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Nine months after a massive oil plant explosion rained a chemical shower over Roseland, Louisiana, residents are growing sicker—and angrier.

“I truly cannot make sense of the lies,” Roseland resident Arlene Bankston told Status Coup in response to recently unearthed EPA emails revealing that after the explosion top EPA officials privately worried over the “grave threat” to residents’ health—while the agency provided a public “all clear” and told residents it was safe to return home.

[WATCH Jordan Chariton’s interview with sick Roseland residents above]

The massive August 22nd explosion at Smitty’s Supply, an oil, fuel, and lubricant distributor, showered the surrounding rural community with oil, soot, ash, and a cocktail of other chemical combustion byproducts—sickening school children and adults while killing fish and other animals.

As we reported soon after, children were rushed back to school despite oil residue being splattered across school windows, AC units, fences, street signs, the roof and parking lot, and other hot spots. Photos we obtained showed students tracking oil residue on their shoes back and forth inside and outside the school.

At the time, concerned parents wrote to the school superintendent that students—some of whom were suffering from nosebleeds following the plant explosion—were being placed at risk for “severe health problems.”

The school remained open nonetheless.

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Now nine months later, the community remains contaminated and residents—including school children—suffer from a slew of health issues amidst a national and local media blackout.

“I can not wrap my head around why elected officials allow this for the constituents who vote for them,” Bankston told Status Coup. “I still can’t wrap my head around why they cover up the truth. I guess they figure if they tell everybody everything is OK and there is nothing to see then they don’t have to do a SuperFund site.”

Residents have relayed a long list of health issues, including nosebleeds, headaches, sinus issues, sore throat, digestive issues, stomach pain, brain fog and confusion—and even early on-set dementia

“I’m 150 feet from the river; for 60 days, we had air boats aerating that mixture into fine particles that we breathed in all day and all night,” Wynne Kilma told Status Coup. Her previously healthy 42-year-old husband began suffering serious memory and cognitive issues soon after the oil plant explosion and fire—to the point he doesn't remember who he is for several days.

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Having cared for grandparents with dementia, Kilma was familiar with the symptoms—red flags she began seeing in her husband soon after the explosion.

“Some days he is cognizant for an hour in the morning and then he goes down for a nap; in that hour I have to follow him around and take any notes down when he talks to customers,” Kilma explained about her husbands struggles dealing with customers for their RV business.

Like many residents, he’s suffering from debilitating headaches and migraines.

“I can see his eyes, they get kind of cloudy and kind of low and you can tell that he’s having this horrible migraine; I can see he’s going down immediately, within 15 minutes he’s gonna be in that bed…he’s just completely not human, he’s just a bag of bones.”

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According to Kilma, EPA whistleblower Robert Kroutil—who blew the whistle on the EPA delaying use of its ASPECT plane that detects chemical contamination after the 2023 East Palestine train derailment and chemical detonation—warned her about serious chemical contamination he identified following the Smitty’s Supply oil plant explosion.

Through Freedom of Information Requests, Kroutil noticed high levels of dimethyl phthalate, an oily liquid for which high exposure can affect kidney and endocrine functions.

“Those are directly matching the symptoms your husband is having,” Kilma recounted being told by the former EPA official turned whistleblower. The toxic levels of dimethyl phthalate were worsened following the oil plant explosion given it is highly aerated.

Therefore, as the air boats tried to aerate the Tangipahoa River following the plant explosion—essentially trying to pump and rinse oil and other petrochemicals out of it—they ended up releasing the chemicals into the air and sickening local residents like Kilma’s husband.

Although this environmental cover up is occurring under the Trump regime, it’s important to note that the EPA has been using this same “nothing to see here” playbook for decades—under Democratic and Republican administrations alike.

In 2023, after the Norfolk Southern train derailment—and the billion dollar rail company unnecessarily detonating five rail tankers filled with cancer-causing vinyl chloride over East Palestine and western Pennsylvania—the Biden EPA provided a false “all clear” for residents to return home despite immediate health issues and clear environmental contamination.

As Status Coup has relentlessly reported, independent chemical testing has detected alarming levels of contamination despite contractors Norfolk Southern hired to conduct chemical testing, unsurprisingly, finding no chemical contamination. Tragically, three years later, East Palestine and western Pennsylvania residents are sick—with cancer and other serious health issues on the rise.

Status Coup is the leading INDEPENDENT ON-THE-GROUND reporting outlet in America that covers what the corporate media COVERS UP. We’re INDEPENDENTLY FUNDED & this in-the-trenches reporting and investigative work is expensive. PLEASE SUPPORT US a paying member for as low as $5/month!

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NO OTHER OUTLET has covered Trump’s fascism more ON THE GROUND—including covering ICE terror in LA, NYC, FL, D.C., Chicago, Charlotte, and Minneapolis—than Status Coup. This reporting is expensive and we’re INDEPENDENTLY funded. Please support us for as low as $5/month.

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A drum circle filled with solidarity protesters shined as the only light in front of the towering darkness in the background.

On May 2, I went to cover a gathering in front of the mammoth Delaney Hall ICE prison in Newark, NJ. You may remember it from 2025—when Newark Mayor Ras Baraka was shockingly arrested for the crime of standing outside demanding the ability to go inside to inspect.

