John Washington
@jwashing.bsky.social
Journalist and Translator. Reporting for @lookoutnews.bsky.social Newsletter, short essays on books and politics: https://johnwashington.substack.com/ Latest book, The Case for Open Borders: https://www.haymarketbooks.org/books/2199-the
Feels like a good time to re-up this article I did for @thenation.com back in 2017. www.thenation.com/article/arch...
Why We Need a Whistle-Blower in US Customs and Border Protection
The agency, which oversees Border Patrol, is one of the most opaque and unaccountable in our government.
thenation.com
A Phoenix man from Egypt has spent the last three months confined in a decommissioned hotel in Equatorial Guinea, after ICE deported him there without warning. @tucson.com tucson.com/news/local/b...
Arizona man languishes in African hotel after third-country deportation
A 30-year-old man, Ahmed Soliman, is confined in a decommissioned hotel in Equatorial Guinea after being deported there by ICE without warning. He faces the threat of return to Egypt, where he may fac...
tucson.com
Book of the Month 📚: “How to Close a Camp” by @jwashing.bsky.social “A strangely hopeful book that looks at the longer arc of history to find lessons for abolition today.”
Book of the Month: “How to Close a Camp” by John Washington
“How to Close a Camp” is a strangely hopeful book that looks at the longer arc of history to find lessons for abolition today.
conversationalist.org
"A concentration camp, in its most basic definition, is a place where a targeted civilian population, not necessarily accused of a crime, is detained and at least some of their basic rights are suspended," writes @jwashing.bsky.social. "That’s precisely what’s happening in the United States today."
Don’t call them ICE detention centers. Call them camps | John Washington
I’ve spent a decade reporting on immigration enforcement. The word ‘camp’ best captures the political function of these facilities
theguardian.com
New piece up at The Guardian, arguing for more accurate language in writing about immigration detention. www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
Don’t call them ICE detention centers. Call them camps | John Washington
I’ve spent a decade reporting on immigration enforcement. The word ‘camp’ best captures the political function of these facilities
theguardian.com
An incredibly insightful conversation, for the launch an indispensable new book by @jwashing.bsky.social, out now @haymarketbooks.org. With @danieldenvir.bsky.social, @silkys13.bsky.social, and @harshawalia.bsky.social
How to Close a Camp: Dispatches from the Fight Against Immigrant Detention
YouTube video by Haymarket Books
m.youtube.com
Keep up the pressure, #Hoosiersky. Read this excerpt of "How to Close a Camp" by @jwashing.bsky.social Buy the book or ask your local library to. Or both. www.texasobserver.org/excerpt-how-...
Excerpt: How to Close a Camp
Detention was sold as both a law-and-order necessity and an economic opportunity, welding together the racist politics of the drug war with the rise of private prisons.
texasobserver.org
This Is Hell! w/ Chuck( @chuckmertz.bsky.social )Mertz "White Supremacy At The US Border / John( @jwashing.bsky.social )Washington" podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/w...
White Supremacy At The US Border / John Washington
Podcast Episode · This Is Hell! · July 21 · 1h 40m
podcasts.apple.com
A transgender woman in Eloy Detention Center told @repyassansari.bsky.social that she was strapped to a wheelchair and interrogated, and then sent to solitary confinement. My latest conversation with the congresswoman for @lookoutnews.bsky.social www.lookoutnews.org/a-trans-woma...
A Trans Woman Says She Was Handcuffed to a Wheelchair at an Arizona Immigration Camp
Genesis says she was restrained and interrogated for hours after being accused of soliciting sex. Her account, shared with Rep. Yassamin Ansari, adds to growing allegations of abuse inside Eloy Detent...
lookoutnews.org
I had a great conversation about immigration camps, with @brittashoot.com for @prismreports.org
Britta Shoot@brittashoot.com · 2w ago"Camps concentrate, immobilize, and exclude populations — and incarcerate people because of who they are or where they are." For @prismreports.org, an honor to talk with @jwashing.bsky.social about his urgent, clarifying new book, How to Close a Camp, out now from Haymarket ⬇️
Here's another excerpt of my new book, now up at @texasobserver.org www.texasobserver.org/excerpt-how-... @haymarketbooks.org
Excerpt: How to Close a Camp
Detention was sold as both a law-and-order necessity and an economic opportunity, welding together the racist politics of the drug war with the rise of private prisons.
texasobserver.org
Only one show this week! Tuesday, @jwashing.bsky.social on "How to Close a Camp" @haymarketbooks.org). Later, John joins @harshawalia.bsky.social, and past guests @silkyweineck.bsky.social and @danieldenvir.bsky.social for an online Haymarket event. www.patreon.com/thisishell/p...
This Week in Hell! Close the Camps! | This Is Hell!
Only one new show this week! After a grueling week and hosting the party this past weekend, Chuck needs a break. Tuesday, journalist John
patreon.com
Our friends at @haymarketbooks.org are holding an online discussion on the struggle to dismantle the immigrant detention system. With @silkys13.bsky.social, @jwashing.bsky.social, @harshawalia.bsky.social, & @danieldenvir.bsky.social! Register for link to the livestreamed video the day of the event:
How to Close a Camp: Dispatches from the Fight Against Immigrant Detention
Join John Washington, Silky Shah, Harsha Walia, and Daniel Denvir as they discuss the struggle to dismantle the immigrant detention system.
haymarketbooks.org
My next book SMUGGLER is out October 20! “Timely, stranger-than-fiction, and impossible to put down – truly a book for our dizzying moment” – Greg Grandin, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The End of the Myth Available for preorder now 🙏 : www.simonandschuster.com/books/Smuggl...
