iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Lauren Harper @laurenleharper.bsky.social · 21h

DHS detains hundreds of US citizens in private centers- making GEO Group and others billions. ICE gives local cops up to $2M per immigration arrest. Yet ICE couldn't figure out how to pay for body cameras for months. And DHS can't get it's FOIA office on track so the public can conduct oversight.

projects.propublica.org

More Than 500 U.S. Citizens Have Been Detained, Including Handcuffed or Held at Gunpoint, in Trump’s Immigration Crackdown — ProPublica

The government doesn’t track how often immigration officers detain U.S. citizens. So ProPublica did. We’ve found more than 500 Americans who were held against their will during this Trump administrati...

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Lauren Harper @laurenleharper.bsky.social · 05/10/2026

DHS can give local cops $137K a year to detain TWO WHOLE PEOPLE as part of its 287g program, but can't figure out how to respond to my FOIA request about the 287g program itself. Makes sense.

wsj.com

Exclusive | How Local Police Get Paid Big Money for Just a Few Immigration Arrests

The Department of Homeland Security gives local agencies as much as $2 million for each arrest in a nationwide task force.

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Reposted by Lauren Harper

Freedom of the Press Foundation @freedom.press · 02/10/2026

How much does it cost to get information about a cop who punched someone in the face? About $2.5M, plus 44,816 hours of staff time, according to the Eugene, OR, Police Department. If that sounds absurd, it’s because it is. Watch @laurenleharper.bsky.social explain:

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Freedom of the Press Foundation @freedom.press · 02/10/2026

"For small newsrooms, a $2.5 million invoice is effectively a gag order that was never actually about covering costs, but bullying the requester to drop their inquiry," FPF's @laurenleharper.bsky.social writes in @theintercept.com More on ransoms for public records:

theintercept.com

Oregon Police Are Charging a Local News Outlet $2.5M for Records About One Cop

Eugene-based Double Sided Media requested police officer Justin Peckels’s records. The city slapped the publication with an exorbitant fee.

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Lauren Harper @laurenleharper.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

I guess this explains why DOJ never found any of her emails in response to my FOIAs...even though they specifically asked for any and all of Bondi's DOJ email addresses. 😡 awesome stuff from @jasonleopold.bsky.social

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Lauren Harper @laurenleharper.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

Cop is subject of community complaints (including for punching a driver in the face during a traffic stop). Local newsroom files a public records request about him. Eugene, Ore says sure thing, that’ll cost $2.5 million and take at least 44,000 hours to complete. My latest for @theintercept.com:

theintercept.com

Oregon Police Are Charging a Local News Outlet $2.5M for Records About One Cop

Eugene-based Double Sided Media requested police officer Justin Peckels’s records. The city slapped the publication with an exorbitant fee.

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Reposted by Lauren Harper

Kevin H Bell @kevinhbell.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

Our first case, in November, 2025, was on behalf of @laurenleharper.bsky.social at @freedom.press for records of how ICE tried to completely shut members of Congress out of its facilities for oversight visits. Still ongoing! freedom.press/the-classifi...

freedom.press

FPF takes ICE to court over dangerous secrecy

FOIA lawsuit targets ICE’s efforts to stop congressional oversight of detention facilities

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Reposted by Lauren Harper

Freedom of the Press Foundation @freedom.press · 01/10/2026

"How much does it cost to get more information about a cop who punched someone in the face? If you guessed anything lower than $2.5 million, you’d be wrong — at least according to the city of Eugene, Oregon." Read more from FPF's @laurenleharper.bsky.social in @theintercept.com.

theintercept.com

Oregon Police Are Charging a Local News Outlet $2.5M for Records About One Cop

Eugene-based Double Sided Media requested police officer Justin Peckels’s records. The city slapped the publication with an exorbitant fee.

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Lauren Harper @laurenleharper.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

Judge rejects govt's deliberative process and atty-client privilege claims in FOIA suit for legal rationale for targeted boat killings; orders govt to submit memo to him for confidential review. A step in the right direction - but still a long fight ahead.

nytimes.com

Judge Questions Secrecy Around Trump Administration’s Memo on Boat Strikes

The judge also ordered the Justice Department to privately show the court the contested document, which blesses the disputed killings at sea.

