The Marshall Project news digest

Donate Edited by Andrew Cohen View in browser Join The Marshall Project for a concert: We hope you’ll join us and Musicambia on October 28 in NYC for Redemption Songs, a one-of-a-kind show that combines live music, storytelling, and journalism to tell the story of mass incarceration, one song at a time. Learn more and get your tickets. Pick of the News Pregnant, fearful in an immigrant jail. Maria had two errands to run in Dallas one morning a year ago. She had to check in at her local ICE office, as she had done many times before, and then she had to go to her doctor to confirm her pregnancy. She never made it to the doctor. but she was pregnant. She told the ICE agents that, but they seized her at that check-in anyway and sent her to an immigrant jail. She endured deplorable conditions for months, without adequate medical care or nutrition. In April, without explanation, federal immigration officials released her. Conditions have worsened for pregnant people in ICE detention, too, since last January. In collaboration with The 19th, Kaley Johnson has the story. The Marshall Project The growing threat of political violence touches both Republicans and Democrats. Hundreds of elected officials across the U.S. have been threatened with death or other violence in the past two years. The figure includes members of Congress, governors, secretaries of state and other elected officials. Some have had to hire personal security to protect themselves and their families. When Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, the Georgia Republican who was a MAGA ally of the president, was threatened, she showed the threats to President Donald Trump and asked him for help. “Your fault,” the president replied. “You deserve it.” The New York Times More: Living under the threat of political violence. The New York Times More good news for white-collar criminals. More bad news for consumers and investors. The Trump administration has taken resources away from the Justice Department’s financial fraud unit and expanded a unit investigating welfare fraud cases. The feds are even offering retention bonuses to experienced lawyers who want to leave because of the changing enforcement priorities. Bloomberg Law More: Trump’s pardons or commutations have largely targeted people convicted of fraud or other financial crimes and have gone almost exclusively to Republican officials or outspoken MAGA allies. “President Trump is trying to end accountability for public officials,” says a former federal prosecutor. Reuters Immigration nation. Federal immigration officials rejected New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s request for a freeze on ICE operations in the wake of another ICE shooting in the city. Politico Officials in Austin, Texas, struggle to find ways to hold federal immigration agents accountable for unjustified shootings and other misconduct. Texas Observer Some immigration judges working for the Justice Department handle hearings remotely, undermining what few due process rights immigrants have when they are seeking asylum or other ways to stay in the U.S. States Newsroom New Medicaid cuts have limited coverage for hundreds of thousands of legal immigrants, including victims of human trafficking. The Associated Press Another right without a remedy. Pennsylvania law promises people the right to “effective” post-conviction legal representation even if they cannot pay for it. But the promise comes with little funding for the policies behind it. The state lets lawyers do virtually nothing on behalf of their clients for years under a flat-fee system that disincentivizes zealous advocacy work. The latest victim of such a system is Nolan O’Neal, whose appointed attorney filed 41 extensions over a nine-year period while O’Neal languished in prison with legitimate claims worthy of judicial review. At least 250 other people have lived in prison for five years or more waiting for their attorneys to do something on their behalf. ProPublica/The Philadelphia Inquirer N/S/E