Eric Umansky
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ericumansky.bsky.social
Eric Umansky
@ericumansky.bsky.social
20K followers 740 following 930 posts
Editor-at-Large @ProPublica. I ❤️ evidence-based journalism, and good trouble. Tips/ideas: [email protected] and securely on Signal EricUmansky.04.

More about me: https://www.propublica.org/people/eric-umansky
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ericumansky.bsky.social
Wait, wut.

www.nytimes.com/2025/11/25/u...
Many of the facts that concerned critics about Mr. Trump's physical health during his first term are present now. He dogs not get regular exercise, in part because he has a long-held theory that people are born with a finite amount of energy and that vigorous activity can deplete that reserves like a battery. He enjoys red meat and is
November 26, 2025 at 4:36 AM
ericumansky.bsky.social
She's a nurse & grandmother who had been here for 30 years

She had a work permit

She was taken when she went to her annual ICE check-in

She was shipped to Ghana, where she was dragged on the floor.

She was then shipped to Sierra Leone, from which she had fled, and *despite a court order.*
gbrockell.bsky.social Gillian Brockell @gbrockell.bsky.social · 5h
Ms. Kuyateh was one of 19 third-country nationals sent to Ghana on Nov. 6. At least 61 TCNs have been removed there since September.

Others report similar treatment. Nigerians were forced to cross into Togo w/o documents, rendering them essentially stateless

www.nbcwashington.com/investigatio...
Woman deported from Maryland shown on video being dragged in Ghana
Rabbiatu Kuyateh was detained this summer at her annual ICE check-in, her son said. She moved to the D.C. area 30 years ago as she fled civil war in Sierra Leone.
www.nbcwashington.com
November 26, 2025 at 2:46 AM
ericumansky.bsky.social
Btw, why describe this as a “controversial video”? Controversial to whom?

www.washingtonpost.com/national-sec...
7:11 Done L 1k の 山 ... By Noah Robertson and Jeremy Roebuck The FBI has requested interviews with Democratic lawmakers who appeared in a controversial video last week reminding U.S. service members of their dur to disobey unlawful orders, further escalating the Trump administration's campaign to punish
November 26, 2025 at 12:13 AM
Reposted by Eric Umansky
brendannyhan.bsky.social
The decline of religion as a source of meaning in people's lives remains underrated as a factor shaping society. The need doesn't go away - they just seek it out elsewhere in (often false) health/wellness beliefs, (often highly polarized/conflictual) politics, etc. www.nytimes.com/2025/11/25/o...
November 25, 2025 at 3:30 PM
Reposted by Eric Umansky
gadyepstein.bsky.social
“We’ve tried to not have to do it, but we've got direct orders,” the masked ICE agents told them www.nbcsandiego.com/news/local/i...
"I asked for their names. They didn't give me their full names," Hestmark recalled of the agents. "They didn't show me their badge numbers. They didn't remove their masks. They simply said, 'We have a warrant for his arrest, and they handed me a QR code, and they put my husband in handcuffs. And they took him and said I couldn't follow." "She was just stunned," Paul said. "She kept asking what was wrong, what did we do? We'd done everything right." "We kept asking them if there was something we could do, if there was any way we could keep her from being separated from the family," he continued. We’re just trying to figure out what's happening, and they're just telling us, I'm sorry. We’ve tried to not have to do it, but we've got direct orders."| • "I had to take my baby, our baby, from his crying mother's arms," Paul said. "We were completely shocked, and I feel like we were tricked," Hestmark said. "We went through every possible legal and appropriate channel. We followed the advice of our lawyer. We were told that our case was straight forward." "He just wanted to be part of this country and for us to start our future together. And he wanted to do it… "Tom isn't in the system. I can't find him," Hestmark said. "I can't call him. I can't put money into his account. The lawyer doesn't know how to proceed because he hasn't been charged with anything." Both said their spouses were able to call them Thursday night, and they believed they were still being held in the basement of the federal building as of Friday afternoon. "She said that she was scared. She was anxious, missed her baby. She just wants to come home," Paul said. "She said the agents themselves were in the detention down in the basement of the federal building, saying, What are we doing here? These aren't the sort of people were supposed to be arresting.” "They hadn't given him anything to eat or any information," Hestmark said. "They gave him a mat and a foil blanket to sleep on." As she was detailing his arrest Friday afternoon, Bilger called Hestmark again from detention. She said he told her they had moved him to the Otay Mesa Detention Center and back but he hadn't slept and still hadn't been processed. "My wife's alone and terrified," Paul said. "My baby doesn't have his mom to hold him. I can't work right…
November 25, 2025 at 12:26 PM
ericumansky.bsky.social
After one of the worst acts of racial terror in our history, *we erased it.*

We didn't teach it.

