Anna Oakes
@annaoakes.bsky.social
Independent reporter in NYC covering immigration, protests, and more. Words in The Intercept, The City, Documented NY, Rolling Stone, Hell Gate, CTXT. Signal: annao.06
With @nickpinto.bsky.social at Cuomo headquarters for @hellgatenyc.com
Tune into the liveliest livestream in the city, starting now!
www.youtube.com/live/fKA4Vpk...
Tune into the liveliest livestream in the city, starting now!
www.youtube.com/live/fKA4Vpk...
November 5, 2025 at 1:07 AM
With @nickpinto.bsky.social at Cuomo headquarters for @hellgatenyc.com
Tune into the liveliest livestream in the city, starting now!
www.youtube.com/live/fKA4Vpk...
Tune into the liveliest livestream in the city, starting now!
www.youtube.com/live/fKA4Vpk...
Reposted by Anna Oakes
Documented went down and spoke with vendors who said federal agents stormed Canal Street without warning — leaving dozens detained and the community in shock and confusion. 📝 @KEXU3 and @Anna_Oakes1
🔗 documentedny.com/2025/10/23/ice-raid-chinatown-vendors-arrested
🔗 documentedny.com/2025/10/23/ice-raid-chinatown-vendors-arrested
'This is Lawless Terror': Chinatown Reacts to ICE's Street Vendor Raid on Canal Street - Documented
Confusion, fear and outrage grip NYC after ICE arrests and detains street vendors, some of whom had legal status or U.S. citizenship.
documentedny.com
October 23, 2025 at 2:01 PM
Documented went down and spoke with vendors who said federal agents stormed Canal Street without warning — leaving dozens detained and the community in shock and confusion. 📝 @KEXU3 and @Anna_Oakes1
🔗 documentedny.com/2025/10/23/ice-raid-chinatown-vendors-arrested
🔗 documentedny.com/2025/10/23/ice-raid-chinatown-vendors-arrested
Reposted by Anna Oakes
As masked federal agents target street vendors on Canal Street, THE CITY watched one street vendor being detained.
As the operation carried on, agents were confronted with a spontaneous crowd of protesters.
MORE HERE: www.thecity.nyc/2025/10/21/i...
As the operation carried on, agents were confronted with a spontaneous crowd of protesters.
MORE HERE: www.thecity.nyc/2025/10/21/i...
October 22, 2025 at 1:09 AM
As masked federal agents target street vendors on Canal Street, THE CITY watched one street vendor being detained.
As the operation carried on, agents were confronted with a spontaneous crowd of protesters.
MORE HERE: www.thecity.nyc/2025/10/21/i...
As the operation carried on, agents were confronted with a spontaneous crowd of protesters.
MORE HERE: www.thecity.nyc/2025/10/21/i...
Dina and her husband spent their life savings to flee Venezuela. This week her husband was detained by ICE, in front of their children, during a mandatory asylum hearing.
In July, she told me how her family longed for safety and stability after years of precarity.
tinyurl.com/3uknzf5y @thecity.nyc
In July, she told me how her family longed for safety and stability after years of precarity.
tinyurl.com/3uknzf5y @thecity.nyc
Mayor Adams Closed NYC’s Migrant ‘Welcome Center.’ More Arrive Every Day.
Mayor Eric Adams celebrated the Roosevelt Hotel’s closure and the city’s handling of the migrant crisis. A mother who spent a year there offered her own mixed assessment.
www.thecity.nyc
October 16, 2025 at 8:30 PM
Dina and her husband spent their life savings to flee Venezuela. This week her husband was detained by ICE, in front of their children, during a mandatory asylum hearing.
