Jonathan van Harmelen
@jonrvh88.bsky.social
Historian, journalist, occasional procrastinator, cinephile. Sometimes I drum. My website: https://jvanharmelen.com
Pinned
The Democrats Taking the Fight to ICE
Representative Robert Garcia is taking his oversight show on the road, collaborating with Los Angeles officials in the most wide-ranging examination of the Trump administration’s misdeeds to date.
newrepublic.com
My latest for the good folks @newrepublic.com, where I discuss the ongoing LA hearings investigating ICE/CBP led by @robertgarcia.house.gov. Looking forward to seeing how these hearings progress. Shoutouts to @gustavoarellano.bsky.social and @dceiver.bsky.social!
newrepublic.com/article/2020...
newrepublic.com/article/2020...
My latest for the good folks @newrepublic.com, where I discuss the ongoing LA hearings investigating ICE/CBP led by @robertgarcia.house.gov. Looking forward to seeing how these hearings progress. Shoutouts to @gustavoarellano.bsky.social and @dceiver.bsky.social!
newrepublic.com/article/2020...
newrepublic.com/article/2020...
The Democrats Taking the Fight to ICE
Representative Robert Garcia is taking his oversight show on the road, collaborating with Los Angeles officials in the most wide-ranging examination of the Trump administration’s misdeeds to date.
newrepublic.com
November 25, 2025 at 5:57 PM
My latest for the good folks @newrepublic.com, where I discuss the ongoing LA hearings investigating ICE/CBP led by @robertgarcia.house.gov. Looking forward to seeing how these hearings progress. Shoutouts to @gustavoarellano.bsky.social and @dceiver.bsky.social!
newrepublic.com/article/2020...
newrepublic.com/article/2020...
Reposted by Jonathan van Harmelen
I wrote about what Marjorie Taylor Greene gets right (the Trump administration has failed), what she gets wrong (basically everything else) and what her resignation says about the future of the GOP newrepublic.com/article/2036...
Marjorie Taylor Greene Is Playing the Long Game
The resigning Georgia congresswoman understands something that other Republicans don’t.
newrepublic.com
November 25, 2025 at 1:52 PM
I wrote about what Marjorie Taylor Greene gets right (the Trump administration has failed), what she gets wrong (basically everything else) and what her resignation says about the future of the GOP newrepublic.com/article/2036...
Reposted by Jonathan van Harmelen
John Kitsuse's name might bring up his sociological research, but he was more than an academic. A father, social butterfly, and respected chef, Kitsuse's life was much more than academia.
Remembering John Kitsuse: Sociologist, Colleague, and Chef—Part 2
Read Part 1 Chicago Tribune, November 4, 1958. The success of The Managed Casualty helped to launch Kitsuse’s career. It also led to a lifelong friendship with Leonard Broom, who remained in touch with Kitsuse throughout his life. In 1957, Kitsuse left Los Angeles and accepted the position of assistant professor of sociology at Northwestern University …
discovernikkei.org
November 23, 2025 at 5:00 PM
John Kitsuse's name might bring up his sociological research, but he was more than an academic. A father, social butterfly, and respected chef, Kitsuse's life was much more than academia.
Reposted by Jonathan van Harmelen
here's the latest on the effort to build a dedicated Wiki of all of ICE's brownshirt activity
migrantinsider.com/p/news-ice-l...
migrantinsider.com/p/news-ice-l...
NEWS: ICE List Launches Wiki to Expose Enforcement Network
The Europe-based volunteer-built database links raids, agents, vehicles, and legal structures, aiming to break the cycle of official secrecy.
migrantinsider.com
November 21, 2025 at 1:01 AM
here's the latest on the effort to build a dedicated Wiki of all of ICE's brownshirt activity
migrantinsider.com/p/news-ice-l...
migrantinsider.com/p/news-ice-l...
Reposted by Jonathan van Harmelen
ICE employee among 16 men arrested in Bloomington sex trafficking sting, police say.
"When he was arrested, he said, 'I'm ICE, boys,'" Hodges said during a press conference Tuesday. "Well, unfortunately for him, we locked him up."
