Samantha Michaels
@samanthamichaels.bsky.social
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
smichaels@motherjones.com
Signal: smichaels.01
Reposted by Samantha Michaels
DHS often say assaults against ICE officers have skyrocketed, but fails to provide real data to back that up.
I reviewed ICE's own Fallen Officers page. It tells a much different story, and shows that none of its officer have been killed by an immigrant since the agency was created.
I reviewed ICE's own Fallen Officers page. It tells a much different story, and shows that none of its officer have been killed by an immigrant since the agency was created.
October 29, 2025 at 4:09 PM
DHS often say assaults against ICE officers have skyrocketed, but fails to provide real data to back that up.
I reviewed ICE's own Fallen Officers page. It tells a much different story, and shows that none of its officer have been killed by an immigrant since the agency was created.
I reviewed ICE's own Fallen Officers page. It tells a much different story, and shows that none of its officer have been killed by an immigrant since the agency was created.
Reposted by Samantha Michaels
For @motherjones.com, criminal justice/immigration reporter @samanthamichaels.bsky.social asked legal experts about the prospect of recruiting JAGs as immigration judges, and they found it pretty damned problematic.
October 24, 2025 at 10:19 PM
For @motherjones.com, criminal justice/immigration reporter @samanthamichaels.bsky.social asked legal experts about the prospect of recruiting JAGs as immigration judges, and they found it pretty damned problematic.
Reposted by Samantha Michaels
I’m currently at the entrance to Coast Guard Island where National Guard troops and ICE agents are being housed prior to their deployment on the Bay Area. Couple hundred people are here blocking access in and out. Lots of faith leaders here who are praying at the edge of the property line.
October 23, 2025 at 4:22 PM
I’m currently at the entrance to Coast Guard Island where National Guard troops and ICE agents are being housed prior to their deployment on the Bay Area. Couple hundred people are here blocking access in and out. Lots of faith leaders here who are praying at the edge of the property line.
Reposted by Samantha Michaels
Read this on the plane. Really strong work, drawing connections for people too overwhelmed to keep track of the many important narratives.
www.motherjones.com/politics/202...
www.motherjones.com/politics/202...
To understand that horrific Chicago apartment raid, go back in time—to Texas
Gov. Greg Abbott's political stunts kicked off a crisis that left immigrant families in a lurch.
www.motherjones.com
October 17, 2025 at 1:12 AM
Read this on the plane. Really strong work, drawing connections for people too overwhelmed to keep track of the many important narratives.
www.motherjones.com/politics/202...
www.motherjones.com/politics/202...
I dug into the backstory of that horrific apartment raid in Chicago—a lot more to this story than meets the eye www.motherjones.com/politics/202...
To understand that horrific Chicago apartment raid, go back in time—to Texas
Gov. Greg Abbott's political stunts kicked off a crisis that left immigrant families in a lurch.
www.motherjones.com
October 16, 2025 at 7:14 PM
I dug into the backstory of that horrific apartment raid in Chicago—a lot more to this story than meets the eye www.motherjones.com/politics/202...
Reposted by Samantha Michaels
Last year, we wrote about survivor Taylor Cadle. When she was 12, she told police she’d been raped. They said she was lying and charged her with false reporting. She then took the extraordinary measure of recording the next act of abuse.
Now, Taylor has legal counsel and filed a lawsuit.
Now, Taylor has legal counsel and filed a lawsuit.
October 13, 2025 at 10:13 PM
Last year, we wrote about survivor Taylor Cadle. When she was 12, she told police she’d been raped. They said she was lying and charged her with false reporting. She then took the extraordinary measure of recording the next act of abuse.
Now, Taylor has legal counsel and filed a lawsuit.
Now, Taylor has legal counsel and filed a lawsuit.
Did you hear about the tiny company based out of a random house in Virginia that won $1.3 billion to build an ICE detention center?
