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vimiller.bsky.social
Violet Miller
@vimiller.bsky.social
2.8K followers 680 following 560 posts
reporter @chicago.suntimes.com
union member @cstguild.bsky.social
drummer, mediocre shortstop
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vimiller.bsky.social
Violet Miller @vimiller.bsky.social · 17d
Federal agents fired pepper balls after detaining two people in Albany Park Friday morning as the immigration blitz in Chicago continued through Halloween.

“It’s actually horrifying. ... It happens so fast. You prepare, but then you don’t know what to do.”

chicago.suntimes.com/immigration/...
A federal agent in camouflage puts his knee on a man's sternum as he detains him in a navy-colored shirt Friday in the 3200 block of West Lawrence Avenue. Protesters with their phones out confront federal agents in green and camouflage fatigues after they detained two men in the 3200 block of West Lawrence Avenue Friday, Oct. 31, 2025. A federal agent in military fatigues fires a pepper ball gun at the ground near protesters and reporters Friday in the 3200 block of West Lawrence Avenue. A uniformed Chicago police officer urges protesters back onto the sidewalk after they were standing in front of the vehicles of federal agents, who had just detained two people and fired pepper balls in the 3200 block of West Lawrence Avenue Friday, Oct. 31, 2025.
vimiller.bsky.social
Broadview's mayor said “out-of-towners” had “chosen their fists" but video shows calm before cops grab Rev Michael Woolf from the crowd.

“If they were willing to do that to clergy in broad daylight ... I can’t even imagine what they’re doing to our immigrant neighbors," said Rev Luke Harris-Ferree.
Pastors speak of brutality of arrests at hands of local cops at Broadview ICE facility
Pastor Luke Harris-Ferree and the Rev. Michael Woolf were arrested Friday while trying to meet and pray with detainees. They call on Gov. JB Pritzker to answer for the excessive use of force by police...
chicago.suntimes.com
November 17, 2025 at 5:16 PM
Reposted by Violet Miller
jaredrutecki.bsky.social
Chicago must borrow $283.3 million to cover the soaring cost of lawsuits alleging Chicago police officers committed a wide range of misconduct — including wrongful convictions and improper pursuits — as part of the city’s 2026 budget, Mayor Brandon Johnson said.
Chicago Set to Borrow $283.3M to Resolve Police Misconduct Lawsuits
It will likely cost Chicago taxpayers approximately $52 million in interest to borrow that money and pay off during the next five years, according to estimates provided to the Chicago City Council by ...
news.wttw.com
November 17, 2025 at 3:02 PM
Reposted by Violet Miller
schuba.bsky.social
Trump's Chicago deportation blitz has hinged on aggressive and forceful policing tactics: Shootings, takedowns, chokeholds, car chases, chemical munitions, etc.

To get a better sense of the scope and the impact, we mapped incidents, spoke to those affected and analyzed policy.
tinyurl.com/3nrkaw55
Tear gas, car crashes, rubber bullets: Risky tactics have driven Trump’s Chicago deportation ‘blitz’
Law enforcement experts say federal agents have displayed a lack of training and restraint. “They’re out of control,” ex-police Supt. Garry McCarthy says.
tinyurl.com
November 14, 2025 at 2:22 PM
Reposted by Violet Miller
jonseidel.bsky.social
U.S. Magistrate Judge Laura McNally has confirmed on the docket that the site visit at the ICE holding facility in Broadview went forward today.

