Annie J. Wang
@wanganniej.bsky.social
Immigrants' rights and civil rights attorney and immigration policy advocate through a civil rights lens. Views expressed are my own. Reposts are not endorsements.
Reposted by Annie J. Wang
Wow. St. Paul just elected its first Hmong American mayor, Kaohly Her, and @startribune.com reports that ChongLy Scott Thao is the mayor’s family friend. Mayor Her indicated the person/persons DHS claimed to be looking for may have previously lived at Thao’s address.
St. Paul mayor Kaohly Her ‘livid’ after ICE wrongly targets family friend, escorts him undressed into cold
ChongLy Scott Thao was taken by federal agents from his St. Paul home in the frigid cold only wearing boxers and Crocs.
www.startribune.com
January 20, 2026 at 5:03 AM
Wow. St. Paul just elected its first Hmong American mayor, Kaohly Her, and @startribune.com reports that ChongLy Scott Thao is the mayor’s family friend. Mayor Her indicated the person/persons DHS claimed to be looking for may have previously lived at Thao’s address.
Reposted by Annie J. Wang
I flew down to south Texas today to do my job - investigate why people are dying in ICE detention centers.
I was just illegally denied entry to Dilley Detention Center. Because they have something to hide.
I was just illegally denied entry to Dilley Detention Center. Because they have something to hide.
January 20, 2026 at 10:21 PM
I flew down to south Texas today to do my job - investigate why people are dying in ICE detention centers.
I was just illegally denied entry to Dilley Detention Center. Because they have something to hide.
I was just illegally denied entry to Dilley Detention Center. Because they have something to hide.
Reposted by Annie J. Wang
The Trump administration claims that ICE is targeting "the worst of the worst." But 5-year-old Liam Conejo Ramos, taken from his home with only a Spider-Man backpack and bunny hat, is not a threat.
This isn't about safety. It's about deporting as many people as possible.
This isn't about safety. It's about deporting as many people as possible.
5-year-old asylum seeker detained as ICE expands enforcement in Minnesota
A 5-year-old boy was detained with his father by ICE agents in Minnesota in what some local officials say is the latest instance of heightened immigration enforcement.
abcnews.go.com
January 23, 2026 at 8:40 PM
The Trump administration claims that ICE is targeting "the worst of the worst." But 5-year-old Liam Conejo Ramos, taken from his home with only a Spider-Man backpack and bunny hat, is not a threat.
This isn't about safety. It's about deporting as many people as possible.
This isn't about safety. It's about deporting as many people as possible.
Reposted by Annie J. Wang
Children should spend their days learning at school, playing on the playground, and just being kids.
No child belongs in ICE detention.
No child belongs in ICE detention.
January 23, 2026 at 8:44 PM
Children should spend their days learning at school, playing on the playground, and just being kids.
No child belongs in ICE detention.
No child belongs in ICE detention.
The Jan. 13 guidance from Riley, who became chief of the office which oversees the US immigration courts last December, is "largely unprecedented," immigration lawyers and experts told Documented, and represents the latest challenge to courts’ independence under the current administration
“I’ve never heard of the Department of Justice immigration court leadership issuing an instruction to judges essentially to disregard a federal court order, which is essentially what this EOIR email does,” said AILA's Greg Chen. https://bit.ly/4a9HHCJ
‘Is Bond Now Being Granted?’: Conflicting Orders Leave Detainees, Attorneys in Limbo - Documented
The Trump administration has continued to push mandatory detention despite a court order to stop.
documentedny.com
January 23, 2026 at 9:38 PM
The Jan. 13 guidance from Riley, who became chief of the office which oversees the US immigration courts last December, is "largely unprecedented," immigration lawyers and experts told Documented, and represents the latest challenge to courts’ independence under the current administration
In the wake of CBS's decision to postpone last night's airing of "60 Minutes" episode on Venezuelan migrants deported to and imprisoned in CECOT without due process: ‘You Are All Terrorists’: Four Months in a Salvadoran Prison www.nytimes.com/2025/11/08/w...
‘You Are All Terrorists’: Four Months in a Salvadoran Prison
www.nytimes.com
December 22, 2025 at 4:50 PM
In the wake of CBS's decision to postpone last night's airing of "60 Minutes" episode on Venezuelan migrants deported to and imprisoned in CECOT without due process: ‘You Are All Terrorists’: Four Months in a Salvadoran Prison www.nytimes.com/2025/11/08/w...
Reposted by Annie J. Wang
NEW: President Trump is expanding the previous 19-country travel ban to a whopping 39 countries (plus the Palestinian Authority), and appears to expand a block on legal immigration to now include spouses, children, and parents of U.S. citizens, who were previously exempted.