How did it get that deal? Turns out a lot of the money is going to a bigger firm—whose owner is friendly with the Trump fam. www.motherjones.com/politics/202...
How did it get that deal? Turns out a lot of the money is going to a bigger firm—whose owner is friendly with the Trump fam. www.motherjones.com/politics/202...
How a tiny, inexperienced firm landed a $1.3 billion detention deal
To hold 5,000 human beings.
www.motherjones.com
October 9, 2025 at 5:50 PM
Did you hear about the tiny company based out of a random house in Virginia that won $1.3 billion to build an ICE detention center?
How did it get that deal? Turns out a lot of the money is going to a bigger firm—whose owner is friendly with the Trump fam. www.motherjones.com/politics/202...
How did it get that deal? Turns out a lot of the money is going to a bigger firm—whose owner is friendly with the Trump fam. www.motherjones.com/politics/202...
So much tear gas that people who aren't even protesting are getting sick when they leave their homes to run errands: www.motherjones.com/politics/202...
ICE is hounding Chicago area locals with excessive chemical munitions
Agents are firing tear gas and pepper balls on lawful protesters, lawsuits say, sickening even uninvolved residents.
www.motherjones.com
October 8, 2025 at 8:02 PM
So much tear gas that people who aren't even protesting are getting sick when they leave their homes to run errands: www.motherjones.com/politics/202...
Reposted by Samantha Michaels
@lataco.bsky.social first began as a blog documenting local Mexican cuisine. Now, it’s an essential reporting powerhouse to the city as Trump’s mass deportation plot unfolds.
Check out the latest from our friends at Reveal: tinyurl.com/4cm2bsdr
Check out the latest from our friends at Reveal: tinyurl.com/4cm2bsdr
October 6, 2025 at 11:00 PM
@lataco.bsky.social first began as a blog documenting local Mexican cuisine. Now, it’s an essential reporting powerhouse to the city as Trump’s mass deportation plot unfolds.
Check out the latest from our friends at Reveal: tinyurl.com/4cm2bsdr
Check out the latest from our friends at Reveal: tinyurl.com/4cm2bsdr
Reposted by Samantha Michaels
NEW: In the weeks leading up to a massive ICE raid at a South Shore apartment building, neighbors saw drones surveilling the area, and teachers at a nearby school regularly saw agents in the neighborhood.
✍️ Jose Abonce for the Weekly and Maira Khwaja for @invisible.institute
✍️ Jose Abonce for the Weekly and Maira Khwaja for @invisible.institute
Federal Agents Storm South Shore Building, Detaining Families and Children
Families were woken by flashbangs and helicopters as hundreds of federal agents raided their homes. Days later, neighbors are still searching for the missing.
southsideweekly.com
October 6, 2025 at 8:16 PM
NEW: In the weeks leading up to a massive ICE raid at a South Shore apartment building, neighbors saw drones surveilling the area, and teachers at a nearby school regularly saw agents in the neighborhood.
✍️ Jose Abonce for the Weekly and Maira Khwaja for @invisible.institute
✍️ Jose Abonce for the Weekly and Maira Khwaja for @invisible.institute
"Why should we sit by while you take our money, defund our priorities, and shit on our values?" @clarajeffery explores “soft secession”: www.motherjones.com/politics/202...
It’s time for soft secession
How blue states can use their economic clout to stand up to Trump’s agenda—starting with California.
www.motherjones.com
October 6, 2025 at 4:05 PM
"Why should we sit by while you take our money, defund our priorities, and shit on our values?" @clarajeffery explores “soft secession”: www.motherjones.com/politics/202...
Reposted by Samantha Michaels
My god.
“Watson said she saw agents dragging residents, including kids, out of the building without any clothes on and into U-Haul vans. Kids were separated from their mothers…’It was heartbreaking to watch…seeing kids coming out buck naked and taken from their mothers, it was horrible.’”
