Silky Shah

How State and Local Leaders Are Responding to ICE: Your Questions Answered - Bolts The violence of Trump’s immigration crackdown in cities across the country and the killing of protesters by federal agents have put pressure on local leaders to change their approach to... Read More

NEW: As we've seen the raids & ICE surges, everyone has had so many questions. 'what can states do?' 'what can cities do?' 'what can one ask a sheriff, governor, zoning board, to do?!'

you sent us a lot of your questions.

we just answered 9 of them. i learned a ton myself, i think you will to.

"Alligator Alcatraz" is a major scandal on every level -- corruption, human rights abuses, blatant violations of the law.

Thank you for all your work to write and share this history of the system! Hope you are taking care, Tina ❤️

@utopia-defer.red and i listened to unbuild walls by @silkys13.bsky.social on our drive to NJ, and ngl i felt a lil emotional hearing about just how hard illinois residents and coalition partners fought against detention centers in their backyard. we can do it too

It’s one of my favorite sections of the book!

Really great to be with folks in Tacoma last night talking about immigrant justice and abolition!

“We Belong to Each Other Now”: Lessons from Minneapolis “This extreme closeness, togetherness and intimacy — you cannot infiltrate your way into a space where you'll understand that," says May, a rapid responder in Minneapolis.

After months of relentless rapid response in Minneapolis, members of Defend the 612 had a moment to breathe and reflect on the lessons they’ve learned, the grief they carry, and the citywide fellowship they hope will endure. The crisis is not over, and I’m grateful they made time to speak with me.

Hundreds of organizers coming to Mn this week. The hardest part to share is we didn’t defeat 🧊. They will spread across the country. But we can share all we’ve done so this multi-pronged resistance can spread around the country.

Concerned about ICE's $45 billion plan to convert warehouses into immigration detention centers? This is what they'll look like inside. From ICE's plan for the Social Circle, GA facility. Each little dot: a person. www.socialcirclega.gov/home/showpub...

Can’t imagine how it must have felt then to be part of that and believe in a candidate tbh

In 1988, I was elected as a delegate for Jesse Jackson to the Colorado Democratic Convention. This is, in part, why. He had courage where most others did not. Jackson had some major support, but of course the party leadership stomped on us. Many/most of us never stopped our activism.

We're pediatricians. We see how ICE is harming children. | Opinion Liam Ramos is one of more than 1,700 children to have been put in family detention centers since 2025. We call for these centers to close.

A group of pediatricians wrote an op-ed detailing the traumatic, lasting effects kids in detention centers will endure:

www.usatoday.com/story/opinio...

Detention Empire The early 1980s marked a critical turning point for the rise of modern mass incarceration in the United States. The Mariel Cuban migration of 1980, alongside...

sorry for the terrible quality of this image, I pulled it from a ppt slide I had. Check out Detention Empire for more of this history and amazing photos: uncpress.org/978146966986...

Image caption: Civil rights activist Jesse Jackson speaks to a guard during a tour of the Krome detention facility in Miami on December 30, 1981, after the quelling of a hunger strike during the Christmas holiday. Jackson's visit brought media attention to conditions at the facility. Mark Foley. Reprinted with permission from AP Photo.

Jesse Jackson visiting the Krome Detention Center in 1981. He exposed the racist policy of mandatory detention of Haitians who were deemed "economic" refugees not worthy of asylum. Image from @tinashull.bsky.social's book Detention Empire.

"a community convinced that its financial survival depends on locking people up. It’s not a new phenomenon. In this iteration of the classic prison town...
"Trump needs these towns, and he needs local officials who are willing—and sometimes eager—to sign deals...."

I watched last night and these are three of the smartest people on the planet from whom I have learned a lot. If you listen, you'll learn too.

🥹❤️

Another quick quote: "This [ICE] exists today because of the prison industrial complex and the long history of warehousing Black, brown, Indigenous communities in the United States... there is no abolishing ICE without looking at [police, jails, sheriffs, etc]" @silkys13.bsky.social

Abolish ICE, Abolish the Border w/ Silky Shah & Harsha Walia (Live) (02/12/26) Beatrice Adler-Bolton, Silky Shah and Harsha Walia discuss the brutal enforcement of immigration policing in Minneapolis and beyond, and why resistance calls for the abolition of much more than ICE.

"It's about a bordering regime and a system of control, and it's connected to so many agencies. For me, abolish ICE very much fits within an abolish the border framework." @harshawalia.bsky.social
soundcloud.com/deathpanel/a...

Abolish ICE, Abolish the Border w/ Silky Shah & Harsha Walia (Live) (02/12/26) Beatrice Adler-Bolton, Silky Shah and Harsha Walia discuss the brutal enforcement of immigration policing in Minneapolis and beyond, and why resistance calls for the abolition of much more than ICE.

ICYMI tonight’s livestream is now available in our public feed

Death Panel x @haymarketbooks.org present

ABOLISH ICE, ABOLISH THE BORDER

Harsha Walia @harshawalia.bsky.social
Silky Shah @silkys13.bsky.social
Beatrice Adler-Bolton @reallandsend.bsky.social

soundcloud.com/deathpanel/a...

Join Harsha Walia, Silky Shah, and Beatrice Adler-Bolton of Death Panel for an urgent discussion on the brutal enforcement of immigration policing in Minneapolis and beyond, and why resistance calls… Abolish ICE, Abolish the Border

LIVE NOW!

Abolish ICE, Abolish the Border

Join @harshawalia.bsky.social, @silkys13.bsky.social, & @reallandsend.bsky.social of @deathpanel.bsky.social for a discussion on the brutal enforcement of immigration policing in Minneapolis and beyond.

Stream here:

I think on top of the visible trauma and rebuilding, this is a large risk if we are in fact entering into a new phase. Much of ICE’s activity has been jail related for its whole existence and it is built on the idea that there are discardable people nobody has to see.

Thank you for reading and sharing!

Abolish ICE, Abolish the Border Join Harsha Walia, Silky Shah, and Beatrice Adler-Bolton of Death Panel for an urgent discussion on the brutal enforcement of immigration policing in Minneapolis and beyond, and why resistance calls f...

TONIGHT Death Panel x @haymarketbooks.org present

ABOLISH ICE, ABOLISH THE BORDER

Harsha Walia @harshawalia.bsky.social
Silky Shah @silkys13.bsky.social
Beatrice Adler-Bolton @reallandsend.bsky.social

7pm EST, register free here:
www.haymarketbooks.org/events/778-a...

Looking for ways to take action on ICE and keep the pressure up for Palestine? Join tomorrow’s JVP Power Half-Hour to take action in the community together.

here's the link to register for the livestream, trust me you're not going to want to miss it: www.tickettailor.com/events/hayma...

So incredibly honored & humbled to be in conversation with @silkys13.bsky.social & @harshawalia.bsky.social tomorrow night for a @haymarketbooks.org discussion on abolition, fighting "crisis at the border" rhetoric/federal occupation with insurgent care & what this moment demands of us/our movements

We have updated DetentionReports.com with the most recently released data from ICE.

Many people have asked that we add a map to the home page. We have added this feature. Click one of the blue icons to proceed to the report of the corresponding detention facility.

detentionreports.com

New op-ed in @thehill.com from @detentionwatchnetwork.org’s advocacy director, Setareh Ghandehari “It is unconscionable that our elected leaders would continue to give money to agencies that have been wreaking havoc on communities across the U.S.” thehill.com/opinion/cong...