isabelaalhadeff.bsky.social
Isabela Dias
@isabelaalhadeff.bsky.social
14K followers 140 following 70 posts
Reporter at Mother Jones covering immigration, Latin America, and more. Falo português. Proton Mail: [email protected] Signal: isabeladias.14 https://www.motherjones.com/author/isabela-dias/
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isabelaalhadeff.bsky.social
Isabela Dias @isabelaalhadeff.bsky.social · Jul 28
“You enter legally, and suddenly, because of someone else’s whim, you’re illegal. It doesn’t make sense.”

I wrote about the hundreds of thousands of Venezuelan TPS holders losing legal status overnight as a result of the Trump administration's mass deportation push.
Trump is making thousands of rule-abiding immigrants undocumented
Inside the largest delegalization campaign in modern US history.
www.motherjones.com
10 330 960
isabelaalhadeff.bsky.social
Isabela Dias @isabelaalhadeff.bsky.social · 2d
Russ Vought's neighbors have strong feelings about him:

"You asked what it is like living near such a man. Frankly, I'd rather not, but this is a wonderful neighborhood and, unlike Mr. Vought himself, we do not want our neighbors (even Mr. Vought) to be traumatized. So we just live with it."
Russ Vought is Trump’s shutdown hero. His neighbors think his work is "abhorrent."
The people living near Trump's "grim reaper" of government cuts have put up signs letting him know they stand with federal workers.
www.motherjones.com
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Reposted by Isabela Dias
clarajeffery.bsky.social
Clara Jeffery @clarajeffery.bsky.social · 6d
@isabelaalhadeff.bsky.social wrote what remains the definitive profile of Russel Vought last year. He's going to try and use the shut down to further his dream of an imperial Christian presidency and "traumatizing" federal workers www.motherjones.com/politics/202...
The bureaucrat who could make Trump's authoritarian dreams real
Russ Vought has a plan to take presidential power to new heights.
www.motherjones.com
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Reposted by Isabela Dias
motherjones.com
Mother Jones @motherjones.com · 7d
It's the last day of our September fundraiser!

Please consider supporting our non-profit newsroom as we double down on fearless reporting—just as corporate media caves to Donald Trump.

Your donations will be matched dollar-for-dollar. Thank you so much!
secure.motherjones.com
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isabelaalhadeff.bsky.social
Isabela Dias @isabelaalhadeff.bsky.social · 8d
"It’s a blueprint for authoritarianism wrapped in barbed wire and dressed up as local revival.”

ICE has its eyes on an idle Core Civic-owned prison in Walsenburg. Local officials have welcomed the potential influx of money and jobs. But residents are pushing back. My latest for @motherjones.com:
"Godsend" or "concentration camp"? A lucrative ICE deal divides a Colorado town.
Trump has unleashed a gold rush among private prison companies taking on immigration detention. In cash-strapped cities, residents aren’t sure the money is worth it.
www.motherjones.com
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isabelaalhadeff.bsky.social
Isabela Dias @isabelaalhadeff.bsky.social · Sep 5
In another loss in the courts for Trump, a federal judge just blocked the administration from revoking legal status from hundreds of thousands of Venezuelans and Haitians in the United States. Judge Chen ruled that the termination of TPS exceeded the DHS Secretary’s authority and violated the law.
Trump is making thousands of rule-abiding immigrants undocumented
Inside the largest delegalization campaign in modern US history.
www.motherjones.com
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isabelaalhadeff.bsky.social
Isabela Dias @isabelaalhadeff.bsky.social · Sep 4
Today, DHS announced the termination of the 2021 TPS designation for Venezuela, adding to the largest de-legalization push in modern US history: www.motherjones.com/politics/202...
Trump is making thousands of rule-abiding immigrants undocumented
Inside the largest delegalization campaign in modern US history.
www.motherjones.com
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Reposted by Isabela Dias
motherjones.com
Mother Jones @motherjones.com · Aug 25
“They’re going to kill me here,” Neri Alvarado thought.

Alvarado was allegedly targeted by the Trump administration because of his tattoo of an autism awareness ribbon. Now, free from El Salvador's notorious CECOT prison, Alvarado wants the world to know what they lived through.
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motherjones.com
Mother Jones @motherjones.com · Aug 22
Proud to announce that we’ve been nominated for six Online Journalism Awards, including General Excellence in Journalism!

