The Trump administration is escalating its attack on Cuba, cutting off the island’s access to oil in a deliberate attempt to induce famine and mass suffering. This is collective punishment, plain and simple.
In response, we’re releasing a public Call to Conscience, already signed by influential public figures, elected officials, artists, and organizations—including 22 members of the New York City Council, Kal Penn, Mark Ruffalo, Susan Sarandon, Alice Walker, 50501, Movement for Black Lives, The People’s Forum, IFCO Pastors for Peace, ANSWER Coalition, and many others—demanding an end to this brutal policy.
The letter is open for everyone to sign. Add your name today. Cutting off energy to an island nation is not policy—it is a tactic of starvation.
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Petition to Force Amazon to Cut ICE Contracts!
https://actionnetwork.org/letters/tell-amazon-end-contracts-with-ice/?source=group-amazon-labor-union&referrer=group-amazon-labor-
Amazon Labor Union
Over 600,000 messages have already been sent directly to Amazon board members demanding one thing: Amazon must stop fueling deportations by ending its contracts with ICE and DHS.
ICE and DHS rely on the data infrastructure provided by Amazon Web Services. Their campaign against immigrants and those who stand with them depends on the logistical, financial, and political support of companies like Amazon.
But workers and communities have real power when we act collectively. That’s why we must expose Amazon’s role in the deportation machine. Help us reach 1 million messages and force Amazon to act by signing our petition with The Labor Force today:
Tell Amazon: End contracts with ICE!
On Cyber Monday 2025, Amazon workers rallied outside of Amazon’s NYC headquarters to demand that Amazon stop fueling mass deportations through Amazon Web Services’ contracts with ICE and DHS.
ICE cannot operate without corporate backing; its campaign against immigrants and those who stand with them depends on the logistical, financial, and political support of companies like Amazon. Mega-corporations may appear untouchable, but they are not. Anti-authoritarian movements have long understood that repression is sustained by a network of institutional enablers and when those enablers are disrupted, state violence weakens. Workers and communities have real power when they act collectively. That is why we must expose Amazon’s role in the deportation machine.
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) rely on Amazon Web Services (AWS) as its most commonly used cloud platform. DHS and ICE cannot wage their attack on immigrants without the critical data infrastructure that Amazon Web Services provide, allowing the agencies to collect, analyze, and store the massive amounts of data they need to do their dirty work. Without the power of AWS, ICE would not be able to track and target people at its current scale.
ICE and DHS use Amazon Web Services to collect and store massive amounts of purchased data on immigrants and their friends and family–everything from biometric data, DMV data, cellphone records, and more. And through its contracts with Palantir, DHS is able to scour regional, local, state, and federal databases and analyze and store this data on AWS. All of this information is ultimately used to target immigrants and other members of our communities.
No corporation should profit from oppression and abuse. Yet Amazon is raking in tens of millions of dollars to fuel DHS and ICE, while grossly exploiting its own workers. Can you sign our petition today, demanding that Amazon stop fueling deportations by ending its contracts with DHS and ICE, now?
https://actionnetwork.org/letters/tell-amazon-end-contracts-with-ice/?source=group-amazon-labor-union&referrer=group-amazon-labor-
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End Texas Torture of Revolutionary Elder Xinachtli
Organization Support Letter
Letter to demand the immediate medical treatment and release of Chicano political prisoner Xinachtli (Alvaro Hernandez #00255735)
To the Texas Department of Criminal Justice,
We, the undersigned organizations, write to urge immediate action to protect the life, health, and human rights of Xinachtli (legal name Alvaro Hernandez). Xinachtli is 73-year-old Chicano community organizer from Texas who has spent 23 years in solitary confinement and 30 years incarcerated as part of a 50-year sentence. His health is now in a critical and life-threatening state and requires prompt and comprehensive medical intervention.
Since his conviction in 1997, Xinachtli has spent decades in conditions that have caused significant physical and psychological harm. As an elder in worsening health, these conditions have effectively become a de facto death sentence.
Xinachtli’s current medical condition is severe. His physical, mental, and overall well-being have declined rapidly in recent weeks. He now requires both a wheelchair and a walker, has experienced multiple falls, and is suffering from rapid weight loss. He is currently housed in the McConnell Unit infirmary, where he is receiving only palliative measures and is being denied a medical diagnosis, access to his medical records, and adequate diagnostic testing or treatment.
A virtual clinical visit with licensed medical doctor Dr. Dona Kim Murphey underscores the severity of his condition. In her report of the visit, she wrote: "Given the history of recent neck/back trauma and recurrent urinary tract infections with numbness, weakness, and bowel and bladder incontinence, I am concerned about nerve root or spinal cord injury and/or abscesses that can lead to permanent sensorimotor dysfunction."
Despite his age and visible disabilities, he remains in solitary confinement under the Security Threat Group designation as a 73-year-old. During his time in the infirmary, prison staff threw away all of his belongings and “lost” his commissary card, leaving him completely without basic necessities. He is experiencing hunger, and the lack of consistent nutrition is worsening his medical condition. McConnell Unit staff have also consistently given him incorrect forms, including forms for medical records and medical visitation, creating further barriers to care and communication.
A family visit on November 29 confirmed the seriousness of his condition. Xinachtli, who was once able to walk on his own, can no longer stand without assistance. He struggled to breathe, has lost more than 30 pounds, relied heavily on his wheelchair, and was in severe pain throughout the visit.
In light of these conditions, we, the undersigned organizations, demand that TDCJ take immediate action to save Xinachtli’s life and comply with its legal and ethical obligations.
We urge the immediate implementation of the following actions:
Immediate re-instatement of his access to commissary to buy hygiene, food, and other critical items. Immediate transfer to the TDCJ hospital in Galveston for a full medical evaluation and treatment, including complete access to his medical records and full transparency regarding all procedures. Transfer to a geriatric and medical unit that is fully accessible under the Americans with Disabilities Act. Xinachtli requests placement at the Richard P LeBlanc Unit in Beaumont, Texas. Approval of Medical Recommended Intensive Supervision, the release program for individuals with serious medical conditions and disabilities, in recognition of the severity and progression of his current health issues. Failure to act will result in the continued and foreseeable deterioration of Xinachtli’s health, amounting to state-sanctioned death. We urge TDCJ to take swift and decisive action to meet these requests and to fulfill its responsibility to safeguard his life and well-being.
We stand united in calling for immediate and decisive action. Xinachtli’s life depends on it.
Signed, Xinachtli Freedom Campaign and supporting organizations
Endorsing Organizations:
Al-Awda Houston; All African People’s Revolutionary Party; Anakbayan Houston; Anti-Imperialist Solidarity; Artists for Black Lives' Equality; Black Alliance for Peace - Solidarity Network; Columbia University Students for a Democratic Society; Community Liberation Programs; Community Powered ATX; Contra Gentrificación; Diaspora Pa’lante Collective; Down South; DSA Emerge; Entre nos kc; Fighting Racism Workshops; Frontera Water Protectors; GC Harm Reductionists; JERICHO MOVEMENT; Jericho Movement Providence; Montrose Anarchist Collective; NYC Jericho Movement; OC Focus; Palestine Solidarity TX; Partisan Defense Committee; Partido Nacional de la Raza Unida; PDX Anti-Repression; Red Star Texas; Root Cause; San Francisco Solidarity Collective; Shine White Support Team; Sunrise Columbia; UC San Diego Faculty for Justice in Palestine; Viva Palestina, EPTX; Water Justice and Technology Studio; Workshops4Gaza.
Sign the endorsement letter for your organization here:
https://cryptpad.fr/form/#/2/form/view/MiR1f+iLiRBJC7gSTyfhyxJoLIDhThxRafPatxdbMWI/
IMPORTANT LINKS TO MATERIALS FOR XINACHTLI FREEDOM CAMPAIGN:
PHONE BLAST: Your community can sign up for a 15-minute-long call shift here: bit.ly/xphoneblast
FUNDRAISER: Here is the link to Jericho's fundraiser for Xinachtli: http://givebutter.com/jerichomovement
CASE HISTORY: Learn more about Xinachtli and his case through our website: https://freealvaro.net
CONTACT INFO:
Follow us on Instagram: @freexinachtlinow
Email us:
xinachtlifreedomcampaign@protonmail.com
COALITION FOLDER:
https://drive.proton.me/urls/SP3KTC1RK4#KARGiPQVYIvR
In the folder you will find: Two pictures of Xinachtli from 2024; The latest updated graphics for the phone blast; The original TRO emergency motion filing; Maria Salazar's declaration; Dr. Murphy's report from her Dec. 9 medical visit; Letter from Amnesty International declaring Xinachtli's situation a human rights violation; Free Xinachtli zine (which gives background on him and his case); and The most recent press release detailing who Xinachtli is as well as his medical situation.
Write to:
Alvaro Hernandez CID #00255735
TDCJ-W.G. McConnell Unit
PO Box 660400
Dallas, TX 75266-0400
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Self-portrait by Kevin Cooper
Funds for Kevin Cooper
Kevin was transferred out of San Quentin and is now at a healthcare facility in Stockton. He has received some long overdue healthcare. The art program is very different from the one at San Quentin but we are hopeful that Kevin can get back to painting soon.
