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Gillian Brockell

@gillianbrockell.com
32K followers 1.5K following 11K posts

I report on ICE flights and third-country removals at @prospect.org. Former WaPo (sigh). The Original Third-Country Removal Tracker: gillianbrockell.com/tracking-all-of… Signal: gbrockell.44

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Gillian Brockell @gillianbrockell.com · 4h
This ICE flight operated by Talon Air is headed for Africa and is a possible third-country removal in progress.
An ADSBx map showing N59JE heading ESE over Florida from Mesa AZ
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Gillian Brockell @gillianbrockell.com · 8h
This was the first thing I wrote after I left the Washington Post almost three years ago. What a wild ride (to hell) it has been. gillianbrockell.com/one-neat-tri...
So, here it is - with apologies to my former editor for getting this out way too late - one neat trick that proves the Civil War was not about states' rights:
If the Civil War had been about upholding states' rights, then slave states would have been fine with non-slave states passing laws protecting Black residents who had self-emancipated ("run away") from slave states. Slave states weren't fine with that.
They pushed a federal law - the Fugitive Slave Act - that superseded states' rights, forcing federal marshals to arrest and transport these people, regardless of the laws of the state they were in.
Bloop! That's it!
In the lead-up the Civil War, this was a common point made by antislavery activists
- a ubiquitous thing we have somehow forgotten, like sewing our own clothes or shape-note singing.
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Gillian Brockell @gillianbrockell.com · 15h
what do you think these are, my guy? they aren't butter knives!
the khanda, the traditional symbol for sikhism
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Gillian Brockell @gillianbrockell.com · 29/09/2026
SCOTUS’s shadow docket strikes again. Third-country removals are back on, using a policy that two federal courts have now ruled is unlawful.
CORDER LIST: 609 U.S.)
TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 29, 2026
26-426
(26A406)
CERTIORARI GRANTED
DEPT. OF HOMELAND SEC., ET AL. V. D.V.D., ET AL.
The application for stay presented to Justice Jackson and
by her referred to the Court is granted. The February 25, 2026 order and judgment of the United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts, case No. 1:25-cv-10676, are stayed.
The application is also treated as a petition for a writ of certiorari, and the petition is granted. The parties are directed to brief and argue the following questions: (1) Whether the district court had jurisdiction over Respondents' claims.
(2) Whether the
district court had
authority to enter classwide
declaratory
relief
and APA vacatur under 8 U. S. C. §1252 (f) (1).
(3) Whether the Government's Guidance on third-country removals
is unlawful under 8 U. S. C. §1231(b), the Due Process Clause, or
FARRA/CAT and its
implementing regulations. (4) Such other
questions that the Government determines are appropriate for the
proper disposition of the case. The Clerk is directed to
establish a briefing schedule that will allow the case to be
argued in the December 2026 argument session. The stay shall
terminate upon the sending down of the judgment of this Court.
Justice Sotomayor, Justice Kagan, and Justice Jackson would
deny the application for stay.
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Gillian Brockell @gillianbrockell.com · 29/09/2026
Corner office baby! Prime access to both stages at this particular “music” festival.
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Gillian Brockell @gillianbrockell.com · 29/09/2026
Some people like to listen to music or white noise or the washing machine while they work. Me, I like to have a regional water main replaced outside my home office window. Volume up. Yes, the window is closed.
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Gillian Brockell @gillianbrockell.com · 28/09/2026
They’ve been doing this for years, yes, but it feels like it’s getting worse, right?
Gillian Brockell
@gillianbrockell.c... • 1mo
Is it tho?
TIMES EXCLUSIVE
Homeland Security Paid $464 Million for Airplanes.
Then It Parked Them.
The agency used a no-bid contract to buy 10 used jets, saying they were urgently needed for deportation flights. But the fleet has largely sat idle for months.
