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Michelle Lapointe

@michlapointe.bsky.social
247 followers 224 following 20 posts

Legal director at the American Immigration Council. Mom, runner, former Fenway Park tour guide. Opinions my own.

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Reposted by Michelle Lapointe
Dara Lind @daralind.bsky.social · 10/08/2026
We’re in this situation because, for 30 years, the unauthorized population has been more settled than ever — and “getting legal” harder. The exec branch filled the gap by issuing temporary protections. But that was a Band-Aid that got mistaken for something more. www.newyorker.com/news/the-led...
newyorker.com
These Immigrants Lived in the U.S. Legally. Now Trump Is Changing Their Status.
More than a million immigrants are seeing protections that granted them safe lives in the U.S. suddenly swept away.
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Reposted by Michelle Lapointe
Steve Vladeck @stevevladeck.bsky.social · 23/07/2026
On Tuesday, the full Fifth Circuit granted DOJ's request for a "precedential stay" of district court rulings holding that the Due Process Clause requires bond hearings for immigration detainees w/in 90 days of their arrest. Today's "One First" explains why that's a really big (and problematic) deal:
stevevladeck.com
Bonus 239: The Fifth Circuit's "Precedential Stay" in Sosnava Rodriguez
The Fifth Circuit once again did the government's bidding on immigration detention—this time through an unexplained procedural move I've never seen before.
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Reposted by Michelle Lapointe
Portland Press Herald @pressherald.com · 15/07/2026
¿Quién era Johan Sebastián Durán Guerrero, el hombre asesinado por ICE en Biddeford?
pressherald.com
¿Quién era Johan Sebastián Durán Guerrero, el hombre asesinado por ICE en Biddeford?
<em>Este joven colombiano de 26 años fue baleado por agentes federales de inmigración el lunes por la mañana.</em>
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Michelle Lapointe @michlapointe.bsky.social · 02/07/2026
This massive win for the constitution thanks to my colleagues @immcouncil.org and our co-counsel @nipnlg.bsky.social
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Aaron Reichlin-Melnick @reichlinmelnick.bsky.social · 01/07/2026
Great exchange with @immcouncil.org's Deputy Legal Director Raul Pinto!
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Aaron Reichlin-Melnick @reichlinmelnick.bsky.social · 15/06/2026
The point cannot be made enough that Stephen Miller, one of the most powerful people in the White House, would happily shred the Constitution into little pieces if he could. Here, however, even he wasn’t powerful enough to do it.
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Reposted by Michelle Lapointe
American Immigration Council @immcouncil.org · 03/06/2026
GOOD NEWS: Last night as part of our litigation, the court ordered the release of 15 more young people. It also placed additional limits on when ICE can re‑detain class members, and required ICE to turn over the documents it uses to justify those decisions.
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Reposted by Michelle Lapointe
Maria Sacchetti - reporter - The Washington Post @mariasacchetti.bsky.social · 16/05/2026
NEW She was deported without her toddler. Then ICE blamed her for his killing. wapo.st/4wyzH7u
wapo.st
She was deported without her toddler. Then ICE blamed her for his killing.
ICE accused Wendy Hernandez Reyes of leaving her child with a violent uncle, but she says her son would still be alive if officers hadn’t detained and deported her.
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Aaron Reichlin-Melnick @reichlinmelnick.bsky.social · 05/05/2026
Incredible. ICE wrongfully arrests a US citizen plaintiff for the THIRD time. And I bet that the government is making Lyons standing arguments, too.
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Reposted by Michelle Lapointe
American Immigration Council @immcouncil.org · 24/03/2026
Our laws are clear—no one should ever be sent back to a place where their life is at risk. We're at the Supreme Court with our co-counsel CGRS, Center for Constitutional Rights, Democracy Forward, & Institute for Constitutional Advocacy & Protection to defend access to asylum for all who need it.
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Michelle Lapointe @michlapointe.bsky.social · 19/03/2026
Heroic work by @tnimmigrant.bsky.social to protect the First Amendment and due process.
