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July 9, 2026

Anti-ICE Protest Convictions, FBI Phone Data Grabs, and Is Spokane Beating Seattle on Urbanism?

City Cast Seattle

Anti-ICE Protest Convictions, FBI Phone Data Grabs, and Is Spokane Beating Seattle on Urbanism?

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Today, on the podcast, host Jane C. Hu speaks with two reporters about the federal conspiracy charges brought against three protestors in Spokane, what conspiracy charges actually mean in practice, and what it signals for protesters everywhere. Erin Sellers, a staff reporter at RANGE Media, takes us through the story from the anti-ICE protests last summer to the nine indictments and the three protestors who ultimately were found guilty in June. Then Schuyler Mitchell, assistant editor at Mother Jones, explains how the FBI in Seattle secretly extracted data from the phones of at least a dozen of the protesters and what this means for data privacy going forward. Finally, producer Sam J. Leeds joins Jane and Erin to discuss the similarities and differences between Seattle and Spokane and what the two cities can learn from each other. 

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