A Mexican teenager died in Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) custody. Royer Perez-Jimenez, 19, was found unresponsive in a Florida detention facility in the early morning hours of March 16. His death was announced in a press release from ICE dated March 18. The teenager’s death is raising more questions about detention facility conditions. Here’s what we know about Perez-Jimenez’s death and the trend of people dying in ICE custody.

A teenager is dead after being detained by ICE

Royer Perez-Jimenez, a Mexican national, is the youngest person who has died in ICE custody during President Donald Trump’s second term. The teenager was being held at the Glades County Detention Center in Moore Haven, Florida. According to a press release, Perez-Jimenez was found unconscious and unresponsive by a detention officer at 2:34 a.m. in his room. He was declared dead at 2:51 a.m., but an investigation into the death is ongoing.

According to ICE, Perez-Jimenez is presumed to have died from suicide. Perez-Jimenez was arrested on Jan. 21 by the Edgewater Police Department. He was charged with misdemeanor fraud for impersonation and misdemeanor resisting an officer. He was placed into an ICE detainer on Jan. 22 and was transferred to ICE custody on Feb. 21. ICE transported him to the Glades County Detention Center on Feb. 26.

“At intake, Perez was evaluated by medical staff,” reads the press release. “He denied any behavioral health issues or concerns and answered ‘no’ to all suicide screening questions.”

Perez-Jimenez’s death is drawing more attention to poor conditions in Florida immigration detention centers

A report from multiple civil rights and advocacy groups released in January looked specifically at the conditions of the Glades County Detention Center. The report found that the detention center posed a serious risk to people’s health. Along with the misuse of industrial chemical disinfectant, the report found that detainees were at risk of carbon monoxide poisoning. Most troubling, ICE agents regularly used pepper spray as a form of punishment, adding more irritants to the air.

“This is just one of several immigration detention facilities in Florida in recent years in which we’ve seen a troubling disregard for the health of people detained or the surrounding environment,” Dominique Burkhardt, Earthjustice attorney, said in a statement. “The courageous effort by advocates and those detained to expose these conditions is vital in an immigration detention system that would otherwise operate as a black box.”

There have been concerns about the conditions of immigration detention centers for years. Activists have been calling attention to the subpar sleeping accommodations, chemical pollutants, and general unhygienic conditions.

This isn’t the first ICE custody death this year

There have been at least 10 deaths in ICE custody so far in 2026. Others who have died in custody include Victor Manuel Díaz, 36; Heber Sanchez Domínguez, 34; Luis Beltrán Yanez–Cruz, 68; Luis Gustavo Núñez Caceres, 42; Jairo Garcia-Hernandez, 27; Lorth Sim, 59; Mohammad Nazeer Paktiawal, 41; Emanuel Cleeford Damas, 56; Pejman Karshenas Najafabadi, 59; and Alberto Gutiérrez Reyes, 48.

Forty-two people have died in ICE custody so far in President Trump’s second term, a record number. ICE officials have denied the claim. However, ICE detentions have skyrocketed under President Trump’s second term. According to data, the number of people in ICE custody peaked at more than 70,000 in January 2026.

The current federal government has put a lot of focus on mass arrests, detention, and deportations at the expense of people’s lives. Perez-Jimenez is the latest victim, but likely will not be the last of President Trump’s immigration crackdown.

The federal government has poured tens of billions into immigration detention, expanded the number of facilities at breakneck speed, and helped entrench private prison companies like CoreCivic and GEO Group even further into the machinery of enforcement.

Behind them sit some of the largest financial firms in the world, holding major stakes, while immigrants with no criminal convictions fill detention beds and deaths in custody rise.

Meanwhile, the same administration escalating this crackdown is also starving farms, trucking, and other sectors of the immigrant labor that keep the economy moving.

For years, Donald Trump and his team have campaigned on the slogan “America First,” claiming that mass deportations of immigrants would lead to “higher wages with better benefits” and a “100% American workforce.” What they did not realize, among many other things, is that immigrants are the backbone of the American workforce.

In 2025 alone, more than 15,000 farms closed in the U.S. According to USDA data released in February 2026, the number of U.S. farms fell to a total of 1.865 million. This is due in part to a severe economic downturn, along with all the other factors the administration has promoted as a hoax: climate change, declining export demand, and, of course, the importance of farmworkers.

Now, according to The New York Times, the agricultural sector is facing a tight labor market as “farmworkers age and fewer new immigrants and younger Americans are willing to toil in the fields.”

Without saying so outright, the administration has admitted in recent months that immigration raids and the crackdown at the border “have exacerbated the issue.” Their solution? Making it cheaper for farmers to hire immigrant farmworkers on temporary visas.

As the Times reported, although many farmers have welcomed the changes made to the H-2A visa program, others are more radical in their opposition. Either way, “the simmering debate underscores how some of the administration’s top goals — reducing immigration, keeping food prices low, and helping American workers — may inevitably conflict.”

