curated news excerpts & citations
Brian Allen: TWENTY-THREE DEAD: Inside the Torture, Neglect, and Silence of ICE Detention
There are numbers that a government can hide behind and numbers that break through the wall of official language. Twenty-three is the latter. Twenty-three people have died in immigration detention this year under the Trump administration, a total that eclipses previous years and forces a painful question into the national conversation. Who were these people, and what happened inside the walls of a system that operates with almost no public visibility?
Two names rise to the surface first because their stories refuse to stay buried. They belong to men who entered the custody of the United States alive and left it dead. …
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Members of Congress reviewing Ge’s case discovered that he had been found with both his hands and both his feet tied behind his back. They were told that a man with his limbs bound in this way had somehow managed to kill himself. There was no plausible method for such an act. …
The second name is Randall Esquivel. He did not die inside an ICE facility. He died because ICE deported him while he was in a vegetative state. Esquivel became gravely ill in custody. Advocates say his medical decline was rapid and preventable. Instead of transferring him to a hospital equipped to care for him, ICE placed him on a deportation flight. …
(Brian Allen more…)
International Business Times: Chaofeng Ge was in a hog-tied position when he was found dead at an ICE facility in Pennsylvania.
AP: Judge orders the release of an immigrant with ties to White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt
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Allison Gill: ICEBlock App Developer to Sue ICE, DHS, DOJ, White House Officials
ICEBlock app developer Joshua Aaron is suing multiple federal agency officials for violating his 1st Amendment rights after they coerced Apple into removing ICEBlock from its App Store
…The government may try to argue that ICEBlock incites violence against law enforcement, but Apple continues to offer multiple apps that allow users to crowdsource the location of law enforcement in its app store including Citizen, Police Scanner, and Waze.
(Allison Gill more…)
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Heather Cox Richardson: Letters from an American – December 8, 2025
Last Wednesday, December 3, a reporter asked President Donald J. Trump if he would release the video of the September 2 strike on a small boat off the coast of Venezuela that killed two survivors of a previous strike that had split their boat, capsized it, and set it on fire. He answered: “I don’t know what they have, but whatever they have, we’d certainly release. No problem.”
Today, just five days later, a reporter began to ask Trump a question, beginning with the words: “You said you would have no problem with releasing the full video of that strike on September 2nd off the coast of Venezuela. Secretary Hegseth announced that….” Trump interrupted her. “I didn’t say that. You said that. I didn’t say that.” Turning slightly to make a side comment to someone else, he said: “This is ABC fake news.”
(Heather Cox Richardson more…)Washington Examiner, December 3: Trump says he’d ‘certainly release’ video of second strike on suspected drug boat survivors
Washington Examiner, December 9: Trump backpedals on release of boat strike video as new details emerge
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Politico: Congress to withhold Pentagon travel funds until it sees boat strike videos
Lawmakers quietly stuck the requirement into their must-pass annual defense policy bill.
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Jennifer Rubin: The second strike isn’t the only problem
Extrajudicial killings may lead to another regime-change war
(Jennifer Rubin more…)
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BBC Mundo: Maps showing the Caribbean islands that are helping the US in its military operations against Venezuelan boats
(BBC Mundo more…)
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NY Times: A Dozen F.B.I. Agents Sue Patel After Being Fired Over Kneeling at Protest
A five-year-old photo of agents kneeling at a D.C. protest after George Floyd’s killing led to the firing of about 16 agents.
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Crooks & Liars: Trump Admin Orders National Parks To Check Gift Shops For DEI Items
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ProPublica: Trump’s Own Mortgages Match His Description of Mortgage Fraud, Records Reveal
The Trump administration has argued that Fed board member Lisa Cook may have committed mortgage fraud by declaring more than one primary residence on her loans. We found Trump once did the very thing he called “deceitful and potentially criminal.”
(ProPublica more…)Brian Allen: Trump’s Mortgage Crusade Just Turned Back on Him
A new investigation shows the same mortgage behavior Trump calls criminal is happening inside his own Cabinet.
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National Memo: Beyond Trump’s Latest Crazy Pardon, Glimpses Of A Post-Trump America
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National Memo: Bomb Suspect Bust Makes Bongino Squeal On Right-Wing Media Grift
GriftMatrix
Trump Action Tracker
Timeline: Tracking the Trump Justice Department’s Anti-Voting Shift
Tracking the Lawsuits Against Trump’s Agenda
Trump Pardons Database
Project 2025 Tracker
DOGE Tracker
ProPublica: Elon Musk’s Demolition Crew
Wired: 6 Tools for Tracking the Trump Administration’s Attacks on Civil Liberties
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