News & Commentary

Twenty years have passed since the first detainees arrived in Guantánamo Bay, making it the longest-standing war prison in U.S. history. Since 2002, 779 Muslim men and boys have been held at Guantánamo, nearly all of them without charge or trial. Today, 39 men remain indefinitely detained there, and 27 of them have never even been charged with any crime. Fourteen of those 27 have been cleared for transfer or release, some for years. Many of the remaining men are torture survivors; the CIA formerly disappeared some of them at “black sites” before our government sent them to Guantánamo. All of the prisoners have been exposed to the physical and psychological trauma associated with prolonged indefinite detention. A

On January 11, the U.S. Supreme Court will hear arguments in Garland v. Gonzalez, the latest in a series of cases the court has taken on immigration detention. The case presents a basic question: whether the federal government can lock immigrants up, for months or even years, without a hearing to determine if their detention is justified. And the Biden administration is decidedly on the wrong side of this fight. T

As we reflect on the first anniversary of the insurrection at the U.S. Capitol, it’s easy to think of that day’s attack as an isolated incident — a singular outlandish, violent siege that threatened our democracy. But beginning long before Jan. 6, there has been a sustained attack on our fundamental right to vote — the cornerstone of democracy. Devoid of the guns, knives, and bats wielded by the Jan. 6 insurrectionists, this threat may seem modest, but the future of our democracy is still very much in peril. T

Georgia has enacted new state House and state Senate district lines, concluding its once-in-a-decade redistricting process. The state’s new maps systematically water down the political strength of Black Georgians, ensuring that despite the tremendous growth in Georgia’s Black population, Black voters in Georgia will have few, if any, new political opportunities in their state’s House and Senate. O

Credit: Allison Shelley February MarchCredit: A

Twenty-one months into the pandemic, many people outside of jails, prisons, and civil detention centers in the U.S. are rushing to get their booster vaccines and are spending time with friends and family in ways that felt impossible less than a year ago. The pandemic is far from over, as the omicron variant has made clear. Still, heralding vaccines and rapid tests, public officials are urging vaccinated Americans to celebrate the holidays together, carefully. “We’ll get through this,” President Biden said in his address this week. Y

On August 23, 2020, a white officer in the Kenosha Police Department shot Jacob Blake, a Black man, in the back, leaving him paralyzed. Protests erupted in the Milwaukee, Wisconsin suburb, and two nights later, Kyle Rittenhouse shot and killed two people and injured another amidst the unrest. More than 40 different local, state, and federal law enforcement agencies descended on the suburb of Milwaukee that summer night. While Rittenhouse’s high-profile trial was monitored by people across the country, the underlying role of law enforcement and their interactions with right-wing militia groups has drawn less attention. T

This op-ed was originally published by The Hill. T

Recently, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) issued new guidance requiring baby bassinets and “snacks” to be available to infants and people who are pregnant, postpartum, or nursing in CBP detention. Neither are of comfort in hieleras — freezing cold, overcrowded holding cells notorious for their harsh conditions. And none of the added features included in the new policy can compensate for the physical and emotional strain of CBP detention conditions on people who are pregnant, postpartum, or nursing their newborns. T