Melissa Gira Grant
@melissagiragrant.com
staff writer @newrepublic.com / author A WOMAN IS AGAINST THE LAW (@littlebrown.bsky.social, 2KTK) + PLAYING THE WHORE (Verso)
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@nyguild.bsky.social member
// melissagiragrant.com
» melissa@melissagira.com
» tips (encrypted): melissagira.01 on Signal
@nyguild.bsky.social member
thinking about the bit in BOTTOMS UP AND THE DEVIL LAUGHS, in which @kerryhowley.bsky.social writes that surveillance is made of dogs
“No matter how Ring and other surveillance tech companies may downplay it, there’s no world in which finding lost dogs is the final end-use for this technology.”
Opinion | Ring is using lost dogs to make the surveillance state adorable
The same technology the Amazon-owned company uses to find lost dogs could easily be turned against their owners.
www.ms.now
February 10, 2026 at 3:22 AM
thinking about the bit in BOTTOMS UP AND THE DEVIL LAUGHS, in which @kerryhowley.bsky.social writes that surveillance is made of dogs
Reposted by Melissa Gira Grant
for my latest @us.theguardian.com talked to teens leading and joining anti-ICE walkouts from TX to MD to WI.
one NYC teen: "I feel scared [of ICE] every day... But I’m not going to let that stop me, because bravery is just the positive way to say you’re scared, and I’d rather be brave than scared."
one NYC teen: "I feel scared [of ICE] every day... But I’m not going to let that stop me, because bravery is just the positive way to say you’re scared, and I’d rather be brave than scared."
These are the high schoolers taking a stand against ICE: ‘You can’t let despair take over’
Thousands of students across the US have been walking out of their schools to protest ICE in their communities
www.theguardian.com
February 9, 2026 at 3:04 PM
for my latest @us.theguardian.com talked to teens leading and joining anti-ICE walkouts from TX to MD to WI.
one NYC teen: "I feel scared [of ICE] every day... But I’m not going to let that stop me, because bravery is just the positive way to say you’re scared, and I’d rather be brave than scared."
one NYC teen: "I feel scared [of ICE] every day... But I’m not going to let that stop me, because bravery is just the positive way to say you’re scared, and I’d rather be brave than scared."
Reposted by Melissa Gira Grant
Kids "learn that calling 911 is dangerous. They learn that police are not there to protect them. They learn that even citizenship does not guarantee safety when your family is undocumented. And they learn, most devastatingly, that they are disposable."
Last week: "A call for help triggered a chain of events that ended with the deportation of a mother and her U.S. citizen child. This is not public safety. This is a system that punishes families for seeking help."
When Local Police Collaborate with ICE, Children Pay the Price
I know exactly what message the recent deportation of an Austin mom and her 5-year-old sends to kids. They learn that calling 911 is dangerous.
www.texasobserver.org
February 9, 2026 at 4:55 PM
Kids "learn that calling 911 is dangerous. They learn that police are not there to protect them. They learn that even citizenship does not guarantee safety when your family is undocumented. And they learn, most devastatingly, that they are disposable."
“Lorin Stein, the disgraced former editor of The Paris Review who resigned after accusations of sexual impropriety, forwarded to Wolff an email from the writer Stephen Elliott, who intended to sue the list’s creator… Epstein promises to ‘help anyway i can.’”
How the men in the Epstein files defeated #MeToo
The emails show the “anti-woke” crusaders are afraid of accountability.
www.theverge.com
February 8, 2026 at 6:23 PM
“Lorin Stein, the disgraced former editor of The Paris Review who resigned after accusations of sexual impropriety, forwarded to Wolff an email from the writer Stephen Elliott, who intended to sue the list’s creator… Epstein promises to ‘help anyway i can.’”
Reposted by Melissa Gira Grant
Photos capturing walkouts at two Kentucky schools in protest of ICE. The picture of the young boy holding a sign that says "LIAM WAS 5" and "children are being taken away," written in such childlike handwriting, is going to stay with me.
JCPS students at J. Graham Brown School and Manual protest ICE policies. See photos from the walkouts
JCPS students from J. Graham Brown School and Manual High School in Louisville held walkouts to protest ICE policies on Friday, Feb. 6, 2026.
www.courier-journal.com
February 6, 2026 at 11:30 PM
Photos capturing walkouts at two Kentucky schools in protest of ICE. The picture of the young boy holding a sign that says "LIAM WAS 5" and "children are being taken away," written in such childlike handwriting, is going to stay with me.
Reposted by Melissa Gira Grant
“Renee Goodman [sic], Alex Pretti – there are no words,” DeLauro said.
“You said there were no words after the murder of those two individuals,” said Rev. Jack Perkins Davidson. “I think the words are ‘Abolish ICE.’”
www.ctpublic.org/news/2026-02...
