Edited by Steve Volk ([email protected])
Oberlin Community Supporting Immigrants (OCSI) does not endorse or oppose candidates for elected office. We aim to provide information, education, and analysis regarding the U.S. immigration system.
CONTACT OCSI:
Email: [email protected]
Website: https://oberlincommunitysi.org/
Know Your Rights: You can’t protect your rights unless you know what they are. Here’s a 2-page handout prepared by OCSI. If you want a comprehensive resource library of KYR information, updated for 2026, Austin Kocher provides one here.
OCSI Corner
Do you need a speaker on immigration of “know your rights” for your local church, synagogue, or community group? Contact us at the email below. We can help!
Steve Volk of OCSI will share the stage with David Bier of the CATO Institute to discuss “Immigration in the United States: What is the Way Forward?” on Monday, February 23 at the Stocker Center of Lorain County Community College (1005 Abbe Rd N, Elyria) at 5:30 PM. The discussion will be moderated by OCSI’s Gina Perez and is a part of the “Spirit of ‘76” convocations.
ACTION ITEMS
Stand with Minnesota: Click here for a list of mutual aid opportunities and organizations supporting communities affected by the military occupation of the Twin Cities.
No more money for ICE and Border Patrol (CBP): Click here to send a pre-written message from the National Immigration Law Center which demands that Congress:
- Refuse to provide any funding to ICE and CBP through the appropriations process
- Revoke the tens of billions already given through the 2025 reconciliation bill
- Enact policies that permanently end the chaos and violence in our communities and detention centers
PICK THREE (No time for all the reporting? Here are three important stories from the past week that you might have overlooked):
Trump’s Immigration Crackdown Is Brewing a Health Care Crisis in the US, Doctors Warn (CNN, February 19, 2026): With armed ICE agents lining hallways of hospitals, doctors are seeing the impact on appointments, vaccination numbers and even basic nutrition, and they’re worried the long-term health consequences could be serious.
Communities Fight ICE Detention Centers, but Have Few Tools to Stop Them (Kevin Hardy, Ohio Capital Journal, February 18, 2026): ICE’s plans to convert industrial buildings — often warehouses — into new detention facilities have recently faced fierce opposition over humanitarian and economic concerns. From Utah to Texas to Georgia, local governments have sought to block these massive facilities.
On the Death of Dr. Linda Davis (Lynn Tramonte, Ohio Immigrant Alliance, February 18, 2026): Another ICE-caused death, this time of special ed teacher Linda Davis in Chatham County, Georgia.
PHOTO OF THE WEEK
Letter from child detained in Dilly (TX) concentration camp. Story here.
LOCAL AND OHIO NEWS
Students Face Suspensions, Expulsions for Walkout (Columbus Dispatch, February 19, 2026): A local school district in Columbus is warning students not to participate in a planned February 20 protest against ICE.
Columbus Weighs Laws to Curb ICE Operations, Ban Detention Centers (Columbus Dispatch, February 17, 2026): The Columbus City Council is moving quickly to advance legislation that would restrict federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers operating in the city, although council members acknowledge what they can control is limited.
RESISTING, PROTESTING, AND ORGANIZING FOR CHANGE
Bucks County (PA) Commissioners Unanimously Oppose Use of Warehouses for ICE Detention (WHYY, February 18, 2026): “Bucks County is not a county that needs or wants a detention facility,” the county’s lone Republican commissioner said.
‘We Are Not Going to Go Quietly’: Singing Resistance Takes on Trump’s Immigration Crackdown (MS Now, February 17, 2026): Symone Sanders Townsend explained how music has played a vital role in some of America’s biggest resistance campaigns.
Military Veterans Protesting ICE See Crackdown Through Different Lens (New York Times, February 17, 2026): Veterans have taken part in demonstrations against the federal crackdown on illegal immigration in Minnesota. “I believe in the institutions,” one said.
Trump Is Recruiting Thousands of Local Officers to Aid Immigration Effort. Some States Are Saying No (AP, February 17, 2026): Laws banning cooperative agreements with ICE were signed in Maryland, New Mexico and Maine and are pending in New York and Virginia.