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Lauren Harper @laurenleharper.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

“There’s a danger this could become a Pandora’s Box that opens up all kinds of other questions that people demand from the agencies" ...This sounds like a good Pandora's Box?

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Lauren Harper @laurenleharper.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

Think whatever you want about UAPs/UFOs, but if we're ever going to see what data the government has, we're going to have to overcome the CIA censors somehow. A good way to do that would be to follow the ISCAP model, where declass decisions are made by interagency consensus.

politico.com

Trump Promised the Truth About UFOs. These Scientists Are Waiting.

The president named a science council to review the government’s data. What's taking so long?

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Reposted by Lauren Harper

Freedom of the Press Foundation @freedom.press · 24/09/2026

Court orders are just paper unless they’re enforced. Enough is enough. Government officials who continue to deny journalists’ access to the White House in defiance of Judge Kelly’s order should be held in contempt. Our statement:

freedom.press

White House defies judge who smacked down media ban

The government officials still enforcing the president’s unconstitutional ban should be held in contempt

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Lauren Harper @laurenleharper.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

White House confirms: listening to JD Vance is a national security threat.

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Reposted by Lauren Harper

Katie Fallow @katiefallow.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

The White House's brief responding to CNN/Ms Now/Politico's TRO motion is a joke - legally, constitutionally, and logically. (1/5) storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...

storage.courtlistener.com

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Lauren Harper @laurenleharper.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

Put another way, the guy who stored classified documents in a country club bathroom thinks reporting stories like that is a "significant violation of decorum."

politico.com

Trump cites national security, midterms coverage to defend press ban

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Lauren Harper @laurenleharper.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

Trump's claim that press coverage is a threat to national security is absurd. But he thinks he can get away with it because we've treated national security claims as sacrosanct for decades. If there is a silver lining here, it's that the natsec pretense is evaporating.

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Lauren Harper @laurenleharper.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

Good thing there's a PI in place to ensure the White House is preserving all the records it's required to under the Presidential Records Act. This will ensure that, when the time comes, we can FOIA this Trump administration to learn about its pathetic, desperate scheme to undermine a free press.

citizensforethics.org

Judge rules Trump White House must comply with Presidential Records Act - CREW | Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington

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Lauren Harper @laurenleharper.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

He's happy to use the press as a decoy while he runs away in food and beverage cart, though.

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Lauren Harper @laurenleharper.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

Banning journalists from the White House isn't suddenly going to make the Iran War - or the president - popular. And it isn't going to stop reporters from doing their job. And it isn't going to stop the public from demanding accountability from the Pentagon.

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Lauren Harper @laurenleharper.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

Also today, Politico, which Trump also banned - reported that the military fucked up might have exposed f-35 technology to China.

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Lauren Harper @laurenleharper.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

Trump banned CNN from White House almost immediately after CNN reported we almost went to war with China because of an erroneous intelligence report generated by AI. Not saying that's why Trump banned, but it is PRECISELY why its important for CNN and the other banned outlets to be in the room.

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Lauren Harper @laurenleharper.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

The Pentagon continues to lie about the number of troops and contractors that have died as a result of the Iran War. This story deserves all the attention it gets and more - and kudos to @nickturse.bsky.social for consistently reporting on this issue for months.

washingtonpost.com

More U.S. troops have died amid Iran war than Pentagon has disclosed publicly

Officials who spoke with The Post expressed frustration that the additional loss of life in the Middle East is not reflected in the Defense Department’s casualty database.

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Reposted by Lauren Harper

Freedom of the Press Foundation @freedom.press · 18/09/2026

'The classification system was designed to protect legitimate secrets, not to shield government agencies from public scrutiny,' FPF's @laurenleharper.bsky.social writes in @knightcolumbia.org. It is past time for reform. Here's where to start:

knightcolumbia.org

It's Past Time to Fix Overclassification. Here's Where to Start.

