Author | Lightnews

Brian Straw @brianstraw.bsky.social · 9h

Short Straw and I listen to the MGoBlog roundtable on WTKA every Friday (as a podcast) and the MGoPodcast at the beginning of the week. I have always loved the depth of analysis from MGoBlog.

Today, I (and my son) really appreciate the depth of heart of the MGoBlog community.

Thank you, Seth.

Seth M. Fisher @mgoseth.bsky.social · 19h

Brian Straw is one of ours. He's a longtime reader/listener/Michigan twitter-sky interaction. He listens to our podcasts with his 11yo. He serves his local community as a village trustee.

They're trying to jail him for it.

www.oakpark.com/2025/10/29/o...

Oak Park trustee Brian Straw indicted on federal charge over ICE protest - Wednesday Journal

A sitting Oak Park trustee Brian Straw has been indicted on federal conspiracy charges over a Sept. 26 protest at the Broadview ICE facility

www.oakpark.com

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Dr. Theresa Chapple @drtheresachapple.bsky.social · 12h

My son gets hand-me-down clothing from Trustee Brian Straw and his wife. The very same elected official that was indicted by the Feds for protesting. He was one of five elected people or candidates to be indicted yesterday. The Feds going after local officials. We must save our democracy

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Seth M. Fisher @mgoseth.bsky.social · 19h

Brian Straw is one of ours. He's a longtime reader/listener/Michigan twitter-sky interaction. He listens to our podcasts with his 11yo. He serves his local community as a village trustee.

They're trying to jail him for it.

www.oakpark.com/2025/10/29/o...

Oak Park trustee Brian Straw indicted on federal charge over ICE protest - Wednesday Journal

A sitting Oak Park trustee Brian Straw has been indicted on federal conspiracy charges over a Sept. 26 protest at the Broadview ICE facility

www.oakpark.com

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Brian Straw @brianstraw.bsky.social · 1d

The Trump Justice Department's decision to seemingly hand-pick public officials like me for standing up against these inhumane policies will not deter me from fulfilling my oath of office.

I will fight these baseless charges, and I will continue to stand with and protect our immigrant neighbors.

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Brian Straw @brianstraw.bsky.social · 1d

I joined the protests at the Broadview ICE detention facility because of what is happening to our immigrant neighbors: children zip-tied and shoved into vans, mothers pulled from cars on the way to school, neighbors afraid to go to church or work.

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Dave Byrnes @djbyrnes1.bsky.social · 2d

Federal immigration agents have recently been leaning into hitting people recording them with impeding charges - even when available video shows the agents striking civilians' vehicles, not the other way around

Another example from last week:

bsky.app/profile/thet...

The TRiiBE @thetriibe.com · 9d

NEW — Oak Park attorney Scott Sakiyama supported a neighboring Black family while federal prosecutors accused their son of assaulting a Border Patrol agent.

Ten days later, federal agents arrested Sakiyama himself.

thetriibe.com/2025/10/chir...

‘Chiraq Team 2’: Oak Park attorney catches glimpse of federal agents’ group chat during arrest • The TRiiBE

Scott Sakiyama supported a neighboring Black family while federal prosecutors accused their son of assaulting a Border Patrol agent. Ten days later, federal agents arrested Sakiyama himself.

thetriibe.com

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Radley Balko @radleybalko.bsky.social · 2d

I know it’s too much to expect them to know their history, but if the American Revolution had a motto, it definitely would not have been “immigrants go home.”

It would have been “get your fucking soldiers out of our cities.”

Craig Harrington @craigipedia.bsky.social · 2d

America... boy, I dunno.

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unraveled @unraveledpress.com · 6d

Video from witness here from the moment CBP gassed neighbors who had gathered outside after the kidnapping.

Agent rolls a canister at the crowd out of the window of their car as they reverse away from people with whistles and bikes.

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Jack Jenkins @jackjenkins.me · 6d

Via @berkeleyside.org: Another view of the officer firing a likely "pepper-spray round" directly into the Rev. Jorge Bautista in the face.

Their full story here: www.berkeleyside.org/2025/10/23/l...

