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Last April, I left @uscisgov.bsky.social heartbroken by how career civil servants were treated — and honestly terrified for what that meant for America’s legal immigration system. What I saw inside wasn’t normal — and I couldn’t unsee it.

“The single biggest difference between this version of the Trump administration and the last one is the shift from the border to the interior of the country.” @sarahpierce.bsky.social details how the administration’s anti-immigrant agenda has reshaped immigration enforcement across the country.

From the inside & out, USCIS is being pushed away from its Congressionally-mandated mission and into immigration enforcement As I told NYT, when USCIS is used for rapid-response enforcement or mass “re-vetting,” everyone loses—families, employers, & the system’s credibility.

New data shows the Trump administration's attack on due process is working exactly as intended... In FY25, in absentia removal orders (those handed down when a noncitizen fails to show up for immigration court) increased by 40% overall & by more than 160% for asylum applicants.

“Hiding your friends as subcontractors is like playing hide the salami with the taxpayer,” - Charles Tiefer

Effective immigration enforcement depends on cooperation with local police — not conflict. Yet this administration keeps undermining that partnership: first with a bogus “sanctuary list" it deleted after sheriffs pushed back. Now by poaching police to quickly fill ICE’s ranks.

"In Albuquerque and elsewhere, ICE has attempted to recruit officers from local law enforcement, a desperate move local police chiefs rightly warn will compromise local public safety. Diverting local officers from investigating violent crimes... does nothing to make our streets safer."

“Sanctuary cities” aren’t lawless — they’re practical. Local police are balancing safety and resources while D.C. plays politics. NYT Magazine's latest backs up what I argued for @thirdway.bsky.social: sanctuary policies are about smart governance, not defiance.

Human trafficking spikes at events like the Super Bowl. Yet this admin is deploying ICE to arrest “illegal aliens” in response to a halftime performance. They’ve pulled officers who fight trafficking to instead do civil immigration enforcement—a perfect snapshot of their broken priorities.

Excited to share my first piece with @thirdway.bsky.social: breaking down what “sanctuary” really means—and why the Trump admin’s narrative doesn’t match reality. Spoiler: every jurisdiction in America helps ICE. Here’s the real story ⬇️

NEW: ProPublica obtained records from the Department of Agriculture that detail the millions of pounds of food, down to the number of eggs, that never reached food banks because of the Trump administration’s cuts to an aid program.

Shelters that house unaccompanied minors are bracing for "Freaky Friday," the start of an ICE operation that will first issue letters to children, seeking to pressure them to return to the countries they've fled in exchange for a cash payment. If they decline, their parents will be targeted by ICE.

This is horrific. The harder it gets for the Trump admin to reach their arrest & deportation quotas, the more ruthless their pressure for self-deportation will get. This time? They’re trying to get kids to self-deport.

I always pay attention to what stories People Magazine and other consumer media outlets cover. That's how you can tell that something has broken through the usual political and news bubbles. This horrific Chicago story has broken through. people.com/ice-agents-o...

Even before the $45 billion for detention money started leaving the government, Trump officials were already self-dealing. When contract bidders hire someone with direct ties to the border czar to ‘help win work,’ that’s not innovation — it’s corruption.

My god. “Watson said she saw agents dragging residents, including kids, out of the building without any clothes on and into U-Haul vans. Kids were separated from their mothers…’It was heartbreaking to watch…seeing kids coming out buck naked and taken from their mothers, it was horrible.’”

Surreal moment for America. Needless to say, if the normal police ever pulled something like this — pulling every single person out of an apartment building and handcuffing them to run warrant checks — they would be sued into oblivion. Yet ICE is going to get away with it entirely.

Excited to share my first piece with @thirdway.bsky.social: breaking down what “sanctuary” really means—and why the Trump admin’s narrative doesn’t match reality. Spoiler: every jurisdiction in America helps ICE. Here’s the real story ⬇️

This is also a frightening sign of what is to come. If diverting TENS OF THOUSANDS of federal law enforcement officers to deportations & causing mass distress with nonstop at-large arrests is still keeping them at numbers well below their goas & Obama's numbers... what will they do next?

One week from today! Come view a sneak peek of "Credible Fear", a forthcoming feature length documentary about the asylum system, & join a discussion with @yaelschacher.bsky.social & myself. Date: Sept 24, 6pm Location: Immigrant Food, Ballston Tickets: www.eventbrite.com/e/credible-f...

12 Senate Dems on Armed Services write strongly against use of military as immigration judges: "the Trump administration views skilled personnel as pawns to be traded between agencies, rather than as professionals essential to their core missions, in order to advance misguided immigration policies"

"At DHS, Trump has ordered agents formerly dedicated to investigating and arresting human traffickers to focus on deporting immigrants." This is not an administration that cares about public safety. This is an administration that cares about padding its deportation numbers.

This new @thirdway.bsky.social memo is just as relevant for immigration. "Dismissing voters’ legitimate concerns about crime & public safety will only confirm their suspicions that at best, you’re not serious about these issues, & at worst, your policy stances are making things worse"

As helpful as streamlining & simplifying H-2As could be, a reform that allowed farmers to legally employ unauthorized immigrants that they have long worked with & trust, would be far more effective. For decades, 40-55% of farmworkers have been unauthorized.

