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Amelia Frank-Vitale

@ameliafv.bsky.social
1.7K followers 958 following 51 posts

Assistant Prof @PrincetonAnthro @PrincetonSPIA deportation/migration/violence/borders/police/asylum/honduras/mexico. www.ucpress.edu/books/leave-if-you-…

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Amelia Frank-Vitale @ameliafv.bsky.social · 1h
I am just thrilled that the first review of my book is written by Joe Nevins, who I’ve long admired, for @theborderchronicle.bsky.social, an incredible outlet dedicated to borderland reporting.
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Adam Sawyer @adamjst.bsky.social · 03/09/2026
Idk, this is a bit outside my lane, but it's wild that a person's length of imprisonment might depend on whether a judge happens to have the professional skills of creating workflows and meeting deadlines.
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Gillian Brockell @gillianbrockell.com · 31/08/2026
NEW FROM ME: On a hellish third-country removal flight last month, passengers say ICE-contracted guards got drunk, teased and beat them, tied them up, refused to let them use the lavatory. One says he witnessed an ICE agent admit to illegal chain refoulement. prospect.org/2026/08/31/w...
prospect.org
‘What America Did to Me Is Wrong’: Inside One of the Largest Third-Country Removal Flights So Far - The American Prospect
On July 31, an estimated 71 detainees were expelled to various countries on a hellish flight to Africa. Many were then illegally returned to their home countries.
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Christiaan Triebert @trbrtc.bsky.social · 12/08/2026
Ecuadorean fishermen say drones attacked them in the Pacific — English-speaking men in US-flag uniforms, no insignia. 8 missing, several injured. Flight data shows a patrol plane shifting course to stay pointed at all 3 boats. It's on no Pentagon roll, registered to a UPS store mailbox in Virginia.
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Kate Morrissey, Journalist @bgirledukate.bsky.social · 11/08/2026
My latest dives into an under-covered issue: Mexican children deported alone by plane to southern Mexico. www.daylightsandiego.org/u-s-has-depo...
daylightsandiego.org
U.S. Has Deported Hundreds of Children to Cities in Southern Mexico
Human rights organizations said the minors lack the resources to go home safely and that some may have died trying. Written by Kate Morrissey, Capital & Main This article was produced by C...
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Matthew Hoppock @hoppock.bsky.social · 10/08/2026
Here are the training materials from May 2026. I'm going to outline below what differs between the actual training materials and what EOIR is saying about them. EOIR rarely issues these "fact sheets" and they're usually pretty defensive. That's how this one reads. www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/rb28d...
dropbox.com
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Vital Signs Podcast @vitalsignspodcast.bsky.social · 08/08/2026
open.spotify.com/episode/3OqK...
open.spotify.com
VITAL SIGNS: How US Immigration Policy Creates a Cycle of Violence with Prof. Amelia Frank-Vitale
Vital Signs · Episode
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Emily Bregel @emilybregel.bsky.social · 02/08/2026
A Phoenix man from Egypt has spent the last three months confined in a decommissioned hotel in Equatorial Guinea, after ICE deported him there without warning. @tucson.com tucson.com/news/local/b...
tucson.com
Arizona man languishes in African hotel after third-country deportation
A 30-year-old man, Ahmed Soliman, is confined in a decommissioned hotel in Equatorial Guinea after being deported there by ICE without warning. He faces the threat of return to Egypt, where he may fac...
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Will Bunch @willbunch.bsky.social · 03/08/2026
The bodies are piling up In a Guatemalan sugar cane field. A Pittsburgh bus shelter. A residential street in Iran. A street in Maine, and inside the ICE gulag The smell of death surrounds Donald Trump. My new column www.inquirer.com/opinion/trum...
inquirer.com
The smell of death surrounds Donald Trump’s regime from Guatemala to Pittsburgh | Will Bunch
In just a year and a half, Donald Trump’s warped agenda is killing innocent people at home and around the world.
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Amelia Frank-Vitale @ameliafv.bsky.social · 31/07/2026
@laurenheidbrink.bsky.social and I curated this collection of short essays from a group of committed scholars and lawyers on what we learn from observing and accompanying in immigration court. The pieces are excellent, both accessible and powerful. @culanth.bsky.social bit.ly/4bm4LOW
culanth.org
On and Off the Record: Ethnographic Witnessing and Accompaniment in Immigration Court
This collection brings together ethnographers engaged in court-watching, accompaniment in and beyond detained settings, expert witnessing, and co...
