Michael Barajas
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michaelbarajas.bsky.social
Michael Barajas
@michaelbarajas.bsky.social
6.6K followers 130 following 73 posts
managing editor boltsmag.org, mbarajas@boltsmag.org
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Reposted by Michael Barajas
laurengill.bsky.social
Incoming NJ governor Mikie Sherrill hasn't said whether she'll uphold a state policy limiting law enforcement cooperation w/ ICE. Advocates say lawmakers must pass legislation to preserve & expand protections for NJ's 2.2 million immigrants before she takes office.

boltsmag.org/immigration-...
Immigration Protections Are Uncertain in New Jersey even as Democrats Keep Governorship - Bolts
Advocates want to promptly codify the limits on immigration enforcement put in place by the outgoing governor. Mikie Sherill, Tuesday’s winner, has declined to say if she'd continue them.
boltsmag.org
November 5, 2025 at 10:12 PM
Reposted by Michael Barajas
kissphoria.bsky.social
Ten years ago this week, the Houston Equal Rights Ordinance failed to pass. It would have protected Houstonians from discrimination in a variety of ways, but it failed after Republicans ran ads about trans predators in bathrooms. Here's my retrospective from last year:
www.chron.com/culture/arti...
How the transgender bathroom panic began in Houston
Before North Carolina's "bathroom bill" created a national debate, a local election changed everything.
www.chron.com
November 6, 2025 at 12:37 AM
Reposted by Michael Barajas
taniel.bsky.social
New Jersey's unusually productive lame-duck session is around the corner, & immigration advocates want lawmakers to promptly codify the protections against ICE put in place by the outgoing admin.

Why? Governor-Elect Mikie Sherrill has declined to say if she'd keep them, Lauren Gill reports.
Immigration Protections Are Uncertain in New Jersey even as Democrats Keep Governorship - Bolts
Advocates want to promptly codify the limits on immigration enforcement put in place by the outgoing governor. Mikie Sherill, Tuesday’s winner, has declined to say if she'd continue them.
boltsmag.org
November 5, 2025 at 9:42 PM
Reposted by Michael Barajas
burness.bsky.social
Last night’s overwhelming Democratic sweep in Pennsylvania preserves liberal control of the state supreme courts across the Midwest’s Blue Wall—MI, PA, WI. These courts are really important for election law and voting rights.
boltsmag.org/pennsylvania...
Democrats Retain Control of Pennsylvania's Supreme Court with Three-Seat Sweep - Bolts
Three Democratic justices on the Pennsylvania Supreme Court have defeated an unusually high-profile Republican bid to unseat them. They secured large statewide victories on Tuesday, following an histo...
boltsmag.org
November 5, 2025 at 2:48 PM
Reposted by Michael Barajas
oliviamesser.bsky.social
A photojournalist was arrested by ICE at gunpoint — and his DACA status revoked.

“Ya’akub isn’t being accused of breaking immigration law — his DACA protection doesn’t expire until May 2026. In fact Ya’akub’s lawyers say he hasn’t been accused of any crime.”

thebarbedwire.com/2025/11/04/h...
When Storytelling Is Called ‘Terrorism’: How My Friend and Fellow Journalist Was Targeted by ICE
As a DACA recipient, Ya'akub Ira Vijandre’s arrest holds drastic implications for the state of free speech in America.
thebarbedwire.com
November 5, 2025 at 1:54 PM
Reposted by Michael Barajas
attackerman.bsky.social
All day, many of you have been asking for a Cheney obituary from me. Get ready:
His Works Completed, Dick Cheney, Mass Murderer of Iraqis and American Democracy, Dies
As much as the Trumpists claim to disavow the War on Terror, they walk a path paved by the most powerful vice president in U.S. history.
www.thenation.com
November 4, 2025 at 5:55 PM
Reposted by Michael Barajas
felipedlh.bsky.social
As we see indicia of big turnout in today's NYC mayoral election, worth keeping in mind that roughly one in seven adult NYC residents are categorically barred from voting. If you're on the fence about turning out, remember that this is a privilege many of your neighbors do not have
Ahead of Mayor Race, Noncitizen New Yorkers Grapple with a Voting Policy Failure to Launch - Bolts
For a brief moment, it seemed some noncitizen New Yorkers may gain the right to vote locally. But with the law struck down earlier this year, they remain at the margins.
boltsmag.org
November 4, 2025 at 4:07 PM
Reposted by Michael Barajas
burness.bsky.social
Most likely don’t have this on the Election Day radar, but felony disenfranchisement is on the ballot next week in Virginia, an unusually harsh state for denying voting rights to people with criminal records. Major reform may be coming there, and Tuesday is pivotal.

