Some Episcopal clergy invoke faith to counter ‘fascism’ after ICE killing of citizen in Minnesota; Episcopal News Service, January 13, 2026

David Paulsen, Episcopal News Service; Some Episcopal clergy invoke faith to counter ‘fascism’ after ICE killing of citizen in Minnesota

"When a U.S. citizen, 37-year-old Renee Nicole Good, was killed last week by federal immigration officials in Minneapolis, Minnesota, the congregation at Grace Episcopal Church responded by finding solace in their faith. They gathered for worship and prayer. The Rev. Susan Daughtry, Grace’s rector, invited members that evening, Jan. 7, for an impromptu Compline on Zoom, and they grieved together.

Grace Episcopal Church is located about three miles from where an Immigration and Customs Enforcement official shot and killed Good in her car. Their brief altercation and its deadly conclusion were captured on video, generating intense reactions on all sides, from the White House to American communities far from the violent scene on a residential Minneapolis street.

Since then, Episcopalians and Episcopal clergy across the United States have joined anti-ICE protests and attended prayer vigils for Good. Some read her name in their Sunday services during the Prayers of the People. Many are looking to Jesus’ life and teachings for guidance on how best to respond, as Christians, to what some fear is an increasingly authoritarian and unchecked federal government.

“It’s been a painful week in Minnesota, and this is a critical moment in the history of our nation,” Minnesota Bishop Craig Loya said in a Facebook post inviting Episcopalians to join an online prayer vigil at 7 p.m. Central Jan. 13 on Zoom. Presiding Bishop Sean Rowe also will participate.

The Episcopal Church also is promoting its Protesting Faithfully tool kit, offering “spiritual grounding and practical resources for faithful presence at protests and public demonstrations.”"

Personal Details of Thousands of Border Patrol and ICE Goons Allegedly Leaked in Huge Data Breach; The Daily Beast, January 13, 2026

Tom Latchem , The Daily Beast; Personal Details of Thousands of Border Patrol and ICE Goons Allegedly Leaked in Huge Data Breach

"Sensitive details of around 4,500 ICE and Border Patrol employees—including almost 2,000 agents working in frontline enforcement—have allegedly been released by a Department of Homeland Security whistleblower following last week’s fatal shooting of Renee Nicole Good...

Prior to the Monday’s leak, which Skinner said he received on Monday, ICE List had been in possession of details of around 2,000 federal immigration staff, including names it has chosen not to make public. 

Roughly 800 of these, he said, are frontline agents or are permitted to deputise for them on the ground. The latest leak brings details of the total number of federal immigration staff in its possession to around 6,500...

He added: “We will make exceptions on a case-by-case basis, the best examples of which will be those who work in childcare within the agency, and nurses. There will be more exceptions, but we will have a discussion once the team flags a position as something we need to think twice about...

He said his project was important because DHS refuses to hold its own agents accountable for violations of the law."

Trump Has Another Justification for the Shooting of Renee Good: Disrespect; The New York Times, January 12, 2026

Luke Broadwater and Katie Rogers , The New York Times; Trump Has Another Justification for the Shooting of Renee Good: Disrespect

"President Trump has added another justification for the fatal shooting of Renee Good by an ICE agent in Minnesota: She behaved badly.

“At a very minimum, that woman was very, very disrespectful to law enforcement,” Mr. Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One on Sunday evening."

The Trump Administration's Deportation Reels Keep Getting Copyright Strikes for Using Music Without Permission; Reason , February/ March 2026 Issue

 AUTUMN BILLINGS , Reason; The Trump Administration's Deportation Reels Keep Getting Copyright Strikes for Using Music Without Permission

"As masked Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents deploy to U.S. cities, the Trump administration is also running a social media campaign. Its effort to stay viral online is colliding with copyright law.

Between January 26 and November 10, 2025, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) posted 487 times on Instagram—more than 28 percent of the agency's total posting since joining the platform in 2014. The posts promote the crackdown by mixing 20th century propaganda with modern memes, and they feature a wide range of popular imagery and audio.

