An H-2A Visa Promised Her a Better Life. She Ended Up in a Nightmare.
Sofi left behind her child in Mexico for the promise of providing him a better life. She ended up a victim of an operation that is alleged to have exploited the H-2A visa program — and the workers it…
Javier Sanchez Mendoza Jr. helped Sofi secure an H-2A visa, promising a job on a Georgia blueberry farm.
When she arrived, she was not sent out to work in the fields like the others.
She was forced to live at his house and sign a marriage license.
15.09.2025 03:00 — 👍 321 🔁 128 💬 6 📌 5
A guide to navigating the immigration court system in WA state
How do you locate someone in ICE custody? Who has the right to an immigration hearing? Attorneys and advocates answer common questions.
Immigration court is and can be complex.
To help you make sense of the system, Cascade PBS spoke with immigration attorneys and advocates in Washington to answer questions regarding recent federal changes and our region’s unique challenges.
10.09.2025 19:08 — 👍 11 🔁 7 💬 1 📌 0
WA looks to resume ICE center inspections after federal ruling
The private company that runs the Northwest ICE Processing Center also dropped its lawsuit against Cascade PBS after the state provided redacted photos.
WA looks to resume ICE center inspections after federal ruling. The private company that runs the detention center also dropped its lawsuit involving Cascade PBS after the state provided redacted inspection photos. By @farahe.bsky.social: www.cascadepbs.org/investigatio...
02.09.2025 20:21 — 👍 4 🔁 2 💬 0 📌 0
come catch me at @aajaofficial.bsky.social this thursday! i’ll be speaking at the “immigration in the second trump term” panel alongside emily kwong from npr, april xu from documented and arelis hernández from the washington post!
29.07.2025 04:03 — 👍 2 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
Police
Police and protesters
NOW: DHS police are at the Seattle Federal Building, warning dozens of protesters who are trying to disrupt ICE from detaining immigrants after their court hearings to disperse.
10.06.2025 20:14 — 👍 437 🔁 145 💬 11 📌 12
WA mobile homeowners, advocates react to new rent stabilization law
The state’s new cap on rent increases is one of the country’s most progressive — and some landlords have already steeply hiked rates in anticipation.
"You just never have a chance to breathe. And now we do.” A new cap on rent increases marks a victory for mobile homeowners — and some landlords have already steeply hiked rates in anticipation. By @farahe.bsky.social:
www.cascadepbs.org/investigatio...
03.06.2025 15:53 — 👍 12 🔁 6 💬 1 📌 0
New law aims to boost oversight of Tacoma ICE facility
State officials say they've received more than 1,500 complaints about the Tacoma detention center.
A new law signed by Washington Gov. Bob Ferguson today aims to conduct state inspections of private detention facilities, including the ICE detention center in Tacoma. www.axios.com/local/seattl... #waleg
12.05.2025 22:10 — 👍 67 🔁 29 💬 1 📌 4
Detained WA farmworker denied release over jurisdiction dispute
NEW: Alfredo “Lelo” Juarez Zeferino, a farmworker and union organizer whose March arrest by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement drew national outcry, will remain in detention after a judge announced Friday that she lacked jurisdiction to release him on bond.
09.05.2025 19:09 — 👍 4 🔁 5 💬 0 📌 0
Detained WA farmworker denied release over jurisdiction dispute
longtime farmworker and labor activist, Alfredo “Lelo” Juarez Zeferino, has been denied release from ICE detention on bond.
more here, for @cascadepbs.bsky.social:
www.cascadepbs.org/briefs/2025/...
09.05.2025 19:03 — 👍 5 🔁 5 💬 0 📌 0
INBOX: The bond hearing for Lelo Juarez, the farmworker organizer who was arrested by ICE on March 25, will be held tomorrow at 8:30 am. Supporters plan to hold a rally outside the Northwest Detention Center in Tacoma, where he is being incarcerated, according to @foodjusticec2c.bsky.social.
07.05.2025 17:16 — 👍 17 🔁 9 💬 0 📌 0
Washington’s immigrant rights orgs mobilize amid deportation push
Organizers from Tacoma to Spokane have worked to backfill support gaps and monitor detainee treatment in response to increased immigration enforcement.