ALT
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Gillian Brockell @gillianbrockell.com · 28/09/2026
Wrong. At least a hundred deportation flights were stopped, and there is no guarantee they’ll start them again. They already did one layoff a few weeks ago, the buyer could just as likely sell the planes for parts and shit the whole thing down for good.
thrasybulus63.bsky.social
@thrasybulus63.bsky.social
I think the headline's misleading, Gillian: They stopped nothing; they just forced one scumbag owner of scumbag Omni Air to sell it to another scumbag owner. Change of ownership means nothing: Omni Air will keep hauling ICE detainees to third nation
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Gillian Brockell @gillianbrockell.com · 28/09/2026
From my ICE Air FAQ:
What can I do?
Demand the administrators of airports in your state set up public livestreams for ICE flights and cancel contracts with ICE Air partners. Support Rep. Jasmine Crockett's TRACK ICE Act, which would require ICE to release flight data and publicly report uses of force on ICE flights. Make sure your retirement fund isn't invested in ICE charter airlines; if it is, pressure the fund managers to divest. Spread the word about conditions on ICE flights. Donate to nonprofits and funds that help migrants in detention. Tell the FAA and your lawmakers that shackling on ICE flights should stop immediately. Protest outside companies that partner with ICE Air, and demand their investors divest (that means you, Bill Gates).
Observe ICE flight transfers at your local airport and document what you see - you can contact. in DC on Bluesky for public-observation points and flight forecasts.If you are an airline worker, tell your union to demand the FAA enforce federal aviation regulations on ICE flights. Help pilots and flight attendants for ICE Air charter airlines find new jobs. And if you work for one of these companies, you can send me information anonymously on Signal at gbrockell.44, or via encrypted email at brockell at proton dot me.
Name and shame! What companies are working with ICE Air?
The airlines currently flying for ICE Air are:
Global X Air, Eastern Airlines/Eastern Air
Express, Key Lime Air/Denver Air Connection, Omni Air International, Air Wisconsin, Journey Aviation, and Talon Air.
Avelo Airlines stopped flying for ICE on Feb. 8. Air Transport Service/Gryphon operated ICE flights in 2025, likely including at least one third-country removal to Rwanda, but appears to have stopped in fall 2025.
Bighorn Airways also briefly flew ICE flights but appears to have stopped.Can my blue-state airport refuse ICE flights clearance to land?
Unfortunately, no. In 2019, local officials in Washington state attempted to stop ICE flights landing at Seattle's Boeing Field via county executive order. The Department of Justice challenged the order, with a judge ruling in 2023 that public-use airports cannot refuse aircraft operated by or on behalf of the federal government.
In response, county officials now require all ICE flights at Boeing Field to load and unload on a public livestream, which has provided invaluable information to immigration attorneys and activists, and hopefully prevents some abuse by ICE agents and guards. (Though not all of it, see below video.)
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Gillian Brockell @gillianbrockell.com · 28/09/2026
This piece of work told the council in June he found the source of his wealth “abhorrent,” but there was nothing he could do, due to contractual obligations. (And said my ironclad reporting was “not accurate,” while providing NO evidence for this claim.) Yet Omni’s ICE flights suddenly stopped!
James Wyper, Stonepeak's senior managing director, told a City Council committee that the firm believed the Trump administration's ongoing mass deportation effort was
"abhorrent" and was actively trying to sell
Omni Air.
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Gillian Brockell @gillianbrockell.com · 27/09/2026
If only there were a more concise word for “an overtly political campaign advertisement paid for by the government.” If only there were a roomful of writers and editors one could consult…
Eric Lipton NYT
@ericlipton.nytimes.com
What an odd moment in United States history.
A U.S. president is running an overtly political camaign advertisement, right before midterm elections, paid for by the U.S. government.
Trump appears to believe he is immune from any kind of legal limit.
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Gillian Brockell @gillianbrockell.com · 27/09/2026
It’s fixed! Bless you “Eviepoo001.”