Here’s what you need to know:
October 30, 2025 at 3:20 PM
michaelbarajas.bsky.social
Great reporting here on a measure on the TX ballot this week that would expand Greg Abbott’s growing influence over a commission that disciplines judges www.texastribune.org/2025/11/03/t...
Judicial conduct proposal raises concerns about Abbott overreach
Proposition 12 would allow the governor to appoint a majority of the commission that disciplines judges, as Abbott condemns “activist judges.”
www.texastribune.org
November 3, 2025 at 4:46 PM
Reposted by Michael Barajas
leehedgepeth.bsky.social
Just over an hour after 3 Supreme Court justices warned that Alabamian Anthony Boyd would suffer psychological torture, he was subjected to the longest nitrogen gas execution in US history, gasping for air more than 225 times. Read my eyewitness account: www.treadbylee.com/p/after-just...
After justices warned of prolonged suffocation, Alabama subjected Anthony Boyd to the longest nitrogen execution in U.S. history.
Boyd was the chairman of Project Hope, a death row-led nonprofit. Its members are left reeling in the wake of their leader's suffocation execution.
www.treadbylee.com
October 24, 2025 at 2:19 AM
Reposted by Michael Barajas
taniel.bsky.social
SCOTUS just allowed Alabama's execution of Anthony Boyd:
www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/25p...

Justice Sotomayor wrote this vivid dissent blasting AL for using the method of nitrogen gas.

@laurengill.bsky.social's reporting from an AL execution shows you why: boltsmag.org/alabama-nitr...
Take out your phone, go to the clock app, and find the stopwatch. Click start. Now watch the seconds as they climb. Three seconds come and go in a blink. At the thirtysecond mark, your mind starts to wander. One minute passes, and you begin to think that this is taking a long time. Two . . . three . . . . The clock ticks on. Then, finally, you make it to four minutes. Hit stop. Now imagine for that entire time, you are suffocating. You want to breathe; you have to breathe. But you are strapped to a gurney with a mask on your face pumping your lungs with nitrogen gas. Your mind knows that the gas will kill you. But your body keeps telling you to breathe. That is what awaits Anthony Boyd tonight. For two to four minutes, Boyd will remain conscious while the State of Alabama kills him in this way. When the gas starts flowing, he will immediately convulse. He will gasp for air.
October 23, 2025 at 8:56 PM
michaelbarajas.bsky.social
Alabama plans to execute Anthony Boyd tonite by suffocating him with nitrogen gas, an experimental method that appears to be agonizing by most available witness accounts

read Lauren's important reporting on Boyd's case and the death penalty in Alabama boltsmag.org/alabama-nitr...
laurengill.bsky.social Lauren Gill @laurengill.bsky.social · 19d
I met Anthony Boyd in 2018, when I was working on a story about Project Hope, the death row anti-death penalty group he now chairs. He told me he'd been involved with drugs in Anniston & had his problems with the cops, but wasn't involved in Gregory Huguley's death.

