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Category: Law/Crime

An American panopticon of databases

An American panopticon of databases

Ian Bogost and Charlie Warzel write: If you were tasked with building a panopticon, your design might look a lot like the information stores of the U.S. federal government—a collection of large, complex agencies, each making use of enormous volumes of data provided by or collected from citizens. The federal government is a veritable cosmos of information, made up of constellations of databases: The IRS gathers comprehensive financial and employment information from every taxpayer; the Department of Labor maintains the…

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The Trump administration is trying to intimidate the judiciary

The Trump administration is trying to intimidate the judiciary

Adam Serwer writes: The arrest of Wisconsin Judge Hannah Dugan over allegedly obstructing the apprehension of an undocumented immigrant is an attempt to intimidate the judiciary. You can just ask Attorney General Pam Bondi. “What has happened to our judiciary is beyond me,” Bondi told Fox News, commenting on Dugan’s arrest. “They’re deranged. I think some of these judges think they are beyond and above the law, and they are not. We are sending a very strong message today: If…

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We visited Rumeysa Ozturk in detention. What we saw was a warning to every American

We visited Rumeysa Ozturk in detention. What we saw was a warning to every American

Sen. Edward J. Markey, Rep. Jim McGovern and Rep. Ayanna Pressley write: A young woman walked casually down a public street only to find herself suddenly surrounded by masked law enforcement officers in plain clothes. Without explanation — and in the absence of criminal charges and any due process — she was forced into a waiting vehicle and vanished into the labyrinth of the state security system. Sound familiar? You’d be forgiven for thinking we’re recounting what happened to the…

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Federal authorities arrest two judges, escalating Trump immigration crackdown

Federal authorities arrest two judges, escalating Trump immigration crackdown

CNBC reports: Federal authorities have arrested a former New Mexico judge and a Wisconsin judge in two separate cases, accusing them of interfering with Trump administration immigration enforcement efforts. Milwaukee Circuit Court Judge Hannah Dugan was arrested Friday morning and charged with obstruction for allegedly helping an undocumented immigrant evade arrest after he appeared in her courtroom last week. Dugan’s arrest came one day after federal authorities arrested a former New Mexico judge and his wife on charges related to…

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Officials were developing a plan to get Kilmar Abrego Garcia back to the U.S. Then the White House took over

Officials were developing a plan to get Kilmar Abrego Garcia back to the U.S. Then the White House took over

Nick Miroff writes: Late last month, three days after Abrego Garcia’s family filed its lawsuit over his deportation, government attorneys began discussing how to undo the mistake and bring him back. In their conversations, officials went so far as to float the idea of having the U.S. ambassador to El Salvador make a personal appeal to the country’s president for Abrego Garcia’s return. But first, the State Department’s legal team wanted more information from DHS about his alleged role in…

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Switching from ICE to DoD custody: An alarming violation of court order on deportations to El Salvador

Switching from ICE to DoD custody: An alarming violation of court order on deportations to El Salvador

Ryan Goodman writes: Earlier today, I discussed one of the “sleeper” immigration cases that had largely flown below the radar: D.V.D. v. U.S. Department of Homeland Security. On Wednesday night, the Justice Department submitted a filing in district court in which it appears to openly describe steps the government took to essentially evade the court’s temporary restraining order. Keep your eye on the ball: Which department had custody of the individuals following the court’s order. On March 28, the court ordered the defendants in the case –…

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Wikipedia’s nonprofit status questioned by D.C. U.S. attorney Ed Martin

Wikipedia’s nonprofit status questioned by D.C. U.S. attorney Ed Martin

The Washington Post reports: The acting U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia sent a letter to the nonprofit that runs Wikipedia, accusing the tax-exempt organization of “allowing foreign actors to manipulate information and spread propaganda to the American public.” In the letter dated April 24, Ed Martin, said he sought to determine whether the Wikimedia Foundation’s behavior is in violation of its Section 501(c)(3) status. Martin, who was appointed to the post by President Donald Trump in January, asked…

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A Georgetown beneficiary of the Scholars at Risk program never imagined the U.S. would pose a risk

A Georgetown beneficiary of the Scholars at Risk program never imagined the U.S. would pose a risk

Nader Hashemi writes: In March, Badar Khan Suri, an Indian postdoctoral fellow at Georgetown University, was arrested by federal agents. The nature and circumstances of his detention parallel the cases of Mahmoud Khalil at Columbia University and Rumeysa Ozturk at Tufts. I am the academic director of the center at Georgetown that hosted Badar Khan Suri as a postdoctoral fellow — the Alwaleed Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding. I recently went to visit him at the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement…

