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Category: Human rights/civil liberties

Accounts from the men that Trump sent to El Salvador where they were tortured

Accounts from the men that Trump sent to El Salvador where they were tortured

The New York Times reports: They said they were shackled, beaten, shot with rubber bullets and tear gassed until they passed out. They said they were punished in a dark room called the island, where they were trampled, kicked and forced to kneel for hours. One man said officers thrust his head into a tank of water to simulate drowning. Another said he was forced to perform oral sex on guards wearing hoods. They said they were told by officials…

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ICE is sending a chill through the construction industry

ICE is sending a chill through the construction industry

NPR reports: As cars and trucks zoom by, Rurick Palomino points to the underside of the Theodore Roosevelt Bridge that spans the Potomac River in Washington, D.C., where his crew of about 30 workers is doing demolition work and pouring concrete as part of a $128 million federally-funded refurbishment. A Peruvian immigrant who came to the United States 25 years ago, Palomino — a U.S. citizen — built his construction firm from scratch after earning an engineering degree and learning…

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Israeli military lawyers warned there was evidence of Gaza war crimes, former U.S. officials say

Israeli military lawyers warned there was evidence of Gaza war crimes, former U.S. officials say

Reuters reports: The U.S. gathered intelligence last year that Israel’s military lawyers warned there was evidence that could support war crimes charges against Israel for its military campaign in Gaza – operations reliant on American-supplied weapons, five former U.S. officials said. The previously unreported intelligence, described by the former officials as among the most startling shared with top U.S. policymakers during the war, pointed to doubts within the Israeli military about the legality of its tactics that contrasted sharply with…

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ICE is repeatedly arresting American citizens — and lying about it

ICE is repeatedly arresting American citizens — and lying about it

Harry Litman writes: A recent report from ProPublica documents the detentions of some 170 American citizens by Immigration and Customs Enforcement during its anti-immigration operations. But the implications of the report go considerably further, suggesting an agency completely out of control and flouting the Fourth Amendment at every turn. The report is a harrowing demonstration of ICE overreach. It puts the lie to the declaration of the Department of Homeland Security spokesperson that “we don’t arrest U.S. citizens for immigration…

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Pope Leo, speaking in support of immigrants, offers his strongest criticism of Trump so far

Pope Leo, speaking in support of immigrants, offers his strongest criticism of Trump so far

BBC News reports: Pope Leo has called for “deep reflection” on how migrants are treated in the United States, where he said many people were deeply affected by the controversial policy of mass deportation. In some of his strongest criticism to date of President Donald Trump’s administration, the first ever US-born pope also warned that the US bombing of Venezuelan ships, suspected of carrying drugs, risked increasing tensions in the region. Emerging to address a bank of TV cameras outside…

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Sean Dunn, also known as ‘sandwich guy,’ found not guilty of assault

Sean Dunn, also known as ‘sandwich guy,’ found not guilty of assault

  The Associated Press reports: A former Justice Department employee who threw a sandwich at a federal agent during President Donald Trump’s law enforcement surge in Washington was found not guilty of assault on Thursday in the latest legal rebuke of the federal intervention. A viral video of the sandwich tossing made Sean Charles Dunn a symbol of resistance to Trump’s deployment of federal agents to combat crime in the nation’s capital. His misdemeanor acquittal is another setback for prosecutors,…

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‘Strung up and tortured’: Elizabeth Tsurkov recounts 2 ½ years being held hostage in Iraq

‘Strung up and tortured’: Elizabeth Tsurkov recounts 2 ½ years being held hostage in Iraq

The New York Times reports: They handcuffed her, hung her up from the ceiling and beat her senseless. They shocked her with electricity and forced her into positions that injured her back and shoulders. When she lost consciousness, they threw water on her face to wake her so the torture could resume. Elizabeth Tsurkov endured two and a half years of captivity in Iraq, held in solitary confinement by an Iran-backed militia. Ms. Tsurkov, 38, said it was a marathon…

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‘I have papers’: Child care worker detained by ICE officers inside a Chicago day care

‘I have papers’: Child care worker detained by ICE officers inside a Chicago day care