boltsmag.org/anthony-boyd...
He Was Convicted Entirely On Clashing Eyewitness Testimony. Alabama Plans to Execute Him Next Week. - Bolts
No physical evidence connected Anthony Boyd to a 1993 murder. He was sent to death row on the word of a co-defendant who testified under the threat of capital punishment.
boltsmag.org
October 23, 2025 at 6:02 PM
Reposted by Michael Barajas
felipedlh.bsky.social
For @boltsmag.org, I wrote about one group that, despite being a huge chunk of the adult population in NYC, is uniformly excluded from electoral coverage: noncitizens. A 2021 law promised many could participate in municipal elections for the first time, before it was challenged and struck down
Ahead of Mayor Race, Noncitizen New Yorkers Grapple with a Voting Policy Failure to Launch - Bolts
For a brief moment, it seemed some noncitizen New Yorkers may gain the right to vote locally. But with the law struck down earlier this year, they remain at the margins.
boltsmag.org
October 22, 2025 at 10:14 PM
Reposted by Michael Barajas
oliviamesser.bsky.social
I’m guessing you haven’t even hard of this case: San Antonio Police Officers shot and killed Melissa Perez in 2023.

Now, her daughter is hoping a criminal trial will mark the first time murder charges stick for on-duty officers in the city.

thebarbedwire.com/2025/10/16/s...
‘The Video Speaks for Itself.’ An Historic Murder Case Puts San Antonio Officers on Trial.
San Antonio police officers had never been charged with murder for an on-the-job shooting. Now, a courthouse is packed for an historic trial.
thebarbedwire.com
October 16, 2025 at 1:48 PM
Reposted by Michael Barajas
laurengill.bsky.social
Everything about this case shows how easy it is to send someone to death row.

Anthony Boyd was sentenced to death entirely on dubious eyewitness testimony. His lawyer had a month to prepare for trial. Alabama plans to execute him next week.

My latest @boltsmag.org:
boltsmag.org/anthony-boyd...
He Was Convicted Entirely On Clashing Eyewitness Testimony. Alabama Plans to Execute Him Next Week. - Bolts
No physical evidence connected Anthony Boyd to a 1993 murder. He was sent to death row on the word of a co-defendant who testified under the threat of capital punishment.
boltsmag.org
October 15, 2025 at 3:17 PM
michaelbarajas.bsky.social
also worth noting that Boyd is set to be executed by nitrogen gas, an experimental method that involves suffocating people to death

read Lauren's bracing eyewitness account of this grisly new method of execution boltsmag.org/alabama-nitr...
michaelbarajas.bsky.social Michael Barajas @michaelbarajas.bsky.social · 27d
Anthony Boyd was sent to death row for murder with no physical evidence but rather on the word of a codefendant who testified against him to avoid execution. Boyd’s court-appointed lawyer admitted he was unprepared at trial

important new story by @laurengill.bsky.social boltsmag.org/anthony-boyd...
He Was Convicted Entirely On Clashing Eyewitness Testimony. Alabama Plans to Execute Him Next Week. - Bolts
No physical evidence connected Anthony Boyd to a 1993 murder. He was sent to death row on the word of a co-defendant who testified under the threat of capital punishment.
boltsmag.org
October 15, 2025 at 1:44 PM
michaelbarajas.bsky.social
Anthony Boyd was sent to death row for murder with no physical evidence but rather on the word of a codefendant who testified against him to avoid execution. Boyd’s court-appointed lawyer admitted he was unprepared at trial

important new story by @laurengill.bsky.social boltsmag.org/anthony-boyd...
He Was Convicted Entirely On Clashing Eyewitness Testimony. Alabama Plans to Execute Him Next Week. - Bolts
No physical evidence connected Anthony Boyd to a 1993 murder. He was sent to death row on the word of a co-defendant who testified under the threat of capital punishment.
boltsmag.org
October 15, 2025 at 1:33 PM
Reposted by Michael Barajas
burness.bsky.social
Dispatch from Pennsylvania on a highly unusual state Supreme Court election—one of the few most consequential matters on the ballot anywhere in the country next month. New from me in @boltsmag.org: boltsmag.org/pennsylvania...
Inside the Clunky Elections to Control Pennsylvania's Supreme Court - Bolts
The GOP is making an expensive push to end Democrats’ majority on a court at the center of election lawsuits, sparking a fledging campaign season with little precedent or template.
boltsmag.org
October 7, 2025 at 6:02 PM
Reposted by Michael Barajas
taniel.bsky.social
If you want to see how much a single local official can change things, look no further than Chicago,