And it seems the administration still doesn’t get it

As if the lesson about the importance of immigrants to the country’s economic engine had not sunk in, some 200,000 immigrant truck drivers will now “begin to lose their commercial driver’s licenses as they expire” under a new Trump administration rule that takes effect Monday.

As reported by NPR, the administration’s rationale for tightening the rules is “following several high-profile crashes involving foreign-born drivers.” The policy, aimed at strengthening safety and enforcement, affects asylum seekers, refugees, and DACA recipients.

“To be clear, states are already barred from issuing commercial driver’s licenses to anyone in the U.S. illegally,” NPR added. “Immigrants with temporary legal status do need work authorization from the federal government in order to qualify for a CDL.”

As of early 2026, approximately 200,000 to more than 720,000 truck drivers in the U.S. are immigrants, with estimates often placing the foreign-born workforce at around 18% to 20% of all drivers. However, a new federal rule in March 2026 banning asylum seekers, refugees, and DACA recipients from obtaining or renewing commercial driver’s licenses is directly affecting about 200,000 of these drivers.

Foreign-born drivers are heavily involved in long-haul and regional freight, helping fill labor shortages

The administration’s new rule is expected to exacerbate driver shortages, increase shipping costs, and raise consumer prices.

As the industry relies heavily on foreign-born labor, companies are already reporting immediate difficulties finding drivers for key routes. That translates into increased shipping costs caused by reduced capacity, which are eventually passed on to consumers.

To be more specific, with foreign-born drivers making up a significant portion of the workforce, removing 200,000 drivers is expected to intensify the current labor shortage, which was already estimated at more than 60,000 drivers.

In California, specifically, the regulations are expected to disrupt the transportation economy, with concerns about the potential loss of 61,000 drivers, according to CalMatters.

Finally, the increased scrutiny has caused fear among immigrant drivers, prompting some to avoid certain routes and potentially leading to further supply chain slowdowns.

So what happens when ideology collides with reality?

In the end, as is highly likely, the government will realize that it has no other workforce as efficient and reliable as the immigrant workforce. Will it regret this decision, just as it did with farmworkers, or will it let the economy collapse while searching for another scapegoat that better suits its rhetoric?

The recent arrest of Nashville journalist Estefany Rodríguez is further exposing the questionable tactics used by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). Rodríguez has built a career as a journalist and recently covered immigration raids in Nashville. There is conflicting information coming from the federal government that is doing more to cast doubts than answer questions about her arrest. Let’s dig into what happened and why people are calling for Rodríguez’s release.

Estefany Rodríguez is a Nashville journalist covering immigration

Rodríguez first came to the United States on March 10, 2021, on a tourist visa from Colombia. After arriving, she applied for asylum based on death threats he received in Colombia for her reporting on corruption. She is married to a United States citizen, has applied for a green card, and has a valid work permit.

So, why was she arrested by ICE?

Rodríguez works for a media outlet called Nashville Noticias. As part of her work, she has recently covered the immigration raids and increased surveillance in the Nashville area. Her legal team and critics are claiming that her on-the-ground reporting made her a target for an unfounded immigration arrest.

“With her arrest, federal authorities have both silenced an important on-the-ground perspective and have sent a chilling message that reporting critical of the administration may face retaliation,” reads a statement from the Society of Professional Journalists. “Rodríguez’s detention is part of a broader erosion of democratic norms and human rights in the United States in which immigration authorities are increasingly being used to chill free expression and First Amendment rights. This practice must stop.”

On March 4, Rodríguez was in the car with her husband, who was driving. The car had a Nashville Noticias sticker on it. The couple was driving with their 7-year-old daughter when they were pulled over. When they parked, they were suddenly surrounded by unmarked cars and immigration agents. She was arrested and taken from the scene without any information about why she was arrested.

The federal government did not have a proper warrant

According to Rodríguez’s legal team, the original administrative warrant, dated March 2, was not properly filled out. An administrative warrant is a document that is signed by a fellow immigration officer, not a judge. These warrants are not legally binding and would prevent the arrest of a person or an immigration agent’s entry into private property.

Columbia Journalism Review pointed out the glaring mistakes of the original administrative warrant. According to the report, the Department of Homeland Security submitted a photo of the administrative warrant to the US District Court for the Middle District of Tennessee, Nashville Division. The warrant did not include an A-number, which is a unique seven- to nine-digit code assigned to noncitizens. Additionally, the part that says where and when the arrest happened was left blank, further complicating the narrative from the federal government. The court is demanding an explanation from the federal government to justify the arrest.

DHS is trying to use social media and bots to change the narrative

Of course, the current federal government responded to the allegations on social media, instead of in court. Making legal arguments on social media has become a go-to for the administration as a way of controlling the narrative and likely relying on bots to spread the information as fact.

