Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Al Otro Lado @alotrolado-org.bsky.social · 1d

Our Border Rights Project Director, Nicole Ramos, + Professor Jaya Ramji-Nogales reveal how border lawyers are being surveilled + harassed by U.S. & Mexican authorities. Defending asylum seekers shouldn’t come with a target on your back. Read the essay @knightcolumbia.org : knightcolumbia.org/c...

2 4

Reposted by Al Otro Lado

Knight First Amendment Institute @knightcolumbia.org · 6d

In a new essay for our Regardless of Frontiers series, Jaya Ramji-Nogales (@templelaw.bsky.social) and Nicole Ramos (@alotrolado-org.bsky.social) discuss the U.S. government’s surveilllance and harassment of lawyers who serve migrants at the U.S.-Mexico border. knightcolumbia.org/content/surv...

Surveilling Border Lawyering

knightcolumbia.org

3 4

Al Otro Lado @alotrolado-org.bsky.social · 4d

www.nytimes.com/2025/09/29/u...

‘I’m From Here!’: U.S. Citizens Are Ending Up in Trump’s Dragnet

www.nytimes.com

1 1

Al Otro Lado @alotrolado-org.bsky.social · 4d

“I am always nervous.”

ICE has detained multiple U.S. Citizens based on their physical appearance, leaving many traumatized from the horrific treatment. Constitutional rights are eroding right before our eyes, and the presidential administration is not only allowing it but encouraging it.

1 1 3

Al Otro Lado @alotrolado-org.bsky.social · 6d

🚨 Another detention center has opened in California City—illegally, without permits. Inside: no clean water, no medical care. Outside: immigrant families are too afraid to leave their homes. Fear is the point. We refuse to accept it.

ICE began shipping immigrants to this tiny California town. Chaos has reigned ever since

ICE began sending immigrants to a new California detention center in small town in August. Since then, it has been inundated with activists, desperate families and utter confusion.

www.yahoo.com

10 29

Reposted by Al Otro Lado

Children Thrive Action Network @letkidsthrive.bsky.social · 7d

Thank you, Melanie Hicken at @cnn.com , for telling the stories of American kids impacted by immigration actions. The investigation found 100+ US citizen children were left without parents due to Trump’s deportation efforts.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ywd...

Hear from children left behind when their mother was deported

YouTube video by CNN

www.youtube.com

1 7 9

Al Otro Lado @alotrolado-org.bsky.social · 7d

That's incredible! No need to be in Mexico! You can email our volunteer coordinator at [email protected].

Al Otro Lado @alotrolado-org.bsky.social · 8d

As an org that has documented thousands of disappearances w/in the immigration system, we can say that what's going on here meets the UN definition of enforced disappearances. To say that the US is hurdling towards authoritarianism is no longer hyperbole
economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/interna...

Mystery deepens: Hundreds of immigrants disappear from infamous Florida ICE prison Alligator Alcatraz

The mysterious disappearance of hundreds of immigrants detained at the Alligator Alcatraz immigration processing center near Miami, Florida, has raised serious concerns. About 800 detainees who were h...

economictimes.indiatimes.com

18 34

Al Otro Lado @alotrolado-org.bsky.social · 9d

Language shouldn’t be a death sentence. Refugees in Mexico are being denied protection because they can’t speak Spanish. We are stepping in with interpretation—but we need $75K to expand this urgent lifeline. Help us make sure they’re heard.

www.globalgiving.org/projects/pro...

1 7 9

Al Otro Lado @alotrolado-org.bsky.social · 13d

Homeland Security depicts immigrant arrests set to Pokémon music and clips. Using a fictional game to dehumanize real people and turn them into characters to “catch,” many times without warrants or reason, just goes to show how sadistic this administration is.

Homeland Security slammed over video comparing migrants to Pokémon

Online users have flagged the video to Nintendo and described it as ‘ICE propaganda’

www.the-independent.com

2 4

Al Otro Lado @alotrolado-org.bsky.social · 14d

Over 80 judges this year have been fired amidst the growing backlog of nearly 4M immigration cases. This is a war on due process and a deliberate attempt to implode the immigration system.

www.npr.org/2025/09/...

2

Al Otro Lado @alotrolado-org.bsky.social · 14d

Our communities are under attack. Families are being torn apart. We lost $2M in funding, but the need is growing. Help us #BuildHopeNotWalls. Donate now. 🔗 alotrolado.org/buildhopenot...

2 4

Al Otro Lado @alotrolado-org.bsky.social · 19d

Utterly wild. After firing scores of immigration judges, the Pentagon has approved sending 600 military lawyers to serve as temporary immigration judges. That’s like asking a podiatrist to perform ❤️ surgery. Soon, immigration courts will be nothing but kangaroo courts. abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory...

Senate Democrats raise concerns over Pentagon plan to use military lawyers as immigration judges

A group of Democratic senators say they are deeply concerned that a Pentagon plan to allow military lawyers to work as temporary immigration judges will violate a ban on using service members for law ...

abcnews.go.com

1 5

Reposted by Al Otro Lado

National Immigration Law Center @nilc.org · 20d

Discrimination, extreme weather, threats of deportation —immigrant farmworkers face all of these challenges while sustaining the U.S. agricultural industry.

