Author | Lightnews

Reposted by Silky Shah

Kyle Cheney @kyledcheney.bsky.social · 7d

NEW: ICE says it no longer has to provide Congress access to detention facilities — thanks to the shutdown.

That requirement was part of the appropriations law that expired last month — and now operations are funded by Trump’s megabill.

w/ @myahward.bsky.social

www.politico.com/news/2025/10...

Another shutdown consequence: Democrats can’t visit ICE detention facilities

Democratic lawmakers had been suing the Trump administration over their previous attempts to visit ICE facilities.

www.politico.com

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upEND Movement @upendmovement.org · 7d

"One of the most important systems of control and mass separation is hidden in plain sight: the child welfare system.” @truthout.org truthout.org/articles/ice...

ICE Agents Are Using Family Separation Tactics Central to US State Violence

The US’s family policing system honed many of the tactics now being used by ICE agents in Chicago.

truthout.org

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upEND Movement @upendmovement.org · 7d

And if you want to continue learning about the connections between #ICE and the #FamilyPolicingSystem, listen to “Unbuild Walls” with Silky Shah on The upEND Podcast. buff.ly/ebPItcb @silkys13.bsky.social

Unbuild Walls | The upEND Podcast Season 2, Episode 4 - upEND Movement

Season 2, Episode 4

buff.ly

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Silky Shah @silkys13.bsky.social · Sep 22

thanks for having me, Mariame! Those spaces are always so rewarding to be in.

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Detention Watch Network @detentionwatchnetwork.org · Sep 11

“We have the largest jail infrastructure in the world, and it’s an easy thing for ICE to fall back on,” said @silkys13.bsky.social, the executive director of @detentionwatchnetwork.org, to @nytimes.com. “The jail is a really central component of the deportation machine.”

Local Sheriffs Are Turning Their Jails Into ICE Detention Centers

Jails play a growing role in immigrant detention, housing thousands of people who have never been convicted of a crime.

www.nytimes.com

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Max Granger @maxgranger.info · Sep 6

Yet another person killed by ICE. 32-year-old Lorenzo Antonio Batrez Vargas, QEPD 💔 t.co/mmHdsHYJij

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The Guardian @theguardian.com · Sep 8

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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Aaron Reichlin-Melnick @reichlinmelnick.bsky.social · Sep 8

🚨The Supreme Court today gives Trump a license to engage in racial profiling, with Justice Kavanaugh writing in concurrence to expressly endorse ICE and Border Patrol targeting any Latinos they observe in Los Angeles speaking Spanish and then demanding their papers.

Here,
those circumstances include:
that there is an
extremely high number and percentage of illegal immigrants in the Los Angeles area; that those individuals tend to gather in certain locations to seek daily work; that those individuals often work in certain kinds of jobs, such as day labor, landscaping, agriculture, and construction, that do not require paperwork and are therefore especially attractive to illegal immigrants; and that many of those illegally in the Los Angeles area come from Mexico or Central America and do not speak much English. Cf.
Brignoni-Ponce, 422 U.S., at 884-885 (listing "[a]ny number of factors" that contribute to reasonable suspicion of illegal presence). To be clear, apparent ethnicity alone cannot furnish reasonable suspicion; under this Court's case law regarding immigration stops, however, it can be a

KAVANAUGH, J., concurring
"relevant factor" when considered along with other salient factors. Id., at 887.
Under this Court's precedents, not to mention common sense, those circumstances taken together can constitute at least reasonable suspicion of illegal presence in the United States. Importantly, reasonable suspicion means only that immigration officers may briefly stop the individual and inquire about immigration status. If the person is a U.S. citizen or otherwise lawfully in the United States, that individual will be free to go after the brief encounter. Only if the person is illegally in the United States may the stop lead to further immigration proceedings.

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Silky Shah @silkys13.bsky.social · Sep 3

Thank you for reading and sharing! I am glad to hear it was useful to you despite how much more dire things are than when I wrote it.

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Jason Martens @martens742.bsky.social · Sep 3

Just finished Unbuild Walls by Silky Shah. Appreciated the history lesson of immigration law in the US, the struggle to make progress, and the abolitionist framing for reformist reforms and unreformist reforms; those that increase the overall system of incarceration vs those that reduce it.