Here's a thread of some of our amazing stories that've been recognized this year. 🧵
2025 Online Journalism Awards
awards.journalists.org
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isabelaalhadeff.bsky.social
Isabela Dias @isabelaalhadeff.bsky.social · Aug 7
“There’s no family here, there are no lawyers here, nobody exists here.”

For four months, Neri Alvarado, Julio Zambrano, and so many others wondered if they were ever going to leave CECOT alive. Now, they want to clear their names and justice for what they had to endure. With @nlanard.bsky.social:
“What they did there was torture us”
Now free, the Venezuelan men the Trump administration sent to El Salvador want the world to know what they lived through.
www.motherjones.com
2 34 94
isabelaalhadeff.bsky.social
Isabela Dias @isabelaalhadeff.bsky.social · Jul 28
“You enter legally, and suddenly, because of someone else’s whim, you’re illegal. It doesn’t make sense.”

I wrote about the hundreds of thousands of Venezuelan TPS holders losing legal status overnight as a result of the Trump administration's mass deportation push.
Trump is making thousands of rule-abiding immigrants undocumented
Inside the largest delegalization campaign in modern US history.
www.motherjones.com
10 330 960
isabelaalhadeff.bsky.social
Isabela Dias @isabelaalhadeff.bsky.social · Jul 24
"The female guards would count to 20 as they administered the beatings, and if the prisoners complained or cried out, they would start again...Tito Martínez, one of the inmates, recalled that a prison nurse was watching. 'Hit the piñata,' she cheered."
No One Was Supposed to Leave Alive
Venezuelans deported by the Trump administration say they were tortured during their four months in CECOT.
www.theatlantic.com
1 15 24
isabelaalhadeff.bsky.social
Isabela Dias @isabelaalhadeff.bsky.social · Jul 22
He's one of the many Venezuelan men whose stories @nlanard.bsky.social and I have followed since mid-March when the Trump administration sent them to CECOT. Zambrano had been detained by ICE during a routine check-in back in January, just days before his wife gave birth to their second daughter.
"We were kidnapped"
On Friday, more than 200 Venezuelans disappeared to a megaprison in El Salvador returned home. The horror stories are already emerging.
www.motherjones.com
19 53
isabelaalhadeff.bsky.social
Isabela Dias @isabelaalhadeff.bsky.social · Jul 22
Late last night, Julio Zambrano's sister sent me this photo of him home with his mother in Venezuela.
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isabelaalhadeff.bsky.social
Isabela Dias @isabelaalhadeff.bsky.social · Jul 21
Today, a federal judge ordered the Trump administration to reinstate a legal representation program for detained immigrants with mental health issues who are deemed unfit to represent themselves in court.

I wrote about how critical this government-appointed counsel service is here:
Trump's DOJ stripped lifeline legal services from the most vulnerable detained immigrants
"Without a lawyer, people don't have a prayer. They don't have a chance in hell."
www.motherjones.com
31 71
isabelaalhadeff.bsky.social
Isabela Dias @isabelaalhadeff.bsky.social · Jul 19
Maria Quevedo, the mother of Eddie Adolfo Hurtado Quevedo, told us she was feeling relieved but still scared.

“Happy because God gave me the gift of seeing my son free on my birthday. Scared because my son is going to Venezuela, where he was threatened by the [paramilitary group] colectivos.”
isabelaalhadeff.bsky.social
Isabela Dias @isabelaalhadeff.bsky.social · Jul 19
"The bitterness is still there. The anger about what happened to him is still there.”

After four months, more than 200 men sent to El Salvador have been released from CECOT and returned to Venezuela. @nlanard.bsky.social and I spoke with family members and friends waiting to be reunited with them.
"We were kidnapped"
On Friday, more than 200 Venezuelans disappeared to a megaprison in El Salvador returned home. The horror stories are already emerging.
www.motherjones.com
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isabelaalhadeff.bsky.social
Isabela Dias @isabelaalhadeff.bsky.social · Jul 19
"The bitterness is still there. The anger about what happened to him is still there.”

