Julia Luz Betancourt

I’m investigating university partnerships with ICE for @prismreports.org with support from the lovely editor @tinavasquez.bsky.social

📲 Send me a message on Signal at julesthejourno.09 or email me at julesthejourno@proton.me

⚠️ Do NOT use a school-provided email address

*pretends to be shocked*
great reporting, btw

Independent outlets like @southsideweekly.bsky.social, @thetriibe.com, @unraveledpress.com and @blockclubchi.bsky.social are doing a TERRIFIC job reporting on what's currently happening in Chicago. Folks should support and follow them.

Can we just pause and think for a second about why 42 million people in the U.S. are on SNAP…

42 MILLION. That is more than the population of the entire state of California.

The Walton family (who own Walmart) are worth over $400 billion, yet many of their employees are on SNAP.

Bezos is worth over $400 billion, many Amazon employees require SNAP.

The people who need help are not the problem.

It’s corporate greed. It’s an unwillingness to pay a living wage.

While Trump’s NSPM-7 memo claims so-called anti-Christian beliefs are signs of “left-wing violence,” a Chicago pastor who belongs to a Presbyterian church was shot in the head with a pepper ball by ICE. You can’t make this up.

I can’t believe I have to check my credit score through all of this.

A pie chart entitled "ICE, ICE, Maybe?" with a dek that says "a fraction of deportation personnel are employed by ICE's primary deportation unit." 13% percent of the graph is shaded in orange, with ICE ERO written in white, while the remaining 87% of the graph is shaded in gray and labelled Other

Fact-check: Most of the goons in Trump's deportation army aren't even ICE agents.

Only about 13% of the personnel carrying out Trump’s deportation agenda are employed by ICE’s primary deportation unit; the rest are pulled from other jobs.

Check out the full report: tinyurl.com/yvavwh4f

“Put Them in Trauma”: Inside a Key MAGA Leader’s Plans for a New Trump Agenda Private videos reveal Trump adviser Russ Vought’s “shadow” plans for using the military on protesters, defunding the EPA and villainizing civil servants.

Before engineering the Trump administration's government shutdown response, Russ Vought spent years building Project 2025 strategy.

“We want the bureaucrats to be traumatically affected,” he said in 2023. “When they wake up in the morning, we want them to not want to go to work.”

(Pub. Oct. 2024)

Every journalist covering the White House, government, free speech, repression, etc. should honestly report on what this is: an attempt to manufacture consent for what would be a dictatorial power grab.

If only Pete Hegseth's military shaving crusade was just stupid Hegseth knows damn well who he's pushing out: Black troops.

With his ban on military shaving waivers, Pete Hegseth knows damn well who he’s pushing out: Black troops.

Have you heard of Flock Safety? The surveillance company was once a small technology startup with a mission to “eliminate” non-violent crime.

Now it’s becoming a one-stop shop for law enforcement to buy and plug into all the big brother-esque tech they can get.

My latest for BreakThrough News 👇🏽

Welcome to the era of digitized white supremacy.

When big tech companies and imperialist states are able to roam unchecked, it is inevitable that they will join forces. This is a byproduct of capitalism.

This is real I shit you not

Our tax dollars & the U.S.’ support of Israel enable the occupying force to commit genocide. We've compiled an ongoing, updating list of fundraisers for Palestinian liberation.

We owe Palestinians our money & support. If you’re able to share funds, here are orgs & grassroots efforts to start.

“The Supreme Court’s assault on democracy and President Donald Trump’s are tightly intertwined… Trump may be behind this plan, but it was the Supreme Court that made such brazen partisan gerrymandering possible.”

The shocking far-right agenda behind the surveillance tech used by ICE and the FBI Clearview AI’s founders always intended to target immigrants and the political left. Now their digital dragnet is in the hands of the Trump administration.

Thousands of newly obtained documents show that Clearview AI’s founders always intended to target immigrants and the political left. Now their digital dragnet is in the hands of the Trump administration.

