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Samantha Michaels

@samanthamichaels.bsky.social
6.3K followers 147 following 97 posts

Investigative reporter at Mother Jones, covering the criminal justice system and immigration www.motherjones.com/author/samantha… smichaels@motherjones.com Signal: smichaels.01

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Samantha Michaels @samanthamichaels.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
Immigration lawyers are doing heroic work right now. Here's an investigation into the extreme lengths the administration has gone to try to stop them. www.motherjones.com/politics/202...
motherjones.com
First Trump came for immigrants. Then he came for their lawyers.
How legal aid groups survived the administration's attacks—barely.
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Samantha Michaels @samanthamichaels.bsky.social · 09/09/2026
Memphis has been occupied by ICE for a YEAR....why aren't more people aware of it? www.motherjones.com/politics/202...
motherjones.com
Memphis has spent a year under federal occupation. ICE would rather you didn't notice.
Watch as these officers arrest an activist for documenting from a reasonable distance.
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Samantha Michaels @samanthamichaels.bsky.social · 01/09/2026
When judges have to build safe rooms at home and keep their kids from playing outside because they face so many threats, you know you have a problem... www.motherjones.com/politics/202...
motherjones.com
Politicians' reckless rhetoric is putting federal judges in danger
A new report highlights growing harassment and violent threats against jurists and their families.
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Samantha Michaels @samanthamichaels.bsky.social · 31/08/2026
We are deporting children who have no caregivers in their home countries—who escaped dangerous situations and are being sent back, all alone. www.chicagotribune.com/2026/08/26/c...
chicagotribune.com
Immigration judges in Chicago deporting abused, neglected children in violation of their due process: attorneys
An immigration judge entered removal proceedings against some of the children, despite their attempts to seek a long-held legal protection to remain in safety in the United States due to abuse or negl...
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Samantha Michaels @samanthamichaels.bsky.social · 28/08/2026
very thought-provoking reflection on an absolutely devastating trial "A courtroom is not the right place for this, I found myself thinking more than once. Which is ridiculous because the courtroom is the only place we have for this." www.washingtonpost.com/style/2026/0...
washingtonpost.com
Column | The abject hell of the Lindsay Clancy trial
She’s on trial for the murder of her three children, but she’s already been damned.
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Schuyler Mitchell @schuylermitchell.bsky.social · 27/08/2026
NEW: Police are spending hundreds of thousands of opioid settlement dollars on Flock cameras and other AI-powered license plate readers. www.motherjones.com/politics/202...
motherjones.com
Police are spending opioid settlement funds on Flock cameras
Historic opioid settlements were supposed to be a lifeline for underserved communities. But much of that money is flowing to law enforcement.
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Julia Métraux @juliametraux.bsky.social · 19/08/2026
An ICE agent directed Emilio, a Venezuelan Deaf man, to get onto a bus. He asked for an interpreter and didn’t get one. When he saw a Mexican flag, he realized he was being deported to Mexico, sans passport. My latest for @motherjones.com. www.motherjones.com/politics/202...
motherjones.com
How Trump’s deportation machine deprives Deaf people of their humanity
An extra layer of cruelty is added by limiting communication access for Deaf people.
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Samantha Michaels @samanthamichaels.bsky.social · 14/08/2026
This story is a reminder that it's important to fact-check when ICE says someone is a violent criminal. They said this guy had four assault charges, but he didn't. They still deported him. www.motherjones.com/politics/202...
motherjones.com
A young immigrant's deportation nightmare
ICE is going to war against kids who have a special legal status.
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Clara Jeffery @clarajeffery.bsky.social · 05/08/2026
@nlanard.bsky.social has written the best analysis of what happened in Michigan and elsewhere that you'll read today: www.motherjones.com/politics/202...
motherjones.com
Michigan’s primary reckoning for the Democrats
Despite record outside spending, Abdul El-Sayed and a slate of left-leaning candidates triumphed over establishment and incumbent rivals.
