Milwaukee Judge Arrested for No Reason

Ed Bierman, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Welcome to our news segment: TL;DR of Immigration News, for when the news is Too Long and you Didn’t Read it.

This is a weekly collection of immigration-related news stories. These bite-size summaries will keep you up to date without overwhelming your inbox.

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Take action with the Detention Watch Network to Stop ICE detention expansion!

The Trump administration is planning massive expansions to the detention and kidnapping capacities of ICE. There are already 50,000 people in ICE detention - and this additional funding would allow them to TRIPLE their capacity. Will you take 30 seconds today to send a message to Congress and tell them hell no to expanding ICE?

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Migrant Torture at Guantanamo Authorized by Trump Administration Memo

A memo of understanding between the DoD and DHS, which has been unearthed by CBS reporter Camilo Montoya-Galvez, not only highlights what types of immigrants the administration plans to hold at Guantanamo, but also plans on how they will be housed.

A line in this memo mentions that immigrants will be held in “soft structures” (tents) that have no power, lighting, heating or air conditioning. These conditions are tantamount to torture. Both the harsh weather conditions at Guantanamo Bay (not providing people living in tents air conditioning in stifling weather), and keeping people in the dark at night are called “sensory manipulation” and are forms of torture the US government used on people during the war on terror.

Devastatingly, this is a reversal of the positive news that we witnessed when all immigrants imprisoned at Guantanamo were sent home a few weeks ago, about which you can read our statement. This heartbreaking change means it’s time to take action against these horrific policies of the Trump administration by joining our friends at Detention Watch Network and sending a letter to speak out against the housing of immigrants in Guantanamo Bay.

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ICE is reversing the termination of legal status for international students around the US

International students targeted by ICE for intimidation and persecution have not been playing along. Instead, many have been filing lawsuits to challenge the cancellation of student visas and termination of legal status. As a direct result of these lawsuits and of students, community members, and allies using every legal and institutional tool they had to push back, ICE has announced that it will restore SEVIS database access for over 1,200 international students whose records were removed. This is not the same as restoring student visas, but it’s a start.

The crackdowns against international students have caused many to lose jobs, drop out of school, flee the country and experience harm that can hardly be reversed by this backtracking by ICE. However, according to lawyers for the students, it is an important first step. We will be among the many people monitoring this story and working to hold ICE accountable.

Much of the mainstream debate around targeting international students is centering questions about whether there is cause (that is, whether these students have been “crimes,” here meaning participation in protests against the genocide in Palestine) and whether the targeted students have been afforded due process. Yet, we know that these attacks are motivated by the interests of US imperialism and by anti-immigrant and anti-Palestinian hate, full stop. We stand against the criminalization of all international students, full stop.

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Milwaukee County Judge Hannah Dugan arrested for basically no reason

On April 18, Milwaukee Circuit Court Judge Hannah Dugan questioned an administrative warrant presented to her by ICE agents attempting to arrest Eduardo Flores-Ruiz, who was in her courtroom over an unrelated case. Dugan directed Ruiz to a side exit from her courtroom. He left the courtroom but was subsequently arrested by the ICE agents.

Nevertheless, the FBI turned up on Friday, April 25 to arrest Judge Dugan for felony “obstruction of justice.” Even in cases where a judge is accused of a crime, arresting her at work and walking her out of a courtroom is a highly unusual, unnecessary bit of drama. The community turned out to support her that morning, again that afternoon, and the following day, with more than 1000 people gathering at the local FBI headquarters to protest the arrest and attempted intimidation of a judge.

The Wisconsin Supreme Court has suspended Judge Dugan while her case plays out. Alongside our friends at Voces de La Frontera (support them here!), we support her valiant activities in service of true justice!

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If ICE says they're doing a welfare check, they're probably not

In keeping with the current administration’s apparent goal of becoming literal cartoon villains, ICE and DHS are currently targeting unaccompanied children for deportation. ICE agents have been using the noble-sounding guise of “welfare checks” to discover whether children are, in the Guardian’s phrasing, “viable to be deported.” This cynical and manipulative tactic is is what one advocate calls “backdoor family separation.”

One such “welfare check” happened in Washington state earlier this month. A 16-year-old girl was visited by ICE and immediately called her sponsor, Samuel Smith, director of immigrant legal aid at Manzanita House. Smith said, “Both the text messages sent and the tone of communication when talking on the phone, was of a child who was incredibly scared… She had no idea what was going on and was worried that her life would be flipped upside down.”

Words fail to express the cruelty on display here.
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Finally, Happy May Day!
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5 actions you can take right now:

  1. Jeanette Vizguerra, community leader and mother, was arrested by ICE in Colorado. Jeanette has been fighting her deportation case since 2009 and is a pillar to her community and family. She has organized and supported immigrant and human rights for years, she needs our support now.

  1. College Students/Faculty/Staff: Sign the ICE Noncompliance Pledge. When Trump abuses “Jewish safety” to justify deportations, we must spread the word to not comply.

  2. Respond to reports of suspected raids in your area in real time by reading and sharing the information in this 1-page guide. For those of us who are allies especially, learn how to watch for ICE and protect your neighbors.

  3. Updated for 2025: Never Again Action is equipping members to organize themselves into neighborhood groups (or “pods”) to be trained and respond to deportation threats on a hyperlocal level. Learn more and build or join a pod: bit.ly/BuildAPod2025

  4. Support Never Again Action’s organizing by making a donation today. You can make a tax deductible donation via our fiscal sponsor at this link, or you can donate directly to our 501(c)(4) organization at this link.

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Never Again Action