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Reposted by Oliver Laughland

Scott Horton @robertscotthorton.bsky.social · 11d

Chicagoans are committed to resistance and to meticulously documenting the criminal misconduct of Trump's secret police so that they can be held to account when the rule of law is restored in America. www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...

My travels through Chicago: tear gas, resistance and Trump’s big immigration crackdown

Donald Trump recently launched ‘Operation Midway Blitz’ in the city and threatened to send in the National Guard. The mood is febrile, with fears things could get worse

www.theguardian.com

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Oliver Laughland @oliverlaughland.bsky.social · 10d

And here’s my print dispatch from the Broadview protests and the community groups organizing their own anti-ICE neighborhood patrols in Chicago:

www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...

My travels through Chicago: tear gas, resistance and Trump’s big immigration crackdown

Donald Trump recently launched ‘Operation Midway Blitz’ in the city and threatened to send in the National Guard. The mood is febrile, with fears things could get worse

www.theguardian.com

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Oliver Laughland @oliverlaughland.bsky.social · 11d

Alexandria’s airpark also houses a unique Ice detention center, which opens directly out onto the tarmac and holds only adult men.

We uncovered systematic due process violations, poor medical care and inhumane conditions in another investigation published last month:

Trump’s deportation hub: inside the ‘black hole’ where immigrants disappear

A Guardian investigation into the Alexandria facility reveals a pattern of alleged due process violations, previously unreported accounts of neglect and abuse, documented health emergencies and long s...

www.theguardian.com

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Oliver Laughland @oliverlaughland.bsky.social · 11d

The family were detained at a hotel in Alexandria, LA. The town’s airport is a hub for Trump’s deportation machine.

We have revealed a Sheraton hotel near the airport is being used to detain families before deportation.

We could not confirm this in Rosario’s case & Marriott declined to comment:

Ice used Marriott chain to detain immigrants, despite hotel’s 2019 pledge not to cooperate

Sheraton in Louisiana held father and teenage son this month in apparent contradiction of former position

www.theguardian.com

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Oliver Laughland @oliverlaughland.bsky.social · 11d

In April, the Trump admin deported “Rosario” & her two US citizen children, one of whom is being treated for stage 4 kidney cancer.

The case drew national and international attention. Rosario shares her story for the first time with @theguardian.com - another chapter in our Ice Air investigation:

‘They never told me where I was going’: a family falls into Louisiana’s ‘black hole’ of deportation

Exclusive: A mother and her two US citizen children – including one with stage 4 cancer – disappeared and were deported to Honduras

www.theguardian.com

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Reposted by Oliver Laughland

Stephanie Kirchgaessner @skirchy.bsky.social · 11d

Our latest in our Ice Air investigation is by @oliverlaughland.bsky.social, which tells the story of one family's deportation, including two US citizen children www.theguardian.com/us-news/ng-i...

‘They never told me where I was going’: a family falls into Louisiana’s ‘black hole’ of deportation

Exclusive: A mother and her two US citizen children – including one with stage 4 cancer – disappeared and were deported to Honduras

www.theguardian.com

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Reposted by Oliver Laughland

Annie Waldman @anniewaldman.bsky.social · 11d

"They detained our father about a week ago...we'll be here as many days as we have to be to get information about our dad."

Such crucial on-the-ground reporting at the ICE Broadview facility from @oliverlaughland.bsky.social + @tomsilverstone.bsky.social:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=t31x...

How Chicago is resisting Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown | Anywhere but Washington

YouTube video by The Guardian

www.youtube.com

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Reposted by Oliver Laughland

Julia Carrie Wong @joolia.bsky.social · 12d

I spoke to parents who are letting their young kids play with generative AI and tried to sort through some of the questions they have about it.

"I don’t know what this is doing to their brains," one dad told me.

Meanwhile, Sam Altman says, "Kids love ChatGPT on voicemode."

‘My son genuinely believed it was real’: Parents are letting little kids play with AI. Are they wrong?

Some believe AI can spark their child’s imagination through personalized stories and generative images. Scientists are wary of its affect on creativity

www.theguardian.com

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Oliver Laughland @oliverlaughland.bsky.social · 12d

Our latest Anywhere But Washington is in Chicago, examining how the city is responding to a wave of ICE raids & a crackdown on free speech following the murder of Charlie Kirk.

We spent time with @katmabu.bsky.social, neighborhood watch organizers & right wing groups outside the city:

How Chicago is resisting Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown | Anywhere but Washington

YouTube video by The Guardian

youtu.be

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Reposted by Oliver Laughland

Will Craft @wcraft.bsky.social · 18d

According to data from Ice, we passed a significant milestone. Immigrants with no criminal record now make up the largest group arrested and booked into detention by Ice.

Immigrants with no criminal record now largest group in Ice detention

Government data shows 16,523 people with no record, versus 15,725 with a record and 13,767 with pending charges

www.theguardian.com

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Reposted by Oliver Laughland

ACLU @aclu.org · 25d

ICE is using a "staging facility" in Louisiana to hold people for days and deporting them before they can call a lawyer to defend their rights.

“Louisiana is where people go to be disappeared,” said Nora Ahmed of the ACLU of Louisiana.

