PICK THREE (No time for all the reporting? Here are three important stories from the past week that you might have overlooked):
Manteniéndonos íntegros y Unidos: Una Carta de Amor y Guía de Apoyo Para Familias Inmigrantes (Children Thrive Action Network, October 14, 2025): Staying Whole: A Love Letter to Immigrant Parents provides parents with mental health resources for themselves and their children.
How Trump’s Chicago Immigration Crackdown Escalated, in 10 Videos (New York Times, October 12, 2025): Week by week, the federal campaign to ramp up immigration enforcement in the Chicago area has created fear and inflamed tensions.
How a Tiny, Inexperienced Firm Landed a $1.3 Billion Detention Deal (Samantha Michaels, Mother Jones, November-December 2025): To hold 5,000 human beings.
PHOTO OF THE WEEK
Residents gathered on Oct. 14 in a far South Side neighborhood in Chicago after federal agents were involved in a vehicle crash.
LOCAL AND OHIO NEWS
FUNDRAISING OPPORTUNITY AND ALERT: OCSILiO (The Ohio Center for Strategic Immigration Litigation & Outreach) is holding a fundraiser featuring its Executive Director and attorney, Brian Hoffman, at Mackey Hall@Westminster Presbyterian Church, 353 E. Pine Street, in Wooster, OH 44691 on Friday, October 24 at 6:30 beginning with snacks and conversation (see attached flyer). To learn more about OCSILiO and donate online: www.ocsilio.org; to RSVP for the event: wpcwoo.org/litigating.
Columbus’ Population Boom Is Largely Driven by Immigrants. Why Do They Choose Central Ohio? (Columbus Dispatch, October 12, 2025): The increase is driven by the estimated 177,517 foreign-born residents who have emigrated from other parts of the world and settled in Franklin County.
EMERGING POLICY AND THREATS TO IMMIGRANTS
Detention and Deportation
Nory Doesn’t Go to School Here Anymore (Corina Knoll, New York Times, October 17, 2025): ICE deported 17-year-old Nory Sontay Ramos and her mother. Devastation met them in Guatemala.
This Family visit to a Military Base Ended with ICE Deporting a Marine’s Dad (AP, October 15, 2025): Parents of a U.S. Marine were detained by federal immigration officials and one of them was later deported after visiting family members at a California military base, a case that has drawn attention to how the government’s immigration crackdown is touching military families.
ICE Raid at Hamden [CT] Car Wash Created ‘Chaos in Our Town’, Official Says (New Haven Register, October 15, 2025): U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement raided a local car wash, taking custody of as many as eight people, officials said.
Why Is ICE So Aggressive Now? A Former ICE Chief Explains (Riya Misra, Politico, October 14, 2025): ICE used to arrest the “worst first.” Under the new Trump administration, “those rules are gone,” says a former ICE chief.
Sikh Man with Tumor Held by US Immigration Denied Medical Care – Family (BBC, October 13, 2025): A green card holder since 1994, Paramjit Singh has been held in detention for over two months.
“I Don’t Want to Be Here Anymore”: They Tried to Self-Deport, Then Got Stranded in Trump’s America (ProPublica, October 10, 2025): Immigrants attempting to use the government’s promise of a flight home and $1,000 via the CBP Home app are left stranded.
Profiles in Authoritarianism, Racism, and Cruelty
Unfettered and Unaccountable: How Trump Is Building a Violent, Shadowy Federal Police Force (J. David McSwane and Hannah Allam, ProPublica, October 18, 2025): There are virtually no limits on what federal agents can do to achieve President Donald Trump’s goal of mass deportations.
The Conflict on the Streets of Chicago (Geraldo Cadava, New Yorker, October 16, 2025): “I’ve never seen the brutality, just completely unprovoked, that I’ve seen at Broadview,” said Quincy Worthington, a pastor at Highlands Park Presbyterian Church, who has been going to demonstrations at an ICE facility in Broadview since the beginning of September.
Trump Considers Overhaul of Refugee System That Would Favor White People
(New York Times, October 15, 2025): The proposals would transform a program aimed at helping the most vulnerable people in the world into one that gives preference to mostly white people who say they are being persecuted.
Religious Leaders Denied Request to Deliver Communion to Detainees at Broadview Facility (Chicago Sun Times, October 11, 2025): Hundreds of people joined a delegation of Catholic priests and nuns marching to the Broadview detention site to hold communion, but they were turned away with no reason given. A total of 15 protesters were arrested.
What’s Happening in New York’s Immigration Courts Has Even Shaken a Priest (Scripps News, October 10, 2025): Father Eduardo Fabian Arias said the increasing aggression from federal agents threatens not only immigrants attending their routine court hearings but also their supporters.
The Technology of Authoritarianism
ICE Amps Up Its Surveillance Powers, Targeting Immigrants and Antifa (Washington Post, October 17, 2025): Iris scanners, facial-recognition apps, phone-hacking software and cellphone location data are among the agency’s recent technological purchases.
Salesforce Offers Its Services to Boost Trump’s Immigration Force (New York Times, October 16, 2025): The San Francisco-based firm has told ICE that it could use A.I. to help the agency nearly triple its staff. The company’s C.E.O., once a progressive tech titan, has embraced President Trump.
