J. David McSwane
@davidmcswane.bsky.social
Reporter @propublica.org Author, “Pandemic, Inc.” Colorado boy. 🐏 david.mcswane@propublica.org. Signal: 202-556-3836
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As relations between the U.S. and Canada continue to fray, border communities are paying the price. @annaleighclark.bsky.social reports for @propublica.org from Sault Ste. Marie in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan.
As Trump’s Tariff War With Canada Drags On, This Border Community Suffers Without a Voice
Under an intensifying trade war, parts of northern Michigan are feeling the financial pain. But with a president intent on conflict and a congressman silent on the issue, these Michiganders see no sig...
propublica.org
UPDATE: ProPublica is tracking the increase in immigrants filing claims that their detention is illegal — known as habeas cases. While new cases are being added at a somewhat slower rate, there are still far more than ever before: https://propub.li/4yiYGwu
Barns, Go-Karts and Strip Malls: The Wild West of Private Schools That Collect Taxpayer Dollars
Barns, Go-Karts and Strip Malls: The Wild West of Private Schools That Collect Taxpayer Dollars
As private schools proliferate, states are choosing a hands-off approach to regulating them. The backgrounds of school founders — sometimes with criminal histories — often don’t matter
propublica.org
NEW: The number of scammers trying to capitalize on immigrants’ fears by posing as lawyers and ICE agents has surged since Trump’s reelection, ProPublica found. Now, DHS says it is seeking to identify and find these fraudsters.
DHS Plans “All-Out War” on Immigration Scammers as Fraud Complaints Double
The number of scammers trying to capitalize on immigrants’ fears by posing as lawyers and ICE agents has surged since Trump’s reelection, ProPublica found. Now, DHS says it is seeking to identify and ...
propublica.org
🏅 Congratulations to Julie K. Brown, winner of the 2026 Don Bolles Medal. Brown was honored at #IRE26 for her fearless investigative reporting that exposed the special treatment given to Jeffrey Epstein & helped reopen a case many believed would never see justice. Read more: https://bit.ly/4vXql45
NEW: This church teaches that once an abuser is forgiven, anyone who speaks about the wrongdoing can be accused of having an unforgiving heart. The burden of sin would shift from the person who committed the act to the person who won’t let the matter rest. W/ @startribune.com
In This Church, Child Sexual Abuse Has Gone Unchecked for So Long That It Spans Generations
The church's culture of forgiving and forgetting sins has absolved abusers and silenced victims across the country.
propublica.org
A thorough, damning and upsetting speech here on how A.I. is an unprecedented heist of intellectual property that is destroying journalism. www.nytco.com/press/a-i-jo...
A.I., Journalism and the Uncertain Future of the Public Square
New York Times publisher A.G. Sulzberger warns A.I. companies are violating settled law and urges news organizations to stand up for their rights to ensure a sustainable future for reporting.
nytco.com
Autopsies show how hard doctors tried to save babies who died after not getting a vitamin K shot: tubes inserted in their airways, blood transfusions. They’re excruciating to read because they underscore how preventable these deaths could have been. By @deldeib.bsky.social
What I Can’t Forget About the Babies Who Died After Not Receiving a Vitamin K Shot
Babies have died after not receiving the vitamin K shot at birth. Their autopsy records underscore how preventable their deaths could have been.
propublica.org
I'm impressed by my @propublica.org colleagues every day, but omg the new Paper Trail podcast is so good. Amazing work from @jlussenhop.bsky.social + team. Take a listen: www.propublica.org/podcast/what...
What the FDA Won’t Tell You About Your Medications
For years, the FDA said generics are just as safe as brand-name medications. ProPublica found that this isn’t always true.
propublica.org
BREAKING: Immigrants detained in the notorious Chicago apartment raid last fall have filed claims against the federal government for trauma, injuries and lost property. The 18 tenants, including children, are seeking $5 million each. www.propublica.org/article/chic...
Immigrants Detained in Chicago Military-Style Raid Seek Millions in Damages
New accounts from 17 men, women and children taken in a midnight raid paint a violent, terrifying portrait of the federal agents’ alleged actions. These descriptions form the basis of claims filed thi...
propublica.org
Exclusive: A Kansas woman was detained at the airport by Customs for voting as a noncitizen, marking an escalation of Trump’s attempts to find election fraud. CBP typically plays no part in these investigations. 🧵https://www.propublica.org/article/noncitizen-voter-detained-airport-customs
A Noncitizen Says She Was Told She Could Vote. Then Customs Detained Her at the Airport and Threatened to Deport Her.
The case, which hasn’t previously been reported, marks a new escalation in the Trump administration’s efforts to find and prosecute instances of noncitizen voting, despite evidence that it is rare.
propublica.org
👋Hi! I’m Jessica Lussenhop, and for the last 4 years, I served as ProPublica’s first Minnesota-based reporter. But now I’ve got big news: On May 14, ProPublica is launching a brand new podcast! It’s called “Paper Trail,” and I’ll be your host. Thread 🧵
Autopsy reports reviewed by ProPublica, like these two from children in Minnesota and Arizona, have notes from coroners citing vitamin K deficiency as a cause of death. The refusal of the vitamin K shot often plays a role. www.propublica.org/article/more... @deldeib.bsky.social
This was a hard story to report. Newborns who don’t get a vitamin K shot are 81 times more likely to develop a condition where they bleed uncontrollably. But more and more families are declining the shot. And babies are dying. www.propublica.org/article/more...
