A coalition of civil and human rights organizations is calling for the closure of a massive immigration detention facility at Fort Bliss, alleging guards have beaten detainees and threatened violence, criminal charges and imprisonment in attempts to coerce even non-Mexican migrants into crossing the border into Mexico.

President Donald Trump's new National Security Strategy, unveiled Dec. 4, puts the Western Hemisphere at the center of US foreign policy and revives the Monroe Doctrine of 1823, appending it with a "Trump Corollary." The document presents the Americas as the main line of defense for the US homeland and links that doctrine directly to ongoing military operations against suspected drug traffickers in Caribbean and Pacific waters.

President Trump called for "reverse migration" and a "major reduction in illegal and disruptive populations" in a racist late-night online rant Nov. 27. In the bizarre Thanksgiving message, Trump vowed to "permanently pause migration from all Third World Countries" and to revisit immigration decisions made under his predecessor, Joe Biden. He said deportations will target "anyone who is not a net asset to the United States, or is incapable of loving our Country" or "non-compatible with Western Civilization." Trump's message followed the shooting of two National Guard soldiers in Washington DC, apparently by an Afghan refugee. Hours before the Washington shooting, the White House had already confirmed plans to re-vet refugees already settled in the US.

President Donald Trump praised Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman as "incredible in terms of human rights" during an Oval Office meeting Nov. 18, preemptively deflecting questions about the kingdom's extensive record of abuses as the crown prince pledged $1 trillion in US investments.

Amnesty International and the Surveillance Technology Oversight Project (STOP) released on Nov. 12 more than 2,700 New York Police Department (NYPD) documents obtained after a five-year lawsuit. The groups say that the documents reveal extensive and discriminatory surveillance practices.

Zohran Mamdani hasn't even taken office, and already there has been a physical skirmish between ICE agents and NYPD cops in Washington Heights. This portends a full-on confrontation between federal and municipal power in the months to come—with the potential (yes, really) for civil war. In Episode 304 of the CounterVortex podcast, Bill Weinberg argues that despite the danger, Mamdani's election heightens the contradictions in American society in a salubrious way, and may even open revolutionary possibilities. However, his pledge to destroy Lower Manhattan's Elizabeth Street Garden points to the contradictions in Mamdani's own politics that activists will have to press him on.

Venezuelan nationals deported to El Salvador by the US government earlier this year were tortured and ill-treated, advocacy groups reported Nov. 12.

According to an 81-page report jointly released by Human Rights Watch (HRW) and Cristosal, a Salvadoran advocacy organization, members of a group of 252 Venezuelan deportees sent to El Salvador’s notorious Center for Terrorism Confinement (CECOT) were subjected to torture, arbitrary detention, and in some instances sexual abuse, while held incommunicado in inhumane conditions. The organizations found a pattern of coordinated abuse rather than isolated incidents. One former detainee told the investigators: "I'm on alert all the time because every time I heard the sound of keys and handcuffs, it meant they were coming to beat us."

Under a deal between Immigration & Customs Enforcement (ICE) and the Texas Department of Public Safety, the Texas state police force—consisting of some 5,000 officers—is being given the power to interrogate anyone suspected to be undocumented about their immigration status and to arrest people who are believed to be in the country without papers, without first obtaining a warrant. The move is heightening concerns that already exist about racial profiling in the Trump administration's country-wide immigration crackdown.