"When he was arrested, he said, 'I'm ICE, boys,'" Hodges said during a press conference Tuesday. "Well, unfortunately for him, we locked him up."
ICE employee among 16 men arrested in Bloomington sex trafficking sting, police say
According to Bloomington Police Chief Booker Hodges, officers started the three-day sting on Nov. 5. They used several methods to find people who were attempting to solicit a 17-year-old girl for sex.
www.cbsnews.com
November 18, 2025 at 11:59 PM
ICE employee among 16 men arrested in Bloomington sex trafficking sting, police say.
"When he was arrested, he said, 'I'm ICE, boys,'" Hodges said during a press conference Tuesday. "Well, unfortunately for him, we locked him up."
"When he was arrested, he said, 'I'm ICE, boys,'" Hodges said during a press conference Tuesday. "Well, unfortunately for him, we locked him up."
Love the Bartleby the Scrivener reference @dceiver.bsky.social. Certainly a good overview of the Senate and its problems over the past two decades.
November 16, 2025 at 1:29 AM
Love the Bartleby the Scrivener reference @dceiver.bsky.social. Certainly a good overview of the Senate and its problems over the past two decades.
Reposted by Jonathan van Harmelen
MY LATEST @latimes.com ESSENTIAL CALIFORNIA NEWSLETTER: When immigration agents picked up a 15-year-old white teen. Share, porfas!
When immigration agents picked up a 15-year-old white teen
Your morning catch-up: Echoes of Eisenhower's immigration dragnet, SoCal’s atmospheric river storm and more big stories.
www.latimes.com
November 12, 2025 at 4:10 PM
MY LATEST @latimes.com ESSENTIAL CALIFORNIA NEWSLETTER: When immigration agents picked up a 15-year-old white teen. Share, porfas!
Reposted by Jonathan van Harmelen
New Column: OK, this can't go on forever? But why cave NOW? Really politically tone deaf. newrepublic.com/article/2029... via @newrepublic.com
Once Again, Senate Democrats Show They Don’t Get
Who They Represent
The party was riding high on election wins, a fractured GOP, and a flailing Trump. And then the Senate Surrender Caucus handed Republicans a win.
newrepublic.com
November 10, 2025 at 3:23 PM
New Column: OK, this can't go on forever? But why cave NOW? Really politically tone deaf. newrepublic.com/article/2029... via @newrepublic.com
Reposted by Jonathan van Harmelen
Nisei John Kitsuse endured a difficult youth, between illness and American wartime policies, but he overcame every hurdle to pursue groundbreaking research on Californian Nikkei.
Remembering John Kitsuse: Sociologist, Colleague, and Chef—Part 1
As a recent graduate of University of California Santa Cruz’s (UCSC) Ph.D program, I have recently taken to reflecting on the school’s connection with Asian American studies. Several prominent figures, including Judy Yung, Karen Tei Yamashita, Alice Yang, Christine Hong, Hiroshi Fukurai, Celine Parreñas Shimizu, Michael Jin, and Dana Takagi, have played important roles over …
discovernikkei.org
November 10, 2025 at 5:00 PM
Nisei John Kitsuse endured a difficult youth, between illness and American wartime policies, but he overcame every hurdle to pursue groundbreaking research on Californian Nikkei.
Reposted by Jonathan van Harmelen
MY LATEST @latimes.com FRONT-PAGER: In Chicago, residents mount a community-wide defense against Trump's deportation machine. Share, porfas!
Commentary: In Chicago, residents mount a community-wide defense against Trump's deportation machine
Over the past two months, ICE has swept throughout Chicago but has swung its hammer with gusto on Little Village, considered the Mexican heart of the city.
www.latimes.com
November 9, 2025 at 3:57 PM
MY LATEST @latimes.com FRONT-PAGER: In Chicago, residents mount a community-wide defense against Trump's deportation machine. Share, porfas!
My latest for the @sacbee.com, where I talk about my research on Japanese American incarceration and Justice Sotomayor’s recent dissent in the Vasquez Perdomo ruling. Also include a shoutout to the great @gustavoarellano.bsky.social for his great column. Check it out!
