As a rare storm blanketed the Texas state capital in picturesque frost on Monday, Texas Republicans joined a chorus of criticisms against the Department of Homeland Security, its Secretary Kristi Noem, and the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency terrorizing American cities in President Donald Trump’s second term. In short, Hell has frozen over. This past […]
Tag: ICE
Posted inOpinion
A 5-Year-Old Disappeared in Austin. A Mom Shot Dead in Minneapolis. How Much More Violence Will It Take to ‘Abolish ICE’?
In a viral post on Instagram, 5-year-old Génesis Ester Gutiérrez Castellanos smiles brightly in front of iconic Austin street art. She’s wearing purple sneakers with pink laces. In big yellow lettering, the post reads: “URGENT: 5-YEAR-OLD US CITIZEN DISAPPEARED BY ICE.” Before dawn on Jan. 5, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents arrested Génesis and […]
Posted inOpinion
When Storytelling Is Called ‘Terrorism’: How My Friend and Fellow Journalist Was Targeted by ICE
I remember meeting Ya’akub Vijandre a little more than two years ago. We were at the first Dallas protest held in the aftermath of Israel’s bloody siege of Gaza following the Oct. 7, 2023 attack by Hamas. This was back when I was still working with Dallas Weekly and Ya’akub was gathering content for his […]
Posted inNews
After 220 Days, Leqaa Kordia Is the Last Columbia Protester in ICE Detention. She’s Still Fighting for Freedom.
Leqaa Kordia, 32, attended her asylum hearing via webcam on Thursday, Oct. 23. The blue light of the monitor displayed multiple windows framing her lawyer, the judge, and the government prosecutor. Her team laid out an argument it had made multiple times already: If Kordia, who is Palestinian, is deported to Israel, she will be […]
Posted inNews
‘None of It Makes Any Sense’: New Details in the July 4 ICE Attack Show Holes in Feds’ Case
On July 12, Amber Lowrey arrived at her sister’s apartment in Fort Worth. The FBI had raided it days earlier, Lowrey said, and she surveyed the wreckage: shattered windows, broken doors, damaged floorboards from a flash bang. Agents seized four “pages of map documents,” according to a property receipt reviewed by The Barbed Wire. Lowrey’s […]
Posted inNews
She Survived 141 Days in ICE Custody Thanks to a ‘Beautiful Sisterhood.’ Now She’s Fighting for Those Still Inside.
On the evening of Feb. 11, 22-year-old Ward Sakeik sat on a plane from the U.S. Virgin Islands to Miami. She and her husband, Taahir Shaikh, were returning from their honeymoon, but he was sitting a few rows away. She didn’t look back at him — her handlers told her that even smiling at him […]
Posted inSpanish
Aproximadamente Un Millón de Estudiantes en Texas Tiene Al Menos Un Padre Indocumentado. ¿Quién los protegerá cuando llegue el ICE?
Jonatan Pech, de dieciocho años, iba de copiloto en el carro de su familia, mientras la luz del coche alumbraba la oscuridad la mañana. Cristian, su hermano mayor, agarraba el volante firmemente. La música cambiaba entre el rap de Houston, la salsa y el R&B, que servían de canciones de cuna para su hermana Esme […]
Posted inNews
A ‘Shameful’ Legacy: Texas Has Officially Opened an ICE Detention Facility at Site of WWII Internment Camp
In El Paso on Sunday, the Trump Administration opened the doors to Camp East Montana, the largest ICE detention facility in the country’s history. It reportedly cost $1.2 billion under a U.S. Defense Department contract. The new facility is at Fort Bliss, one of five sites where Texas held detainees of Japanese descent, as well […]
Posted inNews
Nearly a Million Texas Students Have an Undocumented Parent. Who Will Protect Them When ICE Comes?
Eighteen-year-old Jonatan Pech sat in the passenger seat of his family’s sedan as their headlights pierced the morning darkness. His older brother, Cristian, gripped the steering wheel. The music shuffled between Houston rap to salsa and then R&B, lullabies for his sister Esme who slept in the backseat while his mom, Teresa, looked out the […]
Posted inNews
California Priests Said They’ve Made ICE Agents ‘Scatter.’ Can Clergy Do the Same in Texas?
In early July, an asylum seeker from Nicaragua arrived for a routine hearing at the immigration court in Harlingen, Texas. Inside the nondescript, tan brick building, Carlos went through his case, explaining that he’d been in the U.S. for the last five years. In that time, he’d attended every court date, every ICE check-in, and […]