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Reposted by Michelle Lapointe
Just Security @justsecurity.org · 18/03/2026
The Trump administration claims that asylum seekers can be turned away at the border without a hearing. A bipartisan group of senior former U.S. officials explain why that theory is wrong — and why the Supreme Court shouldn’t approve it: www.justsecurity.org/134105/ameri...
justsecurity.org
America Is Turning Away People Fleeing for Their Lives — and Breaking the Law to Do It
Former senior officials explain why the Trump administration's argument in Noem v. Al Otro Lado is morally troubling and legally wrong.
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Reposted by Michelle Lapointe
Aaron Reichlin-Melnick @reichlinmelnick.bsky.social · 09/03/2026
The Trump admin tried to use emergency rulemaking to erase the Board of Immigration Appeals, requiring that basically all appeals (which cost $1,000 to file!) be summarily dismissed without any review. Thanks to our @immcouncil.org legal team and others, the rule is now BLOCKED!
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Reposted by Michelle Lapointe
Aaron Reichlin-Melnick @reichlinmelnick.bsky.social · 20/02/2026
You’ve got to click through to really be able to read this, but note that the box on the top right says this will actually be a two-level facility, with around 5,200 beds on the ground floor (if I’m reading the blurry text right) and around 3,100 on the “mezzanine.”
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Michelle Lapointe @michlapointe.bsky.social · 19/02/2026
Before Minneapolis, before Chicago, even before Los Angeles, ICE started its racial profiling sweeps through Nashville, with a willing partner in the Tennessee Highway Patrol.
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Reposted by Michelle Lapointe
America's Voice @americasvoice.bsky.social · 12/02/2026
"This agenda is only going to get worse. The $150+ billion in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act is enough to turn DHS into the size of a small foreign military and to increase the detention system of by the end of this year" - @naynagupta.bsky.social, Policy Director, @immcouncil.org
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Michelle Lapointe @michlapointe.bsky.social · 09/02/2026
We can choose not to detain children.
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Reposted by Michelle Lapointe
Josh Gerstein @joshgerstein.bsky.social · 04/02/2026
JUST IN: 8th Cir. denies en banc review after panel agreed w/block on Iowa state law seeking to crack down on illegal immigration. Judge Stras, possible Trump SCOTUS pick, dissents. Loken (GHWBush) joins in part storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us... Earlier apnews.com/article/immi...
storage.courtlistener.com
Judge Order Filed – #00805446834 in IA Migrant Movement for Justice v. Brenna Bird (8th Cir., 24-2263) – CourtListener.com
JUDGE ORDER: The petition for rehearing en banc is denied. The petition for panel rehearing is also denied.Judge Stras would grant the petition for rehearing en banc.STRAS, Circuit Judge, with whom LO...
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Aaron Reichlin-Melnick @reichlinmelnick.bsky.social · 21/01/2026
🚨HOLY CRAP. An ICE whistleblower just revealed a secret memo authorizing ICE officers to break into homes without a judicial warrant, which DHS's own legal training materials say is unconstitutional! ICE then hid the memo from the public, passing it along by word of mouth and private conversation.
The Gravamen of the Disclosure

4. The gravamen of the disclosure is as follows: 
a. By memorandum dated May 12, 2025 (“the May 12 Memo”), Acting ICE Director Todd Lyons authorizes ICE agents to forcibly enter into certain people’s homes without a judicial warrant, consent, or an emergency.

b. Specifically, in the May 12 Memo, the Acting ICE Director authorized ICE Agents to rely on Form I-205 (which is not a judicial warrant) to enter the residence of an alien subject to a final order of deportation, without consent, including by “a necessary and reasonable amount of force.”2c. While addressed to “All ICE Personnel,” in practice the May 12 Memo has not been formally distributed to all personnel. Instead, the May 12 Memo has been provided to select DHS officials who are then directed to verbally brief the new policy for action. Those supervisors then show the Memo to some employees, like our clients, and direct them to read the Memo and return it to the supervisor.
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Nicole Foy @nicolefoy.bsky.social · 13/01/2026
Immigration agents are choking people in America's streets & using tactics against their own policy/training. Many LEO agencies have banned their use A Colombian TikToker. An ICU nurse. A father holding his child. A 16-year-old citizen DHS calls this "utmost professionalism" w/ @mckenziefunk.com
propublica.org
We Found More Than 40 Cases of Immigration Agents Using Banned Chokeholds and Other Moves That Can Cut Off Breathing
Civilians have had apparent seizures. One had his eyes roll back. Another had ribs broken. “I felt like I was going to pass out and die,” said a 16-year-old citizen put in a chokehold. The government ...
