New Mexico's legislature just passed a bill that bans local governments from joining ICE's 287(g) program *and* from hosting detention centers. On to the governor. www.elpasotimes.com/story/news/i...

The president can’t nationalize elections, @seanmorales-doyle.bsky.social tells ABC News Live. The Constitution gives the states & Congress the power to set the rules governing our elections, and states & Congress in turn gave that power to run elections to state and local election officials.

Helpful context on the complicated and interconnected reasons violent crime has been declining since 2022 ⬇️

Congratulations to Illinois, which today became the 13th state to sign clean slate legislation into law. Clean slate laws allow people with criminal convictions in their past to more easily obtain housing, employment, and more by sealing some criminal records after a certain amount of time.

Federal support for criminal justice data collection and research is crucial to public safety, and this year’s grant terminations threaten to undermine that work. Our experts detail the impact work solutions to rebuild support: bit.ly/3Y4QGP2

New from the @brennancenter.org: DOJ recently cut funding for historically bipartisan work designed to help people returning home from prison. Nicole Ndumele and I explored what will happen without this critical funding.  www.brennancenter.org/our-work/res...

Justice 101: Excessive Punishment, The 8th Amendment, and the Justice System @lbeisen.bsky.social joins Kermit Roosevelt III for a hybrid conversation moderated by Dr. Kerry Sautner, in-person at Eastern State Penitentiary Historic Site on Wed., Dec. 3, at 5:30pm ET. Register:

Justice 101: Excessive Punishment, The 8th Amendment, and the Justice System @lbeisen.bsky.social joins Kermit Roosevelt III for a hybrid conversation moderated by Dr. Kerry Sautner, in-person at Eastern State Penitentiary Historic Site on Wed., Dec. 3, at 5:30pm ET. Register:

At the Supreme Court, a private prison company is seeking a ruling that could help all government contractors evade liability. More on the case: bit.ly/4pfafj2

New York City has seen numerous types of crime drop sharply since spiking during the Covid-19 pandemic. We highlight recent trends: bit.ly/4o734Zo

Today the Senate Judiciary Committee held a hearing titled “Blue City Chaos and Tragedy: How the Trump Administration is Addressing the Human Cost of Soft On Crime Policies.” This is a false premise, and the hearing included discussion of several bad ideas that won’t make Americans safer 1/5

Congress in July tripled the budget of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), including possibly doubling detention capacity. @lbeisen.bsky.social outlines how private prison companies and their ecosystem may grow so large that it will be hard to unwind:

If the Admin is serious about crime prevention & helping cities with crime rates, the work starts with listening to local leaders, following the evidence, & providing support, not with deploying the Guard. @amescg.bsky.social and I walk through the evidence in a new @brennancenter.org analysis:

The Administration's plans to fight crime using the National Guard are not the way to build real, lasting safety. Here's what the evidence shows can work, even as we continue to see national declines in crime. New from the @brennancenter.org: www.brennancenter.org/our-work/ana...

Great piece of reporting by @dmac1 and @marianne_levine about ICE's plans to reopen some of the country's most notorious and troubled former prisons as immigrant detention centers. www.washingtonpost.com/immigration/...

President Trump just signed 2 EOs to force Washington, D.C., and other cities from taking steps to substantially eliminate cash bail as a potential condition of pretrial release, threatening to withhold federal funding from cities that fail to end these policies www.whitehouse.gov/presidential...

The new budget bill raises fresh question about the decades-old court settlement that sets standards for how immigrant children are treated in federal custody. A new explainer breaks down what’s changing and why it matters: bit.ly/3THmGGH

The sudden loss of federal support for community safety programs that supplement or complement policing threatens to derail these efforts, just as research is beginning to show their value. Congress should push to restore this funding. www.brennancenter.org/our-work/res...

The budget bill allocates billions to lock up immigrant families (mostly mothers and children) while the admin cuts oversight, the minimum needed to make sure the system is humane. I was honored to collaborate with @lbeisen.bsky.social, who has written extensively about mass incarceration

Some politicians and gov officials continue to push a narrative that recent immigrants, especially undocumented ones, are driving crime in the U.S. Research & data do not support the view that immigrants commit crimes at higher rates than native-born Americans. www.brennancenter.org/our-work/ana...

The right to challenge one’s detention in court dates back to 1215, when it was meant to keep kings from arbitrarily locking people up in secret dungeons. Today, it’s still a vital protection against unlawful detention. bit.ly/3T6Mv2A

Immigrants detained in ICE holding rooms at 26 Federal Plaza in NYC allege inhumane conditions, including just one meal a day and sleeping on the floor. This comes as the administration has defied congressional oversight. gothamist.com/news/theyre-...

For the fifth year since 2020, the Brennan Center conducted its survey of election officials this spring. Some unsettling, interesting and important findings this year! /1 www.brennancenter.org/our-work/res...

The budget bill that passed today makes ICE the largest federal law enforcement agency. The influx of money comes as the administration is dismantling federal oversight of conditions at ICE facilities. www.brennancenter.org/our-work/ana...