“Watson said she saw agents dragging residents, including kids, out of the building without any clothes on and into U-Haul vans. Kids were separated from their mothers…’It was heartbreaking to watch…seeing kids coming out buck naked and taken from their mothers, it was horrible.’”
Massive immigration raid on Chicago apartment building leaves residents reeling: 'I feel defeated'
The Department of Homeland Security said federal agents with Border Patrol, the FBI and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives arrested 37 people in the raid.
chicago.suntimes.com
October 2, 2025 at 10:06 AM
My god.
“Watson said she saw agents dragging residents, including kids, out of the building without any clothes on and into U-Haul vans. Kids were separated from their mothers…’It was heartbreaking to watch…seeing kids coming out buck naked and taken from their mothers, it was horrible.’”
“Watson said she saw agents dragging residents, including kids, out of the building without any clothes on and into U-Haul vans. Kids were separated from their mothers…’It was heartbreaking to watch…seeing kids coming out buck naked and taken from their mothers, it was horrible.’”
I wrote about how only 13 percent of the personnel carrying out Trump's deportation agenda are employed by ICE's primary deportation unit; the rest are pulled from other jobs, primarily crime-fighting jobs in other law enforcement agencies. www.motherjones.com/politics/202...
October 2, 2025 at 6:59 PM
I wrote about how only 13 percent of the personnel carrying out Trump's deportation agenda are employed by ICE's primary deportation unit; the rest are pulled from other jobs, primarily crime-fighting jobs in other law enforcement agencies. www.motherjones.com/politics/202...
A new study shows that more than 400 people nationwide were charged for crimes related to their pregnancies, pregnancy losses, or even live births from June 2022 to June 2024. www.motherjones.com/politics/202...
When miscarriages become crimes
412 women faced criminal charges for pregnancy outcomes. This is what fetal personhood looks like.
www.motherjones.com
October 1, 2025 at 5:24 PM
A new study shows that more than 400 people nationwide were charged for crimes related to their pregnancies, pregnancy losses, or even live births from June 2022 to June 2024. www.motherjones.com/politics/202...
Trump's pardon of January 6ers put the Marshals Service in uncharted territory. New records show how the agency was trying to navigate the situation—sometimes in unusual ways. www.motherjones.com/politics/202...
US Marshals' efforts around Trump's January 6 pardons were “highly unusual"
“It seems like an extraordinary bending over backward” for the Capitol ransackers.
www.motherjones.com
September 24, 2025 at 6:18 PM
Trump's pardon of January 6ers put the Marshals Service in uncharted territory. New records show how the agency was trying to navigate the situation—sometimes in unusual ways. www.motherjones.com/politics/202...
Wow...the photos from today's Chicago area ICE protest www.chicagotribune.com/2025/09/19/t...
September 19, 2025 at 7:10 PM
Wow...the photos from today's Chicago area ICE protest www.chicagotribune.com/2025/09/19/t...
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September 19, 2025 at 6:29 PM
If you want to support independent media that won't be intimidated by Trump, Mother Jones is doing gift-matching right now, so any donation you give will be doubled. Thank you to everyone who's chipping in or sharing this link—it means so much for our newsroom. secure.motherjones.com/flex/mj/key/...
ICE is putting more people into solitary confinement, and the conditions are brutal. Important reporting from the Marshal Project www.themarshallproject.org/2025/09/16/t...
September 18, 2025 at 1:08 AM
ICE is putting more people into solitary confinement, and the conditions are brutal. Important reporting from the Marshal Project www.themarshallproject.org/2025/09/16/t...
Reposted by Samantha Michaels
National Guardsmen now stationed outside our DC building confirmed that the only thing they can do if they witness a crime is call 911. The have no more authority than my office mate to intervene. Despite the handcuffs, they can't make arrests. They are very expensive mall cops.
September 3, 2025 at 5:39 PM
National Guardsmen now stationed outside our DC building confirmed that the only thing they can do if they witness a crime is call 911. The have no more authority than my office mate to intervene. Despite the handcuffs, they can't make arrests. They are very expensive mall cops.
