Thi Bui
@teabuoy.bsky.social
Writer, artist, cartoonist, educator.
thibui.com
thibui.com
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Thi Bui
@teabuoy.bsky.social
· Nov 21
Hey researchers with ICE data. I’m a cartoonist who is also a nerd about politics, law, justice, and fighting fascism. If you have info and analyses that would be good to visualize into an infographic or short comic to inform the public, hit me up. Let’s Voltron.
Some history on ICE and how it impacts Southeast Asians. And a crucial intersection of Black History and Asian American history. With deep gratitude for the activists of the Civil Rights Movement, who paved the way for the struggle today.
open.substack.com/pub/teabuoy/...
open.substack.com/pub/teabuoy/...
How Did We Get Here?
ICE was bad even before Trump turned it into the Gestapo. Also, we owe deep gratitude to Black History.
open.substack.com
February 15, 2026 at 10:49 PM
Some history on ICE and how it impacts Southeast Asians. And a crucial intersection of Black History and Asian American history. With deep gratitude for the activists of the Civil Rights Movement, who paved the way for the struggle today.
open.substack.com/pub/teabuoy/...
open.substack.com/pub/teabuoy/...
Reposted by Thi Bui
This is one reason we put out a huge report in 2024 analyzing the actual costs of mass deportation! Everyone was talking in the abstract and we tried to make it real. www.americanimmigrationcouncil.org/report/mass-...
February 14, 2026 at 2:19 PM
This is one reason we put out a huge report in 2024 analyzing the actual costs of mass deportation! Everyone was talking in the abstract and we tried to make it real. www.americanimmigrationcouncil.org/report/mass-...
Reposted by Thi Bui
My Trump-supporting cousin-in-law just texted my husband to say he encountered this Mother Jones on social media, read it, realized I wrote it, and told him to tell me I’m doing good work and to keep going.
Things are changing, y’all.
www.motherjones.com/politics/202...
Things are changing, y’all.
www.motherjones.com/politics/202...
ICE deportation flights are getting longer and crueler
A private equity–owned airline profits off Trump’s migrant crackdown.
www.motherjones.com
February 14, 2026 at 4:54 PM
My Trump-supporting cousin-in-law just texted my husband to say he encountered this Mother Jones on social media, read it, realized I wrote it, and told him to tell me I’m doing good work and to keep going.
Things are changing, y’all.
www.motherjones.com/politics/202...
Things are changing, y’all.
www.motherjones.com/politics/202...
Reposted by Thi Bui
"A surge of children in ICE detention."
"Plus, your Friday news quiz."
That's… quite a journey.
"Plus, your Friday news quiz."
That's… quite a journey.
February 14, 2026 at 9:21 PM
"A surge of children in ICE detention."
"Plus, your Friday news quiz."
That's… quite a journey.
"Plus, your Friday news quiz."
That's… quite a journey.
Reposted by Thi Bui
Bob Kuttner has some news here: Democrats offered to fund all of DHS except ICE and CBP, while negotiations continued on reforms. Republicans rejected that.
prospect.org/2026/02/13/i...
prospect.org/2026/02/13/i...
Isolating ICE - The American Prospect
Democrats offered a way out of the Department of Homeland Security shutdown, but Republicans refused to play. What now?
prospect.org
February 13, 2026 at 9:19 PM
Bob Kuttner has some news here: Democrats offered to fund all of DHS except ICE and CBP, while negotiations continued on reforms. Republicans rejected that.
prospect.org/2026/02/13/i...
prospect.org/2026/02/13/i...
Mardi Gras photo essay on dopamine, the short hits and burnout, and the longterm, good dopamine that is the reward for hard work and discipline.
open.substack.com/pub/teabuoy/...
open.substack.com/pub/teabuoy/...
February 10, 2026 at 4:29 PM
Mardi Gras photo essay on dopamine, the short hits and burnout, and the longterm, good dopamine that is the reward for hard work and discipline.
open.substack.com/pub/teabuoy/...
open.substack.com/pub/teabuoy/...
