PICK THREE (No time for all the reporting? Here are three important stories from the past week that you might have overlooked):
The FBI Spied on a Signal Group Chat of Immigration Activists, Records Reveal (Guardian, November 21, 2025): Agency accessed private conversations of New York ‘courtwatch’ group that was observing public hearings.
Border Patrol Is Monitoring US Drivers and Detaining Those with ‘Suspicious’ Travel Patterns (AP, November 20, 2025): The U.S. Border Patrol is monitoring millions of American drivers nationwide in a secretive program to identify and detain people whose travel patterns it deems suspicious. The predictive intelligence program has resulted in people being stopped, searched and in some cases arrested.
‘Telling the Truth about Immigration’: A Podcast with Isabel Garcia (Border Chronicle, October 30, 2025): Garcia is an Arizona based advocate for immigrant justice who has been active for nearly 50-years; she is the founder of the Coalición de Derechos Humanos. Key quote from the podcast: “Migrants, particularly the Mexicano migrants for the past 100 years have obeyed the number one rule of capitalism… supply and demand, and [now] we reject them for supplying our demand? That’s what really gets me, are we stupid? Do we have no critical thinking?”
PHOTO OF THE WEEK
Demonstrators gather at a news conference in front of Glendale [CA] Memorial Hospital after ICE’s detention of a patient. [See story here]
LOCAL AND OHIO NEWS
Community Organization Builds Rapid Response Network in Face of Immigration Crackdown (Yasu Shinozaki, Oberlin Review, November 21, 2025): Oberlin Community Supporting Immigrants has been building a rapid response network to protect local residents from immigration enforcement.
From our friends at Cleveland Heights for Immigrant Rights (ClvHts4ImmigrantRights): ICE was spotted at Dave’s Market at the Severance location this past weekend on Saturday, Nov. 15. Thank you to community members who reported it, and a member of our ICE Defense Network who rushed to the scene, pulling up alongside the ICE vehicle which promptly drove away. We know now: we are the ones who will protect us. Check them out at their Linktree for upcoming ways to take action!
Ohio Immigrant Community Holds ‘Family Reunion’ in Columbus Amid ‘Difficult’ Year (Columbus Dispatch, November 15, 2025): The Ohio Immigrant Alliance “Family Reunion” was held at Chez Rama, a popular Senegalese restaurant off of Livingston Avenue. There, members of the immigrant community connected, heard from speakers and enjoyed the restaurant’s west African food.
EMERGING POLICY AND THREATS TO IMMIGRANTS
Detention and Deportation
ICE Detention Crosses Record 65,000, October Arrests Top Record 40,000, Biggest Growth Among People with No Criminal History (Austin Kocher Substack, November 21, 2025): After over two months of no data, ICE’s new detention numbers show a record 65,135 people in detention, biggest growth among immigrants with no criminal histories. GPS ankle monitors also grow to 35k.
ICE Agents Chase Parent After Drop-Off at Bay Area School (SFGate, November 20, 2025): An Immigration and Customs Enforcement operation in West Oakland on Wednesday morning reportedly led to a vehicle collision involving a parent and a pregnant woman, a city official said.
Nearly All Immigrants Detained in Trump Chicago Raid Had No Criminal Conviction (Guardian, November 19, 2025): Data sharply contradicts officials’ portrayal of immigration sweeps as effort to fight ‘worst of the worst’ criminals
ICE Air’s Sloppy, Dangerous Deportation Flights (Gillian Brockell, American Prospect, November 17, 2025): Poor planning, mechanical issues, serious safety lapses, and the shutdown are taking a toll on Avelo, America’s most famous deportation airline, internal documents show.
Targeted Cities
In North Carolina, the Border Patrol’s Presence Divides a Swing State (New York Times, November 22, 2025): Images of federal agents chasing immigrants have rattled many. Others see evidence of an effective crackdown. It remains to be seen whether the operation might sway voters next year.
Border Patrol’s Chaotic Week in North Carolina (David A. Graham, The Atlantic, November 21, 2025): Agents swept in and left residents to sort through fear, fact, and fiction.
Nearby ICE Raids Stoke Fear on North Carolina Campuses (Inside Higher Ed, November 21, 2025): As federal immigration enforcement agents descend on North Carolina, campus leaders are rushing to advise fearful staff and students about how to respond.