  The 19th reports: As parents dropped their children inside a Spanish immersion day care in Chicago Wednesday morning, Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers stormed the building to detain a child care worker, a scene that before this year would have been unheard of in the United States. Child care centers were previously protected under a “sensitive locations” directive that advised ICE to not conduct enforcement in places like schools and day cares. But President Donald Trump removed that…

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Israeli dissidents can show Americans how to be a good citizen when your country does terrible things

Israeli dissidents can show Americans how to be a good citizen when your country does terrible things

Masha Gessen writes: When your country pursues abhorrent policies, when the face it turns to the world is the face of a monster, what does that say about you? In my experience, it is strikingly easy to shrug off one’s responsibility for the country where one pays taxes, contributes to the public conversation and, at least nominally, has the right to vote, if that country is the United States. It seems one can just say “Not in my name” and…

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Dick Cheney’s war on terror paved the way for the rise of Trump and the destruction of democracy

Dick Cheney’s war on terror paved the way for the rise of Trump and the destruction of democracy

Spencer Ackerman writes: The week before Dick Cheney died, the Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel, one of the bureaucratic venues through which the most powerful vice president in U.S. history disfigured the country, informed Congress that it would have no say over Donald Trump’s rapidly coalescing military aggression against an oil-rich country. While self-styled War Secretary Pete Hegseth boasted over social media about treating the Caribbean fishermen that he insists without evidence are drug smugglers “exactly like al-Qaeda,” Office…

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Chicago woman dragged out of her car after collision with masked federal thugs demands accountability

Chicago woman dragged out of her car after collision with masked federal thugs demands accountability

  Chicago Tribune reports: Dayanne Figueroa was on her way to get coffee before heading to work when she encountered a chaotic scene in West Town: heavily armed, masked federal agents making arrests on a residential street. People yelled as vehicles honked their horn — a sign now used to alert neighbors that immigration federal agents are in the area — and witnesses said federal agents had arrested several landscaper workers presumed to be in the country without authorization. As…

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Trump says ICE raids haven’t gone too far — ‘they haven’t gone far enough’

Trump says ICE raids haven’t gone too far — ‘they haven’t gone far enough’

Fox 13 News Utah: The woman caught on video being detained by ICE agents at Salt Lake City International Airport this week is legally allowed to be in the United States and has the paperwork to prove it, her attorney claimed:   Trump was interviewed for 60 Minutes on October 31: NORAH O’DONNELL: Americans have been watching videos of ICE tackling a young mother, tear gas being used in a Chicago residential neighborhood, and the smashing of car windows. Have…

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What’s behind Israel’s new plan to divide Gaza in two

What’s behind Israel’s new plan to divide Gaza in two

Muhammad Shehada writes: Since the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas came into effect, the Trump administration has been hailing the beginning of a new chapter in Gaza. “After so many years of unceasing war and endless danger, today the skies are calm, the guns are silent, the sirens are still, and the sun rises on a Holy Land that is finally at peace,” the president declared during his speech at the Knesset earlier this month. But facts on the ground…

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‘Get out of our neighborhood!’: Chicago locals take on ICE block-by-block

‘Get out of our neighborhood!’: Chicago locals take on ICE block-by-block

Reuters reports: The immigration agents’ tear gas grenades clinked and then exploded against the concrete, shrouding the block in plumes of white gas. The dozen or so residents at the scene only screamed louder. “We don’t want you here,” yelled Rae Lindenberg. The 32-year-old, who works in marketing, ran out of her apartment when she heard the shrill sound of whistles. “Get out of our neighborhood!” The squad of agents had appeared in Lakeview last month, an upscale neighborhood dotted…

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Strong-arm tactics led by Border Patrol’s Bovino are the new norm in Chicago as ICE leadership gets sidelined

Strong-arm tactics led by Border Patrol’s Bovino are the new norm in Chicago as ICE leadership gets sidelined

Chicago Tribune reports: Cameras rolling, Border Patrol chief Gregory Bovino sailed down the Chicago River in a convoy of government boats. His men held rifles as videographers filmed the stunt later posted to their social media. The Trump administration had just launched an operation in the city to pursue “the worst of the worst” criminal undocumented immigrants. Homeland Security used the footage for a music video set to Alice in Chains’ “Rooster” ending with Bovino smiling into the distance. In…

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