher and Dolly Parton and presidents Donald Trump, George W. Bush and Bill Clinton.

The aging and shrinking youth of America

America’s population swelled with around 76 million births from 1946 to 1964, a spike magnified by couples reuniting after World War Two and enjoying postwar prosperity.

Boomers were better educated and richer than previous generations, and they helped grow a consumer-driven economy. In their youth, they pushed for social change through the Civil Rights Movement, the women’s rights movement and efforts to end the Vietnam War.

“We had rock ‘n’ roll. We were the first generation to get out and demonstrate in the streets. We were the first generation, that was, you know, a socially conscious generation,” said Diane West, a metro Atlanta resident who turns 80 in January. “Our parents played by the rules. We didn’t necessarily play by the rules, and there were lots of us.”

As they got older they became known as the “me” generation, a pejorative term coined by writer Tom Wolfe to reflect what some regarded as their self-absorption and consumerism.

“The thing about baby boomers is they’ve always had a spotlight on them, no matter what age they were,” Brookings demographer William Frey said. “They were a big generation, but they also did important things.”

By the end of this decade, all baby boomers will be 65 and older, and the number of people 80 and over will double in 20 years, Frey said.

The share of senior citizens in the U.S. population is projected to grow from 18.7% in 2025 to nearly 23% by 2050, while children under 18 decline from almost 21% to a projected 18.4%.

Without any immigration, the U.S. population will start shrinking in five years. That’s when deaths will surpass births, according to projections from the Congressional Budget Office, which were revised in September to account for the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown. Population growth comes from immigration as well as births outpacing deaths.

The aging of America is being compounded by longer lives due to better health care and lower birth rates.

The projected average U.S. life expectancy at birth rises from 78.9 years in 2025 to 82.2 years in 2055, according to the CBO. And since the Great Recession in 2008, when the fertility rate was 2.08, around the 2.1 rate needed for children to numerically replace their parents, it has been on a steady decline, hitting 1.6 in 2025.

Younger generations miss boomer milestones

Women are having fewer children because they are better educated, they’re delaying marriage to focus on careers and they’re having their first child at a later age. Unaffordable housing, poor access to child care and the growing expenses of child-rearing also add up to fewer kids.

Donna West and her grandson Paul Quirk pose for a photo, Tuesday, Dec. 2, 2025, in Marietta, Ga. (AP Photo/Mike Stewart)

University of New Hampshire senior demographer Kenneth Johnson estimates that the result has been 11.8 million fewer births, compared to what might have been had the fertility rate stayed at Great Recession levels.

“I was young when I had kids. I mean that’s what we did — we got out of college, we got married and we had babies,” said West, who has two daughters, a stepdaughter and six grandchildren. “My kids got married in their 30s, so it’s very different.”

A recent Census Bureau study showed that 21st century young adults in the U.S. haven’t been adulting like baby boomers did. In 1975, almost half of 25-to-34-year-olds had moved out of their parents’ home, landed jobs, gotten married and had kids. By the early 2020s, less than a quarter of U.S. adults had hit these milestones.

West, whose 21-year-old grandson lives with her, understands why: They lack the prospects her generation enjoyed. Her grandson, Paul Quirk, said it comes down to financial instability.

“They were able to buy a lot of things, a lot cheaper,” Quirk said.

All of her grandchildren are frustrated by the economy, West added.

“You have to get three roommates in order to afford a place,” she said. “When we got out of college, we had a job waiting for us. And now, people who have master’s degrees are going to work fast food while they look for a real job.”

Donna West and her grandson Paul Quirk pose for a photo, Tuesday, Dec. 2, 2025, in Marietta, Ga. (AP Photo/Mike Stewart)

Implications for the economy

The aging of America could constrain economic growth. With fewer workers paying taxes, Social Security and Medicare will be under more pressure. About 34 seniors have been supported by every 100 workers in 2025, but that ratio grows to 50 seniors per 100 working-age people in about 30 years, according to estimates released last year by the White House.

When West launched her career in employee benefits and retirement planning in 1973, each 100 workers supported 20 or fewer retirees, by some calculations.

Vice President JD Vance and Tesla CEO Elon Musk are among those pushing for an increase in fertility. Vance has suggested giving parents more voting power, according to their numbers of children, or following the example of Hungary’s Viktor Orbán in giving low-interest loans to married parents and tax exemptions to women who have four children or more.

Frey said programs that incentivize fertility among U.S. women hardly ever work, so funding should support pre-kindergarten and paid family leave.

