Gillian Brockell
@gbrockell.bsky.social
I track ICE flights and third-country removals. Recent words in The American Prospect, Zeteo, Rolling Stone. Former WaPo (sigh), former flight attendant.
Signal: gbrockell.44
https://gillianbrockell.ghost.io/
PFP: Angelina Grimké
Signal: gbrockell.44
https://gillianbrockell.ghost.io/
PFP: Angelina Grimké
Pinned
Gillian Brockell
@gbrockell.bsky.social
· Oct 10
NEW: The private jet that flew 10 shackled migrants to an Eswatini prison last weekend is owned by Israeli-American billionaires with close ties to Trump.
It’s oligarchs all the way down.
My first for @zeteo.com:
zeteo.com/p/this-famil...
It’s oligarchs all the way down.
My first for @zeteo.com:
zeteo.com/p/this-famil...
I spoke to a UU minister tonight who just got back from a week in Minneapolis. She said it’s so much worse than we’re seeing on social media.
i am at a unitarian universalist meeting. the attendance is fifty fifty retirees and college students. everyone here knows who alex pretti is and everyone here is pissed beyond belief
and none of us are afraid
and none of us are afraid
January 25, 2026 at 3:41 AM
I spoke to a UU minister tonight who just got back from a week in Minneapolis. She said it’s so much worse than we’re seeing on social media.
Reposted by Gillian Brockell
It was so bitterly cold this morning that I couldn't take my fingers out of my gloves for more than 30 seconds without them burning. But I really wanted footage of MN residents shaming ICE/CBP agents to their faces.
So I hit "record" with my chin and just aimed my phone at stuff. Like this.
So I hit "record" with my chin and just aimed my phone at stuff. Like this.
January 25, 2026 at 3:27 AM
It was so bitterly cold this morning that I couldn't take my fingers out of my gloves for more than 30 seconds without them burning. But I really wanted footage of MN residents shaming ICE/CBP agents to their faces.
So I hit "record" with my chin and just aimed my phone at stuff. Like this.
So I hit "record" with my chin and just aimed my phone at stuff. Like this.
Reposted by Gillian Brockell
Since July, I've tracked at least 2,300 cases in which federal judges have ruled ICE has illegally detained people without bond or due process.
This is one that stands out:
storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...
This is one that stands out:
storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...
January 25, 2026 at 2:36 AM
Since July, I've tracked at least 2,300 cases in which federal judges have ruled ICE has illegally detained people without bond or due process.
This is one that stands out:
storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...
This is one that stands out:
storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...
Seconded. When I joined Bsky, “elders” said the culture here was to not screenshot X posts and bring them over here. That seems to have degraded as more people have joined, but I’d love if we went back to that.
I don't know that it helps to repost here every awful post made by awful people on all forms of social media. It feels very masochistic, given we know they're terrible and will speak horrors every time they open their beaks.
January 25, 2026 at 3:29 AM
Seconded. When I joined Bsky, “elders” said the culture here was to not screenshot X posts and bring them over here. That seems to have degraded as more people have joined, but I’d love if we went back to that.
“Abolish ICE” isn’t even the center position anymore, it’s the center-right position.
YouGov is out with a new poll after ICE killed another person in Minnesota today. Abolishing ICE is now +5 among all adults, and **+12 among independents**
substack.com/@gelliottmor...
substack.com/@gelliottmor...
January 25, 2026 at 3:25 AM
“Abolish ICE” isn’t even the center position anymore, it’s the center-right position.
Reposted by Gillian Brockell
There's almost 500 replies and quote-posts to this. I ask the question because I want people to know they are not alone, and to remind people they still need to eat. I am also going to make another donation tonight to a food bank.
what are people stress eating?
January 25, 2026 at 2:51 AM
There's almost 500 replies and quote-posts to this. I ask the question because I want people to know they are not alone, and to remind people they still need to eat. I am also going to make another donation tonight to a food bank.
Reposted by Gillian Brockell
By Saturday afternoon, some Trump admin. personnel had already begun scouring the internet and other resources trying to find information on Alex Pretti, including social media posts, that could tie him to what Team Trump call “extremists,” two sources familiar with the matter tell @zeteo.com …
New: Alex Pretti, the man killed by the Trump-Vance mob of agents was an outdoorsmen, a mountain biker, an ICU nurse who "would go out of his way to help," say Veterans Affairs colleagues.
Cheerful. Funny. Gentle.
And still, per sources, Trump officials are urging staff to call him a "terrorist."
Cheerful. Funny. Gentle.