In July, she told me how her family longed for safety and stability after years of precarity.
tinyurl.com/3uknzf5y @thecity.nyc
In July, she told me how her family longed for safety and stability after years of precarity.
tinyurl.com/3uknzf5y @thecity.nyc
Reposted by Anna Oakes
These high-profile cases are already having a chilling effect on immigrants' speech across the country.
https://documentedny.com/2025/10/10/mahdawi-ozturk-new-york-legal-battle-first-amendment-constitution/
https://documentedny.com/2025/10/10/mahdawi-ozturk-new-york-legal-battle-first-amendment-constitution/
October 15, 2025 at 4:03 PM
These high-profile cases are already having a chilling effect on immigrants' speech across the country.
https://documentedny.com/2025/10/10/mahdawi-ozturk-new-york-legal-battle-first-amendment-constitution/
https://documentedny.com/2025/10/10/mahdawi-ozturk-new-york-legal-battle-first-amendment-constitution/
Reposted by Anna Oakes
A. Diallo, an immigrant from Guinea, says he has been placed under surveillance by ICE without explanation, and is facing years of uncertainty while his asylum case is resolved.
The $470 Million Surveillance Program Watching Immigrants Across the U.S. - Documented
A. Diallo, an immigrant from Guinea, says he has been placed under electronic surveillance by ICE without explanation, and is facing years of uncertainty while his asylum case is resolved.
documentedny.com
October 15, 2025 at 3:03 PM
A. Diallo, an immigrant from Guinea, says he has been placed under surveillance by ICE without explanation, and is facing years of uncertainty while his asylum case is resolved.
Federal authorities are using immigration law to limit the First Amendment rights of noncitizens. Legal experts warn that this extension of executive power can be used to censor citizens’ speech, too.
My latest for @documentedny.bsky.social:
t.co/ySnyXiLrpl
My latest for @documentedny.bsky.social:
t.co/ySnyXiLrpl
October 10, 2025 at 5:49 PM
Federal authorities are using immigration law to limit the First Amendment rights of noncitizens. Legal experts warn that this extension of executive power can be used to censor citizens’ speech, too.
My latest for @documentedny.bsky.social:
t.co/ySnyXiLrpl
My latest for @documentedny.bsky.social:
t.co/ySnyXiLrpl
Reposted by Anna Oakes
ICE reactivated its contract with spyware manufacturer Paragon Solutions. You can read more about it here, but what does that mean for using encrypted chat apps like Signal? 🧵(1/8)
EFF Statement on ICE Use of Paragon Solutions Malware
This statement can be attributed to EFF Senior Staff Technologist Cooper QuintinIt was recently reported by Jack Poulson on Substack that ICE has reactivated its 2 million dollar contract with Paragon...
www.eff.org
September 8, 2025 at 10:09 PM
ICE reactivated its contract with spyware manufacturer Paragon Solutions. You can read more about it here, but what does that mean for using encrypted chat apps like Signal? 🧵(1/8)
Reposted by Anna Oakes
Being a NYC government official and trying to bribe Katie Honan is like being an affiliate of a Gotham crime syndicate and trying to bribe Batman. This is comically dumb as hell
BREAKING: Eric Adams Advisor Winnie Greco Handed a CITY Reporter Cash Stuffed in a Bag of Potato Chips
www.thecity.nyc/2025/08/20/w...
www.thecity.nyc/2025/08/20/w...
Eric Adams Advisor Winnie Greco Handed a CITY Reporter Cash Stuffed in a Bag of Potato Chips
THE CITY reported the incident to law enforcement and was promptly contacted by the Brooklyn U.S. attorney’s office.
www.thecity.nyc
August 21, 2025 at 12:08 AM
Being a NYC government official and trying to bribe Katie Honan is like being an affiliate of a Gotham crime syndicate and trying to bribe Batman. This is comically dumb as hell
Reposted by Anna Oakes
“If we didn’t have international graduates ... we could not stay open — because what do you do if you miss 80 to 90% of your doctors? You’re done.” @annaoakes.bsky.social spent time at a struggling Brooklyn hospital, and documented how the closing of America is rattling its workforce.
Visa Whiplash Threatens Foreign Doctors Who Keep This Brooklyn Hospital Running
Residents at Brookdale Hospital mostly come from overseas, working in jobs American medical students overlook.
www.thecity.nyc
August 14, 2025 at 3:35 PM
“If we didn’t have international graduates ... we could not stay open — because what do you do if you miss 80 to 90% of your doctors? You’re done.” @annaoakes.bsky.social spent time at a struggling Brooklyn hospital, and documented how the closing of America is rattling its workforce.
