When a student experiences sexual assault, the harm doesn’t end there. It can disrupt classes, grades, housing, and the future they’ve worked for. Alexandra Brodsky, Title IX expert, explores the kinds of support that students need from their schools after sexual violence.

These rules, and all the fines issued under them, are STAYED. That means that the government cannot enforce these fines while our case moves forward. www.publicjustice.net/federal-cour...

Federal Court Blocks Trump Administration’s Unlawful Civil Penalty Scheme Targeting Immigrant Families  - Public Justice

October 6, 2026  Contacts:  Public Justice, communications@publicjustice.net   The Legal Aid A federal court granted preliminary relief to immigrants challenging the Trump Administration's unprecedent...

publicjustice.net

Aaron Reichlin-Melnick@reichlinmelnick.bsky.social · last yr.

NEW: The Trump admin finalized an emergency regulation, which goes into effect tomorrow, authorizing DHS to impose civil monetary penalties for immigration law violations with far less due process. The rule could lead to DHS imposing exorbitant fines on millions of people — fines they can't afford.

NEW: DHS wants to pay private contractors bounties to hunt down people who already left the country, photograph their homes, and demand money. It told them leaving the US would wipe out fines. It was the pitch for self-deporting. Experts tell WIRED this is a pointless escalation of tactics.

DHS Is Hiring Bounty Hunters to Find and Photograph Deported People’s Homes Abroad

Homeland Security told immigrants that leaving the US would wipe out fines it claims they owe. Now it wants private investigators to find them in their home countries and collect.

wired.com

These fines are incredibly cruel and the administration is weaponizing these financial penalties without even considering whether they're appropriate in the first place. Our clients are complying with the law and pursuing pathways to lawful status, but the gov says they have to pay anyway

Aaron Reichlin-Melnick@reichlinmelnick.bsky.social · 3mo ago

In 1996, Congress imposed fines on undocumented immigrants. For 30 years, the government did not enforce those laws, and they were basically irrelevant. Enter Trump, and the US government is now fining dishwashers and delivery drivers more than rich friends of the President who stole billions.

Proud to be part of the @publicjustice.bsky.social team fighting against ICE's lawless fines and grateful to NYU for putting together such a compelling report

Public Justice@publicjustice.bsky.social · 3mo ago

📣NEW REPORT ALERT: Report Exposes Extreme Harms of the Trump Administration’s Immigration Fines Program www.publicjustice.net/debt-deporta...

Public Justice "is seeking class-action certification for the lawsuit. Charles Moore said DHS has referred some debts to private collection agencies, seized tax refunds & garnished wages." Read more from @charles-dc.bsky.social and others at @nytimes.com: www.nytimes.com/2026/07/22/u...

Trump Administration Pressures Some Immigrants to Self-Deport With Fines Up to $1.8 Million (Gift Article)

Tens of thousands of immigrants have received letters to pay up or leave, as the government enlists debt collectors and seizes tax refunds.

nytimes.com

"Immigration detention, quite frankly, just shouldn’t be a thing. We don’t need to detain people because we think they may be deportable. That’s perfectly ridiculous," says @jesspish.bsky.social. newrepublic.com/article/2057...

Transcript: The Problem Is Bigger Than ICE

Criminal justice expert Jessica Pishko says ICE’s abuses in Minneapolis are rooted in an over-criminalization of immigration policy and that Customs and Border Protection is even more radical than ICE...

newrepublic.com

Excited to be part of the team bringing this case. Horrified that the work needs to be done. And proud to be part of an organization like @publicjustice.bsky.social that challenges the government's use of financial penalties to intimidate and harass

Zach Montague@zjmontague.bsky.social · 12mo ago

NEW: A class action filed in Massachusetts aims to block Homeland Security’s use of civil penalties to ramp up financial pressure on people seeking a path to legal status. In more than 20,000 instances, the Department has sent fines as high as $1.8 million.

The Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) allows the government to issue civil fines to people and organizations. Under the Trump administration, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) began sending notices of fines to individuals with final deportation orders. noimmigrationfines.org

The court has heard our demand for public access! Call into the Abrego Garcia hearing TODAY at 1 PM ET - Public Access Dial: 877-336-1831 Access Code: 8393132 @fixthecourt.com

Fantastic article: @leighgoodmark.bsky.social shares critical perspective that incarceration is not the solution. Once exposed to the criminal system, people are often entrapped and deemed worthy of further punishment. The significant harm caused by the system tells us that logic needs to be upended

Recovering Carceral Feminist-Ask Me How!@leighgoodmark.bsky.social · 2y ago

It took me 28 years to go from carceral feminist to abolitionist. @saaarah.bsky.social tells that story here.

If prisons & jails say they're "understaffed," maybe they should rethink what their jobs look like in the era of mass incarceration Take a look at this posting for a Georgia corrections position: Must be prepared to kill people "if necessary" buff.ly/ksGFqI6

@jesspish.bsky.social has this exactly right and, on top of this, many times sheriffs' actions are totally unchecked by courts or other political actors. State laws leave room for interpretation, which is filled in by sheriffs' interests and biases. So sheriffs get the final say on what the law is

Democracy Docket@democracydocket.com · 2y ago

"'Constitutional sheriffs' who refuse to obey judicial rulings often escape serious consequences even though their actions are often rooted in white supremacy and antisemitism." Read more from @jesspish.bsky.social.

