Emily Belz

Excerpts from a Judge’s Ruling in Favor of Minnesota Refugees - Christianity Today Judge John R. Tunheim said the US government had made a “solemn promise” to the persecuted whom it had welcomed to the country.

excerpts from the ruling here www.christianitytoday.com/2026/03/fede...

This story of a minor refugee's arrest, from Judge Tunheim's ruling on Friday, is just horrible

refugee missing since Thursday found dead by Buffalo police A refugee missing since he was taken into custody Thursday by U.S. Border Patrol agents was found dead by Buffalo police officers late Tuesday, authorities reported.

The CBP statement that he was "not amenable to removal" makes no sense -- he was here legally and didn't want to self deport?

buffalonews.com/news/local/a...

Charges dropped against three Minnesotans accused of assaulting federal agents The defendants were initially accused of serious crimes. But when asked for evidence, the government dropped their cases.

Three separate cases where DOJ failed to get an indictment - remarkable www.startribune.com/charges-drop...

We'll definitely be following this at CT but so far my Malawi contacts, for ex, have heard nothing about any changes to HIV/AIDS programs for now

The Trump Administration Is Ending Aid That It Says Saves Lives The State Department will let lifesaving projects expire because “there is no strong nexus between the humanitarian response and U.S. national interests,” according to an internal email.

I'm skeptical of the allegation of this article - that the State Dept is ending *all* humanitarian aid for seven nations. Aid comes thru so many different channels that I don't know what that means. Food? Health? There's not one "aid package" for Malawi www.theatlantic.com/health/2026/...

Online opt-in surveys also find recent religious resurgence among U.S. young adults While this analysis focuses on claims of religious revival among young adults in the U.K., some opt-in surveys have pointed to a similar trend in the United States. Barna Group, a research organization serving Christian leaders, has used online opt-in survey data to make claims of rising churchgoing among young adults in the U.S. According to Barna, “Since 2019, both Gen Z and Millennials were the least likely generation to frequently attend church. Today, they are the most engaged.” However, surveys from Pew Research Center using random samples show no clear evidence of a religious revival among young adults. Nor is there clear evidence of religious revival in two other surveys based on random samples conducted by other organizations: the General Social Survey and the American Time Use Survey.

Is there a revival of churchgoing among US young adults? According to
Opt-in online polls: Yes
Surveys using random samples of the population: No
https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2026/01/23/has-there-been-a-christian-revival-among-young-adults-in-the-uk-recent-surveys-may-be-misleading/

I’m hearing ads for betting companies now where they’re calling it “trading.” Cool cool cool

it’s twin peaks day ☕

👏

After Their Kids Survived the Annunciation Shooting, Parents Search for Healing - Christianity Today Families in the same Anglican church watched their young children deal with trauma, anxiety, and grief. They found one solution: each other.

I covered the aftermath of that shooting earlier this month. Kids are so resilient and amazing but I wish they didn't have to be www.christianitytoday.com/2026/01/annu...

Live: Walz, Democrats push new gun limits after Annunciation and Hortman shootings Their efforts could face pushback from Republicans in the narrowly divided House and Senate.

8th grader who survived being shot in the head in the Annunciation shooting is now at the MN state capitol pushing for new gun restrictions

www.startribune.com/minnesota-le...

Mamdani should hire my block to shovel out the city

“Schwank said he was ordered to teach recruits to forcibly enter the homes of people they are hoping to arrest”

Former Instructor Calls ICE Officer Training a ‘Dangerous Husk’ The whistleblower told Congress that the agency’s recruits are never failed on practical exams.

“ICE has stopped failing trainees”

www.wsj.com/politics/pol...

The Churches That Fought for Due Process - Christianity Today An Ecuadorian immigrant with legal status fell into a detention “black hole.” Church leaders across the country tried to pull him out.

An Ecuadorean man with legal status was shackled and left with broken bones in ICE detention. Excellent reporting by my colleague @andyrolsen.bsky.social www.christianitytoday.com/2026/02/chur...

Norway the king of chess and winter

Federal court hearing today on the refugee detentions -

These are people who fled persecution and were invited here by the US govt after years of vetting.

The new memo: s3.documentcloud.org/documents/27...

Refugees Disappeared. Churches Prayed and Lawyered Up. - Christianity Today Christians who fled violence in Myanmar were largely Trump supporters. Then ICE started arresting their congregants.

Yesterday we published a piece on refugees in hiding who are facing threat of detention.

Last night DHS issued a new memo outlining its plans to expand refugee detention. Not only justifying their arrests but saying they could be detained indefinitely

www.christianitytoday.com/2026/02/minn...

I wonder if this will shift things at all. A lot of the refugees I know of who were released under a judge’s order were not given their ID documents back. So they don’t know if they can drive etc

Refugees Disappeared. Churches Prayed and Lawyered Up. - Christianity Today Christians who fled violence in Myanmar were largely Trump supporters. Then ICE started arresting their congregants.

New from me: Refugees disappeared in Minnesota. A resettlement agency was getting calls from family members wondering where family was. A nursing mother was taken from her baby at her home and sent to Texas. Their churches are angry. www.christianitytoday.com/2026/02/minn...

Exclusive: White House uses USAID funds for budget director Vought's security, documents show The White House budget office is using millions of dollars from the former U.S. foreign aid agency to pay for the security detail of Russell Vought, President Donald Trump's budget chief and an archit...

Reuters reports that Russ Vought is using $15m from USAID for his own security detail www.reuters.com/world/us/whi...

Meanwhile Mackenzie Scott has given away $26B since 2019

www.seattletimes.com/business/mac...

Safe house linked to Underground Railroad discovered in Manhattan The Merchant's House is the first landmarked building in the borough.

ny1.com/nyc/manhatta...

That Underground Railroad stop that was just discovered in NYC - a "generational find" - was owned and built by a fervent evangelical convert and abolitionist Joseph Brewster media.villagepreservation.org/wp-content/u...

Yesterday morning kids were sent running from their bus stop in panic because ICE showed up. This guy at today’s ICE Out of Lindenwold protest is a must watch 😭. @maddow.bsky.social

Just read Frankenstein for the first time. So so good.

Donate to Neighbors Helping Neighbors in Need, organized by Matt Lang Your help is desperately needed. We are a collective of three schools, five churches… Matt Lang needs your support for Neighbors Helping Neighbors in Need

Amazing - MN fund to help immigrants with their rent has hit $275k. One of the organizers is a Christian I talked to.

“A collective of three schools and five churches”
www.gofundme.com/f/75ccxs-nei...

Meta Plans to Add Facial Recognition Technology to Its Smart Glasses

When the subtitle is actually the headline:

“In an internal memo last year, Meta said the political tumult in the United States would distract critics from the feature’s release.”

www.nytimes.com/2026/02/13/t...