@samtlevin.bsky.social
Guardian senior reporter, based in Los Angeles. Sam.Levin@theguardian [dot] com. https://www.theguardian.com/profile/sam-levin
After Border Patrol shot two people in Portland, DHS claimed they were "vicious gang members" tied to a past shooting.
But records I obtained reveal a US prosecutor has since directly contradicted DHS, saying, "We're not suggesting he is a gang member." My dive into how DHS' claims have collapsed:
“Liam’s release is an important development + we hope it will lead to positive developments for other families incl our other four students held at Dilley in Texas. We want all children to be released from detention centers and hope for the reunification of families who have been unjustly separated“
01.02.2026 19:16 — 👍 186 🔁 40 💬 1 📌 2
Liam, 5, has been freed, but four other students from his school district remain detained in Texas. Two boys from his elementary school were taken Thurs
“This isn’t something we are prepared or trained for. We’ve dedicated our lives to protecting + educating children,” school superintendent told me
smiling portrait of Liam, age 5, in a school picture
witness photo, courtesy of the school district, showing Liam outside his front door with a masked agent by his side.
Liam is one of four Columbia Heights, MN school district students who have been taken by ICE in the last two weeks, the school district said. Liam's teacher: “He is so kind and loving, and his classmates miss him. He ... just brightens the room. All I want is for him to be back here and safe.”
22.01.2026 03:25 — 👍 1404 🔁 552 💬 24 📌 62
ICE detained a 5-year-old Minnesota boy coming home from school + took him and his dad to Texas, school officials say. The family has an active asylum case + entered the US at a port of entry.
"They’re taking children. They're not violent criminals. They're little kids," the superintendent told me.
The Supreme Court is focused on bans in West Virginia and Idaho, but the outcome could be hugely consequential for trans rights and LGBTQ+ equality more broadly.
Experts here breakdown what's at stake:
These teenage athletes have faced death threats, attacks by the president + people in their community pushing to ban them. They've also been embraced by teammates, coaches + competitors and say they just want to keep doing what they love.
“I’m just a kid that wants to play sports with my friends"
As the Supreme Court considers state laws banning trans girls from sports, hear from three youth directly about the joy of athletics and the impact of the efforts to kick them off their teams.
“Playing sports and loving being out there on the field is in its own beautiful way an act of resistance.”
NEW: Five trans youth athletes speak out about what school sports means to them + the toll of exclusion.
"Sports is my escape" -Lina, 14-yr-old tennis + track athlete. "We’re just kids. We’re just trying to have fun…We’re not trying to be monsters. We’re just trying to find connection + community."
♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️
05.01.2026 00:31 — 👍 3 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
The new FBI report is coming to light after we revealed last month that the FBI and NYPD have spied on a Signal group of NYC court watch activists who monitor public proceedings, labeling the volunteers “anarchist violent extremists."
From earlier records unearthed by @propertyofthepeople.org:
FBI cited two violent cases: Dallas ICE office shooting by gunman w/ unclear political beliefs who killed 2 detainees; + shooting at Alvarado ICE jail. In Alvarado, DOJ accused 15 ppl of being in an "antifa cell" but my colleague @samrlevine.bsky.social dug into it + raised qs about govt's narrative
19.12.2025 18:42 — 👍 25 🔁 7 💬 2 📌 0
Hina Shamsi, ACLU: “The FBI report is infused w/ vague + overbroad language. Ppl entirely innocent of wrongdoing can be subjected to surveillance or investigations...No matter what NSPM-7 says, the Constitution constrains federal agencies if they seek to punish ppl for exercising free speech rights"
19.12.2025 18:27 — 👍 28 🔁 7 💬 1 📌 0“At its core, the war on antifa is a war on dissent, a war on free speech” -@rshapiro.bsky.social @propertyofthepeople.org. The docs “strongly suggest one of the primary functions of NSPM-7 is to serve as a vehicle for targeting anti-ICE organizing broadly as an anarchist violent extremist threat"
19.12.2025 18:22 — 👍 28 🔁 5 💬 1 📌 1
The FBI report reveals:
-criminal + domestic terrorism investigations into "anti-ICE threats" in 23 regions.
-NSPM-7 "domestic terrorism" cases in 27 states.
-High volume of cases in Chicago, Dallas + Portland
-continued efforts to investigate "funders" + "organizations" that "aid" terrorism
Trump's NSPM-7, issued after Charlie Kirk's killing, cited LA "riots" as example of "political violence."
The FBI report claimed “domestic terrorist subjects," who fall under NSPM-7, have engaged in “reactive violent attacks which took advantage of First Amendment-protected activities nationwide."
