Martha Fry

How a tiny, inexperienced firm landed a $1.3 billion detention deal To hold 5,000 human beings.

When the Trump administration awarded a $1.26 billion contract to operate a new detention center in Texas, it made headlines. Why?

Because the company that won the job was so small, it operated out of a single-family home in Richmond, Virginia.

Homeland Security Wants Social Media Sites to Expose Anti-ICE Accounts

“[DHS] is expanding its efforts to identify Americans who oppose Immigration and Customs Enforcement by sending tech companies legal requests for the names, email addresses, telephone numbers and other identifying data behind social media accounts that track or criticize the agency.”

Mia Valentina Paz Faria A 7-year-old from Venezuela who was living in Austin, Texas Detained for 70 days “I don’t want to be in this place I want to go to my school.”

UPDATE: Staff at the ICE concentration camp in Dilley, Texas have begun raiding the dormitories of kids and their parents to confiscate and destroy letters from the children. This is in response to the ace reporting by @micarosenberg et al for ProPublica:

“I don’t want to be in this place I want to go to my school.”

- 7 year old imprisoned by ICE for 70 days in a concentration camp in Texas.

Today, after @propublica.org published this story, the camp was raided to confiscate letters from the children.

www.propublica.org/article/ice-...

rainbow drone piñata with the words Te Estoy Wachando

"The FAA and DOW acted swiftly to address a cartel drone incursion."

The Very White House The Trump administration is, at its core, a white nationalist project. The president's personal racism, of course, has always been crystal clear, not just from the start of his political career but f...

New post at CAMPAIGN TRAILS, taking stock of a very racist administration.

How dangerous is it really to work for ICE? According to ICE’s own data, none of its officers have been killed by an immigrant in the agency’s history.

Data from ICE shows that none of its agents have ever been killed by an immigrant in the agency’s more than two-decade history.

We lost over 10,000 scientists from the U.S. government. Most pushed out via threatened terminations, harassments, and via decimating reductions in force. Dark times ahead.

RAICES Raised Millions to Protect Minors from Deportation. Then It Dropped Them ‘Like It Was Nothing,’ Ex Staffers Claim. Texas nonprofit falsely represented its reasoning for dropping child immigration clients to employees and in court records, ex staffers say.

EXCLUSIVE: RAICES built a national reputation on the belief that no kid should go to court alone. Then it declined a $19.5 million federal contract and misrepresented the reason for dropping child clients, former staffers told contributor @paulflahive.bsky.social
thebarbedwire.com/2026/01/07/r...

Harris County sees rise in whooping cough cases as doctors urge importance of vaccination Pertussis, commonly known as whooping cough, is an infectious disease that can cause serious and potentially life-threatening complications, especially in infants and young children, according to the CDC. 

Harris County's health department recently reported that it had seen more than three times the number of whooping cough cases this year compared to 2024. 

Trump’s pardons wipe out payments to defrauded victims In addition to clearing prison sentences, the president’s clemency actions have erased millions in restitution payments.

At least 20 people who have received clemency from President Trump so far this year were also forgiven of financial penalties totaling tens of millions of dollars.

Some of these offenders owed money to real-life victims of fraud.

The Trump administration has all but stopped reuniting detained migrant children with families Government sources say that for the last six weeks, they've been ordered not to release undocumented children in federal custody to their parents and relatives.

The Trump administration has virtually stopped releasing undocumented children in federal custody to their parents and other relatives, The Texas Newsroom and The California Newsroom have found.

December 16, 2025 While President Donald J.

December 16, 2025

I am 68 years old and had formula from day one, as did all three of my siblings. None of us was malnourished and none of us has a brain worm. 🤷

Texas Grid Operators and Regulators Iron Out New Rules for Data Centers - Inside Climate News Texas Gov. Greg Abbott signed a law in June that empowers the state’s grid operator to remotely disconnect data centers and other large energy users if the grid is under extreme stress. The so-called ...

It'll be fine, Texas' electric grid famously never gets overloaded ... oh, wait. 🤬

"Compared with September 2024, ERCOT now is tracking more than three times as many large load interconnections, with nearly 69% of the large load requests coming from data centers."

Internet Providers Can Monitor Their Own Cybersecurity Standards, Says Trump’s FCC In what the Electronic Frontier Foundation calls a "terrible idea," the Federal Communications Commission has rescinded the requirement for telecom companies to issue yearly cybersecurity reports.

ISPs and cellular carriers will no longer be required to meet minimum cybersecurity standards after an FCC vote Thursday. “This is such a terrible idea. This is rolling out the red carpet for another attack,” EFF’s @cooperq.com told @CNET.com. www.cnet.com/home/intern...

It really doesn't look appetizing at all. Hundred photos and I'm still unimpressed. I'm so sorry to y'alls cultural dish.

But at least it's easy to make.

“They had seen me before, so they thought they were just going to speed away. I was like, ‘Ha ha, bitches, I got a new scooter!’”

U.S. Coast Guard will no longer classify swastikas, nooses as hate symbols The military service, which falls under the Department of Homeland Security, has drafted a new policy that classifies such items “potentially divisive.”

