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Federal immigration agents detained more than 70 children in Minnesota between Dec. 1 and March 10 during Operation Metro Surge, the Trump administration's immigration enforcement sweep in that state. Nearly two dozen children were detained by immigration officials for more than 20 days and about 20 have already been deported. Sahan Journal A Minnesota woman detained by ICE in a Texas facility is trying to gain her release so she can have surgery to remove an ovarian cyst. El Paso Matters Businesses in Minneapolis and St. Paul lost more than $600 million as a result of the crackdown, according to one estimate. CBS News TMP Context: The number of children in immigration detention skyrocketed in the first year of the second Trump term. The Marshall Project

Life and death on the streets of Mississippi. Cortez George’s story shows how hard it is for families victimized by gun violence to find justice in Jackson, Mississippi. First, he was accused of murder in a case that ultimately fell apart. Then, seven months later, he was shot to death in another local homicide case that remains unsolved. “A majority of families will say the same,” says a Jackson mother who has formed a nonprofit that counsels families of homicide victims. “Given information was not acted upon. Or the killer was arrested and released for lack of evidence.” Mississippi Today TMP Context: Police in Jackson have tried curfews to keep youths off the streets. There’s little evidence to suggest the tactic worked. The Marshall Project

Senate votes to break ICE deadlock. Senate Republicans adopted a non-binding budget resolution early Thursday in support of a $70 billion plan to fund the Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Border Patrol for the next three years without any of the guardrails Democrats sought to check excesses by federal immigration agents. The vote was 50-48. Reuters Two Republican senators voted against the measure. It now goes to the House of Representatives, where it faces challenges from both Democrats, who want to increase funding for child care and school meals, and from Republicans, who want to add new restrictions on voting. Politico

Amateur hour. A former U.S. Capitol Police officer sued the conservative website Blaze Media this week, alleging it falsely and defamatorily accused her of being the Jan. 6 pipe bomber. The New York Times Among other allegations, the complaint accuses the FBI of relying on dubious “gait analysis” to justify a search of the officer’s home. Federal prosecutors have charged a man with planting bombs in Washington, D.C., on Jan. 5, 2021. The Bulwark New details on weaponized Justice Department investigations into President Donald Trump’s perceived political enemies: The feds withdrew subpoenas issued earlier this week and are instead asking former Obama administration officials to speak with investigators voluntarily. The Washington Post

Immigration detention. An ICE raid in Vermont last month caused a conflict with state and local law enforcement officials and chaos in the streets of South Burlington when federal agents refused to stand down during a standoff with protesters. The Boston Globe A Colorado judge on Tuesday barred Gov. Jared Polis from ordering state employees to share data on residents with federal immigration agents. Colorado Sun A federal immigration agent faces a misdemeanor charge of assault against a protester in Colorado. The New York Times Migrant children were left for months inside a foster care facility in New York, where they were threatened with deportation for misbehaving or complaining about conditions. Courthouse News Service

The federal immigration prison in the Florida Everglades known as Alligator Alcatraz will remain open pending the outcome of litigation intended to close it, a divided federal appeals court ruled this week. Politico A panel of 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals judges voted 2-1 that there is no federal control over the Everglades facility intended to house people rounded up in federal immigration raids. The Associated Press The appellate court overturned a trial judge’s ruling that ordered the facility closed. Mother Jones Related: Read the ruling. 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals TMP Context: The Alligator Alcatraz in your backyard. The Marshall Project

A Colorado judge this week overturned a first-degree murder conviction that was based on a flawed “shaken baby syndrome” diagnosis more than 25 years ago. Prosecutors now concede based on new medical evidence that the 4-month-old child in the case died of pneumonia and not an assault by Stephen Martinez, who has served more than 25 years of a life sentence in the case. Aurora Sentinel Colorado/The Associated Press TMP Context: Robert Roberson and another dubious “shaken baby” case. The Marshall Project

