Semiquincentennial and ICE
If you’re only going to read one thing I’ve written recently, skip this Substack post and go straight to Notes from an ICE Chaser, which ran in the Nation at the end of May. It’s a behind the scenes look at what it was like for the journalists who followed Border Patrol and Greg Bovino from city to city for months on end.
At the time the story came out, I was with many of those same journalists at Delaney Hall, an ICE detention facility in Newark, New Jersey. Unlike with Border Patrol, where we were left alone by the agents, ICE in Newark seemed to target us (one photographer had to get four stitches on his finger after being hit with a baton). I also wrote about Delaney Hall for the Nation, and talked about the violence against protesters and press with Mother Jones, which you can watch here:
Here at the Turtle Diaries, you get tomorrow’s news today, which is why we’ve been on Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool watch since April (a compilation of my footage as they worked on the pool over April and May is available here, if you’re wondering how it went down). Now the pool and its peeling sealant are everywhere (including in confusing videos by conservative influencers)! The sealant that was put down is coming up in chunks and algae is all over the place, and President Trump has decided vandals are responsible. Now, National Guard, DEA, US Marshals, and HSI/ICE are among the assorted law enforcement officers who stand guard over the pool with the US Park Police.
I’ve been at the pool everyday since Friday the 19th, where I’ve watched NPS try various anti-algae measures (and protesters rally in support of the algae). I’ve also watched people get detained by the National Guard and federal officers for putting their hands in the water. I worked on a story with Dan Friedman at Mother Jones about our time at the pool and Trump’s war on algae, which you should all read!
For a while, NPS was possibly draining the pool, even as the rain undid their work (there isn’t a lot of transparency about what exactly is going on). On Thursday June 25th, NPS erected a fence around the pool and its surrounding area (you can still visit Lincoln!), which they said was in preparation for the 4th of July. While fencing does go up in the area, this is very early for it.
Hours before putting up the fence, NPS removed the nano bubblers, which had been pushing ozone into the water to combat the algae. The result was very oily looking water.
I regret to inform you all I’ll be back at the pool tomorrow, looking in from outside of the fence.
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