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Samantha Michaels @samanthamichaels.bsky.social · 27/07/2026
Ever think about what it's like to be a kid whose parents are detained by ICE? This is a heartbreaking but important listen—it follows siblings from two families whose lives have been turned upside down revealnews.org/podcast/ice-...
revealnews.org
Children are being left behind as ICE detains parents across the country
Six miles from Mar-a-Lago, Guatemalan families are being ripped apart. Kids are left to fend for themselves as ICE detains their parents.
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Samantha Michaels @samanthamichaels.bsky.social · 23/07/2026
Remember the babies who were ripped from their parents' arms at the border in 2018? Now they're a little older, and Trump is going after them again. Devastating story by @isabelaalhadeff.bsky.social www.motherjones.com/politics/202...
motherjones.com
Separated at the border, torn apart again
Years after being split up and reunited, a family gets caught in Trump’s immigration dragnet.
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Madison Pauly @msjpauly.bsky.social · 21/07/2026
I've been joking with journalist friends that I went to a rural diner in Trump country and all I found were secret Democrats and a non-voter. It's true! How Schuylkill County, PA, rose up against an ICE warehouse—and decades of being treated as a "dumping ground" www.motherjones.com/politics/202...
motherjones.com
How the threat of an ICE detention center galvanized a Trump-country coal town
“We do deserve better than a plethora of data centers, detention centers, warehouses, biosolids processing plants, massive landfills.”
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Noah Lanard @nlanard.bsky.social · 21/07/2026
We spoke with former friends and family of the ICE officer who reportedly killed Johan Sebastián Durán Guerrero in Maine. Court records show how ICE gave a lifeline to a man who'd been accused of abuse by two ex-wives before becoming "voluntarily underemployed." www.motherjones.com/politics/202...
motherjones.com
What ICE should have known when it hired David Brouillette
The officer who killed a young father in Maine had been accused of abuse by two ex-wives. He was also eligible to skip weeks of training in Georgia.
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Samantha Michaels @samanthamichaels.bsky.social · 21/07/2026
You know the ICE officer who killed someone in Maine and was then accused by two ex-wives of abuse? Turns out he was likely eligible to skip a significant portion of training after ICE hired him, due to a policy change under this administration. www.motherjones.com/politics/202...
motherjones.com
What ICE should have known when it hired David Brouillette
The officer who killed a young father in Maine had been accused of abuse by two ex-wives. He was also eligible to skip weeks of training in Georgia.
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Mother Jones @motherjones.com · 15/07/2026
On Monday, Joan Sebastian Guerrero was shot and killed by ICE agents in Biddeford, Maine. Reports say Guerrero was authorized to legally work in the US and not even ICE's target. @annayeo.bsky.social was on the ground Tuesday in Biddeford and spoke with locals—including one man who knew Guerrero.
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Rachel Maddow @maddow.bsky.social · 12/07/2026
www.motherjones.com/politics/202...
motherjones.com
ICE took Mom and Dad. Now the Perez kids are home alone.
Four American siblings left to fend for themselves—and they're not the only ones.
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Samantha Michaels @samanthamichaels.bsky.social · 10/07/2026
Reminder that this huge ICE operation in Memphis is STILL happening. I'm not sure most people have heard of it—it's a big task force of immigration officers along with officers from other local and federal agencies. The task force killed 2 people in the past 4 days: www.cnn.com/2026/07/09/u...
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Mother Jones @motherjones.com · 09/07/2026
On Tuesday morning, ICE agents shot and killed Lorenzo Salgado Araujo. Now, as hundreds march in Houston and Salgado’s family demands an impartial investigation, DHS is using a familiar playbook: They are blaming Salgado for his own death by asserting he “weaponized his vehicle."
motherjones.com
ICE keeps using the same justification for killing drivers
Lorenzo Salgado Araujo was shot dead by immigration agents on the way to work. DHS claims he was using his vehicle as a weapon.
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Radley Balko @radleybalko.bsky.social · 07/07/2026
They’ve said this about nearly everyone they’ve shot in a moving car, and they’ve lied nearly every time.
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Julia Lurie @julialurie.bsky.social · 08/07/2026
1/ Last summer, I noticed I was calmer and happier than I'd been in years. It took me months to realize that my mood shift dovetailed with another change: getting my IUD removed. So I started digging into the research on birth control and mental health. www.motherjones.com/politics/202...
motherjones.com
Did birth control make my depression worse?