But there wasn't much for the public to see. @vimiller.bsky.social reports that attorneys were seen walking out, chatting and leaving.
November 13, 2025 at 11:21 PM
Reposted by Violet Miller
djbyrnes1.bsky.social
Some excerpts that stood out to me from District Judge Jeff Cummings' order today, compelling the release of at least some people found to have been detained in violation of a prior consent decree limiting how and when federal immigration agents can carry out warrantless arrests.
Image text: ORDER Motion hearing held on plaintiffs’ motion for placement of potential class members on alternatives to detention, (Dckt. #219). For the reasons stated on the record in open court, and summarized in part below, the Court grants plaintiffs’ cross-motion in part and orders as follows. To begin, in the parties’ joint status reports filed on November 7, 2025, the parties report that they have agreed—after an examination of the pertinent arrest records—that 46 class members were arrested in violation of the terms of the Consent Decree and are thus entitled to relief under the Decree. (Dckt. #244 at 3–4). However, the majority of these class members have already been removed from the United States, either involuntarily or voluntarily, and only 13 of these class members remain in detention. After meeting and conferring as to the identity of these individuals, by 12:00 p.m. on November 14, 2025, defendants shall release these 13 individuals whom the parties agree were arrested in violation of the Consent Decree, remain in custody, and who are therefore subject to release “on their own recognizance without bond or conditions of release” pursuant to Section V(E)(2) of the Consent Decree. The Court stays the involuntary removal and removal for voluntary departure for these individuals until the nextbusiness day after their release from custody. This will ensure that the class members can obtain the benefit of the relief provided by the Consent Decree before they are potentially removed from the United States. Highlighted image text: More broadly, in their October 29, 2025 submission, (Dckt. #232), defendants represented that they were able to provide plaintiffs with the name, A-number, country of origin, and date of arrest for the approximately 3,000 individuals arrested from approximately June 11, 2025 through approximately October 7, 2025 (including those arrested in connection with Operation Midway Blitz). After a review of the pertinent records, defendants determined that approximately 615 of these individuals “are not subject to mandatory detention and do not have final orders of removal.” Highlighted Image text: And, overall, an estimated 60% of those who have been arrested under Operation Midway Blitz have been removed from the United States. Plaintiffs assert that many class members are choosing to voluntarily depart to escape the unsafe and unsanitary conditions that they have been subjected to while in ICE detention. Their argument is supported by a ruling in another case in this District in which the plaintiff detainees have been granted injunctive relief to avoid the irreparable harm that they have suffered and will be likely to suffer on account of the abominable conditions that they were subjected to in the ICE facility in Broadview Illinois. Highlighted image text: For these reasons, the Court will exercise its discretion to grant equitable relief under the Consent Decree. To this end, by 12:00 p.m. CST on November 14, 2025, with respect to the subset of 615 individuals discussed on the record, defendants shall provide the Court with their names and specify which of the individuals in this group have been identified by defendants as posing a “high public safety risk” if they were released. The Court further orders each individual within this group who is still detained and who does not have a “high public safety risk” designation to be released from detention upon payment of the $1,500 bond specified by 8 U.S.C. §1226(a)(2)(1) and their enrollment in ICE’s ATD program. To reiterate, as stated on the record in open court, the Court will not release from detention any foreign national who has been designated by the government as a “high public safety risk.” The Court stays its order releasing these individuals from detention until 12:00 p.m. CST on November 21, 2025. The Court also stays the involuntary removal and removal for voluntary departure for these individuals until the next business day after their release from custody
November 13, 2025 at 8:31 PM
Reposted by Violet Miller
chicago.suntimes.com
A day care teacher was released from federal immigration custody just hours after a federal judge ruled her arrest last week “unlawful."
Day care teacher released from federal immigration custody after judge rules arrest 'unlawful'
chicago.suntimes.com
November 13, 2025 at 6:20 PM
Reposted by Violet Miller
schuba.bsky.social
Chicago's Far South Side devolved into chaos when residents confronted Border Patrol agents who rammed a car to make an arrest.

The feds ultimately used tear gas to flee, despite a Chicago police leader offering to clear a path and warning that cops didn't have gas masks.
tinyurl.com/mt3sfh4j
Feds deployed tear gas on the Far South Side even after cops told them they had no gas masks, sources say
The agents deployed gas, smoke and other riot-control chemicals against residents and officers, including Chicago Police Department Deputy Chief Dan O’Connor, who had asked them not to use the gas, la...
tinyurl.com
November 13, 2025 at 5:57 PM
vimiller.bsky.social
A bond hearing for Diana Santillana Galeano is to be held by Nov. 18, answering an habeas petition.

