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María Luisa Paúl

@marialuisapaul.bsky.social
538 followers 32 following 71 posts

Covering immigration for USA TODAY. ☘️Notre Dame ‘21 grad. 🇻🇪 Venezolana, siempre. Catch me at mpaul@usatoday.com / Signal: marialuisapaul.50

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María Luisa Paúl @marialuisapaul.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
NEW: ICE wants to turn vans into “mobile detention facilities,” or holding cells on wheels that would allow officers to stay on the streets making arrests. But the plans say little about how long people could be kept inside — or under what conditions. www.usatoday.com/story/news/n...
usatoday.com
ICE is planning to turn vans into 'mobile detention facilities'
The plan would let ICE hold immigrants in vans for hours during enforcement operations, with few details on food, water or medical care.
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María Luisa Paúl @marialuisapaul.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
If you want to know more about the U.S. Diversity Immigrant Visa Program — and how a government computer in Kentucky is at the center of it — as well as the ongoing court battle, I also wrote up this explainer (for free!!) www.usatoday.com/story/news/n...
usatoday.com
Diversity visa lottery explained: Why thousands are still waiting for visas
What is the diversity visa lottery? Here's how it works and why cases stalled.
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María Luisa Paúl @marialuisapaul.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
🧵Families sold homes, drained savings & spent thousands for a chance to immigrate legally. Then the Trump administration halted visa issuances. Two federal courts ordered processing to resume. Now, attorneys say the government is running out the clock. www.usatoday.com/story/news/n...
usatoday.com
They won the diversity visa lottery. Now their American dream is on hold
Three families sold homes, crossed borders and put their lives on pause. Even after court victories, their chance to immigrate may vanish on Sept. 30.
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María Luisa Paúl @marialuisapaul.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
ICE spent hundreds of millions of dollars buying massive warehouses to turn into immigration detention centers. Now, it says it no longer needs some of them & is moving to unload the properties, as lawsuits & local opposition disrupt its broader detention expansion. www.usatoday.com/story/news/n...
usatoday.com
ICE retreats from some warehouse detention plans as lawsuits mount
ICE spent about $1 billion buying warehouses for mass detention. Court battles are now reshaping which sites move forward.
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María Luisa Paúl @marialuisapaul.bsky.social · 06/09/2026
The Trump administration deported a US citizen to Mexico. It took nearly five months & a federal lawsuit for him to return to his own country. Brian José Morales García is now part of a long, largely uncounted history of citizens swallowed by the immigration system. www.usatoday.com/story/news/n...
usatoday.com
Born here but deported. A Texas man's harrowing ordeal.
A traffic stop in Texas landed Brian Morales García, a U.S. citizen, in immigration custody. After he was deported to Mexico, a lawsuit helped bring him back.
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María Luisa Paúl @marialuisapaul.bsky.social · 01/09/2026
More than 2,100 people were arrested in a monthlong immigration operation in New York. The operation comes amid an escalating fight over the state’s efforts to limit local police cooperation with ICE. www.usatoday.com/story/news/p...
usatoday.com
As New York moved to curb ICE cooperation, the agency arrested 2,100
Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin cast the immigration sweep as a rebuke to New York leaders and vowed federal arrests would continue.
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María Luisa Paúl @marialuisapaul.bsky.social · 29/08/2026
TPS for roughly 170,000 Salvadorans is set to expire Sept. 9. With days to go, the Trump administration has yet to publicly say what will happen next. For families who have built lives here over decades, the uncertainty has put everything on hold. www.usatoday.com/story/news/n...
usatoday.com
As TPS cliff nears, Salvadorans in the US put lives on hold
El Salvador's Temporary Protected Status designation could expire soon, leaving families in limbo as they await a decision by the Trump administration.
