Tanvi

Last fall and earlier this year, I tailed and spoke to a number of different groups for @readlux and wrote about the practice of court and cop watching, putting it in historic context and explain what has made regular people join up to do this today. I have a few gift links available so please dm me if you don’t subscribe to Lux (although you should!).

For @jewishcurrentsmag I wrote about the death of the right to asylum—a right formalized in the aftermath of the holocaust to ensure human rights for the millions of stateless and displaced—and how, in this moment, that demise affects us all.

Mayor Zohran Mamdani announced a new executive order on Feb. 6 reaffirming and clarifying the city’s protections for its immigrant residents. “Across this country, day after day, we bear witness to cruelty that staggers the conscience,” Mamdani said at a gathering of faith leaders, referencing the recent shootings of Renee Good and Alex Pretti by federal agents in Minneapolis. “Masked agents, paid by our own tax dollars, violate the Constitution and visit terror upon our neighbors.” Among the executive order’s provisions: a bar on federal agents entering city property without a judicial warrant; orders for city agencies to protect all private information of New Yorkers; and the announcement of an audit to make sure that city agencies are complying with existing “sanctuary city” laws. Read ‘NYPD and ICE’s Dangerous Liaison in Mamdani’s Sanctuary City’ by Tanvi Misra @tanvim27 at the link in bio.

This story for @nymag is about a Nepali-speaking Bhutanese refugee, a green card holder who was convicted of a sex offense against a minor, and because of that, ordered deported. Previously, a person like him — someone whose family fled ethnic cleansing and was stateless, who was likely to face persecution back in Bhutan (which is illegal) — would not have actually been sent back. They would have stayed with the order and kept checking in with ICE. Bhutan wasn’t accepting these deportees anyway. But the Trump admin changed that, forcing it to accept these deportees — and deporting in a rushed manner before US lawyers could even legally contest the move. Bhutan immediately expelled these people to India. Many including Aasis Subedi smuggled into Nepal and are now languishing in refugee camps, without documents, rights, prospects. The Nepali govt has ruled that they crossed illegally and said they should be deported to Bhutan or…ironically, to America (the only place they had documents). This story does a few things: It asks what the consequence is of deporting people who have already done their time for their crimes — and doing so in the way the Trump admin has, by rushing due process and sending people to third countries at a scale never seen before. It asks: If the justice system works, then why is a deportion and, in this case, this permanent stripping of status (and, by extension) of human rights needed? Is that punishment fair or proportionate? Is it the best way to hold people accountable for the harm they did? Is it fair that immigrants and poc are disproportionately policed and prosecuted for crimes — and in this case, face compounded, indefinite punishments? While others (the Andrew Tates, Epstein affiliates) don’t? On a personal/procedural note: This story was difficult to do for many reasons, but I am glad we did it because as journalists — and I tell my students this — it’s important to do stories that make us uncomfortable, lean into complexity, and represent those subject to unjust systems widely, including the experiences of those who are innocent and those who have done grave harm. There are no perfect victims.

fall etc.

This summer, for @nymag , I traveled to Panama City and met Jharana, a 33-year-old from Nepal, who was among the 300 migrants in the first group the Trump admin had abruptly deported to a third country, in what later a central tenet of the admin’s immigration policy. They spoke little Spanish and most of them had passed through the Darien Gap on their way up to the US in the first place. Most were never screened for asylum or other protections in the US. For @nymag I followed Jharana and a few others over the course of the year and documented their choices and constraints — and what they did next. Link in bio.

All summer, I’ve been speaking to Laura, a Nigerian mom who fled domestic abuse and threats from relatives who wanted to subject her daughter to female genital mutilation. In January, she won fear-based protections in court. But due to new detention directives, ICE refused to release her — and then tried to deport her to Ghana, a country where other African deportees have been transferred to their home countries in violation of US court orders. Laura’s deportation was temporary blocked, but the judge refused to extend the stay—so now she’s languishing in detention, still separated from her children. I tallied at least 34 cases like hers this summer across the country of people who have won asylum, “withholding of removal,” and protection under the convention against torture but still remain detained, and vulnerable to being abruptly sent to a third country for @motherjonesmag ~> link in bio/stories.

Under an awning festooned with balloons, aunties in bright salwar kameez and hijabs unpacked foil-covered plates of Samosas and homemade sweets — aggressively passing them out along with cups of steaming, milky chai. The blazing sun on this July afternoon didn’t stop locals from dropping by this corner of Kensington Plaza, at the heart of a Brooklyn neighborhood often called Little Bangladesh. Here, the vibe was decidedly more block party than political rally, even though the largely South Asian crowd had gathered to celebrate two electoral victories in their diaspora: Zohran Mamdani’s stunning win in the Democratic New York mayoral primary, and that of his ally in the city council, Shahana Hanif. But they were also there to commemorate something bigger than the victories of two political candidates. The host of the event, Kazia Fouzia, the 56-year-old director of organizing for Desis Rising and Moving (DRUM) Beats, which works to improve political engagement among working-class South Asians, took to the mic to declare in English and Bangla, “This is a celebration for our community.” That was something, Fouzia said, that she heard often the night of the primary, when people packed the same plaza, erupting in cheers as they watched Mamdani’s victory speech projected onto the brick wall at Walgreens. “This is the victory of the Bangladeshi auntie who knocked on door after door until her feet throbbed and her knuckles ached,” Mamdani told the crowd that night. It wasn’t just that a member of that community had scored the nomination. It was that South Asian voters, and particularly, long-neglected Bangladeshi American voters, had turned out in record numbers from reliably left-leaning Astoria in Queens to right-leaning Brighton Beach in Brooklyn — and first-time voters had surged. Mamdani’s victory was a sign that South Asians, one of the fastest growing immigrant groups in the city, are beginning to assert themselves as an influential political demographic, not just making themselves heard at the polls, but becoming more politically engaged and organized at the neighborhood level. And South Asian women are front and center of that change. Read —> @politicomag

For @guardian I reviewed court documents, audio conversations; spoke to the family and attorneys; and interviewed a 19-year-old Venezuelan teen who was almost sent to El Salvador by the Trump admin until the US Supreme Court halted his removal. The young man, described as the baby of the family, and a lover of video games like FIFA, by his brother, had no criminal record or tattoos and an immigration court date set for May. As the court case winds through the system, he continues to languish in Texas, at risk for removal any day. Link in bio.

Was feeling emo, decided to delete

We were so over we were so back

In towns along the border, when migrants who cross get lost and call 911 — or go missing and their families try to get help — it’s Border Patrol that is called in to do the rescue and look for remains. For 2 yrs, I’ve been looking into Border Patrol’s rescue program. For @typeinvestigations and @highcountrynews , I wrote about what it means for missing and in-distress migrants when the same agency that chases you is responsible for saving you. I follow the stories of two young men who crossed in Southern Arizona in 2022 — got injured, left behind, and called for help. What happened next shows how the Border Patrol machinery works — and the position it puts migrants, local aid workers, tribal groups and the families of border crossers in. Link in story & bio -> Pls read and share if so inclined 🙏🏽. (These and other gorgeous photos have been taken by Bear Guerra of High Country News)