Tess
@tesshoffman.bsky.social
Not a bad friend to have in your friend pocket. She/her.
“Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never did and it never will.” —Frederick Douglass
“Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never did and it never will.” —Frederick Douglass
Reposted by Tess
between this and the afghani interpreters, america is really going out of its way to show foreign nationals what happens if you assist our nation in its objectives
In late 2020 a Chinese man called Guan Heng travelled to Xinjiang with our BuzzFeed map of detention facilities to provide ground truth for our work - he provided the first corroborating evidence for many sites.
He escaped to the US - then ICE detained him.
www.wsj.com/world/china/...
He escaped to the US - then ICE detained him.
www.wsj.com/world/china/...
ICE Holding Chinese Man Who Documented Uyghur Camps
Heng Guan is awaiting an immigration hearing on Monday that could lead to his removal from the U.S. and ultimately land him back in China, according to his lawyer and a New York-based activist group.
www.wsj.com
December 13, 2025 at 11:25 PM
between this and the afghani interpreters, america is really going out of its way to show foreign nationals what happens if you assist our nation in its objectives
Reposted by Tess
I’m often asked why I call out incommunicado & unregistered detentions of migrants as enforced disappearances when the disappearance tends to last days rather than something much longer. The answer is yes, because many other human rights violations are accomplishable when nobody knows where you are.
They're using the confinement box, one of the most horrific methods of CIA torture in the post-9/11 black sites, against migrants now. This is the direct result of the lack of consequences for the architects of the torture program. Either there will be criminal penalties for this or it will expand.
Torture Techniques from CIA Black Sites Were Used at Alligator Alcatraz
Amnesty International, interviewing migrant detainees, identifies use of the confinement box. There can be no denying it is a torture prison
www.forever-wars.com
December 8, 2025 at 10:04 PM
I’m often asked why I call out incommunicado & unregistered detentions of migrants as enforced disappearances when the disappearance tends to last days rather than something much longer. The answer is yes, because many other human rights violations are accomplishable when nobody knows where you are.
Reposted by Tess
Hey, @theguardian.com wrote about zines in today's movement and talked to @meganpiont.bsky.social and @prisonculture.bsky.social!!!!
www.theguardian.com/us-news/ng-i...
www.theguardian.com/us-news/ng-i...
Gen-Zine: DIY publications find new life as form of resistance against Trump
Zines have made a resurgence as communities seek to share information on everything from ICE raids to local elections
www.theguardian.com
December 10, 2025 at 10:53 PM
Hey, @theguardian.com wrote about zines in today's movement and talked to @meganpiont.bsky.social and @prisonculture.bsky.social!!!!
www.theguardian.com/us-news/ng-i...
www.theguardian.com/us-news/ng-i...
Reposted by Tess
Multiple U.S. citizens have been arrested during ICE operations.
The forcefulness, lack of communication, and unlawful practices displayed by federal agents will not be tolerated in Minnesota.
The forcefulness, lack of communication, and unlawful practices displayed by federal agents will not be tolerated in Minnesota.
December 10, 2025 at 11:14 PM
Multiple U.S. citizens have been arrested during ICE operations.
The forcefulness, lack of communication, and unlawful practices displayed by federal agents will not be tolerated in Minnesota.
The forcefulness, lack of communication, and unlawful practices displayed by federal agents will not be tolerated in Minnesota.
Reposted by Tess
It’s been two weeks since ICE took Yuanxin Zheng from his father. He is six years old. He’s still not home. This has to end.
December 10, 2025 at 10:32 PM
It’s been two weeks since ICE took Yuanxin Zheng from his father. He is six years old. He’s still not home. This has to end.
Reposted by Tess
NEW: Federally funded community health centers receive grants in exchange for serving patients regardless of their ability to pay.
But ProPublica found at least five across the country filing lawsuits and garnishing paychecks to collect unpaid bills.
But ProPublica found at least five across the country filing lawsuits and garnishing paychecks to collect unpaid bills.
These Health Centers Are Supposed to Make Care Affordable. One Has Sued Patients for as Little as $59 in Unpaid Bills.
