Samantha Michaels
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samanthamichaels.bsky.social
Samantha Michaels
@samanthamichaels.bsky.social
6K followers 150 following 59 posts
Investigative reporter at Mother Jones, covering the criminal justice system and immigration https://www.motherjones.com/author/samantha-michaels/

smichaels@motherjones.com
Signal: smichaels.01
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samanthamichaels.bsky.social
Another hero in Minneapolis—this US postal worker.

"They’re shooting tear gas...And I’m like: “Yeah, I know, but I gotta keep doing my job. I may have medicine. I don’t know what I have in my packages.”

www.motherjones.com/politics/202...
I’m a Minneapolis postal worker. This is what I saw.
Come rain, shine, tear gas, or ICE shootings, postal worker Bianca Sonnenberg is delivering the mail.
www.motherjones.com
February 12, 2026 at 10:36 PM
samanthamichaels.bsky.social
“My 15 mins of fame. Lmao.” -- Border Patrol agent, texting someone to brag about shooting a woman multiple times in Chicago.

Imagine almost killing someone and then responding with a "laugh my ass off" www.motherjones.com/politics/202...
DHS shot her and called her a “terrorist.” New videos show something different.
"It’s time to get aggressive," a Border Patrol agent said shortly before Marimar Martinez was shot five times.
www.motherjones.com
February 11, 2026 at 6:48 PM
samanthamichaels.bsky.social
ICE's collaboration with local cops has helped it deport immigrants—but that very collaboration could also make it more vulnerable to civil rights lawsuits.

This new case in Idaho is worth watching www.motherjones.com/politics/202...
ACLU's lawsuit over ICE raid at an Idaho racetrack could be a game changer
The filing aims to hold rogue federal agents accountable by linking them to a conspiracy.
www.motherjones.com
February 10, 2026 at 10:08 PM
Reposted by Samantha Michaels
benjaminpenn.bsky.social
Exclusive: DOJ is requiring all 93 US attorneys to designate prosecutors for "emergency jump teams" supporting surge districts dealing with assaults & obstruction of federal officers, per internal memo. Comes as more Minn. prosecutors resign. news.bloomberglaw.com/us-law-week/...
DOJ Demands Emergency Surge Prosecutors From All US Attorneys
The Justice Department is requiring all US attorneys to rapidly assign prosecutors for “emergency jump teams” supporting districts handling alleged assaults or obstruction of law enforcement, accordin...
news.bloomberglaw.com
February 3, 2026 at 8:35 PM
samanthamichaels.bsky.social
Federal prosecutors are so demoralized by ICE's surge in Minneapolis that they're resigning in droves.

More than a dozen have left, or announced plans to leave, since the killing of Renée Good. “We are down to a skeleton crew,” one source told me last week. www.motherjones.com/politics/202...
Federal prosecutors in Minnesota are "demoralized and pissed"
The administration is pressuring them to charge ICE protesters on scant evidence.
www.motherjones.com
February 2, 2026 at 11:49 PM
samanthamichaels.bsky.social
Star Tribune confirms what Mother Jones reported last week—more federal prosecutors are resigning in Minnesota. Here's additional context for why: www.motherjones.com/politics/202...
February 2, 2026 at 11:24 PM
samanthamichaels.bsky.social
SCOOP: More federal prosecutors in Minnesota have resigned or are preparing to, in part because the administration has asked them to file charges against protesters without appropriate evidence, according to multiple people with knowledge of the situation. www.motherjones.com/politics/202...
January 30, 2026 at 8:29 PM
Reposted by Samantha Michaels
kristenradtke.bsky.social
I wrote about my childhood friend Alexi Pretti. Please read it and share it and remember him as a human being. @theverge.com
I grew up with Alex Pretti
The kind-hearted ICU nurse shot by ICE agents was my childhood best friend.
www.theverge.com
January 27, 2026 at 4:45 PM
Reposted by Samantha Michaels
julialurie.bsky.social
I grew up in Minneapolis, and returned last week to find a city that felt like it was under siege—and a city coming together in a way that was unlike anything I’ve ever witnessed. Here’s my story: part scene piece, part love letter to my hometown www.motherjones.com/politics/202...
“We’re going to still be looking out for each other when they’re gone”
On the ground with the Minnesotans standing up to ICE.
www.motherjones.com
January 27, 2026 at 8:01 PM
Reposted by Samantha Michaels
samveep.bsky.social
Hard to say how many showed up for Alex Pretti’s vigil, but easily hundreds if not thousands. After community activists and leaders spoke at the park where they gathered, everyone marched to the site of Pretti’s killing. Streets just filled with people demanding ICE out.
January 25, 2026 at 1:37 AM
Reposted by Samantha Michaels
motherjones.com
In December, Pastor Sergio Amezcua put out a sign-up for Minnesotans who were afraid to leave their homes and needed grocery deliveries. Since then, his church, Dios Habla Hoy, has delivered food to 17,000 families.

From Mother Jones senior reporter @julialurie.bsky.social in Minneapolis.
January 23, 2026 at 9:12 PM
Reposted by Samantha Michaels
startribune.com
Anti-ICE protesters fill the streets of downtown Minneapolis during an "ICE Out" rally on Jan. 23.

📷️ Alex Kormann/The Minnesota Star Tribune

Continuing coverage: bit.ly/3ZsrBxQ
January 23, 2026 at 9:40 PM
Reposted by Samantha Michaels
reichlinmelnick.bsky.social
🚨HOLY CRAP. An ICE whistleblower just revealed a secret memo authorizing ICE officers to break into homes without a judicial warrant, which DHS's own legal training materials say is unconstitutional!

