Liam is one of four Columbia Heights, MN school district students who have been taken by ICE in the last two weeks, the school district said. Liam's teacher: “He is so kind and loving, and his classmates miss him. He ... just brightens the room. All I want is for him to be back here and safe.”

The Supreme Court is focused on bans in West Virginia and Idaho, but the outcome could be hugely consequential for trans rights and LGBTQ+ equality more broadly.

Experts here breakdown what's at stake:

These teenage athletes have faced death threats, attacks by the president + people in their community pushing to ban them. They've also been embraced by teammates, coaches + competitors and say they just want to keep doing what they love.

“I’m just a kid that wants to play sports with my friends"

As the Supreme Court considers state laws banning trans girls from sports, hear from three youth directly about the joy of athletics and the impact of the efforts to kick them off their teams.

“Playing sports and loving being out there on the field is in its own beautiful way an act of resistance.”

♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️

The new FBI report is coming to light after we revealed last month that the FBI and NYPD have spied on a Signal group of NYC court watch activists who monitor public proceedings, labeling the volunteers “anarchist violent extremists."

From earlier records unearthed by @propertyofthepeople.org:

FBI cited two violent cases: Dallas ICE office shooting by gunman w/ unclear political beliefs who killed 2 detainees; + shooting at Alvarado ICE jail. In Alvarado, DOJ accused 15 ppl of being in an "antifa cell" but my colleague @samrlevine.bsky.social dug into it + raised qs about govt's narrative

Hina Shamsi, ACLU: “The FBI report is infused w/ vague + overbroad language. Ppl entirely innocent of wrongdoing can be subjected to surveillance or investigations...No matter what NSPM-7 says, the Constitution constrains federal agencies if they seek to punish ppl for exercising free speech rights"

“At its core, the war on antifa is a war on dissent, a war on free speech” [email protected] @propertyofthepeople.org. The docs “strongly suggest one of the primary functions of NSPM-7 is to serve as a vehicle for targeting anti-ICE organizing broadly as an anarchist violent extremist threat"

The FBI report reveals:

-criminal + domestic terrorism investigations into "anti-ICE threats" in 23 regions.

-NSPM-7 "domestic terrorism" cases in 27 states.

-High volume of cases in Chicago, Dallas + Portland

-continued efforts to investigate "funders" + "organizations" that "aid" terrorism

Trump's NSPM-7, issued after Charlie Kirk's killing, cited LA "riots" as example of "political violence."

The FBI report claimed “domestic terrorist subjects," who fall under NSPM-7, have engaged in “reactive violent attacks which took advantage of First Amendment-protected activities nationwide."

An internal FBI report in Nov, distributed to other law enforcement agencies, said “indicators” an individual may be planning to attack ICE facilities or staff include “conducting online research” about agents’ movements + using encrypted messaging apps. @us.theguardian.com @propertyofthepeople.org

“Basic civic participation is not a terrorist threat” - @rshapiro.bsky.social of @propertyofthepeople.org. “The FBI treating it like one is yet another example of the Trump regime’s profound contempt for even the most rudimentary of democratic freedoms.”

Full @us.theguardian.com story here:

Comptroller @bradlander.bsky.social, a regular court watcher: “This FBI surveillance tactic is ripped straight out of the J Edgar Hoover playbook. Observing immigration court...is a legal and non-violent act, unlike the ICE abductions we have witnessed regularly for months outside of the courtrooms"

The FBI/NYPD report was sent to other agencies, warning of “extremist actors targeting law enforcement officers + federal facilities." The report provided no evidence of ties to extremism or violence among court watchers, who've monitored courts across the US as ICE has ramped up courthouse arrests.

The records don't make clear how the FBI accessed a private Signal chat. FBI said the intel came from a “sensitive source with excellent access.”

The report quoted chats from unnamed ppl discussing how to access public hearings at immigration court, what to say upon arrival, what floor to go etc.

After José's arrest sparked outrage in August, DHS attacked him in a press release, calling him a "criminal illegal alien, not a firefighter." DHS has cited a 12-year-old drug delivery charge while failing to acknowledge the charge was dismissed.

Full @us.theguardian.com interview and story here:

José worked as a firefighter since 2019 + ran a landscaping business in Monmouth, OR, the area where he grew up

Cecelia Koontz, Monmouth’s mayor, who for years hired José for landscaping: “It hit ppl really hard. He cares so much about his work. Ppl respected that + were horrified he was detained”

José's crew spent a week in August battling the Bear Gulch fire, then a 9,000-acre blaze + largest in 70+ years in WA’s Olympic Peninsula.

Border Patrol showed up to his remote forest location, surrounded the crew + ultimately arrested José + another immigrant firefighter.

"It’s backstabbing.”