Federally funded community health centers receive grants in exchange for serving patients regardless of their ability to pay. But ProPublica found at least five across the country garnishing patients’ paychecks to collect unpaid bills.
www.propublica.org
December 9, 2025 at 12:45 PM
NEW: Federally funded community health centers receive grants in exchange for serving patients regardless of their ability to pay.
But ProPublica found at least five across the country filing lawsuits and garnishing paychecks to collect unpaid bills.
But ProPublica found at least five across the country filing lawsuits and garnishing paychecks to collect unpaid bills.
Reposted by Tess
One theme here is the speed of American institutional collapse.
“It took Erdoğan 15 years to do what Trump did in 100 days. If [Americans] do not accept the fact that this is a long game, and it will be brutal, I think you won’t have the patience and stamina to bear it.”
“It took Erdoğan 15 years to do what Trump did in 100 days. If [Americans] do not accept the fact that this is a long game, and it will be brutal, I think you won’t have the patience and stamina to bear it.”
We asked activists from authoritarian regimes what they wish they’d known sooner. Here’s what they said www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...
We asked activists from authoritarian regimes what they wish they’d known sooner. Here’s what they said
Activists from Hungary, El Salvador and Turkey offer advice to the US about what they’ve learned about authoritarians
www.theguardian.com
December 9, 2025 at 12:19 PM
One theme here is the speed of American institutional collapse.
“It took Erdoğan 15 years to do what Trump did in 100 days. If [Americans] do not accept the fact that this is a long game, and it will be brutal, I think you won’t have the patience and stamina to bear it.”
“It took Erdoğan 15 years to do what Trump did in 100 days. If [Americans] do not accept the fact that this is a long game, and it will be brutal, I think you won’t have the patience and stamina to bear it.”
Reposted by Tess
listen
I don't have any illusions about the United States military, what it does, or how many times this has happened before
but the fact that they sat there for 41 minutes, watched two scared, human beings desperately struggling to stay alive, and then murdered them has fucked me up so deeply
I don't have any illusions about the United States military, what it does, or how many times this has happened before
but the fact that they sat there for 41 minutes, watched two scared, human beings desperately struggling to stay alive, and then murdered them has fucked me up so deeply
December 5, 2025 at 2:33 AM
listen
I don't have any illusions about the United States military, what it does, or how many times this has happened before
but the fact that they sat there for 41 minutes, watched two scared, human beings desperately struggling to stay alive, and then murdered them has fucked me up so deeply
I don't have any illusions about the United States military, what it does, or how many times this has happened before
but the fact that they sat there for 41 minutes, watched two scared, human beings desperately struggling to stay alive, and then murdered them has fucked me up so deeply
Maryland folks in District 46--see below and please consider joining if you are able!
District 46: our legislators have real power to help us win for what our communities need. Let’s turn our power into progress!
Join us THIS Weds, December 3 at 6pm at Zion Church. We’ll strategize, plan, and build community (and share some light food).
Reserve your seat today! bit.ly/d46townhall
Join us THIS Weds, December 3 at 6pm at Zion Church. We’ll strategize, plan, and build community (and share some light food).
Reserve your seat today! bit.ly/d46townhall
December 2, 2025 at 1:12 AM
Maryland folks in District 46--see below and please consider joining if you are able!
Reposted by Tess
This is actually quite brilliant, up to and including the final sentence 🔥
December 1, 2025 at 11:09 AM
This is actually quite brilliant, up to and including the final sentence 🔥
Reposted by Tess
I feel much safer today knowing that we deported a Babson College student back to a country where she hasn't lived since childhood.
She wasn't even flying internationally. She was flying to Texas.
She wasn't even flying internationally. She was flying to Texas.
A Babson College student wanted to surprise her family for Thanksgiving. She was deported instead. - The Boston Globe
Any Lucia Lopez Belloza was at Logan to catch a flight to Texas when immigration authorities detained her as she was about to board the plane.
www.bostonglobe.com
November 27, 2025 at 10:47 AM
I feel much safer today knowing that we deported a Babson College student back to a country where she hasn't lived since childhood.
She wasn't even flying internationally. She was flying to Texas.
