📍 𝐍𝐀𝐓𝐈𝐎𝐍𝐀𝐋: The Trump administration is requiring immigrants applying for legal status to disclose their social media handles — expanding government surveillance of online speech. Civil liberties experts warn it raises serious First Amendment and privacy concerns. #AbuseofPowerWatch

📍 𝐍𝐀𝐓𝐈𝐎𝐍𝐀𝐋: A former ICE instructor says the agency slashed academy training nearly in half — meaning new officers now get far less instruction on legal process, conflict de-escalation, and cultural competency. #AbuseOfPowerWatch

📍 𝐒𝐄𝐖𝐈𝐂𝐊𝐋𝐄𝐘, 𝐏𝐀: A father was detained by ICE just days before his 6-year-old daughter began cancer treatment for Hodgkin’s lymphoma, leaving the family separated at a moment when they say he should be by her side. #AbuseOfPowerWatch

📍 𝐂𝐀𝐋𝐈𝐅𝐎𝐑𝐍𝐈𝐀: A woman adopted from Iran as a toddler by a U.S. veteran is now facing deportation to Iran decades later because a citizenship loophole left her without legal status — despite a lifetime in the U.S., she says being sent back could be a death sentence. #AbuseOfPowerWatch

📍 𝐒𝐎𝐔𝐓𝐇 𝐏𝐀𝐃𝐑𝐄 𝐈𝐒𝐋𝐀𝐍𝐃, 𝐓𝐗: Records show an ICE agent fatally shot 23-year-old U.S. citizen Ruben Ray Martinez during a traffic-stop enforcement operation last March, a killing that was not publicly tied to ICE until nearly a year later. #AbuseOfPowerWatch

📍 𝐍𝐀𝐓𝐈𝐎𝐍𝐀𝐋: Palantir has described ICE as a “mature” partner and previously stated its work promotes “efficiency” and “accountability," even as deportation operations have included documented errors and removals of individuals without criminal records. #AbuseOfPowerWatch

NEW #AbuseOfPowerWatch newsletter by @tusk81.bsky.social Read this week's collection of articles and stories of the federal government's abuses of power.

📍 𝐎𝐀𝐊𝐋𝐀𝐍𝐃, 𝐂𝐀: Rev. Bautista says a masked federal agent fired a pepper round at him from just feet away during a peaceful protest against deportations last October, striking him in the face and leaving him bloodied. "Rev. Bautista said he feared he could asphyxiate and die." #AbuseOfPowerWatch

📍 𝐍𝐀𝐓𝐈𝐎𝐍𝐀𝐋: A sweeping shift in federal immigration policy has turned routine legal-immigration processes into opportunities for arrest, detention, or deportation. #AbuseOfPowerWatch

📍 𝐃𝐈𝐋𝐋𝐄𝐘, 𝐓𝐗: A 9-year-old girl and her mother were detained for nearly four months at a Texas family immigration detention center after being stopped at the airport while traveling to visit family and go to Disney World. #AbuseOfPowerWatch

📍 𝐃𝐈𝐋𝐋𝐄𝐘, 𝐓𝐗: Staff at a South Texas family immigration detention center allegedly raided dormitories to confiscate and destroy children’s letters and drawings describing conditions inside. #AbuseOfPowerWatch

📍 𝐀𝐓𝐋𝐀𝐍𝐓𝐀, 𝐆𝐀: A longtime U.S. Army veteran who legally lived in the country for decades was deported to Jamaica after months in ICE detention—despite an active appeal and questions about whether he ever received notice of the original removal order. #AbuseOfPowerWatch

📍 𝐃𝐈𝐋𝐋𝐄𝐘, 𝐓𝐗: A 2-month-old baby reportedly suffering from bronchitis was deported to Mexico with his family after weeks in a Texas immigration detention center, according to a member of Congress, even after the infant had been hospitalized for respiratory symptoms. #AbuseOfPowerWatch

📍 𝐌𝐈𝐍𝐍𝐄𝐀𝐏𝐎𝐋𝐈𝐒, 𝐌𝐍: ICE and the Justice Department say two federal officers gave false sworn testimony about the January shooting of a Venezuelan man, prompting a criminal investigation, suspension of the officers, and dismissal of assault charges against the men involved. #AbuseOfPowerWatch

📍 𝐂𝐇𝐈𝐂𝐀𝐆𝐎, 𝐈𝐋: 16-year-old Ofelia Torres, who publicly fought for her father’s release from ICE custody while battling a rare stage-4 cancer, has died — just days after a judge granted her father relief from deportation and a path toward legal status. #AbuseOfPowerWatch

📍 𝐍𝐀𝐓𝐈𝐎𝐍𝐀𝐋: A federal judge harshly rebuked DHS and ICE for blocking detainees’ access to lawyers and violating constitutional rights, issuing an emergency order to restore legal access and halt transfers after finding the agency ignored court-mandated protections. #AbuseOfPowerWatch

