U.S. News/Police Violence
'Free America': Anti-Trump Protests Taking Place Nationwide on 4th of July
https://www.newsweek.com/free-america-protests-nationwide-july-4-2092433
Republican's Big Beautiful Bill Would Fund Trump’s Police State
Senate Passes Trump’s Big, Beautiful Boon for Police Surveillance
"Last month, Trump hosted leaders of the Fraternal Order of Police, the nation’s biggest police union, at the White House to mark their endorsement of his signature spending package. The FOP said it was endorsing Trump’s bill because of a provision that cuts federal taxes on overtime pay, which costs municipalities and their police departments millions of dollars in spending. Overtime usage tends to balloon as a result of increased policing and surveillance initiatives, especially in response to protests. In addition to easing the tax burden on police, the bill also includes billions of dollars for police to aid in surveillance and deportation efforts. It provides funding for state and local agencies to support operations by the Department of Homeland Security — which doesn’t stop at immigration enforcement."
Trump’s Big Beautiful Bill Would Explode Funding for ICE. Top Democrats Aren’t Talking About It
What $100 Billion in New ICE Funding Would Look Like
https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2025/07/ice-funding-100-billion-big-beautiful-bill/
GOOD NEWS: DHS intelligence bureau to reduce its staff by 75%
Judge blocks Trump from ending temporary Haitian immigration program
Supreme Court Lets Trump Banish Immigrants Held in a Desert Shipping Container to South Sudan
Supreme Court OKs Trump 'Third Country' Deportation of Men Held in Desert Shipping Container
https://www.commondreams.org/news/supreme-court-south-sudan-deportation
Supreme Court’s Ruling on Deportation Practices Raises Constitutional Concerns
https://davisvanguard.org/2025/07/supreme-court-decision-jeopardizes-rights/
Utah man wrongfully detained by ICE for nearly 50 days
https://ksltv.com/immigration-2025/utahn-detained-ice-50-days/792882/
'Get them the hell out': Trump says deporting US citizens could be 'next job'
https://www.rawstory.com/trump-deporting-us-citizens/
'We Will Not Accept This Intimidation,' Democratic NYC mayoral candidate Mamdani Says of Trump Threat to Arrest Him
https://www.commondreams.org/news/zohran-mamdani-trump
NYPD police union claims cops would flee the job in historic numbers if Mamdani wins
https://nypost.com/2025/07/05/us-news/nyc-cops-would-flee-the-job-if-mandami-wins-union-leaders/
Appeals Court Ruled Guantanamo Prisoner Can't Sue Government Contractors For Torturing Him
A man who was tortured at a CIA secret prison and remains imprisoned without charge in Guantanamo Bay can’t seek damages from government contractors that designed the torture program because federal courts don’t have jurisdiction over the treatment of people deemed enemy combatants, a Ninth Circuit panel determined.
ICE pays CoreCivic $4.2M a month to house detained immigrants at Leavenworth
https://fortune.com/2025/06/16/corecivic-leavenworth-prison-ice-no-bid-contract/
Musk, Trump reignite social media feud over big beautiful spending bill
Trump suggests slashing Tesla subsidies, Musk says 'cut it all'
Tesla Stocks Fall After Trump Threatened To Deport Musk
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/tesla-stock-drop-trump-musk-subsidies_n_68644d6fe4b06a831253f295
Trump escalates feud with Musk, threatens Tesla, SpaceX support
Trump Says He'll 'Take A Look' At Deporting Musk
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2025/07/01/trump-musk-south-africa/84427588007/
Military leaders aghast as Zuckerberg strolls into secret White House meeting
https://www.thedailybeast.com/zuckerbergs-bizarro-cameo-in-oval-office-meeting-freaked-out-visitors/
Trump to attend opening of "Alligator Alcatraz" ICE detention center
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/trump-alligator-alcatraz-detention-center-florida/
Trump’s ‘Alligator Alcatraz’ tour was a calculated celebration of the dystopian
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/jul/02/trump-alligator-alcatraz-florida-tour-dystopian
Rain Floods Trump's 'Hurricane Proof' Alligator Alcatraz
https://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/immigration/article309817040.html
Trump OKs using National Guard as immigration judges at the "Alligator Alcatraz" detention center
https://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/immigration/article309792865.html
Major Governor DeSantis/Republican party contributor was awarded Alligator Alcatraz contract
"One contractor stands out: CDR Maguire and its affiliated company, CDR Health. The companies and their married chief executives, Carlos Duart and Tina Vidal-Duart, have given a total of $1.9 million to the two state political action committees supporting DeSantis’ bids for governor and to the Republican Party of Florida, according to Florida campaign finance records."
