On Tuesday, the full Fifth Circuit granted DOJ's request for a "precedential stay" of district court rulings holding that the Due Process Clause requires bond hearings for immigration detainees w/in 90 days of their arrest. Today's "One First" explains why that's a really big (and problematic) deal:

Bonus 239: The Fifth Circuit's "Precedential Stay" in Sosnava Rodriguez

The Fifth Circuit once again did the government's bidding on immigration detention—this time through an unexplained procedural move I've never seen before.

stevevladeck.com

¿Quién era Johan Sebastián Durán Guerrero, el hombre asesinado por ICE en Biddeford?

¿Quién era Johan Sebastián Durán Guerrero, el hombre asesinado por ICE en Biddeford?

<em>Este joven colombiano de 26 años fue baleado por agentes federales de inmigración el lunes por la mañana.</em>

pressherald.com

This massive win for the constitution thanks to my colleagues @immcouncil.org and our co-counsel @nipnlg.bsky.social

Kyle Cheney@kyledcheney.bsky.social · last mo.

BREAKING: The 5th Circuit Court of Appeals just ruled 2-1 that ICE cannot detain people under the Trump administration's massive new detention policy for more than 90 days without affording them a bond hearing. s3.documentcloud.org/documents/28...

Great exchange with @immcouncil.org's Deputy Legal Director Raul Pinto!

Greg Sargent@gregsargent.bsky.social · last mo.

Here's the argument: MAGA can't accept a sealed border, an end to TPS/asylum, and the closing of other legal pathways as success. Their movement isn’t really about securing the border. It’s about ethnically cleansing the country. My exchange with Raul Pinto on this: newrepublic.com/article/2125...

The point cannot be made enough that Stephen Miller, one of the most powerful people in the White House, would happily shred the Constitution into little pieces if he could. Here, however, even he wasn’t powerful enough to do it.

Aaron Rupar@atrupar.com · 2mo ago

"Vance got to the point. They needed to invoke the Insurrection Act, swiftly, to crush the unrest in Minnesota. It would be painful in the short term, he said, but the message it would send — that paid agitators can't get away with disrupting ICE operations — would make sure no one tried it again."

GOOD NEWS: Last night as part of our litigation, the court ordered the release of 15 more young people. It also placed additional limits on when ICE can re‑detain class members, and required ICE to turn over the documents it uses to justify those decisions.

American Immigration Council@immcouncil.org · 8mo ago

BREAKING: A federal court in D.C. has blocked ICE’s unlawful policy of automatically detaining unaccompanied immigrant teens once they turn 18 – and from re-detaining those teens for no reason. This ruling means youth can stay in safe, supportive settings – not adult jails.

NEW She was deported without her toddler. Then ICE blamed her for his killing. wapo.st/4wyzH7u

She was deported without her toddler. Then ICE blamed her for his killing.

ICE accused Wendy Hernandez Reyes of leaving her child with a violent uncle, but she says her son would still be alive if officers hadn’t detained and deported her.

wapo.st

Incredible. ICE wrongfully arrests a US citizen plaintiff for the THIRD time. And I bet that the government is making Lyons standing arguments, too.

Jared@jaredmcclain.bsky.social · 3mo ago

On Saturday, Leo Garcia Venegas was wrongfully detained by ICE for a 3rd time in a year. Officers followed him home; he said he’s a citizen and had his REAL ID in hand. But they didn’t care. They tackled and shackled him, no questions asked. We’ve got a hearing tomorrow on our prelim injunction.

Our laws are clear—no one should ever be sent back to a place where their life is at risk. We're at the Supreme Court with our co-counsel CGRS, Center for Constitutional Rights, Democracy Forward, & Institute for Constitutional Advocacy & Protection to defend access to asylum for all who need it.

Heroic work by @tnimmigrant.bsky.social to protect the First Amendment and due process.

