Levi Kalish
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kalish.bsky.social
Levi Kalish
@kalish.bsky.social
LGBTQ+ Rights Reporter @huffpost.com

they/them • writing at the speed of trust 🏳️‍⚧️ levi.kalish@huffpost.com

Reach me securely here:

levikalish@proton.me
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https://tips.hushline.app/to/LKalish
Reposted by Levi Kalish
ICE has now spent over half a BILLION dollars just on purchasing warehouses around the country to convert into detention camps.

If these mega-camps are utilized to the full capacity ICE intends, they'll be the largest prisons in the country, with little real oversight. www.ajc.com/politics/202...
ICE to begin detaining immigrants inside Social Circle warehouse in April
Homeland Security plans to build warehouse detention facilities in other cities being met with opposition.
www.ajc.com
February 9, 2026 at 5:56 PM
Reposted by Levi Kalish
For the Interept, I reported from Uganda about the effects of USAID cuts on LGBTQ people, HIV prevention activists and sex workers—and tried to tell the story from the POV of these important but criminalized communities. Please read and share.
theintercept.com/2026/02/09/t...
By Slashing Foreign Aid, Trump Is Fueling the Spread of HIV in Uganda
Reporting from Uganda, The Intercept saw how Trump’s effort to slash foreign aid is encouraging the transmission of HIV.
theintercept.com
February 9, 2026 at 4:16 PM
Reposted by Levi Kalish
A must-read if you haven't already:

@kalish.bsky.social interviewed a dozen people, and sorted through 1,000+ pages of court documents and other records, to present a ton of new reporting re: ICE's cruel treatment of trans detainees.

www.huffpost.com/entry/trump-...
She Was Honored With A Human Rights Award. Then She Says ICE Tricked And Arrested Her.
A HuffPost investigation found how the Trump administration systematically destroyed safeguards for detainees, subjecting them to abuse and neglect.
www.huffpost.com
February 9, 2026 at 4:09 PM
Reposted by Levi Kalish
This is 18-mo-old Amalia waving to me when she was detained.

She was hospitalized with a respiratory infection while at ICE’s Dilley facility for immigrant families.

She’s one of dozens of detainees who I spoke to via video and phone calls, letters and an in-person visit. 🧵1/
February 9, 2026 at 11:21 AM
Reposted by Levi Kalish
1/ ProPublica collected handwritten letters in mid-January from children held at the Dilley Immigration Processing Center, the same facility where 5-year-old Liam Conejo Ramos was taken.

Hundreds of kids are still detained.

We’ll let the children’s words speak for themselves. 🧵
February 9, 2026 at 12:25 PM
Reposted by Levi Kalish
February 9, 2026 at 1:22 AM
Reposted by Levi Kalish
That Super Bowl halftime show was beyond incredible, and fun. Here’s the story of how it came together, complete with beautiful photos from @d-jacks.bsky.social.

www.wired.com/story/bad-bu...
Inside Bad Bunny’s Historic Super Bowl Halftime Show
Bad Bunny’s Super Bowl performance required 9,852 theatrical pyrotechnics, nearly 400 costumed extras, and a lot of ingenuity. And yes, that was a real couple featured in the wedding.
www.wired.com
February 9, 2026 at 3:01 AM
Reposted by Levi Kalish
NEW: It’s difficult to account for the abuses trans immigrants face in ICE custody after Trump destroyed safeguards, oversight agencies, and data about detainees.

But 3 trans migrants told me what it’s really like: Medical neglect. Solitary confinement. Harassment. www.huffpost.com/entry/trump-...
ICE Is Treating Trans Immigrants With A New Level Of Cruelty
A HuffPost investigation found how the Trump administration systematically destroyed safeguards for detainees, subjecting them to abuse and neglect.
www.huffpost.com
February 7, 2026 at 4:29 PM
Reposted by Levi Kalish
When I was investigating CRCL with records obtained by @pogo.org, we found many cases of ICE is misgendering people and threatening to take away their gender affirming medication without justification.

Stephen Miller’s DHS has gutted this office www.pogo.org/investigates...
February 7, 2026 at 8:49 PM
Reposted by Levi Kalish
BREAKING: A 5th Circuit panel has backed ICE's mass detention policy, a decision that clears the way for the administration to lock up people who are in immigration proceedings

It's a 2-1 ruling
Majority: Jones (Reagan), Duncan (Trump)
Minority: Douglas (Obama)

s3.documentcloud.org/documents/26...
February 7, 2026 at 1:56 AM
Reposted by Levi Kalish
ICE told nurses this Minneapolis man “purposefully ran headfirst into a brick wall.”

What actually happened is that they pulled him from a car, beat him so viciously with a steel baton that he had 8 skull fractures, 5 life-threatening brain hemorrhages, and couldn’t remember he had a daughter.
February 7, 2026 at 5:54 PM
Reposted by Levi Kalish
As my friend Isa says:

“Now we only hear about the harm after the fact,” Isa Noyola, the director of the Border Butterflies Project, a group that assists LGBTQ+ asylum seekers at the U.S. southern border, told HuffPost. “We will never know the depths of the harm happening inside detention centers.”
NEW: It’s difficult to account for the abuses trans immigrants face in ICE custody after Trump destroyed safeguards, oversight agencies, and data about detainees.

