Radley Balko
@radleybalko.bsky.social
Journalist. Quattrone Center journalism fellow.
Author: Rise of the Warrior Cop.
Co-author: The Cadaver King and the Country Dentist.
New podcast: Collateral Damage
Substack: radleybalko.substack.com
Signal: radleybalko.52
Author: Rise of the Warrior Cop.
Co-author: The Cadaver King and the Country Dentist.
New podcast: Collateral Damage
Substack: radleybalko.substack.com
Signal: radleybalko.52
Reposted by Radley Balko
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.
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
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.
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.
Reposted by Radley Balko
The banality of evil is shocking. An ex-Big Lots warehouse for cheap consumer junk is bought by ICE to ship as many as 7,500 handcuffed human beings, as the Trump regime builds a U.S. gulag archipelago
The unthinkable comes to Pa. coal country. My special report www.inquirer.com/opinion/ice-...
The unthinkable comes to Pa. coal country. My special report www.inquirer.com/opinion/ice-...
From Big Lots to warehousing humans: ICE plan sparks fear in Schuylkill County | Will Bunch
A massive warehouse in Tremont. Pa. that once moved cheap goods will now detain migrants in an $119 million ICE deal.
www.inquirer.com
February 5, 2026 at 5:54 PM
The banality of evil is shocking. An ex-Big Lots warehouse for cheap consumer junk is bought by ICE to ship as many as 7,500 handcuffed human beings, as the Trump regime builds a U.S. gulag archipelago
The unthinkable comes to Pa. coal country. My special report www.inquirer.com/opinion/ice-...
The unthinkable comes to Pa. coal country. My special report www.inquirer.com/opinion/ice-...
Reposted by Radley Balko
ICE has grabbed so many people from their vehicles that there are abandoned cars across Minnesota.
This tow truck driver returns the cars for free as a public service, and he’s been getting death threats.
They hate the helpers.
Which is why must keep helping.
This tow truck driver returns the cars for free as a public service, and he’s been getting death threats.
They hate the helpers.
Which is why must keep helping.
Twin Cities tow truck driver returns abandoned vehicles to families after ICE arrests
Juan Leon sends a "chase" car to check out where abandoned vehicles are located and arranges discreet drop-offs. Since late December, he estimated they have dropped off 250 cars.
www.cbsnews.com
February 7, 2026 at 5:30 AM
ICE has grabbed so many people from their vehicles that there are abandoned cars across Minnesota.
This tow truck driver returns the cars for free as a public service, and he’s been getting death threats.
They hate the helpers.
Which is why must keep helping.
This tow truck driver returns the cars for free as a public service, and he’s been getting death threats.
They hate the helpers.
Which is why must keep helping.
Reposted by Radley Balko
"For years, a cottage industry of political observers has contorted itself to obscure and occlude the obvious. That regardless of what others see in him, Trump’s entire political career...cannot be understood outside the context of his bitter, deep-seated racism." (gift link)
Opinion | This Is Just Who Trump Is
www.nytimes.com
February 7, 2026 at 4:49 PM
"For years, a cottage industry of political observers has contorted itself to obscure and occlude the obvious. That regardless of what others see in him, Trump’s entire political career...cannot be understood outside the context of his bitter, deep-seated racism." (gift link)
Reposted by Radley Balko
This in-depth story shows ways @mississippifreepress.org is different:
1. We reported from on ground in North Mississippi where we’re building a bureau.
2. We led with real people on the ground, not politicians in Jackson or DC.
3. Deep context on ICE raids here.
4. ICE responds to us (we ask).
1. We reported from on ground in North Mississippi where we’re building a bureau.
2. We led with real people on the ground, not politicians in Jackson or DC.
3. Deep context on ICE raids here.
4. ICE responds to us (we ask).
A small group of protestors assembled near an empty warehouse in Byhalia, Mississippi, in mid-January with one objective: to stop the U.S. Department of Homeland Security from converting the building into an immigration detention center.
