Author | Lightnews

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Elizabeth Joh @elizabethjoh.bsky.social · Jul 13

SIX HOURS.
"Federal immigration officers may deport immigrants with as little as six hours’ notice to countries other than their own even if officials have not provided any assurances that the new arrivals will be safe from persecution or torture." www.washingtonpost.com/immigration/...

ICE memo outlines plan to deport migrants to countries where they are not citizens

The dramatic shift in policy could result in thousands of immigrants being deported to places where they lack family ties or even a common language.

www.washingtonpost.com

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Don Moynihan @donmoyn.bsky.social · Jun 30

New, from me:
They are trying to shove through the massive reconciliation bill as quickly as possible.

Stepping back, the bill is:
*an assault on the poor to benefit the richest
*an assault on freedom
*an assault on the future
donmoynihan.substack.com/p/how-the-re...

How the reconciliation bill would change America

An assault on the poor, on freedom and the future

donmoynihan.substack.com

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Haiyun Damon-Feng @hdamonfeng.bsky.social · Apr 29

How do the lawyers prosecuting family regulation matters think about the nature and goals of their job? Turns out - it depends - and it doesn’t necessarily align with judgments about what’s best for the kids the system is purporting to protect. @annaarons.bsky.social new paper out in Penn Law Review

Anna Arons @annaarons.bsky.social · Apr 28

My paper, Prosecuting Families, is out! As with so many good ideas, it began when a prosecutor said something to me in court that enraged me--this time, "Don't blame me, Ms. Arons, I'm just doing my job!" as she sought to separate 2 tiny kids from their mom. scholarship.law.upenn.edu/penn_law_rev...

Prosecuting Families

Hundreds of thousands of parents are prosecuted in the family regulation system each year. Their cases are investigated by family regulation agencies and prosecuted by lawyers employed by the governme...

scholarship.law.upenn.edu

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Ryan Goodman @rgoodlaw.bsky.social · Apr 18

1/2 On left:

Trump administration might have just moved detainees from SD Texas to ND Texas to deport them under Alien Enemies Act Proclamation

On right:

Standing SD Texas judicial order prohibiting detainees removal from SD Texas under the Alien Enemies Act Proclamation

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Haiyun Damon-Feng @hdamonfeng.bsky.social · Apr 14

In a forthcoming article, I explain how this program - ISAP - works as a form of “conscripted surveillance,” forcing immigrants into oppressive conditions of carceral control that turn them into beacons of community surveillance, giving ICE info that can be used for mass arrests and deportations.

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Haiyun Damon-Feng @hdamonfeng.bsky.social · Apr 14

Today, the @nytimes.com published an article on how the GEO Group - one of the world’s largest for-profit prison companies - provides ICE with mass immigration surveillance services.

How Geo Group’s Surveillance Tech Is Aiding Trump’s Immigration Agenda (Gift Article)

Geo Group, a private prison firm that makes digital tools to track immigrants, becomes one of the Trump administration’s big business winners as its tech is increasingly used in deportations.

www.nytimes.com

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Nick Miroff @nickmiroff.bsky.social · Apr 1

BREAKING: Trump admin says it mistakenly deported a Maryland father who had *withholding of removal* back to El Salvador on March 15. Govt told court Monday it won't bring Kilmar Abrego Garcia back. "What.The.Fuck..." one govt attorney told me. www.theatlantic.com/politics/arc... @theatlantic.com

An ‘Administrative Error’ Sends a Maryland Father to a Salvadoran Prison

The Trump administration says it mistakenly deported an immigrant with protected status but that courts are powerless to order his return.

www.theatlantic.com

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The New York Times @nytimes.com · Mar 28

Breaking News: The law firm Jenner & Block sued the Trump administration, making it the second firm recently targeted by President Trump to fight back in court.

