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January 30, 2026

4 entries on this date.

United States and Grenada signed third-country deportation MOU after months of resistance

The United States and Grenada signed a Memorandum of Understanding on January 30, 2026 in Washington, D.C., allowing the U.S. to propose third-country nationals for transfer to Grenada on a case-by-case basis. Prime Minister Dickon Mitchell had publicly resisted the arrangement for weeks, repeatedly telling reporters in January that Grenada had "not agreed to accept" any deportees, before signing alongside seven other Caribbean leaders at the State Department.

CBP agents smashed a livestreaming bystander's car window and detained her for hours at an El Monte, California gas station

On January 30, 2026, federal agents responding to a Customs and Border Protection call surrounded U.S. citizen Maria Santay's car at a gas station in El Monte, California, and broke her window with a hammer while she livestreamed the encounter on Instagram and cried out that she was a citizen. Agents then drove her roughly 40 miles round trip to Santa Ana and back before releasing her from custody that evening; Santay says she was denied a restroom and made to urinate in handcuffs in a parking lot before her release.

Federal grand jury indicts independent journalist Georgia Fort and former CNN anchor Don Lemon under FACE Act for covering anti-ICE church protest

On January 30, 2026, federal agents arrested independent journalist Georgia Fort and former CNN anchor Don Lemon following an anti-ICE protest at Cities Church in St. Paul, Minnesota, where a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement official serves as pastor. A federal grand jury in Minnesota indicted both on charges of "conspiracy against right of religious freedom at place of worship" under the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances (FACE) Act of 1994. Both journalists have maintained they were reporting on the protest, not participating in it. As of mid-May 2026, Fort reports that the legal constraints of the pending prosecution have functionally silenced significant portions of her newsgathering.

Former Bucks County deputy sheriff Ryan Gaffney photographed naked people in custody with personal phone

On January 30, 2026, Ryan Gaffney, then a Bucks County deputy sheriff, covered his body camera and used his personal cellphone to photograph a man who was naked from the waist down and suffering a mental health crisis during a warrant execution in Middletown Township. Gaffney shared the image with female employees in the sheriff's office and sent it to personal contacts. A court-ordered forensic search later uncovered a second incident from December 26, 2024, in which Gaffney photographed a handcuffed man in custody in a hotel room and distributed that image to 12 personal contacts over four dates.