When residents of Madison County, North Carolina, sought to speak about the county’s AI surveillance cameras at a recent Madison County Commissioners meeting, commissioner Michael Garrison’s response was simple: “You will not speak on Flock tonight.” A clip capturing Garrison’s move to prevent public comment soon went viral, resonating with others waging similar battles in their communities.
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As Donald Trump’s administration came to power in 2025, immigrant justice groups were immediately tasked with rapidly adapting to the intensification of immigration enforcement. Neighborhoods around the country began self-organizing, creating rapid response networks to prepare for impending Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) raids. In many of these places, immigration justice organizing was…
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Minnesota activists and scholars are decrying the recent federal indictment of 15 people who took part in demonstrations against the Trump administration’s aggressive immigration crackdown in the Twin Cities metro region earlier this year. The indictment accuses the protesters of surveilling federal agents, disrupting Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) operations…
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The 2026 World Cup has captured the world’s attention.
The highs and lows. The surprises. The United States’ defeat of Paraguay 4-1 in their first game. Cabo Verde’s tie with Spain. Ecuador’s defeat of Germany. Fans cried in the stadium and around the world from joy and disbelief.
Here in Brazil, it is an obsession. Around-the-clock coverage. Watch parties on huge screens in cities across the country. People glued to their TVs.
But the 2026 games in the United States, Mexico, and Canada have also been overshadowed by US President Donald Trump’s administration—specifically, his anti-immigration crackdown and authoritarian backslide.
Fans, players, and even world-class referees have been barred from entering the United States for the World Cup. Players have been detained, questioned, and had their luggage searched by dogs. Videos have gone viral of African players facing extended searches and security checks. The Democratic Republic of Congo’s most avid supporter was forced to return home after he failed to obtain a visa.
US officials forced Iran’s team to stay in Mexico, even though their games were played in the United States. Their logistics people were blocked from entering the US at all because they couldn’t get visas.
“This is a disaster World Cup,” Mehdi Taremi, the Iran National Team captain, said in a press conference. “We can’t stay in the country and have to travel every time we play without any recovery. Now we can’t stay in Seattle and have to return to Tijuana. This is not fair.”
The captain of Iran’s National Team, Mehdi Taremi, calls out FIFA and the U.S.:“This is a disaster World Cup. We can’t stay in the country and have to travel
Republicans are quietly constructing a punishment regime to prepare for post-democratic governance. They just don’t want you to know about it yet.
That was our takeaway from a recent exchange with Republican Congressman Mike Lawler on the steps of Capitol Hill. We asked him why Republicans were proposing an additional $70 billion for Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Customs and Border Patrol—funding that the party eventually passed through a process called reconciliation, a maneuver that allowed them to bypass the filibuster in the Senate without Democratic support.
The funding, now approved, was proposed without any details. A perplexing omission, given that the Big Beautiful Bill had already bestowed an eye-popping $140 billion on the controversial immigration agencies, at least $100 billion of which remains unspent, according to a report by the Senate Budget Committee Democratic staff.
So, we asked him, “What was all this money for?”
“Are you for abolishing ICE?” Lawler shot back. We ignored his question and tried to push for specifics. He offered none.
But his non-answer was revealing. The lack of details could be written off as politics as usual, but our recent reporting suggests something more insidious.
That’s because the plan to provide nearly unlimited funding to ICE and CBP without explicit justification is just one part of a broader project that we have watched unfold on Capitol Hill. All together, it’s a push to construct the most expansive punishment regime in recent American history. And it’s a necessary component of the authoritarian overhaul pursued by the Trump administration.
The funding for ICE is just a down payment on critical infrastructure necessary to make it work.
Punishment, as we’ve observed, is currently at
How should Juneteenth be understood, be celebrated, be remembered, given this moment of deep anti-democratic machinations and authoritarian/fascistic ambitions cultivated at the “highest” offices within this land? The tension between the sense of renewed freedom that Juneteenth engenders and the profound unfreedom that this country perpetuates is not lost on me. Indeed, as the 250th anniversary of…
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