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Samantha Michaels

Samantha Michaels

Mother Jones

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Senators Blast Trump’s Plan to Rig Child Deportation Proceedings

Congressional Democrats sent a letter to Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. on Monday, urging him to rescind a new policy...

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Mother Jones

Samantha Michaels

Trump Administration Plans to Have Its Own Lawyers Represent Migrant Kids

The Trump administration has quietly announced that its own lawyers will represent unaccompanied migrant children in immigration court, facing off...

07.10.2026 10

Mother Jones

Samantha Michaels

Memphis Has Spent a Year Under Federal Occupation. ICE Would Rather You Didn’t Notice.

A massive immigration operation is happening in Memphis. It’s been underway for just under a year now—hundreds of arrests, streets filled with...

09.09.2026 20

Mother Jones

Samantha Michaels

Politicians’ Reckless Rhetoric Is Putting Federal Judges in Danger

One judge had to build a safe room at home. Others were so scared they wouldn’t let their children play outside; another stopped grocery shopping...

01.09.2026 20

Mother Jones

Samantha Michaels

A Young Immigrant’s Deportation Nightmare

The plane was stuck on the tarmac of a Louisiana airport, but Yurin Quiroa Ralda, 21, was not particularly eager to take off. He was being deported,...

14.08.2026 20

Mother Jones

Samantha Michaels

What ICE Should Have Known When It Hired David Brouillette

Ashley Brouillette had not heard from her ex-husband, David Brouillette, since November. She says one of their last interactions was a three-minute...

21.07.2026 30

Mother Jones

Samantha Michaels

The Department of Homeland Security Is “Kidnapping People’s Kids”

Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin and acting Attorney General Todd Blanche gave a press conference on Thursday to tell reporters about...

13.06.2026 30

Mother Jones

Samantha Michaels

Memphis Is “Under Full-Blown Occupation” by ICE. Here’s Why You May Not Know That.

There’s a massive immigration operation in Memphis right now, but you may not have heard about it. It certainly hasn’t gotten as much attention as...

18.05.2026 20

Mother Jones

Samantha Michaels

She Helped the Authorities Deport Her Abuser. Then They Deported Her Back to Him.

Her abusive husband had hurt her too many times. So Carmen F., an immigrant from South America, called the police. He was soon deported. Then she...

06.04.2026 40

Mother Jones

Samantha Michaels

Trump Says He Made Memphis Safer. Locals Told Me It Felt Like 1930s Germany or North Korea.

President Donald Trump visited Memphis on Monday to praise a surge in federal law enforcement there, while some locals took to the streets to protest...

24.03.2026 40

Mother Jones

Samantha Michaels

ICE Is Ignoring Rules Put in Place to Avoid Family Separations, Researchers Say

In November, a 22-year-old woman disembarked from her deportation flight in Honduras, five months pregnant and distraught. Immigration officers in the...

19.03.2026 60

Mother Jones

Samantha Michaels

ACLU’s Lawsuit Over ICE Raid at an Idaho Racetrack Could Be a Game Changer

In a small Idaho town, a 10-year-old girl I’ll call A.S.P. was cozied up in her family’s pickup truck outside La Catedral racetrack, where she and...

11.02.2026 100

Mother Jones

Samantha Michaels

Trump’s Minions Are Pressuring Prosecutors to Charge ICE Protesters Based on Scant Evidence

More federal prosecutors in Minnesota have resigned or are preparing to do so, in part because the Trump administration has asked them to file...

31.01.2026 100

Mother Jones

Samantha Michaels

How a Violent, Warrantless ICE Raid Devastated a Memphis Family

A few weeks before Christmas, six siblings huddled around a phone in their mom’s bedroom to talk with their dad and grandpa, who’d just been...

28.01.2026 100

Mother Jones

Samantha Michaels

What’s the Deal With That Scary-Looking Green Gas ICE Is Using in Minneapolis?

Immigration officers in Minneapolis are now using a weapon that’s unfamiliar to many protesters: grenades that spew a noxious green gas. On...

24.01.2026 60

Mother Jones

Samantha Michaels

Meet the Minneapolis Neighbors Standing Up to ICE by the Thousands

A new, activist twist on neighborhood watch is taking shape in Minneapolis and other cities under occupation by federal immigration agents: ICE Watch....

22.01.2026 100

Mother Jones

Samantha Michaels

Minnesota US Attorney’s Office Is Bracing for a New Wave of Resignations

More resignations of federal prosecutors are expected at the US Attorney’s Office in Minnesota amid ongoing frustration over the Trump...

17.01.2026 80

Mother Jones

Samantha Michaels

An Expert Weighs in on Hurdles to Suing the ICE Officer Who Fatally Shot Renée Good

If the ICE officer who shot and killed Renée Nicole Good in Minneapolis last week is not prosecuted criminally, or even if he is, can he also be...

13.01.2026 80

Mother Jones

Samantha Michaels

Misconduct Expert Says State Has the Right to Charge ICE Officer Who Killed Renee Good

After an ICE agent shot and killed Renee Good in Minneapolis this week, firing his weapon as she attempted to drive away, protesters have amassed...

09.01.2026 90

Mother Jones

Samantha Michaels

Minneapolis Area Councilwoman Decries Trump’s Reign of Terror

As immigration officers in Minneapolis and St. Paul target daycares and schools, a growing number of parents are terrified to bring their kids in,...

09.01.2026 60

Mother Jones

Samantha Michaels

ICE Is Hounding Chicago Area Locals With Excessive Chemical Munitions

Federal officers are firing so much tear gas at protesters outside an ICE facility in Broadview, Illinois, that some nearby community members who...

09.10.2025 50

Mother Jones

Samantha Michaels

Trump’s Deportation Machine Has Diverted Some 42,000 Crime Fighters From Other Tasks

President Donald Trump’s deportation army is growing by the day, and a shocking number of its foot soldiers don’t even work for US Immigration and...

02.10.2025 40

Mother Jones

Samantha Michaels

US Marshals’ Efforts Around Trump’s January 6 Pardons Were “Highly Unusual”

As the US Marshals Service prepared for Donald Trump’s expected pardon of January 6 defendants, officials went to unusual lengths to facilitate the...

24.09.2025 40

Mother Jones

Samantha Michaels

Putting Military Lawyers in Charge of Immigration Courts Is Problematic—and “Unlawful”

The Trump administration has decided to get more immigration judges from an unprecedented source: the military. On Tuesday, the Associated Press...

03.09.2025 40

Mother Jones

Samantha Michaels

The CDC Shooter Was Obsessed With Vaccine Conspiracy Theories. RFK Jr. Was Predictably Slow to Respond.

The gunman who opened fire on the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Friday was, according to law enforcement officials and others who...

10.08.2025 50

Mother Jones

Samantha Michaels

Trump’s Defense Secretary Seems to Admire Men Who Want to Stop Women From Voting

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is a fan of a Christian nationalist pastor who believes women should no longer be allowed to vote. On Thursday,...

10.08.2025 50

Mother Jones

Samantha Michaels

ICE Plans to Build More Tent Jails for Immigrants. What Could Go Wrong?

Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), now the best-funded federal law enforcement agency in the United States, is embarking on a plan to...

01.08.2025 40

Mother Jones

Samantha Michaels