A Minnesota religious studies professor is facing six years in prison, with the DOJ saying he is part of an "antifa" conspiracy against ICE Erik Davis speaks out about his prosecution, largely based on a handful of his comments in Signal chats. He's not accused of any violence “It’s petty revenge"

The professor facing prison in ‘antifa’ case: ‘They want to scare all who oppose ICE’

Erik Davis is accused by the government of a ‘conspiracy’ to obstruct ICE – experts say it’s part of a pattern to criminalize lawful organizing and ruin activists’ lives

theguardian.com

We reviewed DHS' list of immigrants + protesters who "weaponized" their vehicles to "assault" ICE agents. Nearly all claims have been debunked or dropped, with only one of 26 cases ending in an assault conviction. Inside the govt's stunning failure to prove DHS' claims of violence against agents:

ICE keeps accusing immigrants of ‘weaponizing’ vehicles. Most claims fall apart

Nearly all car ‘assault’ cases promoted by DHS in press releases have been disproven or dropped, a Guardian analysis of court records reveals

theguardian.com

Such a good episode of the Guardian’s new podcast, featuring @samtlevin.bsky.social, @chasestrangio.bsky.social and some of the trans kids who just want to play sports

'Gratuitously cruel': Chase Strangio on how trans youth became political targets

Podcast Episode · Stateside with Kai and Carter · July 8 · 39m · Video

podcasts.apple.com

NEW: We obtained bodycam footage showing ICE violently arresting farm workers in Oregon and using a facial recognition app to try to ID them. The officers later admitted they had no warrants and no idea who the people were when they stopped them. Four of the workers were later deported.

Video shows ICE violently arresting Oregon farm workers and using facial recognition

Exclusive: Body-cam footage shared with the Guardian shows agents forced workers out of a van in what a judge has called ‘unlawful’ arrest

theguardian.com

NEW: ICE violently arrested a US citizen, filmed high-res videos of the operation + made viral social media content out of him Christian Cerna, LA native, speaks out about his arrest at gunpoint while driving his baby + toddler and the turmoil in his life that followed "They tried to humiliate me"

ICE violently arrested a US citizen and filmed it ‘like a documentary’, videos reveal

Exclusive: DHS made social media posts out of a protester’s arrest at gunpoint. Christian Cerna speaks out about the lengthy prosecution that derailed his life

theguardian.com

This is probably the best story I have read on Oregon's public defense crisis. People don't realize how much the laggard bureaucracy around this grinds up the people actually caught in the system.

Sam Levin@samtlevin.bsky.social · 3mo ago

NEW: Corshelle Jenkins was falsely charged with a crime + a warrant issued for her arrest. It was clear mistaken identity but a judge said there were no available lawyers for her. The charge would stay + she had no way to fight it She's 1 of 1000s in Oregon trapped in criminal cases without lawyers

NEW: Corshelle Jenkins was falsely charged with a crime + a warrant issued for her arrest. It was clear mistaken identity but a judge said there were no available lawyers for her. The charge would stay + she had no way to fight it She's 1 of 1000s in Oregon trapped in criminal cases without lawyers

Falsely charged with a crime, no way to fight it: inside Oregon’s court crisis

An attorney shortage has left thousands trapped in criminal cases without lawyers. One wrongfully accused woman had no choice but to wait

theguardian.com

NEW: Law enforcement + city officials across the US have privately worried ICE operations are interfering with police work + public safety Internal memos reveal growing concerns people might misidentify local cops as ICE. Records obtained by @propertyofthepeople.org, shared with @us.theguardian.com

Police across the US worry officers are being misidentified as ICE, records show

Exclusive: Emails and internal memos reveal concerns immigration enforcement is interfering with police work

theguardian.com

DOJ prosecutes a California man who was shot in the face by ICE agents DOJ/DHS say Carlos, 36, "assaulted" officers with his car, but video doesn't show his car hitting officers + officials haven't claimed an agent was injured. FBI's complaint says it has "not been able" to interview key ICE agents

FBI arrests California man shot by ICE on ‘assault’ charges

DHS accused of false and misleading statements about Carlos Ivan Mendoza Hernandez who was shot in face

theguardian.com

ICE pulled over a man in Patterson, CA + shot him 6 times, hitting his face. ICE now says he is part of a gang in LA – a city he has no connection to. Carlos Mendoza Hernandez, 36, now in ICU, says he's "never ever been in a gang" + was shot without justification www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026...