A pastor stands in the road, his head engulfed in yellow smoke fired by a DHS officer who stands just a few feet away.

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Dave Byrnes @djbyrnes1.bsky.social · 6d

Hearing reports of tear gas in Wrigleyville from multiple sources. For non-Chicagoans, Wrigleyville is an affluent, mostly-white neighborhood surrounding Wrigley Field.

Chicago's brown and Black communities are still taking the brunt of migra violence, but no neighborhood is immune any longer.

unraveled @unraveledpress.com · 6d

They just gassed Wrigleyville. Yes, Wrigleyville

Gregory Pratt @royalpratt.bsky.social · 6d

Ald. Timmy Knudsen reports immigration activity throughout his ward, which is a lot of Lincoln Park, one of wealthiest neighborhoods in city and home to DePaul University

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Amy Sullivan @amysullivan.bsky.social · 7d

Shout-out to local Chicago journalists, who have really shined over the past horrible month. Without them, we would know far less about ICE activity and abuses.

Local news matters. Local news matters. Local news matters. Local news matters. Local news matters. Local news matters.

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Jack Jenkins @jackjenkins.me · 7d

Big year for photos of clergy enduring pain while protesting ICE.

· Rev. David Black, Chicago Sun-Times: chicago.suntimes.com/news/2025/10...

· Rev. Jorge Bautista, SF Chron: www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/arti...

· Rev. Hannah Kardon, Chicago Protest Photography: www.facebook.com/photo?fbid=1...

Rev. David Black being pepper sprayed by ICE/DHS agents.

Rev. Jorge Bautista squints in pain after being shot with apparent pepper balls by ICE/DHS agents.

Rev. Hannah Kardon is arrested by three Illinois State Police outside the Broadview, Illinois ICE facility.

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Bill Grueskin @bgrueskin.bsky.social · 7d

NBC News finds that:
-- ICE has shortened its training from 13 weeks to six.
-- Nearly half of recruits couldn’t pass an open-book written exam.
-- Recruits "are supposed to attest" they can pass the physical-fitness test, which requires them to run ... 6 mph.

www.nbcnews.com/news/amp/rcn...

Some new ICE recruits have shown up to training without full vetting

The recruits have had criminal backgrounds or failed drug tests or were unable to meet physical or academic standards, raising concerns about the agency’s rush to hire immigration officers, sources to...

www.nbcnews.com

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Amanda Katz @katzish.bsky.social · 9d

‘“Though being arrested is new to me, even though being beaten is new to me, I know it’s not new to Christians following Christ,” she said.’

Jack Jenkins @jackjenkins.me · 9d

NEW: 200+ Chicago-area clergy — Protestants, Catholics, and evangelicals — have signed a letter decrying ICE's efforts and voicing a willingness to put their "bodies on the line" for migrants.

"What Kristi Noem and her ICE agents are doing is immoral," they write. religionnews.com/2025/10/21/a...

(RNS) - Last Friday (Oct. 17), the Rev. Hannah Kardon, a United Methodist minister in the Chicago area, stood alongside other protesters demonstrating outside the Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention facility in Broadview, Illinois. As a line of Illinois State Police began marching toward her and other demonstrators, gripping wooden batons, footage shows the pastor with her hands raised in prayer.
Officers then pushed into the protesters, forcing them back.
One officer shifted his stance, reared back and began shoving his baton like a battering ram - jamming it repeatedly, Kardon says, into her leg. A few seconds later, the pastor was pulled from the crowd and thrown to the ground.
All the while, Kardon says, she never stopped praying. When officers began to arrest her, they tied her arms behind her back and placed her along the curb.
"I said, 'God, please help these people to know that what they're doing is wrong, and help them to turn around," Kardon, who leads United Church of Rogers Park in Chicago, said in an interview. Her leg, she said, has developed visible bruises.

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jenn m. jackson @jennmjacksonphd.bsky.social · 9d

I want more people to care that SNAP benefits are being cut off on November 1. 40% of SNAP beneficiaries are children. This is callous and vile.

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Jack Jenkins @jackjenkins.me · 9d

200+ Chicago-area clergy — Protestants, Catholics, and evangelicals — have signed a letter decrying ICE's efforts and voicing a willingness to put their "bodies on the line" for migrants.

