Put @thewesternedge.bsky.social's reporting against any media outlet in our region over the past two months. We're just starting and I can't wait to share the great reporting we have coming over the next two months. If you can't subscribe, consider a donation toward our next records request. 🙏

And we've been highlighting excellent reporting from other Western journalists, like @sergioolmos.bsky.social. Our goal is elevate journalism in the West. Some of the best reporting in the country happens here, but it doesn't always get the attention it deserves.

Honored our work was nominated @kevinclancy.bsky.social @zachtoombs.bsky.social @wendyfry.bsky.social @addonohue.bsky.social @bellingcat.com @evidentmedia.org @calmatters.org

Federal judge: Continued Border Patrol sweeps in California violated court order In a tersely worded decision unsealed Thursday morning, the judge wrote that agents had “again detained people without reasonable suspicion,” W/ @wendyfry.bsky.social calmatters.org/justice/2026...

We live in a time when the federal government considers it taboo to name officers. I asked @sergioolmos.bsky.social about his team's decision to identify five Border Patrol officers who spent last year traveling the country and violently arresting people -- and the inevitable criticism they'd face.

We observed over 25 agents who appeared in more than one city, either by recognising their faces or matching badge numbers visible on their vests or arm patches. Many were seen alongside former Border Patrol Commander at Large, Gregory Bovino, on at least one occasion.

Bellingcat and our partners at @evidentmedia.org and @calmatters.org have tracked US Border Patrol agents, analysing over 85 hours of footage taken across the country to try and unpack the circumstances around multiple use-of-force incidents. www.bellingcat.com/news/2026/03...

@evidentmedia.org and @sergioolmos.bsky.social produced this excellent video report www.youtube.com/watch?v=evAD...

We worked with @evidentmedia.org and @calmatters.org to track and identify Border Patrol agents who have used force in multiple cities and on multiple occasions during immigration crackdowns over the past year 👇

Wow this investigation identifies 5 federal agents who "engaged in a pattern of force and questionable detention, aggressive tactics that courts have said likely violated the constitution, as they moved from Bakersfield to Los Angeles, and then Chicago and Minneapolis" calmatters.org/investigatio...

this quote from our @bellingcat.com latest, among all the others, is one that really stands out for me — violence and the threat of violence as a raw display of power, a spectacle meant to intimidate and present itself as unstoppable, irresistible and unaccountable (it’s not)

And here's is @calmatters.org @sergioolmos.bsky.social article as well. calmatters.org/investigatio...

If you prefer video, take 11 minutes out of your day to watch. And while we only focused on 5 agents there were many more we saw move from city to city, and aggressive tactics were not limited to just these 5 guys. www.youtube.com/watch?v=evAD...

New joint investigation between @bellingcat.com @calmatters.org @evidentmedia.org where we identified agents causing chaos and violence across the country. These guys were some of the worst repeat offenders we saw. www.bellingcat.com/news/2026/03...

Border Patrol agents have been roving from city to city over the last 15 months, far from their home bases in California and elsewhere along the U.S.-Mexico border, engaged in an unprecedented mass deportation campaign.  A collaboration w/ @calmatters.org @evidentmedia.org and @bellingcat.com

Really great reporting from @sergioolmos.bsky.social and team documenting how the same federal agents have moved from city to city over the past year to inflict violence on the public.

Federal law enforcement agents shot and killed a man in Minneapolis on Jan. 24 according to local police officials. DHS told Fox News that the man was “armed with a gun”. A video of the shooting appears to show that a gun was taken from the man before the first shot was fired. x.com/BillMelugin_...

In Willowbrook, CA in the aftermath of a shooting by immigration agents. DHS says the person they were attempting to arrest “was not hit and attempted to flee on foot.” DHS claims he “weaponized his vehicle and rammed law enforcement.”

Immigration agents are choking people in America's streets & using tactics against their own policy/training. Many LEO agencies have banned their use A Colombian TikToker. An ICU nurse. A father holding his child. A 16-year-old citizen DHS calls this "utmost professionalism" w/ @mckenziefunk.com

You know things are bad when both the DA and Sheriff are concerned that their side is winning in court TOO much. Another great one by the great Anat Rubin: calmatters.org/investigatio...

Private equity has found a new source of profit: volunteer fire departments. www.nytimes.com/2025/12/14/u...

Watching this sport is like standing around in the waiting area of an emergency room

Huntington Beach, CA - Members of Patriot Front, and several explicitly Neo-Nazi active clubs marching through Huntington Beach right now. Led by “Culture War Criminal” Ryan Sanchez, they are mostly being received warmly by a Charlie Mirk memorial demonstration at Huntington Beach Pier.

ACLU argues Border Patrol broke court order with high-profile Sacramento raid w/ @sergioolmos.bsky.social calmatters.org/justice/2025...

CA DoJ wrote in Newsom vs Trump briefs that federal troops' arrival brought out more protests. Also, the protests after Paramount were limited to like a 5 or 6 block area in downtown LA, maybe .2 sq miles in a city that's 500 sq miles. The protesters were largely focused on federal troops and ICE.