DHS claimed that there was a valid warrant and shared an image of said warrant. However, the warrant that DHS shared in an attempt to validate the arrest is dated March 4, the same day as the arrest. The claim from DHS is that the warrant was filled out in a post-arrest interview with Rodríguez.

According to court filings, the warrant isn’t enough to satisfy the burden of proof to justify her arrest. Rather, the documentation shown so far is casting a lot of doubt around ICE’s tactics in targeting Rodríguez.

Rodríguez’s arrest is exposing more potential constitutional violations

Rodríguez and her legal team are arguing that her First, Fourth, and Fifth Amendment rights were violated in the arrest. Activists and her legal team are claiming that she was targeted for her reporting on immigration activities.

“Petitioner still seeks immediate release from custody of the ICE Enforcement & Removal Operations (“ERO”) Nashville Office, but she also requests that this Court enjoin Respondents from taking any enforcement action against Petitioner, either by retaliating against her past speech or chilling her future speech,” reads a filing to the court by Rodríguez’s legal team.

Rodríguez is currently being held in a county jail in Gadsden, Alabama. She is expected to be transferred to a detention center in Louisiana.

One of the main reasons millions of women make the forced journey to cross the border, or migrate in general, is to escape sexual violence. However, under the Trump administration, the hell that awaits hundreds of immigrant girls is almost as horrific.

According to a joint investigation by Texas Newsroom and California Newsroom, since July of last year, more than a dozen unaccompanied immigrant minors who are pregnant have been transferred to a single detention centre in the small town of San Benito, near the southern border of Texas.

According to the investigation, the girls being held are as young as 13, and about half are pregnant as a result of rape.

And yet, what sits in the fine print is familiar: Project 2025.

First, why is the government transferring the girls to Texas?

According to The Guardian, the government is transferring unaccompanied immigrant minors who are pregnant to Texas to avoid providing them with abortion services, which activists, former officials, and observers say violates human rights.

Because detainees often move quickly to other states, frequently Republican states such as Texas, pregnant women face steep barriers to reproductive health care in detention centres.

“It’s a choice to ensure zero abortions,” said Jonathan White, a former top official working with children’s programmes in the ORR under the Obama and Trump administrations. When a pregnant child is moved to Texas, “as long as she is in Texas, she can’t access an abortion, without a federal official needing to deny her an abortion,” he said.

But the transfers sit inside a broader pattern.

For months, complaints about inadequate health care in detention centres have grown louder. Those concerns include the lack of care for pregnant people, the separation of nursing parents and babies, and even forced sterilisation.

The “total disregard” for the rights of pregnant and nursing detainees is a “dramatic violation” of international law and public health practices that ensure consensual medical treatment, said Diana Romero, professor and director of the Center on Immigrant, Refugee, and Global Health at the CUNY Graduate School of Public Health, to The Guardian.

Forcing any individual to carry a pregnancy to term is an “egregious” violation of rights, and relocation from other locations around the country to states with more restrictive abortion laws “adds a whole other layer of concern,” Romero said.

White added that “making the decision for these girls whether they will give birth to their rapist’s baby” is “an extraordinary human rights problem.”

“Everyone attempts to write their politics on the bodies of these children,” he said.

“One high-risk pregnancy away from catastrophe.”

Officials from the Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) first raised alarms about the transfers. ORR officials said they never received an explanation for why the government was concentrating pregnant girls in one place, let alone this particular shelter in Texas. Still, they, along with more than a dozen former government officials, health professionals, migrant advocates, and civil rights lawyers, fear the Trump administration is deliberately endangering the girls to promote an ideological goal: denying them access to abortion by placing them in a state where it is virtually banned.

The officials told NPR that “they worry the shelter is only one high-risk pregnancy away from catastrophe.”

“I feel like we’re just waiting for something terrible to happen,” one of the officials said.

Since the July order, none of the pregnant girls at the San Benito centre have had serious medical problems, according to ORR officials and Aimee Korolev, deputy director of ProBAR. This organisation provides legal services to children there. They say several of the girls have given birth and are being held with their babies.

“It’s not good to be a pregnant person in Texas, no matter who you are,” said Annie Leone, a nurse midwife who recently spent five years caring for pregnant and postpartum migrant women and girls at a large family shelter not far from San Benito. “So, to put pregnant migrant kids in Texas, and then in one of the worst health care regions of Texas, is not good at all.”

As NPR explained, specialised obstetric care in Texas is mainly found in larger cities, hours away from San Benito. In addition, several factors, including the high number of patients without health insurance, have reduced the availability of health care throughout the state.

Maternal health experts warned that the potential dangers for the girls at the San Benito shelter include an ectopic pregnancy, in which the fertilised egg implants outside the uterus. They also pointed to miscarriage, or water breaking too early, followed by infection. In those scenarios, they said, the emergency care a girl needs could be delayed or denied by doctors wary of the abortion ban.

