I am escorting the Crespo-Gonzalez family, including their seven year old daughter, back to Oregon now. Out of respect for the family, additional information is not being shared at this time.

BREAKING: The federal government has filed a motion seeking to end asylum claims for the family of Liam Conejo Ramos, according to the lawyer representing the family.

And while we make our stories free to read as a public service, producing them costs money. Your donations help our team earn a living wage, pay office rent in and near the Capitol, hire freelancers and pay for records. oregoncapitalchronicle.com/donate

The #orleg is mostly done with its first week, and what a week it’s been! Our small but mighty @oregoncapitalchronicle.com team has been busy catching all the developments we can. Here’s a thread on what you may have missed…

Need a quick primer on the big issues of session? @alexbaumhardt.bsky.social has you covered. oregoncapitalchronicle.com/2026/02/02/r...

With employees afraid to work and customers fearful, Minneapolis businesses are losing $10 million to $20 million in sales a week, with revenue down more than half in the two months since Operation Metro Surge began, according to city estimates.

"The climate disasters underlying the insurance crisis in California are the result of a decades-long, coordinated campaign of deception launched and orchestrated by major fossil fuel companies,” Read more at: www.sacbee.com/news/politic...

As Oregon lawmakers weigh how to balance the state’s budget, hundreds of Oregonians visited the Capitol to plead with them not to cut funding for public defense, career and technical education and kids with disabilities.

A federal judge on Wednesday issued a ruling blocking federal immigration agents from making warrantless arrests in Oregon, joining Washington D.C. and Colorado with similar rules in place. buff.ly/pnsUC4f by @miamaldonado.bsky.social

Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty said the proposed level of cooperation between Minnesota county sheriffs and ICE is a violation of state law.

JUST IN: 2 school systems in MN file suit to block ICE enforcement near schools. Doc: storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...

On Jan. 27, 30 and 31, federal agents at the Eugene Federal Building fired tear gas, pepper balls and pepper spray, not only in the courtyard of the building but also into Pearl Street and East 7th Avenue and a nearby parking lot. Read more at EugeneWeekly.com.

Two children from Liam Ramos' school who were detained by ICE have been released and are back in MN with their mother. Their Columbia Heights principal, who had to deliver the kids to Whipple last week (as described below), picked them up from the airport. www.mprnews.org/story/2026/0...

Fridley and Duluth schools, along with the state teachers union, are suing the Trump administration to keep federal immigration agents off school property.

Oregon lawmakers have resurrected a bill aiming to restrict deployment of the Oregon National Guard for immigration enforcement and block other states’ guards from performing military duties in Oregon, framing their effort as a reinforcement of states' rights.

U.S. Rep. Maxine Dexter will travel to Texas to visit the family detained by federal immigration agents in January in Portland while seeking health care for their 7-year-old daughter.

Most of the footage you see from ICE observers in Minnesota comes from the core cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul. I talked to observers in the northern suburbs, who say they're taking on the same mission in very different conditions. (1) share.google/ei9giIFLsuEJ...

Reminder that the Washington Post lost 250,000 subscribers, more than most outlets will ever have, after its decision not to publish an endorsement in the last election. www.npr.org/2024/10/29/n... That kind of cowardice, not AI or whatever, is what's "drastically reshaping" readers' expectations.

For those of you who: * Feel enraged to watch billionaires destroy important newsrooms and * Recall vaguely that Jeff Bezos was once considered a courageous owner who fortified the Washington Post I recommend this piece by the Post's former fact-checker glennkessler.substack.com/p/a-billiona...

With the immediate removal of 700 federal agents from Minnesota, border czar Tom Homan put the total number of agents remaining in the state at approximately 2,000. That’s still a dramatic increase from the normal immigration and enforcement staffing in Minnesota of around 150 agents.

Amazon paid an estimated $40 million to acquire the "Melania" doc and spent an additional $35 million on marketing. Meanwhile The Washington Post is having devastating layoffs that will likely hinders its ability to do journalism during this assault on our democracy. youtu.be/R8iaViNIy3U?...

"By the end of the two-year period, 94% of participants reported they were housed." A million pilot programs show the same thing: when people are given enough money to afford housing, homelessness ends. Other supports matter, but housing comes first. Not policing. Not moralizing. Homes.

“If the person is a U.S. citizen or otherwise lawfully in the United States, that individual will be free to go after the brief encounter.” Justice Brett Kavanaugh www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/24p...

Seven years ago yesterday, this ad ran during the Super Bowl.

Wow, should probably fire the publisher responsible for missing out on the opportunities.