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Michelle Lapointe @michlapointe.bsky.social · 09/01/2026
Can ICE be held accountable for killing Renee Good? I try to make sense of the legal issues here. www.americanimmigrationcouncil.org/blog/can-ren...
americanimmigrationcouncil.org
Can Renee Good’s Family Sue ICE in the Aftermath of Her Killing? The Answer Is Complicated - American Immigration Council
Any legal fight against the individual ICE agent or federal government in the wake of Renee Good's death is riddled with pitfalls.
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Michelle Lapointe @michlapointe.bsky.social · 09/01/2026
www.nytimes.com/2026/01/08/o...
nytimes.com
Opinion | By Killing Renee Good, ICE Sent a Message to Us All
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Reposted by Michelle Lapointe
Mike Luckovich @mluckovich.bsky.social · 08/01/2026
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Lawrence Hurley @lawrencehurley.bsky.social · 08/01/2026
The shooting is shocking enough but the government's response is off the charts when you consider that this incident is forensically documented on video.
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Violet Miller @vimiller.bsky.social · 08/01/2026
“The move came after officials at Roosevelt High School said armed U.S. Border Patrol officers came on school property during dismissal Wednesday and began tackling people, handcuffed two staff members and released chemical weapons on bystanders.”
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Matt Shuham @mattshuham.bsky.social · 23/12/2025
New: In September, federal agents swarmed a manufacturing facility in upstate New York, arresting 57 people on alleged immigration violations. ...all without a single arrest warrant. Behind the unusual administrative warrant ICE used to question everyone: www.huffpost.com/entry/ice-ra...
huffpost.com
'Pull Up Your Pants!' ICE Raided A Plant And Detained Dozens — With No Arrest Warrant.
One agent called the raid a "s**tshow." A federal judge had a different term for what came next.
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Michelle Lapointe @michlapointe.bsky.social · 12/12/2025
Occasionally, we get good news on a Friday…
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Michelle Lapointe @michlapointe.bsky.social · 01/12/2025
Great piece that cites the practice advisory and thorough case tracking on this issue being done by my colleagues at @immcouncil.org
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American Immigration Council @immcouncil.org · 21/11/2025
The Trump administration has a new mass deportation playbook. We’ve seen it in Los Angeles, Chicago, and Charlotte. And it’s coming to more cities. @daralind.bsky.social explains 👇
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Aaron Reichlin-Melnick @reichlinmelnick.bsky.social · 20/11/2025
Our legal team helped uncover this document, and has been fighting against the Trump admin's plans to detain and deport thousands of unaccompanied migrant kids. Proud to work with them. Check out this story below!
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Anita Wadhwani @anitawadhwani.bsky.social · 20/11/2025
Felipe Mendez lost his wife & son when tornadoes swept through Nashville in '23 A May traffic stop landed him in ICE custody, where the single dad was given a choice: "self-deport" or lose his surviving 2 sons to state custody Story by John Partipilo & @friedmanadam5.bsky.social bit.ly/49v0U1T
tennesseelookout.com
A tornado and an immigration sting. The start and end of a life in Nashville. • Tennessee Lookout
Caught in an immigration sting, Felipe Mendez was ordered by Immigration and Customs Enforcement to leave the U.S. or lose his children.
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Reposted by Michelle Lapointe
Chris Geidner @chrisgeidner.bsky.social · 17/11/2025
NEW: Gregory Bovino is exactly who E.B. White — author of 'Charlotte's Web' — warned us about. DHS named its North Carolina anti-immigrant effort "Operation Charlotte's Web." In 1940, White wrote of the "smell" that "rises" from those who "adjust to fascism" over freedom. Tonight, at Law Dork:
lawdork.com
Gregory Bovino is exactly who E.B. White — author of 'Charlotte's Web' — warned us about
DHS named its North Carolina anti-immigrant effort "Operation Charlotte's Web." In 1940, White wrote of the "smell" that "rises" from those who "adjust to fascism" over freedom.