For 41 years, an innocent man has been on death row in California.
Kevin Cooper was wrongfully convicted of the brutal 1983 murders of the Ryen family and houseguest. The case has a long history of police and prosecutorial misconduct, evidence tampering, and numerous constitutional violations including many incidences of the prosecution withholding evidence of innocence from the defense. You can learn more here .
In December 2018 Gov. Brown ordered limited DNA testing and in February 2019, Gov. Newsom ordered additional DNA testing. Meanwhile, Kevin remains on Death Row at San Quentin Prison.
The funds raised will be used to help Kevin purchase art supplies for his paintings . Additionally, being in prison is expensive, and this money would help Kevin pay for stamps, books, paper, toiletries, supplies, supplementary food, printing materials to educate the public about his case and/or video calls.
Please help ease the daily struggle of an innocent man on death row!
An immediate act of solidarity we can all do right now is to write to Kevin and assure him of our continuing support in his fight for justice. Here’s his address:
Kevin Cooper #C65304
Cell 107, Unit E1C
California Health Care Facility, Stockton (CHCF)
P.O. Box 213040
Stockton, CA 95213
www.freekevincooper.org
Call California Governor Newsom:
1-(916) 445-2841
Press 1 for English or 2 for Spanish,
press 6 to speak with a representative and
wait for someone to answer
(Monday-Friday, 9:00 A.M. to 5:00 P.M. PST—12:00 P.M. to 8:00 P.M. EST)
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Dr. Atler Still Needs Our Help!
Please sign the petition today!
https://www.change.org/p/texas-state-university-give-tom-alter-his-job-back
What you can do to support:
—Donate to help Tom Alter and his family with living and legal expenses: https://gofund.me/27c72f26d
—Sign and share this petition demanding Tom Alter be given his job back: https://www.change.org/p/texas-state-university-give-tom-alter-his-job-back
—Write to and call the President and Provost at Texas State University demanding that Tom Alter be given his job back:
President Kelly Damphousse: president@txstate.edu
President’s Office Phone: 512-245-2121
Provost Pranesh Aswath: xrk25@txstate.edu
Provost Office Phone: 512-245-2205
For more information about the reason for the firing of Dr. Tom Alter, read:
"Fired for Advocating Socialism: Professor Tom Alter Speaks Out"
Ashley Smith Interviews Dr. Tom Alter
—CounterPunch, September 24, 2025
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 Russia Confirms Jailing of Antiwar Leader Boris Kagarlitsky In a secret trial on June 5, 2024, the Russian Supreme Court’s Military Chamber confirmed a sentence of five years in a penal colony for left-wing sociologist and online journalist Boris Kagarlitsky. His crime? “Justifying terrorism” — a sham charge used to silence opponents of Putin’s war on Ukraine. The court disregarded a plea for freedom sent by thirty-seven international luminaries. Kagarlitsky, a leading Marxist thinker in Russia’s post-Soviet period, recently addressed socialists who won’t criticize Putin: “To my Western colleagues, who…call for an understanding of Putin and his regime, I would like to ask a very simple question. [Would] you want to live in a country where there is no free press or independent courts? In a country where the police have the right to break into your house without a warrant? …In a country which…broadcasts appeals on TV to destroy Paris, London, Warsaw, with a nuclear strike?” Thousands of antiwar critics have been forced to flee Russia or are behind bars, swept up in Putin’s vicious crackdown on dissidents. Opposition to the war is consistently highest among the poorest workers. Recently, RusNews journalists Roman Ivanov and Maria Ponomarenko were sentenced to seven, and six years respectively, for reporting the military’s brutal assault on Ukraine. A massive global solidarity campaign that garnered support from thousands was launched at Kagarlitsky’s arrest. Now, it has been revived. This internationalism will bolster the repressed Russian left and Ukrainian resistance to Putin’s imperialism. To sign the online petition at freeboris.info —Freedom Socialist Party, August 2024 https://socialism.com/fs-article/russia-jails-prominent-antiwar-leader-boris-kagarlitsky/#:~:text=In%20a%20secret%20trial%20on,of%20Putin's%20war%20on%20Ukraine. Petition in Support of Boris KagarlitskyWe, the undersigned, were deeply shocked to learn that on February 13 the leading Russian socialist intellectual and antiwar activist Dr. Boris Kagarlitsky (65) was sentenced to five years in prison. Dr. Kagarlitsky was arrested on the absurd charge of 'justifying terrorism' in July last year. After a global campaign reflecting his worldwide reputation as a writer and critic of capitalism and imperialism, his trial ended on December 12 with a guilty verdict and a fine of 609,000 roubles. The prosecution then appealed against the fine as 'unjust due to its excessive leniency' and claimed falsely that Dr. Kagarlitsky was unable to pay the fine and had failed to cooperate with the court. In fact, he had paid the fine in full and provided the court with everything it requested. On February 13 a military court of appeal sent him to prison for five years and banned him from running a website for two years after his release. The reversal of the original court decision is a deliberate insult to the many thousands of activists, academics, and artists around the world who respect Dr. Kagarlitsky and took part in the global campaign for his release. The section of Russian law used against Dr. Kagarlitsky effectively prohibits free expression. The decision to replace the fine with imprisonment was made under a completely trumped-up pretext. Undoubtedly, the court's action represents an attempt to silence criticism in the Russian Federation of the government's war in Ukraine, which is turning the country into a prison. The sham trial of Dr. Kagarlitsky is the latest in a wave of brutal repression against the left-wing movements in Russia. Organizations that have consistently criticized imperialism, Western and otherwise, are now under direct attack, many of them banned. Dozens of activists are already serving long terms simply because they disagree with the policies of the Russian government and have the courage to speak up. Many of them are tortured and subjected to life-threatening conditions in Russian penal colonies, deprived of basic medical care. Left-wing politicians are forced to flee Russia, facing criminal charges. International trade unions such as IndustriALL and the International Transport Federation are banned and any contact with them will result in long prison sentences. There is a clear reason for this crackdown on the Russian left. The heavy toll of the war gives rise to growing discontent among the mass of working people. The poor pay for this massacre with their lives and wellbeing, and opposition to war is consistently highest among the poorest. The left has the message and resolve to expose the connection between imperialist war and human suffering. Dr. Kagarlitsky has responded to the court's outrageous decision with calm and dignity: “We just need to live a little longer and survive this dark period for our country,” he said. Russia is nearing a period of radical change and upheaval, and freedom for Dr. Kagarlitsky and other activists is a condition for these changes to take a progressive course. We demand that Boris Kagarlitsky and all other antiwar prisoners be released immediately and unconditionally. We also call on the auth *..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........* *..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........* |
Mumia Abu-Jamal is Innocent!
FREE HIM NOW!
Write to Mumia at:
Smart Communications/PADOC
Mumia Abu-Jamal #AM-8335
SCI Mahanoy
P.O. Box 33028
St. Petersburg, FL 33733
Join the Fight for Mumia's Life
Since September, Mumia Abu-Jamal's health has been declining at a concerning rate. He has lost weight, is anemic, has high blood pressure and an extreme flair up of his psoriasis, and his hair has fallen out. In April 2021 Mumia underwent open heart surgery. Since then, he has been denied cardiac rehabilitation care including a healthy diet and exercise.
He still needs more complicated treatment from a retinal specialist for his right eye if his eyesight is to be saved:
Donate to Mumia Abu-Jamal's Emergency Legal and Medical
Defense Fund
Mumia has instructed PrisonRadio to set up this fund. Gifts donated here are designated for the Mumia Abu-Jamal Medical and Legal Defense Fund. If you are writing a check or making a donation in another way, note this in the memo line.
Send to:
Mumia Medical and Legal Fund c/o Prison Radio
P.O. Box 411074, San Francisco, CA 94103
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Resources for Resisting Federal Repression
https://www.nlg.org/federalrepressionresources/
Since June of 2020, activists have been subjected to an increasingly aggressive crackdown on protests by federal law enforcement. The federal response to the movement for Black Lives has included federal criminal charges for activists, door knocks by federal law enforcement agents, and increased use of federal troops to violently police protests.
The NLG National Office is releasing this resource page for activists who are resisting federal repression. It includes a link to our emergency hotline numbers, as well as our library of Know-Your-Rights materials, our recent federal repression webinar, and a list of some of our recommended resources for activists. We will continue to update this page.
Please visit the NLG Mass Defense Program page for general protest-related legal support hotlines run by NLG chapters.
Emergency Hotlines
If you are contacted by federal law enforcement, you should exercise all of your rights. It is always advisable to speak to an attorney before responding to federal authorities.
State and Local Hotlines
If you have been contacted by the FBI or other federal law enforcement, in one of the following areas, you may be able to get help or information from one of these local NLG hotlines for:
Portland, Oregon: (833) 680-1312
San Francisco, California: (415) 285-1041 or fbi_hotline@nlgsf.org
Seattle, Washington: (206) 658-7963
National Hotline
If you are located in an area with no hotline, you can call the following number:
National NLG Federal Defense Hotline: (212) 679-2811
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Articles
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1) ‘We Are Sailing to Cuba’: Humanitarian Coalition Announces Flotilla to Break US Blockade
“Together, we can break the siege, save lives, and stand up for the cause of Cuban self-determination,” said the mission’s organizers.