Over the weekend, activists ranging from retired Boomers to spouses of prisoners gathered to commemorate the one-year anniversary of the opening of the 1,000+ bed prison—which saw a Haitian immigrant die in December just one day after being imprisoned.

“They treat people here like they’re animals,” Gabriela Soto, the wife of prisoner Martin, told me (watch part of our interview above). Gabriela, who is a U.S. citizen who first came to America from Peru over 20 years ago, told me her husband Martin, who’s been imprisoned inside Delaney Hall for four months, was abducted by while on a diaper run for their infant.

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She described a torture camp which grows more sadistic based on the whims and mood of unqualified guards.

“If the guard is not in a good mood, [prisoners] don’t get medication, they don’t go to the infirmary, the food there is horrible,” she said, explaining that the food inside is either uncooked or expired (her husband has lost 30 pounds inside in just four months).

“They don’t feed them at all,” she said. “They get sick, they start throwing up, they have headaches—it’s really bad in there.”

Soto explained that on top of being malnourished and medically untreated, her husband and other prisoners have inhaled dangerous gas fumes, don’t get regular recreation time outside, and are routinely kept awake all night.

***A judge has issued a $50,000 bond to release Gabriela’s husband. Pitch in if you can to her GoFundMe**

Gabriela Soto GoFundMe

Like thousands of others spouses around the country, she is also on 24/7 pins and needles—worrying that her husband has been moved or deported.

“When they don’t call their family members for 24 hours, they start panicking,” she said. If Martin doesn’t check in with her in the morning and night, she feels like she is “having a heart attack.”

And how does she talk to her husband twice a day?

Only if she pays.

She’s been spending nearly $200 a week pouring money into a phone account to speak with Martin; one of the many scams enriching GEO Group, the for-profit prison operator that owns Delaney Hall and 90 other prisons in America and abroad. The controversial private prison contractor made $254.4 million in profit in 2025—a staggering 695 percentage increase in profit compared to 2024 (thanks to landing ICE prison contracts under the Trump regime).

“It’s really expensive to deposit money to him all the time so that he can call,” she said. On top of worrying about her husband, she is working her full-time job and caring for her cancer-stricken mother.

Deborah Gomez’s anguish began before her husband Edgar was abducted by ICE over a month ago. “I have been a target,” she explained, noting that she had been surveilled by local ICE agents and pulled over multiple times due to her activism with New Jersey immigration rights groups.

“They took a metal crow bar and broke the windows to my attorney’s vehicle,” she told me about once incident with ICE agents (watch below).

In another sickening exchange, Gomez recounted an ICE agent threatening to sexually assault her.

“I had officers telling me they should put their dicks in my mouth,” she said, calling it disgusting that federal agents are going around threatening women in front of their children (she reported the incident to DHS and the NJ Attorney General’s Office).

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Her husband, Edgar Gomez, was the sole breadwinner as Deborah raised their three kids—one of whom, their 6-year-old, is on life support due to a seizure condition.

“I cry every night, it is hard, especially knowing that my son can be triggered by getting upset—the seizure condition he has; either he gets too excited or he gets upset and it triggers him to have seizures.”

In 2016, Deborah petitioned for a green card for her husband— who’s been in America for 25 years. He had no criminal history and was a hands-on father before being taken by ICE.

Now he’s being held captive in Delaney Hall—with his future unclear.

Her husband, a diabetic, has had his blood sugar drastically fluctuate inside the prison. Despite his imprisonment, Gomez says he is trying to remain hopeful.

“He is trying to stay strong for his children.”

Gomez called it crazy that America is spending $2 billion dollars a day to wage war while there are millions of children in need—like her seizure-stricken son.

“I’m disgusted, there’s no trust in these federal agencies. I fear for my life. I don’t know if they’re capable of shooting me or harm me or my children or my family.”

And as these abuses escalate, the abusers just took action to further bury their crimes: the Trump administration just shuttered its watchdog office overseeing ICE prison abuses.

WATCH MY FULL REPORT FROM DELANEY HALL ICE PRISON ON MAY 2

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Status Coup is the leading INDEPENDENT ON-THE-GROUND reporting outlet in America that covers what the corporate media COVERS UP. We are FUNDED BY THE PEOPLE FOR THE PEOPLE—and need your support to help us stay ON-THE-GROUND. Join us as a paying member for as low as $5 bucks a month.

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Over the weekend, ICE agents detained a man in Bushwick and brought him to Wyckoff Heights Medical Center after he was injured during the arrest, according to multiple reports.

Video from the scene shows agents dragging him out of the hospital, sparking outrage and a massive response from the community.

Within minutes, hundreds gathered outside — leading to a tense standoff with police, arrests, and chaotic scenes that lasted for hours.

At least nine people were taken into custody as protesters blocked entrances and clashed with law enforcement while ICE agents attempted to leave with the detainee.

Videojournalist Jon Farina is ON-THE-GROUND in Bushwick, covering a press conference and speaking directly with residents and witnesses about what they saw and what it means for the community.

Status Coup is the leading INDEPENDENT ON-THE-GROUND reporting outlet in America that covers what the corporate media COVERS UP. We are FUNDED BY THE PEOPLE FOR THE PEOPLE—and need your support to help us stay ON-THE-GROUND. Join us as a paying member for as low as $5 bucks a month.

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We’re covering May Day — International Workers’ Day — live from multiple cities, as protests and rallies unfold across the country demanding economic justice, workers’ rights, and major policy changes.