“The same failures to protect the rights of Japanese Americans and safeguard American civil liberties are happening again under Trump.”
Civil liberty threats under Trump echo Japanese American internment | Opinion
“The same failures to protect the rights of Japanese Americans and safeguard American civil liberties are happening again under Trump.”
bit.ly
November 9, 2025 at 12:37 AM
My latest for the @sacbee.com, where I talk about my research on Japanese American incarceration and Justice Sotomayor’s recent dissent in the Vasquez Perdomo ruling. Also include a shoutout to the great @gustavoarellano.bsky.social for his great column. Check it out!
Reposted by Jonathan van Harmelen
This is absolutely horrifying to see, and will haunt us.
I fear if things don’t change right now, this image is going to come back to haunt us
October 7, 2025 at 11:45 PM
This is absolutely horrifying to see, and will haunt us.
Reposted by Jonathan van Harmelen
when it comes to finding the dumbest fucks in the world and broadcasting the dumbest shit they believe, cable news is undefeated
Ben Smith: "What you saw with Mahmoud Khalil is that in some ways he is *less* vulnerable than Jimmy Kimmel. The people who are most vulnerable are the employees of big consolidated megacorporations—"
Chris Hayes: "Yeah, although he's about to get deported."
Chris Hayes: "Yeah, although he's about to get deported."
September 19, 2025 at 2:24 PM
when it comes to finding the dumbest fucks in the world and broadcasting the dumbest shit they believe, cable news is undefeated
Reposted by Jonathan van Harmelen
My latest for the good folks at @newrepublic.com newrepublic.com/article/1990...
August 14, 2025 at 9:26 PM
My latest for the good folks at @newrepublic.com newrepublic.com/article/1990...
Late post, but thrilled to receive this honor from the Pacific Historical Review and have a chance to talk more about my research on Japanese American history. Special thanks to Katherine Ott at NMAH, Greg Robinson, and Brian Niiya of @denshoproject.bsky.social for being great inspirations to me.
Despite the COVID-19 pandemic drawing to a close, there is still need for new scholarship on racism and the history of medicine. We talk with historian Jonathan van Harmelen about his @pcb-aha.bsky.social award-winning "Pacific Historical Review" article. www.ucpress.edu/blog-posts/e...
Epidemics, Quarantine, and Japanese American Incarceration: A Q&A with Jonathan van Harmelen
Inspired by the COVID pandemic and his ongoing research on Japanese American history, historian Jonathan van Harmelen investigates the medical history of the Japanese American incarceration during Wor...
www.ucpress.edu
August 7, 2025 at 5:50 PM
Late post, but thrilled to receive this honor from the Pacific Historical Review and have a chance to talk more about my research on Japanese American history. Special thanks to Katherine Ott at NMAH, Greg Robinson, and Brian Niiya of @denshoproject.bsky.social for being great inspirations to me.
Reposted by Jonathan van Harmelen
Despite the COVID-19 pandemic drawing to a close, there is still need for new scholarship on racism and the history of medicine. We talk with historian Jonathan van Harmelen about his @pcb-aha.bsky.social award-winning "Pacific Historical Review" article. www.ucpress.edu/blog-posts/e...
Epidemics, Quarantine, and Japanese American Incarceration: A Q&A with Jonathan van Harmelen
Inspired by the COVID pandemic and his ongoing research on Japanese American history, historian Jonathan van Harmelen investigates the medical history of the Japanese American incarceration during Wor...
www.ucpress.edu
August 1, 2025 at 8:19 PM
Despite the COVID-19 pandemic drawing to a close, there is still need for new scholarship on racism and the history of medicine. We talk with historian Jonathan van Harmelen about his @pcb-aha.bsky.social award-winning "Pacific Historical Review" article. www.ucpress.edu/blog-posts/e...
Reposted by Jonathan van Harmelen
Reposted by Jonathan van Harmelen
really circling the drain
Joe Davidson, longtime Washpost columnist, quit due to editing restrictions. He couldn't call a pay raise for fed'l employees "well deserved" or say that a hallmark of Trump’s "turbulent months in office is his widespread, ominous attack on thought, belief & speech”
www.facebook.com/story.php?st...
www.facebook.com/story.php?st...
