Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Sarah Pierce @sarahpierce.bsky.social · 7d

Homeland Security Investigations has played a leading role in combatting human trafficking, but President Trump re-wrote the agency’s mission on day 1 to focus instead on his deportation quota.

This is not an administration that is serious about public safety.

www.nytimes.com/2025/10/04/a...

Kristi Noem Says ICE Will Be ‘All Over’ the Super Bowl

www.nytimes.com

Sarah Pierce @sarahpierce.bsky.social · 7d

Human trafficking spikes at events like the Super Bowl. Yet this admin is deploying ICE to arrest “illegal aliens” in response to a halftime performance.

They’ve pulled officers who fight trafficking to instead do civil immigration enforcement—a perfect snapshot of their broken priorities.

Screen shot of a NY Times article entitled “Kristi Noem says ICE will be ‘all over’ the Super Bowl”

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Reposted by Sarah Pierce

Sarah Pierce @sarahpierce.bsky.social · 13d

Excited to share my first piece with @thirdway.bsky.social: breaking down what “sanctuary” really means—and why the Trump admin’s narrative doesn’t match reality.

Spoiler: every jurisdiction in America helps ICE. Here’s the real story ⬇️

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Reposted by Sarah Pierce

ProPublica @propublica.org · 10d

NEW: ProPublica obtained records from the Department of Agriculture that detail the millions of pounds of food, down to the number of eggs, that never reached food banks because of the Trump administration’s cuts to an aid program.

Trump Canceled 94 Million Pounds of Food Aid. Here’s What Never Arrived.

ProPublica obtained records from the Department of Agriculture that detail the millions of pounds of food, down to the number of eggs, that never reached food banks because of the administration’s cut...

projects.propublica.org

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Reposted by Sarah Pierce

Aura Bogado @aurabogado.bsky.social · 11d

Shelters that house unaccompanied minors are bracing for "Freaky Friday," the start of an ICE operation that will first issue letters to children, seeking to pressure them to return to the countries they've fled in exchange for a cash payment. If they decline, their parents will be targeted by ICE.

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Sarah Pierce @sarahpierce.bsky.social · 11d

This is horrific.

The harder it gets for the Trump admin to reach their arrest & deportation quotas, the more ruthless their pressure for self-deportation will get.

This time? They’re trying to get kids to self-deport.

Aura Bogado @aurabogado.bsky.social · 11d

Shelters that house unaccompanied minors are bracing for "Freaky Friday," the start of an ICE operation that will first issue letters to children, seeking to pressure them to return to the countries they've fled in exchange for a cash payment. If they decline, their parents will be targeted by ICE.

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Reposted by Sarah Pierce

Melissa Ryan @melissaryan.bsky.social · 11d

I always pay attention to what stories People Magazine and other consumer media outlets cover. That's how you can tell that something has broken through the usual political and news bubbles. This horrific Chicago story has broken through. people.com/ice-agents-o...

ICE Agents Rappel from Helicopter in Overnight Chicago Raid, Dragging Kids from Beds to U-Hauls

Overnight on Tuesday, Sept. 30, federal agents from different agencies raided an apartment building on the South Side of Chicago, pulling men, women and children — some of them allegedly naked — from ...

people.com

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Sarah Pierce @sarahpierce.bsky.social · 11d

Democrats should just start carrying Cava bags everywhere. Nonstop.

Sarah Pierce @sarahpierce.bsky.social · 11d

This is a great piece throughout, but these are the numbers that will continue to live rent-free in my head:

"In 2017, [Homan] declared assets totaling a maximum of just $250,000 on his ethics disclosures...

By 2025, his net worth had grown to between $3 million to $9 million..."

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Sarah Pierce @sarahpierce.bsky.social · 11d

Even before the $45 billion for detention money started leaving the government, Trump officials were already self-dealing.

When contract bidders hire someone with direct ties to the border czar to ‘help win work,’ that’s not innovation — it’s corruption.

Mica Rosenberg @micarosenberg.bsky.social · 12d

NEW: This story by Avi Asher-Shapiro and Jeff Ernsthausen and me looks inside several tent companies push to cash in on the Trump administration's deportation campaign and how they hired a consultant with ties to Tom Homan who would become the border czar www.propublica.org/article/tom-...

Trading on Tom Homan: Inside the Push to Cash in on the Trump Administration’s Deportation Campaign

A Pennsylvania businessman who had Tom Homan on his payroll led companies to believe his connections to the future border czar could help advance their bids for government work, industry executives sa...

www.propublica.org

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Reposted by Sarah Pierce

Anjali Enjeti @anjalienjeti.bsky.social · 11d

My god.

“Watson said she saw agents dragging residents, including kids, out of the building without any clothes on and into U-Haul vans. Kids were separated from their mothers…’It was heartbreaking to watch…seeing kids coming out buck naked and taken from their mothers, it was horrible.’”

Massive immigration raid on Chicago apartment building leaves residents reeling: 'I feel defeated'

The Department of Homeland Security said federal agents with Border Patrol, the FBI and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives arrested 37 people in the raid.

chicago.suntimes.com

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Reposted by Sarah Pierce

Aaron Reichlin-Melnick @reichlinmelnick.bsky.social · 11d

Surreal moment for America. Needless to say, if the normal police ever pulled something like this — pulling every single person out of an apartment building and handcuffing them to run warrant checks — they would be sued into oblivion.

Yet ICE is going to get away with it entirely.

"It was scary, because I had never had a gun in my face," Fisher said. "They asked my name and my date of birth and asked me, did I have any warrants? And I told them, 'No, 'Ididn't."
Fisher said she was handcuffed before being released around 3 a.m., and she was told that if anyone had any kind of warrant out for them, even if it was unrelated to immigration, they would not be released.