THE COURTS
Judge Wants Immigration Agents in Chicago Area to Wear Body Cameras after Clashes with Public (AP, October 16, 2025): U.S. District Judge Sara Ellis said she was a “little startled” after seeing TV images of street confrontations that involved tear gas and other tactics during an immigration crackdown by President Donald Trump’s administration.
Yearning to Breathe Free (Mary Giovagnoli, Ms. Magazine, October 15, 2025): Rejecting a Salvadoran woman’s gender-based asylum claim, a U.S. immigration court has put women fleeing violence at greater risk. It’s time to rethink what we mean by “fixing” immigration—and work toward real solutions.
Judge Accuses Homeland Security of Bullying States into Accepting Conditions to Get FEMA Money (AP, October 14, 2025): A federal judge in Rhode Island on Tuesday accused the Trump administration of trying to “bully” states into accepting conditions that require them to cooperate on immigration enforcement actions to get disaster funding after he ruled earlier that those actions were unconstitutional.
Federal Judge Rules Against ICE in the Warrantless Arrest of 11 Liberty Restaurant Workers (Kansas City Beacon, October 9, 2025): Case challenged Trump administration’s mass deportation tactics. Workers are now free on bond.
ICE Attorneys Increasingly Request Case Dismissals at Immigration Court Hearings – and Immigration Judges Illegally Grant Them on the Spot (Laila Khan, American Immigration Council, October 7, 2025): This tactic attempts to funnel noncitizens into expedited removal, a process with fewer due process protections, to achieve fast-track deportations.
PUSHING BACK
As Tensions Rise in Chicago, Volunteers Patrol Neighborhoods to Oppose ICE and Help Migrants Escape (NPR, October 17, 2025): There are a growing number of volunteer groups who, along with advocates and lawyers, are patrolling the streets of Chicago and its suburbs warning migrants of ICE’s presence, contacting family members of those detained and linking detained immigrants with legal services.
Pope Leo Is Becoming Increasingly Vocal About Defending Immigrants from Trump’s Crackdown (Connor Greene, Time, October 15, 2025): The Church will continue to accompany and stand with migrants” the Pope said before a group of visiting American Bishops and Catholic leaders.
ICE Is Cracking Down on Chicago. Some Chicagoans Are Fighting Back (New York Times, October 14, 2025): Residents have begun forming volunteer groups to monitor their neighborhoods for federal immigration agents. Others honk their horns or blow whistles when they see agents nearby.
What Does LA’s Emergency Declaration on the ICE Raids Mean? (Destiny Torres, LAist, October 14, 2025): The vote allows county leaders to seek financial assistance and mutual aid outside of the county to respond to the impacts of the raids. It also means the county can expedite contracting, procurement and hiring to address the crisis.
A Catholic Response to the Immigration and Deportation Debate (Father Christopher Trummer, National Catholic Register, October 12, 2025): This approach to immigration is morally grounded, theologically sound and capable of fostering genuine dialogue.
Pope Leo XIV Addresses Immigration Policies in Meeting with Chicago Labor Leaders (Catholic News Service, October 9, 2025): “Please know of my appreciation for your welcome of immigrants and refugees, especially your support of food pantries and shelters,” the Pope said.
IMMIGRANTS AND THE ECONOMY
Trump Immigration Plan May Wipe Out 15M Jobs by 2035, Study Claims (Axios, October 17, 2025): The Trump administration’s immigration crackdown is projected to reduce the U.S. workforce by 6.8 million people by 2028 and by 15.7 million by 2035, per a study first shared with Axios.
The Immigration Crackdown Is ‘Much, Much Worse” for Business than Tariffs, Some CEO’s Say (Fortune, October 13, 2025): From fewer customers to less productivity to more fear, it’s bad for the economy.
Trump Administration Says Immigration Enforcement Threatens Higher Food Prices (Washington Post, October 11, 2025): In an unusual acknowledgment, the Labor Department said that tougher immigration enforcement is hurting farmers and the food supply.
ATTACKS ON AUTHORIZED IMMIGRATION, US CITIZENS
We Found That More Than 170 U.S. Citizens Have Been Held by Immigration Agents (Nicole Foy, ProPublica, October 16, 2025): They’ve been kicked, dragged and detained for days.
BACKGROUND AND ANALYSIS
Remember President Palmer? Exactly (Gerald F. Seib, New York Times, October 14, 2025): Today’s immigration raids echo across a century.
This Isn’t Crisis Response, It’s Crisis Construction (Jason P. Houser, New York Times, October 11, 2025): A former chief of staff at ICE argues that immigration enforcement fails when it starts creating the chaos the system was designed to target.
ACTION ITEMS
We hope you’re resting up from your NO KINGS demonstrations and will be back with more action items next week!
TO LEARN MORE ABOUT Oberlin Community Supporting Immigrants (OCSI): https://oberlincommunitysi.org/
IF YOU KNOW OF OTHERS WHO WOULD LIKE TO RECEIVE THIS WEEKLY BULLETIN: Send an email to: [email protected]