In 2023, I reported on the foster kids stuck at North Star, a notorious Anchorage psychiatric facility. Some kids stayed months or years—enduring restraints, seclusion, and more—simply because there was nowhere else for them to go. Now, a law aims to change that. www.motherjones.com/politics/202...

Imagine being a kid and learning both your parents were arrested by ICE. You’ll have to pay rent and survive on your own. I shadowed four siblings—US citizens near Mar-a-Lago—as they try to do that. I'll be thinking about their story for a long time 1/x www.motherjones.com/politics/202...

A little more than a year ago, @paperwords.bsky.social received a letter from the US Forest Service detailing plans for a new wildfire recovery project. But a single word caught his eye—and alerted him to a secret, Big Tobacco-style campaign with ramifications for our forests.

We went through more first-hand accounts from Dilley, the only immigrant family detention center. It's the little details that really stick with me—Christmas "celebrations," a girl's letter asking for help, accounts of being hidden away during congressional visits www.motherjones.com/politics/202...

NEW: The 9-year-old who begged Ms. Rachel for help getting out of ICE detention so he could attend his spelling bee has now also been released from Dilley. www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news...

1/ This story by @julialurie.bsky.social is just a catalog of horrors that kids and families sent to Dilley detention center are subjected to. www.motherjones.com/politics/202...

"You can’t drink the water here. The smell is bad, and it hurts our stomachs a lot." "I have been served raw meat at Dilley. One woman became so sick from eating the food that she began vomiting blood." First-person accounts paint a bleak picture of the Dilley Immigration Processing Center.

I spent the past couple weeks going through hundreds of pages of sworn declarations made detained by children and their parents at Dilley, ICE’s only family detention center. This is what life is like at Dilley, in their own words: www.motherjones.com/politics/202...

Last year, @julialurie.bsky.social investigated the private adoption industry in Utah, where, depending on whom you ask, the state’s laws were the most “adoption-friendly”—or the most exploitative—in the country. Now Utah legislators are trying to fix a broken system.

Last year, we came out with investigations on @motherjones.com and @pbsnews.org about the runaway adoption industry in Utah, where agencies routinely fly in pregnant women from across the country, promising free lodging and cash. Now, lawmakers are taking action: www.motherjones.com/politics/202...

SCOOP: In a January letter to Rep. Delia Ramirez (D-IL), DHS says 270 DACA recipients have been arrested from January to September 2025. In addition, 174 DACA applicants have been deported, according to ICE records. Those numbers differ from what was shared with Sen. Dick Durbin in February.

After a judge ordered Isabel be released from detention in MN with her belongings, ICE sent her home—but didn't return her work permit, ID, checks worth $700, or her daughter’s US passport. Isabel is one of many now missing key immigration and identity documents www.motherjones.com/politics/202...

Dang, this judge wrote wrote "again" nine times and footnoted each one. This is some infuriating reporting from @julialurie.bsky.social. www.motherjones.com/politics/202...

New: Immigrants in MN are being released from detention without their IDs, work permits, social security cards, and other key documents that prove their status to begin with www.motherjones.com/politics/202...

Breaking: Ian has been released without conditions. He was greeted by a group of veterans and other supporters outside the courthouse. Story to come!

I met Ian outside the Whipple Building in Mpls last week, where he was protesting ICE. I was blown away by his vulnerability, by how deeply he—a 6-time combat vet—feels like his nation is under attack. I just learned that he was among those arrested by federal officials for protesting at the church.

Great @julialurie.bsky.social interview with city council member Soren Stevenson, who says, "I see this as a moment when we are deciding right here in Minneapolis—in this country—are we going to have a democracy going forward, or are we not? The stakes are no greater and no smaller than that."

A 5-year-old Minnesota child detained with his father at a Texas immigration facility appeared lethargic during a visit Jan. 28 by members of Congress, who demanded the family’s immediate release and an end to the use of family detention.

If you want to know what it’s been like in Minneapolis, read this vivid dispatch from my colleague @julialurie.bsky.social, who returned to her hometown shortly before the killing of Alex Pretti www.motherjones.com/politics/202...

Here's what ICE is up to in Northeast Minneapolis today. Absolutely heartbreaking. Warning: video is hard to watch

I grew up in Minneapolis, and returned last week to find a city that felt like it was under siege—and a city coming together in a way that was unlike anything I’ve ever witnessed. Here’s my story: part scene piece, part love letter to my hometown www.motherjones.com/politics/202...

Genesis, a then-20-year-old, pregnant Amazon employee, says her manager wrote her up for sitting down and taking breaks. Shortly thereafter, she says, her higher-ups gave her an ultimatum: Do your job the way we want you to do it, without the chair or without the breaks, or go on unpaid leave.

When Genesis found out she was pregnant, she asked her managers at Amazon for a chair to sit on and extra breaks. She wound up with cut hours and no paid maternity leave—and homeless. Now, she and other pregnant Amazon warehouse workers are speaking up. My latest: www.motherjones.com/politics/202...