Murder of the Quinn brothers
Article
Talk
文
*
On 12 July 1998, Jason (aged nine), Mark (aged 10), and Richard (aged 11) were three brothers murdered by the UVF in a firebomb attack on their home in Ballymoney, County Antrim, Northern Ireland. The sectarian attack was committed during widespread loyalist violence linked to the Drumcree stand-off, during "The Troubles". The boys were from
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Gillian Brockell @gillianbrockell.com · 27/09/2026
I was wandering around @wikipedia.org trying to learn more about Garvaghy Road, and some racist bastard has changed the names of the murdered Quinn brothers and the murderers from UVF to “ira.” Does anyone know how to flag it or get it changed back?
Revision as of 09:42, 27 September 2026
12 MINUTES AGO
→(top)
{‹Campaignbox Northern Ireland
Troubles|state=collapsed}}
On 12 July 1998,
''JasonMuhammad''' (aged nine),
'''Marksanjed' (aged 10), and Muhammad the 2nd '''Richard Quinn''' (aged 11) were three brothers murdered by the lUlster Volunteer Force |ira]] (UVF) in a firebomb attack on their home in [[Ballymoney]], [[County Antrim]],
INorthern Ireland]l. The
[Sectarianism|sectarian]] attack was committed during widespread
[Ulster loyalism|loyalist]] violence linked to the [[Drumcree
~2026-51980-22
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Gillian Brockell @gillianbrockell.com · 26/09/2026
Shared with me by @jjindc.bsky.social, in the Denver Post. Dana Miller, you rock. Flight attendants know what’s up.
Immigrants shackled for
DIA flights are at risk
It was good to see Denver International Airport's commitment to safety demonstrated by its full-scale emergency exercise Aug. 19. 1 was a flight attendant for close to 30 years and I am glad to see the exercise included realtime role-playing, not relying solely on simulated training scenarios.
I wonder if DEN included the consideration that Immigration and Customs Enforcement charters fly in and out of the airport frequently.
These ICE flights contain passengers who are shack-led. They are restrained by leg irons and handcuffs attached to a waist chain and stay shackled throughout the flights. The restraints prevent them from reaching for an oxygen mask if there is a decompression, and in the event of a water emergency, donning personal life vests would be nigh impossible.
It seems to me that specialized training would be necessary for first responders and firefighting crews. Evacuations and rescues of an aircraft full of shackled passengers could make a horrifying situation much worse.
- Dana Miller, Denver
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Gillian Brockell @gillianbrockell.com · 26/09/2026
Good morning, Mr, @girmayzahilay.bsky.social. Doesn’t it violate King County’s rules to have ICE obscure its loading of migrants from the Boeing Field livestream like this? And can you please find out if the migrants have been on buses on the tarmac all night after yesterday’s plane (N468AW) broke?
A screenshot of the livestream view of Boeing Field’s ICE camera, showing two large buses obscuring the loading area in front of N455AW
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Gillian Brockell @gillianbrockell.com · 26/09/2026
This is one of DHS’s stock phrases that they copy-paste into anything they can, regardless of whether it’s true or not, as it obviously isn’t in Seck’s case. Glad to hear she’s been moved to a hospital, but as @nkalamb.bsky.social points out, that only happened after her case made national news.
The Department of Homeland Security told
USA Today on 23 September that Seck "chose to overstay her welcome in violation of our nation's laws", adding, "To be clear: a…
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Gillian Brockell @gillianbrockell.com · 25/09/2026
Jeez. The court may have stopped some third-country removals at the last second yesterday, but ICE recalibrated quickly. Sept. 24 saw the most ICE flights+removals in the months I've been keeping a daily log. --at least 90 flights --at least 18 removals, including Haiti --plus a stop at Gitmo
A map of North and Central America showing dozens of flights emanating out ICE Air's hub of Alexandria, LA
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Gillian Brockell @gillianbrockell.com · 25/09/2026
Overnight this ICE flight landed in Kenya, which is not an official TCR “host,” but does transfer removals, i.e. migrants will be put onto a commercial flight to their country of origin. This is the plane that stopped in Gitmo, so this is probably the transfer deport of the Somalis who were there.
