Attention to the Unseen

The Guardian reports: Newly disclosed records reveal the US government extensively spied on prominent leftwing organizations and on protesters as part of a vast operation into groups opposing the immigration crackdown in Minnesota earlier this year. Internal investigative reports show the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) sent undercover agents to community meetings in the Twin Cities and New York, infiltrated Signal chats and obtained financial records of mainstream unions and left-leaning nonprofit groups. Nearly 30 internal law enforcement reports were…

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The Associated Press reports: The U.S. Ambassador to Israel condemned the actions of Jewish settlers who are besieging the home of an American Palestinian family in the Israeli-occupied West Bank. U.S. Ambassador Mike Huckabee called the siege a “horrific act of terror.” Since Sunday, according to local officials and family members, settlers have gathered near the home in the village of Qusra and harassed those inside, defying efforts by the Israeli military to defuse the situation. A group that has…

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Nicholas Casey reports: As he stepped out of the American military cargo plane, Roberto Mosquera still couldn’t tell where he was or why he had been taken there. When federal immigration agents forced him onto a secret flight 30 hours earlier, it was a hot July afternoon in Texas. Now, after traveling thousands of miles, he felt a cold winter’s morning in the air. He was in the kingdom of Eswatini, a tiny, landlocked country in southern Africa that until…

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The Associated Press reports: Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers may soon be outfitted with gloves that can deliver painful electric shocks intended to gain compliance from combative individuals. ICE plans to spend up to $20 million to purchase thousands of “conductive distraction and de-escalation devices” for officers and agents by March, according to a notice published Monday by the Department of Homeland Security. The devices are known as the G.L.O.V.E., which stands for Generated Low Output Voltage Emitter, and are…

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Dara Lind writes: In early 2010, an earthquake devastated Haiti—but, even as Haitians in the U.S. had far less to return to, they received a new opportunity to stay. Reasoning that it was no longer safe to deport anyone back to Haiti, the Obama Administration allowed them to apply for Temporary Protected Status, which meant a U.S. work permit and a written assurance that they wouldn’t be deported. They might not be able to go home again, but they could…

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NPR reports: When President Trump announced an anti-crime task force for Memphis last fall, federal and local officials never mentioned immigration enforcement as a goal. But the influx of federal agents into the city has led to widespread immigration arrests — a majority without criminal convictions, according to an Institute for Public Service Reporting data analysis. NPR reviewed arrest data and spoke with lawyers, immigrants, activists and community members to piece together the task force’s impact on Memphis over the…

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The Guardian reports: Nicaragua’s long-serving president, Daniel Ortega, has said the country will hold no further elections to prevent the opposition from coming to power. The 80-year-old authoritarian leader, who has been in office since 2007, also said he would work with the congress he controls to pass new laws that would “build a wall” against the opposition. Ortega made the announcement on Sunday during the official ceremony marking the 47th anniversary of the 1979 Sandinista revolution, in which he…

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The Guardian reports: The third time Anna Liedtke was subjected to an illegal strip-search in Israeli detention, female prison guards forced her on to her knees, covered her mouth to stop her screaming and raped her, according to interviews and a criminal complaint filed in Israel. She described hearing male guards laughing during the attack, which she believes they watched and may have filmed. It took place in an area separated from the prison hallway by a partially drawn curtain…

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Andrea Pitzer writes: Last week, I got a message from journalist Charles Davis. He asked me to comment for an article about a call for contractors he’d noticed on Sam.gov. The U.S. government, it seemed, was looking for businesses to partner with the Department of Homeland Security and ICE, and to fulfill other U.S. Government operational needs overseas. This particular search for partners to collaborate with DHS was framed as maintaining a fleet of aircraft for use in its operations….

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The Daily Beast reports: An ICE-involved shooting has left one man dead in Maine, with an eyewitness saying he was killed in front of his three-year-old daughter, who was wearing Bluey pajamas. The Maine Immigrants’ Rights Coalition identified the victim as a 26-year-old Colombian man. The group said he was authorized to work in the U.S. and had been issued a Social Security number. He was reportedly heading to work at the time he was shot. The account appeared to…

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