NEW from @julialurie.bsky.social: “They basically told me you can keep doing your job the way we want you to do it without the chair or without the breaks or you can go on unpaid leave.”

Last year, we wrote about survivor Taylor Cadle. When she was 12, she told police she’d been raped. They said she was lying and charged her with false reporting. She then took the extraordinary measure of recording the next act of abuse. Now, Taylor has legal counsel and filed a lawsuit.

Update: Paul Dama was released from immigration detention on Thursday night! This is him and his sister Cecelia

This summer, I wrote about Paul Dama, a Boko Haram survivor and award-winning restaurant manager who had been detained by ICE. Yesterday, after 3+ months in custody, Paul was granted asylum (!!) He's still in detention - DHS has until Oct 23 to appeal.

This is the story you have to read today www.wired.com/story/the-ba...

So, so impressed by this reporting

This is just 9 minutes long and so worth watching. Heartrending and so infuriating.

Love that @julialurie.bsky.social turned her great reporting on Utah's troublesome adoption system into a fantastic, if enraging, PBS News Hour segment last night: www.motherjones.com/politics/202...

I missed this great piece by @julialurie.bsky.social last week! www.motherjones.com/politics/202...

Don't miss @julialurie.bsky.social's latest, in which she went to a small city outside of Boston to see how immigrant communities are documenting—and shielding themselves from—Trump's deportation force www.motherjones.com/politics/202...

Breaking: The Trump administration is shutting down the national suicide hotline's service for LGBTQ kids. In February, the program received an average of 2,100 calls and texts per day. www.motherjones.com/politics/202...

The Trump administration is now detaining children indefinitely. "We don’t know when, if ever, they will be able to reunite with their family.” www.motherjones.com/politics/202... From @julialurie.bsky.social

1/ I spent the past few weeks talking to immigration experts, asking what stories they think deserve more attention right now. Again and again, they said: Children are quietly stuck in immigration facilities, with no end in sight www.motherjones.com/politics/202...

Enraging new piece by @julialurie.bsky.social on immigrant children who are stuck in federal custody after the Trump administration rolled out a series of new screening rules that make it nearly impossible for undocumented people to become their sponsors: www.motherjones.com/politics/202...

ICMYI: The Trump admin is planning to cut funding for the national suicide hotline's service for LGBTQ youth. In February, the service received an average of 2,100 contacts per day. www.motherjones.com/politics/202...

My story with @raeoflion.bsky.social about a botched rape investigation was included in this general excellence submission—and we won! Proud to be part of this team, and thankful to our sources for trusting us with their stories. www.motherjones.com/criminal-jus...

“Mommy, no. Mommy.” Daughter captures the moment masked ICE agents smash the window of her mother's car in order to take her into custody. The government claims the 52-year old seamstress is an associate of the MS-13 gang. www.thebaltimorebanner.com/community/lo...

Last fall, @raeoflion.bsky.social and I wrote about how a Florida sheriff's office botched the investigation of a rape report by a 12-year-old named Taylor Cadle. Now, it seems, the sheriff's office is filtering Taylor's name from social media comments www.motherjones.com/criminal-jus...

This is an infuriating follow-up to @julialurie.bsky.social and @raeoflion.bsky.social's great story about Taylor Cadle, who, as a 12-year-old, was raped by her adoptive father, accused of lying, forced to apologize—and then filmed her abuser in the act when he did it again bit.ly/41dks6B

Deeply moved by my colleagues at @cir-union.bsky.social who organized a fundraiser following my termination at @motherjones.com. As I navigate an unexpected period of transition, your support – no matter what the size – would mean the world to me. Every penny helps. www.gofundme.com/f/community-...

"Taylor is one of hundreds of victims alleging sexual assault who have been charged with false reporting nationwide." @julialurie.bsky.social @raeoflion.bsky.social @motherjones.com #longreads

I'm wildly grateful to work at an org that invests in the deep digging that is investigative reporting—the countless interviews, FOIA requests, reporting trips, late nights combing through documents, calls with fact checkers and editors and lawyers to make sure that the reporting is rock solid

Thanks so much for having me, @kuer.org

New, from @bloomberg.com The Egg: A story of extraction, exploitation and opportunity This investigation of the human egg trade (and egg theft) takes you from India➡️Argentina➡️Greece➡️Taiwan➡️US.... Superb work from a team of extraordinary reporters. Gift link: www.bloomberg.com/graphics/202...

Stop everything you're doing and read this @julialurie.bsky.social story on adoptions right now. And next time you hear someone talk about "making adoptions easier," remember this is what that can look like. www.motherjones.com/politics/202...

Really glad to see reporters like @julialurie.bsky.social (and Gabrielle Glaser at The Cut earlier this year!) exposing the predatory practices of adoption agencies who exploit pregnant women for profit