What I wish I'd known about my IUD.
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Madison Pauly @msjpauly.bsky.social · 30/06/2026
Today, SCOTUS ruled that states can ban trans girls from girls' sports. To get there, it watered down the way it analyzes Constitutional protections against sex discrimination. My analysis with comments from @maryrziegler.bsky.social and @avaayers.bsky.social: www.motherjones.com/politics/202...
motherjones.com
The Supreme Court's trans athlete ruling is a threat to gender equality
Justice Brett Kavanaugh is "not only creating a bad precedent for trans people, he’s significantly lowering the protection all women get."
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Pema Levy @pemalevy.bsky.social · 17/06/2026
Our investigation into the small number of billionaire networks funding amicus briefs to the Supreme Court. Couldn't have done this without the incredible work of @melissa.news
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Sophie Hurwitz @hurwitz.bsky.social · 17/06/2026
Things that could make you part of a conspiracy include: - wearing a shirt that says “I’m antifa!” - owning a bullhorn - using a devil emoji in a groupchat www.motherjones.com/politics/202...
motherjones.com
DOJ's new ICE protest indictment is its most absurd yet
Federal prosecutors' latest antifa conspiracy involves wearing a sweatshirt that says “I'm antifa!”
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Samantha Michaels @samanthamichaels.bsky.social · 15/06/2026
Imagine being a kid and learning both your parents were arrested by ICE. You’ll have to pay rent and survive on your own. I shadowed four siblings—US citizens near Mar-a-Lago—as they try to do that. I'll be thinking about their story for a long time 1/x www.motherjones.com/politics/202...
motherjones.com
ICE took Mom and Dad. Now the Perez kids are home alone.
Four American siblings left to fend for themselves—and they're not the only ones.
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19thnews @19thnews.org · 31/05/2026
The Department of Justice’s Office on Violence Against Women is withholding $150 million meant to help survivors of domestic violence. Gender-based violence service organizations across the country report radio silence on the status of applications, some submitted over a year ago.
19thnews.org
No one to answer the phone: What a missing $150 million means for domestic violence services
The 19th reached out to over 250 domestic violence shelters, organizations and municipalities that have received federal grants in the past to determine the impact of withheld funds.
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Mother Jones @motherjones.com · 03/06/2026
Trump congratulated him on his freedom. Alligator Alcatraz left him with a stroke.
motherjones.com
Trump congratulated him on his freedom. Alligator Alcatraz left him with a stroke.
The six months Justo Betancourt spent at the Everglades camp "broke me mentally and emotionally."
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Samantha Michaels @samanthamichaels.bsky.social · 05/06/2026
This story is long but worth your time. Incredible reporting and writing www.cnn.com/interactive/...
cnn.com
The shooting finally stopped. Then came everything else
Few ever see how a community carries on after a deadly school shooting. Survivors of last year’s attack on Minneapolis' Annunciation Catholic School want you to know: In class and at home, the anguish...
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Samantha Michaels @samanthamichaels.bsky.social · 03/06/2026
Always listen to Insha Rahman if you want to make sense of political messaging around crime and safety. Loved this interview with The New Republic newrepublic.com/article/2111...
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Mother Jones @motherjones.com · 02/06/2026
ICE’s Delaney Hall is being slammed with lawsuits. The state of New Jersey is suing GEO Group, the company that operates it, seeking a court order for full access by health inspectors, who since Wednesday have lacked it.
motherjones.com
ICE's Delaney Hall is being slammed with lawsuits
The converted prison "should be closed because of health and human safety,” Newark Mayor Ras Baraka said.
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Samantha Michaels @samanthamichaels.bsky.social · 01/06/2026
ICE deports a mother, who begs for the right to bring her 3-year-old son. ICE refuses. Her son then goes to a man who abuses and kills him. ICE blames the mother for "abandoning" her son to a murderer. www.washingtonpost.com/immigration/...
washingtonpost.com
DHS allows mother it deported without her toddler to return for his burial
Wendy Hernandez Reyes denies she “abandoned” her son, as ICE claimed. In an extraordinary act, she was allowed to come back to the U.S. for his burial.