But not all the content they use has been licensed—or welcomed. Several creators have pushed back on the unauthorized use of their copyright-protected work."

ICE Agent Not ‘Run Over’ in Minneapolis: NewsGuard’s False Claim of the Week; NewsGuard's Reality Check, January 9, 2026

NewsGuard's Reality Check ; ICE Agent Not ‘Run Over’ in Minneapolis: NewsGuard’s False Claim of the Week

[Kip Currier: The fact-checking and news and information quality assessment organization NewsGuard serves as a crucial countervailing force to disinformation, misinformation, and conspiracy theories.

This week, NewsGuard debunked falsehoods about an ICE agent alleged to have been run over in Minneapolis by Renee Nicole Good, who was shot and killed by the agent on January 7, 2026.

In my recently published Ethics, Information, and Technology book, I profile NewsGuard's debunking of the utterly untrue claims of pet-eating by immigrants in Springfield, Ohio, which was amplified by Donald Trump and JD Vance during the 2024 Presidential election.]

[Excerpt]

"NewsGuard’s “False Claim of the Week” highlights a false claim from NewsGuard’s False Claim Fingerprints proprietary database of provably false claims and their debunks. The claim that the ICE agent who reportedly fatally shot a woman driving an SUV in Minneapolis was run over or nearly run over by her vehicle is NewsGuard’s “False Claim of the Week” due to its widespread appearance across social media platforms and websites, its high engagement levels, and the high-profile nature of the sources promoting it. Those three factors, as well as both its significant subject matter and potential for harm, makes it our False Claim of the Week."

Some Native Americans draw shocked response over contract to design immigration detention centers; AP, December 13, 2025

HEATHER HOLLINGSWORTH, JOSHUA GOODMAN AND JOHN HANNA , AP; Some Native Americans draw shocked response over contract to design immigration detention centers

"The Prairie Band Potawatomi Nation, whose ancestors were uprooted by the U.S. from the Great Lakes region in the 1830s, are facing outrage from fellow Native Americans over plans to profit from another forced removal: President Donald Trump’s mass deportation campaign. 

A newly established tribal business entity quietly signed a nearly $30 million federal contract in October to come up with an early design for immigrant detention centers across the U.S. Amid the backlash, the tribe says it’s trying to get out of it...

Tribal Chairman Joseph “Zeke” Rupnick promised “full transparency” about what he described as an “evolving situation.” In a video message to tribal members Friday, he said the tribe is talking with legal counsel about ways to end the contract. 

He alluded to the time when federal agents forcibly removed hundreds of Prairie Band Potawatomi families from their homes and ultimately corralled them on a reservation just north of Topeka.

“We know our Indian reservations were the government’s first attempts at detention centers,” Rupnick said in the video message. “We were placed here because we were prisoners of war. So we must ask ourselves why we would ever participate in something that mirrors the harm and the trauma once done to our people.”"

Immigration Agents Are Using Air Passenger Data for Deportation Effort; The New York Times, December 12, 2025

Hamed Aleaziz, The New York Times; Immigration Agents Are Using Air Passenger Data for Deportation Effort

"The Trump administration is providing the names of all air travelers to immigration officials, substantially expanding its use of data sharing to expel people under deportation orders.

Under the previously undisclosed program, the Transportation Security Administration provides a list multiple times a week to Immigration and Customs Enforcement of travelers who will be coming through airports. ICE can then match the list against its own database of people subject to deportation and send agents to the airport to detain those people.

It’s unclear how many arrests have been made as a result of the collaboration."

Kilmar Abrego Garcia released after judge rules Trump admin lacked valid removal order; Fox News, December 11, 2025

Louis Casiano , Fox News; Kilmar Abrego Garcia released after judge rules Trump admin lacked valid removal order

"Kilmar Abrego Garcia, the El Salvadoran illegal immigrant that became the face of the Trump administration's mass deportation campaign, has been released from detention.

Garcia's lawyer confirmed his release with Fox News. 

His release came after a federal judge on Thursday ordered he be freed."

