On Monday, the Montana Supreme Court issued a landmarkย 5-2 rulingย declaring that “transgender discrimination is, by its very nature, sex discrimination,” and that transgender people constitute a suspect class under the state’s equal protection clause. The ruling in Kalarchik v. State of Montana blocks a definition-of-sex law and related state policies that stripped all legal recognition from transgender people and barred them from obtaining accurate birth certificates and driver’s licenses. The decision rests on Montana’s constitution, whose Equal Protection and Individual Dignity clause has been repeatedly interpreted to protect transgender peopleโand which the court made clear provides far greater protection than the federal constitution. Justices have now issued the clearest declaration ever that transgender people in the state will have enhanced protections of their rights, grounding the ruling in equal protection, sex discrimination, and privacyโprinciples with broad applicability in a state that has become a major battleground for anti-trans legislation and resistance to it. (snip-MORE)
Several justices seemed to support the families of trans youth on the question of whether to force Colorado Children’s Hospital to discontinue capitulating to the Trump administration.
On Tuesday, the Colorado Supreme Court heard oral arguments over whetherย Children’s Hospital Colorado can be forced to resume gender-affirming careย for transgender youth. The hospital was one ofย roughly 40 across the countryย that capitulated to Trump administration threats and shuttered their trans youth care programs. However, the hospital’s position has grown increasingly untenable, as hospitals in states likeย Minnesotaย andย Californiaย have begun reversing course and as the Trump administration has suffered mounting losses in federal courtsโincluding anย Oregon ruling that vacated the very declarationย the hospital cited as justification for halting care. Hearing arguments on Tuesday, several justices appeared skeptical of the hospital’s rationale, questioning whether Colorado’s civil rights protections for transgender peopleโamong the strongest in the nationโcan simply be overridden by federal threats that do not constitute law. (snip-MORE)
They served their prison time. Then came deportation.
After being released from prison in 2022, he completed an 18-month job training program with the Los Angeles-based organization Homeboy Industries and began working as a cook for the groupโs onsite cafe. He enrolled in two different community college programs to study business administration and culinary arts. He volunteered with groups to help other trans Latinx and formerly incarcerated people get back on their feet. By the time he reached the five-year anniversary of his release date, JJ hoped he would have saved enough to buy a house with his sister.
He also wanted to travel more, and last April, JJ went to Thailand with his mom, sister and a friend. It was his first time outside the United States since he and his parents entered the country without legal documentation when he was a toddler. They later obtained permanent resident status, and his sister was born in the United States.
โI always told myself, the moment I was able to come home, and if God permitted me to get my life together, that I would like to travel with my family,โ JJ told The 19th. โBeing able to give that to both my sister and my mom โ even if I knew that this would be the end result, for me to get deported โ I would do it all over again, just to see them happy.โ
JJ, who asked for The 19th to withhold his last name for privacy, was not particularly concerned when returning to Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) and going through the standard post-flight motions. He waited in line for customs, showed his passport and green card, and got his fingerprints taken. But then, the customs officer made a phone call and escorted JJ away from his loved ones.
The weeks that followed felt like a different kind of prison: five days in LAX sleeping on the floor and living off of vending machine food, he said. Then it was five months in Eloy Detention Center in Arizona, where it came down to two options: JJ could do a โvoluntaryโ departure to Mexico, or he could challenge his case in court and risk staying in the custody of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) indefinitely. The Department of Homeland Security did not respond to The 19thโs request for comment by the time of publication.
The choice was clear for JJ, he said, even if that meant returning to a country he hasnโt known since age 2. โI’ve been here since September, and I’m barely learning how to maneuver around. My Spanish is horrible,โ he said recently from Mexico. โPeople notice that I’m not from here because of the way I speak.โ
In the second Trump administration, people with JJโs background โ a formerly incarcerated trans immigrant โ have three targets on their backs, and the power of the federal government aimed at them. Trump has repeatedly stated that ICE, under his administration, will detain and deport โthe worst of the worst,โ particularly people who have committed crimes. A combination of anti-trans, anti-immigrant and tough-on-crime messaging by the White House depicts a country under siege.
To carry out its mass deportation mission, the administration has ramped up partnerships with local law enforcement and correctional facilities that allow the federal government to take custody of people held in prisons who have already served their sentences. Even in states like California, which limit local law enforcement partnerships with ICE, federal law defines a broad list of criminal offenses that can make a noncitizen deportable, even if that person secured legal status like JJ.
The result is a system of โdouble punishment,โ a prison-to-ICE pipeline that advocates told The 19th can be particularly detrimental for trans people.
We just see trauma compounded on trauma compounded on trauma.”Lynly Egyes
Trans migrants often face rejection from family, abuse, job insecurity or homelessness as a result of their identity, which increases their risk of criminalization, advocates say. In ICE custody, they may be denied health care access, face sexual violence and be deported to countries that are hostile to their identity. Even for those who attempt to rebuild their lives after serving prison terms, โICE could use that years later to target them, pull them into immigration detention and have them deported,โ said Lynly Egyes, the legal director at the Transgender Law Center.