There is little evidence justifying the seizure of 650,000 ballots cast during the 2024 election in Riverside County, California. The right-wing “constitutional sheriff” who seized them, Chad Bianco, did so based on dubious claims by election deniers and conspiracy theorists, newly disclosed emails reveal. Cal Matters TMP Context: Does your sheriff think he’s more powerful than the president? The Marshall Project

A grand jury in Suffolk County, Massachusetts, has indicted a rheumatologist on more than 80 new sexual assault charges involving patients. Dr. Derrick Todd already faces 22 counts of rape and indecent assault and battery in another Massachusetts county. He pleaded not guilty to those initial charges. The Boston Globe

About 1 in 5 Montana prisoners will soon be housed in Mississippi. Montana corrections officials say they are ending their contract with a private prison company in Arizona that would soon be charging $94 per day per prisoner in favor of a deal in Mississippi that will cost the state $85 per day per prisoner. Montana Free Press TMP Context from 2016: The prison visit that cost my family $2,370. The Marshall Project

The U.S. Supreme Court this week again embraced an expanded view of qualified immunity, the doctrine that protects police from accountability for misconduct. “The majority did not justify its decision in a written opinion, or give the parties an opportunity to present all their arguments, let alone a complete factual record. It just swept aside the 9th Circuit’s decision in a shadow docket order as cryptic as it is unfair.” Slate

Another dark day for the Justice Department. The indictment of the Southern Poverty Law Center on fraud charges both raises and answers questions about the Trump administration’s willingness to make life easier for white supremacists at the expense of those who seek to hold them accountable. Law Dork

The “super jail” is the autocrat’s biggest dream. We see it in El Salvador and we may yet see it here with the Trump administration. But the president’s push to reopen the Alcatraz Federal Penitentiary, which has been shuttered since 1963, is likely a nonstarter. New York Magazine

Nothing conservative about a radical judge. U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas intended his recent speech at the University of Texas “as a Republican and conservative manifesto for our times — and for all times. But the political and constitutional philosophies he described and embraced are neither doctrinal conservatism nor Republican nor political conservatism, and they are manifestly not constitutional conservatism.” Judge J. Michael Luttig More: Progressive legal scholars also didn’t think much of Thomas’ speech. Scotusblog

FBI Director Kash Patel’s attempt to cash in on a story about his drinking. “The biggest barrier Patel faces is that The Atlantic says it interviewed more than two dozen people for the story. That is evidence of journalistic rigor — not a reckless disregard for the truth. Fitzpatrick is a longtime investigative journalist who held senior roles at 60 Minutes and NBC News.” Popular Information More: “Anyone that says that … is lying.” Patel tried to defend himself this week from allegations that he’s got a drinking problem that affects his ability to work. Politico

“We don’t negotiate. We dismantle.” That is the slogan at the Department of Homeland Security’s new task force website, which portrays federal immigration agents as heroic fighters against human traffickers and drug dealers. Mother Jones A federal judge in Guam has rejected a Trump administration attempt to punish a lawyer representing a Laotian immigrant fighting a deportation proceeding. Politico Related: Read the ruling. U.S. District Court, District of Guam

Florida has opened a criminal investigation into whether ChatGPT and its parent company, OpenAI, offered “significant advice” to Phoenix Ikner before he allegedly killed two people at Florida State University last year. “My prosecutors have looked at this, and they’ve told me if it was a person on the other end of the screen, we would be charging them with murder,” said James Uthmeier, the state’s attorney general. The New York Times

There have been at least 156 murder-suicides this year. The recent mass shooting in Louisiana is a reminder that these types of killings, usually involving a case of domestic violence and almost always involving a gun, are more common than mass shootings. The Trace More than 70 women are shot and killed by an intimate partner every month on average, according to Everytown for Gun Safety. 19th

Restoration hardware. Incarcerated women in Louisiana illustrate the value of a prison education thanks to Tulane University and Operation Restoration, a program that helps women rebuild — or build — their lives after their release. Ms. Magazine

“The guys inside are really thirsty for knowledge about A.I.” Behind bars, there’s apparently a great deal of interest in how artificial intelligence works and how it may best be deployed to help incarcerated people better succeed at post-conviction litigation. The New York Times