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Unconstitutional Arrest of Independent Journalists, Including Don Lemon and Georgia Fort, Fits Lawless Pattern of Escalation by Trump Administration
‘These latest arrests are just the latest in a long line of First Amendment violations by the Trump administration.’
Jan 30, 2026
U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi ordered the arrest of former CNN anchor Don Lemon and Minneapolis journalist Georgia Fort. Federal agents have since arrested the two alongside local public officials.
Don Lemon and Georgia Fort are both independent journalists who have been covering the community response to ICE and Border Patrol violence in Minnesota. Fort went live on Facebook early Friday morning to share that agents were at her door to take her into custody. Her attorney confirmed to The Minnesota Star Tribune that they were federal law enforcement agents.
Also arrested were local political candidates Trahern Jeen Crews and Jamael Lydell Lundy. The government alleges that Lemon and Fort violated federal law while engaged in the constitutionally protected activity of covering a Jan. 18 protest inside St. Paul church. The federal government’s case for arresting Lemon had been rejected last week by a magistrate judge.
At least three community members have also been arrested for their participation in the protest, including Minneapolis civil rights attorney Nekima Levy Armstrong, St. Paul school board member Cauntyll Allen, and military veteran William Kelly. The protest was organized to demand that one of the church’s pastors resign from his position leading the local ICE field office.
Free Press Action Advocacy Director Jenna Ruddock said:
“As the Trump administration’s all-out assault on Minnesota continues, the First Amendment remains in its crosshairs. While journalists and civilians continue to heroically document conditions on the ground in the face of escalating violence from federal agents, the Trump administration is using every weapon at its disposal to shut down efforts to document, report and dissent.
“The First Amendment protects acts of protest and acts of journalism equally. The criminalization of both journalists and protesters serves the same authoritarian project: shutting down dissenting voices or any content that deviates from the official narrative. These actions should outrage our leading media organizations, our elected officials and the public alike.
“These latest arrests are just the latest in a long line of First Amendment violations by the Trump administration. Too often, corporate media have readily capitulated to the administration’s demands. Independent journalists, on the other hand, are continuing to lead by example with their critical reporting under increasingly unsafe conditions – indeed, with targets on their backs.
“The charges against Don Lemon and Georgia Fort must be dropped, along with the charges against Nakima Levy, Cauntyll Allen, and all other demonstrators arrested in Minneapolis for exercising the First Amendment rights.
“But that’s just a start. In order to ensure that our essential constitutional rights are protected, Congress needs to exercise oversight of the Department of Justice by calling Attorney General Bondi before Congress; reintroduce and pass the PRESS Act; reform the Espionage Act; and reassert everyone’s right to record so those engaged in acts of journalism aren’t immediate targets for state violence and crackdowns.”
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House Progressives Unveil 'Defund the Oligarchs, Fund the People' Resolution
"Trump promised to lower costs for families on day one, but a year since he took office, grocery, housing, and healthcare costs are out of control," said Rep. Rashida Tlaib. "It's time to tax the rich."
Jan 30, 2026
As President Donald Trump continues to serve billionaires over working people and degrade the US economy, a trio of progressive congresswomen on Friday introduced the Defund the Oligarchs, Fund the People Resolution.
"Trump promised to lower costs for families on day one, but a year since he took office, grocery, housing, and healthcare costs are out of control," said Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.), who is leading the measure with Congresswomen Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.) and Delia Ramirez (D-Ill.). Rep. Summer Lee (D-Pa.) is an original co-sponsor.
Tlaib took aim at Trump and Republicans who control both chambers of Congress for forcing through their so-called One Big Beautiful Bill Act last year: "He signed into law the largest cuts to healthcare and food assistance in the history of our country, all to give trillions of dollars in tax breaks to his rich donors and their massive corporations."
"Meanwhile, 60% of Americans are living paycheck to paycheck, and CEOs are making 281 times more than their average worker," she stressed. "It's time to tax the rich, defund the oligarchy, and invest those funds in the needs of working families."
"Every dollar that gets plundered by billionaires through tax breaks, corporate giveaways, and political favoritism is a dollar that is taken away from healthcare, housing, education, and good jobs."
The resolution declares that "the United States was created to be a democracy, founded on the principle that all people are created equal, governed not by kings or corporate masters but by themselves as free citizens," and "the gravest threat to democracy and individual freedoms is the alliance of private wealth and authoritarian government."
At various moments over the past 250 years, Americans have "sounded the alarm" over oligarchy and the federal government "has vigorously combated excessive concentrations of power and wealth," the measure notes. However, in recent decades, the government "has forfeited its role safeguarding democracy."