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Samantha Michaels @samanthamichaels.bsky.social · 01/06/2026
ICE is transferring people rapidly from facility to facility, state to state, so there's not time to file habeas claims www.themarshallproject.org/2026/06/01/i...
themarshallproject.org
ICE Detained Them, and Then They Vanished
Under Trump, the U.S. increasingly sends immigrants all over the nation with little warning, leaving families and attorneys unsure where they are.
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Samantha Michaels @samanthamichaels.bsky.social · 29/05/2026
This video footage of ICE officers pushing Delaney Hall protesters into the street as trucks drive by had me gasping repeatedly. Follow journalist @noturtlesoup17.bsky.social, who's been documenting it all www.motherjones.com/politics/202...
motherjones.com
Watch: The violent ICE crackdown comes to New Jersey
"Agents regularly push protesters into the street, even when trucks are driving by."
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Samantha Michaels @samanthamichaels.bsky.social · 19/05/2026
Why aren't more people talking about the ICE surge in Memphis? www.motherjones.com/politics/202...
motherjones.com
Memphis is “under full-blown occupation” by ICE. Here’s why you may not know that.
Community members face retaliation for trying to spread the word out, a lawsuit alleges.
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Samantha Michaels @samanthamichaels.bsky.social · 14/05/2026
Did you know there's a law that incarcerates mothers because they couldn't stop their boyfriends' violence? Women are being thrown in prison for decades, and I had a chance to talk about it on this podcast. I hope you'll listen. www.exactlyrightmedia.com/the-knife-a-...
exactlyrightmedia.com
The Knife: A True Crime Podcast — EXACTLY RIGHT
The Knife: A True Crime Podcast is a weekly true crime podcast from journalist/producers Hannah Smith and Patia Eaton. It's a show about people who’ve been dropped into a story they didn't start, bu...
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Liliana Segura @lilianasegura.bsky.social · 24/04/2026
I’ll eventually write about this but it’s important to keep in mind that we will not be seeing firing squad (or any federal executions) anytime soon for myriad reasons, including that — unlike Trump’s first term — there’s no one left on the fed row in imminent danger of an execution date.
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Kelsey Reichmann @kelseyreichmann.bsky.social · 24/04/2026
In light of DOJ taking actions to strengthen the federal death penalty by, among other things, adding firing squad executions, here's what the process looks like. In 2025, SCOTUS let South Carolina conduct the first firing squad execution in 15 years courthousenews.com/supreme-cour...
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Samantha Michaels @samanthamichaels.bsky.social · 23/04/2026
something i didn't know i needed today but absolutely did, and maybe you do too. via @ruthmurai.bsky.social www.motherjones.com/environment/2026/04/eagles-big-bear-valley-jackie-shadow/
motherjones.com
Justin Bieber’s Coachella livestream was fine but have you seen these birds
It's Earth Day, so seriously, check out these bald eagles.
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Elizabeth Shockman @eshockmanwrites.bsky.social · 22/04/2026
These stories of MN children detained by ICE, as reported by @bzosiad.bsky.social , are horrifying. sahanjournal.com/immigration/...
sahanjournal.com
ICE detained more than 70 Minnesota children, data reveals
Immigration officials detained more than 70 Minnesota children between Dec. 1 and March 10, a Sahan analysis of court records and federal deportation data shows.
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Samantha Michaels @samanthamichaels.bsky.social · 20/04/2026
Early-career journalists: The Center for Investigative Reporting is hiring for our Ben Bagdikian Fellowship Program! It's a cool opportunity to fact-check major investigations (and maybe write some of your own), and how I got my start here. Please apply! www.motherjones.com/careers/fell...
motherjones.com
The Ben Bagdikian Fellowship Program
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Charles Ornstein @charlesornstein.bsky.social · 15/04/2026
NEW: Trump ordered a law enforcement surge in Memphis to end violent crime. But the vast majority of the more than 5,200 arrests made by the Memphis Safe Task Force in its first four months have been for nonviolent crimes. w/ @mlk50.com
propublica.org
Trump’s Memphis Crime Task Force Arrested Over 800 Immigrants, Records Show. Only 2% of the Arrests Were for Violent Crimes.