“The U.S. Coast Guard will no longer classify the swastika — an emblem of fascism and white supremacy inextricably linked to the murder of millions of Jews and the deaths of more than 400,000 U.S. troops who died fighting in World War II — as a hate symbol”

www.washingtonpost.com/national-sec...

Palestinians ‘squeezed’ as Israel moves beyond ‘yellow line’ in Gaza City Move comes as Israeli attacks on bombarded enclave killed at least 32 Palestinians and wounded 88 others in 24 hours.

Move comes as Israeli attacks on bombarded enclave killed at least 32 Palestinians and wounded 88 others in 24 hours.

Elon Musk is set to make more than every U.S. elementary teacher combined See how Tesla CEO Elon Musk’s new payment package compares with other occupations in the United States.

“On average, Musk will make $3 billion more per year than the 1.4 million elementary school teachers in the U.S. combined.”

Sanford grandfather, born in refugee camp, nabbed by ICE after 70 years in U.S. Paul Bojerski never gained official residency, but he checked in regularly with ICE for years. Then in July, at age 79, he was detained and sent to Alligator Alcatraz.

79-year-old Paul Bojerski was born to Polish parents in a WWII German refugee camp. His family legally emigrated to the U.S. when he was 5.

He’s been taken by ICE in Florida.

www.orlandosentinel.com/2025/11/16/s...

An Insider’s View of the Immigration System A former senior immigration policy official offers insight into how the system works and highlights urgent problems that must be addressed.

“I think most don’t realize how hard it is to immigrate legally to the United States,” says former senior policy official @margyoh.bsky.social. She explains other surprising facts about the immigration system in a wide-ranging new Q&A:

CARTOON OF THE DAY

(From @mluckovichajc)

hot dog suit

I know truth doesn’t matter anymore but 1) rates are skyrocketing because of Trump’s Big Beautiful Bill ending the ACA subsidies to give billionaires tax cuts and 2) Democrats can’t “do something” because Republicans control every branch of government.

T H E W H I T E H OU S E W A S H I N G T O N S e p t e m b e r 3 0 , 2 0 2 5 P r e s i d e n t i a l D e t e r m i n a t i o n N o . _ _ _ _ _ _ 2 0 2 5 - 1 3 _ _ _ _ _ MEMORANDUM FOR THE SECRETARY OF STATE THE SECRETARY OF HOMELAND SECURITY THE SECRETARY OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES SUBJECT: Presidential Determination on Refugee Admissions for Fiscal Year 2026 By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States, in accordance with section 207 of the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1157), and after appropriate consultations with the Congress, I hereby make the following determinations and authorize the following actions: The admissions of up to 7,500 refugees to the United States during Fiscal Year 2026 is justified by humanitarian concerns or is otherwise in the national interest. The admissions numbers shall primarily be allocated among Afrikaners from South Africa pursuant to Executive Order 14204, and other victims of illegal or unjust discrimination in their respective homelands. Refugee admissions under this determination, which may reach but not exceed the numerical limit described herein, are in all respects subject to the requirements of other Presidential policies and actions, whether issued prior or subsequent to this determination. Those Presidential policies and actions include, but are not limited to: Executive Order 14161, which mandates that refugees receive the most stringent identification verification of any class of alien seeking admission or entry to the United States; Executive Order 14163, which suspends the entry into the United States of refugees other than when the Secretaries of State and Homeland Security jointly determine that an admission is in the national interest and does not threaten the security or welfare of the United States; Executive Order 14204, which provides for refugee resettlement of Afrikaners from South Africa who are victims of unjust racial discrimination; and …

NEW: Trump has announced that the US will admit the lowest level of refugees ever at 7,500 in FY 2026. The US will only be admitting as refugees White people from South Africa and "victims of illegal or unjust discrimination," which leaked memos suggest means far-right Europeans.

I just stumbled upon #ChocolateKDrama several months ago and really enjoyed it. I thought it was written and acted well.

I'm shaking almost too hard to type. I entered SLC airport and heard screams and cries for help. I could see people gathered around, watching. I sped over to discover this woman face down on the floor, four grown men pushing her down, while she cried "HELP ME" and pled for her child.

Lack of sign language interpreters in North Dakota a major barrier The video sign language service the Bismarck hospital was using was not working properly, and Tammy Derrick wanted to know what was happening with her son.She eventually requested an on-site sign…

North Dakota has 15 nationally certified American Sign Language interpreters for the whole state, with none living west of U.S. Highway 83, according to a national registry.

via @northdakotamonitor.com

Man struck dead by vehicle on Virginia highway after trying to flee immigration agents Agents tried to detain Josué Castro Rivera and the three other passengers, and he fled on foot, tried to cross Interstate 264 in Norfolk and was fatally struck, according to state and federal authorit...

A 24-year-old Honduran man who was fleeing federal immigration agents in Virginia died on a highway after being struck by a vehicle. https://to.pbs.org/4nop4hK

Mississippi to Halt SNAP Food Assistance on Nov. 1 Amid Shutdown Mississippi residents who rely on food stamps will not be able to access SNAP benefits starting Nov. 1 due to the government shutdown.

About 13% of Mississippians, or around 384,800 people, receive food stamps, Center on Budget and Policy Priorities data shows.

Of those who receive SNAP benefits, 67% are families with children, 41% are families who are older adults or disabled, and 26% are working families.