December 16, 2025 at 8:32 PM
NEW: President Trump is expanding the previous 19-country travel ban to a whopping 39 countries (plus the Palestinian Authority), and appears to expand a block on legal immigration to now include spouses, children, and parents of U.S. citizens, who were previously exempted.
Immigration agents are using air passenger data shared by TSA for deportation program www.nytimes.com/2025/12/12/u...
Immigration Agents Are Using Air Passenger Data for Deportation Effort
www.nytimes.com
December 16, 2025 at 8:49 PM
Immigration agents are using air passenger data shared by TSA for deportation program www.nytimes.com/2025/12/12/u...
Reposted by Annie J. Wang
"Instead of honoring our legal and moral commitments, the administration is sowing fear and uncertainty and undermining the credibility of its own institutions,” AILA Executive Director Ben Johnson responds to Trump Administration refugee re-screenings.
https://bit.ly/4oduBIF
https://bit.ly/4oduBIF
AILA: Refugee Re-Screenings Sow Fear, Not Security
Ben Johnson, Executive Director of the American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA), responded to news that the Trump Administration will reopen vetting for refugees who entered between January 20,...
www.aila.org
November 25, 2025 at 5:57 PM
"Instead of honoring our legal and moral commitments, the administration is sowing fear and uncertainty and undermining the credibility of its own institutions,” AILA Executive Director Ben Johnson responds to Trump Administration refugee re-screenings.
https://bit.ly/4oduBIF
https://bit.ly/4oduBIF
Reposted by Annie J. Wang
48% of all people in ICE custody (incl. CBP and ICE arrests) have no criminal history. Another 26% only have a criminal charge (no conviction ), and 26% have a criminal conviction (although many of these are low level).
austinkocher.substack.com/p/breaking-i...
austinkocher.substack.com/p/breaking-i...
November 24, 2025 at 7:18 AM
48% of all people in ICE custody (incl. CBP and ICE arrests) have no criminal history. Another 26% only have a criminal charge (no conviction ), and 26% have a criminal conviction (although many of these are low level).
austinkocher.substack.com/p/breaking-i...
austinkocher.substack.com/p/breaking-i...
Reposted by Annie J. Wang
By far the LARGEST growth in people arrested by ICE and thrown into detention centers across the country are from people with absolutely no criminal history on record. See the data below (and here: austinkocher.substack.com/p/breaking-i... ).
November 24, 2025 at 1:57 PM
By far the LARGEST growth in people arrested by ICE and thrown into detention centers across the country are from people with absolutely no criminal history on record. See the data below (and here: austinkocher.substack.com/p/breaking-i... ).
Reposted by Annie J. Wang
"The father of four, an immigrant from Afghanistan who helped the U.S. military fight the Taliban, is in a Springfield, Missouri, jail — held with other immigrants picked up in nationwide sweeps. Dadfar is 37 and an asylum-seeker with work authorization." https://bit.ly/4rxmaL8.
Afghan asylum seeker who fought the Taliban now held by ICE in Missouri
A Kansas City-based immigration attorney has filed a federal lawsuit challenging Mohammad Ali Dadfar’s warrantless arrest and detention. Hundreds of immigrant detainees have been ordered released beca...
bit.ly
November 24, 2025 at 2:19 PM
"The father of four, an immigrant from Afghanistan who helped the U.S. military fight the Taliban, is in a Springfield, Missouri, jail — held with other immigrants picked up in nationwide sweeps. Dadfar is 37 and an asylum-seeker with work authorization." https://bit.ly/4rxmaL8.
The inquiry resumes after one of the biggest clashes--and there were many--between the administration and the judiciary this year
"A federal judge’s inquiry to determine which Trump administration officials violated a court order that barred deportation flights to El Salvador is back on after a seven-month pause for appeals." https://wapo.st/3XAdOo6
November 24, 2025 at 3:07 PM
The inquiry resumes after one of the biggest clashes--and there were many--between the administration and the judiciary this year
Reposted by Annie J. Wang
BREAKING: DC District Court just granted our emergency motion, filed with @immigrantjustice.bsky.social, stopping ICE from locking up unaccompanied immigrant children in adult detention centers once they turn 18.
Locking up young people in ICE jails only inflicts more harm on vulnerable youth.
Locking up young people in ICE jails only inflicts more harm on vulnerable youth.
October 4, 2025 at 5:22 PM
BREAKING: DC District Court just granted our emergency motion, filed with @immigrantjustice.bsky.social, stopping ICE from locking up unaccompanied immigrant children in adult detention centers once they turn 18.
Locking up young people in ICE jails only inflicts more harm on vulnerable youth.
Locking up young people in ICE jails only inflicts more harm on vulnerable youth.
Reposted by Annie J. Wang
These ICE raids aren't making communities safer.
Protecting communities doesn’t involve zip-tying children or dragging families into trucks.
No child deserves to be terrorized like this.
