Yana Kunichoff
@yanak.bsky.social
Journalist @azluminaria.bsky.social covering poverty/homelessness/housing insecurity and organizing in Tucson and southern Arizona
This is part of Borderland Bulletins, @azluminaria.org's new reporting thread tracking the impact of immigration enforcement on southern Arizona communities azluminaria.org/tag/borderla...
Borderlands Bulletins Archives - AZ Luminaria
azluminaria.org
Yana Kunichoff@yanak.bsky.social · 3d agoOf the 50 people who have died while in civil detention under the second Trump administration, four were in Arizona facilities azluminaria.org/2026/09/01/n...
Of the 50 people who have died while in civil detention under the second Trump administration, four were in Arizona facilities azluminaria.org/2026/09/01/n...
New database tracks deaths in ICE detention; 4 in Arizona - AZ Luminaria
Deaths in immigration detention have skyrocketed under the Trump administration, with more than 50 people dying while in civil detention across the country since Trump took office. Four people died w...
azluminaria.org
Follow @lookoutnews.bsky.social for essential coverage of this tragedy in Tucson - also really an argument for why queer publications reporting for queer communities does work that regular news coverage can't
LOOKOUT News@lookoutnews.bsky.social · 3d ago"They were genuinely who they were." Friends gathered outside Venture-N to remember Cameron Davis Capara and Vincent Anthony Siqueiros, the two men killed outside the Tucson gay bar. A candlelight vigil is set for Wednesday, 6:30 p.m. at Catalina Park. www.lookoutnews.org/tucson-gay-b...
Tucson Unified School District is moving towards school closures in the coming year, with the plan presented to families with the aid of a Denver-based consultant. @shannonconner.bsky.social reports on the mist slowly clearing around a painful process azluminaria.org/2026/08/26/t...
TUSD board votes to hold public meetings before naming school closures - AZ Luminaria
Before it decides which schools to close and consolidate in the coming year, the Tucson Unified School District Governing Board voted Tuesday night to give the public more information on why the chang...
azluminaria.org
After an early morning raid in Tucson questions swirl, including about what happens to children left behind after a parent is taken by immigration authorities This is part of a new effort by AZLu to cover immigration more closely, called Borderland Bulletins azluminaria.org/2026/08/13/a...
After early morning Tucson raid, 5 detained and few answers - AZ Luminaria
Tiff Williams was walking their dog around 6 a.m. Thursday in their north side Tucson neighborhood when they saw a commotion at the house across the street. Williams watched as agents spilled out of...
azluminaria.org
How to use Wall Watch.📱💻 We built this app so border residents can document construction, buoy barriers, and surveillance infrastructure in their own communities in just a few taps. Every report is reviewed and verified. Full how to guide at the bottom of the page🦂🔗: wallwatch.theborderchronicle.com
A locally built questionnaire replaces a decade-old national one, shifting Tucson's housing priority efforts to one main goal: identifying who is most vulnerable to dying outside azluminaria.org/2026/08/03/t...
Tucson’s new homeless survey asks who’s at most risk of dying - AZ Luminaria
Tucson’s homelessness outreach workers spent a decade using a national questionnaire to decide who gets housing resources. This summer they’re using a homegrown one instead that is centered around a n...
azluminaria.org
A 39-year-old El Salvadoran man, who was being held at Delaney Hall, has died, the man's family says. He's the father of a 12-year-old US citizen daughter and has lived in the country for nearly 20 years. www.thecityreporter.nyc/2026/08/03/s...
El Salvadoran Man Held by ICE at Delaney Hall Dies, Family Says
The detainee had an extensive medical history, including epilepsy, according to a lawsuit. He had complained about his face and hand going numb just before his death, his mother said.
thecityreporter.nyc
Dear fellow journalists, Don't wait for more climate change reporters to be hired: turn your beat into a climate beat when the opportunity presents itself. Thank you! Murphy
"Four months into an appeal, Ms. McDonald, a cancer survivor who weighs 69 pounds, bustles to food banks, stretches ground turkey with oatmeal, and skips meals to feed three teenage boys." www.nytimes.com/2026/07/20/u...