The Trump Administration just asked the Supreme Court to let federal agents in LA target people based on race or ethnicity. Here’s exactly what that means W/ @evidentmedia.org

Los Angeles City Council member Ysabel Jurado on the Border Patrol raid outside the Japanese National Museum where Gov. Newsom held a press conference calling for a special November election

CA Gov. Gavin Newsom and Attorney General Rob Bonta say yes. Trump’s DOJ says no. The three-day trial to answer this question is scheduled to commence today at 10 a.m. with implications for the country as Trump continues to signal a desire to deploy troops to patrol domestic city streets.

“The federal government has now gone running to the Supreme Court asking it to undo a narrow court order—applicable in only one judicial district—that merely compels them to follow the Constitution.” Said the ACLU W/ @wendyfry.bsky.social calmatters.org/justice/2025...

BREAKING: Trump administration asks #SCOTUS to lift federal judge's order barring "roving" immigration raids in Los Angeles area. Filing says 1 in 10 residents of the district are undocumented immigrants. Doc: www.documentcloud.org/documents/26...

"What you're basically doing is deconstructing ICE and DHS and their strategies and letting viewers, readers, listeners see for themselves." Thank you to Latino USA for hosting @sergioolmos.bsky.social and featuring our latest reporting in collaboration with @calmatters.org and @bellingcat.com.

Katie Mingle 4EVA

“A Times investigation: As west Altadena burned, L.A. County fire trucks stayed elsewhere. …only one L.A. County fire truck was west of Lake Avenue, where nearly all of the deaths took place.” Via @rellis.bsky.social www.latimes.com/california/s...

"In west Altadena — where thousands of structures would burn and all but one of the 19 deaths from the Eaton fire would occur — there was just 1 county fire truck as the flames spread at 3:08 a.m., according to automatic vehicle locator data obtained by The Times." www.latimes.com/california/s...

Very nice shoutout for @calmatters today for our FOIA work from @nickmiroff.bsky.social in his excellent profile on Bovino in @theatlantic.com. W/ @sergioolmos.bsky.social

Bonus: this 2018 email to Bovino from his friend, the Border Patrol official he hired to be his #2 in New Orleans, from the court files of a discrimination lawsuit DHS lost storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...

H/t to @sergioolmos.bsky.social and @calmatters.org for their stellar coverage of Bovino's rise calmatters.org/economy/2025...

NEW: our profile of Gregory Bovino, the Border Patrol official running the immigration raids on the streets of Los Angeles, and what his role portends for next phase of Trump's propaganda-driven deportation campaign @theatlantic.com www.theatlantic.com/politics/arc...

“Gregory Bovino has taken his aggressive tactics and propaganda videos from the southern border to the streets of California.” Via @nickmiroff.bsky.social www.theatlantic.com/politics/arc...

Border Patrol agents moved their operations northward to Ca’s capital, targeting a Home Depot in Sacramento, more than 500 miles away from the border.  W/ @wendyfry.bsky.social @addonohue.bsky.social calmatters.org/justice/2025...

DHS secretary Noem on federal court ruling blocking roving immigration patrols in Los Angeles: “He’s an idiot” referring to federal judge(who’s a woman) “Our operations will continue, we will be in compliance with all federal judges orders.”

A federal judge says the LA immigration sweeps must stop. Because agents can’t just approach Latinos without a warrant or reasonable suspicion. And they can’t deny detainees access to a lawyer. calmatters.org/justice/2025...

Portland got a shout-out in in the DHS blog today. Come for the drama, stay for the feds' translation of "Chinga la Migra." www.dhs.gov/news/2025/07...

Just came through my desk: Per Los Angeles District Attorney, an armed off-duty U.S. Border Patrol Officer was charged with assaulting a Long Beach police officer and resisting arrest in the Shoreline Village parking lot in the city of Long Beach on July 7.

Bass’ new executive order also will direct the office to file a FOIA request to ICE to “obtain records regarding the dates and locations of all enforcement activities in Los Angeles,” dates and reason for arrests and detainments and “policies governing officers’ use of badges.”

Greetings! I’m at Pico House - El Pueblo in downtown Los Angeles, where Mayor Karen Bass has a press conference regarding a new Executive Directive she’s signing. The direction will instruct “city departments to bolster their protocols and training to prepare for federal immigration activity…”

NEW: I spoke to a dozen current and formers about low morale at ICE amid the Trump admin's relentless push for more and more arrests. Officers and agents aren't complaining or looking for sympathy but they're facing public anger & political pressure from above www.theatlantic.com/politics/arc...

You can find Evident’s short documentary also covering the investigation here: www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Bux...

Discover the common themes we identified across all of the arrests by reading the full investigation here: www.bellingcat.com/news/2025/07...

Gregory Bovino, head of the El Centro unit in the Bakersfield Raids, is now in-charge of the operations across LA. Agents from his El Centro Border Patrol unit have featured in footage of the LA raids. calmatters.org/investigatio...