Reposted by Anna Oakes
What a way to end my work day: arranging for law enforcement to pick up a potato chip bag stuffed with cash.
BREAKING: Eric Adams Advisor Winnie Greco Handed a CITY Reporter Cash Stuffed in a Bag of Potato Chips
www.thecity.nyc/2025/08/20/w...
www.thecity.nyc/2025/08/20/w...
Eric Adams Advisor Winnie Greco Handed a CITY Reporter Cash Stuffed in a Bag of Potato Chips
THE CITY reported the incident to law enforcement and was promptly contacted by the Brooklyn U.S. attorney’s office.
www.thecity.nyc
August 20, 2025 at 11:59 PM
What a way to end my work day: arranging for law enforcement to pick up a potato chip bag stuffed with cash.
Reposted by Anna Oakes
"For months, the international medical residents who make up a significant number of the Brookdale physician staff, have been caught up in a whirlwind of restrictions and regulations regarding their visa and travel status." — @annaoakes.bsky.social reports
www.thecity.nyc/2025/08/14/b...
www.thecity.nyc/2025/08/14/b...
Visa Whiplash Threatens Foreign Doctors Who Keep This Brooklyn Hospital Running
Residents at Brookdale Hospital mostly come from overseas, working in jobs American medical students overlook.
www.thecity.nyc
August 14, 2025 at 11:54 AM
"For months, the international medical residents who make up a significant number of the Brookdale physician staff, have been caught up in a whirlwind of restrictions and regulations regarding their visa and travel status." — @annaoakes.bsky.social reports
www.thecity.nyc/2025/08/14/b...
www.thecity.nyc/2025/08/14/b...
Reposted by Anna Oakes
Barely an hour ago, Palestinian journalist Anas Al-Sharif warned us all:
“If this madness doesn’t end, Gaza will be reduced to ruins, its people’s voices silenced, their faces erased — and history will remember you as silent witnesses to a genocide you chose not to stop.”
Israel just killed him.
“If this madness doesn’t end, Gaza will be reduced to ruins, its people’s voices silenced, their faces erased — and history will remember you as silent witnesses to a genocide you chose not to stop.”
Israel just killed him.
August 10, 2025 at 9:09 PM
Barely an hour ago, Palestinian journalist Anas Al-Sharif warned us all:
“If this madness doesn’t end, Gaza will be reduced to ruins, its people’s voices silenced, their faces erased — and history will remember you as silent witnesses to a genocide you chose not to stop.”
Israel just killed him.
“If this madness doesn’t end, Gaza will be reduced to ruins, its people’s voices silenced, their faces erased — and history will remember you as silent witnesses to a genocide you chose not to stop.”
Israel just killed him.
Reposted by Anna Oakes
@columbiauniversity.bsky.social’s President Claire Shipman said the school retained full independence, “but it gave in to virtually all of Trump's demands.”
@meghnadbose.bsky.social and @annaoakes.bsky.social write for the @theintercept.com about how Columbia “refashioned [itself] in Trump’s image”
@meghnadbose.bsky.social and @annaoakes.bsky.social write for the @theintercept.com about how Columbia “refashioned [itself] in Trump’s image”
How Columbia’s Leadership Refashioned the University in Trump’s Image
Columbia University President Claire Shipman said the school retained full independence, but it gave in to virtually all of Trump's demands.
theintercept.com
August 7, 2025 at 10:28 PM
@columbiauniversity.bsky.social’s President Claire Shipman said the school retained full independence, “but it gave in to virtually all of Trump's demands.”
@meghnadbose.bsky.social and @annaoakes.bsky.social write for the @theintercept.com about how Columbia “refashioned [itself] in Trump’s image”
@meghnadbose.bsky.social and @annaoakes.bsky.social write for the @theintercept.com about how Columbia “refashioned [itself] in Trump’s image”
Much of what the Trump administration has demanded, Columbia has conceded – though they insist otherwise.