New essay up: What you won’t fight for could actually disappear. A warning against premature grief.
open.substack.com/pub/teabuoy/...
open.substack.com/pub/teabuoy/...
February 7, 2026 at 7:51 PM
New essay up: What you won’t fight for could actually disappear. A warning against premature grief.
open.substack.com/pub/teabuoy/...
open.substack.com/pub/teabuoy/...
Trump has set the new cap for refugees accepted in FY 2026 at 7,500, a 94% reduction from 2025. Most of these spots for white Afrikaners from South Africa. Meanwhile, about the same number of children are being held in immigrant detention centers in the US.
open.substack.com/pub/teabuoy/...
open.substack.com/pub/teabuoy/...
The Problem with Being the Center of the World
An American delusion with disastrous impact
open.substack.com
February 4, 2026 at 2:46 PM
Trump has set the new cap for refugees accepted in FY 2026 at 7,500, a 94% reduction from 2025. Most of these spots for white Afrikaners from South Africa. Meanwhile, about the same number of children are being held in immigrant detention centers in the US.
open.substack.com/pub/teabuoy/...
open.substack.com/pub/teabuoy/...
Reposted by Thi Bui
Alaska officials gave false info to American Samoans, telling them they can vote. (They can’t, due to having a unique status among anyone born in a US state or territory.)
Now the state is threatening them with years in prison, part of GOP’s voting fraud panic.
Months of reporting in this story:
Now the state is threatening them with years in prison, part of GOP’s voting fraud panic.
Months of reporting in this story:
Americans by Name, Punished for Believing It - Bolts
In a small Alaska town, American Samoans face prosecution for voting in the only country they’ve ever known. They live in a limbo, created by colonial expansion, that now confuses even public official...
boltsmag.org
February 1, 2026 at 6:45 PM
Alaska officials gave false info to American Samoans, telling them they can vote. (They can’t, due to having a unique status among anyone born in a US state or territory.)
Now the state is threatening them with years in prison, part of GOP’s voting fraud panic.
Months of reporting in this story:
Now the state is threatening them with years in prison, part of GOP’s voting fraud panic.
Months of reporting in this story:
Reposted by Thi Bui
Translated "it's fine if they're slaves or indentured servants"
January 31, 2026 at 4:43 PM
Translated "it's fine if they're slaves or indentured servants"
Reposted by Thi Bui
insisting on calling every mass day of protest or one-day boycott a "general strike" is not the move. it's good to see people rallying around the cause, it matters, but if you want to be part of a large-scale labor action that shuts down the gears of capital, start by unionizing your workplace!!!
January 30, 2026 at 6:39 PM
insisting on calling every mass day of protest or one-day boycott a "general strike" is not the move. it's good to see people rallying around the cause, it matters, but if you want to be part of a large-scale labor action that shuts down the gears of capital, start by unionizing your workplace!!!
ICE are body snatchers, not law enforcement.
A legal asylum-seeker who works at Chipotle and plays music at a church in Maine went missing. His pastor searched and searched, eventually finding his abandoned car with the keys on the floor.
ICE grabbed him. No criminal record. No explanation.
ICE grabbed him. No criminal record. No explanation.
January 29, 2026 at 7:44 PM
ICE are body snatchers, not law enforcement.
THEY ARE BUILDING A WAR MACHINE
And it’s your money being spent. Tens of billions of our taxpayer dollars are going to ICE and Border Patrol. We should all be asking the question, what is this dramatic increase in spending for, exactly?
And it’s your money being spent. Tens of billions of our taxpayer dollars are going to ICE and Border Patrol. We should all be asking the question, what is this dramatic increase in spending for, exactly?
They Are Building a War Machine
This was never really about immigration.
substack.com
January 27, 2026 at 1:47 PM
THEY ARE BUILDING A WAR MACHINE
And it’s your money being spent. Tens of billions of our taxpayer dollars are going to ICE and Border Patrol. We should all be asking the question, what is this dramatic increase in spending for, exactly?