Trump’s deportation hub: inside the ‘black hole’ where immigrants disappear

A Guardian investigation into the Alexandria facility reveals a pattern of alleged due process violations, previously unreported accounts of neglect and abuse, documented health emergencies and long stays

www.theguardian.com

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Reposted by Oliver Laughland

Ruth Michaelson @ruthmichaelson.com · 24d

For anyone who might be unfamiliar, this is exactly the kind of narrative that authoritarian regimes use - looking at you Egypt - to suffocate the media. The idea that only the official account is acceptable, despite obvious falsehoods, bluster or obfuscation.

Scott Nover @scottnover.bsky.social · 24d

NEW: The Pentagon told journalists it will require them to pledge they won’t gather any information — even unclassified — that hasn’t been expressly authorized for release, and will revoke the press credentials of those who do not obey. @washingtonpost.com

Pentagon demands journalists pledge to not obtain unauthorized material

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is imposing strict new rules that would severely limit the ability of journalists to report on the Pentagon.

www.washingtonpost.com

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Oliver Laughland @oliverlaughland.bsky.social · 25d

I’ve covered street protests for years and never seen this much tear gas used on such a small crowd

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Oliver Laughland @oliverlaughland.bsky.social · 25d

What seemed like a few dozen officers surged out firing tear gas and pepper balls dispersing much of the crowd and arresting at least one person.

Two vehicles appear to have left the facility

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Oliver Laughland @oliverlaughland.bsky.social · 25d

DHS are playing a dispersal order over a loudspeaker as three masked agents observe from the roof:

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Oliver Laughland @oliverlaughland.bsky.social · 25d

More protesters are arriving and attempting to block a number of government SUVs from entering the facility.

A small phalanx of officers, including some wearing US border patrol ID, have come out to escort the vehicles inside and push protesters aside:

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Oliver Laughland @oliverlaughland.bsky.social · 25d

I’m at the Broadview ICE facility in the Chicago suburbs, where a group of protesters are attempting to block agents from transferring detainees held inside.

Several law enforcement armed with rifles have just arrested one protester and earlier fired pepper balls at the crowd:

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Reposted by Oliver Laughland

ACLU @aclu.org · 28d

In March, masked agents grabbed our client Dr. Badar Khan Suri for speaking out in support of Palestinian rights.

Over the next four days, he was transferred between five different ICE facilities — including the infamous Alexandria Staging Facility, a "black hole" where immigrants disappear.

Trump’s deportation hub: inside the ‘black hole’ where immigrants disappear

A Guardian investigation into the Alexandria facility reveals a pattern of alleged due process violations, previously unreported accounts of neglect and abuse, documented health emergencies and long s...

www.theguardian.com

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Reposted by Oliver Laughland

elia ayoub 🌱 @ayoub.bsky.social · Sep 13

What a thoughtful man Mahmoud Khalil is. A must read.

Was moved to know that while in detention he was reading Edward Said and Viktor E. Frankl

www.theguardian.com/us-news/ng-i...

Mahmoud Khalil on exile, liberation and Ice detention: ‘It was a clear act of cruelty’

His grandparents survived the Nakba and he fled Assad’s Syria. Khalil is no stranger to political persecution, but not even Trump’s crackdown can silence him

www.theguardian.com

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Oliver Laughland @oliverlaughland.bsky.social · Sep 12

Our full investigation, featuring 911 audio, data analysis, and visualisation of leaked flight records is here:

www.theguardian.com/us-news/ng-i...

With great team of colleagues @skirchy.bsky.social @wcraft.bsky.social @maanvisingh.bsky.social & Raima Amjad

Trump’s deportation hub: inside the ‘black hole’ where immigrants disappear

A Guardian investigation into the Alexandria facility reveals a pattern of alleged due process violations, previously unreported accounts of neglect and abuse, documented health emergencies and long s...

www.theguardian.com

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Oliver Laughland @oliverlaughland.bsky.social · Sep 12

The staging facility is situated on a restricted access road. The only place to view its facade is from the 13th hole of an adjacent golf course.

We observed as dozens of shackled detainees were loaded onto deportation flights, as golfers teed off a few hundred feet away, paying little attention:

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Oliver Laughland @oliverlaughland.bsky.social · Sep 12

Multiple lawyers have told us the only way to contact a client held in Alexandria is to directly call the New Orleans Ice field office director & hope they grant permission.

This happened in the case of Badar Khan Suri, the Georgetown University student targeted by Ice for his political views:

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Oliver Laughland @oliverlaughland.bsky.social · Sep 12

The site also has no capacity to provide confidential legal calls or visitation.

We interviewed one former detainee who said he was denied phone after he was arrested by Ice, and deported from Alexandria within 24 hours.

His lawyer and family had no idea where he had been taken.

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Oliver Laughland @oliverlaughland.bsky.social · Sep 12

The detention center quietly received a waiver from Ice earlier this year, that exempted it from certain medical screening standards contained within the agency’s detention standards.

We asked DHS why this waiver was granted, and received no response:

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Oliver Laughland @oliverlaughland.bsky.social · Sep 12

One former detainee was held in Alexandria for around 12 days in April’ 25.

He could not change his clothes or underwear, received almost no medication for an infection & said showers spouted rusty water.

“It’s not a place for humans,” he said

He claimed a Geo Group guard humiliated him as well

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