49 h. ago DOGE finds an unlikely new cut as $47m plan for nation’s largest migrant detention center put on hold

Pause in detention contract process comes as administration seeks massive expansion to ICE detention system

Events

49 h. ago Mahmoud Khalil describes pain of missing son’s birth in latest court filing

Palestinian graduate describes weeping as he crouched on detention center floor listening to wife give birthMahmoud Khalil, the detained Columbia University graduate and Palestinian activist, has said in a new court filing that the “most immediate and visceral harms” he has experienced during his nearly three-month detention have been missing the birth of his son and being separated from his wife.“Instead of holding my wife’s hand in the delivery room, I was crouched on a detention center floor, whispering through a crackling phone line as she labored alone,” Khalil said. “I listened to her pain, trying to comfort her while 70 other men slept around me. When I heard my son’s first cries, I buried my face in my arms so no one would see me weep. Continue reading...

Events

3 d. ago Judge blocks private prison operator from housing ICE detainees at shuttered Kansas center

A judge has blocked a private prison operator from housing immigrants facing possible deportation in a shuttered Kansas City area detention center unless it can get a permit from frustrated city officials

Events

4 d. ago New Jersey mayor sues Alina Habba for ‘malicious prosecution’ after his arrest outside ICE facility

Ras Baraka is suing the state’s top federal prosecutor for defamation and false arrest after he was hit with trespassing charges in a case that was dismissed days later

Events

2 w. ago New Jersey congresswoman LaMonica McIver charged with assault after clash at detention center

‘No one is above the law – politicians or otherwise,’ interim US attorney Alina Habba said.US representative LaMonica McIver, a Democrat, was charged with assaulting federal agents after a clash outside an immigration detention center in New Jersey, the state’s federal prosecutor announced on Monday.Alina Habba, interim US attorney, said in a post on social media that McIver was facing charges “for assaulting, impeding and interfering with law enforcement” when she visited the detention center along with two other Democratic members of the New Jersey congressional delegation on 9 May. Continue reading...

Events

3 w. ago Harvard researcher charged with trying to smuggle frog embryos asks for transfer to Massachusetts

A lawyer for a Russian-born scientist and Harvard University researcher charged with trying to smuggle frog embryos has asked that she be brought back to Massachusetts, three months after she was taken to a Louisiana immigration detention center

Events

3 w. ago Newark Mayor Ras Baraka set to appear in court on charge of trespassing at immigration facility

Newark Mayor Ras Baraka is set to appear in federal court for a status conference on the Trump administration’s charge he trespassed at an immigration detention center in the city last week

Events

3 w. ago Ice has become Trump’s private militia. It must be abolished | Mehdi Hasan

Violent apprehensions, warrantless arrests, deported children: how many more abuses of power will it take for Democrats to speak up?On Friday, the Democratic mayor of Newark was arrested and detained in his own city by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) agents. His crime? Trying to gain access and inspection rights to a privately operated detention center that he says is in violation of multiple city lawsuits.Three Democratic members of Congress accompanied Ras Baraka to the Delaney Hall facility in Newark, as they exercised their own congressionally mandated right to enter Ice detention facilities for oversight purposes, without prior notice.On 8 May, Ice agents “held a young girl’s face to the ground” while they detained her mother in Worcester, Massachusetts. A video of the incident from Telemundo Nueva Inglaterra shows the teenage girl screaming as multiple agents and officers chase her and grab her legs.On 7 May, Ice agents detained Jensy Machado, a US citizen, in northe...

Politics

3 w. ago What to know about the Newark mayor's arrest at an immigration detention center

An immigration detention center in New Jersey is at the center of tensions between three congressional Democrats and the Trump administration after the arrest of Newark’s mayor outside the facility

Events

3 w. ago Rümeysa Öztürk, Tufts student held by Ice, vows to continue legal action after jail release

PhD student says she is excited to get back to her studies during what has been a ‘very difficult’ timeA Tufts University student from Turkey has returned to Boston, one day after being released from a Louisiana immigration detention center where she was held for more than six weeks after being arrested for her political speech. Rümeysa Öztürk told reporters at Logan Airport on Saturday that she was excited to get back to her studies during what has been a “very difficult” period. “In the last 45 days, I lost both my freedom and also my education during a crucial time for my doctoral studies,” she said. “But I am so grateful for all the support, kindness and care.” A federal judge ordered Öztürk’s release Friday pending a final decision on her claim that she was illegally detained following an op-ed she co-wrote last year criticizing her university’s response to Israel and the war in Gaza.She filed a lawsuit challenging her detention now assigned to US district judge William Session...

Events

3 w. ago Turkish Tufts University student back in Boston after release from Louisiana detention center

A Tufts University student from Turkey has returned to Boston after being released from a Louisiana immigration detention center

Politics

4 w. ago ‘We will arrest you’: DHS warns members of Congress after mayor Ras Baraka arrested at ICE detention center

Democratic lawmakers claim DHS is lying about nature of shoving match at ICE facility

Events

4 w. ago Mayor of Newark, New Jersey, released after arrest at immigration detention center

The mayor of Newark, New Jersey, has been released from custody after being arrested at a federal immigration detention center where he has been protesting its opening this week

Events

4 w. ago Mayor of Newark Ras Baraka released after arrest at Ice jail protest

Mayor’s wife accuses government of targeting her husband as video showed him being placed in handcuffs by officialsThe mayor of Newark, Ras Baraka, was arrested for alleged trespass at an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) detention center in New Jersey on Friday and released after several hours.Baraka was released shortly after 8pm and, after stepping out of an SUV with flashing emergency lights, told waiting supporters: “The reality is this: I didn’t do anything wrong.” Continue reading...

Events

4 w. ago Tufts scholar Rumeysa Ozturk released from ICE detention after judge raises ‘serious’ First Amendment and due process questions

PhD student imprisoned in Louisiana detention center testifies in orange prison jumpsuit

Events

4 w. ago Judge orders Tufts scholar Rumeysa Ozturk released from ICE detention after ‘serious’ First Amendment and due process questions

PhD student has been imprisoned in Louisiana detention center for more than six weeks

Events

4 w. ago Judge not waiting for transfer of Tufts University student detained by ICE to hold bail hearing

A federal judge in Vermont has decided not to wait for the transfer of a Turkish Tufts University student from a Louisiana immigration detention center to schedule a bail hearing, more than six weeks after she was arrested while walking along a street in a Boston suburb

Sport

last month The desperate search for a father disappeared by Trump to El Salvador: ‘We don’t know anything’

Jerce Barrios told his family he might be transferred from a California detention center – no one’s heard from him sinceThe last time Joregelis Barrios heard from her brother Jerce, the call had lasted just one minute.Immigration officials had moved Jerce from the detention center in southern California where he had been for six months to another one in Texas. He sounded worried, as if he had been crying. He told his sister he might be transferred somewhere else soon. Continue reading...

Politics

last month Family of man sent to El Salvador prison looks for any signs he’s still alive: ‘We don’t know anything’

Jerce Barrios told his family he might be transferred from a California detention center – no one’s heard from him sinceThe last time Joregelis Barrios heard from her brother Jerce, the call had lasted just one minute.Immigration officials had moved Jerce from the detention center in southern California where he had been for six months to another one in Texas. He sounded worried, as if he had been crying. He told his sister he might be transferred somewhere else soon. Continue reading...

Events