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Mike Luckovich @mluckovich.bsky.social · 06/11/2025
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Ted Hesson @tedhesson.bsky.social · 05/11/2025
A Spanish-language immersion daycare in a leafy residential neighborhood on the North Side of Chicago was raided by federal immigration agents on Wednesday and a teacher was taken away www.reuters.com/world/us/chi...
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Reposted by Michelle Lapointe
American Immigration Council @immcouncil.org · 24/10/2025
#BREAKING: Iowa’s anti-immigrant law, SF 2340, stays blocked! The 8th Circuit has affirmed what advocates have said all along: states can’t make their own deportation laws. This ruling keeps thousands of Iowa families safe and together. A win for dignity, due process, and the rule of law.
americanimmigrationcouncil.org
Appeals Court Upholds Block on Iowa Anti-Immigrant Law
The law empowers state officials to arrest and deport people, a power that, under the U.S. Constitution, belongs to the federal government.
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Reposted by Michelle Lapointe
American Immigration Council @immcouncil.org · 04/10/2025
BREAKING: DC District Court just granted our emergency motion, filed with @immigrantjustice.bsky.social, stopping ICE from locking up unaccompanied immigrant children in adult detention centers once they turn 18.  Locking up young people in ICE jails only inflicts more harm on vulnerable youth.
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Aaron Reichlin-Melnick @reichlinmelnick.bsky.social · 04/10/2025
BREAKING: Federal judge BLOCKS a new ICE policy that went into effect last week to automatically detain unaccompanied migrant children on their 18th birthday when they “age out” of shelter care. The TRO enforces a court order in a case brought by @immcouncil.org and @immigrantjustice.bsky.social.
Garcia Ramirez v. ICE case caption.

ORDER GRANTING MOTION FOR TEMPORARY RESTRAINING ORDER AND TO ENFORCE FINAL JUDGMENT AND PERMANENT INJUNCTION
Upon consideration of Plaintiffs' Motion for a Temporary Restraining Order and to
Enforce the Permanent Injunction and accompanying Memorandum of Points and Authorities
and Declarations (the "Motion"), and all other materials properly before this Court, it is hereby
ORDERED that Plaintiffs' Motion is GRANTED; and it is further
ORDERED that Defendants and all persons acting under their direction or in concert with them, are hereby ENJOINED from implementing any new directive regarding age-outs;
ORDERED that Defendants and all persons acting under their direction or in concert
with them, are hereby ENJOINED from detaining any class member in an adult ICE facility in
any manner that contravenes the Permanent Injunction;
ORDERED that Defendants immediately rescind any determinations to detain based on this directive;
ORDERED that Defendants immediately produce that directive, any related policies
regarding that directive, and the Age-Out Review Worksheets of any class members who may
have been impacted by that directive, including all AORs issued since October 1, 2025.
SO ORDERED this 4th day of October 2025.
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Tennessee Lookout @tennesseelookout.com · 24/09/2025
The state is fighting to keep information confidential about the Tennessee Highway Patrol’s participation in mass immigration sweeps earlier this year in an argument that mirrors one from Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
tennesseelookout.com
State fights to keep confidential full record of THP participation in immigration enforcement • Tennessee Lookout
Tennessee fights to keep information confidential about the Tennessee Highway Patrol’s participation in mass immigration sweeps this year.
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Aaron Reichlin-Melnick @reichlinmelnick.bsky.social · 23/09/2025
In his entire answer he notably never once denies taking the $50,000.
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Michelle Lapointe @michlapointe.bsky.social · 11/09/2025
Proud to stand with @tirrcvotes.bsky.social and @icapgeorgetown.bsky.social to challenge this law.
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Nayna Gupta @naynagupta.bsky.social · 08/09/2025
🚨 Today the U.S. Supreme Court rubber stamped EXPLICIT racial profiling during DHS immigration raids. This green lights the worst ICE & CBP practices we are seeing against Latino communities around the country. We can expect this racist enforcement to expand rapidly.🚨
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Chris Geidner @chrisgeidner.bsky.social · 08/09/2025
This is a paragraph Brett Kavanaugh wrote on his little computer and then sent out into the world:

Moreover, as for stops of those individuals who are legally in the country, the questioning in those circumstances is typically brief, and those individuals may promptly go free after making clear to the immigration officers that they are U.S. citizens or otherwise legally in the United States.