DHS Plans to Deploy 250 Border Agents to Louisiana in Major Immigration Sweep (AP, November 18, 2025): Around 250 federal border agents are set to descend on New Orleans in the coming weeks for a two-month immigration crackdown dubbed “Swamp Sweep” that aims to arrest roughly 5,000 people across southeast Louisiana and into Mississippi, according to documents obtained by The Associated Press and three people familiar with the operation.
Fear Spreads as Federal Immigration Crackdown in North Carolina Expands to Raleigh (AP, November 18, 2025): In Cary, a sprawling Raleigh suburb where officials say almost 20% of the population was born outside the U.S. and the large Asian population tripled in the 1990s, fear spread quickly.
Nearly 21,000 Charlotte-Mecklenburg Students Absent from School on Monday, Officials Say (WBTV, November 17, 2025): Charlotte Major Vi Lyles said that she saw many videos that made her “deeply concerned” with how Border Patrol officers were conducting the operation. “[T]he rights and constitutional protections of every person in Charlotte — regardless of immigration status — must be upheld.” Lyles said in a statement.
Church Members Flee as Federal Agents Arrive at East Charlotte Place of Worship (Charlotte Observer, November 17, 2025): Congregants of an east Charlotte church scattered into the woods Saturday when masked federal agents arrived and detained one of their members, according to witnesses.
‘I’m a US Citizen!’ Video Shows CBP Agents Handcuffing Woman in Charlotte (WCNC, November 15, 2025): The video appears to show an encounter in Charlotte as she held a phone, with an agent claiming she touched their vehicle. One of the featured subjects is Ayman Soliman, the Cincinnati imam.
At Least Seven Faith Leaders Arrested at Broadview ICE Facility Protest (Religion News Service, November 15, 2025): ‘I’ve got bruises all over my body,’ the Rev. Michael Woolf, who was thrown to the ground and arrested by police, told RNS.
Profiles in Authoritarianism, Racism, and Cruelty
The FBI Spied on a Signal Group Chat of Immigration Activists, Records Reveal (Guardian, November 21, 2025): Agency accessed private conversations of New York ‘courtwatch’ group that was observing public hearings.
ICE Frees Blind Migrant Who Was Detained for Days in Isolation (New York Times, November 18, 2025): For at least five days, a blind Ecuadorean man who was arrested this month in New York City by U.S. immigration authorities was held in isolation at a county jail, locked in his cell for 24 hours a day and deprived of his cane.
Trump Renews Plan to Target Immigrants Who Rely on Government Benefits (Axios, November 18, 2025): The proposal would give DHS officers more discretion in assessing “fact-specific public charge inadmissibility determinations,” such as an applicant’s use food assistance programs could deny up to 400,000 people of green cards or visas each year.
Trump Administration Sues California over Anti-ICE Laws (Politico, November 17, 2025): California passed two state laws that block federal law enforcement from wearing masks and order agents not in uniform to wear visible IDs.
Attacks on US Citizens, Authorized Non-Citizen Immigrants, and All Immigrants
Trump Says He’s Terminating Legal Protections for Somali Migrants in Minnesota (NPR, November 22, 2025): Immediately terminating TPS for Somalis.
US Veteran Considers Civil Lawsuit after He Was Arrested and Injured at Anti-ICE Protest (Guardian, November 21, 2025): Dana Briggs, 70, had charges dropped after being accused of assaulting an agent during a protest at an Illinois ICE facility.
‘The System Is Meant to Break You’: What ICE Is Doing to People Here Legally (Sarah Wildman, New York Times, November 21, 2025): The cruelty that ICE has shown isn’t reserved for undocumented immigrants.
He Was Deported to Laos Despite Court Order Blocking Removal (NextShark, November 19, 2025): A father claiming U.S. citizenship was deported to Laos last month even as a federal judge ordered immigration authorities to keep him in the country, civil rights attorneys revealed in late October.
We Came Here Legally. ICE Locked Us Up Anyway (New York Times, November 17, 2025): Three immigrants who entered the United States legally share the stories of their brutal detention in a video.
Naturalized US Citizens Thought They Were Safe. Trump’s Immigration Policies Are Shaking That Belief (ABC News, November 15, 2025): As President Donald Trump reshapes immigration and the nation’s relationship with immigrants, some naturalized citizens are wondering if the country they made a commitment to when they took the oath of citizenship is still making one to them.