“I think the best you can do for people who do want to have kids is to make it easier and less expensive to have them and raise them,” he said. “Those things may not bring up the fertility rate as much as people would like, but at least the kids who are being born will have a better chance of succeeding.”

Emilie Megnien in Atlanta contributed to this report.

Follow Mike Schneider on the social platform Bluesky: @mikeysid.bsky.social

By CHRISTINE FERNANDO, Associated Press

CHICAGO (AP) — The Department of Justice filed a lawsuit Monday against Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker over new state laws aimed at protecting immigrants at courthouses, hospitals and day cares.

Pritzker signed a set of laws earlier this month that ban civil arrests at and around courthouses statewide and require hospitals, day care centers and public universities to have procedures for handling civil immigration operations and protecting personal information.

The laws, which took effect immediately, also provide legal steps for people whose constitutional rights were violated during the federal enforcement action in the Chicago area, including $10,000 in damages for someone unlawfully arrested while attempting to attend a court proceeding.

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Immigration and legal advocates have applauded the legislation, saying many immigrants were avoiding courthouses, hospitals and schools out of fear of being detained.

Lawrence Benito, executive director of the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights, called the laws “a brave choice.”

“Our collective resistance to ICE and CBP’s violent attacks on our communities goes beyond community-led rapid response — it includes legislative solutions as well,” he said at the time.

The Justice Department argues that Pritzker and Attorney General Kwame Raoul, who are both named in the lawsuit and both Democrats, violated the U.S. Constitution with the laws, which they say “threaten the safety of federal officers,” according to a statement Monday evening. The lawsuit is part of an effort by U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi to identify state and local laws the agency says impede federal immigration operations.

A spokesperson said Raoul and his staff are reviewing the complaint. Pritzker’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

When signing the bills, Pritzker acknowledged that they might be challenged in court.

“No doubt, they have the ability to go to court about it, but I believe this is not just a good law, but a great law,” Pritzker said.

The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s “Operation Midway Blitz,” which appears to have largely wound down for now, arrested more than 4,000 people. Data on those arrested from early September through mid-October showed only 15% had criminal records, with traffic offenses, misdemeanors or nonviolent felonies comprising the vast majority.

Associated Press writer John O’Connor contributed from Springfield, Illinois.

BALTIMORE (AP) — Kilmar Abrego Garcia can spend Christmas with his family after spending much of the year in custody.

U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis, in Maryland, issued an order late on Monday requiring government attorneys to file a brief by Dec. 26 on whether they plan to take him back into immigration custody, and under what legal authority they would do so. His attorneys have until Dec. 30 to respond.

A temporary restraining order that bars Immigration and Customs Enforcement from detaining him remains in place in the meantime.

“This decision means Kilmar gets to sleep in his own bed in the next coming days, without the fear of being separated from his family and community in the middle of the night,” Lydia Walther-Rodriguez, an organizer with the community group CASA, said in an email.

The Salvadoran citizen’s case has become a lightning rod for both sides of the immigration debate as he fights to remain in the U.S. after a mistaken deportation to his home country, where he was imprisoned. Members of President Donald Trump’s administration have accused him of being a member of the MS-13 gang, but he has vehemently denied the accusations and has no criminal record.

Abrego Garcia has an American wife and child and has lived in Maryland for years, but he immigrated to the U.S. illegally as a teenager. In 2019, an immigration judge granted him protection from being deported back to his home country, after concluding he faced danger there from a gang that targeted his family. In March, he was mistakenly deported to El Salvador anyway.

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Facing mounting public pressure and a court order, Trump’s Republican administration brought him back to the U.S. in June, but only after issuing an arrest warrant on human smuggling charges in Tennessee. He has pleaded not guilty to those charges and asked the judge to dismiss them.

Abrego Garcia was held in a Tennessee jail for two months before he was freed to await trial in with his family in Maryland. However, he was only free for a weekend before he was detained by ICE. Trump administration officials have said he cannot stay in the U.S.

Over the past few months, government attorneys have threatened to deport him to Uganda, Eswatini, Ghana and, most recently, Liberia. However, officials have made no effort to deport him to the one country he has agreed to go to — Costa Rica. Xinis has even accused the government of misleading her by falsely claiming that Costa Rica was unwilling to take him.

On Dec. 11, Xinis ordered him released from ICE custody, finding that the government had no viable plan to deport him anywhere and could not keep him in detention indefinitely.

New York’s Big Apple Connect program offers free Wi-Fi in public housing—and new pathways for police access to NYCHA cameras. In Harlem, youth advocates say real safety for young people starts with trust, not surveillance.

