Alisa R. Whitfield
@arwhitfield.bsky.social
Senior Staff Attorney @ Immigration Equality. Posting about: refugee issues, U.S.-Canada border issues, immigration detention issues. Views = mine.
📍Toronto, Canada. 🏳️🌈🇺🇸🇨🇦
📍Toronto, Canada. 🏳️🌈🇺🇸🇨🇦
Reposted by Alisa R. Whitfield
“It was a nightmare.”
“(The guards) tortured us physically and psychologically.”
“We were like chickens or rats locked up … and they shot us with rubber bullets.”
Words from Venezuelan migrants sent to a prison in El Salvador.
Unimaginable cruelty. www.cnn.com/2025/07/23/a...
“(The guards) tortured us physically and psychologically.”
“We were like chickens or rats locked up … and they shot us with rubber bullets.”
Words from Venezuelan migrants sent to a prison in El Salvador.
Unimaginable cruelty. www.cnn.com/2025/07/23/a...
‘It was a nightmare’: Venezuelans deported from US describe conditions in Salvadoran prison | CNN
For months, they say, they were beaten by prison guards, shot with pellets, deprived of adequate medical care and denied any due process inside El Salvador’s Center for Terrorism Confinement.
www.cnn.com
July 25, 2025 at 3:52 PM
“It was a nightmare.”
“(The guards) tortured us physically and psychologically.”
“We were like chickens or rats locked up … and they shot us with rubber bullets.”
Words from Venezuelan migrants sent to a prison in El Salvador.
Unimaginable cruelty. www.cnn.com/2025/07/23/a...
“(The guards) tortured us physically and psychologically.”
“We were like chickens or rats locked up … and they shot us with rubber bullets.”
Words from Venezuelan migrants sent to a prison in El Salvador.
Unimaginable cruelty. www.cnn.com/2025/07/23/a...
Reposted by Alisa R. Whitfield
In Gaza, hospitals have collapsed. Babies ran out of formula. Clean drinking water is gone. Meanwhile, trucks filled with aid are waiting idle by the border. Instead of trying to do a Gaza real estate deal, Trump should press the Netanyahu government to open aid routes & stop starving Palestinians.
May 24, 2025 at 5:14 PM
In Gaza, hospitals have collapsed. Babies ran out of formula. Clean drinking water is gone. Meanwhile, trucks filled with aid are waiting idle by the border. Instead of trying to do a Gaza real estate deal, Trump should press the Netanyahu government to open aid routes & stop starving Palestinians.
Reposted by Alisa R. Whitfield
The Supreme Court achieved what law professors believe to be the biggest instantaneous “de-documentation” of immigrants in U.S. history.
350,000 Venezuelans woke up on Monday with legal status and went to bed without it.
What happens next remains unclear.
Read more from @daralind.bsky.social:
350,000 Venezuelans woke up on Monday with legal status and went to bed without it.
What happens next remains unclear.
Read more from @daralind.bsky.social:
Supreme Court “De-Documents” 350,000 Venezuelans – And Keeps Everyone In The Dark About What’s Next
The Supreme Court achieved what law professors believe to be the biggest instantaneous “de-documentation” of immigrants in U.S. history.
immigrationimpact.com
May 21, 2025 at 7:56 PM
The Supreme Court achieved what law professors believe to be the biggest instantaneous “de-documentation” of immigrants in U.S. history.
350,000 Venezuelans woke up on Monday with legal status and went to bed without it.
What happens next remains unclear.
Read more from @daralind.bsky.social:
350,000 Venezuelans woke up on Monday with legal status and went to bed without it.
What happens next remains unclear.
Read more from @daralind.bsky.social:
These deportations to South Sudan are horrifying.
🚨UPDATE: In a late-night court hearing, the Trump admin says that it deported the Burmese man to Burma, but is REFUSING to say where they deported the Vietnamese man, claiming it’s classified!
The judge ordered ICE to tell everyone involved they may face criminal contempt.