Trump Administration Has Revoked 8,000 Student Visas (The PIE, November 10, 2025): Student visas made up 10% of the administration’s overall cancellation of 80,000 non-immigrant visas during Donald Trump’s second term, a State Department official told The PIE News.
THE COURTS
Judge Blocks IRS from Sharing Data with DHS for Immigration Enforcement (Washington Post, November 21, 2025): Immigration officials asked the tax agency for help locating 1.2 million suspected undocumented immigrants in August.
5 Judges Fired from S.F. Immigration Court Today (Mission Local, November 21, 2025): The Department of Justice fired at least five San Francisco immigration court judges on Friday in the largest cut to immigration judges in the city so far this year. Today’s firings bring the total number of San Francisco immigration judges sacked by the Trump administration to 12 this year.
Appeals Court Blocks Judge’s Order Restricting Use of Force During Federal Immigration Crackdown in Chicago (CNN, November 19, 2025): A three-judge panel for the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals on Wednesday granted the Trump administration’s emergency request to pause the order issued by US District Court Judge Sara Ellis earlier this month.
US Judge Upholds New York Law Barring Immigration Agents from Courthouses (Reuters, November 18, 2025): A U.S. judge rejected on November 17 a Trump administration challenge to a New York law that blocks immigration officials from arresting individuals at, or near, state courthouses.
Supreme Court Will Review an Old Policy Used to Turn Away Asylum Seekers at the US Border (AP, November 17, 2025): The justices will hear the Trump administration’s appeal of lower court rulings that struck down the practice known as metering, in which U.S. border agents capped the number of people seeking asylum at border crossings by prohibiting migrants from setting foot in the U.S.
Tennessee Judge Blocks Deployment of National Guard in Memphis (NPR, November 17, 2025): Davidson County Chancellor Patricia Head Moskal’s decision sides with Democratic state and local officials who sued, contending that Republican Gov. Bill Lee cannot deploy the Tennessee National Guard for civil unrest unless there is rebellion or invasion, and even then, it would require action by state lawmakers.
PUSHING BACK
South Meck Students Stage School Walkout to Protest Border Patrol’s Charlotte Operation (WBTV, November 20, 2025): Hundreds of students in Charlotte walked out of school to protest detentions and deportations.
Catholic Group Sues Trump Administration for Access to Immigration Facility (New York Times, November 20, 2025): The Coalition for Spiritual and Public Leadership says its members have been blocked from ministering at an ICE detention center near Chicago.
Volunteer Patrols and the PTA at School Entrances: How Charlotte Residents Are Mobilizing During the Immigration Crackdown (CNN, November 20, 2025): Volunteers sign up for shifts and receive instructions from a “patrol dispatch team” on specific zones in Charlotte to drive around and alert people when they see immigration enforcement activity.
How Chicago’s ICE Resistance Was Born (NPR, November 19, 2025): 11-minute listen: Activists in Chicago have been tracking federal immigration enforcement agents’ movements, following their cars and alerting neighbors with whistles. This resistance sprang into action in response to Trump’s Operation Midway Blitz, but it’s nearly a decade in the making.
Bishop Rhoades [Fort Wayne-South Bend, Indiana] Argues for Religious Liberty, Humane Care for Immigrants (The Observer, November 19, 2025): Rhoades condemned the Trump administration’s deportation tactics and defended the mission of the Church.
A Midwest Bond Fund Is Helping Detained Chicago Immigrants Return to Their Families (Block Club Chicago, November 17, 2025): The Midwest Immigration Bond Fund launched in 2020 to provide bond assistance to people navigating the complex immigration legal system. That mission has become more difficult under the second Trump administration, the group said.
In Pulpits and Pews, Catholic Churches Urge Compassion for Immigrants (New York Times, November 16, 2025): Immigration was on the minds of priests and parishioners following a letter from the nation’s Catholic bishops decrying how immigrants are being treated.
New USCCB [US Conference of Catholic Bishops] President: Immigration Remains Priority for US Bishops (The Catholic Telegraph, November 15, 2025): Newly elected USCCB President Archbishop Paul Coakley of Oklahoma City highlights the U.S. Bishops’ care for migrants, synodality, and efforts to overcome polarization by being instruments of communion.