Faced With Piles of New Paperwork, People Are Losing Food Stamps
Arizona’s Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program rolls have plummeted, offering a possible preview of national trends as states try to avoid new federal penalties.
nytimes.com
"[Many farmworkers] are not allowed to bring their water bottles to the work area ... [The cooler] can be sometimes a quarter of a mile away, and sometimes the water isn't cold. Sometimes the water isn't clean if they're working outside. Then oftentimes they don't have time to go get a drink[.]"
Truthout@truthout.org · 2mo agoGov. Ron DeSantis banned local governments from implementing heat protections for outdoor workers two years ago.
In addition to shooting people to death, immigration agents have also caused multiple others to die, including by chasing them into the water where they have drown, caused fatal car crashes, or abandoned them to their deaths in freezing weather after their release from detention
Eric Umansky@ericumansky.bsky.social · 2mo agoICE agents have shot and killed at least 10 people during this admin. So why aren't ICE agents wearing body-cams? www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news...
As DACA holders come under increasing enforcement pressure, Carolina Silva is one of the people on the frontlines of supporting them. She talks about the stark realities and overwhelm of a scholarship org shifting to fighting deportations azluminaria.org/2026/06/29/o...
Once undocumented herself, Scholarships A-Z director guides DACA holders through uncertain moment - AZ Luminaria
When Carolina Silva became the first-ever full-time staff member at the Arizona nonprofit Scholarships A-Z in 2020, the energy was high on community efforts to support undocumented youth in Arizona on...
azluminaria.org
As Tucson transit drivers approve a strike authorization vote, the city plans to implement its first transit ambassador program along with more police patrols azluminaria.org/2026/06/10/t...
Tucson approves transit ambassador program and more police patrols amid Sun Tran strike threat - AZ Luminaria
As Sun Tran drivers threaten to strike over safety, the Tucson City Council approved funding Tuesday for a new transit ambassador program and increased police patrols, the first year of a safety plan ...
azluminaria.org
The application period begins on June 3, 2026, and ends 11:59 PM EST on July 6, 2026 - fsgfellowship.com
FSG Fellowship
The FSG Writer’s Fellowship is a yearlong program designed to give an emerging writer from an underrepresented community additional resources to build a life around writing.
fsgfellowship.com
"[Some at the Al-Amal Institute for Orphans] were trapped beneath the rubble for days without food or water, while others had watched their parents bleed to death before their eyes ... More than 120 children have also reportedly been killed since the beginning of the so-called ceasefire in Gaza."
Prism@prismreports.org · 3mo ago“These are burdens no child should ever carry.” Struggling families in Gaza turn to child labor to survive, Hassan Abo Qamar reports. Amid the genocide, children are picking up work, sometimes as the sole providers for their families.
👀 ⬇️
Tom Kertscher@tomkertschernews.bsky.social · 3mo agoData center moratoriums in Wisconsin: They're being considered in at least 6 counties and at least 5 cities, towns and villages. They've been adopted in at least 3 counties and 1 city. More details in today's @wisconsinwatch.org Forward newsletter. Subscribe to get data center news each Monday.
Applications opened Tuesday for the inaugural year of New York City’s free childcare program for 2-year-olds. Via Chalkbeat New York www.thecityreporter.nyc/2026/06/02/2...
2-K Applications Are Open for NYC Families. What You Need to Know.
Applications close June 26, and parents will get offers by Aug. 2. Most 2-K seats will be free 8 a.m.-6 p.m., year-round.
thecityreporter.nyc
LA is one area I watch closely on homelessness policy bc I think it can often set the tone for what more liberal politicians see as allowable on policy relating to unhoused people
LA Public Press@lapublicpress.bsky.social · 4mo agoHave progressive LA politicians broken their promises on sweeps? Data show hundreds of CARE+ operations in the districts of Councilmembers who campaigned on ending sweeps.
Immigrants detained at Adelanto are hunger striking. Dozens of immigrants on hunger strike are demanding the ICE facility be shut down due to lack of medical care and a recent uptick in deaths at the desert complex. lapublicpress.org/2026/05/immi...
Immigrants detained at Adelanto go on hunger strike
Dozens of immigrants on hunger strike are demanding the ICE facility be shut down due to lack of medical care and a recent uptick in deaths at the desert complex.
lapublicpress.org
NOW: I’m outside the Delaney Hall ICE prison in Newark, NJ where protesters are supporting detainees inside who are on a hunger and labor strike because of inhumane treatment. Follow this thread for updates.