Obtaining the available care could take too long to save her life or that of the baby, they added.

Where does Project 2025 come in?

As NPR explained, even before Trump won reelection, policymakers in his circle were planning a new attempt to restrict the abortion rights of unaccompanied minors.

Project 2025, the Heritage Foundation’s plan for politically conservative reform of the federal government, called on the ORR to stop facilitating abortions for minors in its care. The plan advised the government not to detain unaccompanied minors in states where abortion is legal.

According to Project 2025, this change is now possible because the Roe v. Wade ruling is no longer an obstacle. Since the Supreme Court overturned the landmark decision in 2022, there is no longer a federal right to abortion.

Upon returning to office, Trump signed an executive order “to end the forced use of Federal taxpayer dollars to fund or promote elective abortion.”

Alex Pretti’s death was top of mind during the immigration oversight hearing

In a tense moment, Rep. Al Green (D-Texas-9) questioned Todd Lyons, acting director of ICE, about Pretti’s death in Minneapolis. Rep. Green honed in on the rush to categorize Pretti as a “domestic terrorist” who was “brandishing a gun” and threatening the ICE agents who killed him. Rep. Green asked Acting Dir. Lyons, why is it that he would not be willing to comment on an ongoing investigation? Acting Dir. Lyons admits that speaking before or during an investigation could jeopardize the process before having all of the facts.

Rep. Green then uses Acting Dir. Lyons’ own rationale and words to question the Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem’s actions. He also offered his understanding as to why Sec. Noem spoke out against Pretti without having the facts.

“The secretary was in a rush to cover up. To make sure that she was protecting the officers without regard for the life that was lost,” Rep. Green told Acting Dir. Lyons. “And, in doing this, she was violating this basic moral concept. She was breaking the law. The secretary should be investigated right along with those officers who were out there engaged in this ungodly conduct. She should be investigated and, in my opinion, based upon my observation, the secretary should not only be investigated; the secretary should be prosecuted right along with those officers. This man did not brandish [a gun]. This man was not armed. This man did not attempt to hurt those officers. They should all be prosecuted. And you, persons associated with the Trump administration, said, ‘Lock her up.’ I say, ‘Lock her up.’”

Rep. Green’s closing statements are in reference to Trump loyalists’ attacks on former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

ICE was compared to the Gestapo and Nazi regime

Rep. Dan Goldman (D-NY-10) directly addressed part of the Acting Dir. Lyons’ opening remarks about how ICE is being compared to the Gestapo. It started with Rep. Goldman asking the acting director about instances when U.S. citizens have been asked to provide documentation to prove their citizenship.

“Do you know what other regimes in the 20th century required similar proof of citizenship?” Rep. Goldman asked.

“There were various nefarious regimes that did that,” Acting Dir. Lyons said.

“Is Nazi Germany one?” Rep. Goldman asked, which the acting director confirmed.

“You said in your opening statement that references to ICE as the Gestapo or the secret police encourages threats against ICE agents,” Rep. Goldman said in response. “The problem is, you have it backwards, sir. People are simply making valid observations about your tactics, which are un-American and outright fascist. If you don’t want to be called a fascist regime or secret police, then stop acting like one.”

Officials deny the existence of an anti-ICE database

There has been a lot of speculation that the federal government is using technology to track anti-ICE protesters. Government contracts with Clearview AI and Palantir, two companies specializing in data collection, show an intent to collect data. Rep. Lou Correa (D-Calif-46) brought the conversation directly to the acting director.

“Are you surveilling US citizens today?” Rep. Correa asked.

“No, sir,” Acting Dir. Lyons responded.

“Those people protesting [and] practicing their First Amendment right: photos of them, data taken; they’re not being placed in any kind of database,” Rep. Correa asked.

“There is no database for protesters, sir,” the acting director answered.

Rep. Correa then pointed to an instance in Maine when a federal immigration agent threatened to put a protester on a list. The acting director continued to deny the claims.

Then, Rep. Correa asked what US citizens should carry with them so they are not arrested and deported by ICE. The acting director claimed that US citizens are not covered by Title VIII and would not be arrested. However, a ProPublica report shows that at least 170 US citizens were arrested by ICE in 2025. Furthermore, the acting director admitted during the hearing that no agents have been fired for breaking the law. The contradiction and conflicting statements were not lost on Rep. Correa.

There was bipartisan criticism of how and where ICE is patrolling

During the hearing, Rep. Michael McCaul (R-Texas-10) lamented the perceived criminality of undocumented immigrants in Texas. At one point, he claimed that there were tens of thousands roaming the streets of Texas. This is a common talking point for Republicans about the current immigration issue. However, he did speak out against ICE running operations in major US cities.

