 In 2014, Blumenthal covered hunger strikes by undocumented migrants held in the privatized Northwest Detention Center for "The Nation".With journalist David Neiwert, Blumenthal wrote in July 2008 about the links of Sarah Palin, Alaska governor and Republican vice-presidential candidate, to the secessionist Alaska Independence Party.He described how that party "played a quiet but pivotal role in electing Palin as mayor of Wasilla and shaping her political agenda afterward."