If you aren't angry then you aren't paying attention.
Ben D’Avanzo
@bendavanzo.bsky.social
Senior Strategist at the National Immigration Law Center. Health and immigration policy issues mostly, with a focus on Congress and politics. Also neighborhood and housing issues as a hobby. Dad of 2 cute wild kids.
They may not commit to providing diabetes medication but they will force feed you www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026...
‘Stark example of brutality’: Trump’s ICE used court orders in plan to force-feed at least 10 hunger strikers in detention
Exclusive: court records reviewed by the Guardian show that procedures included force-feeding, intravenous forced hydration and involuntary blood draws
theguardian.com
Ben D’Avanzo@bendavanzo.bsky.social · 23h agoWell, this statement certainly has a big caveat... www.nytimes.com/2026/08/04/n...
When the administration blames immigrants for fraud, it's because they're using xenophobia to advance their authoritarian dreams. While else would they go after vulnerable families while pardoning rich fraudsters?
Corporations, Not Immigrants, Are Responsible for Vast Majority of Healthcare Fraud, OIG Report Shows
Trump officials are focused on immigrants, but the Department of Health and Human Services report on healthcare fraud doesn’t even mention them.
theintercept.com
Great summary from today's @garbageday.email newsletter on dating standards that applies I think a lot to politics too. A lot of online conversations are driven by people with the simple profit motive of getting engagement
ICE in hospitals? Yes, and it's terrible. Staff need to fight back laist.com/news/politic...
More people are showing up to hospitals in ICE custody. A new report teaches staff how to respond
Doctors, nurses and other staff are learning how to make legally valid requests of federal immigration agents — and what to do if officers refuse to comply.
laist.com
House discharge petitions are becoming a new normal as a way to get policy done, given incapable leadership. With DACA delays and imminent end of TPS for many, the Dream & Promise Act is the latest discharge petition with momentum getting over 200 signatures last week, including two Republicans!
Tell Your Representatives in Congress to Support the Dream and Promise Act Discharge Petition
Across the country, immigrants with TPS and DACA are losing the ability to work, drive, and ultimately continue their lives in the United States. Join us in urging your House representative to sign th...
nilc.org
After Alex Pretti was killed, Congress's response was to spend $70 billion more on immigration enforcement. Time for things to change.
Ian Coldwater 🧊🚫@lookitup.baby · 2w agoA letter from the mother of Alex Pretti, six months after he was murdered by ICE.
Just an absolute shout out to everyone out there who helped manufacture doubt around the question of this guy being a Nazi, particularly after the Nazi salute.
Snigdha@snig.bsky.social · last wk.Tweet from Elon Musk: “Anyone who opposites remigration is a traitor” posted yesterday.
AOC says Democrats should claw back money from ICE: “So it could be through the literal clawback of those funds. It could be through the withholding of other appropriations to force them to spend down what's gone out.”
Fox News poll: Which political party -- the Democrats or the Republicans -- do you think would do a better job on immigration? 50% say Democrats 49% say Republicans *Quite* a turnaround after Dems got destroyed on immigration politics in 2024; it is (was?) Trump’s best issue.
This will drive insurance & out of pocket costs higher. People will avoid seeking medical attention until the situation is dire, and then they will go to the emergency room where federal law says they must be treated. This is the most expensive way to provide medical care.
Ben D’Avanzo@bendavanzo.bsky.social · 3w agoCBS reporting that the final public charge rule, which will deter immigrants and their families from seeking health care, will be published today cbsnews.com/news/dhs-imm...
CBS reporting that the final public charge rule, which will deter immigrants and their families from seeking health care, will be published today cbsnews.com/news/dhs-imm...
DHS could weigh immigrants' use of Medicaid, food and housing help in green card decisions
Immigration officers could weigh use of Medicaid, food aid and housing help in green card decisions after Trump administration rescinds Biden-era public charge rule.
cbsnews.com
This is a terrific illustration -- for elected officials but also for media figures -- of the incredible power of simply refusing to take a bullshit dodge for an answer. Keep asking the question, over and over again, and make the weasels squirm.
Aaron Rupar@atrupar.com · 3w agoOSSOFF: Who won the 2020 election? CLAYTON: Uhm, you know, I'm not going to do this with you O: This is a job interview. You have an obligation to be honest with the committee. Who won the 2020 election? C: I'm not gonna get into that with you O: You're not being honest or forthright C: ...
Note that in the leadup to this famously racist law, anti-Chinese riots led to violence against and lynchings of Chinese immigrants www.forbes.com/sites/stuart...