“I’ve called for de-escalation after the two deaths, the two shootings that took place,” Rep. McCaul said. “I believe that these roving patrols should be done at the border, rather than the major cities of the United States. So, when the president decided to remove Agent Bovino and put in Tom Homan, who I’ve known for years, a consummate professional, law enforcement professional, I commended the president.”

Rep. McCaul continued to celebrate a perceived return to how ICE conducts target operations. The statements by Rep. McCaul signaled a plea from conservatives to stop the indiscriminate raids that put US citizens in danger.

Both parties want broader use of body cameras for ICE

One of the major concerns among US citizens and elected officials is the lack of body cameras for ICE agents. Without body camera footage, the indiscriminate harassment and detention of people on US streets go without oversight. The lack of oversight, as we have witnessed with law enforcement, allows for bad actors to work unilaterally at the expense of basic human rights.

Rep. Tony Gonzales (R-Texas-23) asked about body camera footage.

“Body cameras have been deployed in Minnesota. I think transparency helps regain public trust,” Rep. Gonzales stated. “Is there any plan to release any of the footage to the public?”

“One hundred percent, sir,” Acting Dir. Lyons answered. “That’s one thing that I’m committed to: full transparency. I fully welcome body cameras all across the spectrum of all of our law enforcement activities. Yes, sir. Body camera footage will be released.”

If you needed a single place to start this week’s Raid Report, it’s Minnesota.

Minneapolis has become a live test of what aggressive federal immigration enforcement looks like on the street, in real time, with cameras rolling, witnesses speaking, and public officials trying to control the story anyway. People keep using the word “fascism” because it’s the only one that describes the scenario accurately: armed agents with masks and swagger, a blizzard of official claims, and a public asked to doubt its own eyes.

Here’s what we know, what we can verify, and what we’re watching next.

Minnesota is ground zero, and the temperature is literal

“The temperature hovered around zero degrees” as mourners and news crews returned to the site where federal agents shot and killed Alex Pretti. People built makeshift barriers after the shooting, then watched the city put up a perimeter, then watched the city reopen traffic and describe the overnight as “calm and peaceful,” according to The Guardian. Meanwhile, the memorial kept growing: “flowers, candles, and signs stuck into the snowbank and on the asphalt.” Spray paint reading “ICE OUT” and “Fuck ICE” appeared around the area.

A Saturday evening vigil drew “many hundreds of people in subzero temperatures.” “Last night, thousands of people came out to remember Alex Pretti and Renee Good,” Minneapolis mayor Jacob Frey wrote on Twitter. “The memorials and gatherings were peaceful, and there were no arrests and no reports of burglaries or fires.”

Then there’s the piece that rarely makes the press conference cut: Residents have built an “unofficial network of neighbors many thousands deep” to take kids to school, deliver groceries, and organise rides for people who fear traffic stops. That is what community defence looks like when the state feels threatened.

What happened to Alex Pretti, according to the government

Alex Pretti, 37, worked as an ICU nurse at the Minneapolis VA hospital, according to The Washington Post. His family described him as someone who cared “deeply for his family and friends and also the American veterans whom he cared for as an ICU nurse at the Minneapolis VA hospital,” in a statement shared with The Post. “Alex wanted to make a difference in this world.”

Federal officials framed his killing as justified almost immediately. Trump officials, including Homeland Security Secretary Kristi L. Noem, called Pretti a “domestic terrorist.” Noem said Pretti “came with weapons and ammunition to stop a law enforcement operation of federal law enforcement officers,” according to The Post.

The Guardian described a broader pattern in the messaging after the shooting: officials “prioritiz[e] the vilification of the dead victim” over preserving investigative neutrality, “regardless of conflicting evidence.” Assistant homeland security secretary Tricia McLaughlin sent a statement asserting that “the officers attempted to disarm the suspect, but the armed suspect violently resisted” and that “an agent fired defensive shots.” The Guardian also reported that White House senior adviser Stephen Miller posted: “A would-be assassin tried to murder federal law enforcement and the official Democrat account sides with the terrorists.”

What the video analysis and witnesses say happened

Here’s where the government narrative collides with the footage.

A Washington Post video analysis reported that “Federal agents who were wrestling a man to the ground in Minneapolis early Saturday had already secured a handgun he was carrying by the time they fatally shot him.” One agent emerged from the struggle holding Pretti’s gun, “having removed it from his waistband area.” “Less than a second later,” the first shots were fired.

Bystander footage showing Pretti filming with his phone. In one video, Pretti stands in the street “speaking to officers and filming them with his phone,” and “He is not holding a gun in either hand,” according to The Post. In another video, an officer pushes someone down onto the sidewalk. Pretti steps between them, the officer pepper-sprays him, and multiple agents move to force him to the ground. The Post reported that an agent in a gray jacket “reaches toward Pretti and lifts a gun from Pretti’s back near his waistband,” then turns away holding it.