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María Luisa Paúl @marialuisapaul.bsky.social · 29/08/2026
Some news: I’ve joined @usatoday.com as a national immigration correspondent! I’ll be reporting on immigration policy and enforcement, and how it’s playing out in communities across the country. Got a tip? A story I should know about? I’d love to hear from you: mpaul@usatoday.com
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Human Rights First @humanrightsfirst.org · 05/08/2026
Especially gutting to read this news the same week as @marialuisapaul.bsky.social & @arelisrhdz.bsky.social's haunting piece about the agonizing search by families & loved ones for passengers of Flight 164, which landed just hours before the quakes. Most of the passengers perished or remain missing.
washingtonpost.com
Deported by the U.S., detained in Venezuela — then lost in the earthquakes
The immigrants aboard Flight 164 were pursuing lives in the U.S. when ICE detained them. In Venezuela, they were held in a building that collapsed hours later.
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María Luisa Paúl @marialuisapaul.bsky.social · 05/05/2026
Honored to be part of the The Washington Post team named a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for National Reporting for our immigration coverage. Tres venezolanas, dos boricuas, un argentino, una tica and more telling stories across borders, languages and lives. www.pulitzer.org/finalists/st...
pulitzer.org
Pulitzer Finalist: Staff of The Washington Post
For reporting that tracked the impact of the Trump administration’s mass deportation campaign, following it from a Chicago park to the White House, a tent encampment in Texas and a Salvadoran prison.
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María Luisa Paúl @marialuisapaul.bsky.social · 10/04/2026
Scoop: The U.S. attorney’s office in DC spent most of 2025 refusing to certify applications for U visas, which offer a pathway to residency to immigrant crime victims who cooperate with police. The office recently worked through the backlog www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/202...
washingtonpost.com
As ICE ramped up in D.C., immigrant crime victims faced visa roadblocks
The U.S. attorney’s office in D.C. last year stopped issuing visas to crime victims who cooperated with police or prosecutors, complicating investigations.
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María Luisa Paúl @marialuisapaul.bsky.social · 09/02/2026
The sequence is striking: Shortly after opposition leader Juan Pablo Guanipa was kidnapped by unidentified men, the Venezuelan government announces it has asked the court to revoke his precautionary measures and move him to house arrest.
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Drew Harwell @drewharwell.com · 04/02/2026
Here's who the Washington Post just laid off.
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María Luisa Paúl @marialuisapaul.bsky.social · 04/02/2026
I’m among today’s Washington Post layoffs. It was an absolute dream to cover everything — from immigration, to Venezuela to politics to national breaking news — over the past 5 years. If you’re hiring or know of someone who is: mpaulrangel(at)gmail(dot)com
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María Luisa Paúl @marialuisapaul.bsky.social · 03/02/2026
Two cases of measles were confirmed at Dilley, ICE’s main family detention center. In Arizona, at least three people in immigration custody have contracted measles this year. “I can’t think of a better incubation environment for transmission of measles than a detention facility.” wapo.st/4qZ2GOK
washingtonpost.com
Measles cases identified at ICE’s largest detention facility for children
Two detainees at a family immigration detention center in Dilley, Texas, have contracted measles, prompting concern among health experts that the virus could spread
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María Luisa Paúl @marialuisapaul.bsky.social · 01/02/2026
Liam Conejo Ramos is among the escalating number of children swept up in the administration’s immigration enforcement dragnet. The average number of people in family detention has more than tripled since the beginning of the fiscal year. W/ @arelisrhdz.bsky.social Gift link: wapo.st/3LWg1rT
wapo.st
Judge ordered 5-year-old released, but data shows ICE is detaining more kids
As family detentions spike, the Trump administration is increasingly ensnaring the youngest, and most vulnerable, lawyers and advocates say.
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Arelis R. Hernández @arelisrhdz.bsky.social · 01/02/2026
Judge ordered 5-year-old released, but data shows ICE is detaining more kids www.washingtonpost.com/immigration/... w/ @marialuisapaul.bsky.social
washingtonpost.com
Judge ordered 5-year-old released, but data shows ICE is detaining more kids
As family detentions spike, the Trump administration is increasingly ensnaring the youngest, and most vulnerable, lawyers and advocates say.