ICE Proposal to Hold 8,500 Immigrants in Mississippi Mega Warehouse Draws Local Opposition
An ICE plan to use a warehouse to hold 8,500 immigrants in Byhalia, Mississippi, has drawn opposition from residents and Sen. Roger Wicker.
buff.ly
February 7, 2026 at 3:13 PM
This in-depth story shows ways @mississippifreepress.org is different:
1. We reported from on ground in North Mississippi where we’re building a bureau.
2. We led with real people on the ground, not politicians in Jackson or DC.
3. Deep context on ICE raids here.
4. ICE responds to us (we ask).
1. We reported from on ground in North Mississippi where we’re building a bureau.
2. We led with real people on the ground, not politicians in Jackson or DC.
3. Deep context on ICE raids here.
4. ICE responds to us (we ask).
Seems kinda' crazy that a guy getting paid to let the government run a gulag on his property also owns an upscale cafe in a county that went 28 percent for Trump in 2024. Maybe the people who regularly dine there need to be better informed about who owns it.
The owner of the office building ICE turned into this concentration camp is owned by Robert Murray, this pos is maga through and through. Despite the town and pressure to kick ICE out, he refused. His bread and butter is an upscale place called Cafe Escadrille. Leave a review on Google maps here:
maps.app.goo.gl
February 7, 2026 at 3:38 PM
Seems kinda' crazy that a guy getting paid to let the government run a gulag on his property also owns an upscale cafe in a county that went 28 percent for Trump in 2024. Maybe the people who regularly dine there need to be better informed about who owns it.
Reposted by Radley Balko
“They’re basically torturing people into signing off on their own deportation,” said one attorney.
Superb, deeply reported story, via @charpentier.bsky.social
Superb, deeply reported story, via @charpentier.bsky.social
Concentration camps: stories of as many as 50 people to a cell — men and women in some cases — with no windows and limited airflow, a single camera-monitored toilet, aluminum blankets, no showers and poor quality food.
ICE detainees from Maine being held under ‘inhumane’ conditions in Mass. facility, attorneys say
An Immigration and Customs Enforcement spokesperson said the allegations of overcrowding and lack of access to lawyers are false.
www.pressherald.com
February 7, 2026 at 3:03 PM
“They’re basically torturing people into signing off on their own deportation,” said one attorney.
Superb, deeply reported story, via @charpentier.bsky.social
Superb, deeply reported story, via @charpentier.bsky.social
Reposted by Radley Balko
this is so funny, god bless louise lucas, Hero of the Commonwealth
February 7, 2026 at 2:20 PM
this is so funny, god bless louise lucas, Hero of the Commonwealth
Reposted by Radley Balko
Damage done by this latest petulant outburst by Trump and Hegseth:
—1% to Harvard, from loss of students and ongoing links to career military.
—99% to career military officers, losing educational, social, and lifetime-connections benefits of stint at Harvard.
www.thecrimson.com/article/2026...
—1% to Harvard, from loss of students and ongoing links to career military.
—99% to career military officers, losing educational, social, and lifetime-connections benefits of stint at Harvard.
www.thecrimson.com/article/2026...
Defense Department Severs Academic Ties with Harvard | News | The Harvard Crimson
The United States Department of Defense announced Friday evening it would sever all academic ties with Harvard, saying the University’s partnerships with Chinese institutions and antisemitism on campu...
www.thecrimson.com
February 7, 2026 at 3:20 PM
Damage done by this latest petulant outburst by Trump and Hegseth:
—1% to Harvard, from loss of students and ongoing links to career military.
—99% to career military officers, losing educational, social, and lifetime-connections benefits of stint at Harvard.
www.thecrimson.com/article/2026...
—1% to Harvard, from loss of students and ongoing links to career military.
—99% to career military officers, losing educational, social, and lifetime-connections benefits of stint at Harvard.
www.thecrimson.com/article/2026...