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Prisonculture @prisonculture.bsky.social · 23/07/2026
"What we are currently seeing reveals just how permeable the word “criminal” is. When they come for one of us, they come for all of us." - worth your time to read open.substack.com/pub/sheriffs...
open.substack.com
We Are All Criminals
The "good immigrant/ bad immigrant" narrative puts all of us in danger
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Greg Sargent @gregsargent.bsky.social · 09/07/2026
NEWS --> Three men who were in the van with the victim of the ICE shooting in Texas are potential witnesses, but they're now under pressure to self-deport, a rep for the families tells me. They remain in detention even as ICE's story falters. Details in this piece: newrepublic.com/article/2129...
newrepublic.com
Texas ICE Killing Darkens: Rep Says Witnesses Pressured to Self-Deport
There were three others in the van with the man shot by ICE in Houston this week. A represenative for the families tells TNR that the government is pressuring these potential witnesses to self-deport.
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Guardian US @us.theguardian.com · 29/06/2026
"There needs to be immediate action by Congress to create pathways to residency for holders of this status, to intervene in the catastrophe that will unfold if over a million people are pushed into undocumented status, and quite possibly to their deaths," writes @hebagowayed.bsky.social.
theguardian.com
The US supreme court just put the lives of 1.3 million immigrants in danger| Heba Gowayed
The court’s TPS decision is devastating for those whose countries of origin are deemed unsafe. Congress must act
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Taniel @taniel.bsky.social · 30/06/2026
I understand SCOTUS, know who they are, & by all rational accounts it feels so naive to say: "I can't believe 4 of 9 justices said the Constitution doesn't protect birthright citizenship." And yet, I can't believe 4 of 9 justices just said the Constitution doesn't protect birthright citizenship.
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Mark Joseph Stern @mjsdc.bsky.social · 30/06/2026
I am stunned that the constitutional question was so close. I thought it would be 6–3 or 7–2. It is profoundly disturbing that four justices would allow either the president or Congress to rewrite the plain text of the 14th Amendment. This is obviously a good outcome, but the margin is alarming.
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Taniel @taniel.bsky.social · 30/06/2026
JUST IN: The Supreme Court *upholds* birthright citizenship as a right under the Fourteenth Amendment. Justice Roberts writes the 6-3 decision, with only Thomas, Alito, and Gorsuch dissenting.
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Aaron Reichlin-Melnick @reichlinmelnick.bsky.social · 29/06/2026
Yeah, that is very wrong. The Constitution puts *Congress* in control of immigration. That the president can do a lot in the field is because Congress passed laws granting those powers. /there is *some* inherent executive authority to exclude, but that authority is largely regulated by Congress.
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Mark Joseph Stern @mjsdc.bsky.social · 25/06/2026
John Roberts will want you to forget everything that happened this week at SCOTUS after he confirms that the first sentence of the 14th Amendment means what it says, please do not fall for it
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Taniel @taniel.bsky.social · 18/06/2026
NEW: We published this alarming reporting today on just how long immigrant detainees are being detained in lock-ups in Louisiana, a state that has made the choice to be as receptive to immigration detention as virtually any. boltsmag.org/louisiana-im...
boltsmag.org
“Stuck in Purgatory”: ICE Detention in Louisiana Can Stretch on for Years - Bolts
Louisiana has more ICE lockups than almost any other state. Now as a surge in habeas petitions overloads courts, people are held “unfathomably” long without recourse.
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Gillian Brockell @gillianbrockell.com · 17/06/2026
Our new podcast about ICE flights -- Worst Airline Ever -- is now on Apple Podcasts and Spotify! Here: podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/w... And here: open.spotify.com/show/033znlT... If you, like me, use a different podcast app (I use Overcast), I'll be connecting more of 'em today. :-)
podcasts.apple.com
Worst Airline Ever
News Commentary Podcast · Independent journalist Gillian Brockell and activist "JJ in DC" take you inside the hidden world of ICE Air, tell you why it is such a key part of ICE's deportation machine, ...