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María Luisa Paúl @marialuisapaul.bsky.social · 25/01/2026
If you need a small moment of hope, meet Grandpa Max. After losing everything in Venezuela and arriving in Miami with almost nothing, this 78-year-old engineer-turned-baker is remaking his life one pie at a time. “If you have to start again, you start again.” wapo.st/4600Nsw
wapo.st
An engineer-turned-baker shared his immigration story. Pie sales surged.
Máximo Mendoza’s pie business, Max & Crust, has attracted attention as he shares his story of remaking his life over and over again.
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The Washington Post @washingtonpost.com · 07/01/2026
Breaking news: An ICE officer fatally shot a 37-year-old woman during an operation in Minneapolis on Wednesday, federal authorities said, an incident that came as the Trump administration has staged a massive enforcement effort in the city.
washingtonpost.com
ICE officer fatally shoots woman during Minneapolis operation
A shooting involving an ICE officer took place in a Minneapolis neighborhood amid increased enforcement operations, Mayor Jacob Frey said.
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María Luisa Paúl @marialuisapaul.bsky.social · 07/01/2026
On today’s @washingtonpost.com front page: The Venezuelan government unleashes a new wave of repression. “I have hope things could get better without Maduro. From where I am, all I see is the same people who destroyed my country still in power. They’re still persecuting us. And we’re still afraid.”
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María Luisa Paúl @marialuisapaul.bsky.social · 06/01/2026
For a moment, some Venezuelans allowed themselves to celebrate Nicolás Maduro’s fall. But as the government moves to crush dissent, joy has given way to fear, dread & uncertainty. “It feels like it did after the presidential elections in 2024. We won, but we also lost.” My latest: wapo.st/45HA83w
wapo.st
Fear grips Caracas as a new wave of repression is unleashed in Venezuela
Venezuela’s government launched a far-reaching crackdown after Maduro’s ouster, detaining journalists and civilians and sending armed gangs to the streets.
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María Luisa Paúl @marialuisapaul.bsky.social · 05/01/2026
According to Venezuela’s National Press Workers Guild, at least 14 journalists have been detained today — most, while reporting from the National Assembly. At least 3 were detained by military counterintelligence officers, who went through their phones, emails and social media.
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Arelis R. Hernández @arelisrhdz.bsky.social · 03/01/2026
Lots of uncertainty for Venezuelans in the U.S. but Nestor Galavis in DC summed up a collective sentiment: “ Today, just let me be happy. We’ve been suffering for 27 years.” @davidovalle.bsky.social + @marialuisapaul.bsky.social www.washingtonpost.com/immigration/...
washingtonpost.com
In exile, Venezuelans greet Maduro’s fall with joy — and fear of what comes next
Venezuelans in the Miami suburb of Doral took to the streets in celebration after learning that the U.S. had struck their homeland and removed Nicolás Maduro.
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María Luisa Paúl @marialuisapaul.bsky.social · 23/12/2025
Over the past year, we at @washingtonpost.com investigated what happened to the group of Venezuelans the US sent to El Salvador’s notorious CECOT — from their disappearance, to how they were sent there, to what they endured inside and the aftermath for their families. 🧵Here’s what we found:
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Matthew Hay Brown @matthewhaybrown.bsky.social · 22/12/2025
INSIDE EL CECOT (GIFT LINK) The Post's reporting on the Salvadoran prison where the Trump administration sent migrants deported from the United States, based on interviews with 16 former detainees wapo.st/3KUUv6n
wapo.st
‘Welcome to hell’: Inside the megaprison where the U.S. deported migrants
Interviews with 16 former detainees of El Salvador’s Terrorism Confinement Center offer the most complete view yet of conditions inside the notorious prison.
