Laura Conaway

FOIA Documents Unmask the Sites of ICE’s Continued Detention Surge Recent documents obtained by the ACLU reveal ICE's nationwide plan to reopen facilities, including shuttered prisons, for use as detention space

A useful, long and growing list of company proposals for DHS/ICE camps.

projectsaltbox.substack.com/p/foia-docum...

Catholic rituals blend with Neapolitan folklore in pilgrimage for queer community MERCOGLIANO, Italy (RNS) — The pews of the Church of the Annunziata in Mercogliano, a town just outside of Naples, were filled with guests wearing lacquered nails, towering wigs and heavy eyelashes.

Updating the tracker and I came across this fascinating story of trans and/or non-binary trans life woven into the Catholic practices of Naples, Italy.

For the photo alone I felt like I had to share it - but it's fascinating throughout. From @apnews.com

apnews.com/article/ital...

Pregnant patients in Minnesota have postponed abortion appointments to avoid ICE Planned Parenthood’s no-show rate has gone up almost 10 percent since the federal government’s Minnesota operation began.

Planned Parenthood’s no-show rate has gone up almost 10 percent since the federal government’s Minnesota operation began.

Judge Ends Deportation Case for Mexican Father of 3 U.S. Marines

“I think the American people would agree that no one like Narciso Barranco, who raised three U.S. citizen Marines and has no criminal record deserved the treatment he received.” www.nytimes.com/2026/02/12/u...

Screengrab from the Star-Tribune. It says "Follow live updates below on the Olympics with Minnesota ties. Then it shows a chart labeled "Minnesota medals," with categories for alpine skiing, curling, Nordic skiing, biathlon, hockey, snowboarding and speedskating. The chart shows a bronze medal for alpine skiing, a silver for curling, and a bronze for Nordic skiing.

Reckon anyone told ICE they were going to a state with its own medal count in the Winter Olympics?

www.startribune.com/2026-winter-...

Fannie Lou Hamer’s is Medal of Freedom Now Displayed at Mississippi Civil Rights Museum Fannie Lou Hamer’s posthumously-awarded Presidential Medal of Freedom is now on display at the Mississippi Civil Rights Museum.

Just before Biden left office in January 2025, he honored Fannie Lou Hamer, who died in 1977, with a posthumous Presidential Medal of Freedom. That medal now sits in a glass display case at the Mississippi Civil Rights Museum. Hamer’s family donated the medal to the museum last October.

With ICE presence continuing, Minnesota Girl Scouts offer more ways to buy cookies as safety precaution In-person sales start Feb. 20 throughout the state.

ICE, schmice, the Girl Scouts of Minnesota find a way to get the cookies to the customers.

P.S. The new flavor this year is Exploremores, "inspired by Rocky Road ice cream. S’mores and Toast-Yay! will no longer be available."

www.startribune.com/with-ice-pre...

Screengrab from a Martin Luther King, Jr., sermon: So we have a mandate both to conquer sin and also to conquer ignorance. Modern man is presently having a rendezvous with chaos, not merely because of human badness, but because of human stupidity. If Western Civilization continues to degenerate until it, like twenty-four of its predecessors, falls hopeless into a bottomless void, the cause will be not only its undeniable sinfulness, but also its appalling blindness. And if American democracy gradually disintegrates, it will be due as much to a lack of insight as to a lack of commitment to right. If modern man continues to flirt unhesitatingly with war and eventually transforms his earthly habitat into an inferno such as even the mind of Dante could not imagine, it will have resulted from downright badness and also from downright stupidity.

"Modern man is presently having a rendezvous with chaos, not merely because of human badness, but because of human stupidity."

--The Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr., from a sermon called "Love in Action."

www.mcnallyjackson.com/book/9780807...

This one is in Longfellow

Using Data for Good: A Crash Course Our response to "What can I do?"

New from Project Salt Box (featured on @maddow.bsky.social tonight):

A crash course in data for citizen engagement.

projectsaltbox.substack.com/p/using-data...

Superb Snack History: The secret life of seven-layer dip Investigating the origins of a very 1970s snack

hey there, would you like some SUPER BOWL SNACK HISTORY?

yes, you would. this one gets very nerdy so buckle up

snackstack.net/2026/02/08/s...

Minneapolis now has daily deportation flights. One man has been documenting them A professional airplane enthusiast has been tracking the federally chartered deportation flights out of the Minneapolis airport as DHS sends immigration detainees to other states and, eventually, othe...

Blessed are the plane spotters, and the spreadsheets they populate.

‘This was just one of the best ways that I could be a helper, and I'm glad that I'm here to be able to do it.’

ICE removes detainees from Cumberland County Jail, cancels contract after sheriff’s criticism Despite several court orders that certain inmates remain in Maine, ICE moved multiple detainees to facilities in other states, which the U.S. Attorney's Office acknowledged was a violation of judicial...