But 3 trans migrants told me what it’s really like: Medical neglect. Solitary confinement. Harassment. www.huffpost.com/entry/trump-...
ICE Is Treating Trans Immigrants With A New Level Of Cruelty
A HuffPost investigation found how the Trump administration systematically destroyed safeguards for detainees, subjecting them to abuse and neglect.
www.huffpost.com
February 7, 2026 at 5:22 PM
Reposted by Levi Kalish
A HuffPost investigation found how the Trump administration systematically destroyed safeguards for detainees, subjecting them to abuse and neglect.
ICE Is Treating Trans Immigrants With A New Level Of Cruelty
A HuffPost investigation found how the Trump administration systematically destroyed safeguards for detainees, subjecting them to abuse and neglect.
www.huffpost.com
February 7, 2026 at 1:01 PM
Reposted by Levi Kalish
I wanted to know the backstory of the executive order that defined "man" and "woman"—the foundation for the Trump admin's targeting of trans people.

So I took a deep dive into the conservative strategy & distorted feminism behind it. And I talked to the author.

www.motherjones.com/politics/202...
Meet the mastermind behind Trump’s definition of "woman"
May Mailman’s anti-trans crusade could threaten gender equality for all.
www.motherjones.com
February 5, 2026 at 2:52 PM
Reposted by Levi Kalish
lots of people (on Both Sides™) had fun with Trump's “transgender operations on illegal aliens that are in prison” debate line without stopping to think, even for one second, about the humanity of the actual people involved
NEW: It’s difficult to account for the abuses trans immigrants face in ICE custody after Trump destroyed safeguards, oversight agencies, and data about detainees.

But 3 trans migrants told me what it’s really like: Medical neglect. Solitary confinement. Harassment. www.huffpost.com/entry/trump-...
ICE Is Treating Trans Immigrants With A New Level Of Cruelty
A HuffPost investigation found how the Trump administration systematically destroyed safeguards for detainees, subjecting them to abuse and neglect.
www.huffpost.com
February 7, 2026 at 4:55 PM
NEW: It’s difficult to account for the abuses trans immigrants face in ICE custody after Trump destroyed safeguards, oversight agencies, and data about detainees.

But 3 trans migrants told me what it’s really like: Medical neglect. Solitary confinement. Harassment. www.huffpost.com/entry/trump-...
ICE Is Treating Trans Immigrants With A New Level Of Cruelty
A HuffPost investigation found how the Trump administration systematically destroyed safeguards for detainees, subjecting them to abuse and neglect.
www.huffpost.com
February 7, 2026 at 4:29 PM
Reposted by Levi Kalish
can’t not hear and see:
February 4, 2026 at 6:36 PM
Reposted by Levi Kalish
Nick Shirley sets his sights on California
Shirley is looking for content in San Diego
www.theverge.com
February 3, 2026 at 10:34 PM
Reposted by Levi Kalish
Marimar Martinez, shot by federal agents in Chicago, testifying in Washington today:
Martinez ends her testimony with this:

"If there's not justice for the people, let there be no peace for the government."
February 3, 2026 at 9:52 PM
Reposted by Levi Kalish
Federal judge has ordered the release of Liam Ramos (the bunny hat boy) and his father. A brief and rather remarkable order. Clearly written to be shared widely, so please do. storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...
January 31, 2026 at 8:42 PM
Reposted by Levi Kalish
“bari weiss’s wife in the epstein files” is simply too perfect
If I have the right Nellie Bowles, the partner in question is Bari Weiss
January 31, 2026 at 4:12 PM
Reposted by Levi Kalish
If you've given biometrics to TSA (Pre-Check and Global Entry members) and you plan to attend a protest, you should wear a medical mask.
January 30, 2026 at 6:45 PM
Reposted by Levi Kalish
The arrests of journalists Don Lemon and Georgia Fort are a test for every MSM member with a platform. If you are not voicing your outrage at this blatant violation of the First Amendment, you are utterly discredited as a journalist.
January 30, 2026 at 4:44 PM
Reposted by Levi Kalish
One of the best interviews I've had about my book, with @mattshuham.bsky.social, just published at @huffpost.com, my old stomping grounds (where the @huffpostunion.bsky.social deserves a fair contract!)

www.huffpost.com/entry/to-cat...
Inside The Secretive Operation To Stop Fascism In Its Tracks
Donald Trump’s fascism builds on generations of racial supremacy. A new book goes inside the secretive antifa groups fighting for freedom.
www.huffpost.com
January 30, 2026 at 3:45 PM
Reposted by Levi Kalish
Georgia Fort, an independent journalist and vice president of the Minnesota NABJ chapter, was also arrested by federal agents this morning

I was sent this video of agents at her door:
January 30, 2026 at 2:58 PM