โWe just see trauma compounded on trauma compounded on trauma,โ Egyes said. โWhen trans people are shuffled between systems such as prison into ICE custody, it completely strips them of any opportunity for freedom and connection with their loved ones and community.โ
It took three attempts for Nataly Marinero to secure parole from the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. It ultimately happened in 2023, and he was released after nearly 18 years of incarceration. The stateโs parole approval rate was about 34 percent at the time.
During this process, the parole board assesses an incarcerated person’s behavior and activities while in custody and considers whether they will be a threat to the general public. The board considers a range of factors, including signs of remorse, past criminal history, age and plans for the future, according to the California department of corrections website. While in prison, Marinero took substance abuse courses, worked on getting his high school diploma, had a job as a clerk in the prison kitchen. He had not received a write up, an infraction in prison, in years, he said. Each of these factors help to build a stronger case for release.
Immediately after leaving prison, Marinero joined a reentry program in Los Angeles called A New Way of Life, where he received housing, a job and connections to other opportunities to help him transition to life outside.
Life felt good.
โFreedom โ just to think about it makes me want to cry,โ the 40-year-old told The 19th. โThat’s the best thing that ever happened to me.โ
Marinero, who came to the United States without authorization at 17, was aware that ICE had put a โholdโ on him at the beginning of his incarceration more than a decade ago. ICE โholdsโ are requests asking jails or prisons to hold someone after incarceration so that they can be transferred to immigration custody.
“When you get to prison, your counselor would tell you when you have an ICE hold,” said Laura Hernandez, executive director of the California-based advocacy group Freedom for Immigrants.
“If you have an inkling that you may have an ICE hold, you tend to check every so often,” she added. “But sometimes ICE holds aren’t placed on anyone until right before they’re getting ready to be released. So people have to check like the entire time they’re inside.”
Whether the agency follows through on picking up immigrants with ICE holds on their accounts is largely a toss up. In Marineroโs case, he was allowed to be released from prison; he was allowed to join a reentry program and to live his life for two years without being arrested by ICE.
In January 2025, he received a call from a woman who said she was his parole officer. This struck Marinero as odd, because this was a different officer from the man he had previously spoken with. The woman demanded Marinero come to the front of his reentry home, he said. When he obeyed, ICE agents were waiting outside and took Marinero into custody.
His legal advocates at the California Coalition of Women Prisoners, who also serve trans people, moved quickly to assess whether Marinero could make an asylum claim as he was moved from an ICE holding facility to detention centers in California and Louisiana over the course of two months. Ultimately, his legal team was unable to file an asylum claim before his deportation. In April 2025, Marinero was placed in handcuffs and loaded onto a plane. He was back in El Salvador, a place he fled as a teenager and one of the most dangerous countries for trans people in Latin America.
Partnerships between federal immigration authorities, local law enforcement and state prisons have existed for three decades.
In 1996, fears about crime led to a wave of laws โ including the 1994 crime bill โ with more severe punishments and a historic expansion of law enforcement. President Bill Clinton signed into law two bills that created pathways to speed up the deportation of noncitizens with criminal records and broadened the list of crimes considered aggravated felonies. These crimes could range from murder and sexual assault to shoplifting and forgery. As a result, any noncitizens, including green card holders, with an aggravated felony record became eligible for deportation.
โIt especially hit lawful permanent residents,โ said Juliet Stumpf, the Edmund O. Belsheim professor of law chair at Lewis & Clark Law School, whose research centers on whatโs referred to as โcrimmigration.โ
โWe used to see lawful permanent residents as being able to remain in the country if they committed a crime,โ she added. โBut now, we’ve added a whole other level of penalty, for lawful permanent residents especially, because they’re the ones that are going to be most vulnerable to deportation based on those grounds.โ
One of the 1996 laws also laid the groundwork for the 287(g) program, which can essentially turn local and state law enforcement into an arm of immigration enforcement. These 287(g) agreements fall into one of three categories, one being the โJail Enforcement Model,โ designed to identify noncitizens held in local jails or state prisons who can be transferred to immigration custody.
At the time of Trumpโs first term, his administration ushered in a high โ at that time โ of about 150 active 287(g) agreements of all types. In the last 15 months, that figure has increased tenfold. As of April 10, ICE has signed 1,645 agreements across 39 states and two U.S. territories, according to data from the Department of Homeland Security. That dataset indicates that 10 percent of these agreements, 171 total, fall under the Jail Enforcement Model.
One contributor to this growth is likely financial incentives built into Trump’s expansive 2025 so-called One Big Beautiful tax bill, said Karen Pita Loor, director of the criminal law clinical program at Boston University.
โHistorically, 287(g) agreements were not financially profitable for these counties, localities, whatever jurisdictions. They weren’t making them money,โ Loor said. โThe bill created really attractive financial incentives that make 287(g) agreements much more profitable.โ These benefits to local law enforcement agencies can include salary reimbursements, $7,500 for equipment and $100,000 for new vehicles.