From calls to tax the rich to frustration over rising costs and inequality, this isn’t just one protest — it’s part of a broader nationwide moment.

And we’re bringing you ON-THE-GROUND coverage all day.

• 1 p.m. ET — New York City
  With Status Coup reporter Jordan Chariton + videojournalist Jon Farina

• 2 p.m. ET — Chicago
  With Status Coup reporter JT Cestkowski

• 4 p.m. ET — Back in NYC
  More on-the-ground coverage as the day continues

We’re talking directly to protesters, hearing what people are demanding, and breaking down what this moment actually means for working people. No spin. No corporate filter. Just what’s happening in real time.

We are FUNDED BY THE PEOPLE FOR THE PEOPLE—and need your support to help us keep reporting ON-THE-GROUND. Join us as a paying member for as low as $5 bucks a month.

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Our reporter Jordan Chariton walks through why insiders are suddenly paying attention — and what’s being said behind the scenes (WATCH HIS REPORT ABOVE).

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According to journalist and longtime Trump biographer Michael Wolff, people close to Trump are increasingly worried that questions surrounding Melania’s past could create legal and political exposure. In his words, this isn’t just background noise anymore — it’s becoming a real concern.

And that’s where things start to get interesting.

Because this isn’t happening in a vacuum.

Over the past few weeks, a series of developments have pushed Melania back into the spotlight:

• Claims from Amanda Ungaro about Melania’s early years in the U.S.

• Renewed scrutiny around her immigration story and visa history

• Questions about her connection to Trump associate Paolo Zampolli

• And even speculation over whether her recent public statement was shaped by legal counsel

At the same time, new international reporting — including audio surfaced by Italian broadcaster RAI — is adding yet another layer to the story, raising fresh questions about how certain narratives were handled behind the scenes.

Put it all together, and you have something that goes beyond a single allegation.

You have a pattern of questions building at the same time.

According to Wolff, people inside Trump’s orbit are noticing.

And when a story starts to move from the outside into internal concern — that’s when it becomes harder to contain.

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Our JT Cestkowski reports on the breaking news on the Supreme Court striking down Louisiana’s voting map under the rational that its lawmakers had illegally prioritized race when creating a new majority-Black district (WATCH HIS REPORT ABOVE).

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In the 6-3 decision, conservative justices minimized the ruling, claiming it kept in tact the central provisions of the Voting Rights Act; in dissent, liberals argued the conservative justices all-but gutted the remaining glue that held together the landmark civil rights law.

Supreme Court Justice Elena Kagan, in dissent, wrote the decision “renders Section 2 all but a dead letter”—a reference to Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act, which for decades has forbidden discrimination in voting along the lines of race.

Kagan argued that the decision will make it impossible to consider race when politicians draw out congressional maps, thus setting back “the foundational right Congress granted of racial equality in electoral opportunity.”

She added that the decision"can, without legal consequence, systematically dilute minority citizens’ voting power.”

The decision has already launched a political blitz among Republicans to redraw congressional lines in various states in order to dilute the impact of Black voters—who have traditionally been a loyal voting bloc for the Democratic Party.

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Status Coup reporters Jordan Chariton and JT Cestkowski are LIVE (watch stream above) with the latest news and developments related to:

• The attempted assassination of President Trump (and whether the shooter was triggered by Trump’s repeated threats of committing war crimes in Iran)

• JD Vance officially launching his “it wasn’t me” 2028 presidential campaign

• Ongoing hunger strikes inside ICE prisons

The two will also be taking viewer calls!

Status Coup has been reporting ON THE GROUND covering ICE TERROR for nearly a year in LA, NYC, Alligator Alcatraz, Chicago, Charlotte, & Minneapolis. It has cost us over $70,000 between staff and travel—and no other outlet is doing this kind of in-the-trenches reporting. PLEASE SUPPORT US as paying member for as low as $5 bucks a month to keep us going!

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A hunger strike launched by over 200 male prisoners at ICE’s North Lake Detention Center in Michigan continued into its fifth day on Friday as prisoners protest horrid conditions and 75 religious leaders are set to launch a solidarity fast.

Multiple sources told Status Coup that the male prisoners at the largest ICE prison in the Midwest are holding firm in their hunger strike despite retaliation by ICE guards—including restricting incoming and outgoing phone calls, restricting prisoners’ commissary funds to make phone calls, and recreational time. The for-profit prison is currently holding 1,400 prisoners.

Status Coup also learned that earlier in the week, a male prisoner was hospitalized after suffering severe seizures inside the ICE prison. His condition is unknown at this time.

Striking prisoners have issued a list of seven demands:

• ICE officials explain on what legal basis they are being unjustly held.

• ICE review each prisoners case and circumstances and grant parole (as has been done in the past). The prisoners feel they should not have to rely on immigration judges, who they deem as not neutral.

• Quicker decisions from ICE; prisoners are currently waiting on average 120 days.

• Better quality food and nutrition. Prisoners are going hungry and employees of for-profit prison operator GEO group routinely throw food away. Prisoners are only receiving protein once a week and many are having allergic reactions.

• Improved prison uniforms: prisoners are receiving clothes that make them itchy and cause allergic reactions. They don’t know what chemicals GEO Group is using to clean the clothes.

• End arbitrary rules and abrupt changes. Prison recently implemented a new 6 a.m headcount without any notice.