Anita Wadhwani@anitawadhwani.bsky.social · 5mo ago

Nashville Noticias journalist Estefany Rodriguez has been released from ICE custody, per the Tennessee Immigrant & Refugee Rights Coalition, which is providing legal representation. Rodriguez has been detained for two weeks.

The Trump administration claims that asylum seekers can be turned away at the border without a hearing. A bipartisan group of senior former U.S. officials explain why that theory is wrong — and why the Supreme Court shouldn’t approve it: www.justsecurity.org/134105/ameri...

America Is Turning Away People Fleeing for Their Lives — and Breaking the Law to Do It

Former senior officials explain why the Trump administration's argument in Noem v. Al Otro Lado is morally troubling and legally wrong.

justsecurity.org

The Trump admin tried to use emergency rulemaking to erase the Board of Immigration Appeals, requiring that basically all appeals (which cost $1,000 to file!) be summarily dismissed without any review. Thanks to our @immcouncil.org legal team and others, the rule is now BLOCKED!

Josh Gerstein@joshgerstein.bsky.social · 5mo ago

BREAKING: Judge blocks Trump plan set to take effect Monday that would rapidly dismiss many/most? immigration appeals. Judge Randy Moss (Obama/DC) says DOJ has to complete notice-and-comment before such a change. Doc: www.documentcloud.org/documents/27...

You’ve got to click through to really be able to read this, but note that the box on the top right says this will actually be a two-level facility, with around 5,200 beds on the ground floor (if I’m reading the blurry text right) and around 3,100 on the “mezzanine.”

Eunice Cho@eunicehcho.bsky.social · 6mo ago

Concerned about ICE's $45 billion plan to convert warehouses into immigration detention centers? This is what they'll look like inside. From ICE's plan for the Social Circle, GA facility. Each little dot: a person. www.socialcirclega.gov/home/showpub...

Before Minneapolis, before Chicago, even before Los Angeles, ICE started its racial profiling sweeps through Nashville, with a willing partner in the Tennessee Highway Patrol.

Sarah Grace Taylor@sarahgracetaylor.bsky.social · 6mo ago

I promise we wouldn’t ask you to read 8,000 words if it wasn’t important. Every article we write and conversation we have about detention facilities or immigration policies in Nashville need to be informed by what already happened here:

"This agenda is only going to get worse. The $150+ billion in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act is enough to turn DHS into the size of a small foreign military and to increase the detention system of by the end of this year" - @naynagupta.bsky.social, Policy Director, @immcouncil.org

We can choose not to detain children.

Mica Rosenberg@micarosenberg.bsky.social · 6mo ago

This is 18-mo-old Amalia waving to me when she was detained. She was hospitalized with a respiratory infection while at ICE’s Dilley facility for immigrant families. She’s one of dozens of detainees who I spoke to via video and phone calls, letters and an in-person visit. 🧵1/

JUST IN: 8th Cir. denies en banc review after panel agreed w/block on Iowa state law seeking to crack down on illegal immigration. Judge Stras, possible Trump SCOTUS pick, dissents. Loken (GHWBush) joins in part storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us... Earlier apnews.com/article/immi...

Judge Order Filed – #00805446834 in IA Migrant Movement for Justice v. Brenna Bird (8th Cir., 24-2263) – CourtListener.com

JUDGE ORDER: The petition for rehearing en banc is denied. The petition for panel rehearing is also denied.Judge Stras would grant the petition for rehearing en banc.STRAS, Circuit Judge, with whom LO...

storage.courtlistener.com

🚨HOLY CRAP. An ICE whistleblower just revealed a secret memo authorizing ICE officers to break into homes without a judicial warrant, which DHS's own legal training materials say is unconstitutional! ICE then hid the memo from the public, passing it along by word of mouth and private conversation.

The Associated Press@apnews.com · 7mo ago

BREAKING: Immigration officers are asserting sweeping power to enter homes without a judge’s warrant, a memo obtained by AP says.