📍 𝐍𝐀𝐓𝐈𝐎𝐍𝐀𝐋: CBP Commissioner Rodney Scott appeared before the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee and defended his officers' tactics, saying that pushing a woman to the ground “can be” considered a de-escalation tactic, “depending on the circumstances.” #AbuseofPowerWatch

📍 𝐍𝐀𝐓𝐈𝐎𝐍𝐀𝐋: The Trump admin. is sending all pregnant unaccompanied minors in federal custody to a single shelter in Texas, despite internal objections from health and child welfare officials. They warn the policy could restrict abortion access and endanger vulnerable children. #AbuseOfPowerWatch

📍 𝐍𝐀𝐓𝐈𝐎𝐍𝐀𝐋: Since January 2025, people have died during enforcement operations and in immigration custody. But federal data is inconsistent, incomplete, and often obscured. The @prospect.org's tracker brings transparency to what the government won’t fully disclose. #AbuseOfPowerWatch

📍 𝐂𝐇𝐈𝐂𝐀𝐆𝐎, 𝐈𝐋: Cardinal Blase Cupich, head of the Archdiocese of Chicago, shares that priests in the archdiocese have been stopped by federal agents and asked to prove their immigration status — demands he said were "because of their color." #AbuseofPowerWatch

📍 𝐖𝐈𝐋𝐃𝐄𝐑, 𝐈𝐃: A 14-year-old U.S. citizen was zip-tied during a massive immigration raid where hundreds were detained at a horse-racing event, with lawsuits alleging racial profiling, excessive force, and children restrained for hours. #AbuseOfPowerWatch

📍 𝐍𝐀𝐓𝐈𝐎𝐍𝐀𝐋: ICE is carrying out a rapid, largely secret expansion across the country, with 150+ new or expanded offices in nearly every state — many placed near schools, medical facilities, and places of worship as enforcement capacity grows. #AbuseOfPowerWatch

📍 𝐍𝐀𝐓𝐈𝐎𝐍𝐀𝐋: Federal judges are increasingly clashing with ICE over detention practices, with courts warning the agency has repeatedly ignored release orders and due-process rulings. #AbuseOfPowerWatch

📍 𝐌𝐀𝐑𝐘𝐋𝐀𝐍𝐃: An undocumented Maryland mother whose teenage son died while she was in ICE custody has now asked to be deported to her native Mexico. At the time of her arrest, Martinez-Carrada's 15-year-old son, Kevin Martinez, a U.S. citizen, was fighting cancer.  #AbuseOfPowerWatch

📍 𝐂𝐇𝐈𝐂𝐀𝐆𝐎, 𝐈𝐋: Dozens of Asian immigrants were swept up in federal “Midway Blitz” raids — including longtime residents with no criminal record — while many families stayed silent out of fear and stigma as arrests spread across the community. #AbuseOfPowerWatch

📍 𝐖𝐈𝐋𝐃𝐄𝐑, 𝐈𝐃: A large federal immigration raid in rural Idaho swept up hundreds of people with aggressive tactics — including longtime residents and U.S. citizens. #AbuseOfPowerWatch

📍 𝐌𝐈𝐍𝐍𝐄𝐀𝐏𝐎𝐋𝐈𝐒, 𝐌𝐍: School officials discovered a missing fifth-grade student was being held with her family in an ICE detention center in Texas, part of a wider crackdown that has already led to at least seven students from the same district being detained. #AbuseOfPowerWatch

📍 𝐋𝐎𝐔𝐈𝐒𝐈𝐀𝐍𝐀: A U.S. citizen drives an hour through a national forest to visit her husband in an ICE detention center where detainees have reported being locked in freezers and pepper-sprayed en masse. Her husband, Carlos, has been transferred more than a dozen times. #AbuseOfPowerWatch

📍 𝐒𝐀𝐋𝐄𝐌, 𝐎𝐑: A U.S. citizen running errands after being stopped by federal immigration agents ended up hospitalized with serious injuries, after agents shattered her car window, dragged her out, and demanded to see her "papers." #AbuseofPowerWatch

📍 𝐌𝐈𝐍𝐍𝐄𝐒𝐎𝐓𝐀: 10-year-old Elizabeth Zuna Caisaguano was detained by ICE for a month after agents took her and her mother while they were on their way to school, holding them in a Texas family detention center before a judge’s intervention led to their release. #AbuseOfPowerWatch

📍 𝐒𝐀𝐍 𝐀𝐍𝐓𝐎𝐍𝐈𝐎, 𝐓𝐗: A federal agent used his cell phone to take a picture of Marimar Martinez after she was shot five times by Border Patrol in Chicago — a chilling image that haunts her to this day. #AbuseOfPowerWatch

📍 𝐍𝐀𝐓𝐈𝐎𝐍𝐀𝐋: Anti-ICE protesters say agents and Border Patrol have retaliated against demonstrators and observers — including auditing businesses, pulling people over, calling them by name and even following them home. #AbuseOfPowerWatch

