Matthew Boaz
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mboaz.bsky.social
Matthew Boaz
@mboaz.bsky.social
270 followers 570 following 43 posts
Asst. Prof. of Law - University of Kentucky, J. David Rosenberg College of Law. I write on immigration, criminal law, abolition, and detention issues.
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Reposted by Matthew Boaz
carlquintanilla.bsky.social
This really hasn’t gotten enough attention this week.

@wired.com #ICE
www.wired.com/story/fbi-wa...
November 5, 2025 at 11:09 PM
mboaz.bsky.social
Very excited for the Kentucky Law Journal symposium this Friday. A full list of our oustanding panelists is available here: lnkd.in/eY2TSj-7. A schedule of the panels is below.
November 3, 2025 at 5:53 PM
Reposted by Matthew Boaz
latimes.com
US citizen shot from behind as he warned ICE agents children would be coming to get bus, lawyers say
U.S. citizen shot from behind as he warned ICE agents about children gathering at bus stop, lawyers say
Lawyers for Carlos Jimenez said he was in fear after an agent threatened him with chemical spray, then pointed a gun at him.
www.latimes.com
November 2, 2025 at 11:25 PM
Reposted by Matthew Boaz
nberlat.bsky.social
study after study after study shows that literally just handing people money and telling them "do what you want with this" reduces homelessness, increases food security for children, makes it more likely people will find and retain jobs.1
November 2, 2025 at 10:31 PM
Reposted by Matthew Boaz
markjacob.bsky.social
Kristi Noem is flat-out lying when she claims no U.S. citizen has been arrested in her violent crackdown. Do a web search on “immigration citizen arrested” and you’ll see. Here’s one of the many documented reports we found.
October 30, 2025 at 6:35 PM
Reposted by Matthew Boaz
bcfinucane.bsky.social
When the U.S. government decides to vindictively make an object lesson out of some random person because of the government’s own prior unlawful incompetence.
kyledcheney.bsky.social Kyle Cheney @kyledcheney.bsky.social · 14d
NEW: The Trump administration is racing to deport Kilmar Abrego Garcia as soon as Friday, conceding it does not intend to follow through on his criminal case despite earlier assurances.

w/ @joshgerstein.bsky.social

www.politico.com/news/2025/10...
October 27, 2025 at 11:48 PM
Reposted by Matthew Boaz
klasfeldreports.com
A federal judge issues a GAG ORDER barring Trump's DOJ and Department of Homeland Security from violating Kilmar Abrego Garcia's right to a fair trial, citing a record of "troubling" statements that are "exaggerated if not simply inaccurate."

Doc storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...
As discussed above, government employees have made extrajudicial statements that are troubling, especially where many of them are exaggerated if not simply inaccurate. (Doc. Nos. 118 at 2–8; 124). These statements made allegations regarding Abrego’s “character or reputation” and expressed government officials’ views on Abrego’s “guilt or innocence.” For example, the DHS Secretary stated that Abrego is a “MS-13 gang member, human trafficker, serial domestic abuser, and child predator.
October 27, 2025 at 11:50 PM
Reposted by Matthew Boaz
kyledcheney.bsky.social
NEW: A federal judge slammed DHS Secretary Noem and Attorney General Pam Bondi for publicly attacking Kilmar Abrego Garcia in “exaggerated” and “inaccurate” ways — violating rules meant to protect the integrity of criminal proceedings.