The titled the letter: “Jesus is Being Tear Gassed at Broadview" religionnews.com/2025/10/21/a...

After clergy arrests, religious pushback to ICE expands in Chicago

(RNS) — More than 210 mostly Chicago-area clergy, representing a range of liberal and conservative traditions, have signed a letter criticizing ICE titled ‘Jesus is Being Tear Gassed at Broadview.’

religionnews.com

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Jack Jenkins @jackjenkins.me · 9d

Important subtext: Hard to oversell how rare this precise Christian coalition is, and how unusually defiant this letter they're signing is.

Jack Jenkins @jackjenkins.me · 9d

NEW: 200+ Chicago-area clergy — Protestants, Catholics, and evangelicals — have signed a letter decrying ICE's efforts and voicing a willingness to put their "bodies on the line" for migrants.

"What Kristi Noem and her ICE agents are doing is immoral," they write. religionnews.com/2025/10/21/a...

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unraveled @unraveledpress.com · 10d

Oak Park resident Scott Sakiyama reports feds pointed weapons at him across from an elementary school today. They then arrested him and took him to Broadview. While in custody, he saw agents texting in a group chat called "Chiraq Team 2."

Full testimony: www.facebook.com/share/p/1GqB...

This morning masked ICE agents pulled me out of my car at gun-point, threw me in the back of a van and took me to their facility in Broadview. I had been following the van down Harvard honking my horn and blowing a whistle to alert the community that ICE was in the neighborhood.

Just across from Lincoln elementary school, where my daughter is in second grade, they jumped out of their van with guns drawn and threatened to smash my windows.

They removed me from my car and drove me to Broadview.

They tried to determine if I was an American citizen (I am). After sitting handcuffed in the van for about 30 minutes, they issued me a citation for "impeding" them, claiming I cut them off (which is not true). They then drove me back to my car. While in their van, I could see they were receiving text messages that were part of a group chat called "Chiraq Team 2." They also stated they also spoke to someone on their phone saying they were going to meet someone else near where they were dropping me off, and that they were going to proceed to conduct enforcement activities with that person.

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Heather Cherone @heathercherone.bsky.social · 10d

Byers: ICE Special Response Team members assigned to Chicago do not have body-worn cameras.

Ellis: Has there been any directive that those agents get body-worn cameras?

Byers: The previous administration started the process of getting all SRT members all cameras. That has stopped.

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Jon Seidel @jonseidel.bsky.social · 10d

Ellis asks if any officers have been disciplined for violating use-of-force policies outside the Broadview facility.

Byers: "No."

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amanda moore 🐢 @noturtlesoup17.bsky.social · 12d

Portland ICE facility now.

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Mara Richards Bim @marabim.bsky.social · 13d

A United Methodist pastor was violently arrested at the #Chicago ICE facility in Broadview today. baptistnews.com/article/unit...

United Methodist pastor violently arrested in Chicago – Baptist News Global

Pastor Hannah Kardon of United Church was violently arrested along with eight others at a peaceful protest at the Broadview ICE facility

baptistnews.com

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Jack Jenkins @jackjenkins.me · 13d

NEW: Spoke w/Rev. Hannah Kardon, the UMC pastor arrested in this clip (she confirmed she was, in fact, arrested).

At ~18 seconds in, you can see an State Police officer using a club like a battering ram on someone in the crowd.

"That was my leg," Kardon told me, adding she already has a bruise.

unraveled @unraveledpress.com · 13d

State troopers in riot gear just plowed into the crowd, started arresting protesters and clergy.

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Brian Straw @brianstraw.bsky.social · 13d

The woman that you see thrown to the ground and arrested in this video is the pastor who baptized my daughter.

A week ago, she attempted to take communion to the people held in the ICE detention facility in Broadview, IL. ICE has refused to allow pastors access to minister to those in detention.

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Brian Straw @brianstraw.bsky.social · 13d

To be clear, Chicago is only a war zone in that the Federal government has declared war on Chicago and its residents.

Three weeks ago, I watched Federal agents march more than 100 yards to attack me and other peaceful protestors.

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