The resolution highlights that the combined wealth of the country's 900 billionaires exceeds that of the 67,000,000 households in the poorest 50%, as working people contend with stagnant wages and struggle to afford everything from healthcare to housing. Trump notably said during a Thursday Cabinet meeting that "I don't want to drive housing prices down, I want to drive housing prices up for people that own their homes. And they can be assured that's what's going to happen."
While many measures introduced by progressives don't even receive votes in the GOP-controlled Congress, this one is especially unlikely to go anywhere, given that it explicitly calls out not only the superrich donors who use their money to control the US political system but also the president, whom many lawmakers in his party are afraid to criticize.
Blasting "the quid pro quo" between Trump and the ultrawealthy oligarchs and corporations, the resolution emphasizes that they "are corrupting United States politics through billions in open and hidden campaign contributions and by exploiting their monopoly control in key sectors of the economy, and especially over media, information, and emerging digital technologies."
"Trump has permitted pay-to-play schemes to become endemic, as oligarchs leverage political contributions to win hundreds of billions in taxpayer-funded federal subsidies, tax breaks, regulatory rollbacks, and government contracts despite exploiting workers and polluting communities," it continues, specifically pointing to spending by the fossil fuel, tech, and cryptocurrency industries.
"Public funds belong to the people of the United States and should be invested in education, healthcare, housing, clean energy, and infrastructure, not used to enrich the wealthiest individuals and most powerful corporations," the resolution argues. It also expresses concern about a decline in union membership that "has diminished the ability of the labor movement" to continue its "significant historical role in counteracting corporate power, reducing inequality, and ensuring the political system is responsive to the interests of ordinary Americans, not just wealthy elites."
The resolution includes various demands for the president and Congress. It says that Trump "must not reward oligarchs and billionaire-controlled corporations with lucrative, publicly funded contracts, loans, and grants" when they engage in corrupt scheming, fail to fairly compete in open markets, and break federal laws.
It also says that the president and Congress must:
- Act with all deliberate speed to protect election integrity;
- Break up all concentrations of economic and political power;
- Drastically reduce levels of economic inequality and concentrations of inherited wealth;
- Reform the Supreme Court;
- Support the dramatic expansion of unions;
- Explore ways to promote alternative, noncorporate forms of ownership; and
- Use public money to fund programs that raise the standard of living.
"While working families have to choose between paying rent, buying groceries, or keeping the heat on, billionaires are just getting richer," said Jayapal. "We must rein in corporate power by breaking up monopolies and reforming campaign finance laws."
"It's time to make billionaires pay their fair share of taxes and reinvest those funds to provide for our communities—housing, healthcare, and education," she continued. "Our resolution calls for a political and economic system that benefits working families, not one that enriches the ultrawealthy."
The resolution comes just months before the midterm elections and amid pressure on Democrats to prove they can offer a true alternative to Trump's government full of loyalists, weak labor market, persistently high inflation, and tax giveaways to the rich—including Elon Musk, a former presidential adviser and the richest person on the planet.
Some of that pressure has come from the grassroots group Our Revolution, which is backing the resolution alongside organizations including Americans for Tax Fairness, Climate and Community Institute, MoveOn, National Nurses United, Patriotic Millionaires, People's Action, Public Citizen, RootsAction, and Social Security Works.
"Every dollar that gets plundered by billionaires through tax breaks, corporate giveaways, and political favoritism is a dollar that is taken away from healthcare, housing, education, and good jobs. That is not just corruption, it is a betrayal of who government is supposed to serve, and it is why so many people feel that democracy is not working for them," said Our Revolution executive director Joseph Geevarghese.
"The truth is, none of the policies working families are fighting for can ever fully materialize as long as corporate money and billionaire influence are writing the rules," he added. "Lawmakers cannot keep pretending to serve both the corporate class and working families at the same time. If we want real progress on wages, healthcare, housing, and climate, cutting off corporate corruption and reinvesting in our communities has to be part of how we govern, not just something we talk about during elections."
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ICE Expected to Flood Ohio Next Week and Round Up Haitians Stripped of Legal Status By Trump
Holocaust historian Timothy Snyder said it sounds like ICE is "gearing up for a pogrom in Springfield, Ohio."
Jan 30, 2026
The Trump administration is expected to flood Ohio with immigration agents next week to target thousands of Haitian migrants after they are stripped of their legal status.
One of the main targets will be the town of Springfield, where President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance infamously concocted the tale that Haitian immigrants were eating the pets of white residents to stoke xenophobia during the 2024 election, which unleashed an onslaught of racist threats and intimidation upon the community.
Earlier this week, the Springfield News-Sun received a message sent to staff at the Springfield City School District saying that school officials were expecting a federal immigration enforcement operation to begin in the town sometime after February 3, when Haitian residents' temporary protected status (TPS) expires, and last at least 30 days.
