Silky Shah
@silkys13.bsky.social
executive director, Detention Watch Network, author Unbuild Walls: Why Immigrant Justice Needs Abolition (Haymarket Books, 2024), from Texas, views my own
book info/events: https://www.detentionwatchnetwork.org/unbuild-walls
book info/events: https://www.detentionwatchnetwork.org/unbuild-walls
Reposted by Silky Shah
Our Holiday Sale is here early this year! ALL Haymarket Books are 40% Off through Friday, January 2nd!
Happy Holidays! 40% OFF ALL Haymarket Books
Our Holiday Sale is here early this year! ALL Haymarket Books are 40% Off through Friday, January 2nd!
For one-stop shopping, check out our eleven curated gift bundles: each includes 5 books for $5...
www.haymarketbooks.org
November 21, 2025 at 5:17 PM
Our Holiday Sale is here early this year! ALL Haymarket Books are 40% Off through Friday, January 2nd!
I'm officially back to work after an eight week sabbatical. Looking forward to this event organized by @eoaproject.bsky.social next Monday, December 1st!
Join us for our next event: Fortress Fascism: Border Authoritarianism and Activist Struggle
1.12., 12.30 EST / 18.30 CET
An online conversation with Nandita Sharma @nsharma101.bsky.social, Silky Shah @silkys13.bsky.social, Mahamat Daoud, and Seán Binder. Moderated by Esme Smithson Swain.
1.12., 12.30 EST / 18.30 CET
An online conversation with Nandita Sharma @nsharma101.bsky.social, Silky Shah @silkys13.bsky.social, Mahamat Daoud, and Seán Binder. Moderated by Esme Smithson Swain.
November 25, 2025 at 5:20 PM
I'm officially back to work after an eight week sabbatical. Looking forward to this event organized by @eoaproject.bsky.social next Monday, December 1st!
Reposted by Silky Shah
Join in! 12/1 @ 12:30 EST/6:30 PM CET
@silkys13.bsky.social (Exec. Dir. of Detention Watch Network (US), Seán Binder (Criminal Lawyer and Ex-Civilian Rescue coordinator), and I talk about Emergencies of Authoritarianism. Moderator: Esme Smithson Swain
emergencies-of-authoritarianism.org/events/
@silkys13.bsky.social (Exec. Dir. of Detention Watch Network (US), Seán Binder (Criminal Lawyer and Ex-Civilian Rescue coordinator), and I talk about Emergencies of Authoritarianism. Moderator: Esme Smithson Swain
emergencies-of-authoritarianism.org/events/
Events - Emergencies of Authoritarianism
Upcoming and past events: Authoritarian Times: Crisis and Utopia, Emergencies of Authoritarianism: Global Entangelments,...
emergencies-of-authoritarianism.org
November 25, 2025 at 12:52 AM
Join in! 12/1 @ 12:30 EST/6:30 PM CET
@silkys13.bsky.social (Exec. Dir. of Detention Watch Network (US), Seán Binder (Criminal Lawyer and Ex-Civilian Rescue coordinator), and I talk about Emergencies of Authoritarianism. Moderator: Esme Smithson Swain
emergencies-of-authoritarianism.org/events/
@silkys13.bsky.social (Exec. Dir. of Detention Watch Network (US), Seán Binder (Criminal Lawyer and Ex-Civilian Rescue coordinator), and I talk about Emergencies of Authoritarianism. Moderator: Esme Smithson Swain
emergencies-of-authoritarianism.org/events/
Reposted by Silky Shah
Big thanks to everyone who came out! Read This When Things Fall Apart is just incredible and one of the best books of the year, and I'm just really honored to have contributed to it. Bit kudos to everyone at @akpress.org who helped make this happen!
Thank you, Portland, and thank you @shaneburley.bsky.social. I was grateful for the opportunity to discuss Read This When Things Fall Apart with my friend and such a great audience at @powells.bsky.social.
November 24, 2025 at 9:48 PM
Big thanks to everyone who came out! Read This When Things Fall Apart is just incredible and one of the best books of the year, and I'm just really honored to have contributed to it. Bit kudos to everyone at @akpress.org who helped make this happen!
