Civil Rights & Immigration

Rachel Fernandez (left( and Carrie Scott Haney (center) at a rally for Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women Friday at the Capitol. A friend displayed a picture of Haney's daughter, Audrey "Tu-Tu" Scott, who was murdered.

Wisconsin rally for missing and murdered indigenous women

BY: - May 6, 2023

About 150 people wearing red and black, most of them women, gathered in front of the Capitol on a sunny afternoon Friday, May 5, to mark the second annual Murdered and Missing Indigenous Women and Girls Day of Awareness. Red dresses flapped in the breeze from hangers suspended from the white, marble pillars, next to […]

Protesters with The People's Revolution stand outside Wauwatosa City Hall. The words "long live the revolution" was chalked on the ground. (Photo | Isiah Holmes)

Wauwatosa protester list testimony wraps up

BY: - May 5, 2023

Update:  A federal jury in the Eastern District of Wisconsin cleared Wauwatosa police officers after two hours of deliberation Friday in a lawsuit concerning the “protester list” they created in what plaintiffs’ attorneys called “an extraordinarily important case.” The list compiled personal information including names, addresses, dates of birth, height, weight, eye color, social media […]

Attorney Kimberly Motley stands before a line of suburban riot police in August 2020. (Photo | Isiah Holmes)

Emotional testimony quashed during Day 3 of protester list trial

BY: - May 4, 2023

A third, emotion-filled day in a federal court case on Wauwatosa police surveillance of protesters   began with testimony from Lt. Joseph Roy, who oversees WPD’s open records requests. Both Roy and Dominick Ratkowski, the department’s only crime analyst, are defendants in the lawsuit. The lawsuit alleges that both men violated the Drivers License Protection […]

Protesters gather to march in Wauwatosa in response to the deaths of Alvin Cole, Jay Anderson Jr., and Antonio Gonzalez. All were killed by the same Wauwatosa officer, Joseph Mensah. (Photo by Isiah Holmes)

Wauwatosa protester ‘target list’ trial enters second day

BY: - May 3, 2023

A federal lawsuit against the city of Wauwatosa over  a list of people associated with protests created by the Wauwatosa Police Department (WPD) entered its second day Tuesday. Capt. Luke Vetter, one of the police department’s highest ranking officers both during the protests took the stand along with  WPD crime analyst Dominick Ratkowski who testified […]

A line of officers in riot and militarized gear block a street in Wauwatosa during the October curfew. Tear gas was still thick in the air. (Photo by Isiah Holmes)

Wauwatosa protester ‘target list’ trial begins 

BY: - May 2, 2023

“This case is not about politics, it’s about privacy,” said attorney Kimberley Motley during opening statements Monday on the first day of a federal trial over measures the City of Wauwatosa and its police department took against protesters who were part of a nationwide movement beginning in 2020 against police brutality. Curfews were enacted as […]

Voces de la Frontera and allied organizations hold a lobby day at the Capitol. This was part of a two day call to action. (Photo | Isiah Holmes)

Activists call for immigration reform on May Day

BY: - May 1, 2023

On the first day of May, activists from the immigrant rights group Voces de la Frontera and allied organizations are taking to the streets for two days of marches in Milwaukee and Madison. The actions focus on continued efforts to restore driver’s licenses to undocumented Wisconsin residents and tuition equity for students from immigrant families. […]

Biden proposal on transgender student athletes met with praise but also questions

BY: - May 1, 2023

WASHINGTON — Transgender legal scholars and advocates say they were relieved to see the Biden administration extend some protections for transgender students’ sports participation at a time when bans are being enacted by multiple states. But they say they remain cautious about the effect on high school and college sports.  For two years, the U.S. […]

Asylum limits, more border security funds proposed in U.S. House GOP immigration bill

BY: - April 28, 2023

WASHINGTON — Top U.S. House Republican leaders on Thursday unveiled an immigration package of bills that appropriates millions in funds for border security and imposes sweeping restrictions on asylum at the U.S.-Mexico border. The plan is in sharp contrast with an announcement earlier Thursday  by the Biden administration on how it would begin to handle legal […]

Biden administration to use processing centers in Latin America to handle migration

BY: - April 27, 2023

WASHINGTON — The Biden administration Thursday announced the use of processing centers in Colombia and Guatemala to create legal pathways for migrants, in preparation for the ending of a pandemic-era tool used to expel migrants that is expected to cease in May. The migrant processing centers will open shortly and be run by international organizations. […]

The Milwaukee Police Administration Building downtown. (Photo | Isiah Holmes)

Video release policy triggers ire of Milwaukee police union

BY: - April 24, 2023

One  day after the Milwaukee Fire and Police Commission (FPC) ruled in favor of creating a new policy accelerating the  release of video of critical incidents, a new legal battle with the police union is on the horizon. Under the new policy, which passed Thursday and is set to go into effect on May 1, […]

Milwaukee County Sheriffs deputies in the Milwaukee County Criminal Justice Complex. (Photo | Isiah Holmes)

Milwaukee jail guard charged for in-custody death

BY: - April 24, 2023

A correctional officer in the Milwaukee County Sheriff’s Office (MSCO) has been charged in the death of 49-year-old Octaviano Juarez-Corro, one of the FBI’s most-wanted fugitives, who was found unresponsive in the jail earlier this year. Laquisha Cowser, 32, is being charged by the Milwaukee County District Attorney’s Office with misconduct in public office. The […]

Young person reading a historical marker at a reconstructed Native American burial mound

Decades after repatriation law, Oshkosh institutions hold remains of more than 200 Native Americans

BY: - April 21, 2023

Sometime around 1870 (the historical accounts vary), the Chicago & Northwestern Railroad cut into a raised land formation in what is now Fritse Park in the Fox Valley village of Fox Crossing. The company was in search of gravel to use as ballast to support its tracks. As workers dug down some 20 feet, they […]