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Amelia Frank-Vitale @ameliafv.bsky.social · 16/06/2026
I was very happy to be invited to participate in the "Page 99 Test" for Leave If You Can. It's a clever way to be invited into a book - go to page 99 and discuss a bit about how well (or not) it represents the whole book. #page99test page99test.blogspot.com/2026/06/amel...
page99test.blogspot.com
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Gillian Brockell @gillianbrockell.com · 11/06/2026
I'm starting an ICE Air podcast with @jjindc.bsky.social, called Worst Airline Ever. First ep will drop soon. I get most of my news from podcasts tbh, maybe you do too? It'll be depressing and enraging, yes. BUT we'll also tell you what you can do to fight back. www.patreon.com/cw/worstairl...
patreon.com
Worst Airline Ever — A podcast unmasking ICE Air
Get more from Worst Airline Ever on Patreon. A podcast unmasking ICE Air. Support Worst Airline Ever and get exclusive access to their work.
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Will Bunch @willbunch.bsky.social · 11/06/2026
So many questions about the ICE custody death of Philly immigrant Tuan Van Bui, child of the Vietnam War, welcomed here in 1990, violently arrested in 2025 The biggest: Why do other detainees tell such a different story from ICE about how he died? My special report www.inquirer.com/opinion/tuan...
inquirer.com
The U.S. welcomed this child of the Vietnam War. Why did he die in ICE custody? | Will Bunch
In 1990, the U.S. welcomed Tuan Van Bui, other young Amerasians. In 2025, ICE violently arrested him. Why did he die in custody?
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Gillian Brockell @gillianbrockell.com · 12/06/2026
ICE flights. Thursday, June 11, 2026. At least 82 flights on 31 planes. At least 18 removal flights -- five to Mexico and four to Dominican Republic alone. One confirmed third-country removal to Costa Rica, two more likely TCRs to Ecuador and Honduras. (Republished, first post had 6/10's map)
A map of North and Central America showing the tangled web of dozens of ICE charter planes, emanating out of Alexandria, LA. An ADSBx map of the world showing 31 planes doing dozens of flights branching out from Louisiana and Texas toward northern cities (round-up flights), Central and South America, Europe, Asia, and Africa (removal flights), and going between ICE detention hubs (shuffle flights).
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Gillian Brockell @gillianbrockell.com · 12/06/2026
This ICE flight believed to be carrying Afghan, Syrian and Iranian asylum seekers to the Central African Republic is underway. Omni Air International, may you rot in infamy and shame.
Omni’s N207AX leaving Alexandria LA and heading ESE.
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Bucks County Beacon @buckscountybeacon.com · 10/06/2026
Brian Fitzpatrick’s Vote Gives Trump $70 Billion to Spend on Mass Deportation Operations w/out Any Guardrails | “Trump’s ICE has proven that it is dangerous & out of control. [This] vote is a vote for cruelty, kidnapping, violence, unaccountability & corruption,” said Public Citizen's Lisa Gilbert.
buckscountybeacon.com
Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick’s Vote Gives Trump $70 Billion to Spend on Mass Deportation Operations Without Any Guardrails - Bucks County Beacon
“Trump’s ICE has proven that it is dangerous and out of control. [This] vote is a vote for cruelty, kidnapping, violence, unaccountability and corruption,” said Public Citizen Co-president Lisa Gilber...
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Gillian Brockell @gillianbrockell.com · 10/06/2026
Between this, the third-country removals to Israel and Eastern Europe just now, and a small jet heading toward Africa I haven't told y'all about yet, ICE is going nuts today.
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ICE Flight Monitor @iceflightmonitor.bsky.social · 05/06/2026
An ICE Air flight is currently en route from Harlingen, TX to Panama, where it may be carrying third country nationals forcibly transferred from the U.S.
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Amelia Frank-Vitale @ameliafv.bsky.social · 02/06/2026
Join us tomorrow! (06/02 at 1:00pm EST) Register here: us06web.zoom.us/webinar/regi...
us06web.zoom.us
Welcome! You are invited to join a webinar: "Leave If You Can": A Live Conversation with Amelia Frank-Vitale on Her New Book about Life in Honduras After Deportation. After registering, you will recei...
Amelia Frank-Vitale's new book, Leave If You Can: Migration and Violence in Bordered Worlds, challenges one of the most persistent myths in U.S. immigration policy: that deportation works. Drawing on ...
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Harsha Walia @harshawalia.bsky.social · 26/05/2026
Netherlands is pushing ahead with plans to set up Europe’s first “return hubs” where migrants can be deported from the EU to third countries. The globalization of border violence is a worldwide phenomenon, including in so-called social democratic states. www.politico.eu/article/neth...
politico.eu
Dutch government gives green light to establish migrant ‘return hubs’ outside EU
Within months Europe could see the first concrete steps toward deporting migrants who have been denied the right to stay in the EU.