Jenner & Block Sues to Stop Trump’s Executive Order Against Law Firm

President Trump has targeted big law firms that he said have “weaponized” the legal system.

www.nytimes.com

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Drew Harwell @drewharwell.com · Mar 26

Homeland Security secretary Kristi Noem making content in front of the imprisoned men of El Salvador's notorious Terrorism Confinement Center mega-prison www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2...

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All In with Chris Hayes @allinwithchris.bsky.social · Mar 27

"A terrified young student, snatched off the street by a masked police force taken thousands of miles across the country without anyone knowing. It is as flatly authoritarian as anything we have ever seen in this country," says @chrislhayes.bsky.social on Tufts student Rumeysa Ozturk's detention.

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Chris Hayes @chrislhayes.bsky.social · Mar 26

This guy is in one of the worst prisons in the world with no way out and may spend the rest of his life there because, it appears, he has an autism awareness tattoo in honor of his little brother.

www.motherjones.com/politics/202...

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Jamal Greene @jamalgreene.bsky.social · Mar 25

The President does not have the constitutional or statutory authority to dictate the content of voter registration forms. This EO is an incredibly dangerous power grab. www.whitehouse.gov/presidential...

Preserving and Protecting the Integrity of American Elections

By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, it is hereby ordered: Section 1. Purpose and

www.whitehouse.gov

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Justin Baragona @justinbaragona.bsky.social · Mar 24

And here we go -- Fox News is now saying we should get rid of "due process" because it's too cumbersome.

Brian Kilmeade: "But I also think it's not practical to think that we can do due process on 8 million people."

www.mediamatters.org/brian-kilmea...

Fox's Brian Kilmeade: “It's not practical to think that we can do due process on 8 million people” Co-host Lawrence Jones: Constitutional rights “are afforded to illegals in this country. We should re...

www.mediamatters.org

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Chris Geidner @chrisgeidner.bsky.social · Mar 25

"While the Government enjoys significant discretion in administering [the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program], that discretion does not extend to abandoning statutory obligations or rendering the program effectively inoperative."

Opinion and order: storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...

1. INTRODUCTION
2
This matter comes before the Court on Plaintiffs' Motion for Preliminary
3
Injunction on Supplemental Pleading. Dkt. No. 57. After carefully reviewing the
4
Parties' briefing, the record, and the law, the Court grants Plaintiffs additional
5
preliminary relief as stated below.
6
Through this lawsuit, Plaintiffs challenge Executive Order 14163,
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"Realigning the United States Refugee Admissions Program," and various agency
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actions that have effectively dismantled USRAP's infrastructure. Hours after this
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Court enjoined implementation of the USRAP Executive Order, Secretary of State
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Marco Rubio began terminating every resettlement agency cooperative agreement
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for domestic reception and placement services and all but one agreement for
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USRAP processing support abroad. The Termination Notices offered a single
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rationale: the agreements "no longer effectuate agency priorities."

Administrative law rests on the foundational principle that agencies must act
within the bounds of their statutory authority and provide reasoned explanations
for their actions. Plaintiffs have made a strong showing that the Government's
termination of these agreements violates these basic requirements and contravenes
Congress's express mandate to establish a "permanent and systematic procedure" for refugee admission and resettlement. While the Government enjoys significant
discretion in administering USRAP, that discretion does not extend to abandoning statutory obligations or rendering the program effectively inoperative. The
Government's sudden termination of decades-old agreements without reasoned
explanation likely constitutes arbitrary and capricious action that must be set
aside. Without immediate relief, refugees remain stranded abroad, families
separated, and resettlement agencies shuttered.

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Chris Geidner @chrisgeidner.bsky.social · Mar 25

BREAKING: After a federal judge issued an injunction ending the refugee resettlement funding freeze, Rubio just started terminating all of the contracts. Judge Jamal Whitehead issues a follow-on injunction tonight ordering the terminated agreements reinstated unless Rubio actually follows the law.

(c) Defendants are ordered to reinstate all cooperative agreements terminated pursuant to the Termination Notices to their status as they existed immediately before February 26, 2025, including but not limited to agreements to provide reception and placement services and to provide USRAP processing support abroad.
(d) Defendants are prohibited from terminating any USRAP cooperative agreements without complying with applicable statutory requirements
and administrative procedures mandated by the Administrative
Procedure Act, as described herein.