Reposted by Radley Balko
Devastating decision from the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals last night endorsing the Trump Bureau of Immigration Appeals 2025 ruling that undocumented immigrants “apprehended anywhere in the United States are ineligible for release on bond, regardless of how long they have resided in the U.S.”
February 7, 2026 at 3:20 PM
Devastating decision from the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals last night endorsing the Trump Bureau of Immigration Appeals 2025 ruling that undocumented immigrants “apprehended anywhere in the United States are ineligible for release on bond, regardless of how long they have resided in the U.S.”
Reposted by Radley Balko
I feel like Los Angeles is a place where people expect ICE to happen because the kidnappings have been happening to my home city for decades, so there’s less media attention to it now. and I want folks to see that in LA, Latine students are organizing major protests & the police are attacking them
LAPD Charges at Hundreds of High School Students in Peaceful Walkout Protest at MDC ~ L.A. TACO
LAPD arrested at least two teenagers protesting ICE raids in Los Angeles yesterday. They were also seen corresponding with ICE agents on Alameda Street during the demonstrations.
lataco.com
February 7, 2026 at 2:10 PM
I feel like Los Angeles is a place where people expect ICE to happen because the kidnappings have been happening to my home city for decades, so there’s less media attention to it now. and I want folks to see that in LA, Latine students are organizing major protests & the police are attacking them
They look like the “irregular” rack at an outlet store that sells young white dudes.
February 7, 2026 at 2:07 PM
They look like the “irregular” rack at an outlet store that sells young white dudes.
Reposted by Radley Balko
New: Trump's administration tonight told a Boston judge that his proposal that it issue a student visa to a Babson College student it deported to Honduras in violation of a court order is "unfeasible" and said ICE declines to facilitate her return. www.reuters.com/world/us/tru...
Trump administration won't let student deported to Honduras return
President Donald Trump's administration on Friday called a judge's proposal that the government issue a student visa to a college student it deported to Honduras in violation of a court order "unfeasi...
www.reuters.com
February 7, 2026 at 1:26 AM
New: Trump's administration tonight told a Boston judge that his proposal that it issue a student visa to a Babson College student it deported to Honduras in violation of a court order is "unfeasible" and said ICE declines to facilitate her return. www.reuters.com/world/us/tru...
Reposted by Radley Balko
The GOP thinks this is different than their own gerrymandering bc they see this as people not in the Herrenvolk getting disproportionate representation. They don’t think liberals & city voters are real Americans, so when they do it it’s fine. They have told us this, here in WI & across 🇺🇸, for years:
February 7, 2026 at 3:40 AM
The GOP thinks this is different than their own gerrymandering bc they see this as people not in the Herrenvolk getting disproportionate representation. They don’t think liberals & city voters are real Americans, so when they do it it’s fine. They have told us this, here in WI & across 🇺🇸, for years:
Reposted by Radley Balko
The policy change orders the removal of any post made by official State Department accounts on X before President Trump returned to office in 2025. n.pr/3MhYNoP
State Department will delete X posts from before Trump returned to office
The policy change orders the removal of any post made by official State Department accounts on X before President Trump returned to office in 2025.
n.pr
February 7, 2026 at 1:53 PM
The policy change orders the removal of any post made by official State Department accounts on X before President Trump returned to office in 2025. n.pr/3MhYNoP
Reposted by Radley Balko
I do want to shout-out my fellow sociologists, who have collectively created a discipline so woke that not a single one of our introductory textbooks can make it past Florida's censors.
Great work everyone.
Great work everyone.
February 6, 2026 at 3:00 PM
I do want to shout-out my fellow sociologists, who have collectively created a discipline so woke that not a single one of our introductory textbooks can make it past Florida's censors.
Great work everyone.
Great work everyone.