Given that history and the escalating brutality with which US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has carried out its recent surges in Minnesota and Maine, Holocaust historian Timothy Snyder said he was "getting the impression that ICE is gearing up for a pogrom in Springfield, Ohio."
"Any day now, a swarm of armed state police dressed for war could descend" on the town, wrote columnist Marilou Johanek in the Ohio Capital Journal. "The small town of Springfield in Clark County is awaiting an invasion of unaccountable thugs who conceal their faces and identities, drive in unmarked vehicles with blackened windows, stomp on the Bill of Rights, and viciously brutalize human beings based on race and accent."
The 15,000 Haitians living in Springfield are among around 30,000 in Ohio and more than 500,000 across the US who are expected to lose TPS on Tuesday after it was abruptly revoked by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) last year. The expiration could be halted by US District Court Judge Ana C. Reyes, who is expected to issue a decision on February 2.
If not, "they could potentially be arrested, detained, or put in removal proceedings unless they have already applied for some other form of relief they have in addition to TPS, or that they are applying for in addition to TPS,” explained Emily Brown, Ohio State University Moritz College of Law’s Immigration Clinic Director to the Journal.
While the Trump administration has often emphasized its supposed targeting of those in the US unlawfully, editor-in-chief David DeWitt at the Journal emphasizes that "Haitians are currently in the United States legally," under TPS, which grants temporary legal status to those in danger from armed conflict, environmental disasters, or other extraordinary conditions in their home countries.
The Haitians living in the US are at risk of being deported back to what has been described as "the most dangerous country in the world," in the midst of a gang war that killed over 8,100 people between January and November 2025, according to the United Nations.
"They are not here illegally," DeWitt wrote on social media. "Trump is revoking their legal status on February 3, and then, according to reports, immediately sending ICE in to Springfield and Columbus, Ohio, to target them."
As part of a crusade to end migration from impoverished "Third World" countries, Trump has ramped up his use of racist invective against Haiti in recent months, proudly referring to it as a "shithole country" at a rally in December after denying having described it that way back in 2018.
Viles Dorsainvil, executive director of the Haitian Support Center in Springfield, told the Journal that rumors of the coming surge have struck terror into the hearts of many in the community.
"The folks are fearful,” Dorsainvil, who came to the United States from Haiti in 2020, said. “They came here just to work and send their kids to school and be here peacefully. All of a sudden, they find themselves in another scenario where they’re not accepted… They are panicked, and the worst thing is that they can’t even plan their lives for three months down the road.”
One TPS holder, 41-year-old Pushon Jacques, told the News-Sun that the potential loss of his status "has a big impact." He said: “I won’t be able to work, I will not be able to provide for my family. It’s a bad situation to be in.”
While the administration has emphasized "self-deportation" as a way to avoid being on the business end of an ICE jackboot, Jacques said: “The situation in Haiti—especially the political situation—has made Haiti unlivable... There is no place in Haiti that is safe right now."
Local reports say residents are already preparing for their town to come under siege, and despite the White House's portrayal of Haitians as loathed outsiders, many others in the community have come out to support them.
Churches are running immersive role-playing sessions to train community members on what to do if ICE agents attempt to storm their doors, and residents have constructed phone chains to alert vulnerable community members when agents are spotted.
The Springfield City Council, meanwhile, has passed a resolution urging federal agents to comply with city policies that prohibit police from wearing masks and require them to carry identification, though the city has no authority to enforce them.
“Springfield is a good place,” Jacques said. “I like the environment and the people, because Springfield has a lot of good people... I have never felt any racism, and I feel appreciated.”
Despite attacks from the leaders of his party, Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine, a Republican, has defended his state's Haitian community, telling the statehouse bureau, "I don't think it’s in our interest in this country for all the Haitians who are working, who are sometimes working two jobs, supporting their family, supporting the economy, I think it’s a mistake to tell these individuals you can no longer work and have to leave the country."
According to a spokesperson for DeWine, there has been no formal communication between federal authorities and the governor about ICE's plans for the state. However, DeWine said, "If ICE does in fact come in, comes in with a big operation, obviously we have to work this thing through and make sure people don't get hurt."
The ACLU of Ohio said it will be monitoring the situation in Springfield closely for unconstitutional actions.
"This despicable surge in lawless ICE officers descending upon Springfield will ignite swells of fear within the Haitian community, terrorize our Black and Brown neighbors, and cause considerable damage to citizens and non-citizens alike," said ACLU Ohio executive director J. Bennett Guess.
"Following the government’s senseless, brutal killings of Alex Pretti and Renee Nicole Good in Minneapolis, it is clear that ICE poses a grave threat to all who call Ohio home," he continued. "The ACLU of Ohio urges state and local elected officials to do everything in their power to protect the 30,000 Haitians living in Central Ohio. We call on the US Congress to reject a DHS budget that allows these lawless agencies to continue putting our communities in danger.”
