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Mélodie Pimentel

@melodiepimen.tel

⚓ Rhode Islander • Immigration, housing/transit & gender • 📰 Op-eds featured in The Guardian, Al Jazeera, Providence Journal & Público • 🎓 URI '23 Data Science & Psychology • 🇺🇸 🇵🇹 🇪🇺 • 🏳️‍⚧️ she/her

582 Posts941 Follower1676 Folgt
Aaron Reichlin-Melnick@reichlinmelnick.bsky.social · 6d ago

Remember, it's virtually impossible to sue federal agents, so it will be basically impossible to hold ICE officers who shock people without justification accountable. We should not be giving new weapons like this to a law enforcement agency that enjoys near-total impunity.

CJ Ciaramella@cjciaramella.bsky.social · 6d ago

I triple-checked to make sure this was a legit NBC News account, and unfortunately it is! x.com/JuliaEAinsle...

"A senior DHS official tells me all ICE officers will begin wearing zap gloves to deliver non-lethal electric shock on people resisting arrest by the end of September."
Jack Mirkinson@jackmirkinson.bsky.social · last wk.

Today in @thenation.com: a harrowing piece written from inside the Dilley ICE detention center by Maryam Tahmasebi, a green card holder who's been locked up along with her husband and son for months despite none of them committing any crime. www.thenation.com/article/soci...

One Woman’s Message From the Hell of ICE Detention

My husband, son, and I have been locked up for months—despite being permanent residents with no criminal record. It is an unendurable, unending nightmare.

thenation.com

EPiC — East Providence in Community@epicri.org · last wk.

Thank you to everyone who joined tonight's Community Education Series, "Vote Your Values: A Guide to Informed Voting." We appreciate the great discussion from residents, and a special thanks to Christine Stenning from the League of Women Voters of Newport County for sharing her expertise.

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Mélodie Pimentel@melodiepimen.tel · 2w ago

Today, I'm working from Central Park. People are reading, working, picnicking, and singing together. Strangers sharing the same space and actually enjoying it. Third Places like this bring people together. (1/2)

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EPiC — East Providence in Community@epicri.org · 3w ago

We're thrilled to welcome Christine Stenning, President of the League of Women Voters of Newport County, for a nonpartisan conversation about how to navigate voting — whatever your values or priorities. See you @ east 33 (33 Veterans Memorial Parkway)! Entrance & street parking on Mauran Ave. 2/2

Christian Roselund@roselund.bsky.social · last mo.

It doesn't take a PhD to figure out if you are slowest at building homes & more people move to your state, housing costs will rise. Which they did. BTW, the answer *is not* to keep newcomers out. That's both illegal and immoral. It's to build more homes. /3 rhodeislandcurrent.com/2026/01/12/r...

Rhode Island ranks 9th in nation for highest average monthly rent increases • Rhode Island Current

Rhode Island made the top 10 list for highest average monthly rent increases between 2024 and 2025, according to a new analysis that shows rents climbing in the Midwest and portions of the South.

rhodeislandcurrent.com

Christian Roselund@roselund.bsky.social · last mo.

Our city, state & national #housingcrisis is mainly caused by inadequate supply versus demand. We have people moving to places where there are economic and social opportunities (including lower housing costs) and we didn't build enough housing for them. /2 www.clevelandfed.org/collections/...

What Caused the Housing Supply Crisis? And What Could Solve It?

Policy Summit panelists say zoning reform, housing preservation, and modular homes could boost affordable housing supply.

clevelandfed.org

Jimmy Pimentel@jimpimentel.bsky.social · last mo.

Libby is the parent of a current student in our schools, and has worked in schools her entire career. I truly do believe she is dedicated to making sure all students get a high-quality education. 2/2

Mélodie Pimentel@melodiepimen.tel · last mo.

Congrats Ruarri on the @neighborswelcomeri.bsky.social feature! Proud to advocate for more housing in East Providence with you through @epicri.org. The cost of living is crushing, with many of my friends being priced out of the state they grew up in due to a lack of housing options.

Neighbors Welcome! RI@neighborswelcomeri.bsky.social · last mo.

This is Ruarri Miller, a small business owner and housing advocate in East Providence. We've connected over local policies to make it easier to build more homes. Send us a dm so we can help you find your neighbors!

