Shannon Heffernan

The similarities between the social media video posts for the U.S. government about Iran and ICE raids are really striking.

www.instagram.com/reel/DPZTrp0...

Incarcerated Women in Arizona Go on Hunger Strike for Better Conditions After a correctional officer allegedly assaulted a 20-year-old woman, as many as 200 of her fellow prisoners went on hunger strike for nearly three weeks.

My latest for @theappeal.org
Women imprisoned in AZ went on hunger strike for more than 2 weeks, issuing 21 polite requests: theappeal.org/arizona-perr...

US Rep. Veronica Escobar: ICE looking to close Camp East Montana U.S. Rep. Veronica Escobar has responded to reports that the Department of Homeland Security is looking to terminate Camp East Montana contract.

$1.2 billion contract to open and run the Camp East Montana immigrant tent facility in El Paso.

Opened in August 2025.

Six months (and three detainee deaths) later: reports of its looming closure.

After Detention, Families Stranded in Border Town Face Harrowing Journey Home Parents and children from a detention center in Texas found themselves dropped at a border town shelter with few means to leave.

Rev. Mike Smith runs a shelter where ICE and its contractors dump people from Dilley. He said families are often bewildered by how and why they’d been arrested.

“They are tired. They are tired. They are tired,” Smith said. “You’ll see tears later, once they become aware that it’s safe.”

After Detention, Families Stranded in Border Town Face Harrowing Journey Home Parents and children from a detention center in Texas found themselves dropped at a border town shelter with few means to leave.

Moving immigration abductees far from home as soon as possible is designed to cut them off from family, friends, and community resources. It also means that when people are released, it's into a strange place with no help—and people are rising to meet that need around camps like Dilley.

After Detention, Families Stranded in Border Town Face Harrowing Journey Home Parents and children from a detention center in Texas found themselves dropped at a border town shelter with few means to leave.

Oksana saw her children suffer at Dilley for roughly 4.5 months. She said they found worms in their food. Her 4-year-old asked if they were in jail because they were bad people.

But Oksana said the release process was one of the worst experiences yet.

After Detention, Families Stranded in Border Town Face Harrowing Journey Home Parents and children from a detention center in Texas found themselves dropped at a border town shelter with few means to leave.

Pastor Smith runs a shelter where ICE dumps families after they're released from detention. Families often struggle to find trasnport home:

“They are tired. They are tired. They are tired.. you’ll see tears later, once they become aware that it’s safe.” www.themarshallproject.org/2026/03/02/i...

After Detention, Families Stranded in Border Town Face Harrowing Journey Home Parents and children from a detention center in Texas found themselves dropped at a border town shelter with few means to leave.

Elora Mukherjee, director of the Immigrants’ Rights Clinic at Columbia Law School, said she's witnessed what families face after release. While detained, parents sometimes lost jobs, apartments and cars. Many were placed on ankle monitors, which can make getting a new job difficult due to stigma.

45% of Dilley families aren't deported from there, but released.

“It boggles the mind why we're disrupting people from their immigration proceedings only to... incarcerate them at Dilley & then just recycle them out the back door,” Leecia Welch, of @childrens-rights.bsky.social said. (THREAD 5/)

Another woman was arrested with her 6-year-old daughter while taking her to school in Maine. Dropped at the Lareado, TX shelter they had to try to figure out how to fly or take a bus home, more than 2,200 miles away. (THREAD 4/)

One family was dropped at the shelter with their baby, still recovering from an over week-long stay at the hospital, after the baby's oxygen levels dropped dangerously low. The family's lawyer said they were released without the child's birth certificate or medication. (THREAD 3/)

Left at the shelter, many families are confused. Some are sick. They only have the possessions that were with them when arrested.

“They are tired. They are tired. They are tired,” a pastor who operates the shelter said. "You’ll see tears later, once they become aware that it’s safe.”
THREAD (2/)

After Detention, Families Stranded in Border Town Face Harrowing Journey Home Parents and children from a detention center in Texas found themselves dropped at a border town shelter with few means to leave.

