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Category: Law/Crime

Judge’s footnote on immigration agents using AI raises accuracy and privacy concerns

Judge’s footnote on immigration agents using AI raises accuracy and privacy concerns

The Associated Press reports: Tucked in a two-sentence footnote in a voluminous court opinion, a federal judge recently called out immigration agents using artificial intelligence to write use-of-force reports, raising concerns that it could lead to inaccuracies and further erode public confidence in how police have handled the immigration crackdown in the Chicago area and ensuing protests. U.S. District Judge Sara Ellis wrote the footnote in a 223-page opinion issued last week, noting that the practice of using ChatGPT to…

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Trump regime ends temporary immigration protections for Haitians

Trump regime ends temporary immigration protections for Haitians

Miami Herald reports: The Department of Homeland Security on Wednesday announced the end of temporary immigration protections for Haitians, adding them to a growing list of immigrant groups seeing their protected status revoked by the Trump administration. The decision, which becomes effective on Feb. 3, 2026, could affect more than a half million Haitians living in the U.S. under what is known as Temporary Protected Status. The designation was granted to Haiti after a string of natural and political disasters,…

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Mark Kelly is under investigation for telling the truth

Mark Kelly is under investigation for telling the truth

David Cole writes: On Monday Pete Hegseth, the secretary of defense, directed the Pentagon to investigate Senator Mark Kelly, a retired Navy captain who flew combat missions during the gulf war and took several spaceflights as an astronaut before he was elected to serve Arizona’s citizens in Congress. His potential crime? Telling members of the armed services that they do not have to follow illegal orders. But saying so is not a crime; it’s a true statement of the law….

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A short history of the long war on drugs in Latin America

A short history of the long war on drugs in Latin America

Greg Grandin writes: Today, Donald Trump presides over his own Murder Incorporated, less a government than a death squad. Many brushed off his proclamation early in his second term that the Gulf of Mexico would henceforth be called the Gulf of America as a foolish, yet harmless, show of dominance. Now, however, he’s created an ongoing bloodbath in the adjacent Caribbean Sea. The Pentagon has so far destroyed 18 go-fast boats there and in the Pacific Ocean. No evidence has…

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Trump’s immigration forces deploy ‘less lethal’ weapons dangerously, skirting rules and maiming protesters

Trump’s immigration forces deploy ‘less lethal’ weapons dangerously, skirting rules and maiming protesters

By A.C. Thompson, ProPublica and FRONTLINE, and J. David McSwane, ProPublica This story was originally published by ProPublica As the Trump administration’s immigration dragnet intensified in June, a nurse in Portland, Oregon, left work one midafternoon and drove to a nearby detention facility to voice his opposition. Federal agents had set off smoke grenades, driving away many protesters at the front of the facility, but Vincent Hawkins lifted his megaphone anyway. “You should stop and think about what you’re doing!”…

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ICE offers up to $280 million to immigrant-tracking ‘bounty hunter’ private surveillance firms

ICE offers up to $280 million to immigrant-tracking ‘bounty hunter’ private surveillance firms

Wired reports: Immigration and Customs Enforcement is expanding plans to outsource immigrant tracking to private surveillance firms, scrapping a recent $180 million pilot proposal in favor of a no-cap program with multimillion-dollar guarantees, according to new contracting records reviewed by WIRED. Late last month, the Intercept reported that ICE intends to hire bounty hunters and private investigators for street-level verification work. Contractors would confirm home and work addresses for people targeted for removal by—among other techniques—photographing residences, documenting comings and…

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Brazil’s former president Bolsonaro to start serving 27-year sentence over coup plot

Brazil’s former president Bolsonaro to start serving 27-year sentence over coup plot

The New York Times reports: Brazil’s Supreme Court on Tuesday ordered former President Jair Bolsonaro to start serving a 27-year sentence for overseeing a failed plot to hold onto power after losing the country’s last election. After the nation’s top court rejected an initial appeal by Mr. Bolsonaro’s lawyers challenging his sentence, the court ruled that he will begin serving his sentence at a federal police facility in Brasília, the capital. Mr. Bolsonaro is already in custody at that same…

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The bad reasoning in the Meta antitrust ruling isn’t even the worst part