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Sarah Pierce @sarahpierce.bsky.social · 13d

Bottom line—Sanctuary is a misnomer.

These jurisdictions are engaged in thoughtful, locally tailored participation designed to protect safety, resources, & trust—they shouldn't be subject to political theater.

Read my first piece with @thirdway.bsky.social here: www.thirdway.org/memo/sanctua...

Third Way

www.thirdway.org

Sarah Pierce @sarahpierce.bsky.social · 13d

This piece reframes the debate:

⚖️ The question isn’t whether “sanctuaries” enforce immigration law—they do

The real question: Why does the admin shame jurisdictions that set reasonable limits on the time they divert from public safety priorities to carry out the fed gov's job?

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Sarah Pierce @sarahpierce.bsky.social · 13d

The administration has also supercharged 287(g) agreements—deputizing local police as ICE agents.

Agreements have exploded from 135 to 1,036 in Trump’s 2nd term.

60% are under the Task Force Model—once discontinued after racial profiling & civil rights abuses.

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Sarah Pierce @sarahpierce.bsky.social · 13d

Meanwhile, the admin has or wants to deploy the National Guard to places like Portland, Chicago, and DC—framed as cracking down on “sanctuaries.”

That’s not about public safety. It’s about power: forcing local law enforcement into becoming a national immigration force.

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Sarah Pierce @sarahpierce.bsky.social · 13d

So-called “sanctuaries” also:
• Comply with ICE transfer requests backed by judicial warrants
• Often allow ICE into jails for interviews

The Trump admin paints these jurisdictions as obstacles—but they’re already deeply embedded in enforcement systems.

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Sarah Pierce @sarahpierce.bsky.social · 13d

Here’s the part no one discusses:

👉 Every jurisdiction shares fingerprints with the FBI, which are auto checked against DHS databases & ICE.

This happens everywhere—even in so-called “sanctuaries”

It used to require opt-in programs like Secure Communities. Now it’s universal.

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Sarah Pierce @sarahpierce.bsky.social · 13d

The White House brands “sanctuary" jurisdictions as lawless havens.

But no state or city blocks federal enforcement. Local police simply decide how & when to aid ICE—balancing:
• Scarce resources
• Community trust
• Local safety priorities

That’s smart law enforcement.

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Sarah Pierce @sarahpierce.bsky.social · 13d

Excited to share my first piece with @thirdway.bsky.social: breaking down what “sanctuary” really means—and why the Trump admin’s narrative doesn’t match reality.

Spoiler: every jurisdiction in America helps ICE. Here’s the real story ⬇️

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Sarah Pierce @sarahpierce.bsky.social · 24d

Caveat to say Obama's numbers were largely focused on the border & Trump's are in the interior-- completely different types of enforcement with different resource requirements.

But the admin has shown so much sensitivity to the comparison that it is obvious they're incentivized by it regardless.

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Sarah Pierce @sarahpierce.bsky.social · 24d

This is also a frightening sign of what is to come.

If diverting TENS OF THOUSANDS of federal law enforcement officers to deportations & causing mass distress with nonstop at-large arrests is still keeping them at numbers well below their goas & Obama's numbers... what will they do next?

Aaron Reichlin-Melnick @reichlinmelnick.bsky.social · 24d

NEW: Unsurprisingly, Kristi Noem extends the "mass influx" declaration authorizing it to deputize local police for ICE.

Buried in the notice is new official data on ICE removals, showing 145k removal from Oct. 2024 to Sept. 8. This is substantially lower than previous figures leaked to the press.

Fourth, an influx of aliens presents significant concerns with respect to increased criminal activity. Between FY 2017 and 2019, ICE removed 485,930 aliens with criminal convictions or pending criminal charges. Between FY 2021 and FY 2023, ICE removed 158,931 aliens with criminal convictions or pending criminal charges. As of September 8, 2025, with 22 days left in the fiscal year, ICE removed 144,989 aliens for FY 2025. Assuming that the crime rate of aliens has remained unchanged over the year, this 67% decrease (in removals) between FY 2019 and 2021 and FY 2021 and 2023 suggests that tens of thousands of criminal aliens remain in the United States. Where there is an increase in criminal aliens, there is likely to be an increase in criminal activity. Although FY 2025 removals are tracking to well outpace the average for between FY 2021 and FY 2023, the number will still represent a 40% decrease than the average between FY 2017 and 2019. This once again shows that ICE needs to continue to prioritize the need to remove criminal aliens rather than divert resources to detain aliens recently apprehended at the Southwest border.

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Sarah Pierce @sarahpierce.bsky.social · 26d

The ticket proceeds help to support the documentary, but you can also donate here: www.documentaries.org/films/credib...

The Center for Independent Documentary (CID) | Credible Fear

www.documentaries.org

Sarah Pierce @sarahpierce.bsky.social · 26d

One week from today! Come view a sneak peek of "Credible Fear", a forthcoming feature length documentary about the asylum system, & join a discussion with @yaelschacher.bsky.social & myself.

Date: Sept 24, 6pm
Location: Immigrant Food, Ballston
Tickets: www.eventbrite.com/e/credible-f...

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Sarah Pierce @sarahpierce.bsky.social · 26d

Led by @hirono.senate.gov & @reed.senate.gov, they bring up the potential effects on military readiness & the "unavoidable" violations of the Posse Comitatus Act.

www.hirono.senate.gov/imo/media/do...

www.hirono.senate.gov

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