The judge ordered ICE to tell everyone involved they may face criminal contempt.
May 21, 2025 at 1:06 AM
These deportations to South Sudan are horrifying.
Reposted by Alisa R. Whitfield
🚨🚨🚨 The Supreme Court has just allowed Trump to strip as many as 350,000 people of legal status, effectively IMMEDIATELY.
Every Venezuelan granted TPS through the July 31, 2023 designation has been rendered undocumented as of now, significantly increasing the undocumented population.
Every Venezuelan granted TPS through the July 31, 2023 designation has been rendered undocumented as of now, significantly increasing the undocumented population.
NEW: The Supreme Court allows the Trump administration to resume its termination of Temporary Protected Status for Venezuelan migrants, staying a lower court decision that had halted the process. Only Justice Jackson notes her dissent.
May 19, 2025 at 4:58 PM
🚨🚨🚨 The Supreme Court has just allowed Trump to strip as many as 350,000 people of legal status, effectively IMMEDIATELY.
Every Venezuelan granted TPS through the July 31, 2023 designation has been rendered undocumented as of now, significantly increasing the undocumented population.
Every Venezuelan granted TPS through the July 31, 2023 designation has been rendered undocumented as of now, significantly increasing the undocumented population.
Reposted by Alisa R. Whitfield
INCREDIBLE opinion by Wilkinson refusing to stay Judge Xinis's orders in the Abrego Garcia case, condemning DOJ's arguments as "shocking not only to judges, but to the intuitive sense of liberty that Americans far removed from courthouses still hold dear."
storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...
storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...
April 17, 2025 at 7:07 PM
INCREDIBLE opinion by Wilkinson refusing to stay Judge Xinis's orders in the Abrego Garcia case, condemning DOJ's arguments as "shocking not only to judges, but to the intuitive sense of liberty that Americans far removed from courthouses still hold dear."
storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...
storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...
Reposted by Alisa R. Whitfield
Even if you (wrongly) believe that some immigrants lack due process rights, what’s to stop the government from claiming that *you* are an undocumented immigrant; removing you to El Salvador; citing an “administrative error”; and refusing to do anything to bring you back?
The answer is due process.
The answer is due process.
April 15, 2025 at 11:52 PM
Even if you (wrongly) believe that some immigrants lack due process rights, what’s to stop the government from claiming that *you* are an undocumented immigrant; removing you to El Salvador; citing an “administrative error”; and refusing to do anything to bring you back?
The answer is due process.
The answer is due process.
Reposted by Alisa R. Whitfield
60 Minutes found no criminal record for 75% of the Venezuelan migrants the U.S. sent to a mega-prison in El Salvador. https://cbsn.ws/4lC4Vp5
April 7, 2025 at 1:29 AM
60 Minutes found no criminal record for 75% of the Venezuelan migrants the U.S. sent to a mega-prison in El Salvador. https://cbsn.ws/4lC4Vp5
Reposted by Alisa R. Whitfield
This keeps getting worse and worse.
April 1, 2025 at 2:55 AM
This keeps getting worse and worse.
Reposted by Alisa R. Whitfield
In 25 years of covering national security, I’ve never seen a story like this: Senior Trump officials discussed planning for the U.S. attack on Yemen in a Signal group--and inadvertently added the editor-in-chief of The Atlantic. www.theatlantic.com/politics/arc...
The Trump Administration Accidentally Texted Me Its War Plans
U.S. national-security leaders included me in a group chat about upcoming military strikes in Yemen. I didn’t think it could be real. Then the bombs started falling.
www.theatlantic.com
March 24, 2025 at 4:11 PM
In 25 years of covering national security, I’ve never seen a story like this: Senior Trump officials discussed planning for the U.S. attack on Yemen in a Signal group--and inadvertently added the editor-in-chief of The Atlantic. www.theatlantic.com/politics/arc...