Warehouse Owner Won’t Sell Dallas County (TX) Property to ICE for Migrant Detention Center (Dallas Morning News, February 16, 2026): Majestic Realty Co., the California-based owner of the Hutchins property, said it would not sell its warehouse to the federal government to be used as a mega migrant detention center.
The Case for Keeping ICE and CBP Defunded (Ryan Cooper, American Prospect, February 16, 2026): Democrats should not provide one thin dime to MAGA storm troopers.
Protest, Skepticism Continue in Minnesota Following Announcement that Federal Surge is Ending (MPR News, February 15, 2026): Protests against the surge of federal immigration agents in Minnesota continued over the weekend — even after last week’s announcement by White House border czar Tom Homan that the operation is winding down.
Activists Celebrate as Immigration Agents Depart Terminal Island. ‘The People Kicked Them Out’ (Los Angeles Times, February 14, 2026): ICE agents left a Coast Guard site that they used as a base of operations for raids across Southern California.
THE COURTS AND LEGAL ACTIONS
Judge Who Held Government Lawyer in Contempt Blasts DOJ’s Handling of Immigration Cases: ‘Real Consequences on Real Human Beings” (CBS News, February 20, 2026): U.S. District Judge Laura Provinzino held an Army lawyer assigned to the Justice Department in civil contempt. She ordered the lawyer, Matthew Isihara, to pay $500 per day until the government returned identification documents to Rigoberto Soto Jimenez, who was released by ICE in Texas without his ID last week despite a court order requiring him to be flown back to Minnesota with his personal property.
Federal Judge Accuses Trump Administration of ‘Terror’ Against Immigrants in Scathing Ruling (AP, February 19, 2026): A federal judge has accused the Trump administration of terrorizing immigrants and recklessly violating the law in its efforts to deport millions of people living in the country illegally. Halts mandatory detention.
Officials Violated More than 50 Court Orders in New Jersey, Justice Dept. Tells Judge (New York Times, February 18, 2026): The violations stemmed from immigration cases. Judges across the country have expressed alarm about illegal transfers and missed deadlines.
ICE Can’t Take Kilmar Abrego Garcia Back into Custody, Federal Judge Rules (CNN, February 17, 2026): Tuesday’s decision is the latest judicial rebuke of the government’s maneuvering in Abrego Garcia’s case, which has come to symbolize the administration’s hardline approach to immigration enforcement.
Judge Bars Most ICE Raids at a Group of Churches that Sued the Trump Administration (Religious News Service, February 16, 2026): The impact of the new ruling may be larger than a similar court decision last year, as the plaintiffs appear to represent a much higher number of churches.
A Man Shot by an ICE Agent in Minneapolis Was Charged with Assaulting Law Enforcement. A Startling Admission Ended the Case (CNN, February 15, 2026): The DOJ admitted that federal prosecutors had provided false information to the country.
Courts Have Ruled 4,400 Times that ICE Jailed People Illegally. It Hasn’t Stopped (Reuters, February 14, 2026): Detained immigrants have filed more than 20,000 lawsuits seeking their release.
Detained Immigrants Issue “Our Cry,” a Letter from inside Newark ICE Facility Pleading for Due Process (The Jersey Vindicator, February 12, 2026): More than two dozen men held at a controversial immigration detention center in Newark recently issued a letter apologizing for how they came into the country, but also saying they posed no threat to others before the feds seized them as part of the Trump administration’s sweeping immigration raids.
ICE BUCKET
‘Don’t Go to the US – Not with Trump in Charge’: The UK Tourist with a Valid Visa Detained by ICE for Six Weeks (Guardian, February 21, 2026): Karen Newton was in America on the trip of a lifetime when she was shackled, transported and held for weeks on end.
The Trump Administration Is Increasingly Trying to Criminalize Observing ICE (NPR, February 18, 2026): At least three dozen people who gave statements under oath in the ACLU lawsuit said that while observing immigration activity, federal officers told them they were impeding or interfering with an investigation, or that what they were doing was illegal.