• Regular sleep: Prisoners are kept up all night due to guards playing their radios loud and other noise keeping them up.

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Beyond the striking male prisoners, female prisoners held in a different wing of the prison held up “SOS” signs in the window; in phone calls with loved ones, they’ve desperately begged to “free us.”

Seventy-five Michigan religious leaders are set to launch a solidarity fast on Monday, April 27th, to support the striking prisoners.

“Roughly 1,400 human beings are being caged in deplorable conditions in Baldwin, Michigan,” Rev. Nathan Dannison of Grand Rapids’ Fountain Street Church said. “They are being starved and systematically denied critical medical care. This is unconscionable - and every one of these people is a living icon of God.”

Imam Steve Mustapha Elturk condemned the inhumane treatment of prisoners.

“We are all human, and our faith traditions affirm the dignity and equality of every person, principles also enshrined in America’s founding ideals. Yet detainees report being treated inhumanely, contradicting both religious values and constitutional protections, including the Fifth Amendment’s guarantee of due process for all persons.”

Attorneys for prisoners are entering the prison today to gather more information about the strike, ongoing retaliation, and other reports they’ve received of prisoners sufferring medical emergencies—and lack of prompt emergency medical response inside the prison.

As Status Coup previously reported, over a dozen female prisoners have filed a Habeas Corpus petition over physical and psychological abuse they’ve suffered—in ICE field offices they were detained in and inside North Lake Detention Center.

In the petition, one female prisoner recounted being starved and physically beaten.

“For 20 days I was starving, they only fed me snacks…in those weeks they didn’t let me take a shower. I was smelling horrible. Remember I peed on myself when they were beating me.”

Status Coup will continue reporting on the hunger strike. If you have information, email us at info@statuscoup.com.

Please support this independent investigative reporting for as low as $5 bucks a month.

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Status Coup has been reporting ON THE GROUND covering Trump’s ICE TERROR for nearly a year in LA, NYC, Alligator Alcatraz, Chicago, Charlotte, & Minneapolis. PLEASE SUPPORT this important reporting for as low as $5 bucks a month:

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Status Coup has learned that a hunger strike at the largest ICE prison in the midwest has extended into a third day as nearly 200 male prisoners continue to refrain from eating despite threats and intimidation from ICE guards.

As we broke on Tuesday, the hunger strike, inside North Lake Detention Center in Michigan, was launched on April 20th in protest of horrid conditions inside the prison owned by controversial for-profit prison operator GEO Group.

Multiple sources told Status Coup that, after the male prisoners launched the strike, ICE guards retaliated by taking away prisoners’ recreation time, cutting off phone lines to deny prisoners’ incoming or outgoing calls, and threatening expedited deportation.

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Those expedited deportation threats worked to end some prisoners’ involvement in the strike—but nearly 200 being held in the Delta unit are still holding firm.

As Status Coup reported on Tuesday, prisoners launched the hunger strike over horrid conditions including:

• Freezing temperatures

• Only one thin blanket provided; prisoners have to purchase additional blankets and sweatshirts out of their prison commissary account.

• Insufficient medical care: prisoners are unable to get the treatment they need or see specialists for certain conditions. Regardless of medical symptoms, prisoners are only receiving Tylenol or Ibuprofen.

• Doctors and guards don’t speak the language prisoners speak (and insufficient number and quality of translators).

• If prisoners arrive at medical unit early in morning, they don’t get seen that day.

• Guards using racist language toward prisoners

• Prisoners getting paid $1 dollar a day to work jobs in kitchen, laundry rom, etc.

• Prisoners’ work pay often delayed

“Today marks the third day without food,” Jose Ramon, a male prisoner, said. “We remain steadfast here; Delta Wing has gone without eating for three days now and we will continue to hold out.”

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Another prisoner, Ahmad Alnajdawi, a Jordanian immigrant, shared the inhumane treatment of prisoners.

“I have a lot of people here who speak Arabic, and this is very hard for them. They cannot talk to the case managers; they cannot talk to the ICE officers; they cannot talk to anyone. The food here is pitiful. I want the people outside to know, they’re treating us like animals. Everyone here has a family, a wife, a parent, a dad, a mom. Everyone here has people outside who care for them. We’re all humans.”

On Tuesday, dozens of supporters gathered for a solidarity rally outside the rural-area ICE prison to show solidarity with prisoners. In response, female prisoners held up signs in the window that spelled out the distress signal SOS. Status Coup obtained a photo (red circle added by us). See below.

As Status Coup reported, over a dozen female prisoners inside North Lake Detention Center filed a Habeas Corpus petition describing the horrible conditions inside. Status Coup obtained the petition—including a horrific recounting from one female prisoner of physical abuse and starvation]she suffered while being detained for 21 days at an ICE field office before being transferred to North Lake Detention Center.

She believes she was beaten as a result of her sexual orientation—and described being beaten so severely she urinated on herself.

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(Read documents below and here are are some key parts of her recounting this abuse)

“For 20 days I was starving, they only fed me snacks”

“I came to the US from Venezuela looking for freedom and justice.”

“Where I’m detained at North Lake Processing Center I feel lost and still having nightmares and scared.”

“In those weeks they didn’t let me take a shower. I was smelling horrible. Remember I peed on myself when they were beating me.”

“An agent said you have a right to call a lawyer but were not going to help you.”