“You said there were no words after the murder of those two individuals,” said Rev. Jack Perkins Davidson. “I think the words are ‘Abolish ICE.’”
www.ctpublic.org/news/2026-02...
DeLauro to pressing clergy: 'I will not vote to abolish ICE'
The Connecticut U.S. representative found herself at odds with faith leaders.
www.ctpublic.org
February 6, 2026 at 11:28 PM
“Renee Goodman [sic], Alex Pretti – there are no words,” DeLauro said.
“You said there were no words after the murder of those two individuals,” said Rev. Jack Perkins Davidson. “I think the words are ‘Abolish ICE.’”
www.ctpublic.org/news/2026-02...
“You said there were no words after the murder of those two individuals,” said Rev. Jack Perkins Davidson. “I think the words are ‘Abolish ICE.’”
www.ctpublic.org/news/2026-02...
in seedling news, the za’atar is coming up under grow lights, and the violas are getting there (in a city apartment with no basement and wild steam heat, I germinated half on a damp paper towel in a ziploc placed in a drawer in the fridge, and half in a covered six-cell flat in a drafty hallway)
February 7, 2026 at 2:19 AM
in seedling news, the za’atar is coming up under grow lights, and the violas are getting there (in a city apartment with no basement and wild steam heat, I germinated half on a damp paper towel in a ziploc placed in a drawer in the fridge, and half in a covered six-cell flat in a drafty hallway)
at the end she thanks the guys in unmarked vehicles for their service
February 6, 2026 at 9:40 PM
at the end she thanks the guys in unmarked vehicles for their service
To have a labor organizer who fought against forced labor with construction workers, then be locked up in a CoreCivic-run detention center—when detained immigrants have also been fighting CoreCivic over forced labor in detention centers… www.impactfund.org/legal-practi...
February 6, 2026 at 9:00 PM
To have a labor organizer who fought against forced labor with construction workers, then be locked up in a CoreCivic-run detention center—when detained immigrants have also been fighting CoreCivic over forced labor in detention centers… www.impactfund.org/legal-practi...
Reposted by Melissa Gira Grant
Hey, remember that time I said that pointing out that AI is giving bad data to ICE is missing the point because ICE doesn't actually care if the data is good? Check out how right I am.
NEW: Records reviewed by WIRED show DHS’s facial recognition app (Mobile Fortify) isn’t designed to actually "verify" identity—despite DHS claims and its agents relying on its matches to support probable cause in the field.
ICE and CBP’s Face-Recognition App Can’t Actually Verify Who People Are
ICE has used Mobile Fortify to identify immigrants and citizens alike over 100,000 times, by one estimate. It wasn't built to work like that—and only got approved after DHS abandoned its own privacy r...
www.wired.com
February 5, 2026 at 8:37 PM
Hey, remember that time I said that pointing out that AI is giving bad data to ICE is missing the point because ICE doesn't actually care if the data is good? Check out how right I am.
the state of this
On top of everything else, here is Marimar Martinez's defense attorney explaining how to delete a tweet, after a prosecutor last week said he assumed there was a way to do it but wasn't sure:
February 5, 2026 at 8:20 PM
the state of this
Reposted by Melissa Gira Grant
Scenes outside of the Washington Post headquarters right now:
February 5, 2026 at 5:24 PM
Scenes outside of the Washington Post headquarters right now:
what if the real sex trafficking cabal was just the patriarchy we made along the way
February 5, 2026 at 5:21 PM
what if the real sex trafficking cabal was just the patriarchy we made along the way
cannot possibly convey how actually crazy-making it can feel, after spending 20 years monitoring all these orgs blaming sex workers and the internet for enabling a vast sex trafficking network, to now see Jeffery Epstein’s inbox
February 5, 2026 at 4:16 PM
cannot possibly convey how actually crazy-making it can feel, after spending 20 years monitoring all these orgs blaming sex workers and the internet for enabling a vast sex trafficking network, to now see Jeffery Epstein’s inbox
what even to make of the National Prayer Breakfast when we live there every day
February 5, 2026 at 2:22 PM
what even to make of the National Prayer Breakfast when we live there every day
Reposted by Melissa Gira Grant
🚨 New: We built a visual tracker of the warehouses ICE is targeting across the US.
Working off an idea from @actualkatherine.bsky.social, we’ve mapped active searches, canceled deals, and linked state property records.
Explore the map here: tinyurl.com/ICEWarehouse...
Working off an idea from @actualkatherine.bsky.social, we’ve mapped active searches, canceled deals, and linked state property records.
Explore the map here: tinyurl.com/ICEWarehouse...
February 4, 2026 at 6:41 PM
🚨 New: We built a visual tracker of the warehouses ICE is targeting across the US.