By Brett Wilkins, Feb. 13, 2025
Members of CodePink protest the United States embargo of Cuba and Cuba’s inclusion on the US state sponsors of terrorism list in Los Angeles on October 29, 2022. CodePink/X.
“Together, we can break the siege, save lives, and stand up for the cause of Cuban self-determination,” said the mission’s organizers.
As the Trump administration tightens an already devastating economic embargo of Cuba by targeting the island’s fuel imports in a bid to topple the country’s socialist government, a coalition of progressive groups on Thursday announced plans for a flotilla to deliver food, medicine, and other essential supplies to the besieged Cuban people.
Members of Progressive International, CodePink, and other direct action and advocacy groups plan to set sail for Cuba next month in the Nuestra América—or Our America—Flotilla, which they said is inspired by the Global Sumud Flotilla missions to break Israel’s illegal blockade of Gaza amid the ongoing genocide in the Palestinian exclave.
“We are sailing to Cuba, bringing critical humanitarian aid for its people,” the flotilla organizers said on their website. “The Trump administration is strangling the island, cutting off fuel, flights, and critical supplies for survival. The consequences are lethal, for newborns and parents, for the elderly and the sick.”
“That is why we are launching the Nuestra América Flotilla, setting sail from across the Caribbean Sea in solidarity with the Cuban people,” the organizers continued. “And we are asking for your support, to help us prepare the mission and purchase the food and medicine that we will bring to the Cuban people.”
“Together, we can break the siege, save lives, and stand up for the cause of Cuban self-determination,” they added.
The announcement of the flotilla came as the Trump administration ratchets up pressure on Cuba’s socialist government by further suffocating the island’s economy via an oil embargo similar to the one imposed on Venezuela before last month’s US invasion and abduction of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro.
At the time, President Donald Trump threatened the leaders of Colombia, Cuba, and Mexico that they could be next.
Trump reversed former President Joe Biden’s eleventh-hour move in January 2025 to remove Cuba from the US state sponsors of terrorism list, a designation utterly divorced from reality. Trump officials have cited Cuba’s baseless inclusion on the list as justification for measures taken against the country’s government and people.
The US embargo on Cuba dates to the early 1960s when the Eisenhower and Kennedy administrations responded to the successful revolution that overthrew a brutal US-backed dictatorship with a blockade accompanied by a decadeslong campaign of state-sponsored terrorism against the Cuban people that left thousands dead and more than $1 trillion in economic damages, according to the Cuban government.
Every year since 1992—with the exception of the Covid-19 pandemic year of 2020—the United Nations General Assembly has voted overwhelmingly to condemn and call for an end to the US blockade of Cuba.
Progressive International co-general coordinator David Adler told El País’ Veronica Garrido Thursday, “The US government is drowning the Cuban people, who are running out of light, have no food, no medicine, no energy.”
“I do not exaggerate when I say that we are seeing in Cuba the same playbook that Israel applied to the people of Gaza: an encirclement, an act of collective punishment that violates every aspect of international law,” he continued.
“We hope that [the flotilla] will be a mechanism of popular pressure to the governments of the world that have the responsibility, before international law, to protect the fundamental rights of the Cuban people and export the energy required by the island,” Adler said.
“There is nothing illegal about what we are doing,” he added. “We are coming to a sovereign country and delivering humanitarian aid. We are ready to take risks in the name of humanity and the fundamental right of the Cuban people.”
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2) New U.S. Boat Strike Kills 3 in the Caribbean
The attacks since early November had specifically targeted suspected drug smuggling boats in the Pacific Ocean.
By Carol Rosenberg, Feb. 14, 2026
A U.S. military strike killed three people and blew up a boat in the Caribbean Sea on Friday, the U.S. Southern Command said, raising the death toll in the Trump administration’s five-month-old campaign against suspected drug smugglers at sea to 133.
The attack was the first known strike in the Caribbean Sea since early November and the 39th disclosed by the U.S. government in the campaign, according to a tracker maintained by The New York Times.
The announcement on Friday was accompanied by an 11-second video clip that appeared to show a missile striking the middle of the boat as it traversed open waters, and destroying it.
The command said, citing unspecified intelligence, that the boat had been following “known drug-trafficking routes in the Caribbean” and that it was engaged in narco-trafficking operations.
Whatever its activities may have been, a broad array of legal specialists on the use of lethal force have said that the U.S. strikes are illegal, extrajudicial killings — because the military cannot deliberately target civilians who do not pose an imminent threat of violence, even if they are suspected of engaging in criminal acts.
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3) ICE Tried to Justify a Minneapolis Shooting. Its Story Unraveled.
The collapse of the Trump administration’s version of events in the case was only the most recent instance in which officials gave an account of a shooting that was later contradicted.
By Mitch Smith and Hamed Aleaziz, Feb. 14, 2026
Federal agents, law enforcement and protesters clashed after an immigration agent shot Julio C. Sosa-Celis in Minneapolis on Jan. 14. Jamie Kelter Davis for The New York Times
When an immigration agent shot Julio C. Sosa-Celis in the leg last month in Minneapolis, touching off hours of tense protests, the Trump administration rushed to sell a version of events that demonized the wounded man and defended the agent.
About two hours after the gunfire, a Department of Homeland Security spokeswoman claimed that three people had attacked an agent with a broom and snow shovel. She said the agent “fired a defensive shot to defend his life” as he was “being ambushed.” The next day, Kristi Noem, the homeland security secretary, accused the men of trying to kill the agent.
But the federal government’s account soon shifted. And by Friday, it had fully unraveled.
When assault charges were filed days after the shooting against Mr. Sosa-Celis and one of the other men, Alfredo A. Aljorna, officials changed their narrative, saying it was not three people who attacked the agent, but two. Several other details revealed in court records also differed from the original account.
Then on Thursday, the top federal prosecutor in Minnesota asked a judge to drop the case, saying that “newly discovered evidence in this matter is materially inconsistent with the allegations.” On Friday, the acting director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Todd Lyons, said two agents had been placed on leave for providing accounts that appeared to conflict with video footage of what happened. Those agents, he said, could eventually face termination and prosecution.
“Lying under oath is a serious federal offense,” Mr. Lyons said in a statement. “The U.S. Attorney’s Office is actively investigating these false statements.”
The collapse of the government’s narrative, which came just as the administration was ending its more than two-month surge of immigration agents to Minnesota, was the latest instance of the Department of Homeland Security providing an account of a shooting that later proved questionable or outright wrong. For many, especially those already skeptical of the Trump administration’s deportation agenda, the repeated emergence of evidence that undermines official accounts has cast doubt on almost anything the government says about immigration enforcement.
In Chicago, where a Border Patrol agent shot and wounded a woman last year, prosecutors dropped the charges against her after concerns about evidence were raised. The woman, Marimar Martinez, has since sought to clear her name and has pushed back against the Trump administration’s description of her as a domestic terrorist.
And after two fatal shootings by immigration agents in Minneapolis this year, Mr. Trump and his allies rushed to cast the people who were killed, Renee Good and Alex Pretti, both U.S. citizens, as domestic terrorists. Administration officials persisted in those claims even after some of their accounts were contradicted by videos.
Deborah Fleischaker, a former senior ICE official during the Biden administration, described the latest false narrative as “indicative of the Trump administration’s rush to defend ICE officers before they understand the facts.”
“The rush to charge the victim in this case is sadly in line with the administration’s never-back-down, more-is-more ethos,” she said, “and diminishes even further the trust and respect that should or will be granted the government moving forward.”
Brian D. Clark, a lawyer for Mr. Sosa-Celis and Mr. Aljorna, said in a statement that his clients were vindicated by the latest development.
“They are so happy justice is being served by the government’s request to dismiss all charges,” he said, adding that the identity “of the ICE agent should be made public and he should be charged for his crime.”
Judge Paul A. Magnuson granted the prosecutor’s request and dismissed the charges on Friday with prejudice, meaning the case cannot be refiled.
The names of the federal agents who were placed on leave have not been released, and it was not clear whether they had hired lawyers. A leader of the National ICE Officers Association did not respond to a request for comment.
The details of what happened on Jan. 14, when Mr. Sosa-Celis was shot on the North Side of Minneapolis, remain unclear. While federal officials have acknowledged that their initial narrative appears to be false, they have not provided an updated account. The video evidence that Mr. Lyons referenced has not been made public.
For weeks, prosecutors pushed ahead with felony cases against Mr. Sosa-Celis and Mr. Aljorna, both of whom the administration has described as undocumented Venezuelans, and sought to keep them detained ahead of trial. Mr. Sosa-Celis, who was shot in the leg, had injuries that were not life-threatening. They were both arrested, officials have said, after agents used tear gas to force them out of a building.
