Dr. Rachel J. Wechsler's Avatar

Dr. Rachel J. Wechsler

@racheljwechsler

Associate Professor @ Mizzou Law, Faculty Scholar @ Middleton Center on Race, Citizenship & Justice. Teaching Crim Law & Family Law. Researching gender-based violence survivors’ interactions with criminal & family legal systems. Views my own.

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Latest posts by Dr. Rachel J. Wechsler @racheljwechsler

Completely unacceptable.

07.03.2026 00:53 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0

or he could have removed those limitations from the more appealingly-worded question

04.03.2026 01:47 👍 1 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0

It’s certainly a proven phenomenon but I wish the author had included the limitations on the population (ie people who have been here for a long time, paid taxes, passed background checks) he was referring to in the amnesty question to keep the substance the same and limit variation to the wording

04.03.2026 01:46 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 2 📌 0
Mia Valentina Paz Faria
A 7-year-old from Venezuela who was living in Austin, Texas 
Detained for 70 days

“I don’t want to be in this place I want to go to my school.”

Mia Valentina Paz Faria A 7-year-old from Venezuela who was living in Austin, Texas Detained for 70 days “I don’t want to be in this place I want to go to my school.”

UPDATE: Staff at the ICE concentration camp in Dilley, Texas have begun raiding the dormitories of kids and their parents to confiscate and destroy letters from the children. This is in response to the ace reporting by 
@micarosenberg
 et al for ProPublica:

UPDATE: Staff at the ICE concentration camp in Dilley, Texas have begun raiding the dormitories of kids and their parents to confiscate and destroy letters from the children. This is in response to the ace reporting by @micarosenberg et al for ProPublica:

“I don’t want to be in this place I want to go to my school.”

- 7 year old imprisoned by ICE for 70 days in a concentration camp in Texas.

Today, after @propublica.org published this story, the camp was raided to confiscate letters from the children.

www.propublica.org/article/ice-...

17.02.2026 19:31 👍 12166 🔁 7001 💬 325 📌 832

Thanks, @oxhrh.bsky.social, for publishing my analysis of the Trafficking Survivors Relief Act!

13.02.2026 22:57 👍 2 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
Preview
Trump's EPA revokes scientific finding that underpinned US fight against climate change The Environmental Protection Agency has revoked a key scientific finding that supported U.S. regulations on greenhouse gas emissions.

Up is down and down is up

apnews.com/article/trum... EPA revokes scientific finding that underpinned US fight against climate change

12.02.2026 23:26 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0

Thanks so much, David!

11.02.2026 21:36 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0

Thanks so much, Shruti!

11.02.2026 21:34 👍 1 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0

Happy to share that The Non-Punishment Principle and Restorative Justice is now out in the Penn L Rev! Thanks to the editors for their excellent work and to everyone who generously shared their feedback on this project!
papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....

08.02.2026 22:34 👍 9 🔁 2 💬 1 📌 2

Thank you very much, @jotwell.bsky.social and Cynthia!

05.02.2026 04:54 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
Disposing of Misdemeanors: An Empirical Perspective <span>While the U.S. Supreme Court has characterized the criminal legal system as a “system of pleas,” new empirical evidence suggests that, at least for misdem

Fascinating insights into NY’s misdemeanor system from an analysis of over 900,000 (!) cases in recent work by Cynthia Alkon, Jonathan Marshall, Kyle Chrisman & Lydia Sidhom

