Stories about life inside ICE's family detention center in Dilley, Texas, are hard to come by. But @julialurie.bsky.social reviewed hundreds of pages of sworn oral declarations given by detained children and their parents about conditions at the facility. This is Dilley, in their own words:

1/ whenever long time tesla / musk company reporters hear him offering charity we all have stories of how & why his offers tend to be… complicated: www.cnbc.com/2019/10/08/t... the thai kids stuck in a flooding cave system? he offered (ultimately useless, not feasible) mini subs…

Top Architecture Firm Won’t Design More ICE Prisons After Employees Revolt via @msjpauly.bsky.social www.motherjones.com/politics/202...

Trump admin orders libraries to stop processing passport applications...at same time they want to require citizenship docs like passport to register to vote www.pbs.org/newshour/pol...

As ever, @annamerlan.bsky.social has written something timely and resonant. The quote from Dmytro Iarovyi had the odd effect of galvanizing me, by reminding me that my despair is not simply a defect, but is evoked by design.

Next week's cover of The New Yorker. "War-a-Lago" by Barry Blitt.

With @abbyvesoulis.bsky.social, we wrote about the very weird vibe right now in the AI industry: part doom, part goldrush www.motherjones.com/politics/202...

Greek immigrant chili cook (Cincinnati peeps, IYKYK) and Korean war veteran.

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.

This is pure gonzo journalism shit and I love it.

Part of the problem here is a long-standing issue of mine: The public gets a huge benefit from beat journalism—but the journalism industry does not, by and large, recognize beat journalism for its value or when it comes to awards and prizes. Those go to investigations and "one big thing" features.

I kept seeing “Oval Office” mentioned in the Epstein Files and wondered he it was literally talking about a new lamp for the real Oval Office. Turns out Epstein had his own ops hub he dubbed “the Oval Office”. I went down the rabbit hole. www.motherjones.com/politics/202...

Journalism ask: I'm looking to speak to people who work(ed) in AI about how they feel about the recent sweep of resignations across the AI safety space. I'd also appreciate your thoughts on p(doom) in general. My signal is avesoulis.09. You can of course remain anonymous.

A MOTHER JONES SCOOP! New details from Epstein files reveal Lutnick had a years-long business tie with the sex offender. This challenges his claim he had minimal contact with Epstein. The two were involved in a deal for six years, and an email shows they discussed it. @nlanard.bsky.social

Now would be a good time to read my @motherjones.com story with @abbyvesoulis.bsky.social about Pam Bondi’s insane plan to get voter rolls from all 50 states & why it poses such a grave threat to the right to vote www.motherjones.com/politics/202...

Surprising nobody, the probable cause the FBI cited to get its warrant for the Fulton County raid is all recycled, debunked info. New from me & @ariberman.bsky.social. www.motherjones.com/politics/202...

Trump wants to take over voting in at least 15 places FBI raid in Fulton County GA now fueling MAGA calls for election takeover there That would allow them to purge voters, cut polling places, limit early voting & challenge election results. Very scary for 2026 www.motherjones.com/politics/202...

New from me and @ariberman.bsky.social: Trump wants control “over the voting in at least 15 places.” There's actually a mechanism for him to get that control in Fulton County, Georgia. www.motherjones.com/politics/202...

I guess we're just arresting journalists now.

“[Liam] keeps asking about that hat and that backpack that are in the picture,” the congressman said. “I think they took that from him.” www.cnn.com/2026/01/28/u...

New from me and @ariberman.bsky.social: The DOJ’s “Ransom” Letter to Minnesota Reveals How Trump Plans to Rig the Midterms www.motherjones.com/politics/202...

Hey Minnesota writers. I bet a lot of you have something to say right now.

Read @abbyvesoulis.bsky.social & @ariberman.bsky.social's report here: www.motherjones.com/politics/202...

New episode of Unruly Subjects with @chenjerai.bsky.social! This week, an interview with reporter @abbyvesoulis.bsky.social. We discuss her @motherjones.com article, co-written w @ariberman.bsky.social, "Your Private Data Is Building Trump’s Voter Purge Machine". Listen: pod.link/1849696769/e...

