JOURNALISM: ICE Mostly Targeting People With No Criminal Convictions
Stories you might have missed. Following, sharing, subscribing, and donating to public interest journalism is literally an action you can take to fight for democracy.
Good afternoon, everyone. Not all news can be breaking news. Great journalism takes time, research, and resources. Below is a bunch of great journalism you may have missed in the last few weeks.
Being well-informed is the first step in fighting back, because we can’t call our representatives, vote the liars out, or take to the streets in protest over corruption, waste, and abuse if we’ve never even heard about it. That’s why journalism is so important. That’s why we have to fight for it.
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Here’s what you missed:
Common Dreams reports that according to a newly released dataset covering ICE detentions between October 1 and November 15, 2025, about 73% of nearly 44,900 people booked into ICE custody had no criminal convictions—and many of those had no pending charges either. The data also show that only 5% had a violent-crime conviction. This undermines government claims that the recent wave of immigration arrests is aimed at “the worst of the worst,” suggesting instead that ICE is detaining mostly non-criminal immigrants. Go read and support Common Dreams
CBS News also crunched ICE numbers and found that the number of immigration detainees without criminal records has surged under the current administration—increasing more than 2,000% since January 2025. The results further challenge Kristi Noem and Tom Homan’s repeated lies that they are targeting dangerous criminals. CBS News doesn’t need your money but click this link to share.
Here’s a video from an immigration attorney that refutes Noem’s lies. Spread it. We’re in an information war with liars who are violating the Constitution.
And here’s the October Pro Publica piece that found over 170 citizens who’d been held by ICE. Read and support Pro Publica.
Block Club Chicago reported that the federal “risk” list used to justify ICE arrests remains opaque. Courts intervened after ICE failed to justify the detentions of 400 arrestees with any evidence of criminal or public-safety risk, prompting an order to release them. Meanwhile, community advocates and lawyers warn that because ICE has given little transparency about who was targeted and why, many people may have been detained without sufficient grounds. Go read and support Block Club Chicago
Here’s a great carousel post from the Chicago Tribune on Instagram. Follow @chicagotribune
Have you noticed how in videos of ICE harrassing people in cars, agents often stick a phone in the person’s face and take a picture? 404 Media reports that an internal DHS document says you can’t refuse a face scan by ICE agents using the Mobile Fortify facial-recognition app, and that any photos agents take with the app—including of U.S. citizens—are stored for 15 years. ICE and CBP have been scanning people’s faces in public to check citizenship, but also, it seems, do mass surveillance. Go read and support 404 Media
Here’s an Instagram video on it. Follow @thedylanschmidt
Meanwhile, Truthout reports that hundreds of agents from U.S. Border Patrol are preparing a large-scale immigration enforcement campaign dubbed Swamp Sweep—targeting southeast Louisiana and southern Mississippi. Many immigrant-serving businesses in and around New Orleans have already temporarily closed or reduced activity; some local workers say they are staying off the streets rather than risk detention. Go read and support Truthout
Popular Information reports that Trump’s hand-picked special envoy for “peace missions,” real estate developer Steve Witkoff, is negotiating a Ukraine peace deal while maintaining a major business partnership with Len Blavatnik, a billionaire whom Ukraine has sanctioned for at least 10 years over his connections to Putin. Witkoff and Blavatnik are co-developing a massive luxury condo project in New York, and Witkoff’s financial disclosure shows ongoing ties to Blavatnik. Leaked transcripts show Witkoff advancing a “Trump plan” for Ukraine that closely tracked Russian demands, raising questions about why a negotiator financially linked to a Ukraine-sanctioned, Russia-connected billionaire is shaping U.S. policy on the war. Go read and support Popular Information
AP News reports that U.S. Border Patrol has been using a nationwide network of license-plate reader cameras and algorithmic “pattern” analysis to flag and stop American drivers far from the border, with local police often keeping Border Patrol’s role hidden. The program has led to searches and detentions of innocent people. CBP defends the system, but legal experts say it functions as a domestic surveillance dragnet that may violate the Fourth Amendment. Go read the full AP investigation and support them. Watch their video report right here:
The Guardian reports that billionaire Larry Ellison discussed a media merger deal between Paramount Skydance and Warner Brothers Discovery with White House officials. Their talks included the possibility of firing CNN anchors Trump doesn’t care for, like Erin Burnett and Brianna Keilar, if the merger succeeds. Brian’s note: This media consolidation deal would combine two major conglomerates in a lose-lose for the public. Media consolidation means a worse news product and less viewpoint diversity. The newsrooms under this media monopoly would be subject to editorial pressure from Trump allies. Ellison and his son already showed their willingness to hire unqualified partisans in order to advance political agendas when they made grifter Bari Weiss the head of CBS News.