“She gave me a sandal and said I can keep it until I leave and she started laughing and said that’s if you leave.”
“Most times I was afraid to sleep thinking someone is going to come and abuse me.”

“Old man hitting me with such hate I believe they were mad at me & treated me so bad is because of my sexual orientation (I have a big LGBT flag in the back of my window in car)”

“They made me stay there until the bruises of my face & broken nose and mouth disappeared.”

The Michigan ICE prisoners aren’t the only ones waging a hunger strike. Last week, prisoners at a Pennsylvania ICE prison launched a hunger strike after staff refused to respond to a prisoner who was gagging and lost consciousness—instead telling prisoners to provide their fellow prisoner with medical care.

Status Coup has been reporting ON THE GROUND covering Trump’s ICE TERROR for nearly a year in LA, NYC, Alligator Alcatraz, Chicago, Charlotte, & Minneapolis. PLEASE SUPPORT this important reporting for as low as $5 bucks a month:

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Status Coup has exclusively learned that a hunger strike has launched inside one of the largest ICE prisons in the midwest currently imprisoning approximately 1,400 immigrants under horrid conditions.

At this point, approximately 200 male prisoners at Michigan’s North Lake Detention Center have begun their strike in the ICE prison located in rural Baldwin, Michigan. The prison is owned by controversial for-profit prison operator GEO Group. At the time of publishing this story, it’s unknown if female prisoners will be joining the strike. Prisoners hail from a variety of origin countries including Venezuela and Ecuador.

Multiple sources told Status Coup that the prisoners launching the strike are being detained in multiple units, called pods, and are begging for help as they suffer through horrid conditions including:

• Freezing temperatures

• Only one thin blanket provided; prisoners have to purchase additional blankets and sweatshirts out of their prison commissary account.

• Insufficient medical care: prisoners are unable to get the treatment they need or see specialists for certain conditions. Regardless of medical symptoms, prisoners are only receiving Tylenol or Ibuprofen.

• Doctors and guards don’t speak the language prisoners speak (and insufficient number and quality of translators).

• If prisoners arrive at medical unit early in morning, they don’t get seen that day.

• Guards using racist language toward prisoners

• Prisoners getting paid $1 dollar a day to work jobs in kitchen, laundry rom, etc.

• Prisoners’ work pay often delayed

Making matters worse, multiple sources told Status Coup that local hospitals and doctors are not offering medical care to the ICE prison due to concerns over GEO Group’s operations and treatment of prisoners.

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GEO Group did not answer Status Coup’s specific questions about the conditions inside this ICE prison and provided a general statement (read at the end of this story).

In 2025, the for-profit prison operator saw a staggering 695 percentage increase in profit—earning $254.4 million in profit compared to $32 million in 2024.

The cash surge came from President Trump’s surge in ICE prisons and prisoners—showering GEO Group with cash. Status Coup has previously reported on ICE prisoners at the Dilley Detention Center in Texas—which is imprisoning hundreds of children—having to pay nearly $40 dollars for a 10-pack of bottled water (watch that report below). Without the bottled water, prisoners are provided contaminated water.

Over a dozen female prisoners, housed in a different unit inside the ICE prison, have filed a Habeas corpus petition, sounding the alarm about the horrid conditions they are enduring, physical abuse they’ve sufferred, human rights abuses, and constitutional violations.

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Status Coup has obtained the petition and are posting some of the pages from it below (with redactions to protect prisoner identities).

We have also highlighted certain parts of one female prisoners’ handwritten account of physical abuse and starvation she endured at the local ICE field office she was held at for nearly three weeks before being transferred to North Lake Detention Center.

She believes she was beaten as a result of her sexual orientation—and described being beaten so severely she urinated on herself.

(Read documents below and here are are some key parts of her recounting this abuse)

“For 20 days I was starving, they only fed me snacks”

"I came to the US from Venezuela looking for freedom and justice."

"Where I'm detained at North Lake Processing Center I feel lost and still having nightmares and scared."

“In those weeks they didn’t let me take a shower. I was smelling horrible. Remember I peed on myself when they were beating me.”

"An agent said you have a right to call a lawyer but were not going to help you."

"She gave me a sandal and said I can keep it until I leave and she started laughing and said that's if you leave."

"Most times I was afraid to sleep thinking someone is going to come and abuse me."

“Old man hitting me with such hate I believe they were mad at me & treated me so bad is because of my sexual orientation (I have a big LGBT flag in the back of my window in car)”

“They made me stay there until the bruises of my face & broken nose and mouth disappeared.”

Read statement provided to Status Coup by GEO Group:

“We are proud of the role our company has played for 40 years to support the law enforcement mission of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). Over the last four decades, our innovative support service solutions have helped the federal government implement the policies of seven different Presidential Administrations.

In all instances, our support services are monitored by ICE, including by on-site agency personnel, and other organizations within the Department of Homeland Security to ensure compliance with ICE’s detention standards and contract requirements regarding the treatment and services ICE detainees receive. In the event issues are identified, we quickly resolve all of ICE’s concerns as required by ICE’s Quality Assurance Surveillance Plan.

The support services GEO provides include around-the-clock access to medical care, in-person and virtual legal and family visitation, general and legal library access, translation services, dietician-approved meals, religious and specialty diets, recreational amenities, and opportunities to practice their religious beliefs. Additionally, all of GEO’s ICE Processing Centers are independently accredited by the American Correctional Association and the National Commission on Correctional Health Care.