ICE then hid the memo from the public, passing it along by word of mouth and private conversation.
The Gravamen of the Disclosure 4. The gravamen of the disclosure is as follows: a. By memorandum dated May 12, 2025 (“the May 12 Memo”), Acting ICE Director Todd Lyons authorizes ICE agents to forcibly enter into certain people’s homes without a judicial warrant, consent, or an emergency. b. Specifically, in the May 12 Memo, the Acting ICE Director authorized ICE Agents to rely on Form I-205 (which is not a judicial warrant) to enter the residence of an alien subject to a final order of deportation, without consent, including by “a necessary and reasonable amount of force.”2c. While addressed to “All ICE Personnel,” in practice the May 12 Memo has not been formally distributed to all personnel. Instead, the May 12 Memo has been provided to select DHS officials who are then directed to verbally brief the new policy for action. Those supervisors then show the Memo to some employees, like our clients, and direct them to read the Memo and return it to the supervisor.
January 21, 2026 at 10:00 PM
samanthamichaels.bsky.social
honestly inspired by how regular people in minneapolis are standing up for each other www.motherjones.com/politics/202...
Meet the Minneapolis neighbors standing up to ICE by the thousands
Local resistance is "growing exponentially," says Defend the 612's Andrew Fahlstrom.
www.motherjones.com
January 21, 2026 at 8:55 PM
samanthamichaels.bsky.social
More federal prosecutors in Minnesota are considering walking out of their jobs. My latest: www.motherjones.com/politics/202...
Minnesota US Attorney’s Office is bracing for a new wave of resignations
Prosecutors are alarmed by the administration's response to Renée Good's killing.
www.motherjones.com
January 17, 2026 at 5:48 PM
Reposted by Samantha Michaels
motherjones.com
She said she was headed to a doctor's appointment. Federal agents still attacked her.

Earlier today in Minneapolis, journalist Amanda Moore (@noturtlesoup17.bsky.social) documented a tense, chaotic federal operation near 34th Street and Park Avenue.
January 13, 2026 at 10:45 PM
Reposted by Samantha Michaels
motherjones.com
Misconduct expert says state has the right to charge ICE officer who killed Renee Good.

“I’ve deposed thousands of police officers. ICE agents do not have absolute immunity.”
Misconduct expert says state has the right to charge ICE officer who killed Renee Good
Alas, the FBI's takeover of the investigation could make it difficult.
www.motherjones.com
January 9, 2026 at 1:06 PM
Reposted by Samantha Michaels
danielsuitor.com
Someone who claims to have witnessed the incident says
- car was blocking ice
- they told them to move
- "something happened'
- ICE shot into the car as it was driving away
- passenger got out of the car covered away and said friend was dead

There is video and I have seen it
January 7, 2026 at 4:01 PM
Reposted by Samantha Michaels
bencollins.bsky.social
Absolutely horrific details about an ICE shooting in Minneapolis.

A witness says a woman was trying to drive away from an ICE operation and the ICE agent "reached across the hood of the car and shot her in the face like three, four times."

Bovino was there.

www.mprnews.org/story/2026/0...
Emily Heller lives near 33rd and Portland and said she woke up to a commotion outside her home. She said she saw a car blocking traffic on Portland Avenue that appeared to be part of a protest against federal law enforcement operations. Heller said she heard ICE agents telling the driver, a woman, to “get out of here.” “She was trying to turn around, and the ICE agent was in front of her car, and he pulled out a gun and put it right in — like, his midriff was on her bumper — and he reached across the hood of the car and shot her in the face like three, four times,” Heller said. Heller said it appeared the woman then accelerated and traveled about 100 feet before striking a utility pole and some other vehicles. She could be seen slumped over inside her car.
January 7, 2026 at 5:21 PM
Reposted by Samantha Michaels
noturtlesoup17.bsky.social
Border Patrol Commander Greg Bovino says that the whistles and honking actually help the feds make apprehensions. I witnessed the complete opposite in New Orleans.
The horns and whistles work
What it's like to watch community activists stand up to a Border Patrol raid.
www.motherjones.com
December 19, 2025 at 5:21 PM
Reposted by Samantha Michaels
h-lev.bsky.social
As a Brown alum and Providence resident, I have been trying to find the right words to capture the vast grief layered across this community and the people who love it. In the end, I’m not sure if it’s really, fully possible to articulate. But I tried: www.motherjones.com/politics/202...
Watching Providence retreat into itself after the Brown shooting
What it's like when this uniquely American horror arrives in your city.
www.motherjones.com
December 17, 2025 at 3:59 PM
Reposted by Samantha Michaels
clarajeffery.bsky.social
@samanthamichaels.bsky.social spent a night huddled in the dark with an undocumented family hiding from ICE

www.motherjones.com/politics/202...
I'm a veteran criminal justice reporter. I've never seen anything like ICE-occupied Memphis.
“It’s about as sad as you can possibly imagine."
www.motherjones.com
December 16, 2025 at 3:53 PM
Reposted by Samantha Michaels
radleybalko.bsky.social
This is a harrowing account of city under siege

www.motherjones.com/politics/202...
I'm a veteran criminal justice reporter. I've never seen anything like ICE-occupied Memphis.
“It’s about as sad as you can possibly imagine."
www.motherjones.com
December 16, 2025 at 6:36 PM
samanthamichaels.bsky.social
I've been reporting on the criminal justice system for over a decade and have lived in an authoritarian country overseas, but I've never seen anything like the police presence in ICE-occupied Memphis. Here's my dispatch: www.motherjones.com/politics/202...
I'm a veteran criminal justice reporter. I've never seen anything like ICE-occupied Memphis.
“It’s about as sad as you can possibly imagine."
www.motherjones.com
December 16, 2025 at 6:40 PM