https://www.miamiherald.com/news/politics-government/state-politics/article309886225.html
Trump administration is building a national citizenship data system
https://www.npr.org/2025/06/29/nx-s1-5409608/citizenship-trump-privacy-voting-database
State Department Wants to Spy on Student Visa Applicants’ Myspace Accounts
Trump Is Closing Every Door on Afghan Allies
https://reason.com/2025/07/01/the-u-s-is-closing-every-door-on-afghan-allies/
Trump's DOJ to strip naturalized Americans of citizenship for criminal offenses
https://www.npr.org/2025/06/30/nx-s1-5445398/denaturalization-trump-immigration-enforcement
ME governor won’t sign bill to limit police collaboration with ICE
Kristi Noem Says CNN Journalists ‘Could Be’ Prosecuted for Reporting on ICE App
Trump Officials Want to Prosecute Over the ICEBlock App. Lawyers Say That’s Unconstitutional
ICEBlock, an app for anonymously reporting ICE sightings, goes viral overnight after Bondi criticism
Man Fled Death Threats for Being Gay, Applied for Asylum and Married a U.S. Citizen. ICE Arrested Him Anyway
https://www.thecity.nyc/2025/06/27/ice-arrested-asylum-gay/
U.S. revokes visas for British band that chanted, ‘Death, death to the IDF’
UN Expert Exposes 60 Companies (Amazon) Aiding Israel’s Genocide
A Bald JD Vance Meme Got A Norwegian Tourist Banned From US
Australian Writer Detained for 12 Hours Trying to Enter US Says 'Cleaning Your Social Media' May Be Useless
How My Reporting on the Columbia Protests Led to my Deportation
Appeals court weighs Trump's use of wartime law to deport Venezuelans
ACLU Accuses ICE of Human Rights Violations at the Anchorage Correctional Complex
ICE agents blow open a family's door because he unintentionally rear-ended one of their vehicles
ICE’s Military-Style Raid Of A Los Angeles Flea Market Resulted In Two Arrests
More than half of the ICE arrests in San Diego were of people with no criminal record
ICE increasingly targets undocumented migrants with no criminal record
VA Governor Says 2,500 "Criminal" Illegal Immigrants Have Been Arrested
https://www.governor.virginia.gov/newsroom/news-releases/2025/july/name-1052820-en.html
Anger grows over alleged racial profiling in ICE raids
They've (ICE) raided known hubs for Latino workers almost daily – hardware store parking lots, car washes, and street vendor corners. Videos of many of those operations, filmed by bystanders and posted to social media, have shown agents arresting people who appear to be Latino as they stand on sidewalks or wait at bus stops.On Wednesday, the American Civil Liberties Union and other legal groups filed a federal class action lawsuit alleging that immigration agents roving the streets are targeting people based on the color of their skin or their apparent occupation. They want a judge to declare the raids unconstitutional.
https://www.npr.org/2025/07/04/nx-s1-5438396/antagonized-for-being-hispanic-growing-claims-of-racial-profiling-in-la-raids
Trump's Big Beautiful bill expands ICE/Border patrol facial recognition
https://www.biometricupdate.com/202506/trumps-megabill-expands-biometric-surveillance
ICE Is Using Their Mobile Fortify Facial Recognition App To ID Protesters
"The Mobile Fortify App empowers users with real-time biometric identity verification capabilities utilizing contactless fingerprints and facial images captured by the camera on an ICE issued cell phone without a secondary collection device. The app uses CBP's Traveler Verification Service and the Seizure and Apprehension Workflow that contains the biometric gallery of individuals for whom CBP maintains derogatory information for facial recognition."