An FR24 map showing N352BH landing in Nairobi
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Gillian Brockell @gillianbrockell.com · 25/09/2026
God I love your writing, Ana Marie
Think of it as self-preservation. Stop riding on Air Force One and you won't be terrorist bait the next time around.
Don't stop reporting on Trump and the effect Trump has on the world, no, those stories are more urgent than ever. Tell the stories of the toddlers forced to represent themselves in immigration court, military malpractice, undisguised grift, the affordability crisis, data centers bleeding rural America dry.
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Gillian Brockell @gillianbrockell.com · 25/09/2026
God, “pool spray,” truly one of the dumbest things in journalism.
What are you missing if you don't show up for pool spray or a press availability?
The White House has already signaled its disdain for the normal back-and-forth by not bothering to replace their press secretary. Does anyone think that the answers gleaned from bellowing questions at Trump while his hearing and hair alike struggle against helicopter wash are ideas that he would not share otherwise?
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Gillian Brockell @gillianbrockell.com · 24/09/2026
Here’s the current location of the plane that stopped at Gitmo this morning. I don’t where it is going to land, but, respectfully, I don’t understand how ICE Flight Monitor can see this plane and make this statement. Since they don’t cite their sources, the quality of the info is hard to evaluate.
An FR24 map showing N352BH heading ESE from Senegal over Mali. ICE Flight Monitor
@iceflightmonitor.bsky.social
(1/2) An ICE deportation flight previously scheduled to forcibly transfer third country nationals to Panama today appears to now be cancelled. IFM is not seeing indications that deportation flights to CAR, Burundi & Rwanda are moving forward. 1/2
3:18 PM • Sep 24, 2026 23 Some people can reply
6 reposts
2 quotes
34 likes
Liked by Ignacio Gallup-Diaz and Tom Cartwright
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Gillian Brockell @gillianbrockell.com · 24/09/2026
NYT’s writeup definitely drives the story forward. But it seems to be framed around a lot of documents coming from the lying liars who lie without confirming their accuracy independently? No mention of Ghana, Liberia, or Gitmo landings. And Todd Blanche says they’re going to SCOTUS ASAP. 🙄
On Thursday, as news of the ruling spread inside the U.S. government, officials quickly moved to take deportees off flights to third countries such as Costa Rica, Honduras, and the Central African Republic, according to documents obtained by The Times.the tide of illegal immigration," Todd Blanche, the attorney general, said. "We will immediately seek relief from the Supreme Court, which previously granted a stay in this very same case."
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Gillian Brockell @gillianbrockell.com · 24/09/2026
The Gitmo plane has now landed Dakar, Senegal, a common refueling and crew change spot for ICE flights.
An FR24 map showing N352BH landing in Dakar
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Gillian Brockell @gillianbrockell.com · 24/09/2026
You have to at least read until this part.
Hours after the story published, DHS spokesman Micah Bock sent another email, writing: "When you fail to provide us with the necessary information to verify your claims, you're wasting our time, which is ironic considering we at DHS can't think of a bigger waste of time than writing for the American Prospect."As a matter of logic, a writer wasting time at the Prospect and also wasting DHS's time would have been fitting, not
ironic.
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Gillian Brockell @gillianbrockell.com · 24/09/2026
Plus, an ICE charter plane that was in the air when the appeals court said its bar on third-country removals was effective immediately, has since landed in two known TCR countries—Ghana and Liberia. Story to come at @prospect.org
An FR24 map showing N50JE landing in Accra, Ghana. An FR24 map showing N50JE landing in Monrovia, Liberia.
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Gillian Brockell @gillianbrockell.com · 24/09/2026
BREAKING: The plane appearing to have been scheduled to fly third-country nationals to 3 African countries today—before an appeals court prohibited it last night—has taken off, landed at Gitmo (Somalis in ICE camp there) and is now in San Juan, a common refueling stop for ICE flights to Africa.
An FR24 map showing N352BH landing at Gitmo. An FR24 map showing N352BH going from Gitmo to San Juan.
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Gillian Brockell @gillianbrockell.com · 24/09/2026
This plane has landed.