Defendants' attorneys shall submit a status report detailing their efforts to comply with this Court's preliminary injunction on the supplemental pleadings by March 31, 2025, and the Parties shall submit a joint status report on the steps taken to comply with the
Court's preliminary injunction on the supplemental pleadings by
April 7, 2025.
(g) No security bond is required under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure
65(c).
(h) This preliminary injunction remains in effect pending further orders from this Court.
It is so ORDERED.
Dated this 24th day of March, 2025.
Cal it
amal N. Whitehead
United States District Judge

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Joshua J. Friedman @joshuajfriedman.com · Mar 24

NEW: The Trump administration invokes the state-secrets privilege, saying it will give Judge Boasberg no more information about deportation flights to inform his decision about whether the gov't defied his orders storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...

NOTICE INVOKING STATE SECRETS PRIVILEGE
The Executive Branch hereby notifies the Court that no further information will be
provided in response to the Court's March 18, 2025 Minute Order based on the state secrets privilege and the concurrently filed declarations of the Secretary of State and the Secretary of
Homeland Security.
This is a case about the President's plenary authority, derived from Article II and the
mandate of the electorate, and reinforced by longstanding statute, to remove from the homeland designated terrorists participating in a state-sponsored invasion of, and predatory incursion into, the United States. The Court has all of the facts it needs to address the compliance issues before
it. Further intrusions on the Executive Branch would present dangerous and wholly unwarranted separation-of-powers harms with respect to diplomatic and national security concerns that the
Court lacks competence to address.
Accordingly, the states secrets privilege forecloses further
demands for details that have no place in this matter, and the government will address the Court's order to show cause tomorrow by demonstrating that there is no basis for the suggestion of non-
compliance with any binding order.

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Chris Geidner @chrisgeidner.bsky.social · Mar 22

Here is Trump's full memo to Bondi and Noem lashing out at the legal system, which includes significant attention on immigration litigation: www.documentcloud.org/documents/25...

032125-TrumpMemo-Lawyers

www.documentcloud.org

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All In with Chris Hayes @allinwithchris.bsky.social · Mar 22

Federal judges are increasingly at their wits' end with the disingenuous, bad faith representations of the Trump administration in court. Today, one judge told DOJ lawyers, “The court is not going to be gaslit."

Judge smacks down Trump DOJ: This court will not be ‘gaslit’

YouTube video by MSNBC

www.youtube.com

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Aaron Reichlin-Melnick @reichlinmelnick.bsky.social · Mar 21

WHOA. On March 15, a Cornell PhD student with UK and Gambian citizenship, here on a student visa, filed a lawsuit seeking to overturn Trump's EO aimed at foreign students accused of "antisemitism.

Last night, the DOJ emailed asking him to come to ICE to be detained and put into removal proceedings.

Last night at 12:52 AM, the Department of Justice contacted the undersigned via email. Under the subject line “Momodou Taal et al v. Trump, 25-cv-335 (NDNY),” the government informed the undersigned for the first time that the government intended to serve Mr. Taal with a Notice to Appear (NTA), and that they intended to take Mr. Taal into the custody of Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Given that this information confirms the factual basis for Plaintiffs’ request for an emergency temporary restraining order, ECF No. 23, and the increased urgency with which the Court’s intervention is needed, we respectfully request the Court construe this letter as any procedurally appropriate vehicle to obtain the same. Plaintiffs’ counsel is immediately available to follow up with any submissions the Court deems appropriate in this extraordinary situation. Attached to this letter is an affidavit from Counsel Eric Lee (Exhibit 4), the government’s 12:52 AM email (Exhibit 5), and Plaintiffs’ counsel’s reply (Exhibit 6). The email reads: My colleagues and I represent the United States in this matter. The applications for admission of Messrs. Stone, Moss, and myself to the bar of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of New York are pending, so we have not noticed our appearances yet. But we wanted to reach out to establish a line of communication, and relate some information concerning your client. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has asked us to convey to you the following. ICE invites Mr. Taal and his counsel to appear in-person at the HSI Office in Syracuse at a mutually agreeable time for personal service of the NTA and for Mr. Taal to surrender to ICE custody. Accordingly, if you are interested in proposing such a date and time, we will promptly forward it to ICE for consideration