Immigration agents are choking people in America's streets & using tactics against their own policy/training. Many LEO agencies have banned their use A Colombian TikToker. An ICU nurse. A father holding his child. A 16-year-old citizen DHS calls this "utmost professionalism" w/ @mckenziefunk.com

We Found More Than 40 Cases of Immigration Agents Using Banned Chokeholds and Other Moves That Can Cut Off Breathing

Civilians have had apparent seizures. One had his eyes roll back. Another had ribs broken. “I felt like I was going to pass out and die,” said a 16-year-old citizen put in a chokehold. The government ...

propublica.org

Can ICE be held accountable for killing Renee Good? I try to make sense of the legal issues here. www.americanimmigrationcouncil.org/blog/can-ren...

Can Renee Good’s Family Sue ICE in the Aftermath of Her Killing? The Answer Is Complicated - American Immigration Council

Any legal fight against the individual ICE agent or federal government in the wake of Renee Good's death is riddled with pitfalls.

americanimmigrationcouncil.org

www.nytimes.com/2026/01/08/o...

Opinion | By Killing Renee Good, ICE Sent a Message to Us All

nytimes.com

The shooting is shocking enough but the government's response is off the charts when you consider that this incident is forensically documented on video.

“The move came after officials at Roosevelt High School said armed U.S. Border Patrol officers came on school property during dismissal Wednesday and began tackling people, handcuffed two staff members and released chemical weapons on bystanders.”

MPR News@mprnews.org · 7mo ago

Minneapolis Public Schools canceled classes district-wide for the remainder of the week “due to safety concerns,” following the killing of a woman Wednesday by an ICE agent. The district said it was acting “out of an abundance of caution.”

New: In September, federal agents swarmed a manufacturing facility in upstate New York, arresting 57 people on alleged immigration violations. ...all without a single arrest warrant. Behind the unusual administrative warrant ICE used to question everyone: www.huffpost.com/entry/ice-ra...

'Pull Up Your Pants!' ICE Raided A Plant And Detained Dozens — With No Arrest Warrant.

One agent called the raid a "s**tshow." A federal judge had a different term for what came next.

huffpost.com

Occasionally, we get good news on a Friday…

American Immigration Council@immcouncil.org · 8mo ago

BREAKING: A federal court in D.C. has blocked ICE’s unlawful policy of automatically detaining unaccompanied immigrant teens once they turn 18 – and from re-detaining those teens for no reason. This ruling means youth can stay in safe, supportive settings – not adult jails.

Great piece that cites the practice advisory and thorough case tracking on this issue being done by my colleagues at @immcouncil.org

Steve Vladeck@stevevladeck.bsky.social · 8mo ago

There's a lot going on, and immigration law is notoriously labyrinthine. But it's still wild both that (1) the Trump administration is trying to treat millions of non-citizens who have lived here for years/decades as "arriving aliens"; & (2) *hundreds* of courts have (almost unanimously!) said "no":

The Trump administration has a new mass deportation playbook. We’ve seen it in Los Angeles, Chicago, and Charlotte. And it’s coming to more cities. @daralind.bsky.social explains 👇

Our legal team helped uncover this document, and has been fighting against the Trump admin's plans to detain and deport thousands of unaccompanied migrant kids. Proud to work with them. Check out this story below!

Matt Shuham@mattshuham.bsky.social · 9mo ago

🚨A newly uncovered document flagged last week in a federal court filing threatens undocumented immigrant children in government custody with “prolonged” detention if they choose to exercise their legal rights rather than voluntarily depart the United States. www.huffpost.com/entry/docume...

Felipe Mendez lost his wife & son when tornadoes swept through Nashville in '23 A May traffic stop landed him in ICE custody, where the single dad was given a choice: "self-deport" or lose his surviving 2 sons to state custody Story by John Partipilo & @friedmanadam5.bsky.social bit.ly/49v0U1T

A tornado and an immigration sting. The start and end of a life in Nashville. • Tennessee Lookout

Caught in an immigration sting, Felipe Mendez was ordered by Immigration and Customs Enforcement to leave the U.S. or lose his children.

tennesseelookout.com