J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings novels—and the associated “legendarium” of characters, histories, myths, maps, and constructed languages—have served as a bedrock of so-called “nerd culture” since their publication in the mid-1950s. With its clear-cut characterizations, and (more-or-less) cleanly delineated lines between Good and Evil, Tolkien’s imagined Middle-earth—a vast and geographically variegated realm teeming…
JB Pritzker, the governor of Illinois, has urged the Trump administration to suspend its immigration crackdown in his state from Friday to Sunday, to allow children to “spend Halloween weekend without fear”. In a letter addressed to the homeland security secretary, Kristi Noem, and the heads of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Customs and…
Citing officer safety concerns, the tech giant’s decision to pull ICEBlock and similar apps from its App Store ignites a fierce debate over free speech, privacy, and corporate responsibility. WASHINGTON – In a move that has drawn both praise from law enforcement and sharp criticism from civil liberties advocates, Apple has removed several applications from…
Following Apple’s removal of ICEBlock from the App Store, an app used to report on the activity of Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents, 404 Media reports that Google is also removing similar apps from the Play Store. In a statement to Engadget, Google said “ICEBlock was never available on Google Play, but we removed similar…
Hours after U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents fatally shot a man in Franklin Park, U.S. Rep. Jesus “Chuy” Garcia, a Democrat from Chicago, called for a full investigation of the shooting at a news conference Friday night held in tandem with local officials and immigrant rights leaders. He spoke over a loud group of…
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.)’s investment in Palantir has seen an impressive surge of 142% since April. What Happened: Greene, who is a member of the House Homeland Security Committee, acquired shares in Palantir (NASDAQ:PLTR) just days before Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) granted the company a $30 million contract. Greene has clarified that her portfolio is managed by her financial adviser and…
A woman who died of a heart attack in a federal immigration detention facility in South Florida told her son over the phone on the day she died that staff refused to let her see a physician for chest pains, her son told a county investigator. Marie Ange Blaise, a 44-year-old Haitian national, died on…
OLD ORCHARD BEACH, Maine (AP) — The chief of police in a resort town in Maine has called for an investigation into the arrest by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement of one of its officers, whom the chief said was federally approved to work in the country in May. ICE arrested Old Orchard Beach Police…
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security on Thursday defended its policy of having Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers arrest people at their immigration court hearings after a class-action lawsuit was filed that seeks to stop the practice. The lawsuit filed Wednesday in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia against the agency and ICE…
Mobile network anomalies consistent with cell phone surveillance were detected at a July 4 protest at an Immigration and Customs Enforcement field office in Washington state. Those anomalies, according to an independent analysis by Straight Arrow News, suggest that a device known as an IMSI catcher may have been used to collect identifying information on…