After the shooting, the agent received supportive and even congratulatory messages from colleagues and superiors. "You are a legend among agents you better f--in know that," wrote one. "Beers on me when I see you at training."

He testified about traversing the city incognito, because officers had been followed to their hotels and restaurants. On the day of the shooting, he'd had a light-up Uber decal in his windshield of his vehicle and had been "playing shirt," wearing an overshirt to not draw attention.

This C.B.P. agent, like others, had been lifted from his regular duties and placed in an unfamiliar interior city. In Maine, he was responsible for hundreds of miles of partially remote border and coastline. In Chicago, he was among people protesting and exercising their constitutional rights.

One thing that makes the Martinez shooting a valuable case study is the insight it provides into the mindset of the agent involved. We see his texts with other federal agents, hear his court testimony, and listen in to conversations with fellow federal agents immediately after the shooting.

The process was disorienting. While recovering from injuries, she also fought to restore her reputation and, with it, a sense of reality. “I don’t anticipate this Administration ever retracting their statements. The truth does not matter,” a lawyer in another shooting case said.

Later, she saw Kash Patel share a video an SUV aggressively ramming an agent’s car. He attributed the video to her case, but the SUV wasn’t hers. She saw Tricia McLaughlin attribute a quote to her, “Hey to all my gang let’s f— those mother f—-s up,” but she had never written it.

While Martinez was still being treated for her wounds, D.H.S. called her a domestic terrorist. She learned this two days later when she was released from a jail. The phrase made her think of “someone who builds bombs,” or “Osama bin Laden’s daughter.” “Literally the opposite of me,” she told me.

Martinez, who is 31, stumbled into a truck stop on the South Side of Chicago after being shot five times by a federal immigration officer. About a mile away, the agent who shot her was standing on the side of the road with a group of other agents. “I’m good, bro,” he told one of them.

The Preschool Teaching Assistant Shot by Border Patrol, Then Called a “Domestic Terrorist” When Marimar Martinez was shot five times by a Border Patrol agent, the D.H.S. justified it by calling her a “domestic terrorist.” In the aftermath, she’s been trying to recover her reputation and, wi...

The case of Marimar Martinez, a U.S. citizen and preschool teaching assistant who was shot by a federal agent in Chicago, offers the most complete picture yet of a D.H.S. shooting and its aftermath:
www.newyorker.com/news/annals-...

Thank you Barry!

‘I live in a city of heroes’ A collection of some of the best writing about the federal occupation of Minneapolis and the local resistance. Plus, a song for the moment.

There's been so much important writing about Minneapolis recently. I have compiled some of the most stirring, informative, beautiful, and surprising. @kristenradtke.bsky.social @rubycramer.bsky.social @mashagessen.bsky.social @chashomans.bsky.social @kellymcb.bsky.social @philipkennicott.bsky.social

The Mayor of an Occupied City Jacob Frey, of Minneapolis, is governing a city under siege by its own federal government.

This is a portrait of Minneapolis as told through a small city government that is, its officials say, "underwater." Jacob Frey, the mayor, has been trying to put words to what it feels like to be in the city under an "occupying force" and an "invasion."

www.newyorker.com/news/the-pol...

On edge in small-town America In a divided nation, one Wisconsin village feels everyday life begin to fray.

An ICE deal, a threat, and the story of a small town in 2025: wapo.st/47FDvtm

"Hannah Dreier and @rubycramer.bsky.social's latest pieces bring human scale drama to often-difficult-to-grasp discussions of wildfires and immigration, full of details you could nearly reach out and touch." - @jacobfeldman.bsky.social on his top picks

A last lifeline in ‘detention alley’ Most of immigration lawyer Christopher Kinnison’s clients in rural Louisiana are detainees. Every week, more calls come in, and Kinnison hasn’t been able to process what his days at work are becoming.

Surrounded by ICE facilities in rural, remote Louisiana, an immigration lawyer tries to keep up with the churn of Trump’s deportation operation. New in @washingtonpost.com’s Deep Reads today: wapo.st/41W1NMa

"Lisa didn’t know what happened to her patients after they left the hospital. Her concern was the short time she did have with them."

@rubycramer.bsky.social for @washingtonpost.com:

belatedly - thank you!!!