‘We Live in a Surveillance State’: Reddit Users Explode Over Reports of ICE’s New Face and Fingerprint Scanning App
The Cross Border Xpress pedestrian bridge becomes 1st land border crossing to use facial recognition to ID everyone
Border Patrol Wants New Tech to Search for Hidden Data on Seized Phones
The Border Patrol said in a federal registry listing that the tools it’s seeking must have very specific capabilities, such as the ability to find a “hidden language” in a person’s text messages; identify specific objects, “like a red tricycle,” across different videos; access chats in encrypted messaging apps; and “find patterns” in large datasets for “intel generation.” The listing was first posted on June 20 and updated on July 1. CBP has been using Cellebrite to extract and analyze data from devices since 2008. But the agency said that it wants to “expand” and modernize its digital forensics program. Last year, CBP claims, it did searches on more than 47,000 electronic devices—which is slightly higher than the approximately 41,500 devices it searched in 2023 but a dramatic rise from 2015, when it searched just more than 8,500 devices.
Trump's DOJ sues LA over ‘sanctuary city’ policies
https://www.courthousenews.com/feds-sue-la-over-sanctuary-city-policies/
Trump Declares War on Los Angeles Following ICE Protests
https://www.thedailybeast.com/trump-declares-war-on-los-angeles-following-ice-protests/
Trump admin accuses LA of “discriminating” against ICE agents in lawsuit
Military Commander Asks Pete Hegseth To Scale Back Protest Troops In L.A.
Using the National Guard in DEA Raids Is the Worst Kind of Drug War Mission Creep
Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport uses facial recognition to ID passengers
Big Brother Trump Is Watching You
https://www.commondreams.org/opinion/trump-regime-surveillance
Palantir and BlueForge Alliance announced the launch of Warp Speed for Warships (U.S. Navy)
Datavault AI and the White House Experience Advisory Council work to expand VerifyU Digital IDs
The Past, Present, and Future of Police Facial Recognition Body Cams
Imagine a patrol officer walking down the street. Approaching a small gathering, her body camera vibrates twice and beeps—an alert. Hundreds of feet overhead, a drone silently surveys the scene, as a security camera at a nearby coffee shop zooms in on the crowd for a better view. The three livestreams converge, miles away, deep within the police department’s real-time crime center. Using facial recognition, an AI system scans the crowd, cross-referencing names with social media accounts and a database of outstanding warrants. Within seconds, the AI system has identified two suspects, flagging them for arrest. This is an example of “agentic AI”—a technology that goes beyond passive review and data analysis to proactively look for threats, initiate alerts, and make decisions. At a major international airport, where terrorism is a serious threat, this type of predictive policing could save lives. But at a political protest in a public park, the same scene evokes a far more troubling vision of state surveillance and control.
https://www.rstreet.org/research/the-past-present-and-future-of-police-body-cameras/
Protesters sue Orange County sheriff’s department over forced hijab removal
https://www.courthousenews.com/protesters-sue-orange-county-over-forced-hijab-removal/
EU police racism is fueled by police profiling and predictive policing software
(Although this report is about predictive policing in Europe, it offers insight into predictive policing in the U.S. under the current administration.)