Cover of the book Unbuild Walls: Why immigrant justice needs abolition by Silky Shah

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Shannon Heffernan @shannonheffernan.bsky.social · Sep 2

ICE wants more detention space and it’s faster to re-open old facilities to hold immigrants than to build new ones. Enter: ZOMBIE PRISONS

www.themarshallproject.org/2025/08/29/m...

‘Zombie Prisons’: How ICE Detention Is Raising Troubling Facilities From the Dead

ICE needs more detention space, and it’s faster to open old facilities than to build new ones.

www.themarshallproject.org

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Detention Watch Network @detentionwatchnetwork.org · Aug 28

Trump’s unprecedented agenda is unmistakably authoritarian.
The deployment of the National Guard in Washington DC and in 20 states, including Florida, Georgia, Virginia, Texas and Louisiana, is an alarming unilateral move that is supercharging the already massive police presence in communities.

The escalating use of the National Guard and military for immigration enforcement is yet another marker of an authoritarian regime

Washington, DC — In response to news that the Trump administration is deploying the National Guard to assist in processing people for immigration detention in 20 states, Setareh Ghandehari, Advocacy D...

www.detentionwatchnetwork.org

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ICE Out of CA coalition @iceoutofca.bsky.social · Aug 29

@silkys13.bsky.social: “There are so many things we’ve seen before — poor food quality, abuse by guards, not having clean clothes or underwear, not getting hygiene products. But the scale at which it’s happening feels greater, because it’s happening everywhere.”

www.latimes.com/politics/sto...

'It’s happening everywhere': 1 in 3 ICE detainees held in overcrowded facilities, data show

As ICE detainees top 60,000, some detention centers stack mattresses on the floor.

www.latimes.com

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Prisonculture @prisonculture.bsky.social · Aug 29

The money doesn't matter. There is never any sustained backlash for spending money for death-making institutions.

PBS News @pbsnews.org · Aug 28

Florida taxpayers could be on the hook for $218 million the state spent to convert a remote training airport in the Everglades into an immigration detention center dubbed “Alligator Alcatraz.” https://to.pbs.org/47jrudh

Florida taxpayers may lose $218M on 'Alligator Alcatraz' as judge orders shutdown

Florida taxpayers could be on the hook for the $218 million cost of converting a training airport in the Everglades into an immigration detention center that may soon be empty of detainees.

www.pbs.org

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Harms Committed @harmscommitted.com · Aug 21

"[T]he most striking feature of the skyscraper jails' design is the degree to which these buildings have been represented by their boosters as anything but facilities for large-scale human caging."

"[T]he new jails would simply 'create little Rikers around the city.'"
#NewYork #USA #Incarceration

The Dystopia of the World’s Tallest Jails - Jarrod Shanahan & Zhandarka Kurti - Inquest

New York City’s plan to replace Rikers with skyscraper jails is a cautionary tale of how decarceral talking points can be misappropriated.

inquest.org

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Silky Shah @silkys13.bsky.social · Aug 25

Thank you for reading/listening/sharing! It’s a strange thing to have written a book about abolishing a system that is becoming so much worse than I could have imagined. I’m glad it’s a resource at least and that we have more resources as we mitigate the harm/build power for when there are openings

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Ryan H. @ryan.blacksky.app · Aug 25

Thanks to the audiobook release, I powered through the rest of @silkys13.bsky.social 's Unbuild Walls with a bitter taste in my mouth, knowing how things are unfolding. Really grateful to have this analysis of campaign successes, struggles & the need for an abolitionist uniting of struggles 📚

Unbuild Walls Audiobook on Libro.fm

Drawing from over twenty years of activism on local and national levels, this striking book offers an organizer's perspective on the intersections of immigrant rights, racial justice, and prison aboli...

libro.fm

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Reposted by Silky Shah

Alex Zucker @alexzucker.bsky.social · Aug 24

Journalists: Please stop using phrases like "despite having committed no crime" in articles about immigrants.

As @silkys13.bsky.social says, "It continues to make the connection between immigration and public safety, which ... is a lie."

Immigration is NOT a safety issue.

Zeteo @zeteo.com · Aug 24

ICE Detention Facilities have “become even more deplorable and even more deadly” under Trump.

Ward Sakeik’s lawyer, Maria Kari, explains to Mehdi the inhumane treatment her client had to endure during her 140 days in detention, despite having committed no crime.