Reposted by Radley Balko
They’ll be hearing from his father
February 7, 2026 at 2:14 AM
They’ll be hearing from his father
Reposted by Radley Balko
who called it Heated Rivalry and not Fuck Ice
February 6, 2026 at 3:08 PM
who called it Heated Rivalry and not Fuck Ice
Reposted by Radley Balko
So about TrumpRx: We crunched the numbers today and about half of the drugs on there have cheaper generics available already. www.statnews.com/2026/02/06/t...
February 6, 2026 at 11:09 PM
So about TrumpRx: We crunched the numbers today and about half of the drugs on there have cheaper generics available already. www.statnews.com/2026/02/06/t...
Well at least JD was on time.
American star Alysa Liu overcame a delay en route to the Milano Skating Arena caused by Vice President JD Vance’s motorcade and finished second in the women’s short program at the Olympics team event.
“We almost didn’t make it,” her coach said.
“We almost didn’t make it,” her coach said.
Nothing could stop the U.S. figure skating team. Not even JD Vance’s motorcade.
Alysa Liu and world champion dance team of Madison Chock and Evan Bates have the Americans leading the team event after day one.
www.washingtonpost.com
February 7, 2026 at 1:33 AM
Well at least JD was on time.
Just unspeakably cruel
Metry and her husband of 4 years go to DHS to get their I-130 in motion. "Good news" a DHS employee told them, the form to start her naturalization was approved.
DHS employee asks the husband to follow him through a secure door. When it locks behind him, ICE detains his wife to deport her.
DHS employee asks the husband to follow him through a secure door. When it locks behind him, ICE detains his wife to deport her.
EXCLUSIVE: Terez Metry was 13 when her family fled to Tennessee from Egypt in 2011. Then, they left her behind. She only recently discovered she had an order of removal from 2011. But she was following the legal path to citizenship. On Monday, at a routine DHS meeting, Metry was detained.
February 6, 2026 at 11:27 PM
Just unspeakably cruel
Amid the flagrant ethics violations among SCOTUS justices, a U.S. senator is demanding Justice Jackson be investigated for attending the Grammies. In a year in which she was nominated for one.
To be fair, Blackburn is really dumb. And hyper partisan. And rarely acts in good faith.
To be fair, Blackburn is really dumb. And hyper partisan. And rarely acts in good faith.
Marsha Blackburn Demands Probe Of Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson For Crime Of 'Attended Grammys'
It's getting harder for any one GOP loon to stand out in a sea of weirdness.
www.wonkette.com
February 6, 2026 at 11:11 PM
Amid the flagrant ethics violations among SCOTUS justices, a U.S. senator is demanding Justice Jackson be investigated for attending the Grammies. In a year in which she was nominated for one.
To be fair, Blackburn is really dumb. And hyper partisan. And rarely acts in good faith.
To be fair, Blackburn is really dumb. And hyper partisan. And rarely acts in good faith.
Reposted by Radley Balko
it's so, so, so frustrating how they act like people applying for asylum are subject to removal proceedings. that is not the law!!!!
Just heard back from DHS on why they abruptly expedited Ramos' asylum hearing:
“These are regular removal proceedings. This is standard procedure and there is nothing retaliatory about enforcing the nation’s immigration laws. He will receive full due process."
(This is not standard procedure.)
“These are regular removal proceedings. This is standard procedure and there is nothing retaliatory about enforcing the nation’s immigration laws. He will receive full due process."
(This is not standard procedure.)
February 6, 2026 at 8:17 PM
it's so, so, so frustrating how they act like people applying for asylum are subject to removal proceedings. that is not the law!!!!
Reposted by Radley Balko
They’re not capable of shame, but they’re capable of being forced to act like they’re capable of shame
February 6, 2026 at 9:06 PM
They’re not capable of shame, but they’re capable of being forced to act like they’re capable of shame
Reposted by Radley Balko
Every time I re-read Trump v. United States, it feels like getting hit in the head with a mallet.
February 6, 2026 at 5:55 PM
Every time I re-read Trump v. United States, it feels like getting hit in the head with a mallet.