Mother Jones reports that under the Rescissions Act, $60 million in public media funding has been eliminated—cuts that will force reductions at rural public radio outlets. Public media provides critical reporting in rural areas, like during the October severe storm that displaced thousands in Alaska. The loss of funding threatens public media’s ability to serve communities with limited access to local journalism. This disproportionately affects rural and Indigenous areas. Brian’s note: We need to publicly fund media! The world’s healthiest democracy’s spend over $100 per capita on public media. In the US we spend about $2 per capita. We can see the difference a lack of robustly funded public media makes in our political outcomes.
Extremist Watch
LGBTQ Nation reports that Tucker Carlson repeatedly uttered the slur f****t during a November 27 segment where he pressured British broadcaster Piers Morgan to also say the slur on-camera. Carlson defended his usage as a matter of free-speech rights after claiming that “a female viewer” was arrested after using the anti-gay slur. Carlson “provided no proof” that any such arrest actually occurred. Brian’s note: Lately, Carlson has been trying to appeal to non-extremist young people with populist rhetoric about affordability. Hopefully young folks don’t fall for it because Carlson’s political solutions are always more white supremacy and bigotry. Read and support LGBTQ Nation
Never Learned To Read Zone
Share these great pieces of video journalism and follow these accounts.
WILD story. Election fraudster Tina Peters’ lawyer says Trump should free his client via a military raid at the Colorado prison where she’s held. Follow @imkyleclark
“Internal Pentagon memos obtained by NPR reveal that the Defense Department under Pete Hegseth is getting ready to sever all support to Scouting America, formerly known as the Boy Scouts of America. That would mark the end of a century-long partnership.” Follow @npr
“CarolAnn Tutera, a victim of David Gentile—the CEO sentenced to seven years for a fraud scheme—says she is disgusted that Trump pardoned him.” Plenty of problems with cable news, but this is great journalism from CNN and Tapper here. Every one of these corrupt pardons should be contextualized by journalists showing the public the suffering of the victims of those pardoned. This is what the public needs to see.
“Photographer Annie Flanagan went to Clairton, Pennsylvania, where residents live in the shadow of the country’s largest coke plant. Coke is a product used to manufacture steel. ProPublica’s investigation showed that levels of benzene, a cancer-causing gas, were 37 times higher than what the facility reported in the past. The Trump administration has halted efforts to monitor for benzene near large industrial plants like this one, leaving communities in the dark about the air they breathe.” Follow Pro Publica
Thanksgiving brought lots of coverage of Trump’s economy. More Perfect Union broke it down well in this video. “Turkey prices are up 36% this year. Ham? A whopping 49% more expensive than last year. And even pie crust is 13% more expensive, according to a recent study by Groundwork, AFT, and The Century Foundation. We broke down what’s behind the rising price-tag on your Thanksgiving dinner.” Follow More Perfect Union
Way Back Machine
Here are stories from the past that are relevant today.
ProPublica reported last year that Texas billionaires Tim Dunn and Farris Wilks (who owns the Daily Wire, btw) have built one of the most influential Christian nationalist political machines in America—pouring vast sums into PACs, media outlets, and dark-money groups to pull Texas sharply right and replace lawmakers who resist their radical agenda. Their network has helped purge moderates, boost figures like Ken Paxton, push religion into public schools, and extend their influence into Trump-aligned national organizations positioned to shape a future administration around biblical governance. Go read and support Pro Publica
In 2017, Jason Leopold reported for Buzzfeed that as Donald Trump’s casino company defaulted on $1.25 billion in bonds and headed toward bankruptcy, a lawyer representing the investors received a threatening call warning him to “stop fucking with Mr. Trump” and saying, “we know where you live… we’re going to your house for your wife and kids.” FBI records show the call came from a pay phone across from the theater where Trump was appearing that day and agents labeled it “overt extortion,” but the investigation was ultimately closed because prosecutors said they didn’t have enough evidence to move forward. Go read and support Jason Leopold
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