ICE has arrested and detained a Nashville journalist who reported stories critical of ICE. She’s married to a U.S. citizen and has been seeking asylum here after fleeing death threats in Colombia because of her journalism there.
They’ve already sent her to Louisiana.
The key to unlocking THE big deal, in my view, is this found in this recent New York Times story. If you haven't read it yet, ignore my ramblings and go read it instead, for both our sake.
bsky.app/profile/emmb...
Lamberth said he was was still distressed about Pinson's account from February, that guards told her and another inmate “I don’t give a fuck what that judge says, I do what I want.”
In the contempt hearing today focused on alleged retaliation by the BOP against Grace Pinson, a transgender prisoner at FCI Butner, Judge Royce Lamberth says he worries that prison guards internalized rhetoric by Trump and Bondi delegitimizing the courts and encouraging noncompliance with orders.
I feel like we typically see these sorts of completely outraged opinions from federal judges a couple times a year across the whole country, maybe a little more often in last few years. Now, in cases stemming from Trump's immigration crackdown, judges are ringing the alarm bell several times a week.
"ICE’s silence leaves the Court without the benefit of
constructive input — and with no choice but to craft its own
mechanism for getting compliance with its no-transfer orders.
The declarations requirement is that mechanism."
Criminal contempt, he adds: "That is a thing to avoid."
JUST IN: To stem the tide of violated orders, Judge Michael E. Farbiarz in NJ is now requiring ICE and the US attny's office to each submit declarations in every habeas case acknowledging no-transfer orders.
Warns that any violations start "closer to the last resort of possible criminal contempt."
Breaking WSJ:
The Trump admin plans to abandon its defense of Trump's executive orders sanctioning several law firms.
DOJ — as soon as today — is expected to drop its appeals of four rulings that struck down Trump's actions against Jenner & Block, WilmerHale, Perkins Coie, and Susman Godfrey.
ProPublica has sued the U.S. Department of Education
W/ @jsmithrichards.bsky.social
www.propublica.org/article/educ...
A judge just tossed out Columbia University's disciplinary actions against 22 students over the 2024 Hamilton Hall occupation, finding the school relied on sealed arrest records and held individuals responsible for group actions, violating its own rules.
iapps.courts.state.ny.us/fbem/Documen...
DEVELOPING: Superseding indictment returned in Don Lemon Minnesota church protest case. Local press says more defendants added and arrested. Awaiting more details. Doc: www.documentcloud.org/documents/27... Report: www.kare11.com/article/news...
NEW: We obtained 911 audio from the Texas detention center housing hundreds of immigrant kids and their parents.
Since mid-September, EMS crews have been dispatched to Dilley at least 11 times to treat children in medical distress.
Burning fevers. Low oxygen. Seizures. A broken leg.
My report:
Today’s Litigation Tracker updates:
-9th Circuit lifts block: Trump can limit federal workers’ union rights
-Judge allows White House ballroom construction to continue for now
-IRS admits sharing confidential taxpayer info with ICE
www.justsecurity.org/107087/track...
A federal judge in Minnesota has scheduled a contempt hearing for next week for federal officials for not complying with the judge's orders to return property to unlawfully detained immigrants, including cash, jewelry and docs. More than two dozen petitioners who filed habeas petitions are listed.
JUST IN: Judge Leon declines to halt construction on Trump’s East Wing ballroom, but all but encourages the National Trust for Historic Preservation to refile a cleaner case that he says he will take up “expeditiously.”
BREAKING: Trans inmate's lawyers claim "egregious retaliation" in violation of court order.
Trans woman involved in a lawsuit challenging anti-trans policies says federal prison official told her on Feb. 22: “I don’t give a fuck what that judge says, I do what I want.”
An enraging, enraging case.
It does feel as though in comparable cases, sometimes the public characterization (thinking USAID into the “wood chipper,” other funding freezes, protestor deportations) ends up being a lot more offensive to judges than just the contextless policy on paper might otherwise
SCOOP: A White House staffer appears to be operating the anonymous pro-Trump X account JohnnyMAGA with nearly 300,000 followers.
More here:
www.wired.com/story/a-whit...
Case 1:25-cV-02942-TJK Document 74 Filed 02/24/26 Page 1 of 17 1 of 17 IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA L.G.M.L.., et al., Plaintiffs, V. Case No.: 25-cv-2942-TJK KRISTI NOEM, et al., Defendants. PLAINTIFFS' MOTION FOR AN ORDER TO SHOW CAUSE After a temporary restraining order narrowly thwarted the government's secret, middle-of- the-night attempt to expel unaccompanied Guatemalan children from the United States over Labor Day weekend, this Court certified a provisional class of certain Guatemalan children who are or will be in the custody of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and other Defendants and enjoined Defendants from "transferring, repatriating, removing, or otherwise facilitating the transport" of class members from the United States. Defendants declined to appeal that injunction and it remains in place while this matter proceeds to final judgment. But Plaintiffs have learned that Defendants are engaged in a practice that openly flouts the plain text of the Court's injunction and the statutory protections guaranteed by the Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act (TVPRA). Specifically, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agents are returning unaccompanied children from noncontiguous countries, including class members, to their home countries within 72 hours of entering government custody, typically before they can be transferred
NEW: Remember when the government rounded up dozens of unaccompanied children in the middle of the night and tried to summarily deport them?
