Isabela Dias

Former members of ICE say recent violence is "by design" "What has changed is there has been an encouragement from the top to be much more aggressive in enforcement."

“It’s not at all surprising that this is happening with these ICE [removal] officers being sent out to basically treat people terribly,” a one-time deputy chief counsel with the agency told me, anticipating more escalation of violence. My latest for @motherjones.com:

“Mass deportation will be a labor-market disruption celebrated by American workers,” Stephen Miller said in late 2023.

But as I wrote here before Trump's re-election, researchers estimated that large-scale deportations would result in fewer jobs for Americans, not more.

They fled Maduro and cheered his downfall. But they fear deportations, too. "Until there is true justice in Venezuela and the economic means to return and rebuild the country, I don't believe Venezuelans can go back."

"We have voted. We have protested. We have been killed. We have been persecuted. We have been imprisoned. We have been tortured. We have done everything in our power to have a path to democracy—and we deserve that opportunity.”

Trump is “basically shutting down the legal immigration system” In response to the DC shooting, the administration is blocking pathways for rule-following and vulnerable immigrants.

Finally, in December, I reported on the fallout of the administration's crackdown on legal immigration following the shooting of two National Guard members in Washington, DC.

More to come in 2026.

Meet the veteran who chases ICE on a scooter Clifford “Buzz” Grambo patrols the streets of Baltimore to keep his neighbors safe—and make federal agents uncomfortable.

And I profiled a Navy veteran who chases ICE on a scooter across the neighborhoods of Baltimore.

Then they came for the Dreamers Immigrants brought here as children were told they wouldn’t be deported. Now, they’re being targeted anyway.

In November, I also wrote about the Trump administration's active targeting of DACA recipients with valid protection for arrest, detention, and deportation.

"Godsend" or "concentration camp"? A lucrative ICE deal divides a Colorado town. Trump has unleashed a gold rush among immigrant-detaining private prison companies. In cash-strapped cities, residents aren’t sure the money is worth it.

For the November/December issue, I reported on a one-time prison town in Colorado that has gotten divided over potential plans to open an ICE detention center in their backyard.

“Fired for no reason”: Former immigration judges speak out against Trump’s assault on the courts The Trump administration’s push for more deportations is upending immigration courts. Recently terminated judges fear the changes imperil due process.

In October, I followed up on my March piece about the US immigration courts with detailed accounts from fired immigration judges.

Trump is making thousands of rule-abiding immigrants undocumented Inside the largest delegalization campaign in modern US history.

For the September/October issue of the magazine, I reported on Trump's attack on Temporary Protected Status for Venezuelans and the largest de-legalization push in modern US history.

“What they did there was torture us” Now free, the Venezuelan men the Trump administration sent to El Salvador want the world to know what they lived through.

@nlanard.bsky.social and I talked to some of the Venezuelans after they were released from CECOT and sent back to Venezuela and documented their stories about what they endured in El Salvador.

How ICE’s arrest of a high school student activated a Massachusetts town “We’re trying to find ways the community can defend itself.”

In July, I reported on ICE's arrest of a Brazilian-born high schooler and how it galvanized a Massachusetts town.

Trump disappeared them to El Salvador. Now, they're being erased by immigration courts. At least 14 cases of Venezuelans sent to a Salvadoran megaprison have been dismissed by US immigration judges.

In June, I wrote about how several of the men sent to CECOT had their pending asylum cases in the United States dismissed by immigration judges.

The worrying backstory of Trump’s proposed “Office of Remigration” The State Department is reportedly creating an office for "remigration": a far-right policy that calls for what has been described as "soft-style ethnic cleansing."

I also looked back at my previous reporting on "Remigration" in light of Trump's proposal to create a Remigration Office within the State Department.

Trump's DOJ stripped lifeline legal services from the most vulnerable detained immigrants "Without a lawyer, people don't have a prayer. They don't have a chance in hell."

In May, I worked on an article about the Trump administration's attack on a legal services program for detained immigrants with serious mental health needs and cognitive disabilities.

More Venezuelans face imminent deportation under the Alien Enemies Act “The Trump administration appears afraid to give people due process."

@nlanard.bsky.social and I also reported on the detained migrants who were at risk of being sent to El Salvador next.

Her husband is trapped in a Salvadoran prison. She has no idea how to get him back. Ripped apart by Trump, one Venezuelan family endures another hell: silence.

In April, I followed up on our original investigation with an in-depth story about another Venezuelan sent to CECOT, Julio Zambrano, and the impact his removal had on his family.