We didn't take anyone to trial.

Police records disappeared.

So did newspaper archives.

The silence continued until 2020, when people, you could say, woke up.

www.nytimes.com/2025/11/24/u...
In the years to come, the Tulsa massacre was not widely taught in American history classes. In Tulsa itself, memory was suppressed. Police records vanished, newspaper archives were tampered with, and victims were buried in unmarked graves. Some residents reached adulthood unaware that the massacre had happened. But its 100th anniversary, in 2021, brought it renewed attention, coming a year after the murder of George Floyd, a Black man, by a white Minneapolis police officer, had sparked nationwide protests.
November 25, 2025 at 3:21 AM
Reposted by Eric Umansky
jeisinger.bsky.social
I’m still flabbergasted — and not a little bummed out — that we could write a long series of stories listing zillionaire after zillionaire who didn’t pay taxes for years and years — and basically nothing happened
November 25, 2025 at 1:28 AM
ericumansky.bsky.social
What our government is doing to families who follow the rules.

www.propublica.org/article/ice-...
In South Carolina, a Colombian family of five went to a government office for a fingerprinting appointment, only to have the parents detained while the children — ages 5, 11 and 15 — were sent into the shelter system for four months. In South Florida, a 17-year-old from Guatemala was taken into custody because officers couldn’t make contact with his dad after a traffic stop; his dad is deaf. In Maryland, a 17-year-old from Mexico ended up in a shelter after making a wrong turn onto military property.
November 24, 2025 at 8:56 PM
ericumansky.bsky.social
BREAKING: Trump is again separating kids from families

The govt isn't releasing info, but we found ICE has sent record # of kids to shelters.

One family went to govt office , only to have parents detained while the children—aged 5, 11 and 1--went to shelters

www.propublica.org/article/ice-...
ICE Sent 600 Immigrant Kids to Detention in Federal Shelters This Year. It’s a New Record.
Under a zero tolerance policy, the first Trump administration separated immigrant children from their families at the U.S.-Mexico border. New data suggests separations are happening all over the count...
www.propublica.org
November 24, 2025 at 6:10 PM
ericumansky.bsky.social
“Israel has destroyed more than 1,500 buildings in areas of Gaza that have remained under its control since the ceasefire.

“Many of the razed buildings did not appear to be damaged prior to being destroyed. There were houses with gardens, trees and some small orchards.”

www.bbc.com/news/article...
Israel has destroyed more than 1,500 buildings in Gaza since ceasefire
Entire neighbourhoods controlled by Israel have been levelled in less than a month, the images show.
www.bbc.com
November 23, 2025 at 5:57 PM
ericumansky.bsky.social
Olbermann.

www.nytimes.com/2025/11/21/s...
3:41 . he day alter our conversation, Mr. Olbermann called to clarity something that had not come up; he wanted it known that they did not begin a physical relationship until Ms. Nuzzi was 19. Ms. Nuzzi apparently does not consider her relationship with Mr. Olbermann to have been "marriage-y." "I have not ever before and will not now acknowledge any claims made by this person," she wrote in a text. <
November 22, 2025 at 8:48 PM
ericumansky.bsky.social
Agents of course have been breaking many car windows -- with kids inside, and leaving people bloodied and traumatized.

projects.propublica.org/trump-ice-sm...
November 22, 2025 at 2:57 PM
ericumansky.bsky.social
She was 18. He was 52.

“It was marriage-y,” Mr. Olbermann said.

www.nytimes.com/2025/11/21/s...
They met for dinner, she was 18. He was 52l Instead of working together, they began dating, he said. They got two Maltese puppies and James Thurber-inspired tattoos. "It was marriage-y," Mr. Olbermann said. "It was very much an at-home-with-the-dogs sort of thing."
November 22, 2025 at 3:20 AM
Reposted by Eric Umansky
nicolefoy.bsky.social
yet another case of U.S. Citizens arrested by immigration agents on serious charges — then the government drops those charges