Her attorneys say the court “recognized that Diana and scores of others like her should not be in custody indefinitely… This is an important step on Diana’s path to returning home where she belongs.”
Judge rules detention of woman taken from North Center day care 'unlawful'
The judged ordered the government hold a bond hearing Diana Santillana Galeano within the next week. She was pulled by armed federal agents on Nov. 5 from inside Rayito de Sol Spanish Immersion Early ...
chicago.suntimes.com
November 13, 2025 at 12:17 AM
Reposted by Violet Miller
theintercept.com
Trump’s campaign to quell dissent by deploying the American military to U.S. cities comes at an immense price.
Trump’s Military Occupations of U.S. Cities Cost $473 Million and Rising
Trump’s campaign to quell dissent by deploying the American military to U.S. cities comes at an immense price.
interc.pt
November 11, 2025 at 6:44 PM
Reposted by Violet Miller
aljazeera.com
Since the ceasefire took effect one month ago, Israeli attacks have killed at least 242 Palestinians and injured 622.
How many times has Israel violated the Gaza ceasefire? Here are the numbers
Since the ceasefire took effect one month ago, Israeli attacks have killed at least 242 Palestinians and injured 622.
bit.ly
November 11, 2025 at 9:30 AM
Reposted by Violet Miller
jonseidel.bsky.social
From @vanessalop.bsky.social: He worked hard to give me a home. ICE took his: How I lost my father to deportation

chicago.suntimes.com/columnists/2...
He worked hard to give me a home. ICE took his: How I lost my father to deportation
Deportation has taken away the father I once knew and given me back a person I no longer recognize.
chicago.suntimes.com
November 10, 2025 at 2:53 PM
Reposted by Violet Miller
rainesford.bsky.social
As the Trump admin creates more chaos over funding SNAP benefits, uncertainty is taking a toll. Young people I spoke to while reporting described how profoundly stressful the chaos is: "Uncertainty over SNAP delays “builds this anxiety of, ‘Well, if this is going to be taken away, what else is?’”
More Young People Will Go Hungry Without SNAP
“We’re trying to make it, but it’s been hard.”
www.teenvogue.com
November 10, 2025 at 1:45 PM
vimiller.bsky.social
Rafael Veraza was trying to leave a Sam’s Club parking lot when a federal agent drove alongside a line of cars, spraying chemical irritants occupants of the vehicles through open windows — including his 1-year-old daughter, Ariana.

“My daughter didn’t have to go through this."
1-year-old, pepper sprayed by federal agent in Cicero: 'My daughter didn't have to go through this'
Video shows federal agents spraying chemical irritants from a moving vehicle at a line of cars waiting to leave a Cicero Sam's Club on Saturday morning. The action appears to violate a judge's restric...
chicago.suntimes.com
November 9, 2025 at 11:11 PM
Reposted by Violet Miller
chicago.suntimes.com
This has been Ingrid Guanume’s chaotic routine since her husband, Brayan Plata, was detained by federal immigration agents while working a landscaping job in north suburban Skokie Wednesday afternoon.
After ICE detained her husband, Albany Park mom juggles care for 3 kids, including son with autism, newborn
chicago.suntimes.com
November 8, 2025 at 2:13 AM
Reposted by Violet Miller
kissphoria.bsky.social
Was very honored to be included in OutSmart Magazine, one of Houston's oldest LGBTQ magazines, as part of their Pride In Media series. I love Houston and I am honored to cover LGBTQ+ issues and people in Texas. www.outsmartmagazine.com/2025/11/gwen...
Chron Reporter Gwen Howerton Stays Rooted in the State She Calls Home
After finding her voice in College Station and Houston, culture reporter Gwen Howerton continues to tell stories that humanize Texas’ LGBTQ community amid political backlash and change.
www.outsmartmagazine.com
November 8, 2025 at 2:22 AM
Reposted by Violet Miller
jonseidel.bsky.social
Magistrate judge plans visit to ICE Broadview facility amid lawsuit over conditions

