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A guilty plea from a former officer at a Louisiana ICE detention facility exposes why placing people,  especially those with children,  in these centers is deeply harmful and unsafe. David Courvelle, 56, admitted in federal court to “sexual abuse of a ward or individual in federal custody” after abusing his position at the South Louisiana ICE Processing Center in Basile, a facility run by GEO Group Inc. The case reveals how detention environments create conditions where power

A new three-year analysis of Louisiana State Police data confirms what Black communities in the state have long said: the system that feeds people into Louisiana’s prisons operates with deep racial imbalance, beginning at the point of police contact. According to a report from Innocence and Justice Louisiana, Black residents make up 31% of the state’s population yet accounted for 902 use-of-force incidents between 2022 and 2024,  60.5% of all recorded cases. White residents,

The heated December 16 Oakland City Council debate revealed why police collaboration with ICE-backed surveillance systems is deeply harmful to communities. Residents packed the chamber for hours, warning that these partnerships blur public safety with immigration targeting and place vulnerable people at risk. One speaker accused the council directly: “You are doing more to advance Trump’s agenda in Oakland than anyone.” Another, whose parents survived the Holocaust, said, “Th

The recent recruitment campaign from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement shows far more than ordinary patriotic advertising. A closer look at the agency’s social media outreach reveals repeated echoes of language and imagery long embraced by white nationalist movements, making it clear who ICE appears eager to attract. Research analyst Hannah Gais described the posts as deeply unsettling. “I would describe it as oddly very familiar as someone who has been looking at the

After hours of peaceful demonstrations in downtown Los Angeles, a sharp escalation outside the Metropolitan Detention Center revealed why public protest remains essential when communities feel unheard. As a crowd of roughly 200 people gathered with flags, signs, and bullhorns opposing immigration crackdowns, officers pushed into demonstrators and sprayed a chemical irritant, sending people scrambling. Mario Zermeno, standing well back, said, “I was probably 15 feet and I wasn

“What we need is not a history of selected races or nations, but the history of the world void of national bias, race hate, and religious prejudice.”— Carter G. Woodson What began as Negro History Week  in 1926 was a direct response to the systematic erasure and distortion of Black history in American education and culture. Conceived by historian Carter G. Woodson , the observance was rooted in a clear and urgent mission: to challenge racist and Eurocentric narratives and to

A federal judge on Friday ordered the release of journalists Georgia Fort and Don Lemon, who were arrested in connection with an anti-immigration enforcement protest that disrupted a church service at Cities Church in St. Paul, Minnesota. The ruling came after both journalists made initial court appearances related to the January 18 protest. Fort, an independent journalist, livestreamed the moments before her arrest on Facebook, telling viewers that “agents are at my door rig

The arrest of Don Lemon and three others following a protest at Cities Church in St. Paul represents a stark threat to press freedom and protected speech. Lemon, a veteran journalist, was detained by federal agents in Los Angeles while covering the Grammy Awards, despite a magistrate judge previously rejecting prosecutors’ first attempt to charge him. Lemon has been clear that his presence at the Jan. 18 protest was journalistic, not political. “I’m not here as an activist. I

Donald Trump’s return to power has revealed a slow but deliberate dismantling of hard-fought social, civil, and institutional gains, with Project 2025 serving as a clear roadmap despite his earlier denials. During the campaign, Trump insisted he had “nothing to do with Project 2025,” dismissing concern as “ridiculous” and claiming ignorance about its authors. Yet within months of retaking office, the policy blueprint he disavowed began materializing across the federal governm

The newly revealed Immigration and Customs Enforcement memo authorizing officers to enter homes without a judicial warrant represents a dangerous expansion of federal power that threatens the basic protections people rely on to feel safe in their own homes. Constitutional scholars and immigration experts say the directive strips away long-standing limits rooted in the Fourth Amendment, allowing ICE to bypass judges and act with minimal oversight in communities already living

State authorities in Colorado are stepping in after a disturbing confrontation at a Durango protest that again places ICE actions under scrutiny and raises serious questions about accountability and transparency. The Colorado Bureau of Investigation announced it will investigate an incident in which an apparent federal agent was filmed throwing a woman to the ground during a demonstration outside an ICE field office earlier this week. The protest was sparked by the arrest and

The death of Jean Wilson Brutus has once again exposed the human cost of ICE detention and the lack of answers families face when loved ones die in federal custody. Brutus, a 41-year-old Haitian asylum seeker, died just one day after being taken into ICE custody and placed inside Delaney Hall in Newark. His family says he was healthy when he entered detention and is now demanding transparency, accountability, and justice. “We haven’t had some kind of closure surrounding his d

The Trump administration’s handling of civil rights in education is shown as deeply harmful in Lubbock, Texas, where federal protections against racism in schools stalled after the Department of Education sharply pulled back its enforcement role. Parents, students, and educators describe a climate where racist abuse continues with little accountability after the administration dismantled key parts of the Education Department’s Office for Civil Rights. At a local NAACP meeting

Minnesota officials say the investigation into the fatal ICE-related shooting of Renee Nicole Macklin Good, 37, is being shut off from independent state review, raising fears that accountability may never materialize under the Trump administration’s aggressive support of ICE. According to Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension Superintendent Drew Evans, state investigators were initially set to jointly examine the shooting alongside federal partners. That plan abruptly cha

ICE’s decision to hire a subsidiary of the GEO Group to track immigrants is deeply troubling, creating a system that feels dangerous, exploitative, and morally unacceptable. According to records reviewed by The Intercept, ICE brought on the surveillance firm BI Incorporated, owned by GEO Group since 2011, to conduct “skip tracing” investigations that rely on private bounty hunters to locate immigrants in exchange for cash bonuses. This means corporate investigators can track

The House’s passage of HR 4371, the Kayla Hamilton Act, is being framed by supporters as a necessary safety measure, but many see it as a deeply discriminatory attack on vulnerable migrant children. While the bill claims it would require federal officials to “consider additional information” when placing “unaccompanied” minors, its real impact is far harsher. As ACLU deputy policy director Sarah Mehta explains, the legislation “allows the authorities to prolong the detention

The clash outside Roosevelt High School unfolded just hours after the fatal shooting of Renee Nicole Good, turning an already traumatizing day into a moment many families say no child should ever have to experience. As students were leaving campus, armed federal agents arrived following a vehicle pursuit, bringing chaos directly to a place meant to be safe for young people. Carol, a nearby resident who witnessed the scene, described the shock of seeing “a caravan of SUVs” sud

The fatal New Year’s Eve shooting of Keith “Pooter” Porter in Northridge has intensified fears about the danger federal immigration agents pose to Black and Brown communities, particularly when deadly force is used with limited transparency. Porter was shot and killed by an off-duty ICE agent inside the Village Pointe apartment complex just before midnight. While federal officials claim the agent responded to an “active shooter situation,” neighbors and community members say

A recent ruling by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals striking down California’s ban on openly carrying firearms in most populated areas raises serious concerns about how expanded gun visibility could affect communities of color. The court sided 2–1 with a gun owner, finding that California’s prohibition on open carry in counties with more than 200,000 residents violated the Second Amendment. Because roughly 95% of Californians live in such counties, the decision has wide-

Patrick Lawler, A former teacher has been barred from the profession after a disciplinary panel found that he made racist, false, and offensive statements to pupils, including denying key figures in Black history and spreading misinformation in the classroom. The case centered on a lesson intended to cover medieval history that instead veered into comments about the U.S. civil rights movement. During the class, the teacher told year six pupils that Rosa Parks “did not really