Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Samantha Michaels @samanthamichaels.bsky.social · 1h

So much tear gas that people who aren't even protesting are getting sick when they leave their homes to run errands: www.motherjones.com/politics/202...

ICE is hounding Chicago area locals with excessive chemical munitions

Agents are firing tear gas and pepper balls on lawful protesters, lawsuits say, sickening even uninvolved residents.

www.motherjones.com

3 46 61

Reposted by Samantha Michaels

Mother Jones @motherjones.com · 1d

@lataco.bsky.social first began as a blog documenting local Mexican cuisine. Now, it’s an essential reporting powerhouse to the city as Trump’s mass deportation plot unfolds.

Check out the latest from our friends at Reveal: tinyurl.com/4cm2bsdr

10 530 1.4K

Reposted by Samantha Michaels

South Side Weekly @southsideweekly.bsky.social · 2d

NEW: In the weeks leading up to a massive ICE raid at a South Shore apartment building, neighbors saw drones surveilling the area, and teachers at a nearby school regularly saw agents in the neighborhood.

✍️ Jose Abonce for the Weekly and Maira Khwaja for @invisible.institute

Federal Agents Storm South Shore Building, Detaining Families and Children

Families were woken by flashbangs and helicopters as hundreds of federal agents raided their homes. Days later, neighbors are still searching for the missing.

southsideweekly.com

2 100 160

Samantha Michaels @samanthamichaels.bsky.social · 2d

"Why should we sit by while you take our money, defund our priorities, and shit on our values?" @clarajeffery explores “soft secession”: www.motherjones.com/politics/202...

It’s time for soft secession

How blue states can use their economic clout to stand up to Trump’s agenda—starting with California.

www.motherjones.com

1

Reposted by Samantha Michaels

Anjali Enjeti @anjalienjeti.bsky.social · 6d

My god.

“Watson said she saw agents dragging residents, including kids, out of the building without any clothes on and into U-Haul vans. Kids were separated from their mothers…’It was heartbreaking to watch…seeing kids coming out buck naked and taken from their mothers, it was horrible.’”

Massive immigration raid on Chicago apartment building leaves residents reeling: 'I feel defeated'

The Department of Homeland Security said federal agents with Border Patrol, the FBI and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives arrested 37 people in the raid.

chicago.suntimes.com

630 5.4K 8.7K

Samantha Michaels @samanthamichaels.bsky.social · 6d

I wrote about how only 13 percent of the personnel carrying out Trump's deportation agenda are employed by ICE's primary deportation unit; the rest are pulled from other jobs, primarily crime-fighting jobs in other law enforcement agencies. www.motherjones.com/politics/202...

1 1

Samantha Michaels @samanthamichaels.bsky.social · 7d

A new study shows that more than 400 people nationwide were charged for crimes related to their pregnancies, pregnancy losses, or even live births from June 2022 to June 2024. www.motherjones.com/politics/202...

When miscarriages become crimes

412 women faced criminal charges for pregnancy outcomes. This is what fetal personhood looks like.

www.motherjones.com

1 1

Samantha Michaels @samanthamichaels.bsky.social · 14d

Trump's pardon of January 6ers put the Marshals Service in uncharted territory. New records show how the agency was trying to navigate the situation—sometimes in unusual ways. www.motherjones.com/politics/202...

US Marshals' efforts around Trump's January 6 pardons were “highly unusual"

“It seems like an extraordinary bending over backward” for the Capitol ransackers.

www.motherjones.com

1 4

Samantha Michaels @samanthamichaels.bsky.social · 19d

Wow...the photos from today's Chicago area ICE protest www.chicagotribune.com/2025/09/19/t...

4

Samantha Michaels @samanthamichaels.bsky.social · 19d

If you want to support independent media that won't be intimidated by Trump, Mother Jones is doing gift-matching right now, so any donation you give will be doubled. Thank you to everyone who's chipping in or sharing this link—it means so much for our newsroom. secure.motherjones.com/flex/mj/key/...

Support Nonprofit Journalism - Donate to Mother Jones

Help Mother Jones' reporters dig deep with a tax-deductible donation.

secure.motherjones.com

2

Samantha Michaels @samanthamichaels.bsky.social · 20d

ICE is putting more people into solitary confinement, and the conditions are brutal. Important reporting from the Marshal Project www.themarshallproject.org/2025/09/16/t...

1 5 3

Reposted by Samantha Michaels

Stephanie Mencimer @smencimer.bsky.social · Sep 3

National Guardsmen now stationed outside our DC building confirmed that the only thing they can do if they witness a crime is call 911. The have no more authority than my office mate to intervene. Despite the handcuffs, they can't make arrests. They are very expensive mall cops.

160 1.8K 6.5K

Reposted by Samantha Michaels

Ashley Parker @ashleyrparker.bsky.social · Aug 29

At 3 pm Wed., a woman was stabbed just off a busy intersection on H Street, NE. National Guard members were dining al fresco at a taqueria DIRECTLY across the street, yet the suspect got away. "So safe," a local texted us.