California residents are now being sent to prison for shoplifting. In the first year of Prop 36, shoplifters have been charged with felonies + imprisoned for stealing diapers, hygiene supplies, a $13 belt, groceries and soda. DAs filed 15,000+ felonies for thefts previously treated as misdemeanors

California arrests thousands on minor drug charges, but few get treatment

Exclusive: Drug users face felonies and prison under Prop 36, with analysis showing racial disparities and little help

theguardian.com

NEW: California DAs have charged nearly 20,000 people with drug possession *felonies* under Prop 36, a new tough-on-crime law. Despite promises for "mass treatment," only 57 of those people have successfully gone into treatment + had their cases dismissed in the first year. Others face prison time.

California’s new ‘war on drugs’: thousands arrested, few get treatment, data shows

Exclusive: Drug users face felonies and prison under Prop 36, with analysis showing racial disparities and little help

theguardian.com

Under oath, ICE agents in Oregon revealed: -quota of eight arrests a day per team, equaling roughly 50 arrests a day in OR -agents use a special app to choose areas + ppl to surveil -agents have followed, stopped + arrested ppl without probable cause, warrants or basic info about their targets.

ICE agents reveal daily arrest quotas and surveillance app in rare court testimony

Under oath, officers said they were told to make eight arrests a day and given special tech to help choose ‘targets’

theguardian.com

NEW: Judge orders ICE to release a Minneapolis man and asylum seeker unlawfully detained for 50 days. In January, Elvis Joel TE + his 2-year-old were arrested without a warrant + flown to Texas despite an order barring their transfer. The girl was later released, but he remain jailed until today.

Judge orders ICE to release Minneapolis man after 50 days of unlawful detention

Arrest of asylum seeker Elvis Joel TE and his two-year-old, without a warrant, had sparked widespread outrage

theguardian.com

NEW: ICE tackled + arrested Juanita Avila, an Oregon shop owner who is a legal permanent resident and had her green card in her pocket. When she asked through sobs why they didn't believe her, one masked agent replied: “Because they lie all the time.” Video + interview with her and her daughter:

ICE arrested an Oregon shop owner who had her green card in her pocket: ‘They didn’t care’

Juanita Avila later helped expose ICE’s ‘arrest first, justify later’ tactics in a lawsuit that won a major victory for immigrants’ rights

theguardian.com

A MN protester accused of assaulting ICE officer had case dropped after vids showed no assault. LA protester accused of assaulting ICE w/ “hat” had case dropped; judge said govt acted in “bad faith” In Chicago, 92 ppl were arrested for assault/impeding ICE; 0 convicted DOJ keeps lying and losing:

DoJ cases against protesters keep collapsing as officers’ lies are exposed in court

String of embarrassing defeats for prosecutors as experts condemn DoJ effort to cast people as ‘violent perpetrators’

theguardian.com

NEW: Jeffrey Epstein cultivated relationships with CBP officers at the airports he frequented. Epstein emailed and texted with six CBP officers, invited them to his island, visited with them at the airport, and frequently sought to determine who was going to be on duty when he was traveling

Revealed: Epstein cultivated relationship with CBP officer, causing US investigation

Guardian review of US justice department files reveals Epstein interacted with six CBP officers. The officer investigated denied any knowledge of trafficking underage girls

theguardian.com

NEW: Two women incarcerated in a CA prison have come forward to report sexual assaults by a staff cook while they were working in the kitchen, paid 12¢/hr. They told me he threatened discipline if they spoke up. The prison concluded abuse occurred, a very rare outcome, but he hasn't faced charges.

Women in California prison accuse staff cook of rape and urge criminal charges

Exclusive: After investigators concluded an abuse incident occurred, women speak out for first time – ‘I was so scared to tell anybody’

theguardian.com

NEW: Jonathon Redondo-Rosales, a 36-year-old LA protester, spent six months in jail accused of assaulting a federal officer with a *cloth hat.* A judge tossed out the DOJ’s case, accusing govt of acting in “bad faith” and engaging in “prosecutorial harassment“ that could “chill lawful protest”

Case dismissed against LA protester accused of assaulting federal officer with cloth hat

Judge says US government acted in ‘bad faith’ in case of Jonathon Redondo-Rosales, 36, who spent six months in jail

theguardian.com

More than 1,400 pending criminal cases in Oregon must be dismissed due to a huge shortage of public defenders, state supreme court ruled. Many defendants have waited months or years to get a lawyer, a constitutional violation leaving them unable to fight charges, indefinitely derailing their lives.

