Alex Burness

That’s a staggering fact to take in: About 1/3 of U.S. counties are now contractually partnered with ICE—to say nothing of all the counties assisting ICE more informally. I wrote recently about what this type of collaboration can do to communities: boltsmag.org/frederick-co...

This is a very good story about what 287(g) enforcement looks like on the ground, and the prong of Trump-era immigration enforcement that doesn’t look like ICE agents doing raids on the streets of Minneapolis or Chicago.

“Armed and in uniform, federal agents from the Department of Homeland Security have been knocking on doors in several states to ask residents about their immigration status — and to inquire if they have registered to vote or cast votes in past elections.” www.cbsnews.com/news/federal...

There's a lot of talk right now about what happens *after* votes are cast. So a reminder: Bolts has a state-by-state, 50-state resource on WHO COUNTS AND CERTIFIES the results. Always with the hope that it doesn't end up useful to know, but bookmark it:

Stories like these, about the daily reality of immigrants living in justifiable fear that they or a friend/relative will be disappeared from their community at any moment, will feel quite familiar to anyone who has read Anne Frank. Important reporting on something we should not look away from:

We’ve got a great new voter resource @boltsmag.org, breaking down the 35 states (plus DC) where the midterms will decide who runs elections. These contests are important in setting the tone of election administration for 2028, but also for so many other reasons: boltsmag.org/guide-to-con...

If nothing else, just read the opening paragraphs of the new @vevalenz.bsky.social piece. This sort of casual cruelty, and worse, is so common in U.S. jails/prisons that to most it barely registers as scandalous—but it is, and this reporting really matters: boltsmag.org/california-p...

One of the first things Trump did in Feb. 2017 was set up an office in DHS to *exclusively* publicize crimes committed by immigrants — just as the Nazis used Der Stürmer to publish a special section only highlighting “Jewish crimes.” See this article from 2017: www.thewrap.com/der-sturmer-...

ICYMI, this is a superb article by @boltsmag.org about Virginia’s proposed constitutional amendment to automatically restore voting rights for people with felony convictions when they exit prison. boltsmag.org/virginia-con...

Because of Idaho's women's prison overcrowding, some women can’t access the programming required of them to make parole - and end up incarcerated longer, even when a state commission has decided they're otherwise fit for parole. @wbryen.bsky.social reports - www.investigatewest.org/prison-overc...

A year ago, @propublica.org told you immigration agents had detained more than 170 U.S. citizens. We’ve updated our count, and we’ve got all the receipts. The tally: At least 506 citizens detained. Sometimes held at gunpoint, handcuffed, or even deported. projects.propublica.org/american-cit...

Can you serve as the peoples' attorney and the city's attorney at the same time – and what about when those two roles come into conflict with one another? For my latest for Bolts, I explored this question: boltsmag.org/los-angeles-...

Demonstrably false—they are mostly disenfranchised, but when and where incarcerated people are granted meaningful ballot access, they very often do vote freely.

People in jail have the right to vote, but it's rarely accessible. I wrote about how Dallas election officials basically mocked the rights of the legally innocent. boltsmag.org/dallas-count...

just wanna re-up the part where I wrote that many immigrants in Maine have been sheltering in place since January for their own safety, with ICE still operating in the area. it is October.

The annual, gigantic, always-indispensable @taniel.bsky.social November election guide is out today. There is no better place to learn about the downballot, so bookmark and share widely: boltsmag.org/whats-on-the...

Pretty amazing photography and writing by Marc Lester for @adn.com: www.adn.com/alaska-news/...

Over a 20-year period, people were sentenced to prison more often, and for longer terms, in years when prosecutors were up for election, a Northwestern Law study finds. In other words, prosecutors were more eager to rob people’s freedom when they thought it would help them politically.

Tennessee plans to execute a woman tomorrow. She was 18 when she committed the crime. She's now 50. Like most on death row, she's also a victim. And like most on death row, she's a far different person now than she was then. No one humanizes the condemned better than @lilianasegura.bsky.social.

The powerful generally do not want a free press to exist. This is not a matter of political partisanship so much as it is an observation of reality. And a more urgent one to acknowledge today, because they are closer to winning. www.hamiltonnolan.com/p/the-free-a...