Backstory:

A sheriff in Maine called ICE enforcement "bush league."

DHS then pulled its prisoners out of the sheriff's jail and out of the state, despite court orders that the prisoners stay in Maine.

www.pressherald.com/2026/01/23/i...

ICE detainees from Maine being held under ‘inhumane’ conditions in Mass. facility, attorneys say An Immigration and Customs Enforcement spokesperson said the allegations of overcrowding and lack of access to lawyers are false.

Taken by ICE from Maine to Massachusetts:

“They’re trapped in this little confinement cell, a dark cell with no sunlight, with multiple people. . . . They’re basically torturing people into signing off on their own deportation.”

www.pressherald.com/2026/02/07/i...

If I could just be real for a moment, I know this might be a minority opinion. I know it is not same experience for everyone. But I truly, unbreakably love New York City and New Yorkers when it’s cold.

Byhalia ICE Facility Plans Ditched Amid Mississippi Opposition, Wicker Says A proposed ICE detention facility that would have held 8,500 immigrants in a warehouse in Byhalia, Mississippi, won’t happen, Sen. Roger Wicker says.

A proposed ICE detention facility that would have held 8,500 immigrants in a warehouse in Byhalia, Mississippi, won’t happen, U.S. Sen. Roger Wicker says.

"I just spoke with DHS Secretary Noem about the proposed ICE detention facility in Marshall County,” the Mississippi Republican said.

Oregon lawmaker standing up for her young constituent -- age 7 -- now being held by the United States government in south Texas.

Older gay men built their own hockey fandom. Then came 'Heated Rivalry.' The hit show is an unexpected invitation for some older gay hockey fans to reflect on love, acceptance and coming out.

The hit show is an unexpected invitation for some older gay hockey fans to reflect on love, acceptance and coming out.

Older gay men built their own hockey fandom. Then came 'Heated Rivalry.' The hit show is an unexpected invitation for some older gay hockey fans to reflect on love, acceptance and coming out.

Most Heated Rivalry coverage has been focused on what young people, particularly younger straight women, think. I cover aging and decided to ask older gay men about their thoughts.

I found: A founder of what may have been the first gay hockey blog, a wedding cake shaped like a Zamboni and more.

Kobe Bufkin, wearing a number 6 Lakers jersey with a Bibigo sponsorship on it, since it’s their G-League team.

Friday morning G-League today! And I still kinda can’t get over that the star of the Lakers G-League team is a guy named Kobe Bufkin.

(Also no disrespect to his game. He scores about 27 a game and has 20 at halftime.)

The thing about the Evers home is that you really can approach it. The house is right there, in a neighborhood, not far from my mom's house. It is extraordinary in its ordinariness, its frankness about what happened. A family lived there. A man was murdered in the driveway. By a racist. By racism.

There is no question that the man who murdered Civil Rights hero Medgar Evers, or the Citizens Councils, or the KKK were racist. The murderer, the councils, the hate groups -- all racists.

ICE dragged me from my car after I told them I’m autistic. Exclusive Details: Aliya Rahman speaks to Eric Garcia about her ordeals — on the streets of Minneapolis, in a grim ICE detention center where she was mocked over her condition and through the public t...

I spoke with Aliya Rahman, the autistic woman whom ICE ripped out of her car, about her experience of being in a viral video, what she experienced in detention and why she thinks we might be in bigger trouble in the future.
www.independent.co.uk/news/world/a...

Good to see DSNY out making sure the bike lanes stay clear

Three rules in FBI firearm training:

1. Always point your weapon downrange
2. Do not point your weapon at anything you do not intend to shoot
3. Don’t put your finger on the trigger unless you intend to shoot

Guns are not for threatening compliance for unarmed people doing things you don’t like

x.com/FordFischer/...

If you watch to the end, you'll see the agents telling the photographers to show their press credentials if they have them -- "legitimate, please." What if you're a freelancer or an observer?

Also, the agent explains why the people are "being ID'd." Something about gun-like hand gestures, I think?

Homeland Security is targeting Americans with this secretive legal weapon Under Trump, the Department of Homeland Security has weaponized administrative subpoenas to attack free speech, according to privacy and civil rights groups.

Top of the reading list today.

wapo.st/4rtfCw8

Opinion | A Texas Election Jolt to the GOP Stephen Miller’s mass deportation strategy is backfiring at the polls.

WSJ editorial board sees trouble ahead after Texas Republicans dropped that state senate seat.

www.wsj.com/opinion/a-te...

Andrew is bundled up grimacing in the cold next to a snow-covered statue of Nathaniel Bowditch

Forgot to post this selfie I took walking through Mt Auburn Cemetery a couple weeks ago. Found Nathaniel Bowditch who wrote THE textbook on maritime navigation. A legendary wayfinder and teacher.