ICYMI, DHS has released new guidance that could make it nearly impossible for members of Congress to perform their oversight duties to ensure migrants being held in certain ICE facilities are treated in a humane way. 1/8 www.ice.gov/doclib/deten...

Netflix announces premiere dates, plural, for the final season of "Stranger Things": cnn.it/43GGePS

NEW: Today a federal judge took over Rikers Island. For years, city leaders have failed to reduce violence in the jails. Soon an outside court-appointed authority — insulated from politics — will run Rikers. They will aim to improve conditions. www.nytimes.com/2025/05/13/n...

My @brennancenter.bsky.social colleague Ruby Nidiry explains that the Department of Justice’s cuts last week to 365 criminal justice programs will leave large gaps in our public safety infrastructure. www.brennancenter.org/our-work/ana...

Executive Functions is hiring Summer and Fall interns. open.substack.com/pub/executiv...

Why the 20-year-old "Pride & Prejudice" film still bewitches audiences today: cnn.it/440LrUE

overjoyed to have had the opportunity to testify in front of the @council.nyc.gov asking for support in passing the Reentry Assistance Bill!! thanks to @cmsandynurse.bsky.social for giving us the time and @cmcrystalhudson.bsky.social for introducing resolution 371 urging albany to pass the bill

@vera.org just lost $5 million in federal funding for programs that help keep the public safe. They include a program that improves prison conditions, operations, and safety. The federal government should be supporting such initiatives, not ending them.

The White House's executive order on election integrity "would actually harm eligible American citizens," @wendyweiser.bsky.social told the Wall Street Journal. "This would be tens of millions of American citizens who could be excluded from registering from voting." www.wsj.com/politics/ele...

"[Sending Americans to prisons in El Salvador] would be a clear violation of the Eighth Amendment of the Constitution, which prohibits 'cruel and unusual punishments' to protect individuals from serving excessive sentences or being subjected to inhumane prison conditions." — @lbeisen.bsky.social

CJ Roberts is exactly right re: judicial impeachment: "For more than two centuries, it has been established that impeachment is not an appropriate response to disagreement concerning a judicial decision. The normal appellate review process exists for that purpose." /1 thehill.com/regulation/c...

Family detention is being resurrected by President Trump, as his administration marches forward on its promise to crackdown on immigrants.

BREAKING: Trump illegally invokes the Alien Enemies Act to detain and deport Venezuelan immigrants “deemed” to be members of a criminal gang, claiming extreme powers to do so without due process. Courts should reject this abusive invocation of a law intended for wartime.

There is no modern precedent for sending U.S. citizens who are convicted of crimes to other countries for punishment, or “banishment” as it has been formerly called and practiced.

3/4 With thanks to our authors this week: @adambcox.bsky.social @ahilantoolong.bsky.social Breon Peace David McKean Fawad Poya Cole Salvador @itsapurdy.bsky.social Janet Egan J. William Leonard @lbeisen.bsky.social

The research does not support the view that immigrants commit crime or are incarcerated at higher rates than native-born Americans. #FactCheck

Despite POTUS' remarks just now, violent crime is near-historic lows, and murder dropped by a historic amount in 2023. These stats come from national FBI data, compiled from police agencies covering 94% of the population.

Today's news: -Ukraine, US talks end with a 30-day ceasefire proposal, resumption of aid -USAID staff told to shred and burn classified documents -DOJ scales down anti-corruption unit -Musk wants to donate $100 Million to a Trump-controlled entity: NYT 👇 www.justsecurity.org/109003/early...

Thank you to @justsecurity.org for the chance to break down why it would be illegal and a violation of human rights if the U.S. government sent U.S. citizens convicted of crimes to El Salvador prisons to serve their sentences. www.justsecurity.org/108825/el-sa...

In many parts of Colorado, jail voting numbers went from nearly zero to hundreds in just one election. How? A new law removed the discretion local sheriffs and election administrators had over access. boltsmag.org/jail-vo...

In case you missed yesterday’s primer. It stirred a bit of debate, discussion. www.nytimes.com/2025/02/19/u...

By framing unlawful migration as an "invasion," Trump is launching "a direct assault on the constitutional separation of powers and the rule of law." — @lizagoitein.bsky.social & Katherine Yon Ebright

Breaking News: Gov. Kathy Hochul, who could remove Mayor Eric Adams, said the resignation of 4 aides raised concerns about his “long-term future” at City Hall.

The unitary executive theory is about to get its test case. SCOTUS will decide whether to give Trump the keys to the destruction of our federal government.

More than 60 major moves that President Trump and his administration have made in his first 23 days, including executive orders and agency memos, have aligned with proposals in the Project 2025 blueprint, according to a New York Times analysis.

The outcome of a case pending in a federal appeals court could set important legal precedent on wages for detainees who work in for-profit immigration detention centers. www.brennancenter.org/our-work/ana...