Put @thewesternedge.bsky.social's reporting against any media outlet in our region over the past two months. We're just starting and I can't wait to share the great reporting we have coming over the next two months.
If you can't subscribe, consider a donation toward our next records request. 🙏
And we've been highlighting excellent reporting from other Western journalists, like @sergioolmos.bsky.social. Our goal is elevate journalism in the West. Some of the best reporting in the country happens here, but it doesn't always get the attention it deserves.
Honored our work was nominated
@kevinclancy.bsky.social @zachtoombs.bsky.social @wendyfry.bsky.social @addonohue.bsky.social @bellingcat.com @evidentmedia.org @calmatters.org
Federal judge: Continued Border Patrol sweeps in California violated court order
In a tersely worded decision unsealed Thursday morning, the judge wrote that agents had “again detained people without reasonable suspicion,”
W/ @wendyfry.bsky.social
calmatters.org/justice/2026...
We live in a time when the federal government considers it taboo to name officers. I asked @sergioolmos.bsky.social about his team's decision to identify five Border Patrol officers who spent last year traveling the country and violently arresting people -- and the inevitable criticism they'd face.
We observed over 25 agents who appeared in more than one city, either by recognising their faces or matching badge numbers visible on their vests or arm patches. Many were seen alongside former Border Patrol Commander at Large, Gregory Bovino, on at least one occasion.
Bellingcat and our partners at @evidentmedia.org and @calmatters.org have tracked US Border Patrol agents, analysing over 85 hours of footage taken across the country to try and unpack the circumstances around multiple use-of-force incidents. www.bellingcat.com/news/2026/03...
@evidentmedia.org and @sergioolmos.bsky.social produced this excellent video report www.youtube.com/watch?v=evAD...
We worked with @evidentmedia.org and @calmatters.org to track and identify Border Patrol agents who have used force in multiple cities and on multiple occasions during immigration crackdowns over the past year 👇
Wow this investigation identifies 5 federal agents who "engaged in a pattern of force and questionable detention, aggressive tactics that courts have said likely violated the constitution, as they moved from Bakersfield to Los Angeles, and then Chicago and Minneapolis" calmatters.org/investigatio...
this quote from our @bellingcat.com latest, among all the others, is one that really stands out for me — violence and the threat of violence as a raw display of power, a spectacle meant to intimidate and present itself as unstoppable, irresistible and unaccountable (it’s not)
And here's is @calmatters.org @sergioolmos.bsky.social article as well.
calmatters.org/investigatio...
If you prefer video, take 11 minutes out of your day to watch.
And while we only focused on 5 agents there were many more we saw move from city to city, and aggressive tactics were not limited to just these 5 guys.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=evAD...
New joint investigation between @bellingcat.com @calmatters.org @evidentmedia.org where we identified agents causing chaos and violence across the country. These guys were some of the worst repeat offenders we saw.
www.bellingcat.com/news/2026/03...
Watch the full visual investigation: youtu.be/evADOoRYa90?...
Border Patrol agents have been roving from city to city over the last 15 months, far from their home bases in California and elsewhere along the U.S.-Mexico border, engaged in an unprecedented mass deportation campaign.Â
A collaboration w/ @calmatters.org @evidentmedia.org and @bellingcat.com
Really great reporting from @sergioolmos.bsky.social and team documenting how the same federal agents have moved from city to city over the past year to inflict violence on the public.
Federal law enforcement agents shot and killed a man in Minneapolis on Jan. 24 according to local police officials. DHS told Fox News that the man was “armed with a gun”. A video of the shooting appears to show that a gun was taken from the man before the first shot was fired. x.com/BillMelugin_...
Immigration agents departing from the scene of the shooting
FBI investigators are on the scene of the shooting
In Willowbrook, CA in the aftermath of a shooting by immigration agents.
DHS says the person they were attempting to arrest “was not hit and attempted to flee on foot.”
DHS claims he “weaponized his vehicle and rammed law enforcement.”
Immigration agents are choking people in America's streets & using tactics against their own policy/training. Many LEO agencies have banned their use
A Colombian TikToker. An ICU nurse. A father holding his child.
A 16-year-old citizen
DHS calls this "utmost professionalism"
w/ @mckenziefunk.com
The situation had deteriorated so dramatically that the San Benito district attorney, Joel Buckingham, found himself worrying about the people his office was trying to send to prison. Their attorneys didn’t contest the evidence Buckingham’s prosecutors presented, no matter how it was obtained. Each year, they filed an average of just 10 motions to suppress evidence based on violations of constitutional rights — including unjustified stops and searches, illegal interrogations, and arrests without probable cause. “Police officers must make mistakes sometimes,” Buckingham told a researcher conducting the evaluation. The sheriff, Eric Taylor, was also alarmed. If his deputies were never challenged in court, how would they know when they had crossed a line? What would stop them from doing it again?
You know things are bad when both the DA and Sheriff are concerned that their side is winning in court TOO much.
Another great one by the great Anat Rubin:
calmatters.org/investigatio...
Private equity has found a new source of profit: volunteer fire departments.
www.nytimes.com/2025/12/14/u...
Watching this sport is like standing around in the waiting area of an emergency room
Huntington Beach, CA - Members of Patriot Front, and several explicitly Neo-Nazi active clubs marching through Huntington Beach right now. Led by “Culture War Criminal” Ryan Sanchez, they are mostly being received warmly by a Charlie Mirk memorial demonstration at Huntington Beach Pier.
ACLU argues Border Patrol broke court order with high-profile Sacramento raid w/ @sergioolmos.bsky.social
calmatters.org/justice/2025...
CA DoJ wrote in Newsom vs Trump briefs that federal troops' arrival brought out more protests. Also, the protests after Paramount were limited to like a 5 or 6 block area in downtown LA, maybe .2 sq miles in a city that's 500 sq miles. The protesters were largely focused on federal troops and ICE.
The Trump Administration just asked the Supreme Court to let federal agents in LA target people based on race or ethnicity.
Here’s exactly what that means
W/ @evidentmedia.org
Los Angeles City Council member Ysabel Jurado on the Border Patrol raid outside the Japanese National Museum where Gov. Newsom held a press conference calling for a special November election