WATCH: Rep. Magaziner confronts Noem with deported U.S. military veteran on Zoom in hearing; PBS, December 11, 2025

PBS ; WATCH: Rep. Magaziner confronts Noem with deported U.S. military veteran on Zoom in hearing

"Democrats questioned Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem about several deportations on Thursday, including identifying members of the House hearing audience they said had been deported or had family members who had been improperly treated by the immigration system.

Watch the video clip in the video above.

Noem said she would review the cases of several called out by Rep. Seth Magaziner of Rhode Island. One, a combat veteran, appeared on a screen via a video call. Magaziner said the Purple Heart recipient had been deported earlier this year."

Federal judge orders Kilmar Abrego Garcia released from ICE custody; Fox News, December 11, 2025

 Breanne Deppisch , Alex Nitzberg , Fox News; Federal judge orders Kilmar Abrego Garcia released from ICE custody

"A federal judge in Greenbelt, Maryland, on Thursday ordered Salvadoran migrant Kilmar Abrego Garcia released from ICE custody, capping — for now – an extraordinary, 10-month legal fight that has spanned two continents, multiple federal courts, and prompted dozens of hearings in the aftermath of his removal.

U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis ordered Abrego Garcia released from the ICE Moshannon Valley Processing Center in Philipsburg, Pa., ruling that the Trump administration had not obtained the final notice of removal order needed to remove him to a third country."

This Prison Rehabilitated Inmates. Until ICE Paid to Fill It With Immigrants.; The New York Times, December 7, 2025

Allison McCann

Visuals by Cheney Orr

, The New York Times; This Prison Rehabilitated Inmates. Until ICE Paid to Fill It With Immigrants. Over two decades, a minimum-security prison aimed at helping inmates prepare to leave prison was a point of civic pride. Now, state officials have converted it to ICE detention.

[Kip Currier: What a troubling story to see how a Nebraska prison focused on helping inmates to reenter society has been converted to a "black box" detention facility given another derogatory nickname -- Cornhusker Clink -- that, like South Florida's Alligator Alcatraz, degrades the dignity of vulnerable persons.

Yesterday (12/6/25) I attended a Justice and Peace Mass at an Episcopal Church in Western Pennsylvania to pray for and acknowledge the plight of detainees, refugees, and immigrants. We also prayed for "continued blessings on all peacemakers, on leaders who value peace, and on everyone who promotes nonviolent solutions to conflict."

Two sections of the prayers from the Mass are particularly relevant to this story about the converted Nebraska ice facility:

We pray for all immigrants, refugees, and pilgrims from around the world, that they may be welcomed in our midst and be treated with fairness, dignity, and respect. 

God of outcasts and wanderers

Hear our prayer...

We pray for all prisoners and captives; that a spirit of forgiveness may replace vengeance and retribution; and that we, with all the destitute, lonely, and oppressed, may be restored to the fullness of God's grace.

God of absolution and mercy,

Hear our prayer

We also prayed for all those who oversee the persons held within these detention facilities.]

[Excerpt]

"For more than two decades, the prison, known as the Work Ethic Camp, was Nebraska’s only state prison geared solely toward rehabilitation. The facility held nonviolent felony offenders who were nearing the end of their sentences and prepared them, with counseling, schooling and job training, to return to the outside world.

That changed this fall, after state officials announced that the Work Ethic Camp would be replaced with a 300-bed, high security Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention center to support President Trump’s national crackdown on illegal immigration.

And so a place that had been devoted to second chances now had a very different mission, and a new name to go with it: “The Cornhusker Clink.”

Detainees at ‘Alligator Alcatraz’ facing ‘harrowing human right violations’, new report alleges; The Guardian, December 4, 2025

Richard Luscombe, The Guardian; Detainees at ‘Alligator Alcatraz’ facing ‘harrowing human right violations’, new report alleges

"Detainees at the notorious Florida immigration jail known as “Alligator Alcatraz” were shackled inside a 2ft high metal cage and left outside without water for up to a day at a time, a shocking report published on Thursday by Amnesty International alleges.