Former ICE Director John Sandweg, expressing concern that the Trump administration is prioritizing padding their deportation numbers over public safety: www.youtube.com/watch?v=6NLy...

The State Department's Diplomatic Security Service-- which should be investigating human trafficking, passport or visa fraud, etc.-- is now added to the long list of agencies pursuing the admin's deportation numbers instead of focusing on public safety.

"I'm angry that society has a playbook for reacting to dead children-- but still can't answer the only question that matters: How do we stop it from happening again?" - Sam Hasler, Annunciation School parent www.startribune.com/annunciation...

Proud to have the support of @sarahpierce.bsky.social for our recently released Immigration & Border Security Framework. New Dems are committed to using commonsense policies that address our more important issues.

Public opinion is shifting on immigration & (as long as Stephen Miller is in the White House) the Trump admin is not shifting with it. Democrats need to define themselves on immigration with clarity & purpose. Dems can be the party of balanced solutions vs. Trump's rage & noise.

This is a perfect (& terrifying) example of what happens when you prioritize politics over public safety: real threats go unaddressed. It is great to see both former & current HSI agents speaking out against this admin's diversion of resources away from important investigations.

This is not normal. Because of this administration's reckless pursuit of interior immigration enforcement & their own administrative error, this man became a political liability. They're now showing how broad the president's authority is to terrorize his political foes.

This is a big yes BUT issue. Yes, the name derives from the movement to protect those fleeing Central American proxy wars... BUT, there is WAY more at play.

Now that we're regularly seeing HSI agents popping up in routine immigration raids & even patrolling DC streets, it’s worth asking: what 𝑠ℎ𝑜𝑢𝑙𝑑 HSI be doing? Let’s reintroduce the agency & its vital public safety mission. 🧵

DC, Maryland, and Virginia all offer limited-use driver’s licenses for unauthorized immigrants. This means most residents can get a legal license, but also that some may be forced to show officers a document that strongly indicates they lack legal status.

This is a frightening endangerment of the integrity of government statistics.

Unauthorized immigrants pay nearly $100 billion each year in taxes. With actions like this, why would they continue to do so? This administration cares about immigration enforcement above all else.

Nowadays everything is labeled family separation, but this is legitimate. ICE needs cooperation to deport families on commercial flights. @haleaziz.bsky.social found that if families fail to cooperate (ex due to fear of persecution), ICE separates them. Taking kids to incentivize deportation.

We've been here before. This helpful piece by @juliagelatt.bsky.social & @migrationpolicy.bsky.social explains why an effort to exclude unauthorized immigrants from the Census is likely to end up also excluding tens of millions of U.S. citizens. migrationpolicy.org/news/millions-…

The $29b given to ICE "exceeds the budgets for all other non-immigration federal law enforcement functions put together, eclipsing funding to agencies whose law enforcement missions involve pursuing terrorists, violent criminals, sex offenders, fentanyl & other drug traffickers, & gun traffickers."

20 states are now authorized to support ICE with Title 32 troops: Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Louisiana, Missouri, Nebraska, Nevada, Ohio, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, & Wyoming. www.csmonitor.com/USA/2025/080...

Big Budget Act Creates a ‘Deportation Industrial Complex' That Will be Hard to Dismantle By @margyoh.bsky.social On the long-term consequences of the massive influx of funds for DHS/ICE deportation forces, the ties to for-profit detention companies, and absence of funds for legal process.

Wow, after their initial sanctuary jurisdiction list drew widespread criticism & was pulled down within days, the admin has published ANOTHER sanctuary jurisdiction list. First list by DHS: 14 states, 415 counties & 227 cities New list by DOJ: 13 states, 4 counties & 18 cities

Having this come out the same day as reports of a blatantly illegal new ICE policy to ER immigrants after their first encounter with ICE really paints the picture of an admin willing to do anything to drive up numbers, no matter the cost. It was never about public safety.

Due to changes to international student visa processing under Trump, @nafsa-official.bsky.social predicts a 15% decrease in enrollments for 25-26, $7 billion in lost revenue & 60,000 fewer jobs. And that estimate doesn't take into account decreased interest- so the drop could be much more.

I'd supplement this to say we have 3 forces coming to a head on immigration: tricky politics & polling, ICE's new 3x budget & Stephen Miller Will the admin actually back down when the American people are not on board? With the budget increase, will they be able to? www.newyorker.com/news/the-led...

This case is chilling- it exposes a new policy that is a blatant violation of law. Federal law clearly states immigrants cannot be subject to expedited removal if they've resided here for +2 years. But ICE has a "new policy" to place longtime residents in ER after their "first contact with ICE"

This administration is picking right back up where it left off with family separation-- giving parents a "binary choice" between imminent danger or surrendering their children. Chilling piece by @haleaziz.bsky.social: www.nytimes.com/2025/08/05/u...

According to @nafsa-official.bsky.social, international students studying at U.S. colleges and universities contributed $43.8 billion and supported 378,175 jobs to the U.S. economy during the 2023-2024 academic year. At this rate, what will those numbers look like for 2025? 2026?

"Federal judge blocks Trump from swiftly deporting immigrants granted parole" The decision could present a major hurdle for the Trump admin & bar federal immigration officers from summarily deporting hundreds of thousands I talked to the @washingtonpost.com about yesterday's ruling