John Washington

DHS terminates Camp East Montana operations contract, seeks new provider Amentum Services Inc., which is based in Chantilly, Virginia, has taken over the contract for the management of the troubled Camp East Montana in El Paso.

Camp East Montana has new management, according to the Department of Homeland Security. This comes after months of abuses and three deaths at the massive detention facility. This is confirmed by DHS and Sam.gov

My breaking story:

A pivot point, not a retreat on the vulnerability of the immigration enforcement regime

On the momentum — and vulnerability — of the immigration enforcement regime right now.

Latest newsletter:
johnwashington.substack.com/p/a-pivot-po...

Texas AG Paxton Declares Therapists Affirming Trans Youth To Be Illegal And Child Abuse The declaration echoes his 2022 efforts to target parents of trans youth with child abuse, and may force conversion therapy on trans youth in the state.

1. This morning, Texas AG Ken Paxton just released a chilling new declaration:

Mental health therapists, counselors, and psychologists must cease affirming trans youth - using their name and pronouns - or potentially face child abuse charges and loss of licensure.

Its a horrifying escalation.

Hungry for Affirmation, Vulnerable to Scams: As a Writer, I Know the Feeling

Oh, I've def been targeted by this. (And even partially lured! Tho sniffed a scam and never paid anything.)

Phishing scammers really know how to pick vulnerable groups: non-tech savvy elders, the broken-hearted, struggling writers.

www.nytimes.com/2026/02/25/b...

In Surprise, Residents Push Back Against Proposed Detention Center Worries over racial targeting, lost clientele, and roaming ICE agents loom as DHS plans to move into Phoenix suburb.

"No Human Warehousing in Surprise."

"At the Feb. 3 Surprise City Council meeting — days after the purchase announcement was reported — more than 1,000 people showed up to stand against the detention center."

"Nobody wants that thing here."
#Arizona #USA #Incarceration #Deportation #EthnicCleansing

During State of the Union, Trump Promoted More Deportations. One Couple’s Story Highlights the Human Toll. As immigration took center stage, a Phoenix woman’s trip to the nation’s capital spotlighted her detained partner’s declining health and broader criticisms about LGBTQ+ safety in custody.

She did not attend the state of the union, tho Sonia traveled to DC with Rep @repyassansari.bsky.social to advocate for the release of her partner, Yari, detained for a year by ICE, despite suffering from Leukemia.

www.lookoutnews.org/during-state...

The Hague

Blueprints of a proposed DHS detention center in Social Circle, Georgia.

The conservative town has pushed back against the proposed site of human warehousing. Many other communities across the country are facing similar sites. www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026...

"The raids at the family detention site an hour southwest of San Antonio are in response to a ProPublica article published Feb. 9, which features the letters and drawings of children inside, according to Manriquez.” #AbuseofPowerWatch

The U.S. Has Killed More than 100 People in Boat Strikes. We’re Tracking Them All. The Intercept is keeping count of all publicly declared U.S. attacks on boats in the Caribbean Sea and Pacific Ocean and the number of civilians killed.

Since declaring war in the Caribbean Sea & Pacific Ocean, US has killed at least 145 people in lethal strikes on boats.

These never-ending & interchangeable wars (war on drugs, war on terror, and war on migrants) by US Southern Command no longer even have to specify what org they are targeting!

Republican Lawmaker Wants ICE at Polling Places. That Would Be Illegal. The proposal would station ICE at early voting sites, Election Day polls and ballot drop boxes, even though Arizona and federal law strictly limits law enforcement activity at voting locations.

🚨 ICE at the polls?

An Arizona Lawmaker is pushing a bill to put ICE agents at all polling places throughout the state.

Latest, along with @josephjaafari.bsky.social for @lookoutnews.bsky.social
www.lookoutnews.org/republican-l...

thank you, Greg!

thanks Brian!

LOOKOUT LOOKOUT is a nonprofit news site dedicated to covering Arizona's LGBTQ+ community.

