Articles & Videos

2430 items
All PoliticsPolicyEconomyRights & JusticeInternationalClimate & EnvironmentTechnologyHealthMediaCulture & Society

Select Date Range

Leaked Memo Exposes How DHS Is Building a Database on Protesters
New Republic • Jan 27, 2026

Leaked Memo Exposes How DHS Is Building a Database on Protesters

The Department of Homeland Security is collecting information on Minnesotans protesting ICE.Federal agents from ICE and Homeland Security Investigations assigned to Minneapolis received a memo earlier this month asking them to collect identifying information on protesters and so-called agitators, CNN reported Tuesday.Federal agents from the agencies were asked to fill out a form titled “intel collection non-arrests,” and “capture all images, license plates, identifications, and general information on hotels, agitators, protestors, etc., so we can capture it all in one consolidated form,” according to communications obtained by CNN.Among the likely subjects of this massive surveillance scheme was Alex Pretti, the 37-year-old ICU nurse who was killed by Customs and Border Protection agents in broad daylight. A few days before he was killed, Pretti was beaten by a group of federal agents he was monitoring, and suffered a broken rib. A source told CNN that federal agents knew Pretti’s name, but did not clarify if he was in this database.Last week, a masked ICE agent warned a woman filming their activities in Portland, Maine, that her information would be entered into a “nice little database” that would label her a domestic terrorist. This week, federal agents have reportedly started making house calls on volunteer ICE watchers they hope to intimidate. DHS spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin, a well-documented liar, claimed that her agency was not compiling a database of so-called “domestic terrorists,” but that it was “standard protocol” to collect information on law-breaking “violent agitators” in order to “advance prosecution.”“We do of course monitor and investigate and refer all threats, assaults and obstruction of our officers to the appropriate law enforcement,” McLaughlin said. “Obstructing and assaulting law enforcement is a felony and a federal crime.” It seems that federal agents have lost the plot on what obstruction actually entails. Federal agents have aggressively approached citizen ICE watchers simply monitoring their operations, threatening to arrest them—or worse. And DHS’s claims of assault against federal officers have continued to crumble under the slightest scrutiny.

How a Violent, Warrantless ICE Raid Devastated a Memphis Family
Mother Jones • Jan 27, 2026

How a Violent, Warrantless ICE Raid Devastated a Memphis Family

A few weeks before Christmas, six siblings huddled around a phone in their mom’s bedroom to talk with their dad and grandpa, who’d just been detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement in Memphis. Camila, 16, the oldest girl, seemed tense as she sat next to Saraya, 13. Their grandpa tried to lighten the mood, at […]

We talked to protesters in Minneapolis. Here's what they said.
10:27
Pod Save America • Jan 27, 2026

We talked to protesters in Minneapolis. Here's what they said.

“I Erase Your Voice”: ICE Agents Threaten People After Alex Pretti
New Republic • Jan 27, 2026

“I Erase Your Voice”: ICE Agents Threaten People After Alex Pretti

Federal officers stationed in Minnesota don’t seem to be interested in lowering the temperature.An ICE agent issued a chilling warning to a legal observer Tuesday, informing them that if “you raise your voice, I will erase your voice.”“Are you serious? You said if I raise my voice, you will erase my voice?” the observer asked incredulously.“Yes, exactly,” the agent responded.ICE agent threatens someone in Minnesota:“You raise your voice, I erase your voice.”From @MinnMaxShow: pic.twitter.com/uHJa28QV2Q— Prem Thakker (@prem_thakker) January 27, 2026Within the last three weeks, agents with ICE and Customs and Border Protection have shot and killed two U.S. citizens: Veterans Affairs ICU nurse Alex Pretti and award-winning poet Renee Nicole Good.The agencies have also deported people from the U.S. without due process, ripped children from their parents, and ushered thousands of untrained agents into cities and neighborhoods where they are not wanted.A CBS News poll published days before Pretti’s killing on Saturday in Minneapolis found that 61 percent of surveyed Americans felt that ICE agents were “too tough” when stopping and detaining people.In the face of ICE’s seemingly endless violence, thousands of Minnesotans have risen up in protest, creating a call for change so loud that even Washington couldn’t ignore it.By Monday, Donald Trump had unveiled a new plan for Minnesota in a flailing Hail Mary attempt to salvage his increasingly unpopular immigration agenda. In a post on Truth Social, Trump announced that border czar Tom Homan would be shipped to Minnesota to run ICE and CBP. Customs and Border Protection boss Greg Bovino, on the other hand, got the boot.Meanwhile, the president almost immediately threw the de facto leaders of his deportation scheme—namely, DHS Secretary Kristi Noem and Homeland Security adviser Stephen Miller—under the bus in order to save his own skin, attempting to frame himself in front of reporters as a level-headed witness to the ICE killings rather than the primary and active architect of the agency’s recent overreach.

Feds Knew Who Alex Pretti Was—and Broke His Rib in Earlier Fight
New Republic • Jan 27, 2026

Feds Knew Who Alex Pretti Was—and Broke His Rib in Earlier Fight

Slain Minneapolis protester Alex Pretti had his rib broken by ICE agents just one week before he was shot to death. He was also potentially part of a massive surveillance database that agents are rumored to be collecting on protesters in Minneapolis.An unnamed source told CNN that Pretti’s earlier altercation with federal agents occurred when he pulled over and got out of his car to observe ICE agents running after a family. He immediately began blowing his whistle and yelling. He was later taken down by five agents, with one leaning on his back and breaking his rib, before they released him back into the street.  “That day, he thought he was going to die,” CNN’s source said. CNN reviewed Pretti’s medication records, which were consistent with the idea that he had broken his rib.It’s not clear whether Border Patrol agents recognized Pretti before killing him this past weekend. But a DHS memo earlier this month told agents in Minneapolis to “capture all images, license plates, identifications, and general information on hotels, agitators, protestors, etc., so we can capture it all in one consolidated form.” A source also told CNN that federal agents knew Pretti’s name, without clarifying if he was in this database.“One thing I’m pushing for right now … we’re going to create a database where those people that are arrested for interference, impeding and assault, we’re going to make them famous,” border czar Tom Homan said two weeks ago. “We’re going to put their face on TV. We’re going to let their employers, in their neighborhoods, in their schools, know who these people are.”From the “fucking bitch” comment after Renee Good’s shooting to this news about Pretti, it seems clear that federal immigration agents aren’t simply good guys who are operating under duress of the mob—they’re vindictive, trigger-happy, and they’re remembering the faces of anyone who stands up to them. 

12...3536373839...269270