White House Defends 1882 Immigration Law Excluding Chinese Immigrants
The Trump administration is defending the 1882 Chinese Exclusion Act against the charge that the law had a racist intent.
forbes.com
"I tried to stop," said the immigrant shot in the head and bleeding to death This is the new "I can't breathe" www.pressherald.com/2026/07/13/b...
Biddeford witness saw gunshot victim bleeding from head
One resident who saw the shooting said he heard the man who died say 'I tried to stop.'
pressherald.com
Our tax dollars paying the national guard to follow this guy around our fenced off murky reflecting pool
So ICE waited more than a week to disclose a 85-year-old German man died in ICE custody.
Whitney Curry Wimbish@whitneycwimbish.bsky.social · last mo.ICE just announced the death of the 21st person in immigration prison, Adrian Andreas Florian, an 85-year-old man from Germany. He died June 24. There's very little information in the press release but it sounds like he may have had dementia. Absolutely horrific.
Sweet for the 250th we get to pretend we are 2003 Baghdad
Benjamin Alvarez@benjalvarez1.bsky.social · last mo.Fourth of July D.C. flyover schedule
Members of Congress considering any votes to fund ICE or give it more power: learn from those who are now deeply regretting their kneejerk vote for that awful bill
Peggy Flanagan@peggyflanagan.bsky.social · last mo.Minnesotans had the guts to stand up to Donald Trump, but Congresswoman Craig didn’t. Minnesotans deserve a Senator who will stand up to this president before it’s politically expedient, not after. www.startribune.com/craig-flanag...
So, the Senate is advancing a bill that will give MORE power to ICE, at a time when it has been totally unreformed and no one has been held accountable for the deaths and broken families! CORCA is intended to combat retail theft but also will help ICE harass immigrants and communities.
Grassley, Durbin Advance Bipartisan Packages in National Defense Authorization Act to Crack Down on Crime and Protect Kids Online | U.S. Senator Chuck Grassley of Iowa
WASHINGTON – Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) and Ranking Member Dick...
grassley.senate.gov
Wonder what the Irish side of my ancestors who were told very similar things 100 years ago think would think about that Or the Jewish side, who had no where to got back to.
Aaron Rupar@atrupar.com · last mo.Tom Emmer: "Minnesotans are so afraid that you're gonna call us a racist, you're gonna call us an Islamophobe. You know what? I'm done being even the least bit careful. Somalis don't assimilate. And if they don't assimilate, then they should go the hell back to where they came from."
Urban planning meets immigration policy! How can the warehouses the DHS bought up to house humans be used instead for purposes that actually help communities? New report led by the Immigration Research Initiative with help from my NILC colleagues and regional planning experts
What’s the Alternative? Instead of Detention Centers, Use Warehouses for Communities - Immigration Research Initiative
Transformation warehouses into ICE detention centers is an inhumane way to treat immigrants. It’s also bad economics and planning for local communities. A report by IRI and National Immigration Law Ce...
immresearch.org
Really bad grant in the Supreme Court's orders list—the justices will consider whether this individual👇had a right to sue federal officials who denied him proper medical care in prison. Preparing to take another (possibly lethal?) bite out of Bivens. www.supremecourt.gov/orders/court...
Happy Father's Day to all the fathers who have been torn away from their kids and are sitting in detention centers, unable to hug them today, because of Steven Miller's vitriol and hate
That’s my America. To be clear, DHS is welcome — even encouraged! — to start acting like it’s their America, too.
Tim Hirschel-Burns@timhirschelburns.bsky.social · 2mo agoThe three players in this photo: 1. Nigerian heritage, grew up in England, and is only a citizen thanks to birthright citizenship. 2. Born + raised in Holland, has a dad who immigrated to the US from Suriname. 3. Said he wanted to “make people who look like me proud” while playing on Juneteenth
Today is Juneteenth and we are also potentially days away from a public charge reg that aims to stop non-white immigrants from existing in the U.S. So I recommend reading my colleague Kat Lundie's new piece on how slavery and public charge are historically intertwined www.nilc.org/articles/the...
The Legacy of Slavery Continues in Modern Immigration Law
To truly honor Juneteenth, we must acknowledge how the legacy of slavery continues in modern immigration laws, including public charge policies.
nilc.org
Doctors, nurses and other health care providers are being confronted with morally impossible situations when ICE brings in patients for treatment. Our new guide helps navigate questions like: Can I contact patients' families? What if ICE wants to discharge someone too early?
Advocating On Behalf of Patients in Immigration Custody: A Resource for Health Care Providers and Medical Staff
Under the Trump administration, medical professionals are increasingly caring for patients who are in the custody of ICE or CBP officers. This resource provides guidance for healthcare professionals o...
nilc.org