w/ @joshgerstein.bsky.social

www.politico.com/news/2025/10...
A judge slammed Pam Bondi and Kristi Noem over ‘troubling’ remarks about Kilmar Abrego Garcia
U.S. District Judge Waverly Crenshaw ordered the administration to warn every DOJ and DHS employee against improper statements regarding Abrego, who’s facing smuggling charges.
www.politico.com
October 28, 2025 at 12:08 AM
mboaz.bsky.social
Looking forward to this panel!
joshuaadouglas.bsky.social Josh Douglas @joshuaadouglas.bsky.social · 15d
On Tuesday, Oct. 28, UK Law Prof @mboaz.bsky.social is speaking for a panel with the American Criminal Law Review and Georgetown Immigration Law Journal on Crimmigration. Check it out! #UKLawProfResearch
Flyer for the panel
October 27, 2025 at 9:39 PM
mboaz.bsky.social
Goodness…
bcfinucane.bsky.social Brian Finucane @bcfinucane.bsky.social · 19d
Reposting as POTUS is now using his pretend license to kill in the Pacific.
bcfinucane.bsky.social Brian Finucane @bcfinucane.bsky.social · Sep 16
The President of the United States is asserting a license to kill outside the law.

Congress needs to do much more to push back against this supposed prerogative.

www.justsecurity.org/120568/carib...
October 23, 2025 at 8:49 PM
Reposted by Matthew Boaz
profmarkovic.bsky.social
www.npr.org/2025/09/23/g...
October 23, 2025 at 8:36 PM
mboaz.bsky.social
What?!?!
atrupar.com Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 18d
Trump: "I don't think we're necessarily going to ask for a declaration of war, I think we're just gonna kill people that are bringing drugs into our country. We're going to kill them. They're going to be, like dead."
October 23, 2025 at 8:47 PM
Reposted by Matthew Boaz
qjurecic.bsky.social
I started keeping tabs after the election on headlines declaring the death of the resistance. There were a lot of them. And they were premature. Resistance 2.0 is more grizzled, and more local. But it is still cringe, in the sense that it believes in things—like community, and America
Resistance Is Cringe
But it’s also effective.
www.theatlantic.com
October 18, 2025 at 2:13 PM
Reposted by Matthew Boaz
esqueer.net
It feels crazy even saying out loud everything that they're doing but this is all really happening.
Alt text: Screenshot of an article from The Cut titled “What happened at the South Shore apartment raid, exactly?” The article reports that on September 30, about 300 federal immigration agents stormed a five-story residential apartment in South Shore during an overnight raid. Witnesses said agents rappelled from helicopters, kicked down doors, used flash-bang grenades, and detained adults and children with zip ties. Thirty-seven people were arrested, including four U.S. citizen children. A resident, Pertissue Fisher, said she was handcuffed, had guns pointed at her, and held for hours despite being an American citizen. Photos from the scene showed broken doors, scattered toys, shoes, and food.
October 7, 2025 at 12:19 AM
Reposted by Matthew Boaz
cristianfarias.com
This video of Chicagoans intervening to save a man from being abducted off the streets by ICE is making the rounds on Instagram.

Community action works.

Source: www.instagram.com/reel/DPZL2AL...
October 5, 2025 at 5:24 PM
Reposted by Matthew Boaz
gbrockell.bsky.social
“third-country deportation,” like South Sudan/Ghana, are actually just extended chain refoulements, where the third country takes over returning them to their country of origin, or the conditions in the third country are so bad that they’ll be coerced into returning to their country of origin.
October 4, 2025 at 1:40 AM
Reposted by Matthew Boaz
kathleenbush.bsky.social
Deportations are happening in a matter of hours through a little known authority called expedited removal