A video surveillance sign outside of NYCHA’s Taft Houses. (Photo by Max Rykov)

Over a dozen teenagers gathered in the fenced-off courtyard of Harlem’s Peace Cafe on a Thursday evening after school. As the young men warmed up with jumping jacks and sit-ups, Josh Marte, their youth mentor, hung up the punching bag and laid out Everlast boxing gloves over a banner that read, “I AM PEACE.” 

The lesson wasn’t only about self-defense: Marte talked to the group about regulating emotions, building a brotherhood, and de-escalating violence in their neighborhood. Although he is the champion of the 2012 Golden Gloves tournament, this wasn’t meant to be a professional boxing training, but rather a therapeutic outlet to release pent up energy. The founder of Street Corner Resources, Dr. Iesha Sekou, calls this practice “creative aggression.”

The community-based organization works with kids navigating gang violence, school expulsion, and encounters with law enforcement. Arrested and jailed as a teenager himself, Marte has spent the past decade as a violence interrupter helping young people find their second chance. “Some of these young men’s parents talked about them like they were going to be nobody,” he said.

Youth take part in boxing drills during a Street Corner Resources after-school program at Peace Cafe in Harlem. (Photo by Max Rykov)

Many of the teenagers that Street Corner Resources works with live at nearby NYCHA developments—the St. Nicholas, Manhattanville, Lincoln, Grant and Rangel Houses, among others, are all within walking distance—where rows of security cameras overlook the public housing campuses. 

Those cameras may soon feed directly into NYPD systems through Big Apple Connect, a city program that offers free Wi-Fi to NYCHA residents. 

Big Apple Connect was launched by Mayor Eric Adams’ administration as a program to bridge the digital divide and set up free high speed internet at over 200 public housing developments in the city. 

But reporting by New York Focus in August revealed previously undisclosed plans to use the infrastructure to grant NYPD direct access to live security camera footage. Cameras were already being used for the initiative at one NYCHA campus as of October, with plans to expand to 19 additional developments by the end of this year and more later on, the news site reported. 

The material is to be fed into the NYPD’s Domain Awareness System (DAS), a crime-fighting and counter-terrorism tool developed with Microsoft that integrates facial-recognition technology, license-plate readers, 911 calls, and footage from thousands of security cameras citywide. 

In Harlem, where concentration of public housing is some of the highest in Manhattan, the news has raised concerns about how this technology will be used, and who it will impact most. 

East Harlem has a strong presence of community-based violence prevention programs, such as Street Corner Resources and SAVE East Harlem, which focus on mediation, mentorship, and youth engagement. 

An NYPD car in front of the Thomas Jefferson Houses in East Harlem. (Photo by Max Rykov)

For those on the front lines of that work, the city’s definition of safety feels increasingly out of step with the one they’re fighting for. Lawyers and youth advocates also worry that expanded surveillance of everyday life could deepen the scrutiny already imposed upon young residents of color, who are disproportionately targeted through the NYPD’s gang database. 

At a City Council oversight hearing in September, Michal Gross, a supervising attorney at the Neighborhood Defender Service of Harlem, testified that there have already been signs of surveillance around NYCHA neighborhoods through existing CCTV infrastructure. She pointed to a particular case in which one of her young clients was identified as a gang member because of who he spent time with, including members of his own family. 

“NYPD admitted to watching him over 50 times with the same individuals,” Gross said, adding that her defense team has noticed this pattern in their cases with young people in Harlem. “[The NYPD] had built up a full dossier on 15, 16, 17 year olds—with months, if not years, of surveillance prior to any arrest.”

She has seen the material used against teenagers in court, resulting in higher bail and more serious sentencing, Gross added. She was joined by four other attorneys on the panel that testified before the Council, each of whom voiced concern about a likely connection between Big Apple Connect and the city’s gang database, which is embedded within the DAS. 

This database has faced years of criticism for lacking oversight or due process. The NYPD shrunk it by almost 40 percent in October—down to 8,563 people—largely in response to this pushback. But critics say it still operates as a broad dragnet, enabling racial profiling and misidentification without clear standards. 

The sun sets over East Harlem, a neighborhood home to some of the highest concentration in public housing complexes in New York. (Photo by Max Rykov)

As of Oct. 15, 98 percent of the individuals listed are Black or Latino residents, the vast majority of them without any felony convictions or involvement in gun violence. 

Alissa Johnson, a legal fellow at the Surveillance Technology Oversight Project (STOP), pointed to how loosely defined the criteria for someone’s inclusion in the NYPD’s gang database can be, often relying on “reasons as innocuous as wearing the wrong clothes, staying out late, attending the Puerto Rican Day parade, or posting a social media message like, ‘happy birthday, gang.’”