"There are two main types of so-called predictive policing: location or place-based, and person-based. This report uses the definition by Amnesty International.…computer programs that use data and algorithmic models to assess the risk that a crime will be committed. Predictive policing systems calculate risk scores that allegedly reflect the likelihood that a person or group is or will be a victim or perpetrator (person-based predictive policing), or that a specific location will be a future crime scene (place-based predictive policing). Based on these computer-generated risk scores, the police take measures seeking to prevent or detect the predicted crime by directing policing efforts towards ‘high-risk’ locations, individuals, or groups."
https://www.statewatch.org/media/4991/new-technology-old-injustice-25_6-english.pdf
Trump's pick to head DHS claims the agency is sometimes justified “to access private communications" without a warrant
Matthew Kozma, President Trump’s pick to run the Department of Homeland Security’s Office of Intelligence and Analysis (I&A), told senators last week that the agency is sometimes justified to “to access private communications. That claim should set off an alarm bell: Under long-standing rules, I&A may collect information only when its officers are either (1) openly identified as the government or (2) obtaining material available to the public. Anything else, such as covert infiltration of private chats, is illegal. During the same hearing, Senator Ron Wyden pressed Kozma, asking whether it was “ever okay” for I&A staff to “misrepresent themselves to get into private chat rooms and other private communications?” While Kozma agreed that it was generally not appropriate for I&A agents to do so, he claimed there were “certain exceptions” that necessitated “alternative representations” of agents’ identities.
https://www.justsecurity.org/116094/dhs-intelligence-unlawful-activities/
The FBI and HHS Are Creating A Health Care Fraud Fusion Center
(Does this mean that Fusion Centers are now compiling a healthcare database on Americans?)
"In connection with the coordinated nationwide law enforcement operation, the Department is announcing that it is working closely with HHS-OIG, FBI, and other agencies to create a Health Care Fraud Data Fusion Center to bring together experts from the Department’s Criminal Division, Fraud Section, Health Care Fraud Unit Data Analytics Team; HHS-OIG; FBI; and other agencies to leverage cloud computing, artificial intelligence, and advanced analytics to identify emerging health care fraud schemes."
Colorado state police claim they are no longer spying on 'GJ Highway Hitters' Signal group chat
Maine police caught lying about using AI to alter drug bust photo
This is a huge red-flag for defense attorney's
https://www.bradenton.com/news/nation-world/national/article309855345.html
How the Unchecked Power of Sheriffs Threatens Democracy
https://www.lawfaremedia.org/article/badges-of-honor
Stop Copganda: Police Surveillance Toolkit
https://stopcopaganda.compost.digital/
Future of Policing: Indonesia police show off Robocops
Flock Safety’s Feature Updates Cannot Make License Plate Readers Safe
Prosper police use Flock Safety license plate readers and drones to ID and spy on motorists
“It’s the first of the kind in the state in that we’re utilizing not only the LPRs, the license plate readers, in concert with our drone technology, and it’s the first in kind, in that the drone itself is an autonomous drone,” said Sgt. Keith Mann, who oversees patrol and drone operations for the Prosper PD.
Bryan County Sheriff's Department uses drones to spy on motorists
Appeals court ruled Oregon police used drones to illegally spy on a marijuana growth operation
“While the trial court didn’t agree with us, we’re grateful the appellate court did,” said Luke Miller, Nakhiengchahn’s trial attorney, in a statement. “It’s important for Oregonians to maintain the right to privacy, and be free from government intrusion absent legal justification for such intrusion.”
https://oregoncapitalchronicle.com/2025/07/03/oregon-police-erred-in-use-of-aerial-surveillance-camera-for-marijuana-bust-appeals-court-says/
ACLU: Oregon police drone spying bill undermines basic rights including privacy and free speech
https://www.aclu-or.org/en/press-releases/oregon-senate-bill-238a-undermines-basic-rights-including-privacy-and-free-speech
CA police departments use drones to allegedly catch (spy) illegal fireworks violators
Riverside, Hemet and Brea, and possibly other cities, will launch drones to film illegal activity as municipalities increasingly marry new technology with old-fashioned legislation to prevent injuries and the type of fast-moving fires that devastated the region in January. Offenders or their landlords will then receive a surprise: Those cities are mailing citations to property owners, in some cases without ever first contacting them, regardless of whether they were present when the fireworks sparkled, smoked or skyrocketed
https://archive.ph/AVAwy
Cincinnati police to use expensive Skydio drones to spy on 90% of the city
"Cincinnati police noticeably used a drone this weekend at The Banks after they say a young crowd became disorderly during the Juneteenth block party. The chief played footage of the drone hovering above the crowd, shining a spotlight down below, and said commands were given through the drone for the crowd to disperse."