![Blocking my column because it was too opinionated was a shock. I’ve authored many pieces over my 17 years writing the Federal Diary (renamed the Federal Insider in 2016), that were at least if not more opinionated as the now dead one. In that piece, I argued that “one hallmark of President Donald Trump’s first three, turbulent months in office is his widespread, ominous attack on thought, belief and speech.”
The piece contained specific examples, including Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s alarming memo supporting deportation of Columbia University pro-Palestinian activist Mahmoud Khalil. Rubio said Khalil could be expelled for “expected beliefs…that are otherwise lawful.” What immigrants might believe in the future now can make them federal law enforcement targets.
Another far-reaching example I cited is Trump’s aggressive attack on speech promoting diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI). His executive order commanded federal agencies to “excise references to DEI and DEIA [“A” for accessibility] principles, under whatever name they may appear.” Also, Tufts University student Rumeysa Ozturk, of Turkey, was abducted off the street by masked officers because she co-wrote an op-ed critical of Israel. It was a terrifying sight, caught on video, which previously would have seemed more applicable to George Orwell’s dystopian and cautionary tale against totalitarianism and thought police in is novel “1984.” This is America in 2025.
Killing that column was a death blow to my life as a Washington Post columnist. But I wrote two more articles to see if I could cope with the restrictions. That’s when I learned just how severe the policy is. In my next piece, I was not allowed to describe a potential pay raise for federal employees as “well-deserved” because of Post policy.
As a columnist, I can’t live with that level of constraint. A column without commentary made me a columnist without a column. I also was troubled by significant inconsistencies in the implementation of the p…](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:svawqo4jxobyyuqmixplvcux/bafkreigga3daorc7wtonshgnmnm7dtfyjrvu2einlc4myhiynml6luvlz4@jpeg)
July 10, 2025 at 3:54 PM
really circling the drain
Reposted by Jonathan van Harmelen
My full statement following the ICE Raid in Carpinteria. ⬇️
July 10, 2025 at 10:08 PM
My full statement following the ICE Raid in Carpinteria. ⬇️
Reposted by Jonathan van Harmelen
I've obtained a trove of leaked documents about today's federal crackdown on Los Angeles' MacArthur Park. One revelation is its codename: "Operation Excalibur"
Exclusive: Operation Excalibur in Los Angeles “Show of Presence”
Leaks from military's LA deployment reveal Coca Cola vs. Pepsi rivalry, sweaty guardsmen, and abject failure
www.kenklippenstein.com
July 7, 2025 at 10:50 PM
I've obtained a trove of leaked documents about today's federal crackdown on Los Angeles' MacArthur Park. One revelation is its codename: "Operation Excalibur"
Delighted to have written about the great Seattle-born writer Monica Sone. Thanks to @historylink.bsky.social for inviting me to contribute this article.
Today's #NewAtNoon looks at Kazuko Monica Itoi Sone (1919-2011), one of the first writers to grapple with the psychological trauma of the incarceration of Japanese Americans like herself during World War II. www.historylink.org/File/23237
July 6, 2025 at 7:11 PM
Delighted to have written about the great Seattle-born writer Monica Sone. Thanks to @historylink.bsky.social for inviting me to contribute this article.
My latest for @discovernikkei.bsky.social about graphic artist and clothing designer Mary Masako Oshiro.
While incarcerated at Tule Lake concentration camp, Mary Masako Oshiro painted watercolors of the camp on the back of evacuation posters. Previously unrecognized by art historians, this piece by @jonrvh88.bsky.social brings Oshiro's art and life to light.
discovernikkei.org/en/journal/2...
discovernikkei.org/en/journal/2...
Beauty In Resistance: The Forgotten Art of Mary Masako Oshiro
In September 2024, I had a chance to visit the California State Library to review several collections related to Japanese American history. My research there led me to write my previous column on Repr...
discovernikkei.org
June 20, 2025 at 5:06 PM
My latest for @discovernikkei.bsky.social about graphic artist and clothing designer Mary Masako Oshiro.
Reposted by Jonathan van Harmelen