A third man was arrested after the shooting and was accused by the Department of Homeland Security of attacking the agent. Charges were never filed against that man, Gabriel Hernandez Ledezma, and court records gave no indication that he was involved in any attack. Still, Mr. Hernandez Ledezma, who is Venezuelan, was detained by immigration officials and sent to Texas.
In a petition seeking release from detention, Mr. Hernandez Ledezma’s lawyer wrote that his client believed he was being held out of state because he was “a key witness that undermines the federal government’s narrative of what occurred.”
By Thursday, Daniel N. Rosen, the U.S. attorney in Minnesota, had agreed that the federal narrative in the criminal case was wrong.
“Accordingly,” Mr. Rosen wrote to the judge, “dismissal with prejudice will serve the interests of justice.”
More on the Unrest in Minneapolis
· An ICE Story Unravels: The collapse of the Trump administration’s version of events in the case of Julio Sosa-Celis was only the most recent instance in which officials gave an account of a shooting that was later contradicted.
· Menacing Protesters at Home: Demonstrators in Minneapolis and St. Paul said in sworn statements that they were singled out by agents who found the addresses of their homes and showed up there.
· Don Lemon Pleads Not Guilty: The broadcast journalist appeared in federal court with four others charged with disrupting a Minnesota church service to protest the behavior of immigration agents.
· Renee Good’s Partner: Becca Good attended a memorial for Renee Good, offering words of compassion and resilience to the crowd gathered in a snow-covered Minneapolis park.
· Minnesota Detainees: A judge ordered the Trump administration to give detainees at an immigration facility near Minneapolis adequate access to lawyers, saying the government could have isolated thousands from legal services.
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4) Sick Detainees Describe Poor Care at Facilities Run by ICE Contractor
Problems at detention centers operated by CoreCivic extend far beyond recent measles outbreaks.
By Katie Thomas, Jessica Silver-Greenberg and Melena Ryzik, Feb. 14, 2026
"Two families and one immigration lawyer said in interviews that when several children fell ill with stomach ailments at Dilley, CoreCivic’s medical staff refused to treat them unless they had already vomited at least eight times. ...A Department of Homeland Security spokesperson said that immigrants are in detention by 'choice,' because they are allowed to exit if they agree to voluntarily leave the country."
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https://www.nytimes.com/2026/02/14/business/ice-health-care-corecivic-immigrants-detention.html
Amalia, a young girl who became dangerously ill at a CoreCivic detention center, with her parents after she was released last week. Elizabeth Weinberg for The New York Times
Cases of measles — a highly contagious virus that spreads in close quarters — cropped up in two centers for unauthorized immigrants in Arizona and Texas last month.
The centers are almost 1,000 miles apart, yet they have one thing in common: They are operated by CoreCivic. The publicly traded detention company has secured contracts worth hundreds of millions of dollars since President Trump took office last year, but it has a checkered track record of providing medical care to the people in its facilities.
In recent years, it has been accused of falsifying records to disguise unsafe conditions, failing to provide lifesaving medications, and being slow to take critically ill people to the hospital, according to court records, government audits, sworn declarations and interviews with lawyers and people who were detained.
CoreCivic disputes those accusations and says it provides quality medical care at Central Arizona Florence Correctional Center in Florence and at the Dilley Immigration Processing Center in Texas. Health officials said this week that the spread of measles was limited and appears to have stopped.
But aside from the outbreaks, more than a dozen detainees and immigration lawyers in both states detailed unsanitary conditions and lax care.
They described hourslong waits to see a nurse, only to be turned away and told they were not sick enough to receive care. People with injuries often wait days or weeks to receive X-rays, diabetes patients lack regular access to insulin and people hoping to see outside specialists such as cancer doctors or dentists are frequently denied, many of the detainees and their lawyers said. Those lucky enough to see a doctor and get prescription drugs sometimes must wait days or weeks before the medication arrives, they said.
Illnesses spread rapidly throughout the facilities, the detainees and their lawyers said, accelerated by sleeping quarters that are often cramped and communal bathrooms that are often filthy. Two families and one immigration lawyer said in interviews that when several children fell ill with stomach ailments at Dilley, CoreCivic’s medical staff refused to treat them unless they had already vomited at least eight times.
Last month, an 18-month-old at Dilley was taken to a regional children’s hospital with dangerously low blood-oxygen levels after her parents had begged for weeks for someone at the facility to address her illness, the parents said in an emergency petition for her release. A 35-year-old woman released last week said medical staff initially refused to see her after she began hemorrhaging profusely, soaking through six sanitary pads in an hour; she was ultimately taken to a hospital. And last summer, a 32-year-old man died at the Florence center after being detained at the facility for roughly three weeks. The man had been detained even though he was seriously ill with diabetes and had recently been hospitalized with dangerously high blood sugar.
The federal government issues national standards that require that detainees receive access to appropriate medical, dental and mental health care, including emergency services. But an influx of detainees under Mr. Trump has aggravated the problems with medical care in CoreCivic’s facilities, legal records, inspection documents and interviews show.
In a statement Thursday, a spokesman for CoreCivic, Steven Owen, said that “nothing matters more to CoreCivic than the health and safety of the people in our care.” He noted that its facilities routinely pass government inspections, and said the reports of substandard care “simply do not reflect the hard work our staff does every day to help people in our facilities get the care they need.” He said children who have gastrointestinal symptoms such as vomiting are evaluated and given appropriate medical care.
A Department of Homeland Security spokesperson said that immigrants are in detention by “choice,” because they are allowed to exit if they agree to voluntarily leave the country. The Trump administration has been offering $2,600 and a free flight to people who do so. Detainees receive comprehensive medical care from the moment they enter custody, the spokesperson said. “This is the best health care that many aliens have received in their entire lives.”
Founded as the Corrections Corporation of America in 1983, CoreCivic was one of the first for-profit prison companies in the country. In 2016, it changed its name as it pivoted away from prisons. On Thursday, CoreCivic executives told investors that 23 percent of Immigration and Customs Enforcement detainees are in facilities run by the company, and that ICE is the company’s largest customer.
The Trump administration’s push to arrest and deport millions of people is reshaping the makeup of the country’s more than 200 immigration detention facilities. The detainee population ballooned to about 68,000 people in early February, compared with about 40,000 one year ago, according to ICE.
The surge includes more people with chronic diseases, as well as pregnant women and older people who need intensive, round-the-clock care, according to interviews with detainees, their lawyers and Congressional reports. More than a dozen pregnant women were being housed in a facility in Basile, La., when Senate staff visited last spring, according to a subsequent report. For decades, including during Mr. Trump’s first term, many immigrants facing deportation were not put in detention but allowed to live in their communities until their cases were resolved.
“We are seeing a dramatic increase in people who are being detained despite serious medical conditions,” said Laura St. John, the legal director of the Florence Immigrant and Refugee Rights Project, a group that represents people in detention. Ms. St. John said one of their clients was being treated for cancer when he was detained, and “he is far from the only one.”
Complaints about medical care at CoreCivic facilities predate the second Trump administration.
In 2016, a measles outbreak at a CoreCivic detention center in Eloy, Ariz., infected 31 people. Many workers were not vaccinated, health officials said, and nine employees got sick.
In 2022, the Department of Homeland Security’s inspector general found “critical staffing shortages” at a CoreCivic facility in Torrance, N.M., and recommended that all detainees be removed immediately. That never happened. Last February, lawyers representing whistle-blowers who had worked at the facility told Congress that the company had “grossly mismanaged” its medical operations.
“CoreCivic leadership chronically maintained severe understaffing at the medical, dental and mental health units at Torrance, jeopardizing patient health and safety,” according to the letter the lawyers wrote to Congress. The whistle-blowers also claimed that the company had falsified records to make it look as if they were complying with safety standards.
Mr. Owen said that ICE had disputed the inspector general’s findings from 2022, and he noted that since then, the facility has “not been cited for any deficiencies in care.”
A nurse at another CoreCivic facility in San Diego has raised similar claims. In February 2024, the nurse sued CoreCivic for wrongful termination. In her lawsuit, she claimed that she had faced retaliation after raising alarms about medical care. She accused the company of operating with skeletal staffing — sometimes just two nurses for 1,500 detainees — that led one man to develop a dangerous infection and another to go into multiple organ failure. The lawsuit was settled confidentially. Mr. Owen, the spokesman for CoreCivic, denied that the nurse was fired because she raised concerns about medical care.
Family members and a local Democratic state representative have raised questions about the death in August of Lorenzo Antonio Batrez Vargas, a 32-year-old man who died in CoreCivic’s Florence facility. Mr. Vargas had multiple health problems, including diabetes, elevated blood sugar and a foot wound, and contracted Covid while he was in the detention center, according to an initial ICE summary of his death. Mr. Vargas was found unresponsive and was later pronounced dead. The summary details how medical staff checked Mr. Vargas’s blood sugar levels on multiple occasions until he was isolated with Covid. There is no mention of those checks continuing after that. The D.H.S. spokesperson said Mr. Vargas was provided with proper medical care, and said the cause of death was still being investigated.
In a GoFundMe page to raise money for funeral expenses, Mr. Vargas’s family described his death as a “tragedy compounded by the circumstances under which he died; alone, likely from complications of Covid-19, and without the medical attention he deserved.” The family declined to comment.