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Drew Harwell @drewharwell.com · 23/12/2025
New: We obtained thousands of internal chat messages from the ICE team creating viral videos of raids and "EPIC takedowns." A scramble to satisfy the White House and "feed the beast" spawned a new "propaganda" machine, current and former officials told us. "It's a war!" wapo.st/4s6YnC5
wapo.st
‘It’s a war’: Inside ICE’s media machine
Thousands of internal ICE messages show how its public affairs team has coordinated with the White House to satisfy Trump administration demands for viral arrest videos
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María Luisa Paúl @marialuisapaul.bsky.social · 23/12/2025
A night meant for joy, in a year marked by fear. As immigration enforcement intensifies, families shared how they’re spending Nochebuena — navigating absence & court hearings, taking pride in their roots and leaning into the quiet insistence of hope. A beautifully illustrated story wapo.st/4qn4pws
wapo.st
For Latino families, Nochebuena looks different this year
Traditionally a night for celebration, the Christmas Eve holiday takes on a pall amid expanded immigration enforcement.
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María Luisa Paúl @marialuisapaul.bsky.social · 24/11/2025
Schools had long been considered off-limits for immigration enforcement. But our review found federal agents operating in the periphery of campuses — detaining parents in at least 10 states this year, and using tear gas, car chases and gunfire near schools www.washingtonpost.com/education/20...
washingtonpost.com
In cities targeted by ICE, empty desks and school disruptions follow
One in 5 students in Charlotte missed school after a recent ICE crackdown began. It’s the latest city where schools felt the impact of Trump’s deportation effort.
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Anne Applebaum @anneapplebaum.wsocial.eu · 08/11/2025
“These are people who did everything by the book, paid taxes, had no criminal records, opened businesses and contributed to their communities...now they have become collateral damage in this cruel, unjust and inhumane political game.” www.washingtonpost.com/immigration/...
washingtonpost.com
Venezuelans begin fleeing U.S. as protections end and threat of war looms
TPS expired for hundreds of thousands of Venezuelans on Friday. Many are shuttering business, selling homes and boarding planes, or scrambling to find a way to stay.
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María Luisa Paúl @marialuisapaul.bsky.social · 08/11/2025
The decision to revoke TPS for over 600K Venezuelans triggered “the largest mass illegalization of a group in this country’s history.” Many are shuttering business, selling homes and boarding planes. Others are scrambling to find a way to stay. www.washingtonpost.com/immigration/...
washingtonpost.com
Venezuelans begin fleeing U.S. as protections end and threat of war looms
TPS expired for hundreds of thousands of Venezuelans on Friday. Many are shuttering business, selling homes and boarding planes, or scrambling to find a way to stay.
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Drew Harwell @drewharwell.com · 29/10/2025
Scoop: The Trump admin's videos boasting triumphs on immigration have used misleading footage from months ago or thousands of miles away When we showed them the errors, DHS said they make a lot of videos and the White House said it'll keep making "banger memes" wapo.st/4nuDGwf
wapo.st
Trump administration uses misleading videos to portray chaos, push deportations
Official videos purporting to show the triumph of recent immigration operations used footage that was years old or recorded thousands of miles away, a Washington Post analysis found.
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Drew Harwell @drewharwell.com · 24/10/2025
DHS just posted a Little Dark Age edit. Clear pattern of black-pilled memes and fashy fancams that reflects who ICE wants to recruit www.instagram.com/bydrewharwell/ www.tiktok.com/@drewharwell
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María Luisa Paúl @marialuisapaul.bsky.social · 23/10/2025
Some patrol neighborhoods and raise phones when arrests unfold. Others pass out whistles, sell out vendors or attempt to be “holy nuisances” for ICE. Inside Chicago’s grassroots resistance to an intense immigration crackdown w/ @bellwak.bsky.social,Ben Strauss www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2025/...
washingtonpost.com
How Chicago’s MMA gyms, cyclists and pet shelters are uniting to resist ICE
Teachers, clergy and MMA students are finding ways to counter immigration authorities’ attempts to detain undocumented neighbors.
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Kim Bellware @bellwak.bsky.social · 23/10/2025
Read my latest with @marialuisapaul.bsky.social and Ben Strauss on how Chicago neighbors are responding to federal immigration crackdowns ➡️
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The Washington Post @washingtonpost.com · 07/10/2025
Exclusive: The Trump administration said immigration enforcement will “remain unchanged” through the government shutdown. But at least one team at ICE isn’t going into work: the office that ensures detention centers meet federal safety standards.
wapo.st
ICE kept most offices open in shutdown — but not the one inspecting detention centers
The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s entire Office of Detention Oversight has been placed on furlough, despite surging numbers of detainees.
