Last Thursday night, I had dinner at the home of Baptist pastor Michael Woolf, his wife, Anna Piela, and their young daughter. We ate lasagna that Woolf had cooked. The next morning, a Reuters photo of Woolf’s arrest at a…
Former Charlotte mayor fears, ‘If you look brown, you’re going down’
The strangest thing about driving around Charlotte, N.C., today was how quiet it was. In hours of patrolling the city with a Baptist pastor and layman Nov. 17, we began to notice the absence of foot traffic in neighborhoods normally…
The ICE Age is upon us
Besides water hoses, German Shepherds, Billy clubs and racial epithets, what truly makes today’s ICE agents — dressed like militarized Klansmen and women — any different from yesterday’s state-sanctioned terror? The Ice Age, the one taught in science class, ended…
Muslim artist detained by ICE is being ‘punished’ for his social media posts, his lawyers say
Attorneys for Ya’akub Ira Vijandre, a Filipino artist being held by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement in Georgia, are challenging his detention in court, arguing he is being “punished for his faith, his speech and his political beliefs.”
A conversation with Michael Woolf about ICE and Chicago
On Halloween, ICE agents carried out a number of raids in and around Chicagoland — including in Evanston, home of Lake Street Church, an Alliance of Baptist congregation. In response, Lake Street’s senior pastor, Michael Woolf, joined protests at the…
Let justice roll down like sandwiches
“Jurors Say Baloney to Claim that Sandwich Hurler Tried to Harm Federal Agent” That’s how The New York Times introduced a report detailing the government case against Sean C. Dunn, age 37, a former paralegal in the Department of Justice…
Trump plans call center in Nashville to deport children
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement plans to escalate the Trump administration’s child deportation campaign with a call center in Nashville, Tenn. “In the notice posted to a government contracting website on Tuesday, ICE officials said there is an ‘immediate need’…
Surviving white terror in the age of Trump and Miller
Over the past four weeks, I’ve remained close to home, venturing out only when Brad accompanies me. I’ve avoided meeting friends at coffee shops — spaces where ICE has targeted African Americans and immigrant communities. My doctoral work has been…
ICE rampage reminds state rep of his communist past
Having a masked immigration agent point a loaded gun at him was frightening enough for Illinois State Rep. Hoan Huynh, but just as terrifying were the memories it evoked from his previous life in a communist country. “I think back…
‘Never before have we seen this,’ Pritzker and Perryman agree
The politicization of democracy is one of the most disturbing precedents of Donald Trump’s second presidency, Democracy Forward President Skye Perryman said during a livestreamed conversation with Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker. American democracy and constitutional freedoms never have endured the…
Most Americans now see Trump as a dangerous dictator
After months of data collection and analysis, we at PRRI have just released our 16th annual American Values Survey, conducted in partnership with our colleagues E.J. Dionne Jr. and Bill Galston at the Brookings Institution. Amid all the bad news, the new…
Amid ICE Raids, Korean American Churches Stay Quiet
When news broke last month that ICE had detained more than 300 Korean nationals at a Hyundai plant near Savannah, Georgia, Christina Shin took a break from posting reviews of beauty products and irreverent slice-of-life videos on TikTok to address the issue…