She wasn't even flying internationally. She was flying to Texas.
Reposted by Tess
For scale: I spent eleven days in the maximum security wing of a local county lockup before a judge heard my case and moved me to min. I had one hour out of the cell a day. The cell was small. There was a speaker in the ceiling. By the end I was talking to the speaker and spending hours each day
Rejon Taylor was one of 37 people on federal death row whose death sentence was commuted by then-President Biden. This year, he learned the Trump administration was sending him to a supermax prison once called a “clean version of hell.”
Death Row Prisoners Granted Clemency by Biden Brace for “Living Hell” Under Trump
Trump officials are retaliating by imposing the harshest conditions in the entire federal prison system, including near total isolation.
boltsmag.org
November 25, 2025 at 12:07 AM
For scale: I spent eleven days in the maximum security wing of a local county lockup before a judge heard my case and moved me to min. I had one hour out of the cell a day. The cell was small. There was a speaker in the ceiling. By the end I was talking to the speaker and spending hours each day
Reposted by Tess
Melissa Tran came here on a Green Card at age 11.
She's since raised 4 kids, started a business, & is a beloved member of the Hagerstown community.
Trump is deporting her, despite a judge saying she poses no threat.
Is she the "worst of the worst"? Do you feel safer yet?
She's since raised 4 kids, started a business, & is a beloved member of the Hagerstown community.
Trump is deporting her, despite a judge saying she poses no threat.
Is she the "worst of the worst"? Do you feel safer yet?
Hagerstown mother and nail salon owner set for deportation to Vietnam
Melissa Tran’s six-month legal battle has highlighted the impacts of President Donald Trump’s immigration enforcement campaign on longtime residents and their families.
www.thebanner.com
November 19, 2025 at 6:46 PM
Melissa Tran came here on a Green Card at age 11.
She's since raised 4 kids, started a business, & is a beloved member of the Hagerstown community.
Trump is deporting her, despite a judge saying she poses no threat.
Is she the "worst of the worst"? Do you feel safer yet?
She's since raised 4 kids, started a business, & is a beloved member of the Hagerstown community.
Trump is deporting her, despite a judge saying she poses no threat.
Is she the "worst of the worst"? Do you feel safer yet?
Reposted by Tess
A bad thing is unfolding at NIH this week: It looks like the Trump administration is trying to replace key civil servant scientific leaders, the Institute Directors, with political hires. These directors control the NIH budget, tens of billions.
A bit of a video explainer here: 1/ 🧪
A bit of a video explainer here: 1/ 🧪
November 13, 2025 at 10:31 PM
A bad thing is unfolding at NIH this week: It looks like the Trump administration is trying to replace key civil servant scientific leaders, the Institute Directors, with political hires. These directors control the NIH budget, tens of billions.
A bit of a video explainer here: 1/ 🧪
A bit of a video explainer here: 1/ 🧪
Reposted by Tess
ICE is at the Waverly Giant, Baltimore friends. Beware.
November 12, 2025 at 8:07 PM
ICE is at the Waverly Giant, Baltimore friends. Beware.
Reposted by Tess
Flood the phones:
(202) 224-3121
Tell Chuck Schumer to grow a spine and hold the line…
There should be no deal that leaves working families behind.
(202) 224-3121
Tell Chuck Schumer to grow a spine and hold the line…
There should be no deal that leaves working families behind.
November 10, 2025 at 12:03 AM
Flood the phones:
(202) 224-3121
Tell Chuck Schumer to grow a spine and hold the line…
There should be no deal that leaves working families behind.
(202) 224-3121
Tell Chuck Schumer to grow a spine and hold the line…
There should be no deal that leaves working families behind.
Reposted by Tess
I had a run in with ICE snatching a man out of his car while walking my children to school this morning in NW DC
I asked a neighbor to continue walking my kids to school and I turned back to document and confront the ICE agents.
I am in contact with @dcmigrantmutualaid.org with the full video.
I asked a neighbor to continue walking my kids to school and I turned back to document and confront the ICE agents.
I am in contact with @dcmigrantmutualaid.org with the full video.