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Civil Rights Coalition Files Motions to Block Trump Administration’s Immigration Courthouse Arrest and Detention Policies Nationwide
Jan 30, 2026
In a sweeping legal challenge to the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement regime, a coalition of civil rights organizations filed two motions for summary judgment seeking to vacate and block some of the administration’s most extreme policies on a nationwide scale.
The motions, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, seek to vacate (1) ICE’s waiver of the 12-hour limit on detention in temporary holding cells, and (2) ICE and the Executive Office for Immigration Review’s (EOIR) courthouse arrest policies, which target immigrants at immigration courts. If granted, the rulings would apply nationwide, ending both the policy permitting extended detention in ill-equipped short-term facilities and the policies permitting mass arrests of immigrants while they attend court.
The motions arise from the ongoing federal class action lawsuit Pablo Sequen v. Albarran, challenging the Trump administration’s policy of courthouse arrests and the prolonged detention of immigrants in unsafe and unlawful conditions at short-term holding facilities.
The motion to vacate the courthouse arrest policies challenges Trump administration policies that have forced immigrants to choose between attending mandatory hearings and risking arrest or skipping court and facing automatic deportation. The policies have led to a sharp increase in absenteeism, undermining the integrity of the immigration court system. The motion argues that the policies violate the Administrative Procedure Act, as they reverse a longstanding practice without a reasoned explanation and fail to consider the severe chilling effect on access to justice.
On December 24, 2025, Judge Casey Pitts issued a ruling staying for the pendency of the lawsuit the ICE and EOIR courthouse arrest policies in ICE’s San Francisco Area of Responsibility, which includes Northern and Central California, based on a finding that the policies likely violate the Administrative Procedure Act.
The motion to vacate ICE’s “Nationwide Hold Room Waiver” challenges a policy ICE issued in June 2025 which extended the limit on detention in temporary holding facilities from 12 hours to 72 hours. The motion argues that ICE failed to consider alternatives and disregarded the humanitarian and constitutional consequences of detaining people overnight or for days in barebones cells designed for short-term use.
Both motions seek full vacatur of the policies nationwide. If successful, they would restore the 12-hour limit for ICE holding facilities across the country, restrain ICE from making civil arrests at immigration courthouses nationwide, and reinforce the principle that federal agencies must provide reasoned justifications for abrupt policy changes, especially when those changes endanger human rights and access to due process.
The plaintiffs are represented by the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights of the San Francisco Bay Area (LCCRSF), the Central American Resource Center of Northern California (CARECEN SF), the American Civil Liberties Union Foundation of Northern California (ACLU NorCal), and Coblentz Patch Duffy & Bass LLP.
View the motions here and here.
Attorney Quotes:
"The Trump administration’s arbitrary policies are an assault on due process. Transforming immigration courthouses into sites of arrest eviscerates the right to access justice while prolonging detention in barren cells violates the Fifth Amendment's core promise against punishment without trial. Our fight is to restore the foundational principle that the government cannot detain people in inhumane conditions or terrorize them out of court," said Nisha Kashyap, Program Director at the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights of the San Francisco Bay Area.
“The administration’s reckless courthouse arrest policy is an affront to justice, designed to sabotage the immigration court system and force people to abandon their lawful claims,” said Jordan Wells, Program Director at the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights of the San Francisco Bay Area. “This is a critical step in ensuring that immigrants can safely pursue their immigration cases without fear of arrest.”
“From arrest to detention, the Trump administration’s policies are a symptom of a lawless approach to governance. One policy creates fear of the system, and the other inflicts suffering within it, creating a cycle of trauma.We are fighting to break this cycle by ending both the courthouse arrests and the prolonged, brutal detentions they feed,” said Neil Sawhney, Director of Appellate Advocacy at ACLU of Northern California.
“These policies are a direct attack on the safety and dignity of our families. They force parents to choose between appearing in court to fight for their right to stay with their children, or missing that hearing to avoid being snatched away by masked agents. We hear the trauma in our community's voices every day. This legal action is our collective cry for justice. We ask the court to uphold the rule of law and restore human dignity,” said Laura Sanchez, Legal Director at the Central American Resource Center of Northern California.
“The Administrative Procedure Act is a cornerstone of accountable government, requiring agencies to act with reason and transparency. The Trump administration has trampled on these requirements.The government failed to consider alternatives and disregarded profound constitutional and human costs. We hope the court will see these failures and vacate both policies.” said Mark Hejinian, Partner at Coblentz Patch Duffy & Bass LLP.
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