Businesses closed. Churches emptied. Parents afraid to take kids to school. Advocates say what was supposed to be a crime-fighting effort is keeping a community in fear.
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Samantha Michaels @samanthamichaels.bsky.social · 08/04/2026
A woman testified in court about being raped and then stepped outside the courthouse and ICE officers without uniforms tackled her to the ground and forced her into an unmarked van. www.theatlantic.com/politics/202...
theatlantic.com
She Testified About Being Raped. Then ICE Showed Up.
Immigration officers are making arrests in sensitive locations, including family court.
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Samantha Michaels @samanthamichaels.bsky.social · 06/04/2026
Immigrants who survived domestic violence were given a "promise that they would be protected as long as they were vulnerable and shared their story with the cops." Then ICE deported them anyway. www.motherjones.com/politics/2026/04/u-visa-t-violence-against-women-act-ice-trump-deportation-lawsuit/
motherjones.com
She helped the authorities deport her abuser. Then they deported her back to him.
Immigrants in her situation "were given a promise that they would be protected as long as they were vulnerable."
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Julia Métraux @juliametraux.bsky.social · 01/04/2026
The death of Nurul Amin Shah Alam, a Blind Rohingya refugee who was left on the freezing streets of Buffalo by Border Patrol officers, was ruled a homicide. New from me at @motherjones.com. www.motherjones.com/politics/202...
motherjones.com
Nurul Amin Shah Alam's death was a homicide
County medical examiners announced the ruling on Wednesday. New York Attorney General Letitia James is investigating.
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Julia Lurie @julialurie.bsky.social · 01/04/2026
We went through more first-hand accounts from Dilley, the only immigrant family detention center. It's the little details that really stick with me—Christmas "celebrations," a girl's letter asking for help, accounts of being hidden away during congressional visits www.motherjones.com/politics/202...
motherjones.com
Punished for protesting, talking to the press, having a toothache: More Dilley horror stories
A new batch of firsthand accounts from ICE's family detention center depict vindictive treatment.
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Samantha Michaels @samanthamichaels.bsky.social · 23/03/2026
With Trump in Memphis today, I want to reshare this investigation from several months ago— How did his Memphis Safe Task Force change the city? Locals compare the atmosphere to 1930s Germany. www.motherjones.com/politics/202...
motherjones.com
I'm a veteran criminal justice reporter. I've never seen anything like ICE-occupied Memphis.
“It’s about as sad as you can possibly imagine."
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Mother Jones @motherjones.com · 19/03/2026
ICE is ignoring rules put in place to avoid family separations, researchers say. Many mothers “had no contact with their children…for days or weeks.”
motherjones.com
ICE is ignoring rules put in place to avoid family separations, researchers say
Many mothers "had no contact with their children...for days or weeks."
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Isabela Dias @isabelaalhadeff.bsky.social · 03/03/2026
Immigrants are successfully challenging the Trump administration's mass detention policy and winning release from ICE custody—thanks to a centuries-old legal principle and constitutional right. My latest for @motherjones.com:
motherjones.com
24,403 lawsuits and counting: How habeas corpus became the front line of immigration defense
"We have to kick the door down."
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Doug MacMillan @douglasmac.bsky.social · 04/03/2026
Camp East Montana was supposed to be the Trump administration's model for a new breed of large-scale, makeshift immigrant detention centers. Eight tumultuous months, 60 violations and three deaths later, ICE is preparing to close it. New from me: t.co/jOIIRAMJCo
washingtonpost.com
ICE taking steps to close detention center at Fort Bliss, document shows
Preparations to shutter Camp East Montana in El Paso come less than eight months after facility’s opening, according to an internal ICE document.
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Schuyler Mitchell @schuylermitchell.bsky.social · 04/03/2026
My dispatch from the Jersey suburbs: www.motherjones.com/politics/202...
motherjones.com
"How am I going to sell my house with this crap in my backyard?"
ICE wants to turn warehouses into detention centers. The suburbs are fighting back.
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