The DOJ has sued 20 states over their voter roll data. Today, a court granted CA's motion to dismiss the DOJ's case—the first final ruling on the matter. Per the ruling: "There cannot be unbridled consolidation of all elections power in the Executive without action from Congress and public debate."

This Is What ICE Descending on Minneapolis Looks Like www.motherjones.com/politics/202...

i ended up getting a shot-clock-violation on my "heroes and monsters" picks, but fortunately @abbyvesoulis.bsky.social had the same thought and wrote about juries www.motherjones.com/politics/202...

Can confirm: Pulled 60 Minutes “Inside CECOT” segment on the El Salvador mega prison housing hundreds of Venezuelan deportees sent by the U.S. is on Global TV’s free app

Walk around Washington, DC, and you may spot murals and yard signs honoring Sean Dunn, aka "Sandwich Guy." But the 37-year-old rejects the hero label. So I’d like to suggest we salute a different group instead: the grand jurors who declined to indict him. www.motherjones.com/politics/202...

Weird how The Free Press was able to publish all of these without comment from the Washigton University Transgender Center at St. Louis Children's Hospital.

Okay, you got my attention 😳

Please allow me to rant for a minute. It's absurd that so many things—alarm clocks, fitness wearables, car features—require a separate subscription these days. www.motherjones.com/politics/202...

It gets even more pathetic— x.com/RepBeatty/st...

December 12, Mother Jones —>

My colleague @samanthamichaels.bsky.social hid out with an immigrant family in TN, where the onslaught of ICE officers has fundamentally reshaped daily life, drawing comparisons to 1930s Germany. “I thought they were gonna kick down the door and take me away.” www.motherjones.com/politics/202...

New from me: Literally nothing is known about the shooter. And yet. www.motherjones.com/politics/202...

@jamespwest.bsky.social was home in Sydney on vacation when the horror happened. As good journalists are apt to do, he put his life on hold to file this story. www.motherjones.com/politics/202...

In DC, Trump officials celebrated the decimation of USAID with a sheet cake. In South Sudan, USAID budget cuts closed a health clinic in the middle of a cholera outbreak. Tor Top had to take his sick mother to the hospital, 8 hours away. She died on the way. www.propublica.org/article/usai...

‼️ On today's @msignorile.bsky.social Show ‼️ @nicholsuprising.bsky.social of @thenation.com @amandamarcotte.bsky.social of @salon.com @abbyvesoulis.bsky.social of @motherjones.com 🔊Listen Here: siriusxm.us/Signorile Give us your calls at: 866-997-4748

Scoop: Eric Neff is the new head of the DOJ voting section, per legal filing. His old job put him on administrative leave in 2022 after he based a prosecution around tips from election fraud conspiracy group True the Vote. www.motherjones.com/politics/202...

big day for me. for *us.*

Today, the DOJ sued Colorado for access to its complete voter roll. This marks the 15th state sued over private voter info, 13 of which are led by Democrats. My colleague @ariberman.bsky.social and I published a big piece last week about why this should scare you. www.motherjones.com/politics/202...

“Asian wife sharing,” Pentagon press policy, and me: Journalism in the second Trump administration gets personal. www.motherjones.com/politics/202...

Reporter @dfriedman.bsky.social was working on a story about a top aide to Pete Hegseth. Then Pizzagate promoter Jack Posobiec threatened to write a scurrilous story about him. ow.ly/EpQp50XHpYo

Jen Shah is free, People reports: people.com/jen-shah-rel...

Eileen O’Connor, Senior Counsel at the Brennan Center, spoke with @motherjones.com about the Justice Department suing states across the country to obtain their complete voter files, which contain private voter data like driver’s license numbers and partial Social Security numbers. 1/2

Trump’s Justice Department is hellbent on accessing our private voter info—Social Security numbers, party affiliation, driver's licenses—resulting in what experts warn would be a gold mine for hackers. “It's a hacker's dream to have all of this private, sensitive information collected somewhere.”

"The danger is once you compile all this information, then hackers only have to go to one place instead of going to all 50-plus jurisdictions that run elections... It’s a hacker’s dream to have all of this private, sensitive information collected somewhere..." www.motherjones.com/politics/202...