by Isabela Escalona | Jan 20, 2026 | Article, ICE, labor, Minneapolis, Politics and Movements: US, Reprint
This story originally appeared in Workday Magazine on Jan. 20, 2026. It is shared here with permission.
On Jan 18, Twin Cities postal workers with the National Association of Letter Carriers (NALC) Branch 9 gathered at the post office on Lake Street in South Minneapolis to demand ICE discontinue its use of postal property to stage activity and demand that ICE leave Minnesota. The crowd of over 200 union members and allies marched down Lake Street to the block where Renee Good was shot and killed by ICE agent Jonathon Ross a few weeks before.
Speakers at the rally showed their support for the upcoming January 23 shutdown planned across Minnesota. Dozens of other Minnesota unions and workers centers have joined the call for a work-stoppage on Friday, despite contracts with no-strike clauses.
Emmet Bongaarts, a postal worker and NALC Branch 9 member said postal workers have been first-hand witnesses and responders to ICE’s “reign of terror” across Minnesota in recent weeks. Bongaart’s route is through the Central neighborhood in South Minneapolis, close to where Renee Good was killed. “People can’t leave their homes, businesses lock their doors,” he said of the environment of fear that ICE has created.
Chris Pennock, a postal worker and vice president of NALC Branch 9, said that postal workers are seeing the effects of ICE’s activity on the communities they serve. “People are scared to shovel the snow, to grab a package, no one deserves to be treated this way.” Pennock continued, “Letter carriers stand with immigrants, not ICE.”
The marchers chanted, “Protect our routes, get ICE out,” in support of letter carriers and postal workers organizing to end
by Mansa Musa | Jan 20, 2026 | Economy, labor, Politics and Movements: US, Prison Industrial Complex, prison reform, Prisons and Policing, Rattling the Bars, video
Returning citizens are being funneled into exploitative temp jobs that pay poverty wages, deny them basic labor protections, and deepen the state’s control over their lives long after they’ve served their time. This week, Mansa Musa speaks with Katherine Passley and Maya Ragsdale, co-executive directors of Beyond the Bars, about how Florida’s temp industry traps the most vulnerable workers and operates as a profitable and punishing extension of the prison system.Guests:
Maya Ragsdale is the founder and co-executive director of Beyond the Bars, a worker center in South Florida building the social and economic power of workers with criminal records and their families.
Katherine Passley is co-executive director of Beyond the Bars. Passley was named the 2025 Labor Organizer of the Year by In These Times magazine.
Additional links/info:
Beyond the Bars website, Substack, and Instagram
Beyond the Bars, The Temp Trap Report
Credits:
Producer / Videographer / Post-Production: Cameron Granadino
Transcript
The following is a rushed transcript and may contain errors. It will be updated.
Mansa Musa:
Returning citizens are routinely pushed out of permanent jobs and instead pushed into temporary work often for the same role. According to the Prison Policy Initiative, 27% of formerly incarcerated individuals are unemployed, a rate higher than the Great Depression. Temp agencies often circumvent anti-discrimination laws and workforce protections, fueling exploitation and instability for vulnerable workers. A new report, The Temp Trap by Beyond the Bar’s co-director Maya Ragsdale and Katherine Passley argues that the state supervision and workforce discrimination keeps returning citizens trapped. The authors say it’s as if returning citizens are still doing time. Maya and Katherine joins us today to discuss their finding from two years of research. Welcome to
by Michael Fox | Jan 20, 2026 | Podcast, Politics and Movements: US, Stories of Resistance
Today, people are protesting across the United States. They’re rallying. They’re walking off their jobs to mark the one-year anniversary of the inauguration of president Donald Trump.
It’s part of a nationwide protest called the “Free America Walkout.” It’s organized by the Women’s March, the group that led the huge women’s marches against Trump in his first term.
More than 400 events, rallies, and actions are happening throughout the United States. People are braving the cold weather, walking out of jobs and schools and standing up.
Today also marks the one-year anniversary of Stories of Resistance. This is the last episode of Season 1 of Stories of Resistance. Stay tuned for season 2 later this year.
Please check out our new season of Under the Shadow. It’s all about Trump’s onslaught in Latin America. You can listen and subscribe here.