where the new prosecutor this year has ground exonerations to a halt by hindering the work of the commission that reviews wrongful convictions boltsmag.org/chicago-cook...
Exonerations Grind to a Halt Under Chicago’s New Prosecutor - Bolts
Cook County State’s Attorney Eileen O’Neill Burke has weakened her office’s already broken system for freeing the innocent, even as allegations of coercion mount against a former Chicago detective.
boltsmag.org
September 30, 2025 at 10:26 PM
Reposted by Michael Barajas
psfrench.bsky.social
Boston's Michelle Wu has attracted notice for standing up to Trump on ICE raids. But her stance is undermined by the city's fusion center, which civil liberties advocates have warned abt for yrs: "The whole purpose of it is federal & local law enforcement collaboration."
boltsmag.org/boston-polic...
Bid to Renew Federal Grant Sparks Concern Boston May Help Trump’s DHS on Immigration - Bolts
The grant helps fund a law enforcement center that’s drawn criticism over privacy and over data-sharing with ICE. It would also come with new strings to spend money on border control.
boltsmag.org
September 30, 2025 at 9:22 PM
Reposted by Michael Barajas
danhinkel.bsky.social
Here's part two of my Denying Innocence series on the failures by Cook County prosecutors to investigate innocence claims. Thanks to our friends @boltsmag.org for copublishing.
September 30, 2025 at 1:25 PM
michaelbarajas.bsky.social
revelations about cops planting evidence, threatening or coercing witnesses, and torturing people into false confessions have made Chicago the epicenter of the wrongful conviction crisis

yet prosecutors are weakening their response, even as another police abuse scandal looms over dozens of cases
September 30, 2025 at 3:27 PM
Reposted by Michael Barajas
isabelaalhadeff.bsky.social
"It’s a blueprint for authoritarianism wrapped in barbed wire and dressed up as local revival.”

ICE has its eyes on an idle Core Civic-owned prison in Walsenburg. Local officials have welcomed the potential influx of money and jobs. But residents are pushing back. My latest for @motherjones.com:
"Godsend" or "concentration camp"? A lucrative ICE deal divides a Colorado town.
Trump has unleashed a gold rush among private prison companies taking on immigration detention. In cash-strapped cities, residents aren’t sure the money is worth it.
www.motherjones.com
September 29, 2025 at 1:35 PM
michaelbarajas.bsky.social
“If children can record everyday events with ease, law enforcement cannot claim hardship to record perhaps its most consequential investigative act"

here's how some state supreme courts are bolstering protections based on their own state constitutions even as SCOTUS rulings erode our rights
yeargain.bsky.social Quinn Yeargain @yeargain.bsky.social · Sep 25
My latest for @boltsmag.org: the Hawaiʻi Supreme Court continues to knock it out of the park with groundbreaking criminal procedure rulings. Here, it interprets its own state constitution's guarantee of due process to require that law enforcement record custodial interrogations.
Hawaii Supreme Court Expands Rights of Defendants, and Once Again Rebukes SCOTUS - Bolts
The justices ruled that Hawaii’s constitution requires police to record interrogations. And they vowed to protect due process for Hawaii residents—unlike, they said, the Roberts Court.
boltsmag.org
September 26, 2025 at 11:30 PM
michaelbarajas.bsky.social
some really clarifying reporting here on this shooting that you're sure to read and hear a lot of very inaccurate things about

just before reading this i heard my local public radio station reference this as a shooting by multiple protesters
oliviamesser.bsky.social Olivia Messer @oliviamesser.bsky.social · Sep 24
Though Nancy Larson, the United States Attorney for the Northern District of Texas, described the incident during a July 7 press conference as an “ambush” and an “egregious attack,” the state’s initial allegation of multiple shooters has been changed to one.

thebarbedwire.com/2025/09/24/n...
‘None of It Makes Any Sense’: New Details in the July 4 ICE Attack Show Holes in Feds’ Case
Repeated changes to the official narrative after the July 4 attack have shrouded the investigation.
thebarbedwire.com
September 24, 2025 at 9:33 PM