And it’s your money being spent. Tens of billions of our taxpayer dollars are going to ICE and Border Patrol. We should all be asking the question, what is this dramatic increase in spending for, exactly?
Reposted by Thi Bui
After training was cut from five months to 42 days, 1,200 new ICE officers with no prior LEO experience have already gotten their badge and a gun.
ICE had ~6,000 deportation officers in Jan. 2025. A year later, 4,200 new deportation officers have since completed training and 800 retirees came back.
ICE had ~6,000 deportation officers in Jan. 2025. A year later, 4,200 new deportation officers have since completed training and 800 retirees came back.
January 26, 2026 at 10:56 PM
After training was cut from five months to 42 days, 1,200 new ICE officers with no prior LEO experience have already gotten their badge and a gun.
ICE had ~6,000 deportation officers in Jan. 2025. A year later, 4,200 new deportation officers have since completed training and 800 retirees came back.
ICE had ~6,000 deportation officers in Jan. 2025. A year later, 4,200 new deportation officers have since completed training and 800 retirees came back.
Reposted by Thi Bui
List of Republicans in Congress and governorships who have spoken out on the Trump-Vance admin's masked agents that have beaten and kidnapped thousands of people & executed at least 2 Americans, including a VA nurse:
8/297
2.7%
8/297
2.7%
January 26, 2026 at 10:54 PM
List of Republicans in Congress and governorships who have spoken out on the Trump-Vance admin's masked agents that have beaten and kidnapped thousands of people & executed at least 2 Americans, including a VA nurse:
8/297
2.7%
8/297
2.7%
Reposted by Thi Bui
Running list of athletes who have spoken out or taken action amid the Trump-Vance administration spending billions of US tax dollars on masked agents who have racially profiled, beaten, and kidnapped thousands of people — and murdered Renee Nicole Good and Alex Pretti:
January 27, 2026 at 12:05 AM
Running list of athletes who have spoken out or taken action amid the Trump-Vance administration spending billions of US tax dollars on masked agents who have racially profiled, beaten, and kidnapped thousands of people — and murdered Renee Nicole Good and Alex Pretti:
Bye, fucker
BREAKING Greg Bovino has been removed as Border Patrol "commander at large" and will return to El Centro Calif, where he is expected to retire soon. A stunning turnaround after Pretti killing. Bovino's traveling blue city crackdown is over www.theatlantic.com/politics/202...
Gregory Bovino Gets Demoted
The Border Patrol chief was the public face of a traveling immigration crackdown on cities governed by Democrats.
www.theatlantic.com
January 27, 2026 at 12:10 AM
Bye, fucker
Reposted by Thi Bui
Pam Bondi's letter to MN Governor Tim Walz—outlining the regime's demands in exchange for, supposedly, ramping down ICE presence/terror in the streets—is basically a mob shakedown to get a state to hand over all info about voters as well as Medicaid & SNAP recipients share.google/W97mgTeYuKWv...
Read Bondi’s Letter to Minnesota’s Governor
Attorney General Pam Bondi sent a letter to Gov. Tim Walz of Minnesota on Saturday that blamed him and other Democratic officials for allowing “lawlessness” in the state. It was not immediately clear ...
share.google
January 25, 2026 at 5:29 PM
Pam Bondi's letter to MN Governor Tim Walz—outlining the regime's demands in exchange for, supposedly, ramping down ICE presence/terror in the streets—is basically a mob shakedown to get a state to hand over all info about voters as well as Medicaid & SNAP recipients share.google/W97mgTeYuKWv...
Reposted by Thi Bui
It's also about convincing you that they impose reality and that they are the final arbiters of truth. Hence the importance of continuing to name reality and truth ourselves, at every single turn, with all that is available to us.