📍 𝐁𝐄𝐑𝐊𝐒 𝐂𝐎𝐔𝐍𝐓𝐘, 𝐏𝐀: ICE has quietly purchased a 518,000-sq-ft warehouse in Upper Bern Township for about $87.4 million that could be converted into a large detention or processing facility — part of a broader push to expand detention capacity. #AbuseOfPowerWatch

📍 𝐍𝐄𝐖 𝐉𝐄𝐑𝐒𝐄𝐘: Videos from ICE operations near NJ Transit stations show agents detaining people in public and telling a local councilman, “We don’t need a warrant, bro,” sparking emergency community meetings and fear among residents as enforcement unfolds. #AbuseOfPowerWatch

📍 𝐒𝐀𝐋𝐄𝐌, 𝐎𝐑: A Salem resident and U.S. citizen says masked federal agents in unmarked vehicles shattered her car window, dragged her out and injured her while demanding to see her “papers,” only stopping after finding her passport. #AbuseOfPowerWatch

📍 𝐍𝐀𝐓𝐈𝐎𝐍𝐀𝐋: The Atlantic reports that a former Proud Boys leader says his militia no longer needs to take to the streets because ICE and Border Patrol are now carrying out the same aggressive tactics against immigrants and protesters that extremist groups once did. #AbuseOfPowerWatch

📍 𝐃𝐈𝐋𝐋𝐄𝐘, 𝐓𝐗: Two detainees at the South Texas Family Residential Center have been diagnosed with measles, prompting ICE to halt all movement and quarantine the center amid fears of disease spread in crowded conditions. #AbuseOfPowerWatch

📍 𝐃𝐈𝐋𝐋𝐄𝐘, 𝐓𝐗: 5-year-old Liam Conejo Ramos is now sick while held at the South Texas Family Residential Center — with lawmakers, school leaders and his family sounding the alarm about his health and conditions in the facility. #AbuseOfPowerWatch

🆕 #AbuseOfPowerWatch newsletter by @yunao08.bsky.social is here! We are shining a light on the abuses of power to show that each example is not a single unique story but a pattern of a larger movement to normalize trampling on our rights and democracy. americasvoicecnn.substack.com/p/abuse-of-p...

📍 𝐍𝐀𝐓𝐈𝐎𝐍𝐀𝐋: Trump’s deployment of National Guard troops to U.S. cities has already cost taxpayers hundreds of millions, and could top $1.1 billion this year if current missions continue, a report from the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office shows. #AbuseofPowerWatch

📍 𝐍𝐀𝐓𝐈𝐎𝐍𝐀𝐋: Federal agents arrested journalists Don Lemon and Georgia Fort in connection with their coverage of an anti-ICE protest — an attack on freedom of press and a chilling escalation tied to the broader ICE enforcement surge. #AbuseOfPowerWatch

📍 𝐓𝐄𝐗𝐀𝐒: ICE denied a detained father’s request to attend his 30-year-old son’s funeral, even though he was that son’s sole caregiver. His family says ICE’s refusal deepens the tragedy. #AbuseOfPowerWatch

📍 𝐘𝐏𝐒𝐈𝐋𝐀𝐍𝐓𝐈, 𝐌𝐈: Multiple parents of students at Ypsilanti Community Schools were detained by ICE near bus stops during morning drop-off, sparking fear and disruption in the community and prompting school officials to warn families to take precautions even off school property. #AbuseOfPowerWatch

📍 𝐍𝐀𝐓𝐈𝐎𝐍𝐀𝐋: A report from Sen. @ossoff.senate.gov has uncovered over 1,000 credible reports of abuses in ICE and broader immigration detention facilities — including medical neglect, denial of food and water, mistreatment of children and pregnant women, and physical/sexual abuse. #AbuseOfPowerWatch

📍 𝐌𝐈𝐍𝐍𝐄𝐀𝐏𝐎𝐋𝐈𝐒, 𝐌𝐍: A federal judge has ordered the acting director of ICE to personally appear in court and threatened to hold him in contempt for repeatedly ignoring court orders — underscoring escalating legal blowback against ICE’s enforcement surge. #AbuseOfPowerWatch

📍 𝐌𝐈𝐍𝐍𝐄𝐀𝐏𝐎𝐋𝐈𝐒, 𝐌𝐍: The FBI is investigating Signal group chats that some anti-ICE activists allegedly used to track and share information about ICE and Border Patrol movements during the Minneapolis enforcement surge. #AbuseOfPowerWatch

📍 𝐍𝐀𝐓𝐈𝐎𝐍𝐀𝐋: DHS has shortened the ICE training course, from 47 days to 42 days, making it the third time the Trump administration shortened the training course. The training course dedicates only about 4 hours, on tactics of de-escalation. #AbuseofPowerWatch

📍 𝐍𝐀𝐓𝐈𝐎𝐍𝐀𝐋: Santos Reyes Banegas, a 42-year-old Honduran construction worker, died within 18 hours of being taken into ICE detention on Long Island. Banegas is one of at least 32 people who died in ICE custody in 2025, the agency’s deadliest year in two decades. #AbuseOfPowerWatch