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Monday
Searched by name, found NOWHERE
The Associated Press reported Monday that ICE removed detainees with final deportation orders from its online locator on September 15.
They never announced the change and in a statement to the AP, wouldn’t confirm or deny it. A legal aid group stated every each of its clients with a order, 17 people disapeared from the system.
People still ask to reopen cases or file habeas petitions and federal judges have ordered thousands of detainees released or given bond hearings but a lawyer can’t file for a client she can’t find.
When a family types a loved ones name and gets nothing back, they can’t tell if that person is in a cell, on a plane, or gone.
If someone you know drops out of the locator, a blank result doesn’t mean they were released.
Contact their attorney or a local immigration legal aid group right away.

Tuesday
A Walmart parking lot… 1 false report
During a two day federal hearing, an ICE officer testified that he wrote false information in an arrest report. He and his partner have been running license plates in a Southern Oregon Walmart parking lot. His report said he knew the passenger’s name and immigration status before the stop. He admitted he knew neither... Judge Mustafa Kasubhai said the discrepancies raise concerns about the accuracy of other ICE reports and is expected to rule next week on if ICE violated his February order limiting warrantless arrests.
Immigration officers can make warrantless arrests under, only, certain legal conditions, and the paperwork is how court checks decide if those conditions were met. If the paperwork is written after the fact to fit the outcome, that check stops working. The same officer described arresting a McDonald’s worker after a plate scan, only to learn the man was driving a relative’s car.
Wednesday
13 days in jail over a black Durango
A Senate Judiciary subcommittee held a hearing on Flock Safety’s nationwide camera network and the concern came from both sides. Chair Josh Hawley (a Missouri Republican) warned about risks to privacy and the presumption of innocence.
Ranking member Dick Durbin, an Illinois Democrat, said Congress needs to lead. Flock’s CEO declined to testify. Lindsey Isaacs of Florida did, and told senators she spent 13 days in jail after investigators tied her black Dodge Durango to a fatal crash she had nothing to do with, and the charges were later dropped.
At least 4 House bills from both parties are pending, ranging from a warrant requirement for federal use of local camera data to an outright ban on federal agencies buying these systems. None has passed. Until one does, the real rules are written by city councils and county commissions, one contract at a time. Every community with plate readers should be able to answer three questions in public.
Thursday
3 newsrooms: back through the gate
Six days after Trump banned CNN, MS NOW, and Politico from the White House, a federal judge ordered their access restored.
Judge Timothy Kelly, a Trump appointee, found the outlets were likely to succeed in showing their passes were pulled without due process. His order lasts 14 days. Reporters were still turned away Thursday morning before their badges were reactivated, and the ruling did not address CNN’s removal from the White House video pool.
Friday
2,724 flagged: about one in five of them are citizens..
The Supreme Court: over the dissent of its three liberal justices, paused a lower court order and let the administration resume using its overhauled SAVE database while the lawsuit continues.
DHS rebuilt SAVE last year to link it with Social Security data and let states upload entire voter rolls for citizenship checks. In June, a federal judge found the overhaul violated the Privacy Act and other federal laws. When Texas ran all 18 million of its voters through SAVE, the system flagged 2,724 people. Nearly 20 percent were confirmed as citizens and reinstated.
Federal law bars states from systematically purging voters within 90 days of a federal election and the Court’s majority acknowledged that limit…
It also said citizenship checks are still allowed in that window and each state decides to use SAVE at all.
The risk this fall lands on individual voters, especially naturalized citizens, who might be asked to prove again what they’ve already proved to become citizens.
Check your registration at Vote.gov today, then help someone naturalized friend or neighbor check theirs.
39 days remain before November 3.
DANCING TODD!:
FLASHBACK to last December’s atmospheric river to help start your day.
Sources
AP via KWTX: ICE hides locations of thousands of detainees with final removal orders
OPB: Federal judge to decide if ICE violated court order over warrantless arrests in Oregon
Roll Call: Flock cameras draw bipartisan concerns at Senate hearing
21Alive/InvestigateTV: Flock scrutiny reaches Capitol Hill as wrongfully jailed driver testifies
PBS NewsHour: Judge orders White House to restore access to CNN, MS NOW and Politico
NPR via OPB: The Supreme Court revives a controversial data system for citizenship checks





🙏🏿🙏🏻🙏🏽🙏4 this update. I’m part of a NoKings n Eastern WA where we’ve been involved since Jan 2025. I’ve spent 76 yrs evolving as an Activist. Intensely since 2015. KeepGoing w Substack posting. Leader is on multiple platforms & together TheCollective of WeThePeople will meet the moment; especially w Communication👊🏿👊🏻👊🏾👊🗽