Hear directly from farmworkers about the realities of life in the fields & the strength it takes to keep going.⤵️
www.nilc.org/farmworkers-...

Behind Every Meal: The Farmworkers Who Feed America

Over the summer of 2024, in collaboration with United Farm Workers, we sat down with several farmworkers, volunteers, and organizers to hear their stories.

www.nilc.org

1 9 10

Al Otro Lado @alotrolado-org.bsky.social · 20d

Temperatures in the Sonoran Desert are soaring past 100° and our Water Drop Program supplies are
running dry.

💔 Don’t let thirst take another life.
💧 Help us bring water to the desert.

Donate water and/or other essential life-saving supplies here: www.amazon.com/registries/g...

1 4

Al Otro Lado @alotrolado-org.bsky.social · 26d

Last week, we sued the gov to uncover records of agents secretly interrogating migrant kids. We won’t let ICE operate in the shadows. Our Litigation Director Cassandra Lopez spoke to @sandiegouniontribune.com about the importance of this lawsuit. ⤵️

www.sandiegouniontribune.com/2025/09/06/s...

‘Secret policy’ alleged in lawsuit accusing ICE of interrogating unaccompanied migrant children

Lawsuit filed by San Diego-based Al Otro Lado seeks public records

www.sandiegouniontribune.com

1

Al Otro Lado @alotrolado-org.bsky.social · 29d

Tell your representative to support the Fairness to Freedom Act to #DefendDueProcess: secure.vera.org/a/fair2free

3/3

Tell Congress: We Need to Support Immigrant Communities & Keep Families Together!

No one should have to face the complexities of the immigration system in the United States alone. It's time for the Congress to act and pass the Fairness to Freedom Act.

secure.vera.org

1 3

Al Otro Lado @alotrolado-org.bsky.social · 29d

In the face of Trump’s attacks on due process, we urge our elected officials to:
➡️ Fight for family unity and community safety
➡️ Invest in legal representation for people facing deportation
➡️ Support the #FairnessToFreedom Act for the right to #DueProcess4All

2/3

1 1 3

Al Otro Lado @alotrolado-org.bsky.social · 29d

People who follow the law and attend immigration court proceedings should be able to do so safely and encounter a fair system. But right now, that’s far from the reality for our communities. 1/3
www.pbs.org/newshour/pol...

17 immigration court judges have been fired by the Trump administration across 10 states, union says

The firings come as the courts have been increasingly at the center of the Trump administration's hardline immigration enforcement efforts with Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers arresting i...

www.pbs.org

1 5 6

Reposted by Al Otro Lado

Refugee Advocacy Lab @refugeeadvocacylab.bsky.social · Sep 8

📣NEW RESOURCE: Read the new guide from the Lab, #RefugeeStorytellersCollective & @refugeecongress.bsky.social.
Walk through the process of what to consider before, during, & after storytelling opportunities to keep yourself & your communities safe👇
www.refugeeadvocacylab.org/resources/sa...

Image reads, “Safety in Storytelling: A How to Guide from Leaders With Lived Experience. New guide.” From left to right across the bottom of the image are the logos of the Refugee Advocacy Lab, the Refugee Storytellers Collective, and Refugee Congress. On the right side of the image are two smartphones with images inside them. The phone on the left has an image of the Refugee Advocacy Lab website and the phone on the right has an image of Refugee Storytellers Collective member Teddy Almuktady as he speaks with other refugee leaders during the Storytellers Summit in Washington, D.C. Photo by Nicholas Feeney, USA for UNHCR.

1 4

Al Otro Lado @alotrolado-org.bsky.social · Sep 8

Thanks for sharing!

1 1

Reposted by Al Otro Lado

Alyssa S. @drsepinwall.bsky.social · Sep 7

From the @sandiegouniontribune.com about a lawsuit by @alotrolado-org.bsky.social against HHS for illegal cooperation with ICE, endangering unaccompanied minors. #GiftArticle

www.sandiegouniontribune.com/2025/09/06/s...

‘Secret policy’ alleged in lawsuit accusing ICE of interrogating unaccompanied migrant children

Lawsuit filed by San Diego-based Al Otro Lado seeks public records

www.sandiegouniontribune.com

1 3 5

Al Otro Lado @alotrolado-org.bsky.social · Sep 8

Republicans are turning human suffering into some sick joke.
Last month Florida GOP tried to sell “Deport Depot” merch mimicking the Home Depot logo —until Home Depot called them out.

www.washingtonpost.c...

2

Al Otro Lado @alotrolado-org.bsky.social · Sep 5

Why the shift?

Maybe Americans are finally starting to realize this was never about keeping the US “safe” or wanting people to do it “the right way,” but about racism and intentional cruelty.

Read the findings of the June 2-26 Gallup poll here news.gallup.com/poll...
5/5

Surge in U.S. Concern About Immigration Has Abated

The percentage of Americans wanting less immigration has dropped by nearly half this year to 30%, with 79% now saying immigration benefits the U.S.

news.gallup.com

3

Al Otro Lado @alotrolado-org.bsky.social · Sep 5

🔻 Support for increasing Border Patrol agents has dropped 17 points in a year, from 76% to 59%.

🔻 Support for expanding the border wall is down 8 points, now at just 45%.

4/5

1 1