https://www.cincinnati.com/story/news/crime/2025/06/25/cincinnati-polices-new-drone-unit-will-help-task-force-in-crime-wave/84350945007/
NYPD plans to purchase a counter-drone system
https://nypost.com/2025/06/28/us-news/drone-city-were-using-them-all-over-the-place
NYPD asks feds for OK to take down ‘dangerous’ drones
https://nypost.com/2025/07/03/us-news/nypd-asks-feds-for-ok-to-take-down-dangerous-drones/
LAPD allowed to use drones as ‘first responders’
https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2025-06-24/la-police-commission-drones
Charlotte police are accepting drone bids this week
https://www.charlotteobserver.com/news/local/crime/article309740535.html
2025: The year police drones as first responder programs went mainstream
https://www.police1.com/drones/2025-the-year-drone-as-first-responder-programs-went-mainstream
Cambria County begins training for drone medical delivery project
https://wjactv.com/news/local/cambria-county-begins-testing-drone-medical-delivery-program-training-project-pennsylvania-emergency
Police departments are updating their drone electro-optical and infrared (EO/IR) video equipment
https://www.airmedandrescue.com/latest/long-read/big-picture-sensors-aerial-policing
Chinese Scientists Unveil Mosquito-Sized Surveillance Drone
How long before our police use them to spy on everyone?
https://www.techeblog.com/china-mosquito-drone/
Police Violence
By Ruling Against Nationwide Injunctions, SCOTUS Affirms the Imperial Presidency
Trump Is Now More Powerful Thanks to the Supreme Court
DISGUSTED: Supreme Court won't allow inmates to sue corrections officers over physical abuse
"A Virginia prisoner can’t sue prison officers and officials over an Eighth Amendment excessive force claim, the Supreme Court said Monday.The court’s decision reverses a Fourth Circuit order that allowed Andrew Fields III’s claims against prison guards to proceed. Fields claims the officers physically abused him while he was in solitary confinement, then denied him access to forms to file a grievance through the Federal Bureau of Prisons Administrative Remedy Program. Prisoners can’t make a claim for monetary damages under the Eighth Amendment, the justices held Monday. The decision sends Fields’ case back to the Fourth Circuit for further proceedings."
“Barbaric Conditions” in Brooklyn’s Metropolitan Detention Center Known for Famous Detainees
https://theappeal.org/brooklyn-metropolitan-detention-center-solitary-watch/
Illinois Prisoner Had a Limb Partially Amputated After Being Kept in Restraints for 2 Days
Investigating Restraint Chairs in Illinois Jails
Extreme Heat Exacerbates Dire Prison Conditions
Bureau Of Prisons Fails to Comply with Decree, Faces Widespread Allegations of Abuse
https://davisvanguard.org/2025/07/federal-prison-system-failure-report/
Supreme Court Justice Thomas’s Dissent Would Dismantle Postconviction Justice
Thursday’s Supreme Court decision in Gutierrez v. Saenz offered a lifeline to Ruben Gutierrez, a man sentenced to death in Texas who has spent nearly 15 years fighting for the right to DNA testing that might exonerate him. The Court’s majority, in a 6–3 ruling, reaffirmed the principle that state procedures must comply with the U.S. Constitution’s guarantee of due process, especially when life is at stake.But buried in the dissents—amid concerns about delay and redressability—was a far more alarming argument from Justice Clarence Thomas. In a separate opinion, Thomas went further than his colleagues. Much further. He claimed the Constitution does not require states to offer any postconviction relief. Not a right to appeal. Not a right to habeas corpus. Not a right to challenge a conviction based on new evidence. Nothing.