Our postcard from an Occupied D.C.: www.theatlantic.com/politics/arc...

A Postcard From an Occupied Washington

The presence of the National Guard on the streets of D.C. has terrified some, relieved others, and left even the troops themselves confused.

www.theatlantic.com

22 370 1K

Samantha Michaels @samanthamichaels.bsky.social · Sep 2

The Pentagon is sending military attorneys to work as immigration judges.

But military legal experts I spoke with think this plan is probably illegal. www.motherjones.com/politics/202...

Putting military lawyers in charge of immigration courts is problematic—and “unlawful”

Trump's latest move is an "essential component of martial law,” notes one expert.

www.motherjones.com

1

Reposted by Samantha Michaels

Abby Vesoulis @abbyvesoulis.bsky.social · Aug 28

Mass Shooters Are Not Disproportionately Transgender

www.motherjones.com/politics/202...

Mass Shooters Are Not Disproportionately Transgender

Most mass shootings are carried out by cisgender men.

www.motherjones.com

8 31 100

Samantha Michaels @samanthamichaels.bsky.social · Aug 28

It was fascinating to talk with Isabelle Brourman, the courtroom illustrator who became famous at the Trump trial. She's now documenting ICE arrests (and went to Mar-a-Lago to paint Trump). Here, she shares behind-the-scenes stories and some of her stunning work www.motherjones.com/politics/202...

1 2

Reposted by Samantha Michaels

Mother Jones @motherjones.com · Aug 14

🚨 BREAKING 🚨: The Trump administration is planning citywide sweeps of dozens of homeless encampments in DC starting tonight.

“Arrests will occur at night, in an effort to avoid news cameras,” Jesse Rabinowitz, communications director at National Homelessness Law Center, said via email.

Trump plans raids on DC's homeless tonight, sources say

Advocates are scrambling to relocate people from tent encampments before imminent arrests.

www.motherjones.com

130 870 1.3K

Samantha Michaels @samanthamichaels.bsky.social · Aug 11

DC officials cited a 30-year low for violent crime in January. www.motherjones.com/politics/202...

The National Guard is coming to DC

How the carjacking of "Big Balls" helped Trump conduct a federal takeover where crime is falling.

www.motherjones.com

9 41 140

Samantha Michaels @samanthamichaels.bsky.social · Aug 1

Even a Trump 1.0 border official is raising alarm about how dangerous this is www.motherjones.com/politics/202...

ICE plans to build more tent jails for immigrants. What could go wrong?

A brief recent history of "soft-sided" facilities and their many faults.

www.motherjones.com

1 21 98

Samantha Michaels @samanthamichaels.bsky.social · Aug 1

Hi, I'm the reporter who wrote this article and would love to learn more about that. Can we DM?

4

Samantha Michaels @samanthamichaels.bsky.social · Aug 1

Some good news: Hawaii, parts of California, NYC, and other places are starting to prove that it's possible to stop incarcerating girls.

I wrote about some of the strategies they're using to do it. www.motherjones.com/politics/202...

A revolutionary way to end the incarceration of girls

A new criminal justice wave has formed in Hawaii and California. Where will it go next?

www.motherjones.com

2 24 79

Reposted by Samantha Michaels

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

Reposted by Samantha Michaels

Madison Pauly @msjpauly.bsky.social · Jul 23

Over
& over
& over

The response to the sexual assault becomes the survivor’s “new nightmare.”

Cops. Courts. Companies. Schools. It’s always the same story.

Read Sam’s latest.

I wish there wasn’t cause to publish stories like this year after year after year.

Samantha Michaels @samanthamichaels.bsky.social · Jul 23

When the Golden State Killer was arrested in 2018, law enforcement suggested that the nightmare for his survivors was finally over.

My latest investigation is about a new nightmare that emerged for the survivors who cops dismissed. www.motherjones.com/criminal-jus...

Evidence in her brutal 1979 rape pointed to the Golden State Killer. The police didn’t want to hear about it.

How one woman's quest for closure unleashed its own kind of nightmare.

www.motherjones.com

3 44 140

Reposted by Samantha Michaels

Mother Jones @motherjones.com · Jul 23

“We were kidnapped”: On Friday, more than 200 Venezuelans who disappeared to a megaprison in El Salvador started their journey home.

The horror stories are already emerging.

@isabelaalhadeff.bsky.social and @nlanard.bsky.social spoke with some of their families and here's what they said happened👇

25 920 2K

Samantha Michaels @samanthamichaels.bsky.social · Jul 23

Susan Bowlus' fight to see her own crime report and medical records has been harrowing. In this video, she explains how she was retraumatized by her interactions with law enforcement after the Golden State Killer's conviction. www.youtube.com/watch?v=oCkm...

The Golden State Killer Story Police Don't Want You to Hear

YouTube video by Mother Jones

www.youtube.com

1 6 39