Tucson's electric company wants to raise rates 13% this year, then have the ability to raise rates every year under a new utility rate system. I dive into what this could mean for residents amid an ongoing rate case: azluminaria.org/2026/05/25/t...
TEP rate case: What Tucson customers need to know - AZ Luminaria
“Our TEP bills are too high now,” writes Janelle Menick in a public comment on the ongoing Tucson Electric Power rate case. Hal Bergsma asks how people on fixed incomes will afford a rise in prices. “...
azluminaria.org
Organizing x diy data are a favorite combination. By my colleague @cacuella.bsky.social azluminaria.org/2026/05/08/c...
Community-built map tracks ICE activity across Tucson - AZ Luminaria
Tucson migrant advocates have designed a new tool to help track immigration-related enforcement in and around the city as arrests surge under President Donald Trump’s mass deportation initiative. Tucs...
azluminaria.org
Adams County was the largest detention center in the country for much of 2024 and 2025. detentionreports.com/facility/ADA...
ADAMS COUNTY CORRECTIONAL CENTER
detentionreports.com
Mississippi Today@mississippitoday.org · 5mo agoHere’s what we know about the private Mississippi prison that became one of the nation’s largest ICE facilities The Adams County Correctional Center holds more than 2,000 ICE detainees and is the single largest taxpayer in a county of fewer than 30,000 residents.
I wrote about Cochise Harm Reduction, a mobile outreach team offering sterile syringes, food and more to rural communities in southern AZ azluminaria.org/2026/03/24/i...
In Cochise County, a mobile team brings help and connection - AZ Luminaria
“Big ol cactus by their front door.” “Is her phone turned off?” “Do you have Facebook Messenger? Get a hold of her there.” The conversation at each of Cochise Harm Reduction’s stops sounds like a lo...
azluminaria.org
A former prison in Marana slated to become an immigration detention center has a capacity of 513 people, according to state documents. But a procurement order released by the federal government aims to push that capacity to 775. azluminaria.org/2026/03/12/f...
Federal order seeks major capacity increase at proposed Marana ICE detention center - AZ Luminaria
A former prison in Marana slated to become an immigration detention center has a capacity of 513 people, according to state documents. But a procurement order released by the federal government aims t...
azluminaria.org
Immigration enforcement in Arizona last year took a sharp upturn after the election of Donald Trump, with a boom in street level arrests @raphaeldelaghetto.bsky.social and I take a look at the numbers azluminaria.org/2026/03/03/i...
ICE arrests tripled in Arizona last fiscal year as street operations surged - AZ Luminaria
This story is published in partnership with CALÓ News, a nonprofit, community-centered newsroom uplifting Latinos in Arizona and California. Immigration arrests in Arizona more than tripled in Fiscal ...
azluminaria.org
The strike of Kaiser healthcare workers, including 22k nurses, enters its fourth week calmatters.org/health/2026/...
31,000 Kaiser workers still on strike after nearly a month—patients face cancelled treatments and hours-long pharmacy lines
Thousands of Kaiser health care workers, including 22,000 nurses in Southern California, are on strike to demand better pay and staffing. The walk out has resulted in canceled or delayed appointments ...
calmatters.org
Wealthy ranchers in the Southwest benefit from subsidy programs that let them graze cattle on federal lands at a steep discount. Roughly two-thirds of all the livestock grazing on BLM acreage is controlled by just 10% of ranchers www.propublica.org/article/graz...
Wealthy Ranchers Profit From Public Lands. Taxpayers Pick Up the Tab.
A ProPublica and High Country News investigation found that government programs supporting grazing on public lands prop up a wealthy few while harming the environment. The Trump administration is supe...
propublica.org
My colleague @cacuella.bsky.social went on a hike with the Amphi Women and Girls Union, a space for teenage girls in a historically disenfranchized Tucson community to hike, talk and learn azluminaria.org/2026/02/12/a...
A neighborhood union uses community-led organizing to build safety and leadership with Amphi women and girls - AZ Luminaria
As Erica Prather and 24 others gathered at Catalina State Park trailhead, she began advising the hikers not to pick any of the park’s native flora. Moments later, 18-year-old Khadija Saboor ran up hol...
azluminaria.org