Some states, like California, where JJ and Marinero lived, have laws limiting collaborations between local and federal law enforcement. But even in those jurisdictions, the more forgiving immigration policies often do not extend to migrants with criminal records.
Prior to Trumpโs return to office, JJ and Marinero, who served their prison time and were on a path to rehabilitation, might have gone unnoticed by ICE, advocates said.
Now, for Marinero, โI feel like going back to the same time when I was younger,โ he said. โI can’t dress the way I want to dress. I canโt be who I want to be. It’s kind of killing my self-esteem.โ
I just want to be free.”Nataly Marinero
Growing up in El Salvador, Marinero did not have a specific word to describe how he felt about his gender. He just knew that people called him a girl, but he felt like a boy and preferred loose fitting shirts and pants rather than dresses. Marineroโs religious family treated his self-expression like a curse that needed to be healed, he said. They told him he would go to hell if he didnโt change. People called him a โmarimacha,โ a slur for a lesbian or masculine girl. He was also repeatedly targeted for sexual violence.
โIt was so bad that I wanted to try to kill myself so many times,โ Marinero said. โI just want to be free.โ When his uncle offered to connect him with a group who could get him into the United States, Marinero jumped at the chance.
Being back in El Salvador 23 years later, Marinero mostly works and stays at home. He doesnโt have friends, he said, though he recently found a boxing gym that is helping to relieve stress. In Mexico, JJ said he also keeps to himself and isnโt open with people about his trans identity. He said it helps that he โblends inโ as a man and doesnโt get many questions or weird looks.
Next March will mark five years since JJ left prison. The five-year plan he mapped out for himself has changed quite a bit, but he hasnโt lost all hope.
โI feel like I just came out of being in prison all over again, and I have to start all over again,โ he said. โJust getting back on my feet; thatโs really my fifth-year goal now.โ
April, 16, 1971 The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) estimated over 2,000 people openly refused to pay part or all of their income tax. โIf a thousand [people] were not to pay their tax bills this year, that would not be a violent and bloody measure, as it would be to pay them and enable the state to commit violence and shed innocent blood.โ – Henry David Thoreau on the Mexican War
April 16, 2000 Between 10,000 and 20,000 activists blockaded meetings of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund in Washington, D.C. Sitting down at intersections and locking arms to form human chains, the protesters were opposed to Bank and IMF policies that increased third-world indebtedness and did little to directly benefit the poor in those countries. โThe World Bank is subjugating our economic and social independence,โ Vineeta Gupta, a doctor from the Punjab in India, said in a letter he delivered to World Bank President James Wolfensohn at his home. โIt is time that we shut the bank down, and this boycott is a great start.โ
More from National War Tax Resistance Coordinating Committee:
War tax resistance means refusing to pay some or all of the federal taxes that pay for war. While you can refuse income tax legally by lowering your taxable income, for many people war tax resistance involves civil disobedience.
In the U.S. war tax resisters refuse to pay some or all of their federal income tax and/or other taxes, like the federal excise tax on local telephone service. Income taxes and excise taxes are destined for the governmentโs general fund and about half of that money goes for military spending, including weapons of war and weapons of mass destruction.
People take many roads to war tax resistance. Most are motivated by a combination of reasons and actively work for peace in many other ways too. If you consider your motivations this will help you determine your method of resistance.
Refusing to pay federal income taxes is an act of civil disobedienceย withย a long historyย in theย U.S.ย Americaโs most well-known war tax resister wasย Henry David Thoreau, whose refusal to pay his poll tax because of the Mexican-American War earned him an night in jail and the experience that led him to write his influential essay,ย Civil Disobedience. While those of us who refuse to pay war taxes believe our refusal is just and imperativeโโโand some of us cite international law to back up this beliefโโโthe government considers the refusal to pay these taxes to be illegal, and there are potentialย repercussionsย through theย IRSย collection system. For most of us who resist, the dire consequences of voluntarily paying for war are far worse that what theย IRSย and government can do to us. (snip-MORE)
April 17, 1959 22 were arrested in New York City for refusing to take shelter during a civil defense drill.
April 17, 1960 Inspired by the Greensboro sit-in of four black college students at an all-white lunch counter, nearly 150 black students from nine states formed the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC). Meeting in Raleigh, North Carolina, with Ella Baker, James Lawson and Martin Luther King, Jr., the founders set SNCCโs initial goals as overturning segregation in the South. They also considered it important to give young blacks a stronger voice in the civil rights movement, as many had participated in sit-ins that had proliferated to dozens of cities over the previous three months. At the Raleigh conference Guy Carawan sang a new version of โWe Shall Overcome,โ an adaptation of an old labor song. This song would become the national anthem of the civil rights movement.People joined hands and gently swayed in time singing โblack and white together,โ repeating over and over, โDeep in my heart, I do believe, we shall overcome some day.โ What SNCC did to make change happenย
April 17, 1961 Cuban leader Fidel Castro during the Bay of Pigs invasion. An army of 1500 anti-Castro Cuban exiles, mercenaries equipped and trained at a secret Guatemala base by the CIA, landed at Bahia de Cochinos (Bay of Pigs) in an attempt to โliberateโ Cuba from Communist rule. Within three days, the invasion proved disastrous with nearly 1200 members of Brigade 2506 (who had been trained in the U.S.) taken prisoner.ย
Known as Operation Zapata, it was conceived by Vice President Nixon, planned and approved by the Eisenhower administration, and executed shortly after President John Kennedyโs inauguration. President Kennedy receives the Brigade 2506 flag in Miami in 1962 and declares: “I promise to return this flag in a free Havana.”