Aidan Perkinson finally got the call. He was inside an RV parked outside Northwest ICE Processing Center in Tacoma, waiting alongside local volunteers. The group, Advocates for Immigrants in Detention Northwest (AIDNW), provides reentry assistance to those released.
“Three releases today,” he said.
07.05.2025 19:13 — 👍 92 🔁 37 💬 3 📌 2
A bar graph of the “Number of Journalists and Media Workers Killed, By War” showing that the final, Gaza War, has killed more journalists than the rest of the listed conflicts COMBINED.
World Wars I & II (1914-1918) (1939-1945)
Wars in Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos (1965-1975)
War in Afghanistan (2001-2021)
Gaza War (2023-2024)
U.S. Civil War (1861-1865)
Korean War (1950-1953)
Yugoslav Wars (1991-2001)
Ukraine War (2014-2025)
Gaza War (2023-2024)
“They weren’t targeted”
03.04.2025 13:33 — 👍 273 🔁 109 💬 3 📌 1
🚨Unfair labor practice alert🚨 Over the weekend the union filed a ULP complaint against @cascadepbs.bsky.social for preventing us from passing out union literature in non-work spaces, which is a protected activity under the National Labor Relations Act. (1/4)
01.04.2025 21:22 — 👍 9 🔁 6 💬 1 📌 1
Update: Hamdan Ballal has been released from IDF custody
25.03.2025 16:13 — 👍 2300 🔁 602 💬 58 📌 33
Tacoma ICE center company sues to block inspection records release
The GEO Group alleges the state inspected the detention facility improperly and that related photos requested by Cascade PBS could pose security risks.
GEO Group, the private company that runs the ICE detention center in Tacoma, tried taking Cascade PBS to court to block our access to photos from a records request we filed, only to accidentally disclose them in a court doc
from me + @lizzgiordano.bsky.social: www.cascadepbs.org/investigatio...
04.02.2025 23:56 — 👍 16 🔁 4 💬 1 📌 0
Tacoma ICE center company sues to block inspection records release
The GEO Group alleges the state inspected the detention facility improperly and that related photos requested by Cascade PBS could pose security risks.
Tacoma ICE detention co. sues to block inspection records release. They allege WA state inspected the facility improperly and photos requested by media could pose security risks. (By @farahe.bsky.social & @lizzgiordano.bsky.social @cascadepbsnewsroom.bsky.social) www.cascadepbs.org/investigatio...
04.02.2025 17:04 — 👍 11 🔁 6 💬 1 📌 2
https://bit.ly/3EmySYW
Always, Always....Always click the link. In an effort to keep records secret the company running the Northwest ICE Processing Center in WA accidentally makes the records publicly accessible #ICE t.co/3w2QhbvnXl
04.02.2025 23:42 — 👍 6 🔁 1 💬 1 📌 0
Priced Out: Fear and resistance in WA mobile home parks
The Cascade PBS documentary explores how one ownership group has bought up communities statewide and raised rents, straining low-income residents.
This year, the Cascade PBS Investigations team published a documentary highlighting its years-worth coverage of mobile home park tenant organizations and associations who have pushed back against management practices.
30.01.2025 20:15 — 👍 5 🔁 2 💬 0 📌 0
WA mobile home communities organize against ‘economic eviction’
Port Orchard-based Hurst & Son LLC bought dozens of parks in recent years. Now residents say the company is raising rents and cutting services.
The Attorney General’s office announced its investigation in October 2023 following an increased number of complaints alleging rapid rent hikes, maintenance changes & excessive fees. In August 2023, Cascade PBS launched a series of stories on alleged “economic eviction” throughout Hurst & Son parks.
30.01.2025 20:11 — 👍 8 🔁 2 💬 1 📌 0
WA mobile park owner refunds tenants $5.5M after AG investigation
The state attorney general's office reports Port Orchard-based Hurst & Son issued reimbursements as dispute complaints reached record highs in 2024.
The Washington Attorney General’s Office has announced $5.5 million in refunds to Hurst & Son LLC tenants following the agency’s 2023 investigation into the Port Orchard-based mobile home management company. It marks the largest reimbursement in the history of the dispute resolution program.
30.01.2025 20:05 — 👍 18 🔁 5 💬 1 📌 1
Farmworkers rally in Olympia amid federal court battle over wages
Familias Unidas por la Justicia, a WA migrant workers’ union, is involved in an ongoing lawsuit with the Department of Labor over a shift to hourly pay.