Mr. Owen, the spokesman for CoreCivic, referred comment on individual detainees’ cases to ICE. He said all detainees can sign up for medical or mental health care. Emergency care is always available, he said, and the company coordinates access to outside specialists and hospitals.
Mr. Trump’s immigration crackdown has been good for CoreCivic, which has opened a number of detention facilities in the past year. One of those is at a former state prison about 75 miles from Bakersfield, Calif., which started taking detainees last summer.
Just months later, lawyers with the American Civil Liberties Union brought a class-action lawsuit against ICE on behalf of sick immigrants at the facility. The lawyers said that detainees were denied insulin, cancer treatment and heart medications. The company has said the facility will bring in revenue of $130 million a year. Earlier this week, a judge ruled that ICE must install a monitor at the facility and provide “timely access to prescribed medications.”
At Dilley, which is about 70 miles south of San Antonio, immigration lawyers have logged more than 1,000 complaints of poor medical care since the facility was reopened by the Trump administration last April, according to Faisal Al-Juburi, the co-chief executive at the Refugee and Immigrant Center for Education and Legal Services, or Raices, which represents immigrant and refugee families in Texas.
As of January, more than 1,200 people were detained at Dilley, according to ICE.
Elora Mukherjee, an immigration lawyer who represents families at Dilley, said her clients are constantly sick. “They are coughing, they have fevers, they are not feeling well.”
One mother and father from Russia, who have been at Dilley since October, said in a sworn declaration and in an interview that when they arrived, their 11-year-old daughter had an earache, but the medical staff did a cursory examination and dismissed them. They returned repeatedly as their daughter developed a fever of 104 degrees, only to be told her problems were caused by allergies, they said. She was eventually given ear drops and antibiotics, but she lost some of her hearing and was still in pain as her family noticed pus coming from her ear. As of last week, her hearing had still not fully returned, they said.
The mother, whose name is Oksana, said that patients at Dilley who need medicine often must wait in long lines, outside in the evening. One worker mocked the children crying in line, she said. Oksana and other detainees spoke on the condition that their last names be withheld because they were afraid of retaliation.
In other cases, families reported that staff downplayed their concerns until they became medical emergencies. In January, 18-month-old Amalia developed a fever that lasted for nearly 19 days and lost two pounds, according to a medical review provided by her lawyer. She spent several days in the hospital and was diagnosed with Covid, pneumonia and other infections. The D.H.S. spokesperson said that Amalia received “proper medical care.”
Anastasia, the 35-year-old mother whose hemorrhaging led her to bleed through six sanitary pads, said she was eventually taken to a hospital after pleading with staff and after they demanded proof, and she complied by showing them her bloody pads. She was prescribed medication that took weeks to arrive, and said the bleeding continued.
Late last week, she and her family were released after spending more than 120 days at Dilley. Days later, CoreCivic reported its fourth-quarter earnings: Revenue from ICE more than doubled, and the company’s chief executive boasted that 2026 was already shaping up “to be another year of strong growth.”
Edgar Sandoval and Albert Sun contributed reporting and Susan Beachy contributed research.
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5) Social Security Workers Are Being Told to Hand Over Appointment Details to ICE
By Zoë Schiffer, Vittoria Elliott and Leah Feiger, Feb. 14, 2026
US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents look over lists of names and their hearing times and locations inside a courthouse. (photo: Bryan R. Smith/AFP/Getty Images)
Workers at the Social Security Administration have been told to share information about in-person appointments with agents of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, WIRED has learned.
“If ICE comes in and asks if someone has an upcoming appointment, we will let them know the date and time,” an employee with direct knowledge of the directive says. They spoke on the condition of anonymity for fear of retaliation.
While the majority of appointments with SSA take place over the phone, some appointments still happen in person. This applies to people who are deaf or hard of hearing and need a sign language interpreter, or if someone needs to change their direct deposit information. Noncitizens are also required to appear in person to review continued eligibility of benefits.
Social Security numbers are issued to US citizens but also to foreign students and people legally allowed to live and work in the country. In some cases, when a child or dependent is a citizen and the family member responsible for them is not, that person might need to accompany the child or dependent to an office visit.
The order to share information, which was recently communicated verbally to workers at certain SSA offices, marks a new era of collaboration between SSA and the Department of Homeland Security, ICE’s parent agency.
The SSA and DHS did not reply to requests for comment.
The SSA has been sharing data with ICE for much of President Donald Trump’s second term. In April, WIRED reported that the Trump administration had been pooling sensitive data from across the government, including from the the SSA, DHS, and the Internal Revenue Service. By November, WIRED learned that the SSA had made the arrangements official and had updated a public notice that said the agency was sharing “citizenship and immigration information” with DHS. “It was shockingly clear that there was interest in getting access to immigration data by [the] Trump administration,” a former SSA official tells WIRED. The official spoke on the condition of anonymity due to concerns of retaliation.
This data sharing hasn’t been without contention: Last week, a district judge in Massachusetts ruled that the IRS and SSA could not share taxpayer data with DHS or ICE.
“You're seeing SSA becoming an extension of Homeland Security,” says Leland Dudek, the former acting commissioner for the Social Security Administration.
Dudek says a directive to share details about in-person appointments would be “highly unusual,” particularly because the SSA is meant to be a “safe space” for people to come to, regardless of immigration status. “If a person is due a benefit, SSA is there for them and no harm will come to them,” he says. Cooperating with ICE in such a way, Dudek says, “diminishes the value of what SSA is to the public. Why would the public trust SSA anymore?”
Questions regarding how SSA workers can communicate with the public have been ongoing throughout Trump’s first term. As part of its incursion into the federal government, the so-called Department of Government Efficiency sought to end the SSA’s phone-based services but rolled the decision back after public backlash.
The SSA works with law enforcement officials on investigations, typically related to fraud or identity theft. It has publicly disclosed data-sharing agreements with DHS, but someone’s appointment time or schedule does not appear to be included in those arrangements.
Dudek says that the only time someone might be arrested at an SSA office historically is if the person had threatened the agency or staff members. “Anything that would normally involve apprehension of someone at an office or something like that would have been communicated through the office manager and to the representative from DHS as part of that,” says Dudek. “On multiple occasions I’ve had to hand over information to law enforcement, but there’s a process, paperwork, multiple people signing off. This appears to tell us to ignore that policy without actually updating it. It’s really worrying.”
In December, the SSA updated its Program Operations Manual System to allow for as-needed disclosures of “non-tax return information” to law enforcement that is outside of existing data sharing agreements. These disclosures are meant to be approved by the SSA’s general counsel on a case-by-case basis. Dudek says that the new instructions could pose complications, because it’s unclear where a “one-off request from law enforcement becomes a routine request from law enforcement.”
The news comes as ICE’s footprint drastically expands across the United States. A recent report by WIRED shows that the agency has plans to lease offices throughout the US as part of a secret, monthslong expansion campaign.
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6) This Is Much Worse Than Mere Detention
By Jamelle Bouie, Opinion Columnist, Feb. 14, 2026
Paul Ratje for The New York Times
Writing about a recent ruling by the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit that affirmed the Trump administration’s policy of mandatory and indefinite detention for immigrants held by either ICE or Customs and Border Protection, my colleague David French makes a point that bears repeating:
There are thousands upon thousands of immigrants facing brutal conditions who’ve been convicted of no crime and haven’t even been accused of a crime beyond their initial alleged illegal entry.
People who have lost legal status because they have overstayed their visas, he also notes, “aren’t guilty of any crime at all, since their original entry is lawful.” And even illegal entry is “a misdemeanor for a first offense.”
Immigration detention is not a criminal procedure. And yet the Trump administration is treating it as a criminal punishment. It is using detention to inflict pain on anyone — immigrant or citizen — caught in its grasp. It is subjecting detainees to horrific conditions of deprivation and abuse, meant to pressure people into leaving the country, even if they have valid asylum claims or even legal status. And the administration is trying to expand its system of internment camps, purchasing warehouses across the country meant to hold tens of thousands of people — an archipelago custom-ordered by America’s most famous real estate developer, Donald Trump.
It would not be an exaggeration to call these “concentration” camps. “A concentration camp exists wherever a government holds groups of civilians outside the normal legal process — sometimes to segregate people considered foreigners or outsiders, sometimes to punish,” Andrea Pitzer writes in “One Long Night: A Global History of Concentration Camps.” Conditions within the administration’s detention facilities certainly meet the bill.
Here’s how a Russian family described its four-month ordeal at the Dilley Immigration Processing Center in an interview with NBC News:
“Worms in their food. Guards shouting orders and snatching toys from small hands. Restless nights under fluorescent lights that never fully go dark. Hours in line for a single pill. “We left one tyranny and came to another kind of tyranny,” Nikita said in Russian. “Even in Russia, they don’t treat children like this.”
Or consider this ProPublica exposé of the same facility, focused on the children who have been caught in the administration’s immigration dragnet.