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Matthew Hay Brown @matthewhaybrown.bsky.social · 06/10/2025
Here's a good report on the election from the dream team of @schmidtsam.bsky.social @marialuisapaul.bsky.social @datab.ae and Ana Vanessa Herrero www.washingtonpost.com/world/2024/0...
washingtonpost.com
Maduro lost election, tallies collected by Venezuela’s opposition show
Edmundo González likely beat President Nicolás Maduro in the July 28 election by millions of votes, a review of data from election receipts shows.
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Matthew Hay Brown @matthewhaybrown.bsky.social · 06/10/2025
When a judge told Claudio David Balcane González “Welcome to the United States,” he sobbed. He had finally been granted asylum. Then ICE detained him for 63 more days @marialuisapaul.bsky.social reports www.washingtonpost.com/immigration/...
washingtonpost.com
A Venezuelan singer won asylum. ICE detained him for two more months.
The singer known online as Davicito59 won his asylum case in July. Still, ICE kept him in custody for two more months — a holdup several experts called unlawful.
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The Washington Post @washingtonpost.com · 03/10/2025
Mario Guevara, an Emmy-award winning reporter, was deported to El Salvador — a nation he fled more than two decades ago. He was arrested while covering a protest of the Trump administration in a case that has alarmed free speech groups.
washingtonpost.com
U.S. deports journalist Mario Guevara to El Salvador, family says
Mario Guevara, an independent journalist, was arrested while covering a protest of the Trump administration in a case that has alarmed free speech groups.
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María Luisa Paúl @marialuisapaul.bsky.social · 03/10/2025
Venezuelan artist Claudio David Balcane González won asylum in July, at a time when the vast majority of such petitions are being denied. ICE kept him in custody for 63 more days — well past the government’s appeal deadline. Lawyers say that was illegal. www.washingtonpost.com/immigration/...
washingtonpost.com
A Venezuelan singer won asylum. ICE detained him for two more months.
The singer known online as Davicito59 won his asylum case in July. Still, ICE kept him in custody for two more months — a holdup several experts called unlawful.
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María Luisa Paúl @marialuisapaul.bsky.social · 03/10/2025
I resurrected my cheese beat to write about Emilia D’Albero, the first American to win “Meilleure Fromagère du Monde” (that’s fancy for “Best Cheesemonger in the World.”) Here’s a slice of joy for these ✨unprecedented✨ times www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2025/...
washingtonpost.com
Meet the first American to win ‘Best Cheesemonger in the World’
Emilia D’Albero won the Mondial du Fromage, one of the world’s top cheese competitions, held every two years in Tours, France.
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María Luisa Paúl @marialuisapaul.bsky.social · 26/09/2025
Unlike in other shootings in the U.S., the victims of the one in a Dallas ICE office so far are faceless and nameless. Though it was immigrants who ultimately paid the price of violence, they’ve seldom been mentioned by officials who have cast LEO as victims www.washingtonpost.com/immigration/...
washingtonpost.com
For migrants, Dallas attack — and Trump response — marks another indignity
In the hours after the shooting, Trump officials cast law enforcement officers as the victims and asked people to pray for them — seldom mentioning the migrant victims.
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Teo Armus @teoarmus.bsky.social · 12/09/2025
NEW: ICE has arrested so many people in Trump's D.C. crackdown that it's crowding the agency’s Northern Virginia processing site, lawyers say, creating "dangerous" conditions in a site not meant to keep people overnight. w/ Dan Rosenzweig-Ziff & @marialuisapaul.bsky.social
washingtonpost.com
ICE holding facilities overcrowded amid surge in immigration arrests
Immigration agents have arrested so many people in their D.C. crackdown that they are crowding the agency’s processing site in Northern Virginia, lawyers say.