Every lie told by this regime, no matter how brazen, shocking, or dehumanizing, makes perfect sense when I think about their claim that immigrants were eating pets in Ohio. It's not about evidence or credibility, it's about pushing narratives to facilitate ethnic cleansing.
January 24, 2026 at 11:15 PM
It's also about convincing you that they impose reality and that they are the final arbiters of truth. Hence the importance of continuing to name reality and truth ourselves, at every single turn, with all that is available to us.
Reposted by Thi Bui
An insane, perfect encapsulation of it all:
The same day Trump’s agents kill a Veterans Affairs ICU nurse in broad daylight, the CEOs of Apple and Amazon join Trump to watch a private screening of a film about his wife directed by an alleged sexual abuser who was seen shirtless in the Epstein Files
The same day Trump’s agents kill a Veterans Affairs ICU nurse in broad daylight, the CEOs of Apple and Amazon join Trump to watch a private screening of a film about his wife directed by an alleged sexual abuser who was seen shirtless in the Epstein Files
January 25, 2026 at 3:28 AM
An insane, perfect encapsulation of it all:
The same day Trump’s agents kill a Veterans Affairs ICU nurse in broad daylight, the CEOs of Apple and Amazon join Trump to watch a private screening of a film about his wife directed by an alleged sexual abuser who was seen shirtless in the Epstein Files
The same day Trump’s agents kill a Veterans Affairs ICU nurse in broad daylight, the CEOs of Apple and Amazon join Trump to watch a private screening of a film about his wife directed by an alleged sexual abuser who was seen shirtless in the Epstein Files
Reposted by Thi Bui
Had limited access to my phone all morning. Came back and reviewed multiple videos of the killing of Alex Pretti.
It was an execution. He did not pose a threat. He was on the ground and his gun was taken from its holster by one officer. Then he was shot multiple times and killed by another.
It was an execution. He did not pose a threat. He was on the ground and his gun was taken from its holster by one officer. Then he was shot multiple times and killed by another.
January 24, 2026 at 9:12 PM
Had limited access to my phone all morning. Came back and reviewed multiple videos of the killing of Alex Pretti.
It was an execution. He did not pose a threat. He was on the ground and his gun was taken from its holster by one officer. Then he was shot multiple times and killed by another.
It was an execution. He did not pose a threat. He was on the ground and his gun was taken from its holster by one officer. Then he was shot multiple times and killed by another.
Reposted by Thi Bui
He was a nurse.
The Strib has identified him. Alex Pretti. Another 37-year-old executed for standing up for our immigrant neighbors. For shame.
www.startribune.com/ice-raids-mi...
www.startribune.com/ice-raids-mi...
January 24, 2026 at 6:55 PM
He was a nurse.
Reposted by Thi Bui
Trump & Vance’s agents saw tens of thousands of people — of all ages & races — come out *in below zero temperatures* to protest their tax-funded violence, their murder of their neighbor.
And the very next day, they executed another one.
What can Americans conclude from this?
And the very next day, they executed another one.
What can Americans conclude from this?
January 24, 2026 at 4:31 PM
Trump & Vance’s agents saw tens of thousands of people — of all ages & races — come out *in below zero temperatures* to protest their tax-funded violence, their murder of their neighbor.
And the very next day, they executed another one.
What can Americans conclude from this?
And the very next day, they executed another one.
What can Americans conclude from this?
Reposted by Thi Bui
There’s an extremely disturbing video showing heavily armed agents wrestling a person to the ground in a struggle, then shooting him multiple times after he was on the ground, then seeming to walk away from him.
January 24, 2026 at 4:18 PM
There’s an extremely disturbing video showing heavily armed agents wrestling a person to the ground in a struggle, then shooting him multiple times after he was on the ground, then seeming to walk away from him.
Reposted by Thi Bui
Thousands outside Terminal 1 at the Minneapolis airport now.
January 23, 2026 at 3:59 PM
Thousands outside Terminal 1 at the Minneapolis airport now.