Expanding live police access to public housing cameras could extend that same pattern of suspicion into residents’ daily lives, advocates testified to lawmakers. 

But the NYPD said the camera access is a valuable tool for preventing and solving crime. Earlier this year, prosecutors indicted 16 alleged members of rival gangs in East Harlem for a spree of 21 shootings in 2024. Jessica Tisch, the police commissioner, credited the database for the success of the investigation. 

Federal authorities announced new charges last week against 12 people tied to an East Harlem narcotics crew operating out of NYCHA’s Johnson Houses. The case brought heavy law-enforcement presence to the development as part of a coordinated investigation between the FBI and the NYPD. Prosecutors said the group sold fentanyl and crack cocaine out of building lobbies and courtyards over the past three years, while storing firearms and drug supplies in empty apartment units. 

While East Harlem has seen a significant drop in serious gun-violence incidents since last year, the rate of shootings in the area remains among some of the highest in the city. Beyond major cases, drug use and low-level dealing remain persistent issues in parts of Harlem, particularly in and around NYCHA complexes. Together these conditions only reinforce both residents’ safety concerns and the push to expand surveillance. 

Street Corner Resources youth mentor Josh Marte addresses the group after boxing practice at Peace Cafe. (Photo by Max Rykov)

Against this backdrop, mentors and youth advocates say early intervention and community support become most critical for teens navigating adolescence amid constant police presence. 

“My whole life, I’ve seen a lot of stuff I wish I didn’t see,” said 19-year-old Alassane, who grew up in Harlem. He is one of the participants in the after-school boxing program. 

“It makes me nervous … just having to watch my back all the time and look over myself,” he said. “But now with the camera system, I’m basically doing the same thing too, because I’m being watched by basically everyone.”

Community mentors have seen first hand that police presence doesn’t always equal safety. They say constant surveillance can lead to profiling and early police contact over minor behavior—encounters that can pull young people into the criminal justice system long before they face any serious charges.

D’Angelo Clay, left, guides Street Corner Resource participants through boxing drills in their after-school training session. (Photo by Max Rykov)

“I feel like they try to take control of us,” said D’Angelo Clay, a violence interrupter with Street Corner Resources. Clay, now 26, became involved with the organization at the age of 13, after founder Dr. Iesha Sekou helped him get out of jail. 

“I got locked up one time. I don’t know how she found out, but she came for me,” Clay said. 

Sekou and the organization stayed by his side through the years that followed, offering mentorship and, eventually, a full-time job. Now Clay serves as a mentor himself to kids growing up in the same system. “This changed me a lot,” he said. “The young kids changed me too.”

Dr. Iesha Sekou and D’Angelo Clay as Sekou recaps the day to her followers over Instagram Live after boxing practice. (Photo by Max Rykov)

He regularly visits public housing developments to help mediate conflicts as a credible messenger. Through outreach by people like him, more local kids join Street Corner Resources’ programs, which also include music and video production workshops held in the same Peace Cafe space.

“We’re making sure they’re safe, not just running the street,” Clay said. “While I’m here I could save somebody. Because I got saved.”

As the sun set over the Peace Cafe courtyard, coach Josh Marte gathered the teens after boxing practice for their evening routine of pep talks and affirmations. “We build a place amongst each other where we don’t feel challenged,” he told them. “This here is building a community.”

He’s worked with each participant to understand their backgrounds and help them find a path into adulthood. Although they might not show it, “they want people to believe in them,” Marte said. “They’re like my little brothers.”

Many of the teenagers who stay involved with the organization become violence interrupters like Clay, operating mostly out of NYCHA complexes. Dr. Sekou says that kind of intervention can stop violence long before police, or camera feeds, need to get involved. 

Founder of Street Corner Resources Dr. Iesha Sekou outside of the organization’s office location in Harlem. (Photo by Max Rykov)

“We know that the first few minutes of an argument are crucial,” she said, describing their de-escalation work. “You can either stop it, or you let it go, and it becomes big and the guns come. But if we can stop it as soon as we hear it or know about it, it’s so much better.”

In the 20 years since the founding of Street Corner Resources, Sekou’s team has had more success stories than she could count. “There’s people who stop us now and say, ‘Thank you, because I was getting ready [to do something that would’ve gotten me] locked up.’”

For her and many residents of Harlem, both young and old, safety isn’t about who’s watching, but about who’s willing to stand beside you.

“Our young people are growing up in an environment where it’s like you got to be afraid of the police,” Sekou said. “This life is not normal.”

To reach the editor, contact Jeanmarie@citylimits.org

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