Oregon must dismiss more than 1,400 criminal cases due to attorney shortage, court rules

Severe lack of public defenders has meant people charged with crimes have been routinely unable to fight their cases

theguardian.com

Elizabeth, a 10-year-old Minnesota girl, spent a month detained at the ICE facility in Dilley, TX before her release last night w/ her mom. Dilley now has a measles outbreak and hundreds of other kids remain detained. Elizabeth has flu-like symptoms and her mom has hives, a school official told me

Minnesota girl, 10, released from ICE custody after a month in detention

Elizabeth Zuna Caisaguano and her mother released from Texas facility to head back to Minnesota to reunite with her father

theguardian.com

After Border Patrol shot two people in Portland, DHS claimed they were "vicious gang members" tied to a past shooting. But records I obtained reveal a US prosecutor has since directly contradicted DHS, saying, "We're not suggesting he is a gang member." My dive into how DHS' claims have collapsed:

DHS’s account of two Venezuelans shot by border patrol falls apart in court: ‘A smear campaign’

Immigration officials said agent shot two ‘vicious gang members’ in Portland, but records obtained by the Guardian reveal US prosecutor contradicted claims

theguardian.com

Liam, 5, has been freed, but four other students from his school district remain detained in Texas. Two boys from his elementary school were taken Thurs “This isn’t something we are prepared or trained for. We’ve dedicated our lives to protecting + educating children,” school superintendent told me

ICE detains two more students from Liam Ramos’s school, officials say

The brothers’ mother was taken by ICE and Minnesota educators were forced to bring the children to her

theguardian.com

ICE detained a 5-year-old Minnesota boy coming home from school + took him and his dad to Texas, school officials say. The family has an active asylum case + entered the US at a port of entry. "They’re taking children. They're not violent criminals. They're little kids," the superintendent told me.

ICE detains five-year-old Minnesota boy as he came home, say school officials

Superintendent says Liam Ramos and his father were taken into custody while in their driveway and sent to Texas

theguardian.com

NEW: Five trans youth athletes speak out about what school sports means to them + the toll of exclusion. "Sports is my escape" -Lina, 14-yr-old tennis + track athlete. "We’re just kids. We’re just trying to have fun…We’re not trying to be monsters. We’re just trying to find connection + community."

The trans youth athletes in the US fighting for their rights: ‘Playing is an act of resistance’

As the US supreme court weighs bans on trans athletes, five students speak about the joy of sports and toll of exclusion

theguardian.com

NEW: The FBI has launched "domestic terrorism" investigations into anti-ICE activity across the US. Some cases are under Trump's NSPM-7 order to crackdown on "anti-fascism" and "anti-Americanism." Docs obtained by @propertyofthepeople.org + shared w/ Guardian include FBI map of cases in 30+ states:

Revealed: FBI opened domestic terrorism investigations into anti-ICE activity across US

Internal report shared with Guardian shows FBI has launched cases in 23 regions, some linked to Trump memo on thwarting ‘terroristic activities’

theguardian.com

DOJ is ending protections against sexual abuse in prisons for LGBTQ+ people. Trans, intersex, nonconforming, queer folks already faced rampant violence behind bars, but a new memo says "effective immediately" institutions won't be held responsible for violations. "It's a green light for predators."

DoJ moves to eliminate sexual abuse protections for LGBTQ+ people in prisons

Memo says the policy shift, which advocates call ‘reckless’, was designed to align with one of Trump’s anti-trans orders

theguardian.com

BIG: FBI spied on Signal group chat of immigration activists CourtWatch, classifying them as violent terrorist extremists for quietly sitting in on court cases, as revealed in intel bulletin we obtained & shared w/ @samtlevin.bsky.social @us.theguardian.com. #FOIA www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...

The FBI spied on a Signal group chat of immigration activists, records reveal

Exclusive: Agency accessed private conversations of New York ‘courtwatch’ group that was observing public hearings

theguardian.com

NEW: The FBI spied on a Signal group chat of NY immigrants' rights volunteers organizing court watch+ labeled activists “anarchist violent extremist actors.” Joint FBI/NYPD report shows law enforcement accessed private planning convo of ppl monitoring ICE Docs obtained by @propertyofthepeople.org

The FBI spied on a Signal group chat of immigration activists, records reveal

Exclusive: Agency accessed private conversations of New York ‘courtwatch’ group that was observing public hearings

theguardian.com

NEW: The US has deported a longtime Oregon firefighter who was arrested by Border Patrol while deployed at a major wildfire in Washington state. José Bertin Cruz-Estrada, separated from his family, is speaking out from Mexico for the first time: “I feel betrayed ... What am I going to do now?"

US firefighter detained on the job speaks out after deportation: ‘I feel betrayed’

Exclusive: Border patrol arrested José Bertin Cruz-Estrada while he was battling a wildfire in Washington. He is now in Mexico, separated from his family in Oregon

theguardian.com