Protecting communities doesn’t involve zip-tying children or dragging families into trucks.
No child deserves to be terrorized like this.
ICE Agents Rappel from Helicopter in Overnight Chicago Raid, Dragging Kids from Beds to U-Hauls
Overnight on Tuesday, Sept. 30, federal agents from different agencies raided an apartment building on the South Side of Chicago, pulling men, women and children — some of them allegedly naked — from ...
people.com
October 3, 2025 at 7:02 PM
These ICE raids aren't making communities safer.
Protecting communities doesn’t involve zip-tying children or dragging families into trucks.
No child deserves to be terrorized like this.
Protecting communities doesn’t involve zip-tying children or dragging families into trucks.
No child deserves to be terrorized like this.
Reposted by Annie J. Wang
Join us THIS TUESDAY (Oct 7, 7 pm ET) for a critical virtual call about the latest DACA developments.
The admin filed briefs on Sept 29 about how they might proceed with DACA. These are NOT final decisions. The program hasn't changed yet.
www.mobilize.us/unitedwedrea...
The admin filed briefs on Sept 29 about how they might proceed with DACA. These are NOT final decisions. The program hasn't changed yet.
www.mobilize.us/unitedwedrea...
October 3, 2025 at 5:05 PM
Join us THIS TUESDAY (Oct 7, 7 pm ET) for a critical virtual call about the latest DACA developments.
The admin filed briefs on Sept 29 about how they might proceed with DACA. These are NOT final decisions. The program hasn't changed yet.
www.mobilize.us/unitedwedrea...
The admin filed briefs on Sept 29 about how they might proceed with DACA. These are NOT final decisions. The program hasn't changed yet.
www.mobilize.us/unitedwedrea...
Reposted by Annie J. Wang
The Trump administration announced it is cutting federal education funding for minority-serving institutions (MSIs)—colleges and universities that enroll large numbers of Asian, Latino, Black, or Native American students from low-income families. www.theeduledger.com/leadership-p...
October 3, 2025 at 7:51 PM
The Trump administration announced it is cutting federal education funding for minority-serving institutions (MSIs)—colleges and universities that enroll large numbers of Asian, Latino, Black, or Native American students from low-income families. www.theeduledger.com/leadership-p...
Reposted by Annie J. Wang
BREAKING: SCOTUS (again) allows Sec. Noem to proceed with ending Temporary Protect Status for more than 600,000 Venezuelans, over the objection of the three Democratic appointees.
![SUPREME COURT OF THE UNITED STATES
No. 25A326
KRISTI NOEM, SECRETARY, DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY, ET AL. v. NATIONAL TPS ALLIANCE, ET AL.
ON APPLICATION FOR A STAY
[October 3, 2025]
In March of this year, the United States District Court for the Northern District of California entered a preliminary order postponing the effective date of the Secretary of Homeland Security's decision to remove "temporary protected status" (TPS) from Venezuelan nationals living in the United States. See 8 U.S. C. §1254a; 5 U.S. C. §705.
In May, this Court stayed that order while the Government appealed. The United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit ultimately affirmed the District Court's preliminary order. Last month, the District Court entered final judgment in respondents' favor, holding unlawful and setting aside the Secretary's actions effectuating her decision— namely, her vacatur of a pending extension of TPS for Venezuelan nationals, and her termination of that status itself.
See 5 U. S. C. §706(2). (The District Court also concluded that the Secretary unlawfully vacated a TPS extension for Haitian nationals. The Government now seeks to stay the portions of the District Court's judgment pertaining to Ven-ezuela, but not Haiti. See Application 7, n. 6.)
The application for stay presented to JUSTICE KAGAN and by her referred to the Court is granted. Although the posture of the case has changed, the parties' legal arguments and relative harms generally have not. The same result that we reached in May is appropriate here.](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:36eqtmzysqf7wsslczw4uxcd/bafkreifwdli7xxfny6ivyfuusq7lptvsyntu7ypokqdyrgpoxlyw4dmokq@jpeg)
October 3, 2025 at 8:37 PM
BREAKING: SCOTUS (again) allows Sec. Noem to proceed with ending Temporary Protect Status for more than 600,000 Venezuelans, over the objection of the three Democratic appointees.
Reposted by Annie J. Wang
I really appreciate Justice Jackson contrasting the lower courts' meticulous and responsible approach to judging—extensive deliberations, written opinions—with the Supreme Court's slapdash, unreasoned work over the shadow docket. www.documentcloud.org/documents/26...
October 3, 2025 at 8:45 PM
I really appreciate Justice Jackson contrasting the lower courts' meticulous and responsible approach to judging—extensive deliberations, written opinions—with the Supreme Court's slapdash, unreasoned work over the shadow docket. www.documentcloud.org/documents/26...