How ICE Insulted 28 Mexican Immigrants Who Died in a 1948 Plane Crash (Gustavo Arrelano, Los Angeles Times, February 17, 2026): ICE rewrites the story of the Mexicans’ death made famous in Woody Guthrie’s 1948 song, “Deportee (Plane Wreck at Los Gatos).”
Agreements that Allow Local Police to Work with ICE Skyrocket (NBC News, February 16, 2026): There were 1,168 agencies with officers signed up to help ICE, up from 135 during the Biden administration and 150 at the end of Trump’s first term, according to an analysis of ICE data.
Police Leaders Can’t Ignore Abusive Immigration Enforcement any Longer (Karl Bickel, Maryland Matters, February 15, 2026): National policing organizations, from the International Association of Chiefs of Police to the National Sheriffs’ Association, brand themselves as champions of ethics, transparency and bias-free policing. Yet when ICE deploy tactics that violate every standard those groups promote, their silence is deafening.
Students Across the U.S. Are Protesting ICE. Texas Wants to Punish Their Schools (New York Times, February 15, 2026): In dozens of states, students have staged walkouts over immigration enforcement. In Texas, they’re doing so despite threats from Gov. Greg Abbott.
EMERGING POLICY AND THREATS TO IMMIGRANTS
Targeting Toddlers and Minors
How a Planned Disney World Vacation Turned into Four Months in Immigration Detention (Mica Rosenberg, ProPublica, February 14, 2026): A 9-year-old shares her story of being held at the nation’s only operating detention center for immigrant families in Dilley, Texas.
The Children of Dilley (Mica Rosenberg, ProPublica, February 9, 2026): ProPublica went inside the immigrant detention center for families in Dilley, Texas. Children held there told us about the anguish of being ripped from their lives in the United States and the fear of what comes next.
Detention and Deportation and Death
Trump Administration Plans to Take Homan’s Minneapolis Immigration Playbook Nationwide (CNN, February 20, 2026): The return to ICE’s typical immigration enforcement tactics, which include identifying targets ahead of time, instead of broad sweeps in areas trafficked by immigrants, comes amid waning public support for how the administration has been conducting immigration arrests.
Second Immigrant Death in ICE Custody This Week Took Place at Florida Health Facility (Austin Kocher Substack, February 20, 2026): Jairo Garcia-Hernandez, a Guatemalan national, is the eighth reported death in ICE custody since the start of 2026 and almost the 40th since the start of the Trump administration.
Operation Metro Surge Hasn’t Ended. It’s Expanded to the Suburbs (Sahan Journal, February 19, 2026): Elected officials and observers say ICE agents have been using increasingly covert tactics to continue operations across Twin Cities suburbs.
The Chaos of an ICE Detention (Jordan Salama, New Yorker, February 19, 2026): When Manuela’s husband texted her that he’d been apprehended on the street, her life in New York instantly capsized.
Seventh Immigrant Dies in ICE Custody This Year (Austin Kocher Substack, February 17, 2026): Lorth Sim, a Cambodian national, died in ICE custody on Monday, the seventh since the start of the year and nearly the 40th since Trump took office.
U.S. Deports Nine Migrants in Secret, Ignoring Legal Protections (New York Times, February 14, 2026): Most had court orders protecting them from removal to their home countries, so they were sent to detention in Cameroon.
This Is Much Worse Than Mere Detention (Jamelle Bouie, New York Times, February 14, 2026): Immigration detention is not a criminal procedure. And yet the Trump administration is treating it as a criminal punishment. It is using detention to inflict pain on anyone — immigrant or citizen — caught in its grasp.
The Cruelty Inside (Commonweal Magazine, February 11, 2026): What happens after an ICE disappearance?
Authoritarianism, Lawlessness, Racism, and Cruelty
US Citizen Shot and Killed by Federal Immigration Agent Last Year, New Records Show (Guardian, February 20, 2026): Shooting death of Ruben Ray Martinez, 23, in Texas was not publicly disclosed by Department of Homeland Security.