@meghnadbose.bsky.social and I tracked months of government demands and secretive Columbia rule changes, for @theintercept.com.
theintercept.com/2025/08/07/c...
@meghnadbose.bsky.social and I tracked months of government demands and secretive Columbia rule changes, for @theintercept.com.
theintercept.com/2025/08/07/c...
How Columbia’s Leadership Refashioned the University in Trump’s Image
Columbia University President Claire Shipman said the school retained full independence, but it gave in to virtually all of Trump's demands.
theintercept.com
August 7, 2025 at 10:42 PM
Much of what the Trump administration has demanded, Columbia has conceded – though they insist otherwise.
@meghnadbose.bsky.social and I tracked months of government demands and secretive Columbia rule changes, for @theintercept.com.
theintercept.com/2025/08/07/c...
@meghnadbose.bsky.social and I tracked months of government demands and secretive Columbia rule changes, for @theintercept.com.
theintercept.com/2025/08/07/c...
Reposted by Anna Oakes
🚨DHS asks the Supreme Court to halt an injunction restricting the ability of ICE and Border Patrol to stop and question people based on factors such as speaking Spanish, being Latino, doing day labor, or being in certain areas.
Hard not to read this as a request for a license to racially profile.
Hard not to read this as a request for a license to racially profile.
August 7, 2025 at 10:24 PM
🚨DHS asks the Supreme Court to halt an injunction restricting the ability of ICE and Border Patrol to stop and question people based on factors such as speaking Spanish, being Latino, doing day labor, or being in certain areas.
Hard not to read this as a request for a license to racially profile.
Hard not to read this as a request for a license to racially profile.
Reposted by Anna Oakes
just wild that there was basically a $17 million heist last month using the city’s youth job program — and it barely registered
Summer Jobs Program Heist Likely Had Hacker Help, Say ATM Experts
A scheme that gave young people earning minimum wage cash for their government-issued debit cards extracted $17 million in repeat withdrawals still under investigation by the NYPD.
www.thecity.nyc
August 4, 2025 at 11:21 PM
just wild that there was basically a $17 million heist last month using the city’s youth job program — and it barely registered
Reposted by Anna Oakes
The NYPD and summer youth program agency are not saying much about the heist that pulled $17 million from payment debit cards through repeat withdrawals. But reports abounded of schemes to pay kids for cards, and ATM industry insiders told @annaoakes.bsky.social they see signs of a network hack.
Summer Jobs Program Heist Likely Had Hacker Help, Say ATM Experts
A scheme that gave young people earning minimum wage cash for their government-issued debit cards extracted $17 million in repeat withdrawals still under investigation by the NYPD.
www.thecity.nyc
August 4, 2025 at 7:56 PM
The NYPD and summer youth program agency are not saying much about the heist that pulled $17 million from payment debit cards through repeat withdrawals. But reports abounded of schemes to pay kids for cards, and ATM industry insiders told @annaoakes.bsky.social they see signs of a network hack.
Reposted by Anna Oakes
A scheme that gave young people earning minimum wage cash for their government-issued debit cards extracted $17 million in repeat withdrawals still under investigation by the NYPD.
www.thecity.nyc/2025/08/04/s...
www.thecity.nyc/2025/08/04/s...
Summer Jobs Program Heist Likely Had Hacker Help, Say ATM Experts
A scheme that gave young people earning minimum wage cash for their government-issued debit cards extracted $17 million in repeat withdrawals still under investigation by the NYPD.
www.thecity.nyc
August 4, 2025 at 1:17 PM
A scheme that gave young people earning minimum wage cash for their government-issued debit cards extracted $17 million in repeat withdrawals still under investigation by the NYPD.
www.thecity.nyc/2025/08/04/s...
www.thecity.nyc/2025/08/04/s...
Reposted by Anna Oakes
"Without intervention, the remaining journalists in Gaza will die... Since AFP was founded in August 1944, we have lost journalists in conflicts, we have had wounded and prisoners in our ranks, but none of us remembers seeing a colleague die of hunger."