The human rights group said migrants held at the state-run Everglades facility, and at Miami’s Krome immigration processing center operated by a private company on behalf of the Trump administration, continue to be exposed to “cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment” rising in some cases to torture.

The cage, known to detainees as “the box”, is used by guards for the arbitrary punishment of trivial or non-existent offenses, according to the report compiled from interviews with detainees and advocacy groups, and a site visit to Krome made by Amnesty workers in September."

Torture and Enforced Disappearances in the Sunshine State: Human Rights Violations at “Alligator Alcatraz” and Krome in Florida; Amnesty International, December 4, 2025

Amnesty International; Torture and Enforced Disappearances in the Sunshine State: Human Rights Violations at “Alligator Alcatraz” and Krome in Florida

"This report presents Amnesty International’s findings from a research trip to southern Florida in September 2025 to document:

• Human rights impacts of federal and state migration and asylum policies on mass detention and deportation
• Access to due process and
• Detention conditions since President Trump took office on January 20, 2025.

In particular, it focuses on detention conditions at the Krome North Service Processing Center (Krome) and the Everglades Detention Facility, also known as “Alligator Alcatraz.”

Krome is an ICE detention facility located in Miami-Dade County on the edge of the Everglades. In 2025, the facility has faced heightened scrutiny after reports of severe overcrowding and several deaths. Amnesty International documented delays in intake procedures, overcrowding in temporary processing areas, inadequate and inaccessible medical care, alarming disciplinary practices including the use of prolonged solitary confinement, and challenges in access to legal representation and due process at Krome.

“Alligator Alcatraz” opened in July 2025 with the capacity to detain around 3,000 people. Amnesty International’s research concludes that people arbitrarily detained in “Alligator Alcatraz” are being held in inhuman and unsanitary conditions, including overflowing toilets with fecal matter seeping into where people are sleeping, limited access to showers, exposure to insects without protective measures, lights on 24 hours a day, poor quality food and water, and lack of privacy.

Amnesty International considers that detention conditions at both facilities amount to cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment. The use of prolonged solitary confinement at Krome and the use of the ‘box’ at “Alligator Alcatraz” amount to torture or other ill-treatment.

Amnesty International calls on the Government of the United States to:

• End its cruel mass immigration detention and deportation machine
• Stop the criminalization of migration
• Bar the use of state-owned facilities for immigration custody detention
• Ensure thorough investigations into all deaths, abuses, and allegations of torture in custody, and
• Comply with international human rights law and standards."

‘I’ve Been Doing This Work for 25 Years and I’ve Never Seen Such Fear’; The New York Times, November 30, 2025

David French, The New York Times; ‘I’ve Been Doing This Work for 25 Years and I’ve Never Seen Such Fear’

[Kip Currier: Amidst appalling stories of brutality by masked ICE agents against migrants, detainees, immigrants, and even allied clergy members, examples of people helping and loving their neighbors, as described in David French's 11/30/25 New York Times piece, are heartening and inspiring.

Yesterday's 11/30/25 liturgical reading Romans 13:11-14 sees the apostle Paul's letter exhorting followers of Christ to "lay aside the works of darkness and put on the armor of light". It's a particularly timely and pertinent reminder in conjunction with French's statement about present-day darkness and light:

The story of America is far from perfect, but if there is one constant in our history it’s that American darkness is always answered by American light.

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/11/30/opinion/chicago-ice-new-life-centers.html 

What can each of us do to promote American light -- to put on the armor of light -- over the works of darkness?

To show compassion and generosity over hate and cruelty?

To see ourselves and those we love in the eyes of a stranger or migrant?]

 

[Excerpt]

"In the book of Leviticus, God says to his people, “When a stranger sojourns with you in your land, you shall not do him wrong. You shall treat the stranger who sojourns with you as the native among you, and you shall love him as yourself, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt: I am the Lord your God.”

Providing care for immigrants is one of scripture’s clearest commands. It is one of the great tragedies of our time that millions of Christians are cheering and applauding the administration’s brutal crackdown on immigrants.

