I am a PhD in history who works outside academia and I approve this message ;)

Wowsers!!!!

The ICE Detention Reengineering Initiative ($38 billion to convert commercial warehouses into a network of massive detention centers) is not being built primarily by GEO Group and CoreCivic. ICE is turning to a crop of relatively untested contractors. A look at who. 🧵

Omg

Coal industry really.

Also: in immigration cases on the shadow docket, Roberts isn’t concerned with irreparable harm to those deported that are the direct result of lifting stays. But was so concerned about coal industry. And public comments by DHS Secretary make EPA’s look tame by comparison!

IMHO, the conservatives on the court in 2016 thought President Obama was being uppity. And they were also shills for the energy industry.

Read the Supreme Court’s Shadow Papers Read 16 pages of internal deliberations from the Supreme Court that the New York Times has obtained, bringing the origins of the court’s “shadow docket” into the light.

www.nytimes.com/interactive/...

Just put a woman in charge FFS

Syrian Billionaires Needed a Favor in Washington. They Invoked the Trump Name.

NYT INVESTIGATION: As the Trump administration & Congress last year moved to repeal sanctions on Syria, the Qatar-based family that most stood to benefit was privately negotiating a real-estate partnership with Jared Kushner and proposing a Trump golf course in Syria www.nytimes.com/2026/04/19/u...

Geez

“ ocho de Brasil, tres de Rumania: tres de China, dos de Azerbaiyán: dos de Uzbekistán, una de Irlanda, una de India, una de Vietnam y otra de Bielorrusia. Se incluye una menor de edad (rumana) que viaja con su madre y una adulta mayor irlandesa.”

semanariouniversidad.com/pais/ocho-ti...

I had a really great time in Philadelphia. Can’t wait to come back.

Timely AF panel The Urgency of Recent Immigration History in the Trump Era with @carlygoodman.bsky.social @daralind.bsky.social @yaelschacher.bsky.social Alexander Stephens, Diana Martinez-Montes, and Martha Guerrero Badillo (in spirit). This great panel was solicited by @iehs.bsky.social
#OAH26

Also!!!

I get to be on a panel with @daralind.bsky.social and @carlygoodman.bsky.social and very cool other historians about immigration history and policy! Stoked. Come by!

About 15 Latin American deportees from the US arrive in Congo Around 15 people deported from the United States landed in Congo’s capital Kinshasa in the early hours of Friday, one of their lawyers told The Associated Press. It was the latest example of the Trum...

If IOM is doing assisted voluntary return paid for by the U.S. (a state dept grant to IOM explicitly to include this), you gotta wonder why — if it is so voluntary— IOM didn’t do it from the U.S.

www.yahoo.com/news/article...

American cities are so awesome, I can’t wait till we have an admin who appreciates this

What Up PHILADELPHIA!

ICE agent charged with two felonies for pointing his gun at motorists during Operation Metro Surge Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty said a nationwide warrant has been issued in the first criminal charges against an ICE agent for on-duty actions during the surge.

A nationwide warrant has been issued in the first criminal charges against an ICE agent for on-duty actions during the enforcement surge in Minnesota.

House defies Trump on immigration with move to shield Haitians The vote to advance a bill extending protections for Haitians marks the first time Republican lawmakers have voted this term to oppose Trump’s immigration policy.

6 Republicans cross aisle to advance House bill to let 350K Haitians keep their temporary protective status. 1st time Republicans have opposed Trump on immigration policy. (SCOTUS argument 4/29 on legality of Noem's termination of Haitians' & Syrians' TPS.) www.washingtonpost.com/business/202...

Opinion | I Almost Never Predict Supreme Court Outcomes. Trump Will Lose This Case.

Oh boy I hope she’s right.

www.nytimes.com/2026/04/16/o...

Lols

Aaron, I’ll be in touch about the documentary!

Yes I think it should be!

I’m an historian, written about the 1920s! But we can’t blame the 1920s for a law that passed— w/ bipartisan support, esp. support from moderate Dems, some of whom are still in Congress—in 1990s. Blaming deep past avoids coming up w/ an affirmative vision rather than laws that are enforcement only

The film features interviews with officials and advocates and Hill staffers who were there in the 1990s. And with lots of contemporary advocates and immigrants who speak to its harsh consequences!

I happen to be working on a documentary about IIRIRA to come out next year! I will share more details soon! The goal of the movie: WE NEED LEGISLATIVE REFORM
And it needs to be done in a way that doesn’t make the same mistakes as were made in 1990s!

Bingo.
People need to just look at the most recent immigration law— which will be 30 years old next year— for the root of pretty much every authority the Trump admin is using and misusing right now

Trying to figure out what would be the intellectual equivalent of Clark’s signature move of throwing off the defender when driving by dribbling between the legs and stepping back.

Lena Dunham Is Still Trying to Figure Out Why People Hated Her So Much

I watched and really liked Girls and I remember the light going out, just as she describes.

www.nytimes.com/2026/04/11/m...

Also people should generally listen to this podcast.