Pretti’s family responded in the strongest possible terms. They called the administration’s description “sickening lies” and “reprehensible and disgusting.”

“Alex is clearly not holding a gun when attacked by [President Donald] Trump’s murdering and cowardly ICE thugs,” the family wrote. “Please get the truth out about our son. He was a good man.”

The Guardian’s reporting matches the same basic conflict: video “showed half a dozen officers taking Pretti, who had a phone, not a gun, visibly in his hand, to the ground,” while officials publicly suggested he intended to “massacre law enforcement.”

“It’s like Call of Duty”: the occupation aesthetic

The Guardian’s separate analysis framed Minneapolis as “a US city living under occupation by fascist presidential secret police right now,” quoting journalist and historian Garrett Graff’s Doomsday Scenario blog.

Several accounts describe federal agents wearing “helmets, gas masks and camouflage fatigues,” and quote audio from a TV mic capturing an agent saying, “It’s like Call of Duty,” followed by “So cool, huh?”

The article placed this moment in a brutal geographic context: Pretti’s killing happened “just over a mile” from where Renee Good was fatally shot on 7 January, and “less than a mile” from where police killed George Floyd in May 2020.

Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara called the situation untenable. “This is the second American citizen that’s been killed, third shooting within three weeks,” he told Face the Nation. “This is not sustainable.”

Pam Bondi’s letter: welfare rolls, sanctuary policy, voter rolls

After the shooting, Attorney General Pam Bondi sent Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz a letter demanding sensitive state data.

In that letter, Bondi wrote: “The State of Minnesota has refused to enforce the law, and the consequences are heartbreaking.” She then argued that “Because Minnesota, Minneapolis, and St. Paul have chosen to ignore federal immigration law by enacting sanctuary laws and policies, the federal agents led by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) have operated alone.”

Bondi also cited an increase in violence against ICE officers: “Violence against ICE officers and agents has increased approximately 1,300 percent,” and “Vehicular attacks against ICE officers have increased 3,200%.”

Then came three demands: “share all of Minnesota’s records on Medicaid and Food and Nutrition Service programs,” “repeal the sanctuary policies,” and “allow the Civil Rights Division of the Department of Justice to access voter rolls.”

Walz responded on X: “They think they can provoke us into abandoning our values. They are wrong. Minnesota believes in law and order. We believe in peace. And we believe that Trump needs to pull his 3,000 untrained agents out of Minnesota before they kill another American in the street.”

Congress voted on ICE funding anyway

While people freeze outside vigils in Minneapolis, Congress keeps doing what Congress does.

The New Republic reported that the Department of Homeland Security’s $64.4 billion bill passed 220–207, with seven Democrats voting in favor: Reps. Henry Cuellar, Tom Suozzi, Vicente Gonzalez, Laura Gillen, Marie Gluesenkamp Perez, Jared Golden, and Don Davis.

Suozzi acknowledged the optics, then voted yes anyway. “There is no question that ICE has overstepped its bounds,” he wrote online. Still, he said, “I am voting for the Department of Homeland Security appropriations bill, not to expand ICE enforcement or add more agents, but to fund the core operations Americans rely on every day, FEMA disaster response, TSA security, Customs and Border Protection, the Coast Guard, passport processing, and other essential services.”

Some Democrats pointed to provisions they described as guardrails, including “$20 million to outfit ICE personnel with body cameras,” plus cuts to some ICE enforcement lines and fewer detention beds.

Detention has shifted toward people with no convictions, according to UCLA researchers

If Minneapolis is the street-level story, the detention data shows the broader direction of travel.

UCLA researchers found “monthly detentions of Latinos with no criminal records increased sixfold” compared to the final year of the Biden administration, rising “from about 900 per month to roughly 6,000, with a peak of nearly 10,500 in September 2025.” The analysis drew from the Deportation Data Project at UCLA and UC Berkeley Law, and reviewed ICE detention records from February 2024 through September 2025.

Researchers also found longer detention stays and more transfers: “nearly 7 in 10 noncriminal Latino detainees were held 15 days or longer,” with a median stay “more than 25 days,” and an estimate that “55% were transferred out of state.” Similarly, “nearly 9 in 10 noncriminal Latino detainees are ultimately deported.”

The authors warned the trend could move toward “mass confinement.”

The line we are watching this week (and you should, too)

Minnesota sits at the centre of this story because it offers something rare: a high-intensity enforcement campaign in a place where people document everything, organise fast, and refuse to accept the official script as the final draft.

This week, we’re watching four pressure points.

First, the gap between government claims and video evidence keeps widening. We will have a deep dive into the history of this.

Second, the political split inside “opposition” spaces, as Democrats argue over whether funding packages can be separated from how ICE operates in the real world.