Kheilin Valero from Venezuela, who was being held with her 18-month-old, Amalia Arrieta, said shortly after they were detained following an ICE appointment on Dec. 11 in El Paso, Texas, the baby fell ill. For two weeks, she said, medical staff gave her ibuprofen and eventually antibiotics, but Amalia’s breathing worsened to the point that she was hospitalized in San Antonio for 10 days. She was diagnosed with Covid-19 and RSV. “Because she went so many days without treatment, and because it’s so cold here, she developed pneumonia and bronchitis,” Kheilin said. “She was malnourished, too, because she was vomiting everything.”
A recent report from the American Immigration Council notes that one man who suffered a medical incident at the so-called Alligator Alcatraz facility in Florida was denied pain medication and forced to sit for hours in “in blood and feces-soaked clothing.” The rapid expansion of the detention system — along with the administration’s clear indifference to the health and safety of detainees — will almost certainly lead to continued and worsening abuse of the people held in these facilities.
During the 2024 presidential campaign, I asked readers to think seriously about Trump’s plan to remove millions of people from the United States:
Now, imagine the conditions that might prevail for hundreds of thousands of people crammed into hastily constructed camps, the targets of a vicious campaign of demonization meant to build support for their detention and deportation. If undocumented immigrants really are, as Trump says, “poisoning the blood of our country,” then how do we respond? What do we do about poison? Well, we neutralize it.
What we see now, with the immigration dragnets in American cities and the horrific conditions in the administration’s detention facilities, is what the president promised in his campaign. He said he was going to punish immigrants for being immigrants, and here he is, punishing immigrants for being immigrants, with every tool he has at his disposal.
What I Wrote
In my column this week, I argued for the necessity of major congressional hearings aimed at getting the testimony of Americans, immigrants or otherwise, victimized by the administration’s mass deportation program:
Thus far, growing public opposition to Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Customs and Border Protection has been a function of the power of the image — of videos of shootings and abuse — but the testimony of Martinez, Rascon and others should remind us of the power of words and personal experience to also move the public. Crucially, there is the power inherent in giving victims of wrongdoing a chance to tell their stories not as one perspective among many but as part of the official record.
I joined my colleagues David French and Michelle Cottle for an episode of “The Opinions.”
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7) More Than Ever, Videos Expose the Truth. And Cloud It, Too.
In Minneapolis, videos of the Alex Pretti killing undermined the federal government’s account. But an A.I. video of Brad Pitt shows the dangers ahead.
By Charles Homans, Feb. 15, 2026
A screen grab from a video showing how federal agents wrestled Alex Pretti to the ground before fatally shooting him. Credit...UGC/Reuters
Is seeing still believing? Based on the evidence of the past week, it is hard to say.
Consider Exhibit A: Rauiri Robinson, an Irish filmmaker and visual effects artist in Los Angeles, posted two short A.I.-generated videos on X, a hyper-realistic action-movie sequence depicting Tom Cruise and Brad Pitt fighting on a rooftop while arguing about Jeffrey Epstein. The clips were created, Mr. Robinson explained, by feeding a two-sentence prompt into Seedance 2.0, an A.I. video-creation tool newly released by the Chinese company ByteDance.
Its convincing imitation of an actual film sparked horror and outrage in Hollywood. “I hate to say it,” Rhett Reese, a screenwriter whose credits include the “Deadpool” films, wrote on X. “It’s likely over for us.”
But consider Exhibit B: The announcement on Thursday morning by Tom Homan, Donald Trump’s border czar, that federal immigration agents would soon withdraw from Minnesota. Although Mr. Homan declared the operation a success, the decision seemed a tacit acknowledgment of the political damage inflicted by bystanders’ videos of two fatal shootings of Minneapolis residents by federal agents last month.
The videos immediately undercut the administration’s false and derogatory claims about the victims, drawing rebukes from even some Republican politicians and conservative commentators. “Escalating the rhetoric doesn’t help, and it actually loses credibility,” Ted Cruz, the Republican senator from Texas, said on his podcast in late January.
It is a paradoxical moment, in which documentary evidence is still able to land a few punches, even as new technologies threaten its credibility like never before.
“It feels deeply contradictory,” said Sam Gregory, the executive director of Witness, a human-rights organization focused on gathering video evidence.
Mr. Gregory’s organization has for years trained observers in recording video of human-rights abuses, and more recently has studied the challenges that A.I. poses to such efforts. The success of observers in documenting the tactics and behavior of federal agents in Minneapolis is “clearly an affirmation that we can still show what’s real with video,” he said.
In Minneapolis, activists have been able to gather more footage of confrontations with federal agents — including, sometimes, their own confrontations — than their counterparts in Los Angeles, Chicago and elsewhere have. This reflects an evolution in observers’ strategies for documenting the raids, but also conditions that are well-suited for gathering so much video: The Twin Cities are relatively small, and the federal government sent more agents there than it did to other cities.
“The fact that this was almost an optimized scenario,” Mr. Gregory said, “also reaffirms what a challenging moment we’re in.”
The preponderance of video evidence has also shaped the legal proceedings following the immigration raids.
On Thursday, a federal prosecutor asked a judge to dismiss charges in one of the most high-profile prosecutions stemming from the federal surge after video evidence undercut the claims of officers involved in the arrest, in which one of the agents shot one of the arrested men in the leg.
Todd Lyons, the acting director of Immigrations and Customs Enforcement, said in a statement Friday that the officers appeared “to have made untruthful statements” and had been placed on administrative leave.
The episode underscored how the ubiquity of video from a range of sources — body cameras, bystanders, home security systems — has changed legal proceedings, even as new technologies may call the integrity of video evidence into question.
Juries have come to assume that assertions made in court will be backed up with footage, said Shay Cleary, a managing director of the National Center for State Courts, where he consults on court use of information technology.
“People expect to see video evidence now,” he said.
The potential dangers of high-quality A.I. fakes, which are now easily produceable, are obvious. But at least in court proceedings, their impact is still mostly theoretical, Mr. Cleary said.
“For now, I think it’s more of a concern than a reality,” he said.
A more immediate concern, Mr. Gregory of Witness said, is that the existence of even rudimentary A.I. images can be used to discredit real footage.
An A.I.-altered image of Alex Pretti, one of the two Minneapolis residents killed by federal officers, was circulated widely online in the days after his death. It was even displayed on a poster on the floor of the U.S. Senate by Dick Durbin of Illinois, the Democratic minority whip. (“Staff didn’t realize until after the fact that the image had been slightly edited,” a Durbin spokesman told NBC at the time, “and regret that this mistake occurred.”)
The image was based on a real incident, but it was obviously tweaked and enhanced by A.I. to be clearer and more dramatic.
Mr. Gregory said that whether or not the creators of the doctored image were trying to deceive anyone, its wide circulation had made it a useful tool for discrediting real visual evidence.
“You just need to cast doubt,” he said. “And you can do it on very simple grounds.”
Kathryn Olmsted, a historian at the University of California, Davis, who has written extensively about conspiracy theories in American history, looks on the present moment, and its technological potential, with foreboding.
“I am terrified,” she said. “I just worry we’re headed into a whole new era of conspiracism.”
Mr. Robinson, the creator of the Epstein-themed A.I. videos depicting Brad Pitt, said he had picked the concept because it seemed openly absurd.
“I thought it would be funny to take the dumbest possible interpretation of a third-rail conspiracy theory,” he said.
Mr. Robinson said he was both interested in A.I.’s potential and concerned about its implications, for his own work and the world as a whole. “I’ve made short films that I spent literally two years on, and this stupid 15-second joke has gotten so much more attention and traction than any of that stuff,” he said.
He added, “I think a lot of people are burying their heads in the sand about what’s coming.”
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8) With Latest Rollback, the U.S. Essentially Has No Clean-Car Rules
The E.P.A.’s killing of the “endangerment finding” caps a year of deregulation that is likely to make cars thirstier for gas and less competitive globally, experts say.
By Hiroko Tabuchi, Feb. 16, 2026
Transportation is the top contributor to U.S. greenhouse gas emissions. Apu Gomes/Getty Images
The momentous end to the federal government’s legal authority to fight climate change makes it official.
The United States will essentially have no laws on the books that enforce how efficient America’s passenger cars and trucks should be.
That’s the practical result of the Trump administration’s yearlong parade of regulatory rollbacks, capped on Thursday by its killing of the “endangerment finding,” the scientific determination that required the Environmental Protection Agency to regulate greenhouse gases because of the threat to human health.
“The U.S. no longer has emission standards of any meaning,” said Margo T. Oge, who served as the E.P.A.’s top vehicle emissions regulator under three presidents and has since advised both automakers and environmental groups.
“Nothing. Zero,” she added. “Not many countries have zero.”
Transportation is the largest single source of greenhouse gases in the United States.
Car buyers could still vote with their wallets, demanding more fuel-efficient cars. California has vowed to sue to maintain stricter standards. And the Department of Transportation still regulates fuel economy under rules meant to conserve oil.
But last year, the Trump administration proposed weakening the fuel economy standards to largely irrelevant levels. The Republican-controlled Congress also set civil penalties for violations at $0, essentially making them voluntary for automakers. In addition, Congress last year blocked California’s clean-car rules.