Soviet General Secretary Nikita Kruschev sent a telegram to President Kennedy: “Mr. President, I send you this message in an hour of alarm, fraught with danger for the peace of the whole world. Armed aggression has begun against Cuba. It is a secret to no one that the armed bands invading this country were trained, equipped and armed in the United States of America. The planes which are bombing Cuban cities belong to the United States of America, the bombs they are dropping are being supplied by the American Government . . . .” What actually happenedย
April 17, 1965 The first national demonstration against the Vietnam War took place in the nationโs capital. Students for a Democratic Society (SDS), the organizers, had expected about 2000 marchers; the actual count was 15,000โ25,000. This was the largest anti-war protest ever to have been held in Washington, D.C. up to that time. The number of marchers approximately equaled the number of U.S. soldiers in Vietnam. Several hundred students in the protest broke away from the main march and conducted a brief sit-in at the U.S. Capitolโs door. An exam prepared by SDS about the Vietnam War (answers available)ย
April 17, 1965 Gay rights advocate Jack Nichols The first demonstration promoting equal treatment of homosexuals, Jack Nichols, Barbara Gittings and others picketed in front of the White House. There were no media present. Read more (Go-it’s interesting!)
April 17, 1986 Reverend Jesse Jackson, future congresswoman Maxine Waters and others co-founded the Rainbow Coalition, initially intended as a progressive public-policy think tank within the Democratic Party.
Representative Maxine Waters, Harry Belafonte, John Sweeney, President of the AFL-CIO, Reverend Jesse Jackson, and Willie Nelson August 6, 2005-Atlanta, Georgia.
April 17, 1992 On Good Friday morning, about 50 people accompanied Fr. Carl Kabat and Carol Carson to Missile Silo Site N5 at Whiteman Air Force Base in Missouri, the same silo that Carl and other members of the Silo Pruning Hooks (see below) disarmed in 1984. They cut through a fence and, once inside, Carol used a sledgehammer on the concrete lid of the silo while Carl performed a rite of exorcism. Eventually, the police arrived and arrested Carl and Carol. They were jailed and held until their court appearance. At that time, they made a preliminary agreement with federal prosecutors wherein they would plead โno contestโ to trespass in exchange for the property destruction charge being dropped; they were sentenced to six and three months, respectively, in a halfway house. Carl Kabat A History of Direct Disarmament Actionsย About the Silo Pruning Hooks actionย
Note three: Jeanine Pirro just launched her latest bad idea. She has set up a tip line for people to call about crimes Eric Swalwell might have committed. Ok cool. We hope people use it. We also hope they let her know about the rapist piece of shit she works for. The number is 202-252-0809. (snip)
I was especially interested in the Justice Clarence Thomas comments, which I read, then became disinterested for reasons you’ll get if you read them. Lots of news of the day here.
A thin-skinned and prickly Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth went off on journalists in his press conference this morning, resorting to the classic โattack the messengerโ defense to a unpopular war going poorly.
Itโs not the first time Hegseth has succumbed to blaming a lack of patriotism among reporters for unfavorable headlines and critical reporting on a Middle East conflict ignited by the Trump administration. But todayโs screed was striking for how it mixed the old worn-out reflexive questioning of the loyalty of reporters with biblical references that reflect Hegsethโs personal Christian nationalism:
โSometimes itโs hard to figure out what side some of you are actually on,โ Hegseth said. โItโs incredibly unpatriotic.โ
In the decades since the Vietnam War, the Pentagon had haltingly moved away from the defensive crouch it often took in the face of criticism toward a more transparent and self-reflective public response to bad news. It was not always consistent and the backsliding was dramatic during periods of sustained setbacks, like in Iraq during the aughts, but the general trajectory was away from the kind of knee-jerk circle-the-wagons approach that Hegseth rolled out this morning.
Questioning the loyalty of journalists โ or any regime critics โ harkens to earlier dark eras of America history and to authoritarian regimes worldwide. But Hegsethโs diatribe came with a strong Christian twist, as he compared journalists to the Pharisees who rejected Jesus in the Bible:
โThe Pharisees, the so-called and self-appointed elites of their time, they were there to witness, to write everything down, to record, but their hearts were hardened, even though they witnessed a literal miracle, it didnโt matter,โ Hegseth said.