Third, the expansion story beneath the headlines: detention shifting toward people without convictions, and longer detentions with frequent transfers. Stay tuned for our first Survival Guide to protect yourself and your loved ones.

Fourth, the money trail, because public anger does not stop at uniforms. It moves toward contracts, vendors, and corporate relationships, even when the first versions of those lists arrive in imperfect viral form.

If Minnesota is ground zero, the question is simple: Does the public’s evidence and resistance change the trajectory, or does Washington try to drown it out with funding, messaging, and fear?fop

If you have felt your stomach drop every time you see a black SUV and a vest that says “POLICE,” you are not being dramatic. This week’s ICE crackdown stories share the same undertone: speed over process, force over clarity, and a government that keeps asking the public to trust it while it fights accountability in court.

Here is what happened, according to reporting, court filings, and oversight visits across the country.

First, ICE showed up at a citizen’s door

On Sunday in St. Paul, Minnesota, ChongLy “Scott” Thao, a naturalized U.S. citizen, says masked federal agents forced their way into his home with guns drawn, without showing a warrant, and detained him while he wore almost nothing in subfreezing weather. “I was shaking,” Thao told the Associated Press. “They didn’t show any warrant; they just broke down the door.”

As neighbors shouted and a small child cried, agents walked Thao outside in sandals and underwear, with a blanket wrapped around his shoulders. He says they drove him “to the middle of nowhere,” made him get out in the cold so they could photograph him, and later returned him without apologizing.

DHS says the raid targeted two convicted sex offenders and claims Thao “matched the description of the targets,” adding that he “refused to be fingerprinted or facially ID’d.” Thao’s family “categorically disputes” DHS’s account, calling it “false and misleading.”

Then the paperwork caught up with the raid

Thao’s case did not land in a vacuum. It hit a Twin Cities region already bracing for a surge of federal immigration activity and protest. In the same stretch of reporting, federal officials framed enforcement as targeted, while local leaders described something broader and more indiscriminate.

St. Paul Mayor Kaohly Her put it bluntly: “ICE is not doing what they say they’re doing.” She added, “They’re not going after hardened criminals. They’re going after anyone and everyone in their path. It is unacceptable and un-American.”

That disconnect between what officials say and what residents experience is where the fear multiplies, because it forces everyone else to guess the rules in real time.

ICE detention keeps expanding, and bodies keep stacking up

While the raids grab headlines, detention stays the engine.

This week brought fresh reporting on deaths at Camp East Montana, the sprawling tent-style detention facility at Fort Bliss in El Paso. NBC News reported that ICE announced a third detainee death there in 44 days, identifying the person as Victor Manuel Diaz, 36, from Nicaragua. ICE said staff found him “unconscious and unresponsive,” and the agency described it as a “presumed suicide,” while noting the official cause remained under investigation.

At the same facility, the death of Geraldo Lunas Campos, 55, has drawn intensifying scrutiny. The Washington Post reported that a medical examiner is likely to classify his death as a homicide, citing preliminary findings of asphyxia due to neck and chest compression, and describing a recorded call shared by his daughter.

When detention expands at speed, oversight and medical care become stress tests. The system does not just detain more people. It creates more moments where something goes wrong, and then asks families to accept official narratives while investigations crawl.

Congressional oversight ran into a locked door

If you have wondered why lawmakers keep showing up at detention sites with cameras and press gaggles, this is part of the answer: the administration keeps trying to control access.

The Guardian reported that a federal judge in Washington, D.C., ruled DHS can temporarily continue requiring lawmakers to give a week’s notice before inspecting immigration facilities, even after she blocked an identical policy last month. The judge, Jia Cobb, said DHS argued this version runs through different funding, tied to Trump’s “big, beautiful bill,” making it a “new agency action” that would require a different legal challenge.

That legal distinction might sound technical. In practice, it buys the government time and reduces the risk of real-time, unannounced scrutiny within detention spaces that already operate behind layers of bureaucracy.

In California, senators walked through what used to be a prison

While access fights played out in court, Democratic Sens. Alex Padilla and Adam Schiff went inside California’s newest and largest ICE detention center, a former prison now operated by CoreCivic in California City, in the Mojave Desert.

CalMatters reported that more than 1,400 people are currently held there, and both senators highlighted what they described as inadequate medical care. “The most frequent feedback we got was the inadequacy of the medical care they are receiving,” Schiff said. He described meeting a diabetic detainee who “has not received treatment for her condition in two months.” “That’s frightening,” he said.

Padilla also emphasized that many detainees have civil immigration cases, not criminal convictions, while describing prison-like conditions and mental health concerns: “This is not a prison, despite the environment, so we have an equal concern for mental health care.”