Reposted by Annie J. Wang
Mario Guevara, an Emmy-award winning reporter, was deported to El Salvador — a nation he fled more than two decades ago. He was arrested while covering a protest of the Trump administration in a case that has alarmed free speech groups.
U.S. deports journalist Mario Guevara to El Salvador, family says
Mario Guevara, an independent journalist, was arrested while covering a protest of the Trump administration in a case that has alarmed free speech groups.
www.washingtonpost.com
October 3, 2025 at 9:00 PM
Mario Guevara, an Emmy-award winning reporter, was deported to El Salvador — a nation he fled more than two decades ago. He was arrested while covering a protest of the Trump administration in a case that has alarmed free speech groups.
Reposted by Annie J. Wang
What happened to Jackie and Carlos Merlos and their young children is outrageous. We need urgent action to help reunite this family: act.nilc.org/page/88106/p...
🧵Read about their story and the extraordinarily cruel lengths that CBP and ICE went to disappear them⤵️
🧵Read about their story and the extraordinarily cruel lengths that CBP and ICE went to disappear them⤵️
September 22, 2025 at 3:58 PM
What happened to Jackie and Carlos Merlos and their young children is outrageous. We need urgent action to help reunite this family: act.nilc.org/page/88106/p...
🧵Read about their story and the extraordinarily cruel lengths that CBP and ICE went to disappear them⤵️
🧵Read about their story and the extraordinarily cruel lengths that CBP and ICE went to disappear them⤵️
Reposted by Annie J. Wang
As the devastation of the 2025 reconciliation law sets in, politicians are creating distractions and spreading lies about immigrants to distract from the truth.
We're here to set the record straight: www.nilc.org/resources/fa...
We're here to set the record straight: www.nilc.org/resources/fa...
Fact Checking Immigrants, Health Care, and the 2025 Tax and Budget Law
In response to misinformation about the 2025 reconciliation law, particularly regarding undocumented immigrants’ health care eligibility, this resource addresses misleading claims and explains why the...
www.nilc.org
October 2, 2025 at 9:23 PM
As the devastation of the 2025 reconciliation law sets in, politicians are creating distractions and spreading lies about immigrants to distract from the truth.
We're here to set the record straight: www.nilc.org/resources/fa...
We're here to set the record straight: www.nilc.org/resources/fa...
Reposted by Annie J. Wang
🎉Catalina "Xochitl" Santiago, a #DACA recipient who was unjustly detained for months, is free!
Her freedom is a victory — and a call to keep fighting for justice for everyone who has been wrongfully detained.
https://bit.ly/4pYExYE
Her freedom is a victory — and a call to keep fighting for justice for everyone who has been wrongfully detained.
https://bit.ly/4pYExYE
ICE complies with judge’s order and quickly releases El Paso DACA recipient
The El Paso federal judge said the Trump administration is violating the constitutional rights of Catalina “Xochitl” Santiago, a DACA recipient who has lived in the U.S. for two decades.
bit.ly
October 3, 2025 at 4:43 PM
🎉Catalina "Xochitl" Santiago, a #DACA recipient who was unjustly detained for months, is free!
Her freedom is a victory — and a call to keep fighting for justice for everyone who has been wrongfully detained.
https://bit.ly/4pYExYE
Her freedom is a victory — and a call to keep fighting for justice for everyone who has been wrongfully detained.
https://bit.ly/4pYExYE
Reposted by Annie J. Wang
Last night the U.S. government "shut down." In a piece for @immcouncil.org's blog, I explain what that means for the immigration system and for Trump's mass deportation agenda. www.americanimmigrationcouncil.org/blog/what-go...
What a Government Shutdown Means for the Immigration System - American Immigration Council
This is how a government shutdown in 2025 may impact ICE, immigration courts, USCIS, and the immigration system at large.
www.americanimmigrationcouncil.org
October 1, 2025 at 12:43 PM
Last night the U.S. government "shut down." In a piece for @immcouncil.org's blog, I explain what that means for the immigration system and for Trump's mass deportation agenda. www.americanimmigrationcouncil.org/blog/what-go...
Reposted by Annie J. Wang
What's happening with DACA? Swipe through to get the info you need!
On Sept 29th, the administration filed a brief. These briefs are not final decisions. They do not make changes to the program right now. We encourage DACA recipients to renew as soon as possible.
On Sept 29th, the administration filed a brief. These briefs are not final decisions. They do not make changes to the program right now. We encourage DACA recipients to renew as soon as possible.
September 30, 2025 at 9:05 PM
What's happening with DACA? Swipe through to get the info you need!
On Sept 29th, the administration filed a brief. These briefs are not final decisions. They do not make changes to the program right now. We encourage DACA recipients to renew as soon as possible.
On Sept 29th, the administration filed a brief. These briefs are not final decisions. They do not make changes to the program right now. We encourage DACA recipients to renew as soon as possible.