Just got a troubling phishing attempt from someone impersonating Susanna Porter at @penguinrandomhouse.bsky.social They're such enticing, clickable outreaches, playing into the hopes of authors. Careful folks! And appreciate the warning on your website, Penguin.
How to Close a Camp: Dispatches from the Fight Against Immigrant Detention Join @jwashing.bsky.social, @silkys13.bsky.social, @harshawalia.bsky.social, and @danieldenvir.bsky.social for this virtual conversation hosted with @detentionwatchnetwork.org and @thedigradio.bsky.social RSVP to attend:
Register Now – How to Close a Camp: Dispatches from the Fight Against Immigrant Detention – YouTube
How to Close a Camp: Dispatches from the Fight Against Immigrant Detention – YouTube, Tue Jul 21, 2026 - Join John Washington, Silky Shah, Harsha Walia, and Dan Denvir as they discuss the struggle to ...
events.haymarketbooks.org
NAFTA didn't just move goods across the border. It rebuilt the land itself. As USMCA's future hangs in question, Caroline Tracey drives through Baja California during Tijuana Art Week, tracing free trade's marks on maquiladora boomtowns and abandoned housing tracts. Read full article🔗🦂:
Reporter’s Notebook: NAFTA, Tijuana Art Week, and the Built Environment of the Baja Borderlands
A road trip through Baja California reveals how free trade, migration, and border policy have reshaped Tijuana's landscape, and why the uncertain future of the USMCA invites new questions about what c...
theborderchronicle.com
We're excited to start unveiling the panels for #NoWar2026! First up: Migration is Beautiful: The Case for Open Borders, featuring Harsha Walia, Gracie Mae Bradley, and @jwashing.bsky.social, moderated by Dr. Mujib Abid. More info: buff.ly/mRMVMxO
Latest newsletter, on Eugene Delcroix's novel Small Boat, the dangers of bystanderism, and the recent DOJ indictments against community defenders in Minnesota: johnwashington.substack.com/p/there-is-n...
Honored to have talked to @mattshuham.bsky.social about what a better, more humane, and just immigration system could look like.
Matt Shuham@mattshuham.bsky.social · last mo.Ahead of July 4, I wanted to know: What would an immigration "revolution" look like? I asked people who would know: a former ICE detainee, a retired immigration judge, a pastor who accompanies people to court, a day laborer organizer, and more. Read what they said: www.huffpost.com/entry/july-4...
Ftr I think organizing community disaster preparedness is one of the most essential maneuvers we can make politically right now, both in terms of opening constructive conversations around the climate crisis in our communities and creating essential connective social tissue for this era of crisis.
Puff the Magic Hater@mskellymhayes.bsky.social · 2mo agoI talked to Chris Begley and Amy Edelman about their book, The Emergency Playbook: A Bunker-Free Guide to Disaster Preparation. I believe disaster preparedness can help our movements become larger, stronger & more capable of facing not only climate disasters, but fascist threats as well. Here’s how.
Ten minutes out from Arizona's GOP gubernatorial debate. Join me for some drunken live-blogging for @lookoutnews.bsky.social 🥃🍷🍺 Follow along here: www.lookoutnews.org/join-our-dru...
Join Our Drunken Live Blog of the Republican Governor's Primary Debate
Four republicans are fighting for GOP votes for the July 21 primaries.
lookoutnews.org
Yall speaking straight to my heart 🖤🦇♥️ @theborderchronicle.bsky.social & @max-pearl.bsky.social www.theborderchronicle.com/vampires-wit...
Vampires without Borders
Spanning a thousand years and multiple continents, the new novel Filth Eaters casts vampires as the world's ultimate stateless people.
theborderchronicle.com
Latest newsletter, on the complications and nuances of empathy: open.substack.com/pub/johnwash...
empathy's double-edge
on allies and solidaridad
open.substack.com
I wrote about shutting down Delaney Hall (with reference to the forthcoming book HOW TO CLOSE A CAMP)
How to Shut Down an Immigrant Detention Camp
There are many ways to interrupt the Trump administration’s brutal deportation campaign. Just look at what’s happening around Delaney Hall in New Jersey.
newrepublic.com
@detentionwatchnetwork.org “has identified points of intervention at each stage of immigration camp operation and expansion. Its tool kit on how to challenge ICE’s warehouse expansion details specific permits and ordinances required; venues in which those can be fought; +
Melissa Gira Grant@melissagiragrant.com · 2mo agoI wrote about shutting down Delaney Hall (with reference to the forthcoming book HOW TO CLOSE A CAMP)
“The immigration camp, it really depends on a lot of local infrastructure. It is not this untouchable federal abstraction. It is up to us, neighbors, community members, and we have the actual power to shut them down.” @jwashing.bsky.social talks to @mskellymhayes.bsky.social
ICE Camps Are Not Untouchable. Here’s How Communities Can Push Back.
“You can do something. It is within reach. You can have an effect,” says journalist John Washington.
truthout.org