After detaining children and parents for weeks, or months, inside Dilley detention center, ICE is dumping them at a shelter in Laredo, TX. They are often thousands of miles away from where they were arrested, with no money to get back home. THREAD (1/)
www.themarshallproject.org/2026/03/02/i...

I’m zipping around town dropping off stacks of the print version of the @injusticewatch.org judicial election guide. Find them all over the dang place or online at that link.

2026primary.injusticewatch.org

More Immigrants Are Challenging Their ICE Detention Than Ever Before Immigrants claiming their detention is illegal have filed more than 18,000 challenges in federal court. This total is more than were filed under the last three administrations combined — including Tru...

This makes sense to me. I spoke to a lawyer who said he is basically filing petitions for immigrants in detention 24/7, unless he is asleep, and it's still hard to keep up.

www.propublica.org/article/habe...

Come work with us! www.themarshallproject.org/jobs/staff-w...

Do you or a family member live in Idaho and rely on an HCBS waiver? Want to talk to a reporter about it? Please email sluterman at 19thnews dot org or DM. #JournoRequest

‘We Know Where You Live.’ Protesters Say ICE Agents Retaliate With Threats, Investigations ICE observers and critics report being audited, pulled over, called by name or followed home by agents.

“Repression doesn’t always operate in the dramatic. It often operates in the mundane.”

www.themarshallproject.org/2026/02/04/i...

A memo from the Illinois Department of Corrections, recognizing "the mental-health and social benefits of Magic Gathering Cards and their positive contribution to a facility environment."
idoc.illinois.gov/content/dam/...

‘We Know Where You Live.’ Protesters Say ICE Agents Retaliate With Threats, Investigations ICE observers and critics report being audited, pulled over, called by name or followed home by agents.

In the case of Mischief Toys, ABC News reported that workers at the St. Paul toy store used a 3D printer to make thousands of free whistles for people to alert others of the presence of immigration agents.

And then the federal agents came to the store.

Y'all, if you don't know @bellwak.bsky.social work, you should. This is such a loss! Though, I've got a feeling someone is going to hire @bellwak.bsky.social ASAP

Measles is highly contagious and we will be monitoring the situation at Dilley as best we can.

An official from the Texas Dept. of State Health Services said they are providing measles vaccines to the ICE family detention center in Dilley, Texas-- where two cases of measles have been reported.

He said the the two are no longer infectious and it does not meet the definition of an outbreak.

Children in ICE Detention Skyrocket in Trump’s Second Term With a six-fold jump in children in detention, advocates allege harrowing conditions are putting kids’ lives at risk.

After his recent visit Rep. Castro placed the number at around 1,100 www.themarshallproject.org/2026/01/29/i...

This website uses some interesting calculations to get closer to what might be an actual population… It’s not updated yet, but worth keeping an eye on

detentionreports.com/facility/DIL...

ICE's Delayed Detention Data is Out, Two Record Highs: 70,000 People Detained, 40,000 on Ankle Monitors ICE detention has crossed 70,000 for the first time ever, with ankle monitor use topping 40,000. The data was delayed, but it's finally public.

Deeper analysis from @austinkocher.com here: austinkocher.substack.com/p/ices-delay...

The same data set mentioned below shows the total number of people in immigrant detention passing the 70,000 mark for the first time on the public record.

Keep in mind that number does not include people held in untraditional facilities, like hotels and office buildings.

The average daily population at Dilley, the family detention center that held 5-year-old Liam Ramos, is up to 867, according to new federal data.

There's currently active cases of measles at Dilley and lawyers say their clients are on lockdown.

(h/t @geoffhing.bsky.social who pulled data)

Thank you, as always, for sharing.

ICE Withholds Congressionally Mandated Detention Data In the midst of heated budget negotiations over immigration enforcement, ICE flouts Congress's prior mandate to publish timely detention data.

If you want more context on the missing data mentioned above, @austinkocher.com has a useful post explaining why it matters.

austinkocher.substack.com/p/ice-withho...