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Reposted by Lauren Harper

Knight First Amendment Institute @knightcolumbia.org · 18/09/2026

How do we shrink the universe of government secrets? @laurenleharper.bsky.social of @freedom.press explains how in her piece for the Knight Institute. knightcolumbia.org/blog/its-pas...

knightcolumbia.org

It's Past Time to Fix Overclassification. Here's Where to Start.

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Lauren Harper @laurenleharper.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

One (or all) of the following is happening: - ICE is intentionally conducting insultingly bad FOIA searches to screw requesters out of records about the agency's use of force. - It is failing to create records, or improperly destroying the ones it generates. All scenarios are unlawful.

blockclubchicago.org

ICE Says It Can't Find Its Own Records Of Teargassing And Arresting Broadview Protesters

ICE's own rules require reports every time an agent uses force. But the agency says it can't find any from its attacks on protesters on Sept. 19, 2025.

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Lauren Harper @laurenleharper.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

Data silos exist for a reason and are the heart of the Privacy Act. Breaking them enables too much insight into your life by too many actors. That's just one of the reasons why FPF is suing the government to see exactly which silos it's intent on destroying.

govexec.com

Inside Commerce efforts to break data siloes and improve integrity

An agency official also encouraged public comment on a proposed overhaul of the census that would eliminate race questions and change who is counted as living in the U.S.

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Lauren Harper @laurenleharper.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

Dept. of Agriculture just gave me 4 days and some change to respond to a still interested letter. #FOIA

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Freedom of the Press Foundation @freedom.press · 13/09/2026

🚨 DEADLINE EXTENDED! Are you a journalist who uses FOIA or other public records laws in your reporting? You could win $25,000 with our new journalism award, the Penlight Prize. Deadline extended to September 15. Apply at: penlightprize.org

penlightprize.org

The Penlight Prize ∙ Freedom of the Press Foundation

The Penlight Prize honors exemplary paywall-free public records reporting, from Freedom of the Press Foundation

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Reposted by Lauren Harper

Freedom of the Press Foundation @freedom.press · 11/09/2026

It’s 25 years later, and 9/11 survivors and victims’ families still seek accountability, with millions of records remaining classified. Our own government’s secrecy continues to obstruct justice and hide the full truth. Watch @laurenleharper.bsky.social explain:

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Reposted by Lauren Harper

Freedom of the Press Foundation @freedom.press · 11/09/2026

25 years after 9/11, New York is opening 170,000 pages of records on what officials knew about the toxic air at Ground Zero. Now the federal government should open the remaining 9/11 records still hidden from the public. FPF’s Lauren Harper explains:

ms.now

Opinion | The case for declassifying Sept. 11 records

Lauren Harper: The 9/11 Commission’s most critical finding was that a “failure of imagination” blinded officials to the gravity of the threat. As long as the complete intelligence picture remains shro...

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Reposted by Lauren Harper

Max Blau @maxblau.bsky.social · 08/09/2026

Georgia is planning for its first execution in two years this month. But how the state carries out the death penalty is largely a secret. I’ve obtained records that provide new information — and raise new questions — about its lethal injection process. 🧵 www.propublica.org/article/geor...

propublica.org

This State Is Spending More on Lethal Injections. A Law Tries to Keep the Details Secret.

As Georgia plans for its first execution in two years, a trove of records provides us with new information — and raises new questions — about the state’s lethal injection process.

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Lauren Harper @laurenleharper.bsky.social · 05/09/2026

Ryan Murphy does not understand FOIA

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Reposted by Lauren Harper

Freedom of the Press Foundation @freedom.press · 03/09/2026

The Trump administration says imported brass instruments are a national security threat. It may sound absurd, but it points to a serious problem: invoking ‘national security’ to advance policy goals while bypassing public scrutiny. Watch @laurenleharper.bsky.social explain:

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Reposted by Lauren Harper

Freedom of the Press Foundation @freedom.press · 01/09/2026

For the first time ever, someone may go to jail for evading FOIA. But while Trump’s DOJ is prosecuting a single FOIA dodger, a former Fauci aide, it is simultaneously defending systemwide FOIA evasion. That’s not accountability. That’s selective enforcement. @laurenleharper.bsky.social explains:

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