From @chicago.suntimes.com: chicago.suntimes.com/immigration/...
Magistrate judge plans visit to ICE Broadview facility amid lawsuit over conditions
The visit has been tentatively planned for Thursday morning, and details will be sorted out early next week.
chicago.suntimes.com
November 7, 2025 at 11:58 PM
Reposted by Violet Miller
ckubzansky.bsky.social
After @mandophotos.bsky.social photographed federal agents pointing rifles at 26th/Lawndale yesterday, I inquired with DHS about what threat had prompted them to pull weapons on a busy commercial strip (pictured). This is the response I got from a representative of the United States government.
November 7, 2025 at 9:31 PM
Reposted by Violet Miller
djbyrnes1.bsky.social
New: Pablo Moreno González and Felipe Agustin Zamacona, two men formerly held at the Broadview, IL ICE facility, and now the named plaintiffs in a federal class action alleging inhumane treatment at the facility, are being released from federal custody per a successful habeas petition.
Image text of an order from District Judge Sara Ellis, ordering the release of Pablo Moreno González and Felipe Agustin Zamacona on a habeas petition. The men are the class representative plaintiffs in a federal class action challenging inhumane conditions at the Broadview, IL ICE facility, and until today were being held at Chicago's Metro Correctional Center. District Judge Sara Ellis found their detention violated due process. Image text of an order from District Judge Sara Ellis, ordering the release of Pablo Moreno González and Felipe Agustin Zamacona on a habeas petition. The men are the class representative plaintiffs in a federal class action challenging inhumane conditions at the Broadview, IL ICE facility, and until today were being held at Chicago's Metro Correctional Center. District Judge Sara Ellis found their detention violated due process. Image text of an order from District Judge Sara Ellis, ordering the release of Pablo Moreno González and Felipe Agustin Zamacona on a habeas petition. The men are the class representative plaintiffs in a federal class action challenging inhumane conditions at the Broadview, IL ICE facility, and until today were being held at Chicago's Metro Correctional Center. District Judge Sara Ellis found their detention violated due process. Image text of an order from District Judge Sara Ellis, ordering the release of Pablo Moreno González and Felipe Agustin Zamacona on a habeas petition. The men are the class representative plaintiffs in a federal class action challenging inhumane conditions at the Broadview, IL ICE facility, and until today were being held at Chicago's Metro Correctional Center. District Judge Sara Ellis found their detention violated due process.
November 7, 2025 at 9:02 PM
Reposted by Violet Miller
jael.bsky.social
Did you know a former White House climate advisor flipped a GOP stronghold in Virginia by running entirely on putting a stop to more AI data centers?

For @heatmap.news I profiled John McAuliff and a campaign that will be a roadmap for all future anti-AI politicians moving forward.
This Virginia Election Was a Warning for Data Centers
John McAuliff ran his campaign almost entirely on data centers — and won.
heatmap.news
November 7, 2025 at 3:35 PM
Reposted by Violet Miller
jonseidel.bsky.social
Good afternoon. U.S. District Judge Robert Gettleman is presiding over a remote status hearing that just began over conditions inside the ICE facility in Broadview.
November 7, 2025 at 6:47 PM
vimiller.bsky.social
Full body cam footage here:
November 7, 2025 at 6:00 PM
Reposted by Violet Miller
katelynburns.com
"biological pronouns" is an insane phrase
chrisgeidner.bsky.social Chris Geidner @chrisgeidner.bsky.social · 10d
BREAKING: The Sixth Circuit, in a 10-7 en banc decision, holds that an Ohio school district's anti-bullying policy that requires students to use children's preferred pronouns is likely unconstitutional on these facts.