โThey were only there to explain away the goodness in pursuit of their agenda. As the passage ends, the Pharisees went out and immediately held counsel against him, how to destroy him,โ he continued.
โI sat there in church and I thought, our press are just like these Pharisees, not all of you, not all of you, but the legacy Trump-hating press, your politically motivated animus for President Trump nearly completely blinds you from the brilliance of our American warriors,โ he added.
Hegseth โ callow, reactive, driven by a warped theology of nationalism, and poorly grounded in history โ personally represents a dramatic break from decades of training, education, and refining of a professional officers corps. In 15 months in office, Hegseth has done more to politicize the military than any secretary of defense in at least the last half century.
Third Boat Strike in Three Days
The accelerated pace of unlawful strikes against alleged drug-smuggling boats continued in the eastern Pacific, with the third such strike in the last three days. Three people were killed in the 51st strike of the U.S. campaign, bringing the death toll to at least 177 people.
What Trump Foreign Policy Looks Like
USA Today: Pentagon ramps up planning for possible military ops in Cuba
WSJ: Pentagon Approaches Automakers, Manufacturers to Boost Weapons Production
WaPo: Trump administration pushes nations to sign โtrade over aidโ declaration
SCOTUS Watch
Justice Sonia Sotomayorย apologizedย privately to Justice Brett Kavanaugh and followed up with aย public apologyย released by the Supreme Court for remarks last week that, without naming him, attributed his defense of what have become known as โKavanaugh stopsโ to his posh upbringing.
In a public appearance at Yale Law School, Justice Ketanji Brown Jacksonย blastedย the Roberts Courtโs handling of its emergency docket.
In unusually pointed remarks carried live by CSPAN, Justice Clarence Thomasย launched a broadsideย at progressivism.
Jan. 6 Never Ends
Trump lawyer and coup plotter John Eastman wasย officially disbarredย in California after the state Supreme Courtย declinedย to take up his appeal.
Trump I White House chief of staff Mark Meadows isย seeking reimbursementย from the Trump DOJ of his legal fees incurred as a witness in both of Special Counsel Jack Smithโs investigations.
Must Read
Heather Cox Richardson draws a straight line from Lincolnโs assassination to Jan. 6 and the events of this week.
Do as We Say Not as We Do
NBC News: โAnti-abortion advocates met with Justice Department officials Wednesday, just hours after the Trump administration fired prosecutors it accused of coordinating too closely with abortion-rights advocacy groups during the Biden administration.โ
Election-Year Islamophobia
When all else fails and their election prospects look dire, Republicans fall back on various forms of racist appeals to solidify their base and wrong-foot Democrats. This year, top Texas Republicans have landed on Islamophobia as the racist appeal of choice. TPMโs Josh Kovensky reports on the ground from Grapevine, Texas, where he talks to right-wing activists who are back again to warning about Sharia law and portraying Muslims as an external threat to โrealโ Americans.
Too often, gullible national media outlets treat these racist effusions like an organic upwelling of nativism, rather than a calculated election year strategy. TPM, Iโm proud to say, has never been suckered in.
Thread of the Day
The Corruption: Bitcoin Jesus Edition
ProPublica offers a casebook study in the erosion of white-collar crime prosecutions under Trump II that includes the intervention of DOJ political appointees and the retention of a former Trump criminal defense attorney to outright kill one of the largest-ever cryptocurrency tax fraud cases.
Creepy Text of the Day
โHearing u/r in town. Wishing you would let me know. I could have made some excuses to get out and show u around. Please keep this private.โโRichard Chavez, father of Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer, in a text to a young female staff member working for his daughter
Hot tips? Juicy scuttlebutt? Keen insights?ย Let me know. For sensitive information, use the encrypted methodsย here. (snip)
Just one more pain and expense for migrants documented and undocumented face now under ICE.ย The goal is to make it so horrible that they will agree to self deport.ย Such hatred for another people simply due to skin color and language / accent is so foreign / alien to me that it seems like something out of reality.ย And who pays for these monitors?ย The immigrant who cannot afford it or the US tax payer.ย If the taxpayer meaning the government is paying for the costs is this just a way to enrich a private company on the taxpayers backs / dime.ย ย Yet all reports are that this is driven by Stephen Miller who is so shrill and over the top demanding that he put one commander in the hospital three times with his harassment and demands, and he is said to have driven ICE to attack protestors claiming that the public would be on the side of ICE if they could show that the protestors were dangerous thugs. Hugs
Agency uses devices, which are uncomfortable and interfere with employment, to push people to self-deport, advocates say
Critics say that ankle monitors impose psychological, economic and physical harms on the people required to wear them.ย Illustration: Guardian Design / Getty Images
For five years, an asylum-seeking woman attended routine check-ins with immigration authorities without issue. At her most recent appointment in October, she was unexpectedly ordered to strap on an ankle monitor, according to her attorney, Deepa Bijpuria.