In our latest @migrationpolicy.bsky.social article, we looked at this potent tool for speeding deportations & limiting access to asylum bit.ly/expedited-re...
September 25, 2025 at 6:01 PM
Reposted by Matthew Boaz
chrisgeidner.bsky.social
BREAKING: Federal judge in Kilmar Abrego Garcia's criminal case finds that "there is a 'realistic likelihood of vindictiveness' that entitles Abrego to discovery" in response to his motion to dismiss the case for vindictive or selective prosecution. storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...
MEMORANDUM OPINION By way of context, a federal prosecutor is the representative not of an ordinary party to a controversy, but of a sovereignty whose obligation to govern impartially is as compelling as its obligation to govern at all. The obligation to govern impartially concerns, above all, the state’s exercise of coercive power—meaning its power to deprive its subjects of life, liberty, or property . . . As a representative of the state, a prosecutor’s exercise of coercive power must be impartial . . . [in] that prosecutorial power may not be exercised vindictively—meaning that the prosecutor may not punish a defendant for exercising a protected statutory or constitutional right. United States v. Zakhari, 85 F.4th 367, 384–85 (6th Cir. 2023) (Kethledge, J., concurring) (citations and quotations omitted). This context frames review of Defendant Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia’s (“Abrego”) motion to dismiss his indictment for vindictive and selective prosecution. (Doc. Nos. 104–05). The Government opposes the motion (Doc. No. 121), and Abrego has replied (Doc. No. 127). Abrego’s motion is not ripe for decision because he seeks discovery and an evidentiary hearing because there is some evidence of vindictiveness here. For the reasons that follow, the Court holds that the totality of events creates a sufficient evidentiary basis to conclude that there is a “realistic likelihood of vindictiveness” that entitles Abrego to discovery and requires an evidentiary hearing before the Court decides his motion. United States v. Andrews, 633 F.2d 449, 457 (6th Cir. 1980) (en banc), cert. denied, 450 U.S. 927 (1981).
October 3, 2025 at 8:18 PM
Reposted by Matthew Boaz
reichlinmelnick.bsky.social
What an utter disgrace. Noem's actions to "vacate" Secretary Mayorkas' grant of TPS over the direct command in the statute that no early termination can be done was flagrantly unlawful. And yet the majority offers not a SINGLE word of explanation for why they think she could do that.

Shameless!
chrisgeidner.bsky.social Chris Geidner @chrisgeidner.bsky.social · Oct 3
BREAKING: SCOTUS (again) allows Sec. Noem to proceed with ending Temporary Protect Status for more than 600,000 Venezuelans, over the objection of the three Democratic appointees.
SUPREME COURT OF THE UNITED STATES No. 25A326 KRISTI NOEM, SECRETARY, DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY, ET AL. v. NATIONAL TPS ALLIANCE, ET AL. ON APPLICATION FOR A STAY [October 3, 2025] In March of this year, the United States District Court for the Northern District of California entered a preliminary order postponing the effective date of the Secretary of Homeland Security's decision to remove "temporary protected status" (TPS) from Venezuelan nationals living in the United States. See 8 U.S. C. §1254a; 5 U.S. C. §705. In May, this Court stayed that order while the Government appealed. The United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit ultimately affirmed the District Court's preliminary order. Last month, the District Court entered final judgment in respondents' favor, holding unlawful and setting aside the Secretary's actions effectuating her decision— namely, her vacatur of a pending extension of TPS for Venezuelan nationals, and her termination of that status itself. See 5 U. S. C. §706(2). (The District Court also concluded that the Secretary unlawfully vacated a TPS extension for Haitian nationals. The Government now seeks to stay the portions of the District Court's judgment pertaining to Ven-ezuela, but not Haiti. See Application 7, n. 6.) The application for stay presented to JUSTICE KAGAN and by her referred to the Court is granted. Although the posture of the case has changed, the parties' legal arguments and relative harms generally have not. The same result that we reached in May is appropriate here. NOEM v. NATIONAL TPS ALLIANCE JACKSON, J., dissenting The September 5, 2025 order entered by the United States District Court for the Northern District of California, case No. 25-cv-1766, is stayed as to the Venezuela vacatur and Venezuela termination, pending the disposition of the Government's appeal in the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit and disposition of a petition for a writ of certiorari, if such writ is timely sought. Should the petition for a writ of certiorari be denied, this stay shall terminate automatically. In the event certiorari is granted, the stay shall terminate upon the sending down of the judgment of this Court. JUSTICE SOTOMAYOR and JUSTICE KAGAN would deny the application. JUSTICE JACKSON, dissenting from the grant of application for stay.
October 3, 2025 at 8:49 PM
Reposted by Matthew Boaz
krhawkins.bsky.social
This is *excellent* hardghistory.ghost.io/tracking-all...
Tracking All of Trump’s Third-Country Removals (That We Know Of)
Bookmark this post, it will be updated.
hardghistory.ghost.io
October 3, 2025 at 9:28 PM
Reposted by Matthew Boaz
krhawkins.bsky.social
A new writing project--please check it out. Subscriptions are welcome but not necessary and all content will be free. un-disappearing.ghost.io
Un-Disappearing
Research, Research, analysis and documentation of rights abuses in the name of immigration policing
un-disappearing.ghost.io
September 30, 2025 at 4:35 PM
Reposted by Matthew Boaz
tomscocca.bsky.social
Sup Brett Kavanaugh
Screenshot of text: But like in Lyons, plaintiffs have no good basis to believe that law enforcement will unlawfully stop them in the future based on the prohibited factors—and certainly no good basis for believing that any stop of the plaintiffs is imminent. Therefore, they lack Article III standing: “Absent a sufficient likelihood” that the plaintiffs “will again be wronged in a similar way,” they are “no more entitled to an injunction than any other citizen of Los Angeles; and a federal court may not entertain a claim by any or all citizens who no more than assert that certain practices of law enforcement officers are unconstitutional.”
September 30, 2025 at 9:31 PM
Reposted by Matthew Boaz
audrelawdamercy.bsky.social
Three weeks ago, Brett was justifying the #KavanaughStop by saying:

"Plaintiffs have no good basis to believe that law enforcement will unlawfully stop them in the future based on the prohibited factors—and certainly no good basis for believing that any stop of the plaintiffs is imminent"
reichlinmelnick.bsky.social Aaron Reichlin-Melnick @reichlinmelnick.bsky.social · Sep 30
WOW. Remember this May video of a US citizen wrestled to the ground by ICE agents and detained for an hour despite having a valid REAL ID?

It gets worse. Two weeks later, ICE did it AGAIN — handcuffed him and detained him for 20 minutes despite his REAL ID. Now the Institute for Justice is suing.
September 30, 2025 at 9:39 PM
Reposted by Matthew Boaz
annabower.bsky.social
Young’s opinion, which rules that the Trump admin illegally targeted pro-Palestinian students for deportation, is absolutely scathing.

“In all our history we have never tolerated an armed masked secret police…ICE brings indelible obloquy to this administration and everyone who works in it.”
And there's the issue of masks. This Court has listened carefully to the reasons given by Öztürk's captors for masking- up and has heard the same reasons advanced by the defendant Todd Lyons, Acting Director of ICE. It rejects this testimony as disingenuous, squalid and dishonorable. ICE goes masked for a single reason -- to terrorize Americans into quiescence. Small wonder ICE often seems to need our respected military to guard them as they go about implementing our immigration laws. It should be noted that our troops do not ordinarily wear masks. Can you imagine a masked marine? It is a matter of honor -- and honor still matters. To us, masks are associated with cowardly desperados and the despised Ku Klux Klan. In all our history we have never tolerated an armed masked secret police. Carrying on in this fashion, ICE brings indelible obloquy to this administration and everyone who works in it "We can not escape history," Lincoln righty said. "[It] will light us down in honor or dishonor, to the latest generation." Abraham Lincoln, Second Annual Message to Congress (Dec. 1, 1862) . Perhaps we're now afraid to stick our necks out. If the distinguished Homeland Security intelligence agency can be weaponized to squelch the free speech rights of a small, hapless group of non-citizens in our midst, so too can the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation, and the audit divisions of the I.R.s. and the Social Security Administration be unconstitutionally [98]
September 30, 2025 at 5:23 PM
Reposted by Matthew Boaz
reichlinmelnick.bsky.social
In today’s completely unsurprising news, the ICE officer very briefly, taken off duty for shoving a woman to the ground in New York is back on the job not even a week later.

www.cbsnews.com/news/ice-off...
ICE officer seen on video pushing woman to ground has returned to duty
An ICE officer who was initially relieved of his duties after being captured on video pushing a woman to the ground has been returned to duty, two U.S. officials familiar with the matter told CBS News...
www.cbsnews.com
September 29, 2025 at 9:23 PM