Francesca D'Annunzio

Chart shows Detention Population, Among Those Arrested by ICE in the Interior, by Criminal Record. The chart shows three lines; Prior conviction, pending criminal charges, and no criminal record. From 2019 through September 2025, the largest group is people with criminal convictions, with much further down people with pending charges. But starting in January, those without criminal records spikes dramatically. In July it crossed pending charges and in the latest data it jumps above criminal convictions.

🚨NEW: For the first time in history, the single largest group of people arrested in the interior and sent to ICE detention is people with NO criminal record.

As of yesterday's data release, 40%(!) of those arrested in the interior and detained by ICE had no prior conviction or pending charges.

Officials Said They Busted a Tren de Aragua Party. Attendees Beg to Differ. A highly publicized multi-agency raid in Hays County resulted in dozens of arrests on low-level immigration charges and left an Austin mother's life in tatters. It also fit a pattern of unproven…

Top story, from @francescadnunz.bsky.social: As a result of the raid, ICE arrested 35 people on federal charges of attempted illegal entry, according to a report obtained from DPS. But authorities never offered any evidence that the party attendees actually were Tren de Aragua members.

They’ve won in court, but ICE is still detaining and trying to deport them Inside the “psychological torture” regime targeting migrants who can't be sent home

After spending around a year in ICE detention, Laura, a Nigerian mother of two, was told by her then-lawyer that she would be released and able to see her kids.

But under Trump, that never happened.

Officials Said They Busted a Tren de Aragua Party. Attendees Beg to Differ. A highly publicized multi-agency raid in Hays County resulted in dozens of arrests on low-level immigration charges and left an Austin mother's life in tatters. It also fit a pattern of unproven gang-...

There's a lot more to this story, which you can read here:
www.texasobserver.org/officials-tr...

Marc Ranc, the Hays County prosecutor tasked with the case, said he was considering dropping the charge because he was still awaiting evidence from federal agents.

He was booked at 2 a.m. the day of the raid, and has been locked up in a west Texas jail ever since, facing felony ketamine possession

He was stopped by DPS at 10:56 p.m. for traffic violations, and a trooper called in ICE after Castro Bravo showed a Venezuelan passport. Castro Bravo, whom DPS also accused in an arrest report of Tren de Aragua affiliation because of tattoos, was then arrested for drug possession

Castro Bravo told me he was homeless, and slept in a sedan in different HEB parkings lots around the Austin area. He said he started using ketamine once he got to Texas to deal with depression and anxiety, and because he had trouble sleeping in his car.

I couldn't obtain any records to corroborate that he was driving for DoorDash, but I showed his jail booking photo to a couple party attendees, who said they didn't see him either at the party or in detention after the raid.

They didn't recognize him.

One of those men, Jeankey Jhonaiker Castro Bravo, said he never went to the party, and that he'd been driving for Doordash all day, in part to save up for a plane ticket to self-deport back to Venezuela.

Two additional Venezuelan men were charged with felony-level possession of a controlled substance, resulting from traffic stops near the Airbnb earlier in the evening; police say both had left the party location, though one denied this to the Observer.

Federal court records suggest that none of these charges were actually prosecuted, and interviews suggest arrestees were simply funneled into civil immigrant detention and in many cases deported.

As a result of the raid, ICE arrested 35 people on federal charges of attempted illegal entry, according to a report obtained from DPS, which was previously reported on by the Texas Tribune

(h/t to @serranoalej.bsky.social
for first publishing that report back in the summer)

Eliangel took stock of the scene by counting what he saw: one tank, three police dogs, four drones, eight tear gas canisters or flashbangs that left him “stunned” with a burning sensation, 20 infrared lasers pointing inside the house, and at least 30 police officers.

I spoke to one of María's sons, 23 yo Eliangel, by WhatsApp. He described the raid this way:

He saw several officers donning camo, covered by a fake grass blanket, lying atop a hill outside the AirBnb, hand pointing guns with infrared lasers inside the house.

She’s struggling to pay her bills without help from her adult kids.