New gig announcement:

I'm very happy to report that today is my first day at @lookoutnews.bsky.social

I'll be covering the Arizona statehouse, immigration and border issues, and plenty more.

Follow Lookout, www.lookoutnews.org, read our work, and reach out with tips or comments!

Full write up on Tuesday’s Surprise City Council meeting where 1000+ community members showed up to oppose a recently purchased industrial warehouse located across from a high school, a preschool and middle school that DHS/ICE plans to use as a concentration camp. It’s the size of 7 football fields.

After a few weeks delay, ICE just released new detention statistics. They show 70,766 people in detention as of 1/26/2026. I believe this is the first time this data source has reported a detained population over 70k.

A long way home - AZ Luminaria One Tucson family’s harrowing journey from Venezuela through the heart of the anti-immigrant policies of México and the U.S.

Yesenia had walked thousands of miles through the Darién Gap and through Mexico to get a modicum of safety and security for her children in Tucson. Then a traffic stop destroyed it all

@jwashing.bsky.social follows the story of one family after deportation

azluminaria.org/a-long-way-h...

well.... we do have a few, but not enough.

BREAKING: Border Patrol shoots person in southern Arizona Emergency crews “found the patient in custody and in critical condition” 15 miles north of the US-Mexico border.

Federal immigration agents shoot another person, south of Tucson: via @maxgranger.info maxgranger.substack.com/p/breaking-b...

I did get help. thanks for checking, Alex!

Free Ebooks: Abolish ICE, Abolish the Border In solidarity with all those standing up for our communities against the brutality of immigrant detention and ICE occupation, we're offering free ebooks of three crucial books about migrant justice an...

Three free (and very relevant) e-books available from @haymarketbooks.org right now

"Unbuild Walls" by @silkys13.bsky.social

"Border and Rule" by @harshawalia.bsky.social

and my "The Case for Open Borders"
www.haymarketbooks.org/blogs/525-fr...

Trump Has Made ICE the Largest Law Enforcement Agency in the Country With Congress-approved funding, ICE detention is expected to triple in size, mirroring the scale of Japanese internment.

For @truthout.org I wrote an analysis of the mass deportation boom during 2025. Amid all the spectacle, the passage of the funding bill in July was an ominous milestone in the history of U.S. immigration policy and the Trump administration's aspiring fascism.
truthout.org/articles/tru...

Here's the follow up to last year's story of a Venezuelan snatched off the streets for driving too slowly and deported to Mexico.

Violence of arrest/detention caused her to miscarry.

Collaboration with Erik López of La Silla Rota & @azluminaria.org

johnwashington.substack.com/p/blowtorch-...

The Roots of Bukele’s Gulag Understanding why Trump is using El Salvador to test the limits of illegal deportation requires returning to the US’s long history of outsourcing violence.

www.bunkhistory.org/resources/th...
h/t @jwashing.bsky.social

Medical examiner believes death of man in ICE custody was homicide, recording says A fellow detainee says he witnessed Geraldo Lunas Campos being choked to death by guards at the ICE detention center in Texas on Jan. 3.

The Washington Post just reported that the death of Geraldo Lunas Campos at the detention facility in El Paso known as Camp East Montana on January 3 may have been a homicide. Coroner reports suggest that he died from asphyxiation — possibly from a choke hold.

www.washingtonpost.com/immigration/...

Thanks Alex!

The big-money right-wing push to upend the Constitution—and kill birthright citizenship “We’re in totally uncharted territory.”

This year felt like a decade. I wanted to highlight some of the immigration reporting I've done over the past 12 months:

In January, I wrote about the big money fueling the right's plot to end birthright citizenship.

Last newsletter of the year, a recap of my reading and how I worked through a writer’s block.
johnwashington.substack.com/p/best-of-2026

I have a chapter in my forthcoming book, How to Close a Camp, about the nomenclature of camps.

Looking for someone who can help me accurately translate a few short lines of Turkish.

It's for a chapter of my book on immigration detention centers.

Any takers, contacts, or tips would be very much appreciated.