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Steve Vladeck @stevevladeck.bsky.social · Mar 20

In @nytopinion.nytimes.com, me on “The Tom and Daisy Presidency,” and how there’s only so much courts can do, especially under current law, when at least part of the administration’s goal is to break things—and “let other people clean up the mess they had made.”

www.nytimes.com/2025/03/20/o...

Opinion | Trump Is Breaking Things. They Can’t All Be Fixed by the Courts. (Gift Article)

Trump’s goal isn’t necessarily to win. It’s to break it all.

www.nytimes.com

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Aaron Reichlin-Melnick @reichlinmelnick.bsky.social · Mar 20

Rubio’s position seems to be:

- We get to say who is a terrorist. Our decision is final. It can’t be challenged. Just trust us.
- Once we decide you are a terrorist, we can immediately deport you. No judges.
- After we deport you, we can make you rot in a foreign prison. No criminal charges needed.

Aaron Reichlin-Melnick @reichlinmelnick.bsky.social · Mar 20

On Hugh Hewitt’s show, Marco Rubio says El Salvador is “housing” people sent by the US. But he never says on what possible legal authority? These people haven’t committed any crime in El Salvador and by their own admission “many” have never committed a crime in the US. It all seems entirely lawless.

$And then we have Tren de Aragua, organized gang members and alien enemies inside the United States who are being housed by him in an excellent prison system that he has at a fraction of the cost of what it would cost to house them here in the United States. It is a matter that we've made. It's a foreign policy matter. And it's one that we weren't going to go back on, because we make arrangements with foreign leaders. That's the conduct of foreign policy. We can't have judges running the foreign policy.$

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Jameel Jaffer @jameeljaffer.bsky.social · Mar 20

“Linked to pro-Palestinian views” is apparently now grounds for arrest and due-process-free deportation.

Josh Gerstein @joshgerstein.bsky.social · Mar 19

SCOOP: Hooded ICE agents snatched Indian-born Georgetown postdoc Badar Suri from Rosslyn street Monday, per court filing. Like Khalil, linked to pro-Palestinian views & Rubio 'foreign policy' power, lawyer says. Then whisked to Louisiana. w/ @kyledcheney www.politico.com/news/2025/03...

Trump is seeking to deport another graduate student who is legally in the country, lawsuit says

Badar Khan Suri, a fellow at Georgetown, says he is being punished because of the suspected views of his wife, a U.S. citizen with Palestinian heritage.

www.politico.com

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Elizabeth Joh @elizabethjoh.bsky.social · Mar 20

CAN’T DO THAT

Kyle Griffin @kylegriffin1.bsky.social · Mar 19

Reuters: TRUMP TO SIGN EXECUTIVE ORDER DIRECTING CLOSURE OF DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION- WHITE HOUSE FACT SHEET

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evacide @evacide.bsky.social · Mar 19

If you're critical of the US government and you are planning to cross the US border any time soon, today is a good day to review EFF's border search pocket guide: www.eff.org/document/eff...

EFF Border Search Pocket Guide

border-pocket-guide-2.pdf

www.eff.org

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Lauren Ashley Davis @laurenmeidasa.bsky.social · Mar 20

BREAKING 🚨 🚨 🚨

French scientist denied US entry after phone messages critical of Trump found

France’s research minister said the scientist was traveling to Houston for a conference when his phone was searched

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

French scientist denied US entry after phone messages critical of Trump found

France’s research minister said the scientist was traveling to Houston for a conference when his phone was searched

www.theguardian.com

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