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Chris Geidner @chrisgeidner.bsky.social · 07/09/2025
The stadium Trump is in is named after Arthur Ashe, the tennis legend. What many people today probably don't know is that Ashe was literally arrested in front of the White House in 1992 for protesting the George H.W. Bush administration's treatment of Haitian refugees. www.upi.com/Archives/199...
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Aaron Reichlin-Melnick @reichlinmelnick.bsky.social · 03/09/2025
🚨NEW: Declarations filed in the lawsuit against the rushed attempt to deport 600 Guatemalan children reveals the chaotic way the Trump admin carried out the operation. Children were taken out of bed after midnight to be rushed onto planes. One girl "was so scared she vomited."
7. At all of the shelters visited in the middle of the night, ProBAR staff witnessed children who had been pulled out of their beds. They were confused and scared. At Hands of Healing Los Fresnos, one young girl was extremely distraught, crying and repeatedly saying that she could not go back to Guatemala. At New Hope McAllen, one young girl was so scared that she vomited and asked to speak with a clinician. At Urban Strategies Alamo, one young teenager was scared that he might end up murdered like one of his family members. At Compass Connection in Harlingen, an attorney was able to meet with only one child. None of these children’s parents in their home country had requested their return. ProBAR’s client and named Plaintiff ARMD was at Compass Connection, but he was transported to a plane without notifying me as his attorney of record.
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Aaron Reichlin-Melnick @reichlinmelnick.bsky.social · 04/09/2025
NEW: @reuters.com got its hands on a document from the Guatemalan government further undermining the claims the Trump admin made publicly (and to a federal judge) that the attempted deportation of 600 children in the dead of the night was requested by parents.
The report, produced by a Guatemalan attorney general's office and reviewed by Reuters, said Guatemalan authorities had contacted the families of
115 minors who had crossed the U.S.-Mexico border without a parent or guardian. Of those, 59 families expressed anger about the possibility of their children being returned to Guatemala, with some even describing it as intimidation, the document said.
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Dr. Tom Frieden @drtomfrieden.bsky.social · 28/08/2025
Public health is under assault. The purge of CDC leadership, people with decades of experience guiding the nation’s response to health threats, dismantles the very programs and direction that keep Americans safe from infectious diseases, chronic illness, injuries, and violence.
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Committee to Protect Journalists @pressfreedom.bsky.social · 27/08/2025
Today is a good day to #𝗙𝗿𝗲𝗲𝗠𝗮𝗿𝗶𝗼. ➤ Journalist #MarioGuevara has been detained for over 70 days. ➤ He is the only journalist imprisoned in the U.S. ➤ He faces no charges and resides legally in the U.S. ➤ ICE keeps him imprisoned for livestreaming law enforcement. cpj.org/2025/08/cpj-...
cpj.org
CPJ files declaration in support of detained journalist Mario Guevara  - Committee to Protect Journalists
Washington, D.C., August 21, 2025—The Committee to Protect Journalists filed a declaration of support on August 20, 2025, in the case of reporter Mario Guevara, as part of the American Civil Liberties...
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Georgia Recorder @georgiarecorder.com · 21/08/2025
The federal immigration case against a jailed, Spanish-language journalist has been bolstered by the help of a metro Atlanta sheriff’s office, public records show. Mario Guevara’s two-month confinement in immigration detention has drawn outcry from free press and immigration advocates.
georgiarecorder.com
ICE relied on sheriff’s office to fight releasing Spanish-language reporter in Georgia, records show • Georgia Recorder
The federal immigration case against a jailed, Spanish-language journalist has been bolstered by the help of a metro Atlanta sheriff’s office, public records show. Mario Guevara’s two-month confinemen...
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Craig @craigplazure.bsky.social · 17/08/2025
The CDC shooting didn’t even really register in the news and the details are absolutely insane
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Catherine Rampell @crampell.bsky.social · 12/08/2025
CDC shooter expressed discontent with coronavirus vaccines before firing hundreds of bullets at headquarters Friday, officials say The attack has left many CDC employees angry at RFK Jr’s criticism of the agency and false claims about vaccines.
washingtonpost.com
After CDC shooting, its employees turn their anger to RFK Jr. and Trump
Documents from the shooter’s home showed his discontent with coronavirus vaccines, authorities said. CDC workers want RFK Jr. to denounce vaccine misinformation.
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