Michael Kagan
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michaelgkagan.bsky.social
Michael Kagan
@michaelgkagan.bsky.social
UNLV Immigration Clinic Director | Bagel expert | Author: The Battle to Stay in America | Private chef to my kids | Vegas law prof | Mets fan | Frequent typo writer | Speaking for myself only. Obv. | https://behindtheborder.substack.com
Pinned
My book, with a new afterword reflecting on COVID, the Biden years and the return of Trump, is out in paperback. Get your copy.

open.substack.com/pub/behindth...
The Battle To Stay in America
Now out in paperback, with a new afterword
open.substack.com
I talked again on City Cast Las Vegas about why ICE raids may get worse here and about what we all can do. If you come for my neighbor, you come through me. Say it with me. podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/c...
ICE Activity Is About to Intensify in Las Vegas — Here's What to Know
Podcast Episode · City Cast Las Vegas · 11/10/2025 · 26m
podcasts.apple.com
November 10, 2025 at 3:20 PM
A thing Democrats could do more is loudly and everywhere signal that they really like the communities they want represent. www.nytimes.com/2025/11/09/o...
Opinion | The Aesthetic That Won New York City
www.nytimes.com
November 9, 2025 at 7:06 PM
He’s so close to getting it
Hegseth: "This is a 1939 moment"
November 7, 2025 at 8:32 PM
Reposted by Michael Kagan
BREAKING: Cornell caved.

Here is the settlement agreement, signed today by the university's president, Michael Kotlikoff: statements.cornell.edu/2025/documen...
November 7, 2025 at 5:11 PM
This and the Writ of Habeas Corpus. The Founders did get some things right.
If nothing else, the Trump administration is doing wonders to highlight the importance of jury trials.
November 6, 2025 at 11:08 PM
Reposted by Michael Kagan
Their emergency legal petition, filed last week in U.S. District Court in Las Vegas, has launched a class action supported by the ACLU of Nevada and the UNLV Immigration Clinic.
Hundreds of ICE detainees in Nevada could get bond hearings under lawsuit
A federal judge in Nevada could soon decide whether two men — Victor Jacobo-Ramirez and Edgar Guevara-Alcantar, both denied bail under new immigration detention rules — could be the first of hundreds…
lasvegassun.com
November 6, 2025 at 9:30 PM
What a time to be alive
November 6, 2025 at 8:26 PM
November 6, 2025 at 12:05 AM
You'll be shocked to know that it was a Spanish Immersion Early Learning Center

wgntv.com/news/chicago...
VIDEO: Day care teacher detained by ICE agents on Chicago’s North Side
A day care teacher was taken into ICE custody Wednesday morning at the Rayito de Sol Spanish Immersion Early Learning Center in Chicago’s North Center neighborhood.
wgntv.com
November 5, 2025 at 6:17 PM
I guess Kavanaugh Stops aren't poplar with everyone
No one has figured out the exact scale of the Hispanic vote collapse yet, but I tried to get my arms around it. Read the rest here: www.thebulwark.com/p/2025-elect...
November 5, 2025 at 5:53 PM
Reposted by Michael Kagan
The public can imagine they want immigrants gone but the grim reality of mass deportations are not popular

bsky.app/profile/carl...
Restrictionists have been counting on this for a long time. Garrett Hardin in an oral history:
November 5, 2025 at 2:32 PM
Reposted by Michael Kagan
I continue to believe that the Trump *campaign* successfully convinced quite a lot of people that mass deportations did not mean mass deportations; that it meant targeted enforcement against “the bad guys.”

The problem for the Trump *administration* is that no one believes that anymore.
More broadly, heavily-Latino counties moved far to the right in NJ last year, and back to the left this year:
November 5, 2025 at 1:59 PM
Profiles in courage
November 5, 2025 at 5:56 AM
I can’t tell if the live tweets from the sandwich guy trial are satire
November 4, 2025 at 4:24 PM
Bomb Threats Briefly Close Some Polling Sites in New Jersey
www.nytimes.com
November 4, 2025 at 4:16 PM
Reposted by Michael Kagan
“‘Americans have been watching videos of ICE tackling a young mother, tear gas being used in a Chicago residential neighborhood, and the smashing of car windows. Have some of these raids gone too far?’

Without pause, Trump replied: ‘No, I think they haven’t gone far enough …’”
Meanwhile, he’s saying that the ICE raids targeting millions of US Christians “haven’t gone far enough”: www.thedailybeast.com/trump-says-h...
November 3, 2025 at 12:25 AM
Decent World Series

Baseball is beautiful
November 2, 2025 at 4:19 AM
In October, there were more immigration petitions for writs of habeas corpus filed (25) than in the prior SIX MONTHS COMBINED.

I've posted the data and some explanation about what's going on on my substack, Behind the Border. Bottom line: This is the new normal.

open.substack.com/pub/behindth...
November 1, 2025 at 5:31 PM
In September, there were 8 immigration-related habeas petitions in Nevada. In August, there were 7. In July, there were 4.

Anyone want to guess how many in October?
a woman holding a cell phone and a piece of paper with the words take a guess on the bottom
ALT: a woman holding a cell phone and a piece of paper with the words take a guess on the bottom
media.tenor.com
October 31, 2025 at 9:01 PM
Over the weekend I will post some striking Nevada-specific data about the increase in immigration habeas cases in October. Much of it is the result of the DHS/DOJ mass mandatory detention policies.
NEW: More than 100 federal judges have now rejected the Trump administration’s new policy to lock up nearly everyone facing deportation — including 12 judges appointed by Trump, according to a POLITICO analysis.

Only 2 judges have sided with ICE.

www.politico.com/news/2025/10...
More than 100 judges have ruled against the Trump admin’s mandatory detention policy
A POLITICO review of the rulings shows judges appointed by every president since Ronald Reagan have rebuked the administration’s new interpretation of immigration law.
www.politico.com
October 31, 2025 at 8:55 PM
Reposted by Michael Kagan
A lot of law review articles could be a lot shorter than they are, which would make them easier to read and more likely to be read.
October 29, 2025 at 8:24 PM
Reposted by Michael Kagan
October 30, 2025 at 5:25 PM
Reposted by Michael Kagan
I cannot believe there are still people in my mentions arguing that boycotting an election because the candidates aren’t addressing your issue is a way to get them to pay attention.
two men are talking to each other and one of them says that 's not how it works
ALT: two men are talking to each other and one of them says that 's not how it works
media.tenor.com
October 29, 2025 at 7:41 PM
Worst HOA board member ever
Vance says it is "totally reasonable and acceptable" for people to not want to live next door to people who speak a different language than they do
October 29, 2025 at 7:52 PM