At locations where GEO provides health care services, individuals are provided with access to teams of medical professionals including physicians, nurses, dentists, psychologists, and psychiatrists. Ready access to off-site medical specialists, imaging facilities, Emergency Medical Services, and local community hospitals is also provided when needed.”

Status Coup is the leading INDEPENDENT ON-THE-GROUND reporting outlet in America that covers what the corporate media COVERS UP. We are FUNDED BY THE PEOPLE FOR THE PEOPLE—and need your support to help us keep reporting ON-THE-GROUND. Join us as a paying member for as low as $5 bucks a month!

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Our JT Cestkowksi is LIVE from Ridglan Farms in Blue Mounds, Wisconsin as animal rights activists have been attacked and teargassed by police as they protested outside a dog breeding and research facility they deem to be a puppy mill that kills innocent animals.

WATCH STREAM LIVE ABOVE!

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Status Coup is the leading INDEPENDENT ON-THE-GROUND reporting outlet in America that covers what the corporate media COVERS UP. We are FUNDED BY THE PEOPLE FOR THE PEOPLE—and need your support to help us stay ON-THE-GROUND for these kind of reporting trips. Please support us as a paying member for as low as $5 bucks a month.

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In the aftermath of First Lady Melania Trump’s shocking statement denying any ties Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell’s criminal sex trafficking ring, the media bubble has been working overtime to answer…

What caused the notoriously private First Lady to hastily deliver that Epstein missive?

I think I’ve learned why (watch my video report above).

Throughout my journalistic career—whether it be a decade of reporting on the Flint water crisis and cover-up or day to day political reporting—I've always focused on following the timeline of events.

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So let’s take a look at the timeline revolving around Melania’s shocking statement.

• April 7: Former Brazilian model Amanda Ungaro, who was deported after her ex—Trump administration ambassador Paolo Zampolli asked ICE for a favor—sits down for an interview with Spain’s El País newspaper (to be published later). The interview focuses on her ICE detention but makes no mention of Melania Trump.

• April 8-9: Ungaro, who was friends with Melania for decades and claims Melania declined her request for help after she was detained by ICE, pens several tweets threatening Melania. She suggests she has dirt on both Melania and her “pedophile” husband the president. “Maybe you should be afraid of what I know…of who you are, and who your husband is,” Ungaro tweeted.

• April 9: Melania issues surprise statement denying any ties to Epstein/Maxwell.

• April 10: Paolo Zampolli, Amanda’s ex who she’s been embroiled in custody battle with over their son, tells Sky News he would testify to Congress that he, not Epstein, introduced Melania and Donald Trump.

• April 12: Amanda Ungaro’s interview with El País comes out with no mention of Melania Trump.

We made a graphic to make the timeline clearer (see below)

So, let me get this straight: an understandably angry Ungaro, who was basically deported thanks to her ex calling in a favor with Trump’s ICE, threatened Melania on social media with spilling serious tea on potential wrongdoing linked to the First Lady—but she said nothing about Melania to the major Spanish newspaper she spoke to two days before the First Lady’s shocking statement?

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Apparently, Ungaro did tell El País something about Melania—which the paper edited it out.

“I do know that in the interview Amanda spoke with El País and spoke about Melania specifically and they omitted that part of the interview,” Anthony Andrews, an independent journalist who has been in direct communications with Ungaro, told Billy Bush.

Andrews said he and other independent journalists who’ve spoken with Ungro believe Melania’s shocking statement was triggered by El País reaching out for comment to the First Lady.

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As I said in a weekend video (watch below), this is what I suspected. It didn’t make sense that Ungaro would go nuclear on Melania Trump on social media days after her El País interview but say nothing about Melania in that same interview (meaning the Spanish newspaper edited out parts about Melania).

Journalistically, if Ungaro made comments about Melania to El País, the newspaper would have the responsibility to reach out to the First Lady for comment—meaning, the First Lady would have been tipped off after Ungaro’s April 7th El País interview that a potentially damaging story was about to drop…

Likely explaining why she felt the urgent need to come out on April 9th.

But there is more…

In a recent interview following Melania’s surprise Epstein denial, investigative journalist Tara Palmeri—who’s been doggedly investigating the Epstein scandal for years and has spoken with many of Epstein’s victims—and V Spehar alluded to specifically knowing what Ungaro is accusing the First Lady—and her ex Paolo Zampolli—of.

“It’s true at the Inauguration Melania gets to bring one of her guests and it was always Paolo,” Palmeri began. “He remained very close to Melania and, you know, Amanda would say, you know, that Paolo would…[long pause, refraining from finishing the sentence]…ugh…she’s saying a lot of stuff.”

Spehar noted her and Palmeri need to be careful legally, but that “there are some allegations that Melania was doing a little bit more than modeling for these folks.”

Clearly, both Palmeri and Spehar are aware of the seemingly salacious accusations Ungaro is making related to her ex Zampolli and the First Lady—but are being responsible to not air them out publicly before Ungaro does (or they do their own reporting to confirm).

**As a journalist, I’m going to stick with facts and not spell out accusations that I have not done reporting on myself ; with that said, you’re a smart audience so I’m trusting that you understand what Palmeri, a super plugged in reporter on the Epstein scandal, and Spehar, are alluding to.**

Ungaro is reportedly set to do other interviews; Status Coup will continue to report on what Ungaro says publicly and also dig privately on what she knows related to Melania, President Trump, and Jeffrey Epstein.

