A US District Court in Massachusetts issued a ruling on February 25, 2026, declaring the Department of Homeland Security's policy of deporting immigrants to "third countries" — nations with which they have no meaningful connection — unconstitutional and illegal, citing severe due process violations including inadequate notice and denial of the opportunity to raise fears of torture or persecution. The court found the government had repeatedly violated prior judicial orders, provided misleading information, and attempted to evade oversight, while evidence documented harmful outcomes including chain refoulement. Despite multiple court orders, the US proceeded with deportations to Eswatini under a confidential bilateral agreement, with up to 160 immigrants reportedly permitted for transfer, though detainees were denied access to legal counsel. A legal challenge to the agreement in the Eswatini High Court was dismissed on standing grounds, leaving those affected without meaningful judicial recourse in either jurisdiction.
The article is too limited in body content to provide a full summary, but based on the available text: Protesters are taking federal authorities to court over the repeated use of teargas and chemical munitions outside a Portland Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) building. A mini-trial is set to determine whether a federal judge will continue restricting federal law enforcement officers' use of chemical munitions at the facility.
Nevada election advocates, including the ACLU of Nevada, Silver State Voices, and the Nevada Immigrant Coalition, are launching an expanded nonpartisan election protection program in response to Trump administration threats to nationalize voting operations and comments suggesting ICE agents could be deployed at polling stations. Nevada Secretary of State Francisco Aguilar has been coordinating with county officials and sheriffs, noting that intimidating voters or election workers is a felony under state law. The federally proposed SAVE America Act poses an additional concern, as its strict citizenship documentation requirements and ban on universal mail voting would significantly impact Nevada voters, particularly rural residents and women who have changed their names. A bipartisan group, the Democracy Defense Project, co-chaired by former Republican Gov. Brian Sandoval, has also spoken out in defense of Nevada's existing election infrastructure.
Both chambers of Congress are scheduled to vote on war powers resolutions this week aimed at halting U.S. military action against Iran without congressional authorization, following U.S. and Israeli strikes on Iran over the weekend that resulted in the death of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Senior administration officials, including Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, are set to brief all senators on Tuesday, with a separate House briefing scheduled the same day. Meanwhile, House Republicans plan to bring an updated Department of Homeland Security funding bill to the floor, as DHS remains partially shut down amid a standoff over immigration enforcement provisions that Democrats oppose and the White House has refused to modify.
U.S. Representative Shri Thanedar held a town hall and led a protest in Romulus, Michigan, on Sunday against a proposed ICE detention facility planned for the area. Thanedar outlined plans to fight the facility through lawsuits and zoning laws in coordination with the Romulus mayor, and reiterated his support for abolishing ICE, which he introduced legislation for in mid-January. Local residents also voiced opposition at the rally, while ICE has stated the facility could generate nearly 1,500 jobs and approximately $150 million for the local economy. No opening date for the facility has been publicly announced.
This opinion piece from *The Nation* argues that the post-9/11 War on Terror created the institutional and ideological foundations enabling the Trump administration's current domestic and foreign policies, including ICE's aggressive immigration enforcement in Minnesota and military actions against Venezuela and Iran. The author contends that agencies like ICE and CBP, born from post-9/11 legislation, have become tools of authoritarian domestic control, while JSOC's decades of overseas operations now enable what the piece characterizes as open imperialism. The article criticizes mainstream Democratic leadership for failing to advocate for the abolition of the Department of Homeland Security, which the author argues is necessary to restore civil liberties. The piece frames Trump's actions as an extension and escalation of War on Terror-era policies rather than a departure from them.
This opinion piece argues that the U.S. government's immigration detention expansion under the Trump administration constitutes the creation of concentration camps, citing ICE's reported plans to spend $38 billion converting industrial warehouses into large-scale detention centers capable of holding up to 92,000 people. The author draws comparisons to Nazi-era detention facilities and references historian Andrea Pitzer's claim that the U.S. federal government detained more people in the past year than Nazi Germany did in its first seven years. The piece characterizes the detention program as part of a broader authoritarian effort to suppress dissent and entrench political power, rather than a legitimate immigration enforcement measure. The author calls on citizens to actively oppose the construction of new detention facilities, citing a local protest in Merrimack, New Hampshire as a model for resistance.
El Refugio Ministries operates a hospitality house in Lumpkin, Georgia, near the Stewart ICE Detention Center, providing meals, childcare, clothing, and lodging to families visiting detained loved ones, who are permitted only one hour of visitation per week. Founded in 2010, the organization hosts between 30 and 60 visitors weekly and also sends volunteers into Stewart to visit detainees who have no family support. The Stewart facility, run by private prison company CoreCivic, has seen its average daily population nearly double in recent years to approximately 2,200 detainees. El Refugio's leaders urge community members to volunteer, donate, and contact elected officials to demand accountability over reported inhumane conditions at the facility.
Resistencia en Acción, a volunteer-led nonprofit based in Princeton, New Jersey, has organized a Rapid Response Team of over 100 volunteers to monitor and document ICE activity across Mercer County. The team operates a 24-hour hotline, conducts neighborhood patrols, and films ICE encounters — practices that volunteers say often prompt agents to leave without making arrests. Volunteers also support affected families by ensuring children are cared for and connecting them with legal services. Following high-profile incidents involving immigration agents in Minnesota, the organization reports an increase in volunteer recruitment rather than a decline.
Following two fatal shootings by ICE agents in Minneapolis and reports of increased ICE activity in Arizona, officials in Phoenix and Pima County are developing policies to hold federal immigration enforcement accountable locally. The Pima County Board of Supervisors voted 4-1 to advance two resolutions opposing masked federal agents and barring ICE from county property without a judicial warrant, though both remain non-binding for now. Phoenix City Council is working on an ordinance to investigate alleged crimes by ICE agents, a process complicated by questions about prosecutorial authority and agent identification. Legal experts note that similar policies in other states have already faced federal court challenges, leaving the enforceability of such local measures uncertain.
The U.S. Justice Department has charged 30 additional people in connection with a January 18 protest that disrupted a church service at Cities Church in St. Paul, Minnesota, bringing the total number of defendants to 39. All are charged with conspiracy against the right of religious worship and obstructing access to a house of worship, with Attorney General Pam Bondi stating that 25 had already been arrested. The protest, which included former CNN anchor Don Lemon among the original nine defendants, targeted the church because organizers believed a senior pastor was an ICE official, and took place amid a broader federal immigration enforcement operation in the region. Several defendants, including Lemon, have pleaded not guilty and argue the charges are politically motivated and violate First Amendment rights.
Family members, clergy, and immigrant rights advocates held a press conference at a Trenton church one week after a February 20 law enforcement operation at an auto-repair shop, during which U.S. Marshals arrested a man wanted on criminal warrants and federal authorities detained two additional individuals. Advocates raised concerns about the conduct of the arrest, citing surveillance footage showing boxes placed in front of security cameras, and called for a transparent review of coordination between local and federal agencies. The wife of one detained man, who has no criminal record, described her family's hardship and her young daughter asking for her father. Separately, Governor Mikie Sherrill sent a letter opposing a federal plan to convert a Roxbury warehouse into an ICE detention facility for up to 1,500 people, citing concerns about transparency, infrastructure, environmental impact, and conditions in existing detention centers.