Reposted by Silky Shah
There are more people organizing and pushing back against the regime today than there were in the first term. There are more people in more places (rural towns and big cities across the country). I think it's really strange how resistant some people are to these facts. I wonder what's going on.
November 24, 2025 at 2:28 AM
There are more people organizing and pushing back against the regime today than there were in the first term. There are more people in more places (rural towns and big cities across the country). I think it's really strange how resistant some people are to these facts. I wonder what's going on.
Reposted by Silky Shah
Reposted by Silky Shah
My latest is a love letter to Chicago. "I see you stumbling through the stubborn, awkward rhythm of showing up, again and again. I see you fighting alongside people who sometimes frustrate and confuse you, and defending neighbors you may have never met, because you know they’re all your people."
In Chicago, We Run Toward Danger Together
"Faced with unrelenting state violence, Chicagoans have refused to be cowed," says Mariame Kaba.
organizingmythoughts.org
November 8, 2025 at 2:46 PM
My latest is a love letter to Chicago. "I see you stumbling through the stubborn, awkward rhythm of showing up, again and again. I see you fighting alongside people who sometimes frustrate and confuse you, and defending neighbors you may have never met, because you know they’re all your people."
Reposted by Silky Shah
“In a time when the levers of power are so limited, the steadfast organizing in Chicago remains a beacon of hope and essential guide for activists across the country.”
- @silkys13.bsky.social
This beautiful piece by @mskellymhayes.bsky.social encapsulates the loving & fierce power of Chicago ❤️
- @silkys13.bsky.social
This beautiful piece by @mskellymhayes.bsky.social encapsulates the loving & fierce power of Chicago ❤️
My latest is a love letter to Chicago. "I see you stumbling through the stubborn, awkward rhythm of showing up, again and again. I see you fighting alongside people who sometimes frustrate and confuse you, and defending neighbors you may have never met, because you know they’re all your people."
In Chicago, We Run Toward Danger Together
"Faced with unrelenting state violence, Chicagoans have refused to be cowed," says Mariame Kaba.
organizingmythoughts.org
November 8, 2025 at 5:26 PM
“In a time when the levers of power are so limited, the steadfast organizing in Chicago remains a beacon of hope and essential guide for activists across the country.”
- @silkys13.bsky.social
This beautiful piece by @mskellymhayes.bsky.social encapsulates the loving & fierce power of Chicago ❤️
- @silkys13.bsky.social
This beautiful piece by @mskellymhayes.bsky.social encapsulates the loving & fierce power of Chicago ❤️
Reposted by Silky Shah
NEW: ICE says it no longer has to provide Congress access to detention facilities — thanks to the shutdown.
That requirement was part of the appropriations law that expired last month — and now operations are funded by Trump’s megabill.
w/ @myahward.bsky.social
www.politico.com/news/2025/10...
That requirement was part of the appropriations law that expired last month — and now operations are funded by Trump’s megabill.
w/ @myahward.bsky.social
www.politico.com/news/2025/10...
Another shutdown consequence: Democrats can’t visit ICE detention facilities
Democratic lawmakers had been suing the Trump administration over their previous attempts to visit ICE facilities.
www.politico.com
October 27, 2025 at 9:34 PM
NEW: ICE says it no longer has to provide Congress access to detention facilities — thanks to the shutdown.
That requirement was part of the appropriations law that expired last month — and now operations are funded by Trump’s megabill.
w/ @myahward.bsky.social
www.politico.com/news/2025/10...
That requirement was part of the appropriations law that expired last month — and now operations are funded by Trump’s megabill.
w/ @myahward.bsky.social
www.politico.com/news/2025/10...
Reposted by Silky Shah
"One of the most important systems of control and mass separation is hidden in plain sight: the child welfare system.” @truthout.org truthout.org/articles/ice...
ICE Agents Are Using Family Separation Tactics Central to US State Violence
The US’s family policing system honed many of the tactics now being used by ICE agents in Chicago.
truthout.org
October 27, 2025 at 6:06 PM
"One of the most important systems of control and mass separation is hidden in plain sight: the child welfare system.” @truthout.org truthout.org/articles/ice...