The bottom line is that the United States is set to stand apart from a majority of the world’s industrialized nations, which have mandatory fuel economy or greenhouse gas tailpipe emissions rules. The E.P.A. still regulates tailpipe emissions of specific pollutants, like nitrogen oxides.
The Biden administration had sought to tighten limits on emissions to encourage automakers to sell more nonpolluting electric vehicles.
The Trump administration’s elimination of the endangerment finding on Thursday is expected to face fierce legal challenges from environmental groups and others. The endangerment finding was a 2009 scientific conclusion that greenhouse gas emissions pose a danger to Americans’ health and welfare. It provided the foundation to justify federal regulations that limit carbon dioxide, methane and other pollution, including from cars.
If the E.P.A.’s decision holds, it could increase the country’s greenhouse gas emissions by 10 percent over the next 30 years, according to the Environmental Defense Fund, an advocacy group.
Greenhouse emissions are the main driver of global climate change, which in turn is intensifying heat waves, drought, hurricanes and floods while also melting glaciers, causing sea levels to rise.
Lee Zeldin, the E.P.A. administrator, called the end of the finding “the single largest deregulatory action in the history of the United States.” He accused Democrats of having launched an “ideological crusade” on climate change that had “strangled entire sectors of the United States economy,” particularly the auto industry, which has struggled to sell electric vehicles.
Climate concerns aside, it’s unclear whether the U.S. auto industry will ultimately benefit from the elimination of emissions and fuel efficiency regulations. The move could leave American automakers even more dominated by gas-guzzling trucks and sport utility vehicles, experts said, as China and other nations continue to shift toward cleaner electric cars.
That could leave them at a competitive disadvantage in coming years. “Our automakers are not going to survive,” Ms. Oge predicted.
John Bozzella, the president of the Alliance for Automotive Innovation, which represents automakers in the United States, has declined to say whether he supports the end of the endangerment finding. But he said in a statement that the move would “correct some of the unachievable emissions regulations enacted under the previous administration.”
Mr. Trump has swung back and forth on his opinion of electric vehicles. During the 2024 presidential campaign, he said electric cars would “kill” America’s auto industry. But he appeared to at least temporarily soften his stance at the urging of Elon Musk, the chief executive of Tesla and his one-time close adviser. In March, he said he would buy a Tesla.
“Globally, the push is in exactly the opposite direction, in the direction of electrifying vehicles,” said Ann Carlson, a professor at U.C.L.A. School of Law who served under President Joseph R. Biden Jr. as acting administrator of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, the Transportation Department agency that sets fuel efficiency standards.
But now, “they’re saying no standards whatsoever,” she said.
For 17 years, the E.P.A. worked in tandem with the Department of Transportation, with the E.P.A. regulating carbon dioxide emissions (to protect health) and the Transportation Department governing how much fuel a car can burn (to conserve fuel).
The endangerment finding had allowed the E.P.A. in recent years to push standards more aggressively than possible using fuel-economy rules alone, setting targets so low they would eventually have become virtually impossible for gasoline engines to meet. The E.P.A. also had the authority, for example, to issue stop-sale orders if an automaker failed to meet standards, preventing them from selling certain cars until the issue was resolved.
The first Trump administration had moved to weaken both the tailpipe emissions and fuel economy standards. Mr. Biden had then reversed course, strengthening them. But now that the second Trump administration has eliminated the E.P.A.’s underlying authority to regulate greenhouse gases, another reversal by a future administration could be more difficult.
“Even if a new administration came in and was inclined to regulate greenhouse gasses, it would take years to reissue and defend the endangerment finding,” Professor Carlson said. “And in the meantime, they would have no authority to write any new greenhouse gas regulations.”
The remaining rules, such as the fuel efficiency requirements, could also be weakened. In December, the Trump administration proposed resetting the Transportation Department standard to require automakers to achieve an average of 34.5 miles per gallon for the full lineup of cars they sell by 2031. The Biden-era target was closer to 50 miles per gallon.
Those new standards would be less stringent than those in the European Union, as well as those of countries like China, Japan and India. Congress’s separate decision to eliminate fines for failure to comply with efficiency standards also makes the rules voluntary, saving automakers significant compliance costs.
Any resulting shift by American automakers toward gas guzzlers that can’t be sold in Europe or China could further isolate the U.S. market. And the United States would increasingly cede the future of automotive technology to Chinese electric vehicle giants like BYD, experts said.
“We’re an outlier now,” said Joshua Linn, a professor at the University of Maryland who studies environmental policies and the transportation sector. “Those larger trucks and S.U.V.s tend to make them more money,” he said. “But if they want to compete in Europe or East Asia, they really need to be able to produce these E.V.s.”
A divergence in tailpipe emissions rules could emerge domestically. California has promised a court challenge, saying the state would fight to continue to regulate greenhouse gases. Other states are expected to follow California’s lead.
“To have a patchwork of systems makes it really hard for companies that do business in 50 states,” let alone in other countries, said Anne L. Kelly, the vice president of government relations at Ceres, an advocacy group that works with businesses on their sustainability plans. “There is no world in which this is helpful for the auto industry.”
Matthew Beecham, a senior research analyst at S&P Global Mobility, an automotive company, said that given the uncertainties, automakers were likely to hedge their bets. They might expand their gasoline car lineups, he said, but most likely would not abandon electrification completely.
And despite no penalties for violating the remaining fuel economy standards, there was unlikely to be “wholesale lawbreaking,” he said, because state rules and investor scrutiny could keep companies in check. “Expect tactical shifts toward profitable trucks, not open defiance,” he added.
Still, a shift toward larger gasoline models could ultimately undermine their competitiveness in an intensifying global E.V. race. Carmakers around the world are scrambling to secure enough E.V. batteries, for example, and that race penalizes laggards, he said.
While the E.P.A. continues to regulate pollutants like nitrogen oxides that pose direct threats to human health, it is now also seeking to weaken those rules.
Aaron Szabo, the E.P.A.’s air quality chief, wrote in an opinion article published by The Hill in December that rolling back those rules would “reduce red tape and bring common sense back to rulemaking.” The move to roll back regulations increases choice and lowers the price of cars, he said.
But vehicles that burn more fuel cost car owners more at the pump, said Daniel Becker, the director of the Safe Climate Transport Campaign at the Center for Biological Diversity, an environmental group, in addition to the costs to the climate, public health and industrial competitiveness.
The Trump administration “is telling American manufacturers, ‘You guys go build gasoline cars again,’” he said. “The Chinese government is telling its manufacturers, ‘You go build the advanced vehicles that are going take over the world.’”
Maxine Joselow contributed reporting from Washington.
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9) Indonesia Says It’s Preparing Thousands of Peacekeeping Troops for Trump’s Gaza Plan
President Prabowo Subianto of Indonesia will be among those meeting with President Trump in Washington this week to discuss his Board of Peace initiative to oversee a cease-fire in Gaza.
By Muktita Suhartono, Feb. 16, 2026
Indonesia’s military said that it was preparing to send thousands of troops to Gaza for a peacekeeping mission as part of President Trump’s Board of Peace initiative, in one of the most significant public statements of support for the effort.
The announcement Sunday came days ahead of the first Board of Peace summit meeting in Washington, which President Prabowo Subianto of Indonesia and other world leaders are expected to attend on Thursday.
Brig. Gen. Donny Pramono, the Indonesian Army spokesman, said that around 1,000 troops would be ready to deploy to Gaza by early April, and the contingent would then grow to as many as 8,000. He said the deployment was still awaiting Mr. Prabowo’s final approval.
The government emphasized that the force would not engage in combat and was meant to help stabilize Gaza for humanitarian and rebuilding purposes. If approved, Indonesia’s pledge would be the first public commitment to send peacekeepers into Gaza.
Mr. Trump’s new Board of Peace has drawn sharp skepticism from some U.S. allies. The body, which mostly includes heads of state, was originally expected to supervise the cease-fire between Israel and Hamas in Gaza. But its charter gives the Board of Peace a sprawling, global mandate, and analysts say that Mr. Trump is trying to create a rival to the United Nations that puts him in charge.
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10) How the Visa Debate for Foreign Workers Fuels Racism Against South Asians
A dispute over the impact of H-1B visas on U.S. workers has been overshadowed by racist rhetoric, with troubling echoes of the great replacement conspiracy theory.
By Amy Qin, Feb. 16, 2026
In Frisco, Texas, one-third of the population is of Asian heritage. Credit...Meridith Kohut for The New York Times
The floor was open at a regular City Council meeting in Frisco, Texas, and several speakers, riled by a recent viral video over visas for specialized foreign workers, wanted to make their views known. They did not mince words about the program.
The visa, called H-1B, had led to an “Indian takeover” of their city. The program, some said without citing proof, was full of “fraudsters” and “low-quality scammers.”
A few people claimed an even broader racist conspiracy theory, accusing Western elites and corporations of seeking to replace and disempower white Americans.
“We must maintain our Rhodesia,” said someone identifying himself as a college student, referring to the former white-ruled colony that later became Zimbabwe.