After four months, more than 200 men sent to El Salvador have been released from CECOT and returned to Venezuela. @nlanard.bsky.social and I spoke with family members and friends waiting to be reunited with them.
"We were kidnapped"
On Friday, more than 200 Venezuelans disappeared to a megaprison in El Salvador returned home. The horror stories are already emerging.
www.motherjones.com
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Reposted by Isabela Dias
nlanard.bsky.social
Noah Lanard @nlanard.bsky.social · Jul 19
NEW: Story from @isabelaalhadeff.bsky.social and me based on interviews with families of the men returned to Venezuela tonight after Trump disappeared them to El Salvador in March.

www.motherjones.com/politics/202...
"We were kidnapped"
On Friday, more than 200 Venezuelans disappeared to a megaprison in El Salvador returned home. The horror stories are already emerging.
www.motherjones.com
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isabelaalhadeff.bsky.social
Isabela Dias @isabelaalhadeff.bsky.social · Jul 18
Earlier today, the mother of Julio Zambrano, one of the Venezuelans sent to CECOT, was told to go to Caracas for some "good news." She's at the airport in anticipation of her son's arrival after four long months. @nlanard.bsky.social and I are in touch with other families as they wait for more news.
Her husband is trapped in a Salvadoran prison. She has no idea how to get him back.
Ripped apart by Trump, one Venezuelan family endures another hell: silence.
www.motherjones.com
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isabelaalhadeff.bsky.social
Isabela Dias @isabelaalhadeff.bsky.social · Jul 15
“It was a perfect storm.”

In Milford, MA, a town where 30 percent of the population is foreign-born, the arrest of 18-year-old Marcelo Gomes da Silva set off a chain reaction unlike anything the community had seen before. My latest for @motherjones.com:
How ICE’s arrest of a high school student activated a Massachusetts town
“We’re trying to find ways the community can defend itself.”
www.motherjones.com
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Reposted by Isabela Dias
inaeoh.bsky.social
inaeoh.bsky.social @inaeoh.bsky.social · Jul 3
$100 billion in new ICE funding is about to get unleashed thanks to this bill. Come process that crushing figure with me.
What $100 billion in new ICE funding looks like
The staggering increase is difficult to process. These numbers will help.
www.motherjones.com
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Reposted by Isabela Dias
abbyvesoulis.bsky.social
Abby Vesoulis @abbyvesoulis.bsky.social · Jun 23
To mark the 3-year anniversary of the Dobbs decision, I published a guide on all the ways doctors, nonprofits, pilots, and ordinary people are helping people from banned states access reproductive healthcare. www.motherjones.com/politics/202...
Funder, pilot, survivor, physician: Inside the network assisting abortion journeys
And some women who took them.
www.motherjones.com
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Reposted by Isabela Dias
motherjones.com
Mother Jones @motherjones.com · Jun 5
Humanitarian parole is over. Now comes the fear.

"This order gives ICE a green light to grab these immigrants and deport them to the hell they escaped from in a legal way.”
Humanitarian parole is over. Now comes the fear.
Communities in Florida already were suffering after all the other anti-immigrant threats by Trump.
www.motherjones.com
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isabelaalhadeff.bsky.social
Isabela Dias @isabelaalhadeff.bsky.social · Jun 2
NEW: Frizgeralth de Jesús Cornejo Pulgar was among the 238 Venezuelans removed to El Salvador without due process in mid-March. He has no criminal history or a final order of deportation.

On Friday, a US immigration judge terminated his asylum case, effectively ejecting him from the legal system.
Trump disappeared them to El Salvador. Now, they're being erased by immigration courts.
At least 14 cases of Venezuelans sent to a Salvadoran mega prison have been dismissed by US immigration judges.
www.motherjones.com
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micarosenberg.bsky.social
Mica Rosenberg @micarosenberg.bsky.social · May 30
NEW: We obtained DHS data that shows the US knew only 32 of the 238 Venezuelans deported to a prison in El Salvador in March were convicted of US crimes, only 6 of those violent. Trump called them “savages,” “monsters” and "the worst of the worst.” www.propublica.org/article/trum...
Trump Administration Knew Vast Majority of Venezuelans Sent to Salvadoran Prison Had Not Been Convicted of U.S. Crimes
Homeland Security records reveal that officials knew that more than half of the 238 deportees were labeled as having no criminal record in the U.S. and had only violated immigration laws.
www.propublica.org
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dfriedman.bsky.social
Dan Friedman @dfriedman.bsky.social · May 22
Asked about the ethics of Donald Trump Jr and other family members using the Trump presidency to enrich themselves, a DJT Jr. adviser said: "We don’t actually give a fuck.” www.motherjones.com/politics/202...
10 ways to enrich the Trumps and the MAGA movement
“We don’t actually give a fuck.”
www.motherjones.com
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