‘Our Patients Are More Frightened and Sicker Than Ever’ (Elizabeth Whidden, Robin Canada, and D. Daphne Owen, New York Times, February 19, 2026): What happened to our patients are the inevitable consequences of ICE treating people and families as targets rather than as human beings, carrying out enforcement without any consideration of medical risk or family circumstances.
Police Investigate ICE Arrest of a Man who Suffered Severe Head Injuries (New York Times, February 19, 2026): The police in St. Paul, Minn., are investigating an arrest last month during the immigration crackdown. The man has said he was beaten by agents. ICE asserted that he ran into a wall.
HUD Moves to End Assistance for Families with Mixed Immigration Status (Politico, February 19, 2026): The proposed rule reflects a similar move in Trump’s first term.
Pennsylvania Man Cleared after 43 Years in Prison for Murder Denied Bail During Deportation Fight (AP, February 17, 2026): The Trump administration had initially pursued a quick deportation and moved Subramanyam Vedam to a detention center in Louisiana last fall, before two separate courts intervened.
Social Security Workers Are Being Told to Hand over Appointment Details to ICE (Wired, February 13, 2026): The recent request goes against decades of precedent and puts noncitizens at further risk of immigration enforcement actions.
Attacks on All Immigrants
White House Grants ICE Power to Detain Refugees for Aggressive ‘Rescreening’ (Guardian, February 19, 2026): A new DHS memo details plan to allow federal immigration officers to detain legal refugees in the US indefinitely. [See statement from HIAS here, criticizing this “transparent effort” to detain and potentially deport thousands of people legally present in the country.]
How Legal Immigration Became a Deportation Trap (Jonathan Blitzer, New Yorker, February 17, 2026): Under Trump, the Homeland Security agency responsible for processing visas and green cards has become a site for easy arrests.
Who Profits
Want a breakdown of every contract going to DHS or ICE? Try USASpending.gov.
IMMIGRATION AND THE ECONOMY
Trump’s Immigration Siege Is Rattling Hospitality Industry, Workers Say (Guardian, February 18, 2026): Unite Here, the US’s largest hospitality workers’ union, says ICE crackdown is harming tourism and costing jobs.
Trump Crackdown Drives 80% Plunge in Immigrant Employment, Reshaping Labor Market, Goldman Says (Fortune, February 17, 2026): A sweeping crackdown on immigration has precipitated an 80% collapse in net immigration to the U.S., according to a new analysis by Goldman Sachs. The report warns the dramatic contraction in the flow of foreign-born workers is lowering the threshold for job growth needed to maintain economic stability.
Immigrants Brought This N.J. City Back to Life. ICE Is Now Turning It into a ‘Ghost Town’ (NJ.com, February 15, 2026): ICE operations have raised fears in towns across the nation. But the stress is particularly acute in Bridgeton, where immigration officials have been noticeably active in the 6 1/2-square-mile Cumberland County city since December.
BY THE NUMBERS
Majority of Americans Think Trump’s Deportation Campaign Is Going too Far (Washington Post, February 20, 2026): A Washington Post-ABC News-Ipsos poll finds large numbers of Americans are living in fear of the deportation dragnet and dislike the administration’s approach.
Trump’s Immigration Approval Hits New Low, According to Reuters/Ipsos Poll (Reuters, February 17, 2026): Only 38% approve of his immigration policies.
BACKGROUND AND ANALYSIS
Detentions and Disappearances: How ICE Has Driven Fear into Michigan’s Arab Communities (Guardian, February 21, 2026): “The level of anxiety among people is at its highest; we’ve never seen something like this,” says Imad Hamad, executive director of the Dearborn-based American Human Rights Council.
Soil, Not Blood, Determines U.S. Citizenship (Akhil Reed Amar, New York Times, February 20, 2026): Every judge to consider Trump’s executive order ending birthright citizenship thus far has emphatically rejected Mr. Trump’s edict. The Supreme Court will hear oral arguments in the came on April 1.Authoritarianism from Below (Stuart Schrader, New York Review of Books, February 14, 2026): To some cops and the unions that represent them, the federal invasions of American cities are a chance to undercut the already fraying democratic constraints on police power.