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Clients of a Trump-connected lobbying firm keep landing no-bid ICE contracts

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Ian Gordon @idgordon.bsky.social · 18h

How a lobbying shop with deep ties to Trumpworld helped land a lucrative no-bid ICE deal for a company that for years had struggled to break into federal contracting (1/x)

Ballard Partners is helping companies cash in on the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown.

How a tiny, inexperienced firm landed a $1.3 billion detention deal

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Ian Gordon @idgordon.bsky.social · 21h

In July, a subcontractor died in a workplace accident.
In August, Fort Bliss began accepting immigrant detainees.
In September, ICE’s own inspectors found that conditions at the facility violated at least 60 federal standards for immigrant detention. (4/4)

How a tiny, inexperienced firm landed a $1.3 billion detention deal

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Ian Gordon @idgordon.bsky.social · 21h

The Navy’s deal with Acquisition Logistics to build a detention facility at Fort Bliss is akin to “a guy who is running a one-taxi firm” getting a “giant transportation contract” (3/x)

How a tiny, inexperienced firm landed a $1.3 billion detention deal

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Ian Gordon @idgordon.bsky.social · 21h

“It’s weird.”
“It seems messy.”
That’s what experts had to say about the $1.3 billion contract handed to a tiny firm called Acquisition Logistics to run a detention facility at Texas’ Fort Bliss Army base. (2/x)

How a tiny, inexperienced firm landed a $1.3 billion detention deal

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Ian Gordon @idgordon.bsky.social · 21h

Acquisition Logistics had no prior experience in incarceration. Previously, its biggest federal contract was $16 million, and CEO Ken Wagner is circling retirement at 77. Could it safely operate a 5,000-bed detention facility? (1/x)

The vast, terrifying scale of Trump’s detention state

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Reposted by Ian Gordon

Eunice Cho @eunicehcho.bsky.social · 23h

Very helpful visuals of ICE's enormous expansion due to the BBB by @motherjones.com : www.motherjones.com/politics/202...

With $75 billion and thousands of masked agents, ICE is just getting started.

www.motherjones.com

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Reposted by Ian Gordon

Kiera Butler @kieraevebutler.bsky.social · 21h

I joined @juliekkohler.bsky.social on the White Picket Fence podcast to discuss the growing pronatalist movement: who's behind it, what it stands for, and its links to Christian Nationalism. Listen here: lnk.to/wpf-ep3

Seizing the Means of Reproduction

Lately, our government has seemed a little...baby crazy. President Trump declared he will be the "fertilization president." Vice President JD Vance announced he wants to see "more babies in the United...

lnk.to

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Reposted by Ian Gordon

Samantha Michaels @samanthamichaels.bsky.social · 21h

Did you hear about the tiny company based out of a random house in Virginia that won $1.3 billion to build an ICE detention center?

How did it get that deal? Turns out a lot of the money is going to a bigger firm—whose owner is friendly with the Trump fam. www.motherjones.com/politics/202...

How a tiny, inexperienced firm landed a $1.3 billion detention deal

www.motherjones.com

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Ian Gordon @idgordon.bsky.social · 21h

Meanwhile, red-state governors have been gleefully proposing their own versions of Alligator Alcatraz, with alliterative names such as “Cornhusker Clink” (Nebraska) and “Speedway Slammer” (Indiana) (6/6) bit.ly/48SIJCP

Despite shocking conditions and rampant “psychological warfare,” copycats are popping up around the country.

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Ian Gordon @idgordon.bsky.social · 21h

At 13 feet above sea level and surrounded by swampland, Alligator Alcatraz is vulnerable to hurricanes and tropical storms, which hit the area every two years on average. (Officials claim the site can withstand a Category 2 storm.) (5/x)

Despite shocking conditions and rampant “psychological warfare,” copycats are popping up around the country.

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Ian Gordon @idgordon.bsky.social · 21h

An immigration lawyer called the conditions at Alligator Alcatraz “psychological warfare”—detainees are trapped in limbo for weeks in always-lit tents as their immigration cases languish, despite the state’s promises to set up makeshift courts and quickly process those inside (4/x)

Despite shocking conditions and rampant “psychological warfare,” copycats are popping up around the country.

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Ian Gordon @idgordon.bsky.social · 21h

Initially, there was no water to flush toilets and little access to showers. Drinking water was permitted only at mealtimes. During frequent summer rains, the tents leaked. (3/x)

Despite shocking conditions and rampant “psychological warfare,” copycats are popping up around the country.

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Ian Gordon @idgordon.bsky.social · 21h

According to an ACLU lawsuit, exposure to sun and mosquitoes is “used as form of punishment and retaliation, with restrained individuals placed outside for hours at a time to be bitten and sun burned” (2/x)

Despite shocking conditions and rampant “psychological warfare,” copycats are popping up around the country.

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Ian Gordon @idgordon.bsky.social · 21h

Chain-link cages. Flooded tents. Clouds of mosquitoes. Malfunctioning AC. Scarce food. Zero recreational time: Inside the hell of Alligator Alcatraz. (1/x)

Despite shocking conditions and rampant “psychological warfare,” copycats are popping up around the country.

The vast, terrifying scale of Trump’s detention state

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Ian Gordon @idgordon.bsky.social · 1d

And with its expanding workforce, ICE is planning to arrest more people, in more places, and in more problematic ways than ever before bit.ly/4o9oW6y (8/x)

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Ian Gordon @idgordon.bsky.social · 1d

Here’s a closer look at just how big the detention state has already gotten bit.ly/4o9oW6y (7/x)

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Ian Gordon @idgordon.bsky.social · 1d

ICE wants to hire 10,000 new agents. It has already lowered its standards to reach that goal. bit.ly/4o9oW6y (6/x)

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Ian Gordon @idgordon.bsky.social · 1d

As of September, there were 186 immigration detention centers in operation. Another 50 facilities were expected to open by the end of the year. bit.ly/4o9oW6y (5/x)

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Ian Gordon @idgordon.bsky.social · 1d

It’s not just that there’s more money to detain and deport undocumented immigrants. There’s also been a shift in the kinds of folks the feds are arresting—and where they’re being arrested. bit.ly/4o9oW6y (4/x)

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Ian Gordon @idgordon.bsky.social · 1d

Not only has ICE’s budget skyrocketed past those of other federal law enforcement agencies, but the money is increasingly being handed out to contractors without first collecting competing bids bit.ly/4o9oW6y (3/x)

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Ian Gordon @idgordon.bsky.social · 1d

For starters, how big is ICE's budget? This big: bit.ly/4o9oW6y (2/x)

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Ian Gordon @idgordon.bsky.social · 1d

ICE’s detention state, by the numbers (1/x)

With $75 billion and thousands of masked agents, ICE is just getting started.