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Teo Armus @teoarmus.bsky.social · 05/08/2025
On the front page of today’s @washingtonpost.com: What 16 of the migrants deported by the U.S. to El Salvador’s CECOT experienced in that notorious mega prison w/ Sam Schmidt, Helena Carpio @marialuisapaul.bsky.social @silviafosterfrau.bsky.social @asteckelberg.bsky.social
washingtonpost.com
‘Welcome to hell’: Inside the megaprison where the U.S. deported migrants
Interviews with 16 former detainees of El Salvador’s Terrorism Confinement Center offer the most complete view yet of conditions inside the notorious prison.
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María Luisa Paúl @marialuisapaul.bsky.social · 01/08/2025
Some pets are surrendered. Some are left behind when their owners are detained or deported. Others are simply found wandering the streets or inside abandoned homes. Animal shelters say Trump’s immigration crackdown is pushing them to the brink. My latest: www.washingtonpost.com/immigration/...
washingtonpost.com
Pets are being abandoned, surrendered amid Trump’s immigration crackdown
The heightened need is colliding with a shelter system already stretched thin by post-pandemic overcrowding, chronic staffing shortages and plummeting adoptions.
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Anne Applebaum @anneapplebaum.wsocial.eu · 01/08/2025
The US government has sent innocent men to be beaten and raped in a foreign gulag www.washingtonpost.com/world/2025/0...
washingtonpost.com
‘Welcome to hell’: Inside the megaprison where the U.S. deported migrants
Interviews with 16 former detainees of El Salvador’s Terrorism Confinement Center offer the most complete view yet of conditions inside the notorious prison.
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Emily Guskin @emgusk.bsky.social · 31/07/2025
STOP READING ABOUT THE WASHINGTON POST
JUST READ
THE WASHINGTON POST
DAN BALZ
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María Luisa Paúl @marialuisapaul.bsky.social · 31/07/2025
“Welcome to hell” We spoke to 16 Venezuelans the U.S. sent to a mega-prison in El Salvador. This is the most complete view yet of the conditions they faced — which, some experts said, may violate conventions against torture. www.washingtonpost.com/world/2025/0...
washingtonpost.com
‘Welcome to hell’: Inside the mega prison where the U.S. deported migrants
Interviews with 16 former detainees of El Salvador’s Terrorism Confinement Center offer the most complete view yet of conditions inside the notorious prison.
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María Luisa Paúl @marialuisapaul.bsky.social · 03/07/2025
For 141 days, Ward Sakeik sat in immigration detention — stateless, newly married and nearly deported twice, despite a federal judge’s order. In her first interview since being released, she tells her story — one that epitomizes the human cost of Trump’s immigration crackdown. wapo.st/4lvpOBc
washingtonpost.com
Newlywed detained by ICE freed after 141 days and two deportation attempts
Immigration authorities detained a 22-year-old woman days after she married an American citizen, and sought to deport her twice — even after a judge barred it.
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Matthew Hay Brown @matthewhaybrown.bsky.social · 13/06/2025
EXCLUSIVE/BREAKING Gregory Sanabria Tarazona, a Venezuelan activist tortured inside Nicolás Maduro's notorious El Heliocoide prison, is seeking asylum in the U.S. Weeks before his initial hearing, he was making a routine check-in when ICE detained him @schmidtsam.bsky.social reports wapo.st/3HE9dwu
wapo.st
Tortured in Venezuela, he’s asking for asylum. ICE just detained him.
Gregory Sanabria Tarazona was at a routine check-in in Houston on Thursday when he was detained and taken to an ICE processing center.
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María Luisa Paúl @marialuisapaul.bsky.social · 16/06/2025
After a week of immigration raids and military presence, mariachis and folklórico dancers are now energizing LA protests with their music — a way to reclaim space in a city they helped build, in a country that hasn’t always made them feel like they belong. www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2025/...
washingtonpost.com
Mariachis and ballet folklórico energize resistance in L.A. protests
The musicians and dancers say they are pushing back on immigration raids “through the culture and traditions that represent us. We will not be silenced.”
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