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Gillian Brockell @gillianbrockell.com · 23/05/2026
I made a lot of updates to the “Now” sections of the Third-Country Removal Tracker today. If you haven’t read-in for awhile, check it out. gillianbrockell.com/tracking-all...
gillianbrockell.com
Tracking All of Trump’s Known Third-Country Removals
Bookmark this post, it will be updated.
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Amelia Frank-Vitale @ameliafv.bsky.social · 18/05/2026
Very excited to be in conversation with @austinkocher.com next month to talk about my book and the politics of deportation. Austin's one of the clearest analysts of immigration policy there is - I'm sure it will be an engaging conversation. Register below! @ucpress.bsky.social
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ProPublica @propublica.org · 29/04/2026
A ProPublica analysis of ICE data shows that Trump has detained parents of U.S. citizen children at about twice the rate that Biden did, and moms have been deported four times as often.
propublica.org
Trump Has Detained the Parents of More Than 11,000 U.S. Citizen Kids
A ProPublica analysis of new ICE data shows that Trump has detained parents of U.S. citizen children at about twice the rate that Biden did, and moms have been deported four times as often.
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ICE Flight Monitor @iceflightmonitor.bsky.social · 23/04/2026
UPDATE: After Panama and over 13 hours with individuals physically restrained onboard, the ICE deportation flight (GXA6201) landed in Paraguay — likely marking the first third-country removal there. www.state.gov/releases/off...
state.gov
Signing of a Safe Third Country Agreement with Paraguay - United States Department of State
Today, I welcomed Paraguayan Foreign Minister Ruben Ramírez to the State Department to sign a Safe Third Country Agreement (STCA) between the United States and Paraguay. This agreement provides asylum...
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beth semel @bethmsemel.bsky.social · 20/04/2026
early view of my article is out! it explores the twinned ideologies of referentialism that often subtend language and "AI" and how those ideologies break apart in the R&D pipeline, where the social-pragmatic dimension of both speech + data come to the fore rai.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
rai.onlinelibrary.wiley.com
‘Everything is a signal’: speaking circuits and noisy signs in the making of language‐oriented AI
Contemporary artificial intelligence (AI) technologies are often presumed to be capable of revealing unmediated truths about the world, including the truths language might hold, echoing the long-stan...
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Amelia Frank-Vitale @ameliafv.bsky.social · 11/04/2026
Friends in LA - I'll be talking about my book at the @latimes.com Festival of Books next weekend! #bookfest #latimesfob Full lineup here: www.latimes.com/events/festi... We're on April 18, 4:30pm, at USC. @ucpress.bsky.social
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Amelia Frank-Vitale @ameliafv.bsky.social · 07/04/2026
Today!
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Nicholas Whithorn @nickwhithorn.bsky.social · 05/04/2026
About 80 people are missing, feared drowned, after a boat carrying migrants capsizes in the Mediterranean. An Italian Coast Guard vessel recovered 2 bodies and brought 32 survivors to Lampedusa.
gazzettadelsud.it
La tragedia di Pasqua, sono 80 i dispersi nel naufragio in acque Sar Libiche. A Lampedusa sbarcati i 32 sopravvissuti
Il barcone di 12-15 metri con il quale erano salpati da Tripoli, in Libia, si è rovesciato e i profughi sono rimasti in acqua per diverso tempo prima di essere intercettati e soccorsi
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Tom Cartwright @tomcartwright.bsky.social · 02/04/2026
✈️👀 ICE Air to Ugands. 1st since at least 2020 and likely 3rd country national deportation. See @ICEFlightM below.
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Amelia Frank-Vitale @ameliafv.bsky.social · 27/03/2026
Excited to present my book for the first time on April 7th at 4:30. Honored to be in conversation with Ulla Berg and @drernestocast.bsky.social. @ucpress.bsky.social
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Brad Lander @bradlander.bsky.social · 25/03/2026
According to documents filed this morning by the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of NY, ICE has been lying for a year — not only to the public, but to the courts and to prosecutors — about being authorized to make arrests at 26 Federal Plaza and other immigration courts. (1/2)
Documents filed this morning by the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of NY exposing how ICE has been lying for a year — not only to the public, but to the courts and to prosecutors — about being authorized to make arrests at 26 Federal Plaza and other immigration courts. Documents filed this morning by the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of NY exposing how ICE has been lying for a year — not only to the public, but to the courts and to prosecutors — about being authorized to make arrests at 26 Federal Plaza and other immigration courts.