But not all Christians. There are believers, Catholic and Protestant alike, who are rallying to treat migrants with dignity, compassion and respect. New Life gets government funding for parts of its work, but DeMateo told me that when it began to support immigrant families during Operation Midway Blitz, it did so entirely on its own...

The story of America is far from perfect, but if there is one constant in our history it’s that American darkness is always answered by American light.

The masked agents of ICE make headlines with their aggression. But it’s important to answer those headlines with a different story, of volunteers who fulfill God’s command to love their neighbor — with their time, their money and their friendship."

Pope Leo calls out 'extremely disrespectful' treatment of migrants in the U.S.; NPR, November 18, 2025

Jason DeRose, NPR; Pope Leo calls out 'extremely disrespectful' treatment of migrants in the U.S.

"Pope Leo XIV said he is troubled by the violent and at times "extremely disrespectful" ways migrants have been treated in the United States. 

The Pope made his remarks while answering questions from journalists at Castel Gandolfo, the papal vacation residence outside Rome. 

"We have to look for ways of treating people humanely, treating people with the dignity that they have. If people are in the United States illegally, there are ways to treat that. There are courts. There's a system of justice," the Pope said. 

"No one has said that the United States should have open borders," the Pope continued. "I think every country has the right to determine who enters, how, and when.""

Jurors Find Sandwich Hurler Not Guilty of Assault; The New York Times, November 6, 2025

Zach Montague , The New York Times; Jurors Find Sandwich Hurler Not Guilty of Assault

"Sean C. Dunn, the man who pitched a sandwich at the chest of a federal agent in an unintentionally viral act of opposition to President Trump's law enforcement policies in Washington, was acquitted on Thursday after a jury found him not guilty of misdemeanor assault. 

The verdict, which arrived after roughly seven hours of deliberation, capped a nearly three-month effort to penalize Mr. Dunn for the August outburst and the resulting chase to arrest him. The government had previously failed to persuade a grand jury to charge him with a felony. 

It marked a significant setback for Jeanine Pirro, the U.S. attorney in Washington, who made Mr. Dunn’s case a centerpiece of Mr. Trump’s aggressive policing and prosecution strategy in the city. Washington residents have now twice rejected the government’s case against Mr. Dunn, after they refused to indict others caught up in the president’s crackdown.

The jury determined that the launching of the 12-inch deli sandwich from what the government described as “point-blank range” was not an attempt to cause bodily injury, preventing a conviction."

Employee of Trump-Supporting Superstore Fired for Filming Brutal Immigration Raid; The Daily Beast, November 3, 2025

Tom Latchem , The Daily Beast; Employee of Trump-Supporting Superstore Fired for Filming Brutal Immigration Raid

[Kip Currier: The excessive force and brutality of these raids cannot and should not be normalized. This is not normal or desirable conduct by law enforcement in a democracy.

Boycotts are one of the best ways to send messages to billionaires -- like John Menard, Jr. -- that this kind of brutal action against human beings who are deserving of dignity and due process will not be tolerated by a majority of the citizens of this country. Targeted boycotts of Teslas sent a message to Elon Musk and these types of peaceful citizen responses can be used to hold other oligarchs accountable for the undemocratic actions that they overtly and tacitly support.

Why are law enforcement persons who use excessive force to apprehend people, who are in most cases not resisting detention, not being held accountable for their unprofessional actions?

Why are they permitted to smash car windows with batons, throw people to the ground, tear gas children's parties, threaten news media and ordinary citizens for permissibly filming public arrests, and even "give the finger" to people who are observing and in some cases documenting their actions?

This is not acceptable in our democracy. These actions by often-masked law enforcement persons are more in keeping with the behaviors of militias and secret police forces who see themselves as not answerable to we the people.

I have hope and faith in the rule of law that the individuals and agencies who are engaging in this conduct can and will be held legally accountable at some point.

We must also continue to call out these lawless actions and not permit ourselves to become inured and voiceless to the brutality that we can see with our own eyes.]

[Excerpt]

"A security guard working at a superstore owned by an ally of Donald Trump was fired after filming a brutal Department of Homeland Security immigration raid in its parking lot.