03.02.2026 17:28 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA
FRITZ EMMANUEL LESLY MIOT, et al.,
Plaintiffs,
Case No. 25-cv-02471 (ACR)
V.
DONALD J. TRUMP, et al.,
Defendants.
MEMORANDUM OPINION
On December 2, 1783, then-Commander-in-Chief George Washington penned: "America is open to receive not only the Opulent & respected Stranger, but the oppressed & persecuted of all Nations & Religions." More than two centuries later, Congress reaffirmed President
Washington's vision by establishing the Temporary Protected Status (TPS) program. See 8
U.S.C. § 1254a (TPS statute). It provides humanitarian relief to foreign nationals in the United
States who come from disaster-stricken countries. It also brings in substantial revenue, with TPS
holders generating $5.2 billion in taxes annually. See Part VI.
Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Kristi Noem has a different take.?
eSec Noem
I just met with the President.
I am recommending a full travel ban on every damn country that's been flooding our nation with killers, leeches, and entitlement junkies.
Our forefathers built this nation on blood, sweat, and the unyielding love of freedom-not for foreign invaders to slaughter our heroes, suck dry our hard-earned tax dollars, or snatch the benefits owed to AMERICANS.
WE DON'T WANT THEM. NOT ONE.
6:52 PM - Dec 1, 2025 - 13.2M Views
' Letter from George Washington to Joshua Holmes (December 2, 1783).
2 Dkt. 90 (Second Am. Compl.) 1110 n.91. But see supra n.l.

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA FRITZ EMMANUEL LESLY MIOT, et al., Plaintiffs, Case No. 25-cv-02471 (ACR) V. DONALD J. TRUMP, et al., Defendants. MEMORANDUM OPINION On December 2, 1783, then-Commander-in-Chief George Washington penned: "America is open to receive not only the Opulent & respected Stranger, but the oppressed & persecuted of all Nations & Religions." More than two centuries later, Congress reaffirmed President Washington's vision by establishing the Temporary Protected Status (TPS) program. See 8 U.S.C. § 1254a (TPS statute). It provides humanitarian relief to foreign nationals in the United States who come from disaster-stricken countries. It also brings in substantial revenue, with TPS holders generating $5.2 billion in taxes annually. See Part VI. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Kristi Noem has a different take.? eSec Noem I just met with the President. I am recommending a full travel ban on every damn country that's been flooding our nation with killers, leeches, and entitlement junkies. Our forefathers built this nation on blood, sweat, and the unyielding love of freedom-not for foreign invaders to slaughter our heroes, suck dry our hard-earned tax dollars, or snatch the benefits owed to AMERICANS. WE DON'T WANT THEM. NOT ONE. 6:52 PM - Dec 1, 2025 - 13.2M Views ' Letter from George Washington to Joshua Holmes (December 2, 1783). 2 Dkt. 90 (Second Am. Compl.) 1110 n.91. But see supra n.l.

So says the official responsible for overseeing the TPS program. And one of those (her word)
"damn" countries is Haiti. Relevant here, three days before making the above post, Secretary
Noem announced she would terminate Haiti's TPS designation as of February 3, 2026. See 90
Fed. Reg. 54733 (Nov. 28, 2025) (Termination).
Plaintiffs are five Haitian TPS holders. They are not, it emerges, "killers, leeches, or
entitlement junkies." They are instead: Fritz Emmanuel Lesly Miot, a neuroscientist researching
Alzheimer's disease, Dkt. 90 (Second Am. Compl. (SAC)) 1 1; Rudolph Civil, a software
engineer at a national bank, id. 1 2; Marlene Gail Noble, a laboratory assistant in a toxicology
department, id. | 3; Marica Merline Laguerre, a college economics major, id. 9| 4; and Vilbrun Dorsainvil, a full-time registered nurse, id. 9|5. They claim that Secretary Noem's decision violates the Administrative Procedure Act (APA), 5 U.S.C. § 706(2), and the Fifth Amendment of
the U.S. Constitution. The Government counters that the Court does not have jurisdiction, and, in any case, the Secretary did not violate the law.
Plaintiffs seek to stay the Secretary's decision under 5 U.S.C. § 705 pending the outcome
of this litigation. See Dkt. 81 (§ 705 Mot.). To decide their motion, the Court considers first whether it has jurisdiction. It does. See Part II. It then considers: whether Plaintiffs have a
substantial likelihood of success on the merits; whether they will be irreparably harmed absent a
stay; and whether a merged balance of the equities and public interest analysis favors a stay. See
Part III. Each element favors Plaintiffs. See Parts IV, V, and VI.