Reposted by Samantha Michaels
At 3 pm Wed., a woman was stabbed just off a busy intersection on H Street, NE. National Guard members were dining al fresco at a taqueria DIRECTLY across the street, yet the suspect got away. "So safe," a local texted us.
Our postcard from an Occupied D.C.: www.theatlantic.com/politics/arc...
Our postcard from an Occupied D.C.: www.theatlantic.com/politics/arc...
A Postcard From an Occupied Washington
The presence of the National Guard on the streets of D.C. has terrified some, relieved others, and left even the troops themselves confused.
www.theatlantic.com
August 29, 2025 at 6:47 PM
At 3 pm Wed., a woman was stabbed just off a busy intersection on H Street, NE. National Guard members were dining al fresco at a taqueria DIRECTLY across the street, yet the suspect got away. "So safe," a local texted us.
Our postcard from an Occupied D.C.: www.theatlantic.com/politics/arc...
Our postcard from an Occupied D.C.: www.theatlantic.com/politics/arc...
The Pentagon is sending military attorneys to work as immigration judges.
But military legal experts I spoke with think this plan is probably illegal. www.motherjones.com/politics/202...
But military legal experts I spoke with think this plan is probably illegal. www.motherjones.com/politics/202...
Putting military lawyers in charge of immigration courts is problematic—and “unlawful”
Trump's latest move is an "essential component of martial law,” notes one expert.
www.motherjones.com
September 2, 2025 at 10:07 PM
The Pentagon is sending military attorneys to work as immigration judges.
But military legal experts I spoke with think this plan is probably illegal. www.motherjones.com/politics/202...
But military legal experts I spoke with think this plan is probably illegal. www.motherjones.com/politics/202...
Reposted by Samantha Michaels
It was fascinating to talk with Isabelle Brourman, the courtroom illustrator who became famous at the Trump trial. She's now documenting ICE arrests (and went to Mar-a-Lago to paint Trump). Here, she shares behind-the-scenes stories and some of her stunning work www.motherjones.com/politics/202...
August 28, 2025 at 5:20 PM
It was fascinating to talk with Isabelle Brourman, the courtroom illustrator who became famous at the Trump trial. She's now documenting ICE arrests (and went to Mar-a-Lago to paint Trump). Here, she shares behind-the-scenes stories and some of her stunning work www.motherjones.com/politics/202...
Reposted by Samantha Michaels
🚨 BREAKING 🚨: The Trump administration is planning citywide sweeps of dozens of homeless encampments in DC starting tonight.
“Arrests will occur at night, in an effort to avoid news cameras,” Jesse Rabinowitz, communications director at National Homelessness Law Center, said via email.
“Arrests will occur at night, in an effort to avoid news cameras,” Jesse Rabinowitz, communications director at National Homelessness Law Center, said via email.
Trump plans raids on DC's homeless tonight, sources say
Advocates are scrambling to relocate people from tent encampments before imminent arrests.
www.motherjones.com
August 14, 2025 at 3:18 PM
🚨 BREAKING 🚨: The Trump administration is planning citywide sweeps of dozens of homeless encampments in DC starting tonight.
“Arrests will occur at night, in an effort to avoid news cameras,” Jesse Rabinowitz, communications director at National Homelessness Law Center, said via email.
“Arrests will occur at night, in an effort to avoid news cameras,” Jesse Rabinowitz, communications director at National Homelessness Law Center, said via email.
DC officials cited a 30-year low for violent crime in January. www.motherjones.com/politics/202...
The National Guard is coming to DC
How the carjacking of "Big Balls" helped Trump conduct a federal takeover where crime is falling.
www.motherjones.com
August 11, 2025 at 7:06 PM
DC officials cited a 30-year low for violent crime in January. www.motherjones.com/politics/202...