Ricardo Mendez was positioned at the door of Menards—a Midwestern chain of home-improvement stores whose billionaire owner, John Menard Jr., is a GOP megadonor—in the Chicago suburb of Cicero, Illinois, when agents deployed by DHS arrived on Tuesday afternoon...

What came next was brutal, as the Puerto Rican security guard filmed two Border Patrol agents smashing the window of a white Ford pickup with their batons. 

“The poor guy was surrounded by agents, workers, and customers,” said Mendez, 27, who added that the incident was so dramatic and shocking that other store staff also came out to film."

Clearfield County will make $1M in 5-year contracts with ICE, Moshannon detention center operator; Spotlight PA, October 7, 2025

 

Ann Rejrat for Spotlight PA State College , Spotlight PA; Clearfield County will make $1M in 5-year contracts with ICE, Moshannon detention center operator

[Kip Currier: Following the conclusion of the 115th Annual Convention of the Northwestern Pennsylvania Episcopal Diocese, today I accompanied several Episcopal priests, a deacon, and a lay member for a prayer vigil where peaceful protests against the largest immigrant detention facility in the Northeast have been held for much of this year. The detention site is located near Clearfield County's small town of Philipsburg (a 30-40 minute drive from the main campus of Pennsylvania State University). Euphemistically referred to as the Moshannon Valley Processing Center, its blandly generic name -- and sign, seen below --  intentionally obscures its purpose and the individual people it holds. Numerous allegations of human rights and due process violations have been reported.]

[Excerpt]

"Clearfield County will make $1 million over five years to act as the middleman between ICE and the private contractor that operates the Moshannon Valley Processing Center, the largest immigration detention facility in the Northeast.

The county enters the final year of its contracts with ICE and the GEO Group as the Trump administration has intensified efforts to deport undocumented immigrants.

Moshannon — which had already been accused of physical and psychological abuse, inadequate health care, and poor conditions — has also come under increased scrutiny over the past several months after the hanging death of Chaofeng Ge, a Chinese citizen who was detained at the facility near Philipsburg.

Local advocates have protested, called for Moshannon’s closure, and pressured county commissioners not to renew the contracts for the detention center."

Video shows federal agent shoot Chicago pastor in head with pepper ball during Broadview ICE protest; Fox 32 Chicago, October 8, 2025

Nic Flosi, Fox 32 Chicago; Video shows federal agent shoot Chicago pastor in head with pepper ball during Broadview ICE protest

"A video shows a federal agent firing pepper balls at protesters outside the ICE processing center in the Chicago suburb of Broadview last month, striking a Chicago pastor in the head.

One of the agents begins firing pepper balls and one of them hits Pastor David Black of the First Presbyterian Church in the Woodlawn neighborhood. Black then falls to the ground as others come to his aid.

Hayes told Storyful she had been at the protest only minutes when she saw Black get hit. In a post on Bluesky, she said Black was OK."

Kristi Noem Says ICE Will Be ‘All Over’ the Super Bowl; The New York Times, October 4, 2025

 Derrick Bryson Taylor, The New York Times; Kristi Noem Says ICE Will Be ‘All Over’ the Super Bowl

[Kip Currier: Here's a character-revealing line from DHS head Kristi Noem's recent podcast interview:

"...Noem replied, “They suck and we’ll win and God will bless us.”]

[Excerpt]

"Asked on Friday by the right-wing podcaster Benny Johnson if there would be “ICE enforcement” at the Super Bowl, Noem replied, “There will be,” adding that federal immigration officers would be “all over” the event.

“I have the responsibility for making sure everybody goes to the Super Bowl, has the opportunity to enjoy it and to leave,” Noem said on “The Benny Show.” People should not attend the event, she went on, unless they are “law-abiding Americans who love this country.”...

When Johnson suggested in his interview with Noem that the N.F.L. was sending a message to the Trump administration by choosing Bad Bunny to headline the Super Bowl halftime show, Noem replied, “They suck and we’ll win and God will bless us.”"