A common trait in many cases of citizens detained by immigration agents that @propublica.org reviewed

www.propublica.org/article/immi...
jmetr22b.bsky.social Jason Meisner @jmetr22b.bsky.social · 5d
DEVELOPING: With prosecutors abruptly moving to dismiss all charges, Marimar Martinez’s case is poised to be the latest — and clearly highest-profile — indictment against “Operation Midway Blitz” protesters to disintegrate at the Dirksen U.S. Courthouse.
Story: www.chicagotribune.com/2025/11/20/m...
Feds move to dismiss charges against woman shot by border agent amid controversy over bragging texts
Federal prosecutors on Thursday abruptly moved to dismiss all charges against a woman shot by a Border Patrol agent after she allegedly rammed his vehicle in Brighton Park last month, marking a str…
www.chicagotribune.com
November 21, 2025 at 7:44 PM
ericumansky.bsky.social
"Scientific orthodoxy" doesn't feel like the description....science.
November 21, 2025 at 7:17 PM
ericumansky.bsky.social
Daniel Lozano-Camargo was shipped to Venezuela despite federal court deal protecting him from deportation.

Now, he's missing.

storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...

@kylecheney05.bsky.social
November 21, 2025 at 4:07 PM
ericumansky.bsky.social
Amazing.

www.nytimes.com/2025/11/19/u...
The government's team consisted of Ms. Halligan, a former White House aide and Gersonal lawyer to Mr. Trump who is working on the first criminal case of her career. She was accompanied by Mr. Lemons and another assistant U.S.
November 19, 2025 at 9:20 PM
ericumansky.bsky.social
In Trump’s America…

www.nytimes.com/2025/11/17/u...
Lubbock Will Remove Buddy Holly-Themed Crosswalk After Federal Crackdown
www.nytimes.com
November 19, 2025 at 1:44 PM
ericumansky.bsky.social
Quite a defense.
A spokesperson for Summers said that the woman described in the exchanges was never Summers' student, but declined to comment further for this articles
November 17, 2025 at 1:27 PM
ericumansky.bsky.social
“They described being asked to drop cases for political reasons, to find evidence for flimsy investigations and to take positions in court they thought had no legitimate basis. They also talked about work they told to abandon — investigations of terrorist plots, corruption and white-collar fraud”
barbmcquade.bsky.social Barb McQuade @barbmcquade.bsky.social · 8d
Gift link to NYT article about the corruption of DOJ. One former insider says “I wouldn’t even call it the Justice Department anymore. It’s become Trump’s personal law firm. … [T]he American people should be enraged.”
www.nytimes.com/interactive/...
60 Attorneys on the Year of Chaos Inside Trump’s Justice Department (Gift Article)
Sixty former staffers describe an environment of suspicion and intimidation within the nation’s most powerful law enforcement agency.
www.nytimes.com
November 17, 2025 at 1:19 PM
Reposted by Eric Umansky
sifill.bsky.social
What is he talking about? I mean, seriously.
atrupar.com Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 9d
Bessent on tariffs: "This is one of President Trump's signature policies, and traditionally the Supreme Court does not interfere with a president's signature policy."
November 16, 2025 at 3:40 PM
ericumansky.bsky.social
"encroachment"?
theatlantic.com The Atlantic @theatlantic.com · 9d
Republicans are at odds about how to handle the white-nationalist influencer Nick Fuentes’s encroachment into their ranks, @alibreland.bsky.social writes. He asked Fuentes about being the center of a crisis in American conservatism:
The Nick Fuentes Spiral
The reckoning with the white-nationalist influencer’s rise is only getting messier.
bit.ly
November 16, 2025 at 3:57 PM
ericumansky.bsky.social
"I was thrown to the ground and choked with my pectoral cross." -priest who was protesting peacefully.
November 16, 2025 at 12:28 AM
ericumansky.bsky.social
If you’re gonna be a politician, perhaps best to not leave freezer full of pet carcasses when you sell your store.

Also, feces and urine.

www.nytimes.com/2025/11/14/u...
Julia Baran, the new owner of the Animal Connection, said in an interview on Friday that nobody from the Lurie administration called her or visited the pet store during their vetting process. It they had, she gala, they would have learned that Ms. Alcaraz left behind a freezer stuffed with pet corpses. Furthermore, she said, the store was covered in urine and feces and short on inventory. "I'm very familiar with the smell of death now," she said.
November 15, 2025 at 8:16 PM
ericumansky.bsky.social
This comparison is a shonda.

www.nytimes.com/2025/11/15/u...
Mr. Carlson explained his nonconfrontational approach to lor Fuentes in part by saying that he viewed himself as more of an oral historian in the manner of Studs Terkel than an interrogator. Acknowleuging that he had not prepared much before interviewing Mr. Fuentes, he said, "Honestly, I was guilty of the same thing I criticize others for, which is judging him by a few three-minute clips I saw."
November 15, 2025 at 6:59 PM