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Mikayla Melo

Digital Journalist | Reporting Intern at Central Current

Recent Work

Central Current •

What is a habeas corpus petition?

Federal courts in New York have seen a sharp rise in habeas corpus petition filings. The petitions have become one of the only options for immigrants detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to be released from detention.

Since September 2025, filings have gone up over 1,500% in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of New York. Immigrants filed as many habeas corpus petitions through Feb. 27, 2026, as they had for all of 2025.
News21 •

Communities wrestle with expanded immigration detention under Trump

President Donald Trump’s administration has launched a massive expansion of immigration detention, a crucial step toward fulfilling Trump’s pledge to carry out mass deportations.

Federal officials want to increase the number of beds from 41,500 to 100,000 nationwide by awarding billion-dollar contracts to private prison companies, primarily GEO and CoreCivic. Both companies’ stock prices surged by more than 60% after Trump’s reelection.
Rochester Democrat and Chronicle •

Abuse of police power in a NY village raises privacy questions

WAVERLY, NEW YORK — After months of alleged harassment, she drove to the police department and walked into the one-story brick building. The process of reporting an officer wasn’t new to her. Two years prior, she had filed an aggravated harassment complaint about him with her local police department 30 minutes away.

She took a seat in the police chief’s office, preparing to file another complaint, when her phone buzzed. It was a text from Craig Elston, the very officer she had come to report, c...
Rochester Democrat and Chronicle •

Hurt by revenge porn, a Rochester girl told police. She didn't expect what came next.

With her counselor and assistant principal by her side, a high school senior walked into Officer Moses Robinson’s office at Early College High School in Rochester. She turned to Robinson for help, her school resource officer, a policeman who has long been praised for his work in the community.

The teen had been victimized by a revenge porn posting by her ex-boyfriend; the boy had secretly filmed and shared their sexual encounter online.

“I'm going to get the shame, he's going to get the glory,...