Neighbors Welcome! RI@neighborswelcomeri.bsky.social · 2mo ago

Meet your South County neighbors! Free, family-friendly happy hour at Pancho O'Malley's in Narragansett on July 14, 5:30–7pm. This is a casual way to learn more about what kind of laws will help make it easier to build homes of all shapes and sizes. RSVP below 👇

South County Happy Hour

This free, family friendly event is a chance to meet your neighbors in South County! Find people near you who want to see more homes built in the area, and are advocating for changes to zoning laws…

actionnetwork.org

Mélodie Pimentel@melodiepimen.tel · 3mo ago

By using a memorandum to direct officers to treat standard inland filings as heavily weighted "adverse factors", USCIS is attempting to create a binding, restrictive norm without going through formal notice-and-comment rulemaking. (3/3)

Mélodie Pimentel@melodiepimen.tel · 3mo ago

When an agency changes a long-standing policy, the Supreme Court (DHS v. Regents of the University of California) has made it clear that they must account for reliance interests that have built up around the old policy. (2/3)

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

🚨 🚨 🚨 NEW: A shocking @USCIS memo seems to declare that hundreds of thousands of immigrants living in this country and applying for green cards must instead apply for visas abroad; which could MASSIVELY disrupt lives. 🧵 on what we know, and what we don’t.

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services PM-602-0199 May 21, 2026 Policy Memorandum SUBJECT: Adjustment of Status is a Matter of Discretion and Administrative Grace, and an Extraordinary Relief that Permits Applicants to Dispense with the Ordinary Consular Visa Process Purpose This memorandum reminds officers and the public that adjustment of status under section 245 of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) is a matter of discretion and administrative grace not designed to supersede the regular consular processing of immigrant visas. U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) reaffirms this consistent and longstanding approach and declares as a matter of general policy its intention to faithfully apply the statutes consistently with this understanding.
EPiC — East Providence in Community@epicri.org · 3mo ago

Fantastic progress at the State House! 🙌 We are thrilled to see the Faith-Based Affordable Housing bill clear the Senate committee and move forward. Let’s keep this momentum going. Next stop: the Rhode Island House of Representatives!

Neighbors Welcome! RI@neighborswelcomeri.bsky.social · 3mo ago

This legislation would help open the door for faith communities to create much-needed affordable homes across Rhode Island by allowing residential development on underused religious property. A small zoning change with the potential for a big community impact.

Neighbors Welcome! RI@neighborswelcomeri.bsky.social · 3mo ago

This legislation would help open the door for faith communities to create much-needed affordable homes across Rhode Island by allowing residential development on underused religious property. A small zoning change with the potential for a big community impact.

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Chris Geidner@chrisgeidner.bsky.social · 3mo ago

BREAKING: First Circuit DENIES Rhode Island Child Advocate's request for an injunction barring R.I. Hospital from providing anonymized docs responsive to DOJ's administrative subpoena to Judge O'Connor in camera — finding the Child Advocate did not show irreparable harm under these circumstances.

Now, the Child Advocate asks us to grant an injunction pending appeal that would order the Hospital not to turn responsive records over to anyone. In deciding that request, we set aside a host of procedural problems, such as whether the Child Advocate may obtain an injunction against the Hospital that would subject the Hospital to mutually irreconcilable orders issued by courts in two different federal circuits, whether the injunction the Child Advocate now requests would be an impermissible collateral attack on the May Texas Order, or whether the Child Advocate may obtain such an order -- against a nonparty it has not sued - by application to this court without first seeking relief in the district court. See Fed. R. App. P. 8(a)(2). We decline to grant an injunction pending appeal because the Child Advocate simply has not shown the irreparable harm required to obtain that "extraordinary" relief. Nken v. Holder, 556 U.S. 418, 428 (2009). When evaluating a request for injunctive relief pending appeal, we consider four factors: (1) whether the applicant has made a strong showing that he is likely to succeed on the merits; (2) whether the applicant will be irreparably injured absent relief; (3) whether issuance of relief willsubstantially injure the other parties interested in the proceeding; and (4) where the public interest lies. Respect Me. PAC v. McKee, 622 F.3d 13, 15 (1st Cir. 2010). The first two factors are "the most critical"; without showing an irreparable injury, a party may not obtain an injunction. Id. We detect no such irreparable injury. In its order, the Northern District of Texas assured the parties that the documents would be held "in camera pending the outcome of the appeals" and would be provided to the DOJ only "should the courts of appeals rule against [the Hospital]." In re Admin. Subpoena No. 25-1431-032, Dkt. No 26 at 5. The Child Advocate contends that providing the records to anyone, even to a court, represents an irreparable harm given "the psychological and institutional costs of compelled production of sensitive medical records even when redacted." Pet'r's. Mot. at 13 (citing Nw. Mem'l Hosp. v. Ashcroft, 362 F.3d 923, 930 (7th Cir. 2004)). But the May Texas Order does not require the kind of "production" the Seventh Circuit considered in the case cited by the Child Advocate -- that is, production to, and review by, an adverse party. The Child Advocate cites no authority for the proposition that providing anonymized records to a court -- particularly one that has assured the parties that the records will not be disseminated unless and until the parties' appeals are resolved -- could constitute irreparable harm. Accordingly, the Child Advocate's motion for an injunction pending appeal is DENIED.