ICE

The Intercept - Two Republican-appointed judges in Texas just sentenced a group of anti-ICE activists to a combined 560+ years in prison following a protest last July outside ICE’s Prairieland Detention Center.  Several Prairieland defendants are appealing their convictions, and The Intercept’s investigation has already exposed gaping holes in the government’s case.

However, local authorities are still refusing to release records that could contain key evidence that the jury in the first trial never saw. So The Intercept’s legal team continues to use state open records laws to force local authorities to turn over everything they have.

The Guardian - The extent to which federal law enforcement targeted political opponents and peaceful organizers has been laid bare in newly disclosed court documents. Internal investigative files reveal that the Department of Homeland Security launched a sweeping surveillance operation against anti-ICE protesters, major labor unions and left-leaning advocacy groups – sending undercover agents to infiltrate community meetings and issuing administrative subpoenas to seize financial records. The documents show that DHS investigators obtained financial records of unions and non-profits, as part of an inquiry into “domestic terrorist financing”.