***Status Coup has reported ON THE GROUND FOR NEARLY A YEAR covering Trump’s ICE terror and protests against fascism in LA, NYC, Alligator Alcatraz, Chicago, Charlotte, & now Minneapolis. This reporting is VERY important, VERY expensive, and we are INDEPENDENTLY funded. We need you to continue. SUPPORT us for as low as $5 bucks a month***

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Let’s keep waking up the masses!

Status Coup has reported ON-THE-GROUND across America for over a year covering Trump’s fascism and ICE terrorism—and we’re INDEPENDENTLY FUNDED! This work is important and extremely EXPENSIVE to do. PLEASE SUPPORT us as a paying member for as low as $5 bucks/month (16 cents a day).

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Status Coup producer Michelle Dao is LIVE ON THE GROUND reporting from a protest outside the Broadview ICE Prison near Chicago as protesters partake in a nationwide “Fuck ICE Day” (watch livestream above).

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As Trump’s ICE storm troopers continue operating in—and terrorizing—Chicago, protesters are getting creative…bringing dildos to the protest to hang up on fences that separate the ICE prison and the protesters. As shown from the protest flyer below, protesters are encouraging protesters to partake in as much mockery of ICE officials as possible—with “dick piñatas,” “pickup dicks,” “dick hole” (corn hole), dildo buckets, and more encouraged (see photo below).

We will interview protesters and, as usual, cover any potential violence perpetrated on the people by local police or ICE.

***NO OTHER OUTLET IS DOING THIS KIND OF AUTHENTIC, PEOPLE-FOCUSED INDEPENDENT JOURNALISM ON THE GROUND. This kind of on-scene reporting is important—and expensive. If you’re not yet a paying Status Coup member, please sign up TODAY for as low as $5 bucks a month (16 cents a day).***

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Let’s keep waking up the masses!

Status Coup is ON THE GROUND this week barnstorming three states in five days to cover the WAR AGAINST US: working class people struggling to stay afloat as prices soar and hope dwindles. We need your support to stay ON-THE-GROUND for these kind of reporting trips. Please support us as a paying member for as low as $5 bucks a month.

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Status Coup reporter JT Cestkowski is LIVE from Janesville, Wisconsin in front of a torn-down General Motors plant with several activists who are fiercely opposing a massive AI data center set to be constructed in its place (watch livestream above).

Through community organizing that galvanized thousands of residents, these activists have successfully been able to secure a ballot measure for the coming November election aimed at restricting or banning future data centers to be built in Wisconsin (a similar measure just passed in a Milwaukee suburb).

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Here’s some background on this torn down GM plant and proposed mega data center:

In 2009, at the peak of the U.S. financial crash, GM closed its Janesville, Wisconsin, plant, cutting thousands of Wisconsinites’ jobs. Seventeen years later, the region is only just now recovering from the economic devastation.

In a real sign of the times, a proposed mega datacenter project would be built on the former GM site. Residents have fought back hard against this effort and secured a partial victory—forcing a ballot measure to restrict other data centers from being built in Wisconsin. This is a continuation of a nationwide trend where big tech companies like Facebook, Microsoft, X, Oracle—and plutocrats like Elon Musk— build up a massive number of data centers that are sucking up local areas' water, polluting their environment, and ultimately expanding an AI revolution meant to gut the jobs of millions of Americans.

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This interview is part of our ongoing WAR AGAINST US reporting trip where Status Coup reporter JT Cestkowski, producer Michelle Dao, and videojournalist Jon Farina are barnstorming Michigan, Illinois, and Wisconsin this week to, unlike corporate and most independent media, do something RADICAL—talk to living, breathing, everyday working class people (see map below).

**NO OTHER OUTLET IS DOING THIS KIND OF AUTHENTIC, PEOPLE-FOCUSED INDEPENDENT JOURNALISM ON THE GROUND. This kind of on-scene reporting is important—and expensive. If you’re not yet a paying Status Coup member, please sign up TODAY for as low as $5 bucks a month (16 cents a day).***

SUPPORT ON THE GROUND REPORTING $5/MONTH

Status Coup is ON THE GROUND this week barnstorming three states in five days to cover the WAR AGAINST US: working class people struggling to stay afloat as prices soar and hope dwindles. We need your support to stay ON-THE-GROUND for these kind of reporting trips. Please support us as a paying member for as low as $5 bucks a month.

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Status Coup producer Michelle Dao is LIVE from a local Chicago UAW union hall speaking with Ford auto workers about the everyday struggle to provide for themselves and their families as prices skyrocket due to Trump’s tariffs, the ongoing illegal war with Iran, and ongoing inflation due to greedy corporations and the bought off politicians that allow them to price gouge consumers (watch stream above).

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This interview is part of our ongoing WAR AGAINST US reporting trip where Dao and our videojournalist Jon Farina are barnstorming Michigan, Illinois, and Wisconsin this week to, unlike corporate and most independent media, do something RADICAL—talk to living, breathing, everyday working class people (see map below).

Yesterday, Dao kicked off the reporting tour by interviewing progressive Michigan Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed about his campaign (see photo below); Dao then covered his campaign rally in which progressive streamer Hasan Piker spoke.