ICE family detention is back, and kids are getting sick

PBS NewsHour reported on court documents and allegations from migrant families about children’s conditions in ICE custody, including “Food contaminated with worms and mold,” “limited access to clean drinking water,” and “inadequate medical care.” Senior lawyer Becky Wolozin of the National Center for Youth Law told PBS that, since family detention centers reopened, authorities have arrested many families from inside the U.S.: “These are your neighbors, your friends, your kids’ friends.”

Wolozin described children deteriorating in prolonged detention, and she pushed back on a DHS claim in court filings that ICE provides humane care: “It’s just not true.” She said conditions do not meet the Flores Settlement Agreement’s basic requirements for “safe and sanitary conditions” for children.

Even in the narrowest legal framing, the U.S. has obligations when it holds children. The allegations describe the opposite of stability.

Local governments are starting to kick ICE out

Some pushback is now coming through leases, not speeches.

CBS News Philadelphia reported that Lehigh County, Pennsylvania, is terminating its lease agreement with DHS for county-owned office space used by ICE, after officials said the federal agency had not been paying rent. County Executive Josh Siegel said DHS “should consider themselves evicted,” while the county controller said DHS and ICE owe more than $100,000 in unpaid rent.

Call it a rent dispute if you want. Still, the language from county officials made the political subtext explicit: local governments do not want to look complicit in what residents see on their screens from places like Minneapolis.

So, where does that leave people trying to live their lives?

Across all of this, a pattern keeps repeating: federal agencies scale up enforcement, communities document harm, and then the accountability fight begins in court, in Congress, and in the mundane paperwork of budgets and access rules.

That is why the fear feels ambient right now. This is not only about who gets detained. It is also about how quickly the state can move, how little it has to explain in the moment, and how hard it can be to force transparency after the fact.

Criticism is building on the federal government because of the rush job conducted to hire new immigration agents. After the shooting death of Renée Good in Minneapolis, there has been renewed scrutiny into how the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is handling its hiring process. Some ICE agents are being hired so quickly that they haven’t even done a background check. Here is why that matters and what dangers this poses for people in the United States.

ICE agents are being hired and trained faster than before

According to several reports, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents are getting trained at an alarmingly accelerated timeline. Instead of the months-long training timeline, ICE agents are now trained in just 6 to 8 weeks. The shooting death of Renée Good sparked national outrage and has brought renewed criticism to the sudden reduction in ICE training.

The Atlantic was the first to report on the accelerated ICE training timeline, stating that it is 47 days long. According to the reporting, new ICE agents no longer train for 5 months before entering the field. One way DHS was able to make the change was by eliminating the Spanish-language requirement for becoming an ICE agent.

People reported that when asked to clarify, a DHS representative said, “False. Training to become an Enforcement and Removal Operations officer is 8 weeks long.” The statement oddly reaffirms The Atlantic’s original reporting.

An Anti-ICE journalist reported on her surprisingly fast hiring process

@tmz🚨Exclusive: Journalist Laura Jedeed should be considered a domestic terrorist, according to the Donald Trump administration's warped metric ... but she tells "TMZ Live," she was hired by ICE anyway! Full story in bio.

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Laura Jedeed, a journalist with Slate, recently shared her experience of being hired as an ICE agent. Jedeed told TMZ that she was not hiding anything about herself, and she describes herself as an anti-ICE journalist with her own page on Antifa Watch.

“I’m not a great candidate for ICE,” Jedeed told TMZ. “I’m pretty vocal about how I feel about them and how I feel about the Trump administration.”

She continued to say, “But I am also a veteran. I went to Afghanistan twice with the 82nd Airborne Division, and a skills-based résumé, at first, seems plausible. So, I took a skills-based résumé to this hiring event. I handed it in. I did an interview. [It] took all of six minutes. They didn’t ask me very much.”

That was the beginning of a wild, too-quick hiring process to become an ICE agent. According to Jedeed, she heard back but missed a tentative job offer email that required her to respond within 48 hours and send in some paperwork. Despite doing none of the paperwork, she received an email from Lab Corps saying that ICE was requiring her to take a drug test.

After more than a week, Jedeed logged into the ICE hiring portal to check the status of her application, only to learn that she had been hired. She learned that she had an onboarding day just three days later.

The federal government wants to flood the streets with ICE

For almost a year, people in major cities in the US have witnessed ICE agents flooding their neighborhoods. The rapid increase in ICE operations nationwide required the federal government to hire quickly. This sense of urgency to carry out a promised mass deportation operation meant that things got sloppy.

There are currently 2,000 immigration agents in Minneapolis, and another 1,000 federal agents are heading there. The entire Minneapolis Police Department is about 600 sworn officers. The overwhelming number of federal agents carrying out operations in Minneapolis is the result of negligent hiring practices to show force.

Jedeed told The Independent that the agency is focused solely on getting people off the streets. She expressed her desire for a desk job, and she claims the person she was talking to changed. According to Jedeed, the representative said that the agency is really only focused on getting more “guns and badges” on the streets.