And still, per sources, Trump officials are urging staff to call him a "terrorist."
DHS Shooting Victim in Minneapolis Was a ‘Sweet’ and ‘Principled Person’
Zeteo spoke with two doctors who worked with Alex Pretti, a nurse who is the latest victim of Trump’s violent invasion of Minnesota.
zeteo.com
January 25, 2026 at 2:32 AM
By Saturday afternoon, some Trump admin. personnel had already begun scouring the internet and other resources trying to find information on Alex Pretti, including social media posts, that could tie him to what Team Trump call “extremists,” two sources familiar with the matter tell @zeteo.com …
Reposted by Gillian Brockell
People already working hard to prove how perfect Alex Pretti was. To show he didn't "deserve" to be killed. But it's a trap folks. You're only feeding into a dynamic where people who are considered lesser get no protection. You don't have to be an Alex Pretti to deserve to live.
January 24, 2026 at 8:17 PM
People already working hard to prove how perfect Alex Pretti was. To show he didn't "deserve" to be killed. But it's a trap folks. You're only feeding into a dynamic where people who are considered lesser get no protection. You don't have to be an Alex Pretti to deserve to live.
Reposted by Gillian Brockell
BREAKING: A young doctor who lives near where Alex Pretti, a nurse, was killed by ICE says in a declaration he saw the shooting, went out to help, was not let through at first then patted down before being let by, and was apparently the first to try and provide any medical assistance to Pretti.
January 25, 2026 at 1:57 AM
BREAKING: A young doctor who lives near where Alex Pretti, a nurse, was killed by ICE says in a declaration he saw the shooting, went out to help, was not let through at first then patted down before being let by, and was apparently the first to try and provide any medical assistance to Pretti.
Reposted by Gillian Brockell
Filming ICE is an act of journalism. Cell phone footage is vital source material for reporters who can’t be everywhere at once.
Shooting, killing and other targeting of those documenting news is an attack on press freedom and all else that's good in the world.
Shooting, killing and other targeting of those documenting news is an attack on press freedom and all else that's good in the world.
Videos show federal agents killing Minneapolis man
Some details of federal government’s account of the shooting aren’t supported by footage captured by bystanders.
www.startribune.com
January 25, 2026 at 12:40 AM
Filming ICE is an act of journalism. Cell phone footage is vital source material for reporters who can’t be everywhere at once.
Shooting, killing and other targeting of those documenting news is an attack on press freedom and all else that's good in the world.
Shooting, killing and other targeting of those documenting news is an attack on press freedom and all else that's good in the world.
Reposted by Gillian Brockell
Alex Pretti did more for this country than any of the scum in the current regime.
January 25, 2026 at 1:30 AM
Alex Pretti did more for this country than any of the scum in the current regime.
Reposted by Gillian Brockell
this reminds me of the way i’ve seen susan bro speak about her daughter, heather heyer. when a fascist murders your child, you aren’t allowed to just grieve. you have to defend their memory, even their very grave.
Kare 11 local news just read, in full, this statement from Michael and Susan Pretti, the parents of Alex Pretti.
"Please get the truth out about our son."
"Please get the truth out about our son."
January 25, 2026 at 1:10 AM
this reminds me of the way i’ve seen susan bro speak about her daughter, heather heyer. when a fascist murders your child, you aren’t allowed to just grieve. you have to defend their memory, even their very grave.
Reposted by Gillian Brockell
Those 7 House Dems that walked the plank for Jeffries did it for nothing. I hope they get what they deserve in the primaries.
January 25, 2026 at 12:03 AM
Those 7 House Dems that walked the plank for Jeffries did it for nothing. I hope they get what they deserve in the primaries.
Imagine what’s happening on the deportation planes.
Imagine what’s happening in the camps.
Imagine how much they’d be lying about what happened without all the videos showing it from multiple angles.
January 25, 2026 at 1:38 AM
Imagine what’s happening on the deportation planes.
Reposted by Gillian Brockell
A lot of self described Christians seem to be banking on there not actually being a hell.
January 25, 2026 at 12:55 AM
A lot of self described Christians seem to be banking on there not actually being a hell.
Reposted by Gillian Brockell
HAPPENING NOW: A massive crowd is gathered in freezing temperatures outside ICE headquarters in DC to demand ICE OUT OF ALL COMMUNITIES NOW.
January 25, 2026 at 12:00 AM
HAPPENING NOW: A massive crowd is gathered in freezing temperatures outside ICE headquarters in DC to demand ICE OUT OF ALL COMMUNITIES NOW.