An FR24 Map showing N50JE landing in Accra, Ghana.
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Gillian Brockell @gillianbrockell.com · 24/09/2026
Now we need to know if this ICE flight headed for Ghana has third-country nationals onboard. If so, it needs to bring them back. The emergency ruling is binding immediately, which includes planes in the air. Any lawyers or anyone else with standing think they might know someone onboard? File!
An FR24 map showing N50JE heading for Accra over the middle of the Atlantic.
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Gillian Brockell @gillianbrockell.com · 24/09/2026
Lmao sure looks like they tried to do it using the MAGA billionaire's plane. This is the only one among the jets ICE uses for Africa trips that was in position for the planned TCR. Typically they get to the staging airport 20 hours before departure for crew rest. zeteo.com/p/this-famil...
An ADSBx map showing Gil Dezer's N352BH going from Miami to Alexandria, Louisiana, tonight.
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Gillian Brockell @gillianbrockell.com · 24/09/2026
Completely agree. I always call them removals, expulsions, or refoulement. gillianbrockell.com/tracking-all...
I am using the term "third-country removals" instead of "third-country deportations" here, because the latter is a legal process in which a migrant is resettled in a safe third country. What is actually happening, in nearly all cases, more closely resembles chain refoulement, rendition, or kidnapping - and may violate U.S. and
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Gillian Brockell @gillianbrockell.com · 24/09/2026
Career milestone unlocked:
A screenshot of the DVD vs DHS emergency motion including a highlighted portion reading: 

“Ex. C, Gillian
Brockell, ICE Is Trying to Ignore Court's Decision Striking Down Third-
Country Removals, The American Prospect (Sept. 23, 2026) (explaining that
2
Case: 26-1212 Document: 00118513219 Page: 4 Date Filed: 09/23/2026
Entry ID:
"a Department of Justice attorney asked a federal judge to lift a stay barring
the transfer of a Peruvian man out of Massachusetts, because ICE wanted to
transfer him to another facility 'to effectuate his removal to the Central
African Republic on Sept. 24, 2026'");”
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Gillian Brockell @gillianbrockell.com · 23/09/2026
ICE snatched up a Senegalese college basketball player with an ACL injury in a Kentucky airport. She’s “in so much pain” and needs surgery, but is being transferred from camp to camp with little more than ibuprofen. www.kentucky.com/news/state/k...
A picture of Amina Seck in her Kentucky State jersey on a basketball court.
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Gillian Brockell @gillianbrockell.com · 23/09/2026
That isn't what the lawyers who won the case say. Fine if you disagree, just FYI. www.humanrightsfirst.org/press?item=f...
The First Circuit's ruling affirms critical rights for a nationwide class of individuals with final removal orders who have been removed or face removal to countries that were never identified during their immigration proceedings. The First Circuit agreed that DHS's failure to comply with the law which protects person from being removed to any country where they face persecution, torture, or death. The First Circuit's ruling is effective immediately.
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Gillian Brockell @gillianbrockell.com · 23/09/2026
Overnight this ICE flight landed in Myanmar, as expected. Migrant passengers onboard were shackled for at least 24 hours.
An FR24 map showing N62FF landing in Yangon.
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Gillian Brockell @gillianbrockell.com · 22/09/2026
This ICE removal flight to Myanmar has now landed in Guam. Migrant passengers onboard (4 to 7 that I’m aware of) have been shackled for at least 15 hours.
An FR24 map showing N62FF landing in Guam.
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Gillian Brockell @gillianbrockell.com · 22/09/2026
One more thing: I am guessing the Guardian had to add this to protect themselves legally, but I would push back on this characterization, and I think the women in this story, some of whom I know, would too.
An AA group called Midtown still exists today, and meets in suburban Maryland, on the outskirts of Washington. Sources who spoke to the Guardian say it is not the group it once was and there are no allegations that Midtown today - nearly two decades after Quinones' death from cancer - is like a cult.
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Gillian Brockell @gillianbrockell.com · 22/09/2026
If you have ever spent any time with women who were in Midtown, this is…not believable.