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) - Trump's border czar announces 700 immigration officers to be immediately removed from Minnesota. @apnews.com

NY Times with searing look at the trauma ICE is inflicting on local children and families: www.nytimes.com/2026/02/04/u... (gift link)

They just blindly shot through the fucking door. "Additional photographs show damage consistent with a bullet fragment lodged in a bedroom wall down the hallway — suggesting it traveled between a mattress and a portable crib in a room where several small children sleep."

"In a well-functioning constitutional democratic republic, free speech, courageous newsgathering, and nonviolent protest are all permitted, respected, and even celebrated. In an authoritarian regime, that is not the case. Our nation is now at a crossroads" oregoncapitalchronicle.com/2026/02/03/f...

In @nytopinion.nytimes.com “ICE knows that it cannot shoot us all,” our columnist Tressie McMillan Cottom writes.“But the Department of Homeland Security is close to being able to track us all.”

Two agents involved in the shooting deaths of US citizens in Minneapolis are reportedly part of paramilitary tactical units—including ICE’s two Special Response Teams (SRT), CBP’s one SRT, and the Border Patrol Tactical Unit (BORTAC)—whose extreme tactics are generally reserved for war zones.

What happens at the Capitol affects all Oregonians. Here's our guide to how to follow the action and make your voice heard.

Oregon's five Democratic congresswomen voted against the funding bill, while U.S. Rep. Cliff Bentz, the state's lone Republican, voted for it. oregoncapitalchronicle.com/2026/02/03/r...

Dozens of U.S. House Democrats and leaders of several caucuses rallied on a chilly morning outside U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement headquarters in the nation’s capital, demanding the resignation, firing or impeachment of Homeland Security Secretary #KristiNoem.

A manager for the Immigrant Defense Network told MPR News that back in November, 2,500 people were trained as constitutional observers. Now, the total is nearly 30,000 trained observers in 77 of Minnesota's 87 counties.

ICE tear gassed a bunch of children on Saturday. This was a massive escalation of force. They were shooting tear gas at the back of the crowd, it took these unmasked people maybe 3-5 minutes in the cloud of tear gas to escape in without trampling. www.theverge.com/policy/87278...

MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell spent more than half the money he raised in his campaign for Minnesota governor last year buying copies of his autobiography.

The U.S. Department of Education exhausted millions in taxpayer dollars trying to eliminate a chunk of its Office for Civil Rights, a government watchdog found in a report released Monday, Shauneen Miranda.

I was not far from the ICE building when they started launching gas at the crowd from atop the building, and I did not hear any warning over the building loud speakers. I heard someone in the crowd say “they’re coming out” right before flash bangs hit the pavement. www.opb.org/article/2026...

Liam, 5, has been freed, but four other students from his school district remain detained in Texas. Two boys from his elementary school were taken Thurs “This isn’t something we are prepared or trained for. We’ve dedicated our lives to protecting + educating children,” school superintendent told me

I testified Friday before Gov. Pritzker's commission studying abuses of ICE and CBP and tried to explain how the agencies went so far off track. It's actually way worse than I ever realized. Please read and share my testimony as Congress considers reform: www.doomsdayscenario.co/p/accountabi...

BREAKING: The two federal immigration agents who fired on Minneapolis protester Alex Pretti are identified in government records as Border Patrol agent Jesus Ochoa and Customs and Border Protection officer Raymundo Gutierrez.

Yesterday, five-year-old Liam and his dad Adrian were released from Dilley detention center. I picked them up last night and escorted them back to Minnesota this morning. Liam is now home. With his hat and his backpack.

Like many have said, the gassing outside ICE today was really bad, and it impacted a huge group of people. I heard multiple people say they felt like they were going to throw up as they tried to leave the area. (I experienced similar effects.) It followed a peaceful protest led by labor groups.

I was there, too, and recorded this as people left the scene. Hard to see in the video, but the baby in mom's arms was also crying with red eyes.

Thousands of protestors marched across Portland and enveloped the blocks around the ICE building Saturday. Protestors were met with large clouds of tear gas, pepper balls and flash bangs.

A couple hundred people have returned to the ICE building to protest. More Portland Police officers and firefighters have shown up. @oregoncapitalchronicle.com

Very interesting developments in LA and Portland. It will be interesting to see if the feds are forced to send agents from Minnesota to other places they're now under pressure. Follow @opb.org and @alexbaumhardt.bsky.social on the ground for developments.

Just experienced the most intense tear gassing of my life by federal officers outside the ICE facility in Portland where marchers gathered. There was no fast exit as they indiscriminately threw loads of gas and flash bangs. Children were in the crowd screaming. @oregoncapitalchronicle.com