The men disappeared to El Salvador because of their tattoos The Trump administration sent Venezuelans to El Salvador’s most infamous prison. Their families are looking for answers.

Also in March, @nlanard.bsky.social and I interviewed the relatives, friends, and lawyers of 10 Venezuelans sent to El Salvador's CECOT without due process and on flimsy allegations of gang membership due to innocuous tattoos. One man, Neri Alvarado, had an autism awareness tattoo for his brother.

The US used the Alien Enemies Act to detain their families. Now, they are watching history repeat. The statute justified the imprisonment in World War II of thousands like Heidi Gurcke Donald. She is horrified as Trump invokes it for mass deportation.

I also talked to descendants of survivors of the World War II internment camps about Trump's revival of the infamous Alien Enemies Act.

“The entire system will collapse”: Inside the purge of US immigration courts The "nonsensical" firings of immigration judges, managers, and senior officials spell more trouble for an already faltering system.

March was a BUSY month. I wrote the first of many pieces about the purge of the immigration courts.

“Half my students were gone”: How Trump’s immigration agenda is disrupting education In Boston-area schools, more than 1,000 students stayed home fearing deportation. Their teachers want to know what to tell them.

In February, I partnered with @hurwitz.bsky.social to chronicle how immigration enforcement impacted students in the Boston area.

The big-money right-wing push to upend the Constitution—and kill birthright citizenship “We’re in totally uncharted territory.”

This year felt like a decade. I wanted to highlight some of the immigration reporting I've done over the past 12 months:

In January, I wrote about the big money fueling the right's plot to end birthright citizenship.

Trump Is “basically shutting down the legal immigration system” In response to the DC shooting, the administration is blocking pathways for rule-following and vulnerable immigrants.

All asylum decisions paused. Naturalization ceremonies canceled. Green card applications on hold.

The Trump administration's blanket restrictions on legal immigration "don’t just disrupt paperwork, they derail lives.” My latest for @motherjones.com:

I asked the Pentagon about Pete Hegseth's mentor. Then the threats started. Journalism in the second Trump administration gets personal.

Reporter @dfriedman.bsky.social asked the Pentagon about Pete Hegseth’s mentor. Then the threats began.

I asked the Pentagon about Pete Hegseth's mentor. Then the threats started. Journalism in the second Trump administration gets personal.

“Asian wife sharing,” Pentagon press policy, and me: Journalism in the second Trump administration gets personal. www.motherjones.com/politics/202...

A year of hell for immigrants In the first Trump administration, cruelty was the point. Now, it is the norm.

Much of the current immigration policymaking—if this rampant clampdown and unleashing of brutalizing force can be called that—seems to be now distilled to a simple modus operandi: we do it because we can. My reflection on a year of hell for immigrants and the Trump administration's casual cruelty:

Meet the veteran who chases ICE on a scooter Clifford “Buzz” Grambo patrols the streets of Baltimore to keep his neighbors safe—and make federal agents uncomfortable.

After 20 years in the Navy, Buzz Grambo thought he'd spend his retirement playing video games and watching baseball. Instead, he patrols the streets of Baltimore to protect his neighbors from ICE. He even upgraded his scooter to a Segway that reaches 26 mph to keep up with the agents. My latest:

How right-wing superstar Riley Gaines built an anti-trans empire The swimmer tied a trans woman for fifth. The MAGA industrial complex took care of the rest.

I’ve spent a lot of the last three years investigating the rise of anti-trans politics. Often, it came back to the controversy over trans women athletes.

So I teamed up with @pablo.show to look into the leading figure on the issue: Riley Gaines.

www.motherjones.com/politics/202... 1/

Then they came for the Dreamers Immigrants brought here as children were told they wouldn’t be deported. Now, they’re being targeted anyway.

Catalina “Xóchitl” Santiago spent nearly two months in ICE detention—despite having protection under DACA—until a federal judge ruled that the government had no reason to keep her in custody and ordered her release.

DHS is still vowing to "explore every available option to remove" her. My latest:

Then they came for the Dreamers Immigrants brought here as children were told they wouldn’t be deported. Now, they’re being targeted anyway.

Then they came for the Dreamers.

Read @isabelaalhadeff.bsky.social's heartbreaking look at the fear and chaos the Trump administration has wrought onto the lives of young people brought to the United States.

"A real betrayal."

Some background on the absolute monarchy where the Trump administration is now paying to imprison people deported by ICE

Story here: www.motherjones.com/politics/202...