Reposted by Silky Shah
And if you want to continue learning about the connections between #ICE and the #FamilyPolicingSystem, listen to “Unbuild Walls” with Silky Shah on The upEND Podcast. buff.ly/ebPItcb @silkys13.bsky.social
Unbuild Walls | The upEND Podcast Season 2, Episode 4 - upEND Movement
Season 2, Episode 4
buff.ly
October 27, 2025 at 6:06 PM
And if you want to continue learning about the connections between #ICE and the #FamilyPolicingSystem, listen to “Unbuild Walls” with Silky Shah on The upEND Podcast. buff.ly/ebPItcb @silkys13.bsky.social
Reposted by Silky Shah
“We have the largest jail infrastructure in the world, and it’s an easy thing for ICE to fall back on,” said @silkys13.bsky.social, the executive director of @detentionwatchnetwork.org, to @nytimes.com. “The jail is a really central component of the deportation machine.”
Local Sheriffs Are Turning Their Jails Into ICE Detention Centers
Jails play a growing role in immigrant detention, housing thousands of people who have never been convicted of a crime.
www.nytimes.com
September 11, 2025 at 7:15 PM
“We have the largest jail infrastructure in the world, and it’s an easy thing for ICE to fall back on,” said @silkys13.bsky.social, the executive director of @detentionwatchnetwork.org, to @nytimes.com. “The jail is a really central component of the deportation machine.”
Reposted by Silky Shah
Yet another person killed by ICE. 32-year-old Lorenzo Antonio Batrez Vargas, QEPD 💔 t.co/mmHdsHYJij
September 6, 2025 at 6:30 PM
Yet another person killed by ICE. 32-year-old Lorenzo Antonio Batrez Vargas, QEPD 💔 t.co/mmHdsHYJij
Reposted by Silky Shah
Mahmoud Khalil on exile, liberation and Ice detention: ‘It was a clear act of cruelty’
Mahmoud Khalil on exile, liberation and Ice detention: ‘It was a clear act of cruelty’
His grandparents survived the Nakba and he fled Assad’s Syria. Khalil is no stranger to political persecution, but not even Trump’s crackdown can silence him
www.theguardian.com
September 8, 2025 at 12:30 PM
Mahmoud Khalil on exile, liberation and Ice detention: ‘It was a clear act of cruelty’
Reposted by Silky Shah
🚨The Supreme Court today gives Trump a license to engage in racial profiling, with Justice Kavanaugh writing in concurrence to expressly endorse ICE and Border Patrol targeting any Latinos they observe in Los Angeles speaking Spanish and then demanding their papers.
![Here,
those circumstances include:
that there is an
extremely high number and percentage of illegal immigrants in the Los Angeles area; that those individuals tend to gather in certain locations to seek daily work; that those individuals often work in certain kinds of jobs, such as day labor, landscaping, agriculture, and construction, that do not require paperwork and are therefore especially attractive to illegal immigrants; and that many of those illegally in the Los Angeles area come from Mexico or Central America and do not speak much English. Cf.
Brignoni-Ponce, 422 U.S., at 884-885 (listing "[a]ny number of factors" that contribute to reasonable suspicion of illegal presence). To be clear, apparent ethnicity alone cannot furnish reasonable suspicion; under this Court's case law regarding immigration stops, however, it can be a](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:2vtbmhmrwzbqcfv4we4uxzzt/bafkreiak2peq4v5ab5nqwwccg5drwwqzgnufkvxgw4ayraidywmn2sshhu@jpeg)
September 8, 2025 at 4:26 PM
🚨The Supreme Court today gives Trump a license to engage in racial profiling, with Justice Kavanaugh writing in concurrence to expressly endorse ICE and Border Patrol targeting any Latinos they observe in Los Angeles speaking Spanish and then demanding their papers.
Reposted by Silky Shah
Just finished Unbuild Walls by Silky Shah. Appreciated the history lesson of immigration law in the US, the struggle to make progress, and the abolitionist framing for reformist reforms and unreformist reforms; those that increase the overall system of incarceration vs those that reduce it.
September 3, 2025 at 2:40 AM
Just finished Unbuild Walls by Silky Shah. Appreciated the history lesson of immigration law in the US, the struggle to make progress, and the abolitionist framing for reformist reforms and unreformist reforms; those that increase the overall system of incarceration vs those that reduce it.