Judge Murphy, a Trump appointee, writes the court's decision.
OPINION MURPHY, Circuit Judge. An Ohio public school district bars its students from referring to transgender and nonbinary classmates using the pronouns that match their biological sex if the classmates prefer to go by different pronouns. The plaintiff in this case has parent and student members who believe that a person's sex is immutable. The members want to express this view by using biological pronouns. And they believe that they would convey a falsehood —that a person's gender is fluid—if they use preferred pronouns. So the plaintiff challenged the school district's speech ban on behalf of its members under the First Amendment's Free Speech Clause. This case about pronouns pits two important interests against each other. On the one hand, the school district has prohibited speech (biological pronouns) that expresses a message on a matter of pressing public concern. And because the district requires other speech (preferred pronouns) that expresses a competing view, it has discriminated based on its students' viewpoints. Its approach thus raises serious free-speech concerns. On the other hand, the school district rightly responds that it has a duty to protect all students- including transgender and nonbinary students— from bullying and harassment. And this protection, while necessarily restricting speech, does not violate the Free Speech Clause. So which of these competing concerns should prevail in this case? The Supreme Court's cases provide a clear answer. A school district may not restrict personal speech on matters of public concern unless the speech would "materially and substantially disrupt" school activities or infringe the legal "rights of others" in the school community. Tinker v. Des Moines Indep. Cmty. Sch. Dist., 393 U.S. 503, 513 (1969). In this case's current posture, the school district has fallen far short of meeting this demanding standard. It introduced no evidence that the use of biological pronouns would disrupt school functions or qualify as harassment under Ohio law. Our society continues to debate whether biological pronouns are appropriate or offensive just as it continues to debate many other issues surrounding transgender rights. The school district may not skew this debate by forcing one side to change the way it conveys its message or by compelling it to express a different view. We thus reverse and remand Case: 23-3630 Document: 253-2 Filed: 11/06/2025 Page: 4 No. 23-3630 Defending Educ. v. Olentangy Loc. Sch. Dist. Bd. of Educ., et al. Page 4 for the entry of an appropriately tailored preliminary injunction barring the district from punishing students for the commonplace use of biological pronouns. Yet nothing we say here forecloses the district from enforcing its anti-harassment policies against the abuse of transgender students just as it enforces those policies against the abuse of all other students.
November 7, 2025 at 4:22 AM
Reposted by Violet Miller
ericumansky.bsky.social
DHS stopped automatically archiving officials’ text messages.

Now to save messages — as law requires— officials gotta…

-take a screenshot.
-send it to their work computer
-run the file through a program there
-repeat

www.nytimes.com/2025/11/06/u...
The policy expects officials to first take screenshots of the text messages on their work phones, send it to their work email, download it on their work computers and then run a program that would recognize the text to store it in searchable formats,
November 7, 2025 at 12:32 PM
vimiller.bsky.social
An officer first noticed agent Guillermo Diaz-Torres sleeping in his car at an intersection and knocked on the vehicle to get his attention. He then drove into a tree line nearby.

“Got off shift, I came here,” he said to another officer. “You guys have a checkpoint. This doesn’t look good.”
ICE agent facing DUI in Oak Brook after driving into tree line: 'This doesn't look good'
Guillermo Diaz-Torres told police he couldn't account for the 90-minute period after his shift ended at the controversial ICE processing facility in Broadview and when the crash occurred, per the repo...
chicago.suntimes.com
November 7, 2025 at 1:20 PM
Reposted by Violet Miller
jael.bsky.social
my latest: i spent weeks investigating how frustrations about data centers were about to swallow american politics…

…and then the 2025 election happened, proving the electoral impacts are already here.

read and share my deep dive on the bipartisan AI techlash shaping our elections before our eyes!
The Data Center Backlash Is Swallowing American Politics
Activists on both the left and the right are pushing back against rampant AI development.
heatmap.news
November 6, 2025 at 9:13 PM