**NO OTHER OUTLET IS DOING THIS KIND OF AUTHENTIC, PEOPLE-FOCUSED INDEPENDENT JOURNALISM ON THE GROUND. This kind of on-scene reporting is important—and expensive. If you’re not yet a paying Status Coup member, please sign up TODAY for as low as $5 bucks a month (16 cents a day).***

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Already a Status Coup member? You can also support this ON THE GROUND reporting by donating.

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Let’s keep waking up the masses!

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Status Coup is the leading INDEPENDENT ON-THE-GROUND reporting outlet in America that covers what the corporate media COVERS UP. We are FUNDED BY THE PEOPLE FOR THE PEOPLE—and need your support to help us keep reporting ON-THE-GROUND. Please support us as a paying member for as low as $5 bucks a month

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Status Coup producer Michelle Dao is LIVE from Michigan State University as progressive Michigan Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed is holding a campaign rally in which popular progressive streamer Hasan Piker will be speaking (watch stream above).

El-Sayed, a physician and former health director for the city of Detroit, strongly advocates for Medicare For all—which his main two opponents for the Democratic Michigan Senate nomination, Rep. Hayley Stevens and Michigan state senator Mallory McMorrow, don’t.

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El-Sayed has been under fire from mainstream media and many establishment Democrats for rallying with Piker—who they falsely claim is antisemitic due to his strong denouncements of Israel and its genocide of Palestinians. But El-Sayed has not taken the bait, focusing on his campaign and going forward with his rally with Piker.

We will air the rally LIVE and interview rallygoers about their current struggles in this hellish economy where gas, grocery, healthcare, childcare, and many other prices are soaring.

This rally coverage is part of our WAR AGAINST US reporting trip in which we are barnstorming Michigan, Illinois, and Wisconsin in 5 days, interviewing working class people about the everyday battle they’re facing to stay afloat as prices soar and hope falls.

**NO OTHER OUTLET IS DOING THIS KIND OF AUTHENTIC, PEOPLE-FOCUSED INDEPENDENT JOURNALISM ON THE GROUND. This kind of on-scene reporting is important—and expensive. If you’re not yet a paying Status Coup member, please sign up TODAY for as low as $5 bucks a month (16 cents a day).***

SUPPORT ON THE GROUND REPORTING $5/MONTH

Already a Status Coup member? You can also support this ON THE GROUND reporting by donating.

DONATE TO FUND THIS REPORTING

Let’s keep waking up the masses!

Status Coup is the leading INDEPENDENT ON-THE-GROUND reporting outlet in America that covers what the corporate media COVERS UP. We are FUNDED BY THE PEOPLE FOR THE PEOPLE—and need your support to help us stay ON-THE-GROUND for these kind of reporting trips. Please support us as a paying member for as low as $5 bucks a month.

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On the road again…

While President Trump continues waging his illegal war on Iran—while also posting unhinged looney posts about committing blatant war crimes—Status Coup is hitting the road this week to speak with working-class Americans about the war here at home…

AGAINST US!

Our producer Michelle Dao and videojournalist Jon Farina will be traveling through three states this week to, unlike corporate and most independent media, interview actual working-class people about the current hellscape that is America’s new Gilded Age—where 5-6 billionaires hoard all the wealth, our president and his inner circle corruptly enrich themselves, politicians from both parties answer to donors over constituents, and everyday people struggle to stay afloat amid soaring gas, grocery, healthcare, childcare, utilities, education, and other prices.

Michelle and Jon will report in Michigan, Illinois, and Wisconsin covering and speaking to people about:

• A woman working 3 jobs just to cover the bills—who also has a lump on her breast but is foregoing getting it checked because she lacks health insurance.

• Covering campaign rallies held by progressive Michigan Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed—a physician and strong advocate for Medicare For All. El-Sayed will be rallying with popular progressive livestreamer Hasan Piker (who corporate media has been critically hammering as antisemitic for his anti-zionist takes).

• Speaking with autoworkers—are conditions any better since the historic 2023 UAW strike and what’s the realistic chance of a UAW-led 2028 general strike?

• Speaking with local elected leaders who are fighting for Medicare for All as healthcare premiums and deductibles continue skyrocketing.

• Covering the first U.S. county to launch a guaranteed income pilot program giving $500 a month to thousands of low income families for two years.

• Speaking with Mauser packaging workers who have been on strike for nearly a year in Chicago.

• Speaking to a worker who has already been warned her job will soon be replaced by AI.

• Speaking with activists/workers fighting to stop a massive AI data center

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We’re calling this trip the War Against Us. We’re no strangers to these kinds of reporting trips. Longtime viewers will remember similar trips we’ve taken during the early parts of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 and during the worst of inflation in 2022 (watch highlights below). We’re starting in the Midwest, and plan to drive through several states, so if you live in the Midwest, have a story, and want to be interviewed, PLEASE EMAIL US at info@statuscoup.com details of your story and the city/town you live in.

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Unlike mainstream media and most independent media, we feel it is crucially important to be ON-THE-GROUND WITH THE PEOPLE to tell your stories…

Not in the deceptively edited 10-second soundbites you routinely see on local or national news—but through in-depth and authentic interviews on the road across the country.

Michelle and Jon will be hitting the road soon, so do not wait. Email us at info@statuscoup.com and tell us your story. We’ll see you out there!