Over 200 Michigan ICE Detainees Launch Hunger Strike
On April 21st, hundreds of immigrants detained at the North Lake Processing Center in Baldwin, Michigan declared a mass hunger strike. A majority of men across several units refused food, citing inhumane conditions, prolonged confinement, and indefinite legal delays. In the words of Ahmad Alnajdaw, a Jordanian detainee: “I have a lot of people here who speak Arabic. They cannot talk to the case managers; they cannot talk to ICE officers; they cannot talk to anyone. The food here is pitiful.” Another detainee reported in a translated statement: “The majority of us meet all the requirements to be released, yet judges capriciously deny us bond and the basic rights to which we are entitled. We need to get out of here and to be treated like human beings.”
North Lake is a private, for-profit ICE detention center — the largest in the Midwest since its reopening in 2025 — operated by GEO Group, who has been responsible for at least 1 death and multiple suicide attempts at this site and at least 10 immigrant deaths total in 2026. A hunger strike also broke out this week at another GEO Group jail at the Moshannon Valley Processing Center in Pennsylvania, where detainees have complained of life-threatening medical neglect and contaminated food. The DHS has denied reports of the hunger strikes at both locations and refuted claims of “subprime conditions.”
Sources:
Philippine Army Kills 19 in Negros Operation Backed by US Counterinsurgency
Philippine army forces killed at least 19 people in Negros Occidental province on April 19 as part of ongoing operations against the New People’s Army (NPA). The military said those killed were rebel fighters, but identities have not been fully confirmed. The fighting displaced hundreds of residents in nearby communities. Lawyers and human rights groups are calling for an investigation, reporting that those killed may include civilians, including a student leader, farmers’ rights advocates, and a journalist.
These killings come amid decades of counterinsurgency in the Philippines, carried out with US funding, training, and military support against the Philippine Revolution led by the Communist Party of the Philippines.
Sources:
https://apnews.com/article/71d868ad48c27476348ea2ae16ee7b97
Reactionary Hung Cao Promoted to Navy Secretary
Hung Cao, the US Navy’s Undersecretary has been promoted to Secretary of the US Navy. Secretary Cao is replacing his predecessor, John Phalen, who was recently ousted as the US Navy Secretary—apparently due to tense disagreements between him and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth.
A self proclaimed proud Navy vet with 25 years under his belt, Cao has made quite an impression to the public in the past few years. He proudly boasts his staunch conservative values—supports abortion bans, hates DEI, believes witches are behind Monterey, California’s Lovers of Christ Point being renamed Lovers Point—and has a track record of out of pocket quotes from televised debates and podcast interviews. Let’s take a look at a few:
Besides having fled the Vietnam War with his parents at a young age (later participating in the US war machine that resulted in his family’s refugee status), he jokingly described himself as African-American on a podcast, given having spent a few years of his childhood in Niger, while his father was working for USAID.
The vibe behind the tongue in cheek comment was very “anti-woke” in nature; he seemingly enjoys being hyperbolic, particularly when it’s an opportunity to take a jab at “the left”.
An example of such took place during a tv interview, stemming from his belief that “the left” is dramatic about his conservative views. He requested a KKK hood with “eye slits” instead of circles “so [he] could see better.”
One of his most iconic quotes comes from a debate while he was running for a Republican Senate seat. When questioned about military recruitment, Cao responded that drag queens aren’t proper military recruiters, because they won’t attract the “alpha males and alpha females who are going to rip out their own guts, eat ’em and ask for seconds.” Not exactly sure what drag queens he’s come across taking up military recruitment endeavors.
His hyperbolic and humorous persona aside, it seems Defense Secretary Hegseth replaced Phalen because Cao is in agreement about prioritizing increasing weaponry and shipbuilding, to which Phalen disagreed.
Cao’s history working alongside the Pentagon, Homeland Security, and the FBI Joint Terrorism Task Force reflect a seriousness in his work in upholding the literal US war machine—he has overseen the $140 billion Navy budget, and at his recent confirmation hearing, described an aircraft carrier as “99,000 tons of American diplomacy.”
Sources:
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/apr/23/hung-cao-new-navy-secretary
https://www.cnn.com/2026/04/25/politics/hung-cao-navy-secretary
DOJ Makes Push To Denaturalize Hundreds of Citizens
As part of a push to ramp up denaturalization of American citizens, the Department of Justice has targeted 384 foreign-born Americans in an attempt to strip them of their citizenship. Previously, denaturalization was essentially reserved for people who had committed war crimes before obtaining citizenship; now, many of the people being targeted are only going to court for alleged marriage fraud or withholding information on their citizenship applications. Also, typically, experts in the DOJ’s office of immigration litigation handled immigration cases, but the Trump administration is attempting to send these cases to regular prosecutors, which legal experts fear could lead to harsher and less justified denaturalizations.
This is the largest denaturalization push in history. From 1990 to 2017, the total number of denaturalization cases filed was 305, less than are currently being filed. The surge in denaturalization is de facto White House policy – several months ago, administration officials ordered DHS to send 200 cases per month to the DOJ. Francey Hakes, director of the Executive Office for United States Attorneys, called these 384 opened cases only the “first wave”.
Sources:
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/04/23/us/politics/justice-dept-citizens-denaturalization.html
Behind Enemy Lines 