Bijpuria, a supervising attorney in the immigration unit of Legal Aid DC, described the client as a single mom who fled her home country because of severe domestic violence, escaping while pregnant with her young daughter.
โ[The order] was just such a shift after sheโd been complying for years while waiting for her asylum application to be heard and decided,โ she said.
Bijpuria said the working mom, who declined an interview and requested anonymity due to her vulnerable situation, lost at least one job after receiving the ankle monitor.
Bijpuriaโs client is not the only immigrant to be blindsided by ankle monitor requirements. US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) uses electronic monitoring through itsย Alternatives to Detention (ATD)ย program, which was formally implemented in 2004 to ensure that immigrants comply with legal obligations while their cases proceed without being placed in detention.
ATD compliance methods also include mobile apps and telephone check-ins. But Evan Benz, a senior attorney at the Amica Center for Immigrant Rights, said there had been a โmarked shiftโ towards utilizing ankle monitors following a June 2025 internal ICE memo directing officers to place the devices on anyone enrolled in the ATD program.
ICE is using smartwatches to track pregnant women, even during labor: โShe was so afraid they would take her babyโ
Read more
The number of people in the ATD program with ankle monitors nearly doubled in subsequent months, even as overall enrollment in the program remained stable. The total grew from about 24,000 at the time of the memo, a figureย reported by the Washington Post, to roughly 42,000 last month, according to aย February fiscal year 2026 ICE report.
The increase has not been evenly distributed across the country. The February ICE report revealed that enforcement varies by region, with the DC area having the highest number of people required to wear ankle monitors in the country.
โIf youโre in the area of the Washington DC field office, which covers Virginia and the city of Washington DC, then youโre drastically more likely to be subjected to ankle monitoring,โ Benz said. โBut itโs not really clear exactly what the reason is for regional variation.โ
In an email to the Guardian, an ICE spokesperson said that the ATD program used โindividualized determinationsโ to tailor supervision levels on a case-by-case basis, allowing ICE to escalate or de-escalate oversight as needed. The spokesperson added that decisions were based on criminal history, compliance record and โany other relevant factorsโ when determining whether to keep someone in detention during ongoing proceedings.
Bijpuria said uneven enforcement highlighted the โarbitraryโ nature of ankle monitor assignments, recalling many clients who were fitted with the devices despite having complied with their legal obligations. The cases, she said, raise questions about whether ensuring compliance is truly the goal behind the monitoring.
These concerns are reinforced by aย 2021 studyย conducted by the Cardozo School of Law, which found that ankle monitors do not necessarily improve compliance and may even be counterproductive. The report found that 98% of immigrants released without electronic ankle monitors attended all court hearings and ICE check-ins, compared with 93% of those required to wear the devices.
Legal experts say uncertainty about the motives behind ankle monitor orders is exacerbated by limited transparency from federal authorities. ICEโs internal memo was never released publicly, prompting the Amica Center to file a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit.
Benz said ICE initially responded to the lawsuit by saying it would publish the memo on its website. The agency later said it could not do so at the time because of the ongoing Department of Homeland Security (DHS) shutdown.
โWeโve seen that ICE is not an agency that cares very much about transparency in its dealings with immigrants, or really the public at large,โ Benz said.
Julia Decker, policy director at the Immigrant Law Center of Minnesota, said the lack of transparency reflected a strategy of โintentional chaosโ, in which creating uncertainty and anxiety in immigrant communities was โpart of the planโ.
Decker raised concerns that the use of ankle monitors and the broader ATD program could become another way to โforceโ immigrants into a mistake that would push them into detention.
โI think that itโs very, very likely that any program like this becomes a way to funnel you right back into the very system that it was supposed to be an alternative to,โ she said. โParticularly with an administration like this one that has been very public with its statements about wanting to arrest and deport as many [people as possible].โ
Benz echoed Deckerโs concerns, calling the ATD program an โalternative form of detentionโ rather than a true alternative to detention.
โWeโve seen a number of cases where ICE has used the ankle monitor to track down someone at home,โ he said. โSometimes there has been a ruse of โHey, can you come outside? We got an alert. Thereโs something wrong with your ankle monitor, and we just need to check it out.โ And then that person is actually detained by ICE.โ
Immigrant trucker returns to war-torn Ukraine rather than risk ICE encounter: โI preferred going back homeโ
Read more
Beyond increasing the risk of detention, ankle monitors impose psychological, economic and physical harms on the people required to wear them, experts said.
โThere are very onerous conditions of supervision, like curfews, home inspections and restrictions on where you can travel,โ Benz said. โAll of these combined can take a great toll on an individual on a psychological level. They donโt feel free. They feel as if theyโre being watched, and they are also having their liberty, their freedom of movement, actually physically restrained.โ
He noted that people wearing ankle monitors were more likely to lose their jobs, as the devices are often associated with the criminal legal system and can make those who wear them appear suspicious to employers.