Reposted by Silky Shah
ICE wants more detention space and it’s faster to re-open old facilities to hold immigrants than to build new ones. Enter: ZOMBIE PRISONS
www.themarshallproject.org/2025/08/29/m...
www.themarshallproject.org/2025/08/29/m...
‘Zombie Prisons’: How ICE Detention Is Raising Troubling Facilities From the Dead
ICE needs more detention space, and it’s faster to open old facilities than to build new ones.
www.themarshallproject.org
September 2, 2025 at 3:19 PM
ICE wants more detention space and it’s faster to re-open old facilities to hold immigrants than to build new ones. Enter: ZOMBIE PRISONS
www.themarshallproject.org/2025/08/29/m...
www.themarshallproject.org/2025/08/29/m...
Reposted by Silky Shah
Trump’s unprecedented agenda is unmistakably authoritarian.
The deployment of the National Guard in Washington DC and in 20 states, including Florida, Georgia, Virginia, Texas and Louisiana, is an alarming unilateral move that is supercharging the already massive police presence in communities.
The deployment of the National Guard in Washington DC and in 20 states, including Florida, Georgia, Virginia, Texas and Louisiana, is an alarming unilateral move that is supercharging the already massive police presence in communities.
The escalating use of the National Guard and military for immigration enforcement is yet another marker of an authoritarian regime
Washington, DC — In response to news that the Trump administration is deploying the National Guard to assist in processing people for immigration detention in 20 states, Setareh Ghandehari, Advocacy D...
www.detentionwatchnetwork.org
August 28, 2025 at 9:59 PM
Trump’s unprecedented agenda is unmistakably authoritarian.
The deployment of the National Guard in Washington DC and in 20 states, including Florida, Georgia, Virginia, Texas and Louisiana, is an alarming unilateral move that is supercharging the already massive police presence in communities.
The deployment of the National Guard in Washington DC and in 20 states, including Florida, Georgia, Virginia, Texas and Louisiana, is an alarming unilateral move that is supercharging the already massive police presence in communities.
Reposted by Silky Shah
@silkys13.bsky.social: “There are so many things we’ve seen before — poor food quality, abuse by guards, not having clean clothes or underwear, not getting hygiene products. But the scale at which it’s happening feels greater, because it’s happening everywhere.”
www.latimes.com/politics/sto...
www.latimes.com/politics/sto...
'It’s happening everywhere': 1 in 3 ICE detainees held in overcrowded facilities, data show
As ICE detainees top 60,000, some detention centers stack mattresses on the floor.
www.latimes.com
August 29, 2025 at 4:33 PM
@silkys13.bsky.social: “There are so many things we’ve seen before — poor food quality, abuse by guards, not having clean clothes or underwear, not getting hygiene products. But the scale at which it’s happening feels greater, because it’s happening everywhere.”
www.latimes.com/politics/sto...
www.latimes.com/politics/sto...
Reposted by Silky Shah
The money doesn't matter. There is never any sustained backlash for spending money for death-making institutions.
Florida taxpayers could be on the hook for $218 million the state spent to convert a remote training airport in the Everglades into an immigration detention center dubbed “Alligator Alcatraz.” https://to.pbs.org/47jrudh
Florida taxpayers may lose $218M on 'Alligator Alcatraz' as judge orders shutdown
Florida taxpayers could be on the hook for the $218 million cost of converting a training airport in the Everglades into an immigration detention center that may soon be empty of detainees.
www.pbs.org
August 29, 2025 at 2:37 PM
The money doesn't matter. There is never any sustained backlash for spending money for death-making institutions.
Reposted by Silky Shah
"[T]he most striking feature of the skyscraper jails' design is the degree to which these buildings have been represented by their boosters as anything but facilities for large-scale human caging."
"[T]he new jails would simply 'create little Rikers around the city.'"
#NewYork #USA #Incarceration
"[T]he new jails would simply 'create little Rikers around the city.'"
#NewYork #USA #Incarceration
The Dystopia of the World’s Tallest Jails - Jarrod Shanahan & Zhandarka Kurti - Inquest
New York City’s plan to replace Rikers with skyscraper jails is a cautionary tale of how decarceral talking points can be misappropriated.
inquest.org
August 21, 2025 at 9:54 PM
"[T]he most striking feature of the skyscraper jails' design is the degree to which these buildings have been represented by their boosters as anything but facilities for large-scale human caging."