The bad reasoning in the Meta antitrust ruling isn’t even the worst part

Tim Wu writes: On Tuesday, the federal judge James Boasberg dismissed the U.S. government’s main antitrust case against Meta, ruling that the company, worth more than $1.5 trillion, does not possess a monopoly in personal social networking. He did so in the face of strong evidence to the contrary, not to mention common sense. But to dwell on the shortcomings of Judge Boasberg’s reasoning is to overlook something even worse: the message that his ruling sends to the country. The…

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Michael Popok on the dismissal of the Comey and James indictments

Michael Popok on the dismissal of the Comey and James indictments

  In a stunning reversal of fortune for Trump and his DOJ, a federal judge has not only declared Lindsey Halligan illegally appointed as a prosecutor, but she has dismissed both the criminal indictment against Former FBI Dir. James Comey and current NY Attorney General Tish James. Popok explains what that means for the DOJ, the “new” prosecutor to be appointed, an attempt to indict Comey and James in the future, and so much more.

As Trump’s inquisitors face scrutiny, Judge Aileen Cannon could play a new role

As Trump’s inquisitors face scrutiny, Judge Aileen Cannon could play a new role

Charlie Savage writes: The U.S. attorney in Miami, who is running a sprawling investigation into former officials who investigated President Trump, has been granted an unusual request to convene an extra grand jury at the federal courthouse in Fort Pierce, Fla. The location ensures that just one judge can oversee it: Aileen M. Cannon. That raises a question with intriguing political and legal overtones. Could Judge Cannon again end up as a key player in a Trump-centric case, this one…

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Emails reveal that Noam Chomsky regarded Jeffrey Epstein as a ‘highly valued friend’

Emails reveal that Noam Chomsky regarded Jeffrey Epstein as a ‘highly valued friend’

WBUR reports: Emails show convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein had a tight friendship with MIT professor Noam Chomsky that spanned discussions about vacation, politics and included an apparent letter of support from Chomsky. The emails were part of a trove of documents released last week by the U.S. House Oversight Committee detailing communications between Epstein and powerful figures across politics, academia and business. A WBUR review of the emails shows despite Epstein’s 2008 conviction for procuring a child for prostitution…

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Illegal orders: Trump and Johnson doth protest too much

Illegal orders: Trump and Johnson doth protest too much

Greg Sargent writes: House Speaker Mike Johnson is outraged—absolutely outraged—that Democrats dared to suggest in that viral video this week that military and intelligence professionals should be wary of following illegal orders. “That was a wildly inappropriate thing for so-called leaders in Congress to do,” Johnson told reporters. Shockingly, Johnson didn’t think it “inappropriate” for Trump to accuse those Democrats of sedition that’s “punishable by death.” What’s been oddly absent from much of the coverage is any consideration of this…

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ICE: The secret police reveal nothing after one of their targets disappears

ICE: The secret police reveal nothing after one of their targets disappears

  David Noriega, MS NOW National Reporter and Lindsey Toczylowski, President and CEO of Immigrant Defenders Law Center join Alicia Menendez in for Nicolle Wallace on Deadline White House to tell the story of an undocumented immigrant who has been caught up in Trump’s immigration crackdown, who after suffering a medical emergency while ICE custody has disappeared and his family and lawyers have been unable to locate him.   Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is operating in an unprecedented way…

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ICE recruiting drive is breaking the federal prison system

ICE recruiting drive is breaking the federal prison system

By Keri Blakinger This story was originally published by ProPublica After years of struggling to find enough workers for some of the nation’s toughest lockups, the Federal Bureau of Prisons is facing a new challenge: Corrections officers are jumping ship for more lucrative jobs at Immigration and Customs Enforcement.  This is one of the unintended consequences of the Trump administration’s focus on mass deportations. For months, ICE has been on a recruiting blitz, offering $50,000 starting bonuses and tuition reimbursement…

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Sen. Ron Wyden presses for investigation into JPMorgan Chase and Epstein

Sen. Ron Wyden presses for investigation into JPMorgan Chase and Epstein

The New York Times reports: The top Democrat on the Senate Finance Committee issued a report on Thursday calling for an investigation into whether JPMorgan Chase deliberately underreported more than $1 billion in suspicious transactions by Jeffrey Epstein, the disgraced financier and convicted sex offender. The report from the senator, Ron Wyden of Oregon, said the compliance failures by the nation’s largest bank during its nearly 15-year relationship with Mr. Epstein were “alarming” and impeded law enforcement’s ability to examine…

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