BIG NEWS! This podcast has won Gold in this year’s Signal Awards for best history podcast! It’s a huge honor. Thank you so much to everyone who voted and supported.
Sign up for the Stories of Resistance podcast feed on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Spreaker, or wherever you listen. And please take a moment to rate and review the podcast. A little help goes a long way.
The Real News’s legendary host Marc Steiner has also won a Gold Signal Award for best episode host. You can listen and subscribe to the Marc Steiner Show here on Spotify or Apple Podcasts.
Please consider supporting this podcast and Michael Fox’s reporting on his Patreon account: patreon.com/mfox. There you can also see exclusive pictures, videos, and interviews.
Written and produced by Michael Fox.
Resources
Real News Stories:
Resisting ICE
‘We are facing a tsunami of hate’: Amid ICE
by Marc Steiner | Jan 20, 2026 | Gaza, Israel, Palestine, Podcast, Politics and Movements: International, Politics and Movements: US, The Marc Steiner Show
The Trump administration has said that the “second phase” of the ceasefire in Gaza is now in effect, but the fire has yet to cease. “What’s happening now is that we are still being settled silently, we are still being killed slowly, away from the world’s cameras,” Eyad Amawi, a father living in Gaza and a representative of the Gaza Relief Committee, tells The Marc Steiner Show this week. “That’s the real meaning of the ceasefire.”Get new weekly episodes of The Marc Steiner Show on Spotify and Apple Podcasts.Credits:Studio Production: Cameron GranadinoAudio Post-Production: Stephen Frank
Transcript
The following is a rushed transcript and may contain errors. It will be updated.
Speaker 1:
Papa!
Speaker 2:
[foreign language 00:00:14].
Eyad Amawi:
As the father for four children, really every night my children asked me, my little daughter ask me, “Papa, we will survive until tomorrow morning, or no?” This is the big questions, but my answer depends on my belief here. “Don’t worry, we will still alive, but you must sleep.”
Marc Steiner:
I’m Marc Steiner. Today we’re joined by Eyad Amawi. He lives in Gaza, he’s a Palestinian, a father and a husband. He’s the coordinator for the Gaza Relief Committee, trying to bring humanitarian aid to the people of Gaza. It’s hard for many of us to fathom the depth of destruction taking place in Gaza. The land, homes, hospitals, schools have been laid to waste. Starvation is rampant. And as we begin this conversation, over 75,000 people have been killed, including more than 25,000 children. And Eyad, welcome. It’s good to have you with us.
Eyad Amawi:
First of all, thank you. I have been following you for some times.
by Michael Fox | Jan 16, 2026 | Podcast, Politics and Movements: International, Politics and Movements: US, Under the Shadow, Venezuela
by Jake Johnson | Jan 16, 2026 | Article, ICE, immigration, Politics and Movements: US, Prisons and Policing, Reprint
This story originally appeared in Common Dreams on Jan. 16, 2026. It is shared here under a Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0) license.
A Texas medical examiner is reportedly planning to classify the recent death of Geraldo Lunas Campos, who was detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement last summer, as a homicide, marking the latest apparent abuse at the hands of an agency that has been rampaging lawlessly through US communities at the behest of President Donald Trump.
As the Washington Post reported Friday, “An employee of El Paso County’s Office of the Medical Examiner told Lunas Campos’ daughter this week that, subject to results of a toxicology report, the office is likely to classify the death as a homicide, according to a recording of the conversation.”
“The employee said a doctor there ‘is listing the preliminary cause of death as asphyxia due to neck and chest compression,’ which means Lunas Campos did not get enough oxygen because of pressure on his neck and chest,” the newspaper added.
In an interview with the Post, one detainee at the sprawling El Paso detention center known as Camp East Montana said he witnessed “at least five guards struggling with Lunas Campos after he refused to enter the segregation unit, complaining that he didn’t have his medications.”
The eyewitness, according to the Post, “said he saw guards choking Lunas Campos and heard Lunas Campos repeatedly saying, ‘No puedo respirar’—Spanish for ‘I can’t breathe.’ Medical staff tried to resuscitate him for an hour, after which they took his body away.”
Jeanette Pagan Lopez, the mother of two of Lunas Campos’ children, told the Post that she was contacted by agents from the