So says the official responsible for overseeing the TPS program. And one of those (her word) "damn" countries is Haiti. Relevant here, three days before making the above post, Secretary Noem announced she would terminate Haiti's TPS designation as of February 3, 2026. See 90 Fed. Reg. 54733 (Nov. 28, 2025) (Termination). Plaintiffs are five Haitian TPS holders. They are not, it emerges, "killers, leeches, or entitlement junkies." They are instead: Fritz Emmanuel Lesly Miot, a neuroscientist researching Alzheimer's disease, Dkt. 90 (Second Am. Compl. (SAC)) 1 1; Rudolph Civil, a software engineer at a national bank, id. 1 2; Marlene Gail Noble, a laboratory assistant in a toxicology department, id. | 3; Marica Merline Laguerre, a college economics major, id. 9| 4; and Vilbrun Dorsainvil, a full-time registered nurse, id. 9|5. They claim that Secretary Noem's decision violates the Administrative Procedure Act (APA), 5 U.S.C. § 706(2), and the Fifth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. The Government counters that the Court does not have jurisdiction, and, in any case, the Secretary did not violate the law. Plaintiffs seek to stay the Secretary's decision under 5 U.S.C. § 705 pending the outcome of this litigation. See Dkt. 81 (§ 705 Mot.). To decide their motion, the Court considers first whether it has jurisdiction. It does. See Part II. It then considers: whether Plaintiffs have a substantial likelihood of success on the merits; whether they will be irreparably harmed absent a stay; and whether a merged balance of the equities and public interest analysis favors a stay. See Part III. Each element favors Plaintiffs. See Parts IV, V, and VI.

Finally, the balance of equities and public interest favor a stay. The Government does not
cite any reason termination must occur post haste. Secretary Noem complains of strains unlawful immigrants place on our immigration-enforcement system. Her answer? Turn 352,959
lawful immigrants into unlawful immigrants overnight. She complains of strains to our economy. Her answer? Turn employed lawful immigrants who contribute billions in taxes into the legally unemployable. She complains of strains to our healthcare system. Her answer? Turn the insured into the uninsured. This approach is many things— in the public interest is not one of them.
For the reasons below, the Court GRANTS Plaintiffs' Renewed Motion for a Stay Under
5 U.S.C. § 705, Dkt. 81.

Finally, the balance of equities and public interest favor a stay. The Government does not cite any reason termination must occur post haste. Secretary Noem complains of strains unlawful immigrants place on our immigration-enforcement system. Her answer? Turn 352,959 lawful immigrants into unlawful immigrants overnight. She complains of strains to our economy. Her answer? Turn employed lawful immigrants who contribute billions in taxes into the legally unemployable. She complains of strains to our healthcare system. Her answer? Turn the insured into the uninsured. This approach is many things— in the public interest is not one of them. For the reasons below, the Court GRANTS Plaintiffs' Renewed Motion for a Stay Under 5 U.S.C. § 705, Dkt. 81.

BREAKING: Judge Ana Reyes, in DC, issues a stay of DHS Sec. Noem’s decision to end Haiti’s temporary protected status (TPS) designation, a decision that was to go into effect on Tuesday and could have ended legal status for up to 350,000 people overnight. storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...

03.02.2026 00:42 👍 4280 🔁 1396 💬 43 📌 167
MAHA Wins

MAHA Wins

21.12.2025 02:01 👍 8696 🔁 3576 💬 240 📌 146

Just appalling.

17.12.2025 14:39 👍 4 🔁 1 💬 0 📌 0

I went to an "ojos" training tonight hosted by New Orleans DSA and Union Migrante and thought I'd pass on new things I learned:

1. Low/old info ICE sighting posts are wreaking havoc on immigrant communities. Basically, incomplete or old info is actively harmful (even if ppl have good intentions)

29.11.2025 06:23 👍 194 🔁 112 💬 3 📌 20

Excited to see this important work from @jdahlstrom765.bsky.social in print!