Daniel has eyes on literally every county in every state, so you should trust the curation here and bookmark this:

More on ERIC, an election verification system Republicans demanded, and then abandoned when it wasn’t generating the evidence of fraud they wanted via @michaelmechanic.bsky.social www.motherjones.com/politics/202...

A downballot race to circle for November: In a Harris +9 county in Maryland, far-right sheriff who boasts about funneling 2,000 people into deportation faces seeks a sixth term. I wrote about him, and ICE, and immigrant rights organizing, in @boltsmag.org: boltsmag.org/frederick-co...

“Terrible things are happening outside. Poor helpless people are being dragged out of their homes. Families are torn apart. Men, women, and children are separated. Children come home from school to find that their parents have disappeared.” Diary of Anne Frank January 13, 1943

I wrote about solitary confinement, penal isolators, and "the box."

I’ve been a Frederick boy pretty much my whole life, and this is as clean a piece you will ever read on the evil ass Sheriff in the county. @boltsmag.org continues to be vital for understanding local politics.

People are hiding at home, afraid to go outside and encounter ICE. They're struggling to find food and holding kids out of school, as friends and family are disappeared in bunches. This is now the reality of daily life across the U.S., and I took a snapshot of what it looks like in one community:

This comes amid a broader attack on voting rights for trans Kansans: New ID requirements at best make voting harder and potentially more dangerous for many, and in some cases will outright block people from voting. boltsmag.org/kansas-trans...

New: A rural FL county quietly built a sprawling network of Flock cameras. Now its sheriff is ending the program, joining a growing group of GOP leaders turning against Flock. For @boltsmag.org: boltsmag.org/jefferson-co...

ICE is arresting a record number of pregnant women and teenagers, according to government documents obtained by the Guardian. At the same time, the agency appears to have lost count of how many suffered a miscarriage. 🧵

A Labor Day reminder: having a job is no longer enough to protect millions of Americans from homelessness. For many workers, the greatest threat isn't losing their job. It's that their job will never pay enough, never provide enough hours, never offer enough stability to keep them housed.

A major win today for Tupe Smith, the American Samoan mom and school volunteer Alaska has accused of voter fraud and threatened with prison. “The only good news we’ve heard ever since this whole thing started,” Smith’s husband texts me tonight. I wrote in January on this family’s nightmare, ICYMI:

“I feel vindicated by today’s court decision. But at the same time I worry it will not mean the end of the state’s criminal targeting of the American Samoan community in Whittier.” -Tupe Smith, one of 11 Whittier residents criminally prosecuted by the state for noncitizen voting

So here's a quote from @pablo.show that applies to not only his Clippers investigation but the best of what journalism can be: www.nytimes.com/athletic/756...

In February I wrote about 2 Bay Area cases (SF and Santa Clara) where DAs sought felony conspiracy charges vs. Palestine protesters. Update: Both juries deadlocked on the felony charges. Now SF DA Brooke Jenkins has decided to dismiss that case's felony charges. boltsmag.org/stanford-san...

California is about to do something really cool for local journalism: mattdpearce.substack.com/p/california...

Reminder, as Maura Healey runs unopposed in the Massachusetts primary today: She says, “If you don't stand against ICE and if you don't stand against Donald Trump, then you can't be and shouldn't be governor of Massachusetts.” …while at the same partnering directly with ICE via the 287(g) program.

In so many ways, people with criminal convictions are not actually free even after exiting incarceration. Here’s a very good @vevalenz.bsky.social piece on one example of this: state-ordered separation of babies and parents. The first paragraph alone is heartbreaking. boltsmag.org/california-c...

Treg Taylor says he made a “good-faith effort” to follow the law but was set up to fail by Alaska’s own flawed systems. How ironic: American Samoans in Alaska say the same of their own alleged violations, as *Taylor* is aggressively prosecuting them: boltsmag.org/prosecuted-f...

No need to afford anything! Totally free to subscribe (boltsmag.org/newsletter/) and we have no paywall.

New @boltsmag.org piece breaking down 10 big questions about mail voting: boltsmag.org/mail-voting-...

A new law restoring voting rights to about 41,000 Missourians with past felony convictions takes effect today, in time to register for November. Like all states, Missouri disproportionately incarcerates Black residents, meaning that this reform will shift some voting power to Black Missourians.