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@NewsJennifer (Jennifer Schulze) @newsjennifer.bsky.social · 23/03/2026
"In the first seven months of his second term, authorities arrested and detained parents of at least 11,000 U.S. citizen children — a number that, if the pace held up, will have roughly doubled by now. That’s an average of more than 50 U.S. citizen kids a day with a parent pulled into detention."
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Sarah Lazare @sarahlazare.bsky.social · 23/03/2026
What an incredible story: Meatpacking workers who speak 57 languages are ON STRIKE against the behemoth JBS in Greeley, CO. Reminds me of historical accounts of the Lawrence, Mass. strike of 1912, where workers spoke dozens of languages, and often sang to communicate.
labornotes.org
In 57 Languages, Meatpackers Strike for the First Time in 40 Years
In less than a quarter-mile stretch of sidewalk, chatter in 57 languages overlaps with the sound of dancehall, bachata, Thai pop, Haitian kompa, and Micronesian hip-hop. At sunset, dozens gather for i...
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Kyle Cheney @kyledcheney.bsky.social · 20/03/2026
NEW: The Trump administraiton has lost more than 7,000 immigration detention cases in recent months. Increasingly, DOJ is telling judges they have no argument to present or couldn't get facts from ICE to present in court. A look at this emerging trend. www.politico.com/news/2026/03...
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Adam Isacson @adamisacson.com · 20/03/2026
Looks like a seasonal uptick in migrant encounters at the border. If so, expect March to be greater. www.cbp.gov/newsroom/sta...
U.S. Border Patrol At Large and U.S. Border Patrol at Entry Apprehensions
Monthly Totals	Oct-25	Nov-25	Dec-25	Jan-26	Feb-26	Mar-26	Apr-26	May-26	Jun-26	Jul-26	Aug-26	Sep-26
Nationwide Total Apprehensions	9,847	9,233	8,080	7,883	8,236	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
At Large	3,180	3,167	2,813	2,882	2,605	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
At Entry	6,667	6,066	5,267	5,001	5,631	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Southwest Border Total Apprehensions	7,987	7,348	6,474	6,074	6,603	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
At Large	1,399	1,358	1,257	1,104	1,033	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
At Entry	6,588	5,990	5,217	4,970	5,570	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Northern Border Total Apprehensions	646	581	437	491	579	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
At Large	571	511	387	469	539	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
At Entry	75	70	50	22	40
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Immigration and Ethnic History Society @iehs.bsky.social · 20/03/2026
***Call for Applicants*** The Frontera Scholars Collective at the University of Texas (UT) at Austin invites applications for the 2026 Summer Institute, focusing on the writing and research of Mexico-United States borderlands historians. Apply by 3/27: utexas.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_...
utexas.qualtrics.com
[Application] 2026 Frontera Scholars Collective Summer Institute
Please use this form to apply for the 2026 Frontera Scholars Collective Summer Institute hosted by the Department of History at The University of Texas at Austin.
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Rebecca Buxton @rebeccabuxton.bsky.social · 04/03/2026
FULLY FUNDED PHDs IN POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY I'm looking for *two* PhD students to join my ERC project on refugee-led approaches to displacement justice. The positions are funded for four years, and you get to join our lovely community in Bristol. Please share widely! philjobs.org/job/show/30997
philjobs.org
PhD in Political and Social Philosophy, University of Bristol - PhilJobs:JFP PhD in Political and Social Philosophy, University of Bristol
An international database of jobs for philosophers
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Amelia Frank-Vitale @ameliafv.bsky.social · 25/02/2026
Still two weeks out from the official release date, but just saw my book on a shelf in a bookstore for the first time! It's still available for preorder with a 30% discount from @ucpress.bsky.social by using code "UCPSAVE30" - www.ucpress.edu/books/leave-...
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ProPublica @propublica.org · 18/02/2026
NEW: Rather than turn former Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernández over to immigration officials when he was released from prison less than four years into a 45-year sentence, the Trump administration paid to transport him 350 miles to a posh NYC hotel. By @keribla.bsky.social
propublica.org
Amid Mass ICE Arrests, Trump Pardon Recipient Juan Orlando Hernández Given Special Treatment
After the former Honduran president was pardoned, ICE dropped its detainer on him, and he was whisked away to a luxury hotel in New York City.
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