Reposted by Alisa R. Whitfield
Lot of folks learning for the first time that criminal & immigration civil systems are interrelated but separate. This means:
- criminal contact like arrest can trigger deportation *even w/o* conviction
- deportability requires no criminal contact at all
- immigrants not provided lawyer in imm court
- criminal contact like arrest can trigger deportation *even w/o* conviction
- deportability requires no criminal contact at all
- immigrants not provided lawyer in imm court
March 23, 2025 at 2:16 PM
Lot of folks learning for the first time that criminal & immigration civil systems are interrelated but separate. This means:
- criminal contact like arrest can trigger deportation *even w/o* conviction
- deportability requires no criminal contact at all
- immigrants not provided lawyer in imm court
- criminal contact like arrest can trigger deportation *even w/o* conviction
- deportability requires no criminal contact at all
- immigrants not provided lawyer in imm court
Reposted by Alisa R. Whitfield
“One young man sobbed when a guard pushed him to the floor. He said, ‘I’m not a gang member. I’m gay. I’m a barber.’ I believed him. *** He “began to whimper,” as his head was roughly shaved, “folding his hands in prayer as his hair fell.” He “asked for his mother & cried as he was slapped again.”
What the Venezuelans Deported to El Salvador Experienced
Exclusive photos of the arrival of Venezuelan detainees deported from the U.S.
time.com
March 22, 2025 at 8:52 PM
“One young man sobbed when a guard pushed him to the floor. He said, ‘I’m not a gang member. I’m gay. I’m a barber.’ I believed him. *** He “began to whimper,” as his head was roughly shaved, “folding his hands in prayer as his hair fell.” He “asked for his mother & cried as he was slapped again.”
Reposted by Alisa R. Whitfield
⚠️ @DHSgov's troubling history of immigration enforcement to repress free speech is alive & well. Trump admin targeted a grad student leader w/ a green card & disappeared him from his pregnant wife b/c of his activism. TAKE ACTION & demand Mahmoud Khalil's release: actionnetwork.org/letters/dema...
Demand the Immediate Release of Palestinian Student Activist Mahmoud Khalil from DHS detention
On the evening of March 8, 2025, Columbia University student activist Mahmoud Khalil was detained by the Department of Homeland Security. The arrest comes on the heels of the Department of State’s ann...
actionnetwork.org
March 10, 2025 at 8:04 PM
⚠️ @DHSgov's troubling history of immigration enforcement to repress free speech is alive & well. Trump admin targeted a grad student leader w/ a green card & disappeared him from his pregnant wife b/c of his activism. TAKE ACTION & demand Mahmoud Khalil's release: actionnetwork.org/letters/dema...
Reposted by Alisa R. Whitfield
I tend to bristle at “if they can do it to immigrants they can do it to you” rhetoric, bc in my experience a _lot_ of stuff done to imms as general practice never makes the leap to citizens (making it easy for citizens not to know about it!)
That said: either you have rule of law or you don’t.
That said: either you have rule of law or you don’t.
March 10, 2025 at 12:16 AM
I tend to bristle at “if they can do it to immigrants they can do it to you” rhetoric, bc in my experience a _lot_ of stuff done to imms as general practice never makes the leap to citizens (making it easy for citizens not to know about it!)
That said: either you have rule of law or you don’t.
That said: either you have rule of law or you don’t.
Reposted by Alisa R. Whitfield
Not even really pretending there’s a legitimate pretense for kidnapping a green card holder
March 10, 2025 at 4:19 AM
Not even really pretending there’s a legitimate pretense for kidnapping a green card holder
Reposted by Alisa R. Whitfield
Newcomers are vital to our communities. They’re entrepreneurs, teachers, nurses, artists, & fellow worshippers who make our neighborhoods vibrant & diverse.
Tell your elected officials our neighbors should be valued, not demonized & stand #UnitedInWelcome
https://buff.ly/4haUs0R
Tell your elected officials our neighbors should be valued, not demonized & stand #UnitedInWelcome
https://buff.ly/4haUs0R
January 28, 2025 at 8:47 PM
Newcomers are vital to our communities. They’re entrepreneurs, teachers, nurses, artists, & fellow worshippers who make our neighborhoods vibrant & diverse.