https://davisvanguard.org/2025/06/justice-thomas-dissent-capital-punishment/
“Ain’t Nobody Helping Me.” More Calls For Reforms To Massachusetts Wrongful Conviction Compensation Law
Supreme Court Justice Roberts Wants Americans To Understand That He Does Not Care
Idaho state supreme court rules motorist arrested for flicking cigarette ashes is not reasonably suspicious
https://isc.idaho.gov/opinions/51783.pdf
No Qualified Immunity for School Cops Who Illegally Searched a Mother's Refrigerator
Here, the parties do not dispute that Midland police officer Alexandra Weaver searched the refrigerator without a court order or consent. To comply with the Fourth Amendment, the search must be justified by exigent circumstances. Gates, 537 F.3d at 422– 24. But Weaver does not argue that there were exigent circumstances, and the district court found that there were none. Instead, Weaver relies on a “special needs” or “community caretaking” exception to the warrant requirement. Neither applies here.
https://reason.com/2025/06/30/the-5th-circuit-rejects-qualified-immunity-for-a-child-snatching-texas-cop-who-falsely-alleged-abandonment/
https://www.ca5.uscourts.gov/opinions/pub/24/24-50571-CV0.pdf
Louisiana Is Bulldozing the Right of Prisoners to Prove Their Innocence After a Conviction
https://boltsmag.org/louisiana-limiting-post-conviction-relief-murrill-landry/
Police Are Expanding Domestic Abuse Laws By Charging People With "Coercive Control"
Mother calls for man exonerated of raping and murdering her child to go free
https://mississippitoday.org/2025/07/03/jimmie-duncan-case-go-free/
Scientists Debunked Police Arson Case Against Michelle Taylor. She’s in Prison Anyway
MN Doctor Challenged Child Abuse Specialist Dr. Nancy Harper’s Opinion. Then He Lost His Job
https://www.propublica.org/article/child-abuse-pediatrician-minneapolis-nancy-harper-cps
Wife of man shot by Florida cops says officers ‘did not announce their presence’
“For the time being I would just like for it to be abundantly clear that I never called 911 for a domestic disturbance. I called non emergency because my husband took a walk outside to unwind and I was unable to reach him via phone,” Sariya Stroud said
Male model locked up for recording NYPD cops bashes arrest as ‘retaliatory
NYC Mayor Adams ‘violated’ the law, paving way for City Council solitary confinement ban
https://nypost.com/2025/06/30/us-news/adams-violated-the-law-in-blocking-solitary-confinement-ban/
https://gothamist.com/news/ny-judge-says-mayor-adams-cant-block-law-restricting-solitary-confinement
Court ruled the Atlanta Police Foundation must comply with public records requests
https://atlpresscollective.com/2025/06/02/acpc-lpl-open-records-apf/
PANYNJ adds 71 new officers to Port Authority Police Department
https://www.panynj.gov/port-authority/en/press-room/press-release-archives/2025-press-releases/port-authority-of-new-york-and-new-jersey-welcomes-71-new-office.html
PANYNJ has approved its $9.4 billion 2025 budget
https://www.panynj.gov/port-authority/en/press-room/press-release-archives/2024-Press-Releases/port-authority-board-of-commissioners-approves--9-4-billion-2025.html
MD cop arrested for child porn possession, soliciting a minor
MD cop arrested on multiple counts of rape, assaulting a minor
LA corrections officer and former employee of the month arrested for sexual contact with a juvenile
Boston police sergeant facing child rape charges
https://www.boston.com/news/crime/2025/06/30/boston-police-sergeant-facing-child-rape-charges/
MA- Off-duty cop shot colleague
MA cop arrested for domestic abuse
https://www.bostonherald.com/2025/07/03/chelsea-police-officer-arrested-on-domestic-battery-charges/
4 more MA cops decertified by state commission
TN cop charged with strangling person involved in crash while on duty
https://www.yahoo.com/news/tbi-former-cheatham-cop-charged-190026318.html