A credibility shortage, to say the least. Keep this in mind when these same "law enforcement" actors start talking about who should and should not be subject to the criminal and immigration punishment systems

Steve Vladeck@stevevladeck.bsky.social · 2y ago

Between the Bove/Sassoon/Adams contretemps and Attorney General Bondi’s preposterous letters to Apple and Google, Thursday was about as bad a day for the Department of Justice’s credibility as we’ve seen in generations. Me, via “One First”: www.stevevladeck.com/p/124-the-th...

@curlyprofessor.bsky.social

Public Justice@publicjustice.bsky.social · 2y ago

Research from our partners like @CaptiveMoneyLab confirms what we already know: pay-to-stay fees create an excessive burden that traps people in debt while they attempt to rebuild their lives after incarceration.

Pay-to-stay regimes are the norm in most states, but they don't have to be. Illinois repealed its law, freeing many from the illogical debt that follows many after a disruptive period of incarceration dornsife.usc.edu/news/stories...

How a state’s repeal of ‘pay-to-stay’ law could guide reform

USC Dornsife study reveals how Illinois’ bipartisan repeal of law charging inmates for room and board could support the repeal of similar laws

dornsife.usc.edu

One of the darkest, but less reported, aspects of Trump’s anti-trans order this week IMO is that he directed the DOJ to remove protections for trans prisoners from Prison Rape Elimination Act guidelines. Story at @theappeal.org today from @byadamrhodes.bsky.social: theappeal.org/trump-execut...

‘People Will Die’ from Trump’s Trans Prisoner Crackdown, Experts Warn

Trump's executive order eliminating transgender rights in prison will hurt or kill trans prisoners, experts warn.

theappeal.org

The great Justice Thurgood Marshall used to remark that it sometimes seemed like there was a drugs exception to the Constitution. I am worried that we are heading towards a "suspected immigrant" exception to the rule of law.

Santiago Mayer@santiagomayer.com · 2y ago

The Laken Riley Act allows for the indefinite detention of any immigrant even SUSPECTED of theft. It also enables cops to detain citizens who look like immigrants until they can prove their citizenship. Senate Dems need to say #NoRacialProfilingLaws and vote against this bill.

This county's pay-to-stay policy was finally overturned because "the debt was undercutting other county programs meant to reduce recidivism." You don't say. Strapping someone with debt as they walk out the jail's doors is an all too common practice with no rational justification

Bolts@boltsmag.org · 2y ago

Pay-to-stay debt, where jails charge incarcerated people for their room and board and attempt to recuperate the costs, is “unbelievably ineffective”, says the Fines and Fees Justice Center. One Pennsylvania county has now wiped this debt out entirely: boltsmag.org/jail-de...

Civilized societies don't criminalize cries for help. "One woman told lawmakers her son was given “ghost trays”-meals that contain no food... Employees discussed filing criminal charges against those who’d committed self-harm." @elizabethweill.bsky.social @theappeal.org theappeal.org/red-onion-vi...

Prisoners Burned Themselves. So Staff Discussed “Making Them Pay Money.”

Emails show Virginia Department of Corrections officials discussing how to punish people at Red Onion State Prison who self-immolated.

theappeal.org

For folks who want to learn more about the incomparable (and often unchecked) power county sheriffs hold, this seems like it will be a great event

Myriad state laws and practices give governments the ability to exact further punishment through medical bills and other fees. Make no mistake, these monetary charges are about punishment, not "compensating" the government or covering costs.

Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg 🇵🇸@elizabethweill.bsky.social · 2y ago

Exclusive: Internal emails show VADOC staff discussing how best to punish prisoners who set themselves on fire, including criminal prosecutions and charging them thousands of dollars for their medical treatment. theappeal.org/red-onion-vi...

Increasingly, jail space is used as a revenue generator. Local governments are incentivized by state and fed law to fill beds so they can charge Excellent reporting from @themarshallproject.org on how that trend will continue in the next administration www.themarshallproject.org/2025/01/04/d...

‘Perverse’ Incentives: How Local Governments Might Cash In on Trump’s Migrant Detention

Some local officials see President-elect Donald Trump’s promise of mass deportations as an answer to their budget woes.

themarshallproject.org

Police accountability, but only if you can afford it

Phil Lewis@phillewis.bsky.social · 2y ago

Tonight, near midnight, Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine signed bill into law to charge public for footage from law enforcement, including body cams This follows a massive bill passed in December at 2 am (via @morgantrau.bsky.social) www.news5cleveland.com/news/politic...

And here’s the kicker, as Stephannie Stokes (who wrote this story) reported in a follow-up piece: After taking their kids away, Georgia often bills parents for the cost of foster care. One mother was charged nearly $13,000, with interest, and threatened with jail when she couldn’t pay.

Georgia removed her kids because she was homeless. The state is charging her $13,000 for foster care

Georgia is among several states that have moved away from charging parents for their kids' time in foster care. But parents who already owe money for past cases are still on the hook.

wabe.org

The policies underlying the criminal system often have little to do with protecting the public. Here, the officers admitted to the allegations but received no jail time. Anyone else in their position would have been seen as a threat to the public and put behind bars

Randy Rosso@fooddatanerd.com · 2y ago

“Laws in 35 states allow cops to have sex with someone in their custody.” H/t @marianachilton.bsky.social’s book on hunger www.buzzfeednews.com/article/albe...