Farmworkers rally in Olympia amid federal court battle over wages. Familias Unidas por la Justicia, a WA migrant workers’ union, is involved in an ongoing lawsuit with the Department of Labor over a shift to hourly pay. www.cascadepbs.org/investigatio...
24.01.2025 16:53 — 👍 6 🔁 3 💬 0 📌 0
WA advocates sue ICE over release of detention center records
The Northwest Immigrant Rights Project, a Seattle-based human rights group, filed a lawsuit against U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement in federal court on Tuesday, alleging violations of the Freedom of Information Act. www.cascadepbs.org/briefs/2025/...
16.01.2025 21:02 — 👍 5 🔁 4 💬 0 📌 0
Migrant brush pickers face risks, few protections in WA woods
A 2022 work van crash and subsequent $1.8M in court-ordered back wages and damages cast a spotlight on the decorative forest products industry.
Migrant brush pickers face risks, few protections in WA woods. A work van crash and subsequent $1.8M in court-ordered back wages and damages cast a spotlight on the decorative forest products industry. By @farahe.bsky.social: www.cascadepbs.org/investigatio...
12.12.2024 16:28 — 👍 3 🔁 1 💬 0 📌 0
Colorado-based editor @investigatewest.bsky.social, social media lurker
We're a team of attorneys and advocates using litigation, policy advocacy, and education to solve homelessness. #HousingNotHandcuffs
https://linktr.ee/homeless_law
homelesslaw.org
Cascade PBS Central and Eastern Washington Reporter. Executive Board President of the Pacific Northwest Newspaper Guild (Local 37082 of The NewsGuild-CWA)
mai.hoang@cascadepbs.org | https://www.cascadepbs.org/author/mai-hoang
former news editor at Cascade PBS. reporter covering abortion policy in the absence of Roe at NPR, The New Republic, Axios. girl about town at Burbank Industries. formerly Seattle Times, Portland Mercury, The Stranger.
meganburbank.substack.com ✨
https://www.bodegacats.nyc
Mother of the mosh pit 🦇 Digital Content Manager at Cascade PBS. Formerly: Spokesman-Review, Wenatchee World, Chicago Reader
PHD|Migrant Detention, Immigration & Deportation Mechanisms. He/Him/ El/ Chulx 🇲🇽
personally I think I’m hilarious
*views/opinions are my own*
📍PNW🌲
she/her
Seattle-based journalist and writer. Staff Reporter at Real Change. Views my own. Pronouns: he/they. Subscribe to my newsletter Gossip Guy for free! gossipguy.net
journalist, farmer, cat mama.
written work in cascade pbs, high country news, cosmopolitan, and elsewhere
vashon island, wa
senior organizer vs bigots @wstatescenter.bsky.social. lead author of https://www.westernstatescenter.org/protectingpride
forever prematurely antifascist. spokane is good actually. dm for signal contact.
posts reflect your employer’s opinions, not mine.
Reporter at The Seattle Times covering race and equity. No. 1 fan of the ST Union. Nosy.
radio producer based in Seattle, currently: City Cast Seattle, formerly: Futuro Media, NPR Music's Louder Than A Riot | they/them | https://samjleeds.xyz/
Investigative reporter at Cascade PBS in Seattle writing about Washington state government, housing, social policy, energy & more. Email me at brandon.block@cascadepbs.org
https://www.cascadepbs.org/author/brandon-block
Official account for the union of journalists at Cascade PBS. We are repped by the PNW Newsguild, part of the CWA. #NewsMatters
Support our fight and sign the petition: https://actionnetwork.org/petitions/support-local-journalists-and-media-workers
#Civicsforadults on Substack. Formerly Cascade PBS, AP, Seattle Times. Dog mom. People mom. Seattle journalist.
President of Leisure Manor Tenants Association, Board of AMHO, Fierce fighter to keep folks in their homes. Rent stability NOW! Evict greedy landlords and stop economic eviction.
Interested in climate, energy and just transitions. Once a journalist, sometimes a freelancer. Formerly @columbiaclimate @fordschool
radical publisher of politics, culture, current events
haymarketbooks.org
Pulitzer prize-winning reporter @propublica covering reproductive health. Send news tips on Signal or cassandra.jaramillo@propublica.org