Bijpuria emphasized the physical discomfort of ankle monitors. โBesides the psychological trauma, shame and disruption, itโs difficult to sleep.โ
She added that the combination of deportation threats and the various harms of ankle monitors appeared designed to pressure people into self-deportation. Last year, the then DHS secretary, Kristi Noem,ย announcedย a nationwide, multimillion-dollar campaign that offered incentives for self-deportation, including up to $1,000 in financial assistance and free travel.
โWeโve seen people whoโve been detained or put on ankle monitoring who have options but, because of the conditions that theyโre subjected to, ultimately decide to self-deport,โ Bijpuria said. โYou also have to remember there are private companies involved, and there is someone whoโs making money from all this. They donโt have enough capacity for detaining everyone, so this is an alternative still getting you in that pipeline to ultimate removal.โ
Amid the shifting landscape of immigration policies, a continuing DHS shutdown and leadership changes, Benz stressed the importance of submitting a written request to ICE for removal or avoidance of the device, supported by medical documentation demonstrating its negative impacts. Benz pointed to guides forย attorneysย representing clients in the ATD program and people navigating the processย without legal representation.
โI think that [ankle monitoring and the ATD program] have flown under the radar in part because there are so many awful things that this agency is doing every day in terms of ripping people away from their families and their communities,โ Benz said. โBut the use of ankle monitors by ICE is a very harmful phenomenon.โ
There’s gotta be something each of us wants to know, and likely are things we need to know but may not be covered by traditional or partisan news outlets. It’s long, of course.
Today, we will look at yesterdayโs congressional resignations, President Donald Trumpโs criticism of Pope Leo, and other news spanning each continent.
Letโs get to it.
United States
-Both Democratic Congressman Eric Swalwell and Republican Congressman Tony Gonzalez resigned from the House of Representatives yesterday amid a slew of ethical and legal controversies related to sexual misconduct.
The House Clerk read their respective resignation letters on the floor, which were met by bipartisan applause.
Their departures leave the lower chamber with 216 Republicans and 213 Democrats.
-California Governor Gavin Newsom issued a proclamation yesterday setting the date for a special election to fill the remainder of Swalwellโs term for August 18.
-House Democrats introduced a bill that would establish a commission to assess whether President Donald Trump should be removed from office.
-Wholesale inflation rose to 4% in March, a four-year high, according to new data released yesterday.
The uptick was fueled by a 15.7% rise in gasoline prices, accounting for half of the increase due to the war in the Middle East.
Meanwhile, the average U.S. gas price stood at $4.11 yesterday, according to AAA.
-Senate Majority Leader John Thune said yesterday that Republicans โwould be prepared to confirmโ a nominee to the Supreme Court in the event of a retirement ahead of the midterm elections.
For weeks, rumors in Washington have circulated around whether Justice Samuel Alito could retire in the next several weeks.
The 76-year-old conservative has been on the Court since 2006 and is the second-oldest on the high court, behind Clarence Thomas.
-The Senate Banking Committee is expected to hold a confirmation hearing next Tuesday on Trumpโs nominee to lead the Federal Reserve.
-Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said yesterday that Trump is readying an executive order that would mandate U.S. banks to collect citizenship information.
-The Department of Justice filed a lawsuit against Connecticut and the city of New Haven over its sanctuary policies.
-The Republican National Committee (RNC) ended February with $109 million, seven times as much as its Democratic counterpart.
-Democratic Senate candidate Roy Cooper raised more than $13.8 million in the first quarter of the year.
-Trump said that he was โnot a big fanโ of Riley Gaines after the conservative activist criticized his posting of an AI-generated image depicting himself as Jesus.
-Streamer Hasan Piker called the Republican Party the โbiggest domestic terroristโ group in the country on Pod Save America.
The comment comes as Democrats wrestle with whether to welcome or distance themselves from the content creator ahead of this yearโs elections.
-Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear, a prospective 2028 Democratic presidential candidate, will be honored by the LGBTQ+ Victory Fund in Washington this weekend.
-Former President Joe Bidenโs official portrait was unveiled yesterday at Syracuse University.
-Authorities in Nigeriaย apprehended a 33-member gangย allegedly responsible for abducting 38 people at a church in the countryโs central Kwara state in November.
The arrest is part of the central governmentโs crackdown on criminal groups.
-Libyaโs eastern- and western-based administrations participated in military exercises hosted by the United States for the first time on Tuesday.
Since the ouster of Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi in 2011, the North African country has been rocked by civil conflict and divided government authority, with competing geographic factions vying for territorial control since 2014.
-On this day in 1958, the First Conference of Independent African States was held in Accra, Ghana, bringing together the leaders of the eight independent African nations at the time to coordinate their opposition to colonialism and foster continental unity.
At the gathering, the leaders designated April 15 as โAfrican Freedom Day.โ
In 1963, the Organization of African Unity moved the date to May 25.
In 2023, civil war broke out in Sudan after the countryโs army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) descended into a battle for control of the capital, Khartoum.
Since then, the country has been gripped by widespread death and disease.
According to some estimates, there have been at least 150,000 deaths since the war broke out, with some 14 million more people having been displaced.