"[Federal a]gents wait at schools, courthouses, hospitals, and churches, searching for immigrants to detain. They point guns at passersby ... They conduct surprise checkpoints miles from U.S. borders, confiscate phones, and question people about their political beliefs."

How universities are deepening ties with federal immigration agencies ICE and CBP are merging with institutions of higher education to form a new academic police state to assist in immigration enforcement

Since the start of Trump’s second term, colleges in both blue & red states have signed contracts with ICE & CBP, ‪@julialuz.bsky.social‬ reports. Universities have become yet another set of tools in the government’s mass deportation arsenal.
prismreports.org/2025/07/31/h...

I reported for @prismreports.org on how universities are another tool in the government’s mass deportation arsenal.

Opinion | Don't get angry at ICE agents. They are just following orders.

by Adolf Eichmann

My next story explores how universities are deepening ties with ICE and CBP as students and faculty prepare to return to their campuses in the fall.

I’m going to keep following this story as the impacts of these ties become more and more undeniable. If you have tips, Signal me: julesthejourno.09 📲

How Israel is using the war with Iran to accelerate its annexation of the West Bank Israel is using the war on Iran to further its colonization and annexation of the West Bank, turning Palestinian communities into caged enclaves.

As the U.S. and Israel escalates their war with Iran, Israel is doing something else: annexing Palestine under the radar. Roads for settlers. Cages for Palestinians.
mondoweiss.net/2025/06/how-...

In order to maintain ideological diversity, I make sure that 50% of my organization's hires are Trump supporters, even though only 2% of my applicants are Trump supporters. Here's why DEI at universities must be banned.

CALL FOR SOURCES Is your university partnering with ICE or CBP? I'm seeking sources for a story about universities partnering with federal immigration agencies including Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). Message me securely: Signal: julesthejourno.09 Email: julesthejourno@proton.me Do not use your school-provided email address.

CALL FOR SOURCES Please share, Linkedin friends! I'm writing a story for Prism (prismreports.org) about universities partnering with federal immigration agencies including Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). President Donald Trump has emboldened agencies like ICE and CBP to carry out mass deportations. My story will explore the partnerships universities are forming with these agencies and highlight real-time grassroots efforts to protect immigrants and fight for sanctuary campuses. I want to hear from YOU if: - You are a student, faculty member or staff member who can speak about how your university's partnership with CBP/ICE is impacting your campus community. - You are involved in a grassroots effort to protect immigrant communities on your campus. I want to know how you've organized thus far and whether your administration has responded to your demands. - You are an immigrant student and/or university worker or come from an immigrant background. I want to ensure your experiences and voices are centered in this story. Reach out to me on Signal at julesthejourno.09 or via email at julesthejourno[at]proton.me. Do NOT use your school-provided email address (I recommend an end-to-end encrypted email service). Your privacy matters and I will work with you to agree on attribution. Please repost and share to help me reach more people!

I’m writing a story on universities partnering with federal immigration agencies (to be published in @prismreports.org) and am looking for sources!

📲 Please read the attached images for more details and reach out to me if any of the following apply to you.

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Not taking anything away from Senator Padilla because he was treated atrociously

But I JUST want to remind everyone that the Congresswoman LaMonica McIver, a Black woman, was just indicted for just asking questions at an ICE detention center in her state

Keep that same energy of support for her

Verifying myself for the Journalists of Color slack. journalistsofcolor.us

If you are a journalist of color, please consider joining! 👇🏽

This comment period ends today, 5/23, at 11:59 pm ET. Please do comment asap if you believe the government should allow us to get COVID vaccinations. I can't believe we even have to petition them about this, but here we are.

Introducing ANTAGONiSTIC Unfiltered stories for the fed the F*CK up!

In my first piece for my newsletter, I talk about what inspired the title “ANTAGONiSTIC” and what it means to embody the term👇🏽