An internal FBI report in Nov, distributed to other law enforcement agencies, said “indicators” an individual may be planning to attack ICE facilities or staff include “conducting online research” about agents’ movements + using encrypted messaging apps. @us.theguardian.com @propertyofthepeople.org
19.12.2025 18:00 — 👍 28 🔁 11 💬 2 📌 1
NEW: The FBI has launched "domestic terrorism" investigations into anti-ICE activity across the US. Some cases are under Trump's NSPM-7 order to crackdown on "anti-fascism" and "anti-Americanism."
Docs obtained by @propertyofthepeople.org + shared w/ Guardian include FBI map of cases in 30+ states:
DOJ is ending protections against sexual abuse in prisons for LGBTQ+ people. Trans, intersex, nonconforming, queer folks already faced rampant violence behind bars, but a new memo says "effective immediately" institutions won't be held responsible for violations.
"It's a green light for predators."
BIG: FBI spied on Signal group chat of immigration activists CourtWatch, classifying them as violent terrorist extremists for quietly sitting in on court cases, as revealed in intel bulletin we obtained & shared w/ @samtlevin.bsky.social @us.theguardian.com. #FOIA www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...
21.11.2025 16:13 — 👍 185 🔁 104 💬 4 📌 7
“Basic civic participation is not a terrorist threat” - @rshapiro.bsky.social of @propertyofthepeople.org. “The FBI treating it like one is yet another example of the Trump regime’s profound contempt for even the most rudimentary of democratic freedoms.”
Full @us.theguardian.com story here:
Comptroller @bradlander.bsky.social, a regular court watcher: “This FBI surveillance tactic is ripped straight out of the J Edgar Hoover playbook. Observing immigration court...is a legal and non-violent act, unlike the ICE abductions we have witnessed regularly for months outside of the courtrooms"
21.11.2025 19:02 — 👍 62 🔁 21 💬 1 📌 0The FBI/NYPD report was sent to other agencies, warning of “extremist actors targeting law enforcement officers + federal facilities." The report provided no evidence of ties to extremism or violence among court watchers, who've monitored courts across the US as ICE has ramped up courthouse arrests.
21.11.2025 18:59 — 👍 32 🔁 7 💬 1 📌 0
text screenshot from article: The FBI said the information came from a “sensitive source with excellent access” and introduced the report as a warning about “extremist actors targeting law enforcement officers and federal facilities”. In “late May”, an individual “participated in a debrief session held via a Signal call within the ‘courtwatch’ Signal groupchat”, the FBI wrote, without identifying the individual or the specific group or organizations involved. That person “discussed how to improve future activities near federal facilities in New York City, including 26 Federal Plaza, 201 Varick Street and 290 Broadway”, the report continued, listing the addresses of three immigration courts in Manhattan.
The records don't make clear how the FBI accessed a private Signal chat. FBI said the intel came from a “sensitive source with excellent access.”
The report quoted chats from unnamed ppl discussing how to access public hearings at immigration court, what to say upon arrival, what floor to go etc.
NEW: The FBI spied on a Signal group chat of NY immigrants' rights volunteers organizing court watch+ labeled activists “anarchist violent extremist actors.”
Joint FBI/NYPD report shows law enforcement accessed private planning convo of ppl monitoring ICE
Docs obtained by @propertyofthepeople.org
After José's arrest sparked outrage in August, DHS attacked him in a press release, calling him a "criminal illegal alien, not a firefighter." DHS has cited a 12-year-old drug delivery charge while failing to acknowledge the charge was dismissed.
Full @us.theguardian.com interview and story here:
José and another firefighter in uniforms and holding tools while standing on a road near a row of trees on fire
José worked as a firefighter since 2019 + ran a landscaping business in Monmouth, OR, the area where he grew up
Cecelia Koontz, Monmouth’s mayor, who for years hired José for landscaping: “It hit ppl really hard. He cares so much about his work. Ppl respected that + were horrified he was detained”
Cruz-Estrada in a firefighting uniform in the middle of the woods by a large plume of smoke, while responding to the Hermits Peak fire in New Mexico in 2022
Cruz-Estrada in a firefighting uniform and helmet holding a saw while working at the Bootleg fire in southern Oregon in 2021.
José's crew spent a week in August battling the Bear Gulch fire, then a 9,000-acre blaze + largest in 70+ years in WA’s Olympic Peninsula.
Border Patrol showed up to his remote forest location, surrounded the crew + ultimately arrested José + another immigrant firefighter.
"It’s backstabbing.”
NEW: The US has deported a longtime Oregon firefighter who was arrested by Border Patrol while deployed at a major wildfire in Washington state.
José Bertin Cruz-Estrada, separated from his family, is speaking out from Mexico for the first time:
“I feel betrayed ... What am I going to do now?"
NEW: police depts across the US spread a false story that Venezuelan gang members were planning to kill officers.
Records obtained by @propertyofthepeople.org and shared with @theguardian.com, reveal that the FBI quietly acknowledged a widely shared rumor about Tren de Aragua was false.