Babies Are Bleeding to Death as Parents Reject a Vitamin Shot Given at Birth
A lifesaving injection given at birth to prevent severe bleeding has become collateral damage of the anti-vaccine movement.
propublica.org
horrible. this country’s turn away from science based medicine in the name of “wellness” is killing children and will kill a lot more. www.propublica.org/article/more...
Babies Are Bleeding to Death as Parents Reject a Vitamin Shot Given at Birth
A lifesaving injection given at birth to prevent severe bleeding has become collateral damage of the anti-vaccine movement.
propublica.org
Congratulations to the winners and finalists of the 2025 IRE Awards! Awards will be presented at the 2026 IRE Conference in National Harbor, MD on Friday, June 19, during the Awards Luncheon. Full list of winners and finalists: https://bit.ly/4cS2qfN
NEW: You may have noticed things look a little different on our website and social media. We’ve updated our logo and our typefaces, and we made improvements to the design and functionality of our homepage and how we present our work. Here’s why.
A New Look for ProPublica
We’ve updated our logo, typefaces and homepage design. Here’s what changed and why.
propublica.org
A detail I didn’t know: “The Herald entered the Epstein series for a Pulitzer Prize that year, but it was not a finalist. Alan Dershowitz … who helped broker Epstein’s original deal, wrote a letter to the Pulitzer committee that year, urging them not to honor Brown’s work.” share.inquirer.com/THMiUZ
Julie K. Brown receives Pulitzer Prize special citation for her work on Jeffrey Epstein case
Brown's 2017 and 2018 reporting was cited at the awards ceremony. “Her work, and the government’s release of the Epstein files, continue to reverberate around the world.”
share.inquirer.com
The first known ICE death wasn't Renée Good. It was Ruben Martinez in March 2025 & ICE's involvement remained unknown until this year. This is a story of how an unreported ICE killing shattered two American families and changed their politics. www.texastribune.org/2026/05/04/r...
An unreported ICE killing of an American shattered 2 Texas families
Josh Orta was the sole witness of Ruben Martinez’s death to dispute the government’s account. Months later, he died in a crash after learning an ICE agent killed his friend. Their mothers blame the go...
texastribune.org
Some great work here —> ‘We Know You Live Right Here’: No Secrets in America’s New Surveillance Dragnet www.wsj.com/politics/pol...
‘We Know You Live Right Here’: No Secrets in America’s New Surveillance Dragnet
Technical wizardry used to combat illegal immigration also funnels the personal data and whereabouts of U.S. citizens to federal agents.
wsj.com
Bruce Springsteen continued to believe in songwriting as a tool to hold his bruised, beloved country accountable, even in times when it would have been easier for him to look away. He’s on our list of the 30 greatest living American songwriters. nyti.ms/48xEf3J
From 2021 through the election in fall of 2024, the FTC fielded about 960 immigration complaints per year, such as reports of fake attorneys offering services or people impersonating federal officers. In 2025, the commission received nearly 2,000 complaints.
Immigration Scams Surged as Trump’s Sweeps Lured Desperate People to Eager Defrauders
Con artists posing as ICE agents and immigration officers are using WhatsApp and fake court hearings to bilk vulnerable people out of their savings with empty promises to fix immigration problems. As ...
propublica.org
"Nearly two dozen were held in custody for more than 20 days...Teens who were detained alone were sent to Christian youth shelters in Michigan, which made it hard for their families to find them. And nearly half of the children detained have since left the country." sahanjournal.com/immigration/...
ICE detained more than 70 Minnesota children, data reveals
Immigration officials detained more than 70 Minnesota children between Dec. 1 and March 10, a Sahan analysis of court records and federal deportation data shows.
sahanjournal.com
These agents "don't know how to operate in these situations,” said former DOJ attorney Christy Lopez. Their behavior “is on par with the worst protest policing and just law enforcement that I've seen from any department, even in their worst days." With @frontlinepbs.bsky.social
Caught in the Crackdown: As Arrests at Anti-ICE Protests Piled Up, Prosecutions Crumbled
ProPublica and FRONTLINE found more than 300 protesters and bystanders who were arrested on charges like assaulting an immigration agent or interfering with law enforcement. Over and over, the accusat...
propublica.org
Is this a proxy war with Vance? Cuz what?
Acyn@acyn.bsky.social · 4mo agoReporter: Why did you attack Pope Leo? Trump: I don’t think he’s doing a very good job. He likes crime I guess. We don’t like a pope who says it’s ok to have a nuclear weapon. We don’t want a pope that says crime is ok. I am not a fan of Pope Leo.
46 minutes after attacking Pope Leo, the president has posted an AI image of himself healing someone in the style of Jesus Christ. (The heavens, meanwhile, feature a war plane, bald eagles and a somewhat demonic-looking figure)
Yesterday, our members in New York, D.C., Chicago and across the country walked out to demand a fair contract. We deserve job security. We deserve to know AI won’t be used to replace us. We know that @propublica.org can and must do better.
