Trump Administration Immigration Crackdown

Axios reports that California Gov. Gavin Newsom has opened a state investigation into whether TikTok is unlawfully censoring content critical of President Trump and his immigration crackdown, after users said over the weekend they were suddenly unable to upload videos about ICE raids and the fatal shooting of Alex Pretti in Minneapolis. TikTok attributes the disruptions to a 'major infrastructure issue' tied to a power outage at a U.S. data‑center partner and says videos of Pretti’s killing have been continuously available, but the timing has fueled the hashtag #TikTokCensorship and suspicions that the platform is muting Trump‑unfriendly material just days after finalizing a U.S. joint‑venture deal. Separately, Meta is blocking links to ICE List — a site that has doxxed thousands of alleged DHS employees — citing its policy against sharing personally identifiable information for law‑enforcement, military and security personnel. The fracas comes as activists and residents increasingly rely on TikTok and other apps to document and track ICE operations in Minnesota and other states, and as lawmakers like Sen. Chris Murphy warn that opaque, politically sensitive content policies on dominant social platforms are emerging as a major 'threat to democracy.' The story puts hard names and explanations to what had been viral complaints that posts about ICE and about Jeffrey Epstein were being throttled or blocked, and raises stakes for regulators looking at how much control politically exposed platforms can exert over real‑time protest and enforcement footage.

As more than 2,000 federal immigration agents sweep Minneapolis–St. Paul in an Operation Metro Surge that DHS says has produced over 3,000 arrests since early December, local residents have quietly built ad hoc "underground railroad" networks to shelter families and children fearing detention. The piece follows the Indigenous Ecuadorian family of Melida Rita Wampash Tuntuam—detained despite only minor traffic offenses—whose 20‑ and 22‑year‑old children moved seven younger siblings, including a 5‑month‑old baby, into a south Minneapolis safe house after masked ICE officers twice surrounded their home. Christian nonprofit Source MN and volunteers like factory worker and mother of five Feliza Martinez are paying rent, delivering food and setting up emergency custody plans so U.S.-based children are not taken into government care if parents are seized; Martinez says she now gets terrified calls from immigrant families "every single day." The article also reports allegations that ICE agents broke down doors without judicial warrants and came to the family home after promising to send a social worker, deepening mistrust and fueling the broader wave of protests, business shutdowns and school absences already documented in Minnesota. The story captures how a federal enforcement campaign that Washington sells as targeting criminals is, at street level, fracturing mixed-status households and pitting fearful neighborhoods and church networks against a heavily militarized federal presence.