For a year, California's largest ICE facility has barred all detained residents from hugging loved ones. The policy has sparked so much fury that residents have launched campaigns across dorms demanding contact visits In my latest, see video from one detained organizer + how CoreCivic has responded

written by my colleague @samrlevine.bsky.social :)

*content warning - graphic injury photos* An ICE arrest left a Virginia man with a brain injury, black eyes + bruises all over his body. ICE says he fled a stop + agents "used necessary force to gain control of the situation” For days, José Mejía Hernandez couldn't get an MRI due to ankle monitor

Inside DHS' "mass spying campaign" targeting leftist groups + ICE protesters: -undercover agents posed as protesters at meetings + secretly recorded -agents infiltrated Signal chats + encouraged others to do "direct action" -DHS got financial records of major groups, incl SEIU + Sunrise Movement

A Minnesota religious studies professor is facing six years in prison, with the DOJ saying he is part of an "antifa" conspiracy against ICE Erik Davis speaks out about his prosecution, largely based on a handful of his comments in Signal chats. He's not accused of any violence “It’s petty revenge"

We reviewed DHS' list of immigrants + protesters who "weaponized" their vehicles to "assault" ICE agents. Nearly all claims have been debunked or dropped, with only one of 26 cases ending in an assault conviction. Inside the govt's stunning failure to prove DHS' claims of violence against agents:

NEW: ICE violently arrested a US citizen, filmed high-res videos of the operation + made viral social media content out of him Christian Cerna, LA native, speaks out about his arrest at gunpoint while driving his baby + toddler and the turmoil in his life that followed "They tried to humiliate me"

NEW: Corshelle Jenkins was falsely charged with a crime + a warrant issued for her arrest. It was clear mistaken identity but a judge said there were no available lawyers for her. The charge would stay + she had no way to fight it She's 1 of 1000s in Oregon trapped in criminal cases without lawyers

A MN protester accused of assaulting ICE officer had case dropped after vids showed no assault. LA protester accused of assaulting ICE w/ “hat” had case dropped; judge said govt acted in “bad faith” In Chicago, 92 ppl were arrested for assault/impeding ICE; 0 convicted DOJ keeps lying and losing:

NEW: Jonathon Redondo-Rosales, a 36-year-old LA protester, spent six months in jail accused of assaulting a federal officer with a *cloth hat.* A judge tossed out the DOJ’s case, accusing govt of acting in “bad faith” and engaging in “prosecutorial harassment“ that could “chill lawful protest”

Elizabeth, a 10-year-old Minnesota girl, spent a month detained at the ICE facility in Dilley, TX before her release last night w/ her mom. Dilley now has a measles outbreak and hundreds of other kids remain detained. Elizabeth has flu-like symptoms and her mom has hives, a school official told me

After Border Patrol shot two people in Portland, DHS claimed they were "vicious gang members" tied to a past shooting. But records I obtained reveal a US prosecutor has since directly contradicted DHS, saying, "We're not suggesting he is a gang member." My dive into how DHS' claims have collapsed:

NEW: The US has deported a longtime Oregon firefighter who was arrested by Border Patrol while deployed at a major wildfire in Washington state. José Bertin Cruz-Estrada, separated from his family, is speaking out from Mexico for the first time: “I feel betrayed ... What am I going to do now?"

California has deployed 400 incarcerated firefighters to fight the LA blaze. They make $26 over 24-hr shift. “We’re doing this heroic, crucial work, but many ppl inside cannot support their family, can barely afford hygiene supplies. Nobody is saving money,” Amika Mota, former firefighter, told me