A new investigative report that reveals how far the Trump administration is willing to take its hardline crackdown on immigration is raising alarms over social media – and also drawing fierce pushback from the legal community.
Journalist Radley Balko reported Wednesday that a Texas lawyer was met at his front door by two plain-clothed men who were not wearing badges and refused to identify themselves one night last month. The visit came days after he provided pro bono legal advice to an immigrant family, according to the report, which added that the attorney, Clay Jackson, believed the agents were responsible for his Wi-Fi being shut off.
“The Trump administration wants to make us too afraid to look out for one another,” Balko wrote Wednesday on his Substack page as he detailed Jackson’s account. “Don't let them.”
The report quickly spread through the legal community.
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“Insane story from @radleybalko about agents showing up at a lawyer's home to intimidate him about representing immigrants,” Cato Institute immigration expert David J. Bier wrote on X. “They appear to have cut his wifi to turn off his ring cam recording. As Radley notes, it fits with a pattern of immigration attorney intimidation.”
First Amendment attorney Alex Morey told her own followers on X: “Subversive behavior like lawyering for people the President dislikes? Expect an anonymous knock at your door.” Morey added in a follow-up post: “This is going to need to be a brave moment for a lot of people.”
Michigan attorney Jesse Sweeney took the investigative report as a call to action.
“While I’ve been reading these, I’ve decided that I’m going to learn how to take some of these cases pro bono,” Sweeney wrote on a post on X on Wednesday.
“Subversive” behavior like lawyering for people the President dislikes? Expect an anonymous knock at your door. https://t.co/6YpiB8yGL3
— Alex Morey (@1AMorey) April 23, 2025