According to the United Nations, an estimated 19 million people, or about 41% of the population, are facing โhigh levels of acute food insecurity.โ
-Brazilian President Luiz Inรกcio Lula da Silvaย calledย for the extradition of former spy chief Alexandre Ramagem after he was apprehended in the United States.
Ramagem fled Brazil after he was convicted of his role in plotting a coup with now-former President Jair Bolsonaro following his 2022 election defeat.
Bolsonaro is currently serving a 27-year prison term.
-On this day in 1959, Fidel Castro visited the United States, just four months after successfully leading a revolution that toppled Cuban dictator Fulgencio Batista.
-North Korea carried out another test of its strategic cruise and anti-warship missiles on Sunday as relations between Pyongyang and South Korea continue to deteriorate.
-Five countries in the Indo-Pacific will participate in U.S.-led military exercises in the region starting next week.
The drills, which will run from April 20 to May 8, come as U.S. allies in the region worry that Washingtonโs strategic focus has shifted from Asia to the Middle East amid its conflict with Iran.
Australia, Canada, France, the Philippines, and New Zealand will contribute forces to the multilateral effort.
-Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. did a few rounds of jumping jacks in a bid to dispel rumors of his failing health.
-The United Nations said that around 250 people are missing after a boat carrying Rohingya refugees and Bangladeshi nationals capsized in the Andaman Sea due to heavy winds.
-On this day in 1998, Pol Pot died in his sleep.
During his four-year rule over Cambodia, his Khmer Rouge regime carried out a genocide against the Cambodian people, killing an estimated 1.5 to 3 million people, accounting for nearly one-quarter of the Southeast Asian nationโs population.
-Days after President Trump criticized Pope Leo for his opposition to Washingtonโs war against Iran, the Vatican issued a statement warning the advanced democracies risked sliding into โmajoritarian tyranny,โ a seemingly veiled shot at Trumpโs populist movement.
-In an interview with an Italian newspaper, Trump said that he was โshockedโ by Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloniโs opposition to his decision to launch a military operation against Iran, representing a break between the conservative allies.
In response to Meloni calling his attacks on the Pope โunacceptable,โ Trump said, โItโs her whoโs unacceptable.โ
-Trump called on the United Kingdom to drill oil from the North Sea to offset surging global energy prices.
-U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth will once again skip a virtual meeting of the Ukraine Defense Contact Group today. Instead, the Pentagonโs policy chief, Elbridge Colby, will attend in his place.
A meeting of the Ukraine Defense Contact Group in June 2022.
The grouping of over 50 defense chiefs seeks to coordinate military assistance to Ukraine as it wards off invading Russian forces.
The forum was established in April 2022 just after Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Since assuming office, the Trump administration has delegated its leadership role in the body.
-French President Emmanuel Macron said he would seek a coordinated approach to ban minors from using social media across the 27-member European Union.
-On this day in 1452, Leonardo da Vinci was born in Italy.
In 1912, the RMS Titanic sank in the North Atlantic.
Shortly after the U.S. and Israel launched a joint military operation against Iran on February 28, the Israeli military began striking Hezbollah targets in southern Lebanon, ending a teetering ceasefire agreement.
According to estimates, the fighting has killed around 2,000 people and displaced over one million people in Lebanon.
Meanwhile, President Trump said yesterday that talks with Iran could resume as early as this week.
Last weekend, Vice President JD Vance led a U.S. delegation for talks with Iranian officials in Pakistan. After those talks broke down, Trump said that he would impose a blockade on the Strait of Hormuz in a bid to get Iran to agree to a long-term agreement to settle the war and to place limits on its nuclear program.
Vance appeared on Fox News on Monday to discuss the talks.
It is believed that Iran has planted mines in the strategic waterway, and Tehran has threatened to attack ports belonging to Arab Gulf states if its ports are attacked.
Prior to the recent war in the region, the Strait served as a conduit for 20% of the worldโs daily oil consumption.
The 76-year-old, who has dominated politics in Israel for the better part of the past two decades, is expected to seek another term in office in parliamentary elections due by late October.
Last week, a long-running public corruption trial against Netanyahu restarted after pausing due to the war.
-On this day in 1993, President Bill Clinton hosted Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin in the Oval Office to discuss the Middle East peace process.
Later that year, Clinton would host Rabin, along with Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, at the White House for the signing of the Oslo Accords, establishing a framework for the eventual settlement of the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians.
In 1995, Rabin was assassinated as he departed a peace rally in Tel Aviv by an Israeli radical angry over Rabinโs peace overtures to the Palestinians.
Speaking at Rabinโs funeral service in Jerusalem, Clinton said, โYour Prime Minister was a martyr for peace, but he was a victim of hate. Surely we must learn from his martyrdom that if people cannot let go of the hatred of their enemies, they risk sowing the seeds of hatred among themselves.โ
Carl Kabat
Critics say that ankle monitors impose psychological, economic and physical harms on the people required to wear them.ย Illustration: Guardian Design / Getty Images
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