"[T]he new jails would simply 'create little Rikers around the city.'"
#NewYork #USA #Incarceration
"[T]he new jails would simply 'create little Rikers around the city.'"
#NewYork #USA #Incarceration
Reposted by Silky Shah
Thanks to the audiobook release, I powered through the rest of @silkys13.bsky.social 's Unbuild Walls with a bitter taste in my mouth, knowing how things are unfolding. Really grateful to have this analysis of campaign successes, struggles & the need for an abolitionist uniting of struggles 📚
Unbuild Walls Audiobook on Libro.fm
Drawing from over twenty years of activism on local and national levels, this striking book offers an organizer's perspective on the intersections of immigrant rights, racial justice, and prison aboli...
libro.fm
August 25, 2025 at 7:56 PM
Thanks to the audiobook release, I powered through the rest of @silkys13.bsky.social 's Unbuild Walls with a bitter taste in my mouth, knowing how things are unfolding. Really grateful to have this analysis of campaign successes, struggles & the need for an abolitionist uniting of struggles 📚
Reposted by Silky Shah
Journalists: Please stop using phrases like "despite having committed no crime" in articles about immigrants.
As @silkys13.bsky.social says, "It continues to make the connection between immigration and public safety, which ... is a lie."
Immigration is NOT a safety issue.
As @silkys13.bsky.social says, "It continues to make the connection between immigration and public safety, which ... is a lie."
Immigration is NOT a safety issue.
ICE Detention Facilities have “become even more deplorable and even more deadly” under Trump.
Ward Sakeik’s lawyer, Maria Kari, explains to Mehdi the inhumane treatment her client had to endure during her 140 days in detention, despite having committed no crime.
Watch: zeteo.com/p/i-can-send...
Ward Sakeik’s lawyer, Maria Kari, explains to Mehdi the inhumane treatment her client had to endure during her 140 days in detention, despite having committed no crime.
Watch: zeteo.com/p/i-can-send...
August 24, 2025 at 2:37 PM
Journalists: Please stop using phrases like "despite having committed no crime" in articles about immigrants.
As @silkys13.bsky.social says, "It continues to make the connection between immigration and public safety, which ... is a lie."
Immigration is NOT a safety issue.
As @silkys13.bsky.social says, "It continues to make the connection between immigration and public safety, which ... is a lie."
Immigration is NOT a safety issue.
Reposted by Silky Shah
Some people are attempting to make their compliance with fascism into something it's certainly not. For @prismreports.org, I wrote about how the promotion of obedience, hiding, and disengagement is taking us backward, despite attempts to make it seem reasonable. prismreports.org/2025/08/21/o...
Another way out: Hiding and obedience won't stop fascism
By being obedient to the point of giving up all self-determination, we’re poised to return to what many before us fought to overturn
prismreports.org
August 21, 2025 at 2:58 PM
Some people are attempting to make their compliance with fascism into something it's certainly not. For @prismreports.org, I wrote about how the promotion of obedience, hiding, and disengagement is taking us backward, despite attempts to make it seem reasonable. prismreports.org/2025/08/21/o...
Reposted by Silky Shah
💥 An abolitionist organizing must-read is now an abolitionist organizing must-listen! 👂👂👂
The audiobook of Unbuild Walls is now available! bit.ly/unbuildwalls...
Also, physical copies are 40% off if you buy at @haymarketbooks.org sale ends Friday! www.haymarketbooks.org/blogs/462-su...
Also, physical copies are 40% off if you buy at @haymarketbooks.org sale ends Friday! www.haymarketbooks.org/blogs/462-su...
NEW! 🎧 Unbuild Walls: Why Immigrant Justice Needs Abolition is now an audiobook!
Unbuild Walls, from @silkys13.bsky.social executive director of @detentionwatchnetwork.org, dives into 40 years of US immigration policy & mass incarceration, exposing their intertwined systems of repression.
Unbuild Walls, from @silkys13.bsky.social executive director of @detentionwatchnetwork.org, dives into 40 years of US immigration policy & mass incarceration, exposing their intertwined systems of repression.
August 20, 2025 at 7:18 PM
💥 An abolitionist organizing must-read is now an abolitionist organizing must-listen! 👂👂👂