Watch: zeteo.com/p/i-can-send...

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William C. @williamcson.bsky.social · Aug 21

Some people are attempting to make their compliance with fascism into something it's certainly not. For @prismreports.org, I wrote about how the promotion of obedience, hiding, and disengagement is taking us backward, despite attempts to make it seem reasonable. prismreports.org/2025/08/21/o...

Another way out: Hiding and obedience won't stop fascism

By being obedient to the point of giving up all self-determination, we’re poised to return to what many before us fought to overturn

prismreports.org

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Silky Shah @silkys13.bsky.social · Aug 20

lol no. It was an actual voice actor with skills unlike my amateur radio personality wannabe self

Reposted by Silky Shah

Alex Zucker @alexzucker.bsky.social · Aug 20

💥 An abolitionist organizing must-read is now an abolitionist organizing must-listen! 👂👂👂

Silky Shah @silkys13.bsky.social · Aug 20

The audiobook of Unbuild Walls is now available! bit.ly/unbuildwalls...

Also, physical copies are 40% off if you buy at @haymarketbooks.org sale ends Friday! www.haymarketbooks.org/blogs/462-su...

Detention Watch Network @detentionwatchnetwork.org · Aug 19

NEW! 🎧 Unbuild Walls: Why Immigrant Justice Needs Abolition is now an audiobook!

Unbuild Walls, from @silkys13.bsky.social executive director of @detentionwatchnetwork.org, dives into 40 years of US immigration policy & mass incarceration, exposing their intertwined systems of repression.

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Silky Shah @silkys13.bsky.social · Aug 20

The audiobook of Unbuild Walls is now available! bit.ly/unbuildwalls...

Also, physical copies are 40% off if you buy at @haymarketbooks.org sale ends Friday! www.haymarketbooks.org/blogs/462-su...

Detention Watch Network @detentionwatchnetwork.org · Aug 19

NEW! 🎧 Unbuild Walls: Why Immigrant Justice Needs Abolition is now an audiobook!

Unbuild Walls, from @silkys13.bsky.social executive director of @detentionwatchnetwork.org, dives into 40 years of US immigration policy & mass incarceration, exposing their intertwined systems of repression.

Unbuild Walls Audiobook on Libro.fm

Drawing from over twenty years of activism on local and national levels, this striking book offers an organizer's perspective on the intersections of immigrant rights, racial justice, and prison aboli...

libro.fm

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Reposted by Silky Shah

Detention Watch Network @detentionwatchnetwork.org · Aug 19

#UnbuildWalls is a timely intervention as anti-immigrant sentiment fueled by fear-mongering, a scarcity mindset, and racist rhetoric has reached a dangerous fever pitch in today’s political discourse.

🔗Order your audiobook today from @libro.fm at bit.ly/unbuildwallsAUDIO

Unbuild Walls Audiobook on Libro.fm

Drawing from over twenty years of activism on local and national levels, this striking book offers an organizer's perspective on the intersections of immigrant rights, racial justice, and prison aboli...

bit.ly

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Reposted by Silky Shah

Detention Watch Network @detentionwatchnetwork.org · Aug 19

NEW! 🎧 Unbuild Walls: Why Immigrant Justice Needs Abolition is now an audiobook!

Unbuild Walls, from @silkys13.bsky.social executive director of @detentionwatchnetwork.org, dives into 40 years of US immigration policy & mass incarceration, exposing their intertwined systems of repression.

Unbuild Walls Audiobook on Libro.fm

Drawing from over twenty years of activism on local and national levels, this striking book offers an organizer's perspective on the intersections of immigrant rights, racial justice, and prison aboli...

libro.fm

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Reposted by Silky Shah

Prisonculture @prisonculture.bsky.social · Aug 15

A number of people who have read "Let This Radicalize You" are unaware that we made numerous resources and tools to accompany the book. You can find all of them here including a workbook, discussion guide, zines and more. www.interruptingcriminalization.com/resources-al...

Let This Radicalize You: Organizing and the Revolution of Reciprocal Care — Interrupting Criminalization

What fuels and sustains activism and organizing when it feels like our worlds are collapsing? Let This Radicalize You by Kely Hayes and Mariame Kaba is a practical and imaginative resource for activis...

www.interruptingcriminalization.com

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