Reposted by Gillian Brockell
You could actually structure your moral code around the idea that law enforcement doesn't exist to execute people. You don't have to create perfect victim narratives, you can just refuse to accept that the state gets to kill people.
January 24, 2026 at 9:22 PM
You could actually structure your moral code around the idea that law enforcement doesn't exist to execute people. You don't have to create perfect victim narratives, you can just refuse to accept that the state gets to kill people.
Reposted by Gillian Brockell
centrists like to use terminology disputes as a proxy battle for actual policy fights, and engaging is often fruitless. if you don’t like the slogan use something else. but the agency needs to be hollowed out, every existing agent needs to be put on no-hire lists, and there need to be prosecutions.
January 24, 2026 at 6:02 PM
centrists like to use terminology disputes as a proxy battle for actual policy fights, and engaging is often fruitless. if you don’t like the slogan use something else. but the agency needs to be hollowed out, every existing agent needs to be put on no-hire lists, and there need to be prosecutions.
Reposted by Gillian Brockell
Worse than Kent State, really than any episode I can think of probably dating back to Reconstruc & earlier b/c
1. continuing, not 1 off.
2. organized, not individual ofcrs losing it
3. literally at hand of federal government, which is
4. immediately lying & circling the wagons to prevent inves.
1. continuing, not 1 off.
2. organized, not individual ofcrs losing it
3. literally at hand of federal government, which is
4. immediately lying & circling the wagons to prevent inves.
January 24, 2026 at 10:07 PM
Worse than Kent State, really than any episode I can think of probably dating back to Reconstruc & earlier b/c
1. continuing, not 1 off.
2. organized, not individual ofcrs losing it
3. literally at hand of federal government, which is
4. immediately lying & circling the wagons to prevent inves.
1. continuing, not 1 off.
2. organized, not individual ofcrs losing it
3. literally at hand of federal government, which is
4. immediately lying & circling the wagons to prevent inves.
Reposted by Gillian Brockell
This is fucking gross
January 24, 2026 at 9:16 PM
This is fucking gross
Reposted by Gillian Brockell
Nonviolence is, in fact, working. This administration is weaker than it was a year ago. More and more of the public is becoming galvanized against it; its agents are being impeded.
Do you honestly think people in the civil rights movement and other nonviolent movements faced no violence themselves? They practiced nonviolence because it works, because the oppressor wants a shooting war, which is the war it will win
How's your non-violent working Mr Gandhi stancil? They will kill each and everyone of you right if they had the chance and you will still be writing Kumbaya.
January 24, 2026 at 9:53 PM
Nonviolence is, in fact, working. This administration is weaker than it was a year ago. More and more of the public is becoming galvanized against it; its agents are being impeded.
Reposted by Gillian Brockell
Minneapolis police chief Brian O'Hara says that the victim was a 37-year-old white man and US citizen with no criminal record and that he was a legally permitted gun owner.
January 24, 2026 at 6:11 PM
Minneapolis police chief Brian O'Hara says that the victim was a 37-year-old white man and US citizen with no criminal record and that he was a legally permitted gun owner.
CONTENT WARNING: This is the video taken by the woman in the pink jacket, and it is brutal. It is on Reddit.
“What the fuck did you just do?! What the fuck did you just do?!”
“What the fuck did you just do?! What the fuck did you just do?!”
January 24, 2026 at 7:11 PM
CONTENT WARNING: This is the video taken by the woman in the pink jacket, and it is brutal. It is on Reddit.
“What the fuck did you just do?! What the fuck did you just do?!”
“What the fuck did you just do?! What the fuck did you just do?!”
Reposted by Gillian Brockell
Keep this in mind when you take in any press statements from DHS re the latest terrible incident/tragedy from Minneapolis.
Reporters I am begging you - you don’t have to cut and paste their statements.
Reporters I am begging you - you don’t have to cut and paste their statements.
Trump's DHS has 'repeatedly been caught' in outright lies: analysis
MS NOW data journalist Philip Bump says the public should no longer take the word of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) seriously anymore.“The skepticism one ought to bring to any pronounc...
www.alternet.org
January 24, 2026 at 4:26 PM
Keep this in mind when you take in any press statements from DHS re the latest terrible incident/tragedy from Minneapolis.
Reporters I am begging you - you don’t have to cut and paste their statements.
Reporters I am begging you - you don’t have to cut and paste their statements.
Reposted by Gillian Brockell
"if the secret execution police were just better trained, they'd be better at doing the executions," is what you sound like.
January 24, 2026 at 5:02 PM
"if the secret execution police were just better trained, they'd be better at doing the executions," is what you sound like.