Working off an idea from @actualkatherine.bsky.social, we’ve mapped active searches, canceled deals, and linked state property records.
Explore the map here: tinyurl.com/ICEWarehouse...
Working off an idea from @actualkatherine.bsky.social, we’ve mapped active searches, canceled deals, and linked state property records.
Explore the map here: tinyurl.com/ICEWarehouse...
in seed starting news, I have started the za’atar and lavender, and the violas, blue vervain, and pearly everlasting
February 5, 2026 at 1:40 AM
in seed starting news, I have started the za’atar and lavender, and the violas, blue vervain, and pearly everlasting
so I spend up to 80% of the time I work on a story on research and reporting, which you don’t see but get evidence of in the published story—which is not unlike the ratio of political education, relationship building, and planning to the action you see that I’ve seen in organizing and movement work
February 5, 2026 at 12:42 AM
so I spend up to 80% of the time I work on a story on research and reporting, which you don’t see but get evidence of in the published story—which is not unlike the ratio of political education, relationship building, and planning to the action you see that I’ve seen in organizing and movement work
Reposted by Melissa Gira Grant
I wish I could interview the artist behind this
A large CAVA bag stuffed with what it says is $50,000 for White House Border Czar Tom Homan.
It’s been reported Homan took bribery money when he was recorded by the FBI accepting a bag full of $50,000 in cash.
“ICE GTFO OF MN”
Minneapolis February 4, 2026
It’s been reported Homan took bribery money when he was recorded by the FBI accepting a bag full of $50,000 in cash.
“ICE GTFO OF MN”
Minneapolis February 4, 2026
February 5, 2026 at 12:32 AM
I wish I could interview the artist behind this
would sincerely like never to post one of these again. (and solidarity w our union siblings)
One immediate effort (and the @postguild.bsky.social will likely share more): www.gofundme.com/f/standing-t...
Donate to Washington Post 2026 layoff fund, organized by Rachel Siegel
On Wednesday, Feb. 4, 2026, The Washington Post laid off hundreds of journalists. We ar… Rachel Siegel needs your support for Washington Post 2026 layoff fund
www.gofundme.com
February 4, 2026 at 10:37 PM
would sincerely like never to post one of these again. (and solidarity w our union siblings)
Reposted by Melissa Gira Grant
There have been many successful campaigns to stop the construction of jails and prisons in rural areas. They have mostly relied on a combination of environmental, abolitionist, and Indigenous activists. (see also the fight in the Everglades)
prismreports.org/2025/02/20/k...
prismreports.org/2025/02/20/k...
One way to stop a prison? Return the land to Indigenous stewards
The Appalachian Rekindling Project purchased land in Kentucky originally slated for the development of a federal prison
prismreports.org
February 4, 2026 at 7:40 PM
There have been many successful campaigns to stop the construction of jails and prisons in rural areas. They have mostly relied on a combination of environmental, abolitionist, and Indigenous activists. (see also the fight in the Everglades)
prismreports.org/2025/02/20/k...
prismreports.org/2025/02/20/k...
Reposted by Melissa Gira Grant
ICE just released new detention statistics.
As of January 25, 2026, ICE is detaining 70,766 people across the United States.
www.ice.gov/detain/deten...
As of January 25, 2026, ICE is detaining 70,766 people across the United States.
www.ice.gov/detain/deten...
Detention Management
www.ice.gov
February 2, 2026 at 9:53 PM
ICE just released new detention statistics.
As of January 25, 2026, ICE is detaining 70,766 people across the United States.
www.ice.gov/detain/deten...
As of January 25, 2026, ICE is detaining 70,766 people across the United States.
www.ice.gov/detain/deten...
can’t not hear and see:
February 4, 2026 at 6:36 PM
can’t not hear and see:
Reposted by Melissa Gira Grant
The idea of buying commercial warehouses and converting them into detention camps is so viscerally chilling to people that it's being opposed even in places which might otherwise support new prisons.
Remarkable: Trump's planned migrant prison camps are hitting deep resistance in red areas. In Virginia's partly rural Hanover (+26 Trump) opposition is intense. GOP leaders in other states are opposed.
Voters are rejecting mass deportations big time. 1/
(new piece)
newrepublic.com/article/2060...
Voters are rejecting mass deportations big time. 1/
(new piece)
newrepublic.com/article/2060...
Trump’s New “Prison Camp” Threat Unleashes Fury Even in MAGA Country
The next phase of ICE’s big ramp-up: a nationwide network of vast detention facilities. But guess what? Even parts of Red America are saying no.
newrepublic.com
February 4, 2026 at 2:28 PM
The idea of buying commercial warehouses and converting them into detention camps is so viscerally chilling to people that it's being opposed even in places which might otherwise support new prisons.
February 4, 2026 at 2:28 PM