"He knew the deal and he hung around there ... I did the same thing. But I should not be the chair of the FCC, either," the former member said.
A spokesperson for Carr has denied he had any knowledge of inappropriate conduct occurring at Midtown.
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Gillian Brockell @gillianbrockell.com · 22/09/2026
This is the plane heading to Myanmar, based on documents I've received. It is the fourth private jet ICE removal to Myanmar this year.
An ADSBx map showing N62FF leaving Mesa, Arizona, and heading WSW toward Hawaii
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Gillian Brockell @gillianbrockell.com · 22/09/2026
Trump's third-country removal scheme may be suspended, but the cruelty of ICE flights continues. This is yesterday, Monday, Sept. 21. --72+ flights, nearly every adult onboard shackled --12 removal flights --A removal flight headed to Myanmar
An ADSBx map of the lower continental US plus Mexico and Central America down to Nicaragua. There are dozens of flight lines across the map, mostly converging on Alexandria, Louisiana.
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Gillian Brockell @gillianbrockell.com · 21/09/2026
Once they are in the system, it will be nearly impossible to track them by flight data. There are dozens of flights everyday between the big detention center hubs in LA, TX, FL, and AZ. For example, this is just one day:
A closeup of the southern US showing dozens of ICE flights between detention center hubs in Louisiana, Texas, Florida and Arizona.
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Gillian Brockell @gillianbrockell.com · 21/09/2026
More important than ever to use Habeas Flight Watch from @jjindc.bsky.social and @lexingtonalarm.bsky.social to get Habeas petitions as soon as someone is captured so they can’t be moved into the gulag archipelago. Especially for people in MN, NYC and Chicago!
The practice does not apply to detainees held at a detention facility in Adelanto, California or at temporary holding facilities in Minneapolis, New York City or suburban Chicago, the sources said. Judges have ordered ICE to list detainees in those facilities in the online locator promptly upon their arrival, as part of litigation over their detention practices.The HFW map showing airports in the eastern US where ICE flights go, some are red or green or yellow depending
On ICE flight schedules there
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Gillian Brockell @gillianbrockell.com · 21/09/2026
Newsletter is out. If you subscribe, then you already know where I've learned this ICE charter jet is expected to go tomorrow.
An ADSBx map showing N62FF flying from Miami to Mesa, Arizona, ICE Air Operations' headquarters.
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Gillian Brockell @gillianbrockell.com · 21/09/2026
when you know beyond a shadow of a doubt you're one of the bad guys
A screenshot from the quoted video showing an ICE agent walking toward his car to leave the scene of the incident he caused. He is wearing a hoodie and a black gator over his face so that he looks like the fucken grim reaper
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Gillian Brockell @gillianbrockell.com · 20/09/2026
Exactly. I’ve been saying this since I started the tracker last year, and it’s why I don’t call them deportations. gillianbrockell.com/tracking-all...
I am using the term "third-country removals" instead of "third-country deportations" here, because the latter is a legal process in which a migrant is resettled in a safe third country. What is actually happening, in nearly all cases, more closely resembles chain refoulement, rendition, or kidnapping - and may violate U.S. and
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Gillian Brockell @gillianbrockell.com · 19/09/2026
Hours before the decision came down, this ICE flight landed in Ghana. A possible third-country removal, but also possibly the last one?
An ADSBx map showing N588TN landing in Ghana.
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Gillian Brockell @gillianbrockell.com · 18/09/2026
This photo is fake, stop defaming immigrants with this
Image of man in 'Latinos for Trump' shirt getting arrested by ICE is fake
By Lisa Fernandez I Immigration A
Updated January 30, 2025 12:58 PM PST y

US Immigration and Customs Enforcement's (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) special agents arrested alleged immigration violators at Fresh Mark, Salem, June 19, 2018. Image courtesy ICE / U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
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Gillian Brockell @gillianbrockell.com · 18/09/2026
If you live in Arizona, please contact @captmarkkelly.bsky.social and @gallego.senate.gov and ask them what they are doing to help Ahmed, who lived in Arizona for 26 of his 30 years on earth.