Tell your elected officials our neighbors should be valued, not demonized & stand #UnitedInWelcome
https://buff.ly/4haUs0R
Tell your elected officials our neighbors should be valued, not demonized & stand #UnitedInWelcome
https://buff.ly/4haUs0R
Reposted by Alisa R. Whitfield
Thanks to congressional leaders @raskin.house.gov, @jayapal.house.gov, @senatordurbin.bsky.social & @padilla.senate.gov for asking @secrubio.bsky.social to restart refugee resettlement services & end the refugee ban. More details in @politico:
www.politico.com/live-updates...
www.politico.com/live-updates...
Dems urge Rubio to rescue a refugee program he once supported
Leading Democrats on the House and Senate Judiciary Committees want the new Secretary of State to intervene in a funding pause to a resettlement program for refugees in the U.S.
www.politico.com
January 29, 2025 at 5:30 PM
Thanks to congressional leaders @raskin.house.gov, @jayapal.house.gov, @senatordurbin.bsky.social & @padilla.senate.gov for asking @secrubio.bsky.social to restart refugee resettlement services & end the refugee ban. More details in @politico:
www.politico.com/live-updates...
www.politico.com/live-updates...
Reposted by Alisa R. Whitfield
SHARE WIDELY.
KNOW YOUR RIGHTS.
With mass deportations starting today across the country, it is vitally important - for both citizens and non-citizens - to know your rights.
You have the right to remain silent. Assert it. You have the right to a lawyer. Ask for one.
(1/3)
KNOW YOUR RIGHTS.
With mass deportations starting today across the country, it is vitally important - for both citizens and non-citizens - to know your rights.
You have the right to remain silent. Assert it. You have the right to a lawyer. Ask for one.
(1/3)
January 22, 2025 at 2:19 AM
SHARE WIDELY.
KNOW YOUR RIGHTS.
With mass deportations starting today across the country, it is vitally important - for both citizens and non-citizens - to know your rights.
You have the right to remain silent. Assert it. You have the right to a lawyer. Ask for one.
(1/3)
KNOW YOUR RIGHTS.
With mass deportations starting today across the country, it is vitally important - for both citizens and non-citizens - to know your rights.
You have the right to remain silent. Assert it. You have the right to a lawyer. Ask for one.
(1/3)
Reposted by Alisa R. Whitfield
A proposal in Canada to use provincial jails to detain asylum seekers is deeply troubling. It undermines years of progress in protecting the rights of migrants and perpetuates harmful stereotypes.
Canada’s Dangerous Retreat on Migrant Rights
United States President Donald J. Trump’s barrage of anti-immigrant policies has garnered worldwide attention, but Canada is taking a dark turn of its own.
www.hrw.org
January 28, 2025 at 5:36 PM
A proposal in Canada to use provincial jails to detain asylum seekers is deeply troubling. It undermines years of progress in protecting the rights of migrants and perpetuates harmful stereotypes.
Reposted by Alisa R. Whitfield
Yesterday, President Trump signed a slew of executive actions that will have devastating effects on displaced families and individuals seeking safety.
You can help by telling your elected officials that you stand with immigrants and refugees:
bit.ly/UnitedInWelc...
You can help by telling your elected officials that you stand with immigrants and refugees:
bit.ly/UnitedInWelc...
United In Welcome
Tell Your Elected Officials: We Value Welcoming
bit.ly
January 21, 2025 at 10:18 PM
Yesterday, President Trump signed a slew of executive actions that will have devastating effects on displaced families and individuals seeking safety.
You can help by telling your elected officials that you stand with immigrants and refugees:
bit.ly/UnitedInWelc...
You can help by telling your elected officials that you stand with immigrants and refugees:
bit.ly/UnitedInWelc...