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ICE agents arrested Mahmoud Khalil without a warrant, Trump administration concedes

ICE agents arrested Mahmoud Khalil without a warrant, Trump administration concedes

CBS News reports: The Trump administration conceded on Thursday that Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents did not have a warrant when they detained Columbia University activist Mahmoud Khalil in March, acknowledging it was “a warrantless arrest.” Khalil’s attorneys are asking an immigration judge in Louisiana, where their client has been detained by ICE for weeks, to terminate his deportation case based on the fact that he was arrested without a warrant. The Department of Homeland Security, which oversees ICE, admitted…

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Judge rules Trump admin must seek return of another man who was improperly deported to El Salvador

Judge rules Trump admin must seek return of another man who was improperly deported to El Salvador

Politico reports: The Trump administration must seek to return a second man who was improperly deported from the U.S. to El Salvador in violation of a previous court order, a federal judge ruled Wednesday. U.S. District Judge Stephanie Gallagher, a Maryland-based Trump appointee, ruled that the administration deported a 20-year-old Venezuelan man last month in violation of a legally binding, court-approved settlement agreement reached in a lawsuit last year. Under that settlement, the U.S. agreed not to deport migrants who…

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After judge’s scathing rebuke, DOJ files sealed motion and is granted an extension in deportation case

After judge’s scathing rebuke, DOJ files sealed motion and is granted an extension in deportation case

NPR reports: A federal judge agreed to give the Trump administration another week to answer detailed questions about the illegal deportation of Kilmar Abrego Garcia. A day earlier, U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis issued a scathing rebuke of the administration’s response to her order for more details about its efforts to return him to the U.S. But the Trump administration asked for more time to respond in the case of the Maryland man who was deported to El Salvador last…

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How Ed Martin ghostwrote online attacks against a judge — and still became a top Trump prosecutor

How Ed Martin ghostwrote online attacks against a judge — and still became a top Trump prosecutor

By Jeremy Kohler and Andy Kroll This story was originally published by ProPublica The attacks on Judge John Barberis in the fall of 2016 appeared on his personal Facebook page. They impugned his ethics, criticized a recent ruling and branded him as a “politician” with the “LOWEST rating for a judge in Illinois.” Barberis, a state court judge in an Illinois county across the Mississippi River from St. Louis, was presiding over a nasty legal battle for control over the…

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Three ways Trump’s immigration crackdown could hit U.S. citizens

Three ways Trump’s immigration crackdown could hit U.S. citizens

Axios reports: Trump administration officials are suggesting their immigration crackdown could expand to include deporting convicted U.S. citizens and charging anyone — not just immigrants — who criticizes Trump’s policies. Why it matters: Such moves — described by officials in recent days — would show how U.S. citizens could be impacted by the growing number of tactics President Trump is using to, in his view, improve national security. They’d also be certain to ignite new legal battles over how far Trump’s team…

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Detained then disappeared. ICE is silent on the fate of Venezuelan man

Detained then disappeared. ICE is silent on the fate of Venezuelan man

The Miami Herald reports: A Venezuelan man has disappeared into the U.S. immigration system. His family is looking for answers. Where is their brother? Where is her boyfriend? Neiyerver Adrian Leon Rengel, 27, was admitted into the U.S. in June 2023, after crossing the southern border through a scheduled appointment with immigration authorities — part of a digital portal created under the Biden administration to manage the flow of migrants entering from Mexico. In his hand, he carried a phone….

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Wife of Kilmar Abrego García forced into safe house after U.S. officials post family address online

Wife of Kilmar Abrego García forced into safe house after U.S. officials post family address online

The Washington Post reports: The wife of Kilmar Abrego García, the Maryland man mistakenly deported to a notorious prison in El Salvador by the Trump administration, has been moved to a safe house by supporters after U.S. officials posted a court document on social media that included the family’s address. Jennifer Vasquez Sura said in an interview with The Washington Post that she began fearing for her safety and that of their three children — two of whom are autistic…

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As much as Trump has tried to project himself as unstoppable, the truth is, he is as vulnerable as ever

As much as Trump has tried to project himself as unstoppable, the truth is, he is as vulnerable as ever

Jamelle Bouie writes: The goal of [Senator Chris] Van Hollen’s journey to El Salvador — during which he was stopped by Salvadoran soldiers and turned away from the prison itself — was to bring attention to Abrego Garcia and invite greater scrutiny of the administration’s removal program and its disregard for due process. It was a success. And that success has inspired other Democrats to make the same trip, in hopes of turning more attention to the administration’s removal program…

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