November 6, 2025 at 8:33 PM
I had a run in with ICE snatching a man out of his car while walking my children to school this morning in NW DC
I asked a neighbor to continue walking my kids to school and I turned back to document and confront the ICE agents.
I am in contact with @dcmigrantmutualaid.org with the full video.
I asked a neighbor to continue walking my kids to school and I turned back to document and confront the ICE agents.
I am in contact with @dcmigrantmutualaid.org with the full video.
Reposted by Tess
I'm here outside Speaker Johnson’s office because he is starving families and gutting health care to cover up the Epstein Files.
Change my mind.
Change my mind.
November 6, 2025 at 6:08 PM
I'm here outside Speaker Johnson’s office because he is starving families and gutting health care to cover up the Epstein Files.
Change my mind.
Change my mind.
Reposted by Tess
Great account of tonight's rally. Friends outside Chicago, we need you to know what's happening here, and we need you to know that we are fighting hard.
Tyler and I are out here at the rally where the crowd has about doubled since this first post. Easily 400+ people.
Group is chanting “no hate, no fear, everyone is welcome here.”
Group is chanting “no hate, no fear, everyone is welcome here.”
Here at Northcenter Town Square where 100-200 community members including families and young children are rallying after a teacher was taken by federal law enforcement from a local daycare this morning.
November 6, 2025 at 2:15 AM
Great account of tonight's rally. Friends outside Chicago, we need you to know what's happening here, and we need you to know that we are fighting hard.
Reposted by Tess
Tyler and I are out here at the rally where the crowd has about doubled since this first post. Easily 400+ people.
Group is chanting “no hate, no fear, everyone is welcome here.”
Group is chanting “no hate, no fear, everyone is welcome here.”
Here at Northcenter Town Square where 100-200 community members including families and young children are rallying after a teacher was taken by federal law enforcement from a local daycare this morning.
November 6, 2025 at 12:39 AM
Tyler and I are out here at the rally where the crowd has about doubled since this first post. Easily 400+ people.
Group is chanting “no hate, no fear, everyone is welcome here.”
Group is chanting “no hate, no fear, everyone is welcome here.”
Reposted by Tess
Easily several hundred people have packed into this plaza in Chicago's North Center tonight in response to ICE abducting a daycare worker early this morning.
This is a neighborhood that has largely been spared until now from the "Midway Blitz" terror campaign. But everyone knows someone affected.
This is a neighborhood that has largely been spared until now from the "Midway Blitz" terror campaign. But everyone knows someone affected.
November 6, 2025 at 12:48 AM
Easily several hundred people have packed into this plaza in Chicago's North Center tonight in response to ICE abducting a daycare worker early this morning.
This is a neighborhood that has largely been spared until now from the "Midway Blitz" terror campaign. But everyone knows someone affected.
This is a neighborhood that has largely been spared until now from the "Midway Blitz" terror campaign. But everyone knows someone affected.
Without minimizing the horrors the current administration will continue to wreak, and the need to keep fighting them on every front--man, it's good to feel my country understood the assignment last night. We're better than these ghouls, and we will defeat them.
November 5, 2025 at 1:32 PM
Without minimizing the horrors the current administration will continue to wreak, and the need to keep fighting them on every front--man, it's good to feel my country understood the assignment last night. We're better than these ghouls, and we will defeat them.
Reposted by Tess
This person took this when they called the race
November 5, 2025 at 6:07 AM
This person took this when they called the race
Reposted by Tess
This is such a loss. Teen Vogue's reporting has put many "news" mags' to shame for years now. And this--"there are no longer any Black women working at Teen Vogue"--is chilling.
thank you for all the support; the statement from our union is now live here with some more reporting.
now that this is public I can confirm that the majority of today’s layoffs were women of color. there are no longer any Black women working at Teen Vogue.
now that this is public I can confirm that the majority of today’s layoffs were women of color. there are no longer any Black women working at Teen Vogue.
November 4, 2025 at 1:39 AM
This is such a loss. Teen Vogue's reporting has put many "news" mags' to shame for years now. And this--"there are no longer any Black women working at Teen Vogue"--is chilling.