⚫️ La Direction de l’AFP partage l’angoisse exprimée par la SDJ quant à la situation effroyable de ses collaborateurs dans la bande de Gaza ⬇️
July 21, 2025 at 11:15 PM
"Without intervention, the remaining journalists in Gaza will die... Since AFP was founded in August 1944, we have lost journalists in conflicts, we have had wounded and prisoners in our ranks, but none of us remembers seeing a colleague die of hunger."
Reposted by Anna Oakes
The clerks where I get my lunch said a man came in last week and asked them where the public entrance to 26 Federal Plaza was. He locked his bike outside, and it’s been there since.
July 23, 2025 at 4:43 PM
The clerks where I get my lunch said a man came in last week and asked them where the public entrance to 26 Federal Plaza was. He locked his bike outside, and it’s been there since.
Reposted by Anna Oakes
‘Like Dogs in Here’ — Videos Expose ICE Lock-up Inside 26 Federal Plaza www.thecity.nyc/2025/07/22/v...
‘Like Dogs in Here’ — Videos Expose ICE Lock-up Inside 26 Federal Plaza
An analysis of ICE data by THE CITY shows that dozens of people have packed into locked rooms and increasingly held for days inside a Manhattan building the feds say isn’t a detention site.
www.thecity.nyc
July 22, 2025 at 11:34 AM
‘Like Dogs in Here’ — Videos Expose ICE Lock-up Inside 26 Federal Plaza www.thecity.nyc/2025/07/22/v...
Reposted by Anna Oakes
'Family Reunions for Mexican Immigrants Persist in the Shadow of Immigration Enforcement,' by @annaoakes.bsky.social, @documentedny.bsky.social, @thecity.nyc
Mexican Relatives Kept Apart for Years Meet Again in NYC, Despite ICE Crackdowns
The reunions, held away from view and not publicly advertised, bring together undocumented immigrants with family they haven’t seen in decades.
www.thecity.nyc
July 18, 2025 at 6:45 PM
'Family Reunions for Mexican Immigrants Persist in the Shadow of Immigration Enforcement,' by @annaoakes.bsky.social, @documentedny.bsky.social, @thecity.nyc
Reposted by Anna Oakes
Transnational groups persist in flying in relatives for reunions with undocumented Mexicans living in the U.S. after decades of separation because what else can anyone do? A poignant portrait by @annaoakes.bsky.social.
Mexican Relatives Kept Apart for Years Meet Again in NYC, Despite ICE Crackdowns
The reunions, held away from view and not publicly advertised, bring together undocumented immigrants with family they haven’t seen in decades.
www.thecity.nyc
July 18, 2025 at 5:05 PM
Transnational groups persist in flying in relatives for reunions with undocumented Mexicans living in the U.S. after decades of separation because what else can anyone do? A poignant portrait by @annaoakes.bsky.social.
Reposted by Anna Oakes
FDNY helped NYPD identify a pro-Palestinian protestor using the facial recognition tech, Clearview AI — which the NYPD isn’t allowed to use. Manhattan DA used the ID to charge a hate crime.
A judge dismissed the case & warned about government surveillance:
www.thecity.nyc/2025/07/18/n...
A judge dismissed the case & warned about government surveillance:
www.thecity.nyc/2025/07/18/n...
NYPD Bypassed Facial Recognition Ban to ID Pro-Palestinian Student Protester
Barred from using Clearview AI, NYC police relied on a marshal in the fire department to run a search that turned up photos of the student at his high school graduation.
www.thecity.nyc
July 18, 2025 at 1:47 PM
FDNY helped NYPD identify a pro-Palestinian protestor using the facial recognition tech, Clearview AI — which the NYPD isn’t allowed to use. Manhattan DA used the ID to charge a hate crime.
A judge dismissed the case & warned about government surveillance:
www.thecity.nyc/2025/07/18/n...
A judge dismissed the case & warned about government surveillance:
www.thecity.nyc/2025/07/18/n...