IMMIGRANTS AND THE ECONOMY
Small Businesses Still Reeling from Chicago-Area Immigration Blitz: ‘It Almost Destroyed Us’ (Chicago Sun Times, November 21, 2025): Even though U.S. Border Patrol Cmdr. Greg Bovino and many of his agents left Chicago, some small-business owners in predominantly Latino neighborhoods say their clientele has yet to fully return.
BY THE NUMBERS
Two new polls by KFF and the New York Times suggest the growing unpopularity of the Trump-Miller approach to immigration. In one, nearly a quarter of all immigrants in the US (51.9 million) say they personally know someone who has been arrested, detained, or deported on immigration related charges, and 41% personally worry that they or a family member could be swept up in these raids. In the second, a poll of US immigrants who are naturalized citizens eligible to vote (24 million), large majorities disapprove of specific policies such as “third country” deportations (80%), efforts to end birthright citizenship (69%), and the use of masked and plainclothes agents in immigration enforcement activities (67%).
BACKGROUND AND ANALYSIS
Every State Is a Border Patrol State (Nick Miroff, The Atlantic, November 20, 2025): “This is our fucking country,” Border Patrol Commander Gregory Bovino told agents gathered around him in a Chicago parking lot. “Nobody tells us where to go, when to go, how to go in our fucking country.”
A Week Inside the Opaque Court Where CT Immigrants Learn Their Fate (Joshua Eaton, CT Insider, November 19, 2025): CT Insider spent a week observing hearings in Hartford Immigration Court, where officials decide whether thousands of Connecticut residents each year can stay in the United States.
What the Trump Administration’s Videos From a Chicago Immigration Raid Don’t Show (Melissa Sanchez, ProPublica, November 17, 2025): Detained and deported Venezuelans tell their stories of what happened when immigration agents raided their apartment building.
As Detention Surges Under Trump, Organizers Build a Lasting Movement (Conner Martinez, NACLA, November 17, 2025): As the president pumps $45 billion into ICE over the next three years, activists and communities must balance rapid response with longer-term resistance.
The Department of Deportation (New York Times, November 16, 2025): The Department of Homeland Security was established to keep Americans safe. Under President Trump, it has so shifted its focus to illegal immigration that other aspects of its mission are suffering.
Under One Roof (This American Life, November 16, 2025): The central story of the episode (skip past the “prologue”) is about a family’s decision about whether to stay in the US or leave given that the father, who has been in this country for decades and has two teen-age US citizen daughters, is undocumented.
The Liberal Scholars Who Influenced Trump’s Attack on Birthright Citizenship (Rachel Morris, New Yorker, November 14, 2025): The President’s executive order took inspiration from an esoteric legal argument from 1985, by two Yale professors. They have some regrets.
The Case That Could Rein in Private Prison Abuses – or Turn Them Loose (Michael Linhorst, The New Republic, November 9, 2025): One of the biggest firms in the industry wants the Roberts court to grant it sovereign immunity. Even the Trump administration is in opposition—to a point.
ICE Wants to Build a Shadow Deportation Network in Texas (Dell Cameron, Wired, October 30, 2025): A new ICE proposal outlines a 24/7 transport operation run by armed contractors—turning Texas into the logistical backbone of an industrialized deportation machine.
ICE’s Deportation Machine Runs on Private Security (Katya Schwenk, Jacobin, July 21, 2025): Some of the world’s largest private security firms are making millions of dollars by aiding ICE with its mass deportations. Now the Trump administration’s record-breaking deportation spending blitz is poised to boost their profits even more.
ACTION ITEMS
America’s Voice is demanding transparency from the Department of Homeland Security following the massing of Border Patrol agents in Charlotte, North Carolina. Even the Mecklenburg County Commission’s Chair has no idea why they are there. Sign their petition here.
The Department of Homeland Security is ramping up its ad spending, wasting millions of dollars recruiting ICE agents and intimidating immigrants. Streaming services like Spotify can stand up against these blatant attacks on communities—but instead they are profiting from platforming ICE recruitment ads. Join more than 40,000 MoveOn members to sign a petition demanding that Spotify STOP airing ICE recruitment ads that vilify our immigrant neighbors. Will you add your name?
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]