31.10.2025 23:40 👍 2 🔁 0 💬 1 📌 0
Preview
I’m a Polio Survivor. I Don’t Want You to Get It. Polio is once again a public health threat in the United States. Grace is disappointed, though not surprised.

Since everyone’s finding old and new friends, take a moment to read my story, I’m a 32yo polio survivor because I was not vaccinated. Pass on my story, repeat it, tell it to any vaccine hesitate parent. No kid deserves vaccine preventable diseases

www.voicesforvaccines.org/as-a-polio-s...

10.11.2024 22:02 👍 3459 🔁 1770 💬 72 📌 59
Post image Post image Post image

It’s not too late to submit an abstract or proposal for the Feminist Legal Theory CRN’s programming @ LSA conference in SF from May 28-31 2026! The deadline for abstracts and proposals for roundtables, etc. is October 8th, and you can submit yours here: docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...

03.10.2025 16:33 👍 4 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
Preview
Trump’s USAID pause stranded lifesaving drugs. Children died waiting. USAID antimalarial and HIV supplies valued at nearly $140 million were delayed in the first half of the year or not delivered at all due to the Trump administration’s foreign aid pause, The Post found...

The real-life impact of Trump and Musk’s freeze on USAID

Drugs and food, intended for global aid, instead languished and rotted in warehouses — and some children withered and died.

Sweeping, damning investigation by my @washingtonpost.com colleagues.

01.10.2025 12:57 👍 184 🔁 107 💬 4 📌 7

"we cannot express our regrets profoundly enough, but it is our hope that you will use these two free passes to return to jurassic park"

14.09.2025 21:25 👍 4619 🔁 858 💬 84 📌 17

Holy sh*t! A reminder about pre and post vaccine preventable deaths. In addition to eliminating small pox, vaccines reduced deaths for mumps, rubella, hepatitis, tetanus, and diphtheria by 80-99%. By 2007 measles was no longer endemic, but of course that's no longer. jamanetwork.com/journals/jam...

03.09.2025 16:57 👍 44 🔁 21 💬 2 📌 1

“A close look at the so-called data reveals that the vast majority of the cited papers — all but about 40 — have little or nothing to do with the vaccines. They concern the consequences of COVID-19 infection, not the shots.”

*screams into the void*

13.08.2025 04:13 👍 115 🔁 57 💬 3 📌 0

@tommybennett.com should they break Kayfabe?

09.07.2025 19:59 👍 1 🔁 0 💬 1 📌 0
Preview
Knives, bullets and thieves: the quest for food in Gaza NPR's Gaza producer faced Israeli military fire, private U.S. contractors pointing laser beams at his forehead and masked thieves as he tried to get food from a U.S.-supported group.

NPR's Gaza producer faced Israeli military fire, private U.S. contractors pointing laser beams at his forehead and masked thieves as he tried to get food from a U.S.-supported group.

By Anas Baba

06.07.2025 14:35 👍 3780 🔁 1791 💬 102 📌 164
Preview
In Sudan, where children clung to life, doctors say USAID cuts have been fatal The Trump administration’s cuts to USAID had an immediate and deadly impact in war-ravaged Sudan, according to civilians, doctors and aid officials.

Another horrific story about the Trump administration killing a ton of people—including many children—for absolutely no reason.

The food that would save these people's lives is sitting in a warehouse in Rhode Island. The government wouldn't let it be shipped. www.washingtonpost.com/world/2025/0...

30.06.2025 18:40 👍 966 🔁 524 💬 22 📌 29

And so glad he’s ok and recovering well!

29.06.2025 23:57 👍 2 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0

Now he’s got street cred 😂

29.06.2025 23:56 👍 2 🔁 0 💬 1 📌 0
Post image

58 million acres.

25.06.2025 23:06 👍 1016 🔁 276 💬 74 📌 23