A Trump-appointed judge entered an injunction barring their removal.
But lawyers for the children say the government is trying to circumvent that order.
Judge Cannon has just denied @knightcolumbia.org & @weareoversight.bsky.social motions to intervene and permanently barred DOJ from disclosing Jack Smith's report. She says (again) that Smith was appointed unconstitutionally, and that the report is the fruit of the unconstitutional appointment.
We found 35 instances since August in which judges set hearings to consider sanctions against ICE detention officers or DOJ. But instead of making an effort to tighten up or asking DHS to slow down, leadership at DOJ told many USAOs not to fret about “unrealistic” deadlines or adverse decisions.
This is an extremely important piece by @jacklgoldsmith.bsky.social about the evisceration of legal norms and processes (and workforce) within DOD. Similar things happening at DOJ, the IC, etc., but the effects at DOD are as calamitous as anywhere.
www.execfunctions.org/p/the-decayi...
With ICE conducting warrantless arrests and shuttling detainees around the country too chaotically for DOJ to keep up, judges are increasingly looking to the penalty box.
Minnesota may have been the tipping point, but judges in CA, NY and TX aren’t far behind.
w/ @schwartzesque.bsky.social
![Respondents engage in a deliberately dense three-step maneuver to reach
their core absurd conclusion that no further relief is warranted.
Step 1: Identify an immaterial difference between two things that are
functionally the same. [Opp. at 9; Dkt. No. 103 at 3].
Step 2: Insist that the immaterial difference is so consequential that it
can violate separation of powers. [Opp. at 12; Dkt. No. 103 at 3].
Finally, and most importantly,
Step 3: Make sure to never mention the Constitution with the hope
that a federal court will not notice. [See generally Opp.; Dkt. No. 103
at 3].](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:maiw2rfujepnphhrejytvuu5/bafkreiepred3mp25pbguz42hxzu2gv7iqdvtinq4dwumxcjhc43f5bz62q@jpeg)
Respondents engage in a deliberately dense three-step maneuver to reach their core absurd conclusion that no further relief is warranted. Step 1: Identify an immaterial difference between two things that are functionally the same. [Opp. at 9; Dkt. No. 103 at 3]. Step 2: Insist that the immaterial difference is so consequential that it can violate separation of powers. [Opp. at 12; Dkt. No. 103 at 3]. Finally, and most importantly, Step 3: Make sure to never mention the Constitution with the hope that a federal court will not notice. [See generally Opp.; Dkt. No. 103 at 3].
I missed this real banger of an opinion yesterday from judge sunshine sykes (the best-named judge), vacating the BIA ruling on mandatory immigration detention
Trump 2.0 has been a boon for foreign lobbying:
Since November 2024, there have been more than 380 new registrations, according to an analysis by The Free Press
That’s more than all recent presidential terms at this point, except Clinton 1. www.thefp.com/p/foreign-lo...
“In the span of just six weeks between December and January, six people died while detained by ICE in Texas — three of them at Camp East Montana.”
Making matters worse, the Trump admin is REFUSING to adjudicate green card applications for refugees who come from one of the 39 countries Trump banned.
So under this policy, a refugee who applies for a green card exactly on time, doing nothing wrong, can (and DHS says must) be jailed by ICE.
Paul Blume @PaulBlume_FOX9 · 1h BREAKING NEWS: U.S. District Court Judge Laura Provinzino has just found a government atty in CIVIL CONTEMPT of COURT for violations of her orders in a habeas case. Attorney cited is Matthew Isihara, a JAG atty from Dept. of War assisting in local US Attorney office @FOX9 (1/) Paul Blume @PaulBlume_FOX9 · 1h Judge Provinzino had ordered a detained immigrant held by ICE in El Paso, TX be released in Minnesota with all of his identification papers. ICE released the man in TX with none of his papers, forcing his attorney to find him a shelter for the night & flight back to MN (2/)
Paul Blume @PaulBlume_FOX9 · 57m Judge said she is imposing CIVIL CONTEMPT "to force the government to comply with her court order" to immediately return immigrant's papers. Gov't attorney Matthew Isihara is responsible for $500 daily fine, every day the man does not have his papers starting tomorrow. (3/3) Paul Blume @PaulBlume_FOX9 · 47m CONTEMPT FINDING: Matthew Isihara apologized for allowing the order in this habeas case to "fall through the cracks." Blamed situation on case overload & significant understaffing in US Attorney's office. Says he has picked up nearly 130 habeas cases in just last month. @FOX9
1. DHS surges 3,000 officers to Minneapolis without doing anywhere near enough prep first.
2. Hundreds of habeas cases overwhelm local courts.
3. Dozens of DOJ lawyers quit in disgust/anger.
4. The DOJ brings in JAGs to cover.
5. A JAG was just held in contempt and fined $500/day for ICE's failures.
NEW: Carlos García, a Venezuelan politician opposed to Maduro, fled Venezuela in 2017 to escape charges from the Maduro regime.
He rebuilt a life in Ohio, delivering Amazon packages until he was detained by ICE.
His family fears for his safety in Venezuela.
www.nytimes.com/2026/02/13/w...