For much of the summer, she told the Observer, she was working as a delivery driver in a car without functional air conditioning.

Since her kids have been deported, María has struggled.

Two of her kids were deported. Her 16-year-old son is still in custody.

She spent her 40th birthday alone.

After that, María and her kids left for Chile, but Tren de Aragua has become active there as well, and in 2022 she came to the States partly to avoid the gang.

Nearly a decade ago, outside a baby shower in Maracay, Venezuela, she said gang members pulled up on motorcycles and sprayed bullets, killing one person and wounding another.

The great irony, María said, is that accusations about Tren de Aragua membership have broken up her family—even though they were victimized by the gang themselves.

Four other party attendees also denied any affiliation.

But authorities never offered any evidence that the party attendees actually were Tren de Aragua members.

María, a mother who had three of her children detained in the raid, said that none of her kids were involved with the gang.

The day after the raid, DPS put out a press release stating that police agencies had been investigating Tren de Aragua for > 1 year, and that: “In recent days, the FBI developed intelligence regarding a possible gathering of suspected TdA members or TdA associates in Hays Co.”

In the early hours of April 1, law enforcement agents arrested 47 people at a rented mansion near the well-off Hays County suburb of Dripping Springs.

Officials Said They Busted a Tren de Aragua Party. Attendees Beg to Differ. A highly publicized multi-agency raid in Hays County resulted in dozens of arrests on low-level immigration charges and left an Austin mother's life in tatters. It also fit a pattern of unproven gang-...

In April, authorities raided what they say was a Tren de Aragua gathering. Attendees say it was a birthday party.

Among those detained included a homeless barber/DoorDash driver, and three people who fled Venezuela years ago *because of* that gang

🧵
www.texasobserver.org/officials-tr...

Officials Said They Busted a Tren de Aragua Party. Attendees Beg to Differ. A highly publicized multi-agency raid in Hays County resulted in dozens of arrests on low-level immigration charges and left an Austin mother's life in tatters. It also fit a pattern of unproven…

New from @francescadnunz.bsky.social: A highly publicized multi-agency raid in Hays County resulted in dozens of arrests on low-level immigration charges and left an Austin mother's life in tatters. It also fit a pattern of unproven gang-related accusations.

US appeals court orders deportation of Atlanta journalist detained by Ice Mario Guevara faces imminent removal from US as his attorney files emergency petition

Mario Guevara is here legally and is not facing any criminal charges.

He is being thrown out of the country for nothing but reporting news.

A Venezuelan Was Detained as a 'Documented' Gang Member by ICE, Which Refused to Provide Proof The Venezuelan immigrant, who has no criminal record, previously worked for a multinational corporation that sells snacks, food, and soft drinks.

Featured story, from @francescadnunz.bsky.social: By Escalona Mújicas’ account, before he opened his car door at the traffic stop, an agent told him “The President does not want to see Haitians, Nicaraguans, Cubans, or Venezuelans here.”

The Eyes of Chihuahua The 20-story Torre Centinela looming over Juárez is part of a much larger AI-powered surveillance system that won’t stop at the Texas-Mexico border. For three years, Luis Mendoza has periodically gone...

The border Mexican state of Chihuahua is raising a 20-story AI-powered surveillance building called 'Centinela'.

This massive investment in surveillance raises concerns about civil liberties.

Story by AI Fellow @francescadnunz.bsky.social for @texasobserver.org. bit.ly/46h18GP

Torre Centinela: Chihuahua construye sistema de vigilancia masiva contra migrantes y ofrece datos a EE.UU., revela periodista La oferta del gobierno de Maru Campus a Estados Unidos incluye la creación de una base de datos biométricos de migrantes.

mil gracias a @aristeguionline.bsky.social por destacar nuestra investigación en el @texasobserver.org sobre la Plataforma Centinela, el sistema de vigilancia que el estado de Chihuahua está construyendo y ha ofrecido compartir con autoridades en EEUU y Texas

aristeguinoticias.com/090925/arist...