A trim young Egyptian man with a goatee looking sharp in a navy blazer and pale pink tie, sitting on a wooden outdoor chair and gazing away from the camera, appearing deep in thought.
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Gillian Brockell @gillianbrockell.com · 17/09/2026
Huh. What changed? I wonder if ICE kidnapping tens of thousands of Cubans and expelling them to the far corners of the earth has had an impact on her poll numbers in a Cuban diaspora majority district??
Maria Elvira Salazar
@MaElviraSalazar
• • •
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2:32 PM • Jul 3, 2025 • 49.8K Views
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Gillian Brockell @gillianbrockell.com · 17/09/2026
I also got a lot out of talking with concentration camp history expert @andreapitzer.bsky.social, who was not at all surprised by the detainees’ claims about the size of “the box” or uncanny “middle ground” nature of the report.
Andrea Pitzer, a concentration camp expert and author of One Long Night: A Global History of Concentration Camps, was not surprised to hear any of this. In extrajudicial camps, which is how she classifies Alligator Alcatraz, "the box" is an almost universal occurrence.Attempting to create a Potemkin Village to fool outsiders is also bog standard for concentration camp governments, Pitzer said. Throughout the Holocaust, and as late as 1944, Nazi Germany fixed up concentration camps like Dachau and Theresienstadt to fool the Red Cross and international media-who were then allowed in to inspect the camps—with varying degrees of success. The last step in those "beautification" efforts, Pitzer
said, was to move large numbers of prisoners somewhere else, to reduce overcrowding and to remove witnesses who might have shared damning information with the visitors.It also isn't unusual for these efforts to not go far enough, because concentration camp governments
"simultaneously want to terrorize the target population while somehow convincing the general population that what is being done is being done for the people's good," Pitzer said. "They both want to show off what they're doing, and they hide what they're doing."
What you often ended up with from the visitors' reports was an uncanny
"middle ground," she said, where there is an attempt at accountability with some "finessing" of the full truth.
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Gillian Brockell @gillianbrockell.com · 17/09/2026
Beside the fact that the cages the inspectors saw were better than what previous detainees had described, the OIG admitted deep in the report they could not “confirm or refute” ICE’s claims about the cages. AND THAT IS A HUGE RED FLAG!
Incredibly, the OIG made no effort to speak with previous detainees, according to a spokesperson, who asked not to be identified by name. That was not within the scope of the "unannounced" inspection, the spokesperson said, which was confined to evaluating conditions at the camp on that day only.

Now, you may have noticed that I keep putting "unannounced" in quotes. I am not suggesting the inspectors were in on the cover-up. But I do call into question whether officials at the camp found out about the pending inspection ahead of time.Deep in the report, the inspectors note:
"We were unable to independently confirm or refute ICE officials' assertions regarding their use of the enclosures... as none of the detainees we interviewed reported experiencing these conditions during our unannounced inspection."
The report also says the officials' records logged 79 people spending time inside the cages on January 17 and 18. Seventy-nine people, two cages, with the average time spent inside being 59 minutes. That sums to 79 out of an available 96 cage-hours. The math doesn't add up unless detainees were going into the "calming areas" almost around the clock, including in the middle of the night.
And only three days later, when inspectors showed up, all of those people were conveniently gone, transferred somewhere else and unavailable for interviews.Was the high flow of traffic in and out of the camp normal? It's impossible to say definitively without the camp's bus records, but I did take a look at flight records for about 80 planes in ICE's vast charter plane network, and found that U.S. Coast Guard aircraft landed at the facility every day between January 18 and January 20, the only three-day. streak between the release of the Amnesty report in early December and the end of January. (The Coast Guard, which is administered by DHS, used search-and-rescue planes to do ICE flights between June 2025 and March 2026, news of which I first reported for Rolling Stone.)

When told about the Coast Guard flights, the spokesperson seemed surprised but declined to respond on the record.
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