During the nearly two-hour open floor this month, some opponents of the visas spoke about more typical concerns like job losses and suppressed wages, while South Asian residents expressed their fears over the rhetoric. And the leaders of Frisco, a rapidly growing suburb north of Dallas, emphasized the value and contributions of its population, one-third of whom are of Asian heritage.
In a statement, Jeff Cheney, the Frisco mayor, described many of the speakers as “outside agitators” who did not represent the majority of residents.
But the meeting displayed how the anger over the visa program has helped ignite racist rhetoric targeting the Indian community, not only in Frisco, but across the country.
Created in 1990, the H-1B program allows up to 85,000 foreign workers to fill specialized roles in the United States every year. In 2023, around three-quarters of the 400,000 or so approved H-1B applications were for workers from India, according to Pew Research Center. That same year, Dallas-Ft. Worth ranked fourth among metropolitan areas for approved H-1B applications. Many of these visa holders work as software programmers and computer engineers.
Rules around the H-1B visa are meant to protect American workers. Companies, for instance, are prohibited from paying H-1B workers less than other workers with similar skills and qualifications. But the effectiveness of these rules is hotly disputed.
The tech industry says it needs the program because of a dearth of qualified Americans, and health care associations have said the visas help ease physician shortages. Economists have generally found that H-1B visa holders boost American productivity and raise wages even for American workers.
Critics of the program, which include many labor unions, argue that it is ripe for abuse and displaces domestic workers. They point to examples like the 2015 decision to lay off 250 technology workers at Walt Disney World near Orlando, Fla., who were told to train their replacements with H-1B visas. And in 2024, a federal jury found that Cognizant, an information technology outsourcing company that is among the top recipients of H-1B visas, had intentionally discriminated for years against non-Indian employees.
President Trump has fueled the debate with anti-immigrant rhetoric and recent moves, such as an executive order mandating a $100,000 fee for new H-1B applications, even as he acknowledged the need for some skilled workers from outside the United States.
The important policy debates about H-1B visas, however, have been increasingly overshadowed by what Asian American advocacy groups say is a surge in hate speech directed at South Asians. Between January 2023 and December 2025, the use of anti-South Asian slurs in online spaces associated with targeted violence rose by 115 percent, according to Stop AAPI Hate, a nonprofit that tracks discrimination against Asian Americans.
The Center for the Study of Organized Hate, a nonprofit that tracks online extremism, found a similar uptick against Indians, noting that posts on X featuring anti-Indian slurs, stereotypes or narratives like “deport Indians” garnered 280 million views over about two months last summer.
In recent months, prominent conservatives of Indian heritage like Vivek Ramaswamy and Dinesh D’Souza have also decried a rise in such rhetoric.
“In a career spanning 40 years, I have never encountered this type of rhetoric,” Mr. D’Souza wrote on X. “The Right never used to talk like this. So who on our side has legitimized this type of vile degradation? It’s a question worth thinking about.”
Some of the racist rhetoric echoes the great replacement conspiracy theory, which tries to stoke fear of a future in which white people are no longer the majority in America.
“Whereas the old version of replacement theory accuses Jews of taking over, the thrust of this new version is that now Indian people are taking over,” said Stephanie Chan, director of data and research at Stop AAPI Hate, which works together with Moonshot, a company that tracks extremism online.
In these attacks, Indians are seen as part of both the elite pulling strings and the immigrants replacing white Americans, said Sean Long, a political scientist working on a book about the politics of extremist violence in the United States.
A video posted on X last August recorded shoppers at a Costco in Frisco, claiming that it was “the Indian takeover in full view.”
It added, “America’s harsh new reality: The Great Replacement unfolding.”
The escalation in anti-South Asian hate speech began in 2024 around the presidential campaign of Kamala Harris, whose mother was Indian, said Ms. Chan of Stop AAPI Hate.
And it spiked last summer after Mr. Trump’s H-1B executive order and the rise of Zohran Mamdani as New York City mayor, she said. Nearly 80 percent of the anti-Asian slurs online are now directed at South Asians, Ms. Chan said.
Republicans have also been the targets of this rhetoric. After Vice President JD Vance announced that he and his wife, Usha, were expecting their fourth child, right-wing forums reacted with both congratulatory and racist messages. Some called for the deportation of Ms. Vance, who is of Indian descent, and her “anchor baby” — a trope commonly associated with replacement theory, which claims immigrants have babies in the United States to get citizenship. (Ms. Vance was born in the United States and is an American citizen.)
Mr. Ramaswamy, the Trump supporter and current candidate for governor of Ohio, has been pummeled by one of his primary challengers, Casey Putsch. A political newcomer, Mr. Putsch has called Mr. Ramaswamy an “Indian anchor baby” and a “globalist Trojan horse.” He has described the H-1B program as a “billionaire slave bomb” intended to destroy the job market for young Americans and accused Mr. Ramaswamy, without evidence, of being involved in H-1B fraud.
Mr. Ramaswamy is a critic of the visas, arguing that the program should be replaced with a system that brings in the most highly skilled foreign workers.
Mr. Putsch declined to comment through a spokeswoman.
Mr. Putsch is not the only local Republican politician to use such rhetoric. Aaron Reitz, a Republican candidate for Texas attorney general, wrote on X that the state’s counties “may soon be renamed Calcutta, Delhi, & Hyderabad Counties given how bad the invasion of un-assimilated & un-assimilable Indians has become.”
Mr. Reitz, who served last year as the head of the Justice Department’s Office of Legal Policy, blamed “globalist corporations” for overlooking “native-born American workers” and facilitating the “H-1B scam for cheap labor.” Mr. Reitz did not respond to a request for comment.
In Palm Bay, Fla., the City Council censured a member, Chandler Langevin, after he accused Indians on social media of coming to the United States to “drain our pockets” and calling for their deportation en masse. Mr. Langevin’s comments were denounced by Republican officials in the state, including Senator Rick Scott, though Gov. Ron DeSantis ignored calls to remove Mr. Langevin from office. Mr. Langevin did not respond to a request for comment.
The rising rhetoric directed at South Asians comes as their profile has risen in America. Indians are now the largest Asian group in the United States among people who identify with one country of origin, though they constitute only about 1.5 percent of the overall population, according to a 2023 census report.
Among Asians in the United States, Indians are on average the wealthiest and most highly educated. They are often highly politically and civically engaged, which experts say is a result of India’s robust democratic tradition and English proficiency. And they are also increasingly prominent as big tech executives, national political figures and Hollywood stars.
Pawan Dhingra, a professor at Amherst College who studies immigration, noted the parallels with a century ago, when Indian workers came to the West Coast to work on farms and in lumber mills. Like many immigrant groups, they were also accused of being unable or unwilling to assimilate and blamed for taking jobs from white people. National publications warned of a “Hindu invasion.”
That wave of xenophobia led to violence and discrimination. And in 1917, Congress passed the Asiatic Barred Zone Act, one of the most restrictive immigration laws in the nation’s history that blocked immigrants from across much of Asia.
In Frisco, the tensions over H-1B were heightened by a conservative content creator who recently posted a much-watched video in which she made claims about possible H-1B fraud in the area. Shortly afterward, Gov. Greg Abbott, a Republican, ordered a pause on H-1B hiring at public universities and Texas agencies. Ken Paxton, the state’s attorney general who is running for senator, announced an investigation into three businesses accused of fraud in the video.
Heather Bunting, 43-year-old Frisco resident, has watched all this unfold with mixed feelings.
Growing up in the area, she has seen the city rapidly grow and appreciates the opportunity to learn about Indian traditions. Last fall, her family attended a neighborhood Diwali event, she said, floating boats with candles on the community pond.
“I was telling my kids, ‘It’s kind of Christian, like we’re trying to spread the light,’” she recalled.
But over the last few years, her husband, who works at a telecommunications company, has seen his older white colleagues leave and more Indian H-1B workers hired. And persistent rumors of restructuring make her increasingly worried about her husband’s job.
She is also worried about her son’s schooling, which has become, she said, more competitive, with Indian families signing up for tutoring and school on Saturdays. Around 45 percent of students at the city’s public schools are Asian, up from 13 percent more than a decade ago.
Despite her concerns, she resisted casting blame on an entire community.
“It’s easy to say ‘let’s blame them,’” Ms. Bunting said. “And that’s not fair.”
Among Frisco’s Indian and Indian American residents, there is fear.
“People are worried about their personal safety,” said Sunitha Cheruvu, a Frisco resident who was born in India and grew up partly in the United States.
At the recent City Council meeting, residents of South Asian descent also lined up to speak.
Any H-1B fraud, they all agreed, should be rooted out.
Many, though, also had a sense of bewilderment. Like so many other legal immigrants, they have suddenly found themselves in a more hostile and unwelcoming environment. They pointed out they had immigrated here legally, followed the rules, contributed to the economy and pitched in to the community.
Several spoke proudly about their Indian and American cultural traditions. They talked about their U.S. military service, their love of the Dallas Cowboys and the joy of biscuits and mashed potatoes. Some of their children, they pointed out, were Eagle Scouts and loved Bollywood and country music.
“Our kids have been here, they consider themselves American,” Ms. Cheruvu said in an interview. “This is their home — this is our home.”
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