Challenges in Accessing Vehicle Identification Numbers During Immigration Raids

This week we were joined by Bellingcat researcher Kolina Koltai and our long-standing publishing partners Kevin Clancy, cofounder of Evident Media and Sergio Olmos, an investigator from CalMatters. The conversation centered around the reliance on bystander videos for accountability of these arrests and the scale advice for other researchers on what to look out for in bystander videos and what from patterns identified, could emerge over the next few months in other regions. This talk was hosted by me Charlotte Maher on Thursday the 17th of July 2025 in the Bellingcat Discord Server.

This talk was hosted by Charlotte Maher on Thursday the 17th of July 2025. Music featured is courtesy of Artlist.

Recorded live in the Bellingcat Discord Server: https://discord.com/invite/bellingcat

Links discussed:

The two investigations:

Los Angeles: https://www.bellingcat.com/news/2025/07/08/masked-armed-and-forceful-finding-patterns-in-los-angeles-immigration-raids/

Bakersfield: https://www.bellingcat.com/news/2025/04/08/us-border-patrol-called-raid-300-miles-from-border-targeted-open-source-evidence-suggests-otherwise/

Related conversational threads in our Discord Server: https://discord.com/channels/709752884257882135/1381169631263199232

https://discord.com/channels/709752884257882135/1371571764525535242

Evident: https://www.youtube.com/@evidentmedia

CalMatters: https://calmatters.org/

The lack of local reporters in the United States: https://edition.cnn.com/2025/07/10/media/severe-shortage-local-news-muck-rack-journalism-index

The Atlantic article interviewing ICE officials: https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2025/07/trump-ice-morale-immigration/683477/

People impersonating ICE: https://msmagazine.com/2025/07/10/men-impersonating-ice-agents-immigration-customs-attack-women-maga-trump/

People Over Papers: https://padlet.com/PeopleoverPapers/people-over-papers-anonymous-anonimo-lf0l47ljszbto2uj

Bellingcat Volunteer Community: https://sites.google.com/bellingcat.com/bellingcat-volunteer-community