PICK THREE (No time for all the reporting? Here are three important stories from the past week that you might have overlooked):
Bloodied Faces, Sobbing Children: Immigration Officers Smash Car Windows to Speed Up Arrests (Nicole Foy and McKenzie Funk, ProPublica, July 31, 2025): ProPublica has documented nearly 50 incidents of immigration officers shattering car windows to make arrests — a tactic experts say was rarely used before Trump took office. ICE claims its officers use a “minimum amount of force.” You can judge for yourself.
Judges Press Trump Administration on Deportation Quotas (Politico, July 28, 2025): An appeals court panel pressed a DOJ attorney to confirm whether immigration officials have been ordered to carry out 3,000 deportations or deportation arrests a day.
ICE Deported Teenagers and Children in Immigration Raids. Here Are Their Stories (USA Today, July 27, 2025): Several students who attended K-12 schools in the United States last year won’t return this fall after ICE deported them to other countries.
LOCAL AND OHIO NEWS
Are You Allowed to Film ICE Agents in Ohio? What You Should Know (Columbus Dispatch, July 26, 2025): Filming law enforcement, including ICE agents, is legal in Ohio as long as it doesn’t interfere with their duties.
EMERGING POLICY AND THREATS TO IMMIGRANTS
Detention and Deportation
ICE Recruits Former Federal Workers to Join Its Ranks Amid Hiring Spree (NPR, August 1, 2025): The push to rehire retired workers comes as the administration has also sought to downsize large swaths of the federal government through mass layoffs and other changes to long-standing norms.
ICE’s Mind-Bogglingly Massive Blank Check (Caitlin Dickerson, The Atlantic, July 31, 2025): Congress has appropriated billions with few strings attached, creating a likely windfall for well-connected firms.
How Louisiana Built Trump’s Busiest Deportation Hub (New York Times, July 31, 2025): ICE wants to make immigration enforcement as efficient as FedEx or Amazon. Louisiana was poised for this moment.
Beyond ICE: State and Local Authorities Become Central to Trump Administration Deportation Strategy (Muzaffar Chishti and Kathleen Bush-Joseph, Migration Policy Institute, July 30, 2025): Even as the Trump administration dramatically bolsters federal immigration enforcement efforts, it is turning to state and local authorities to pursue its goal of 1 million deportations per year, building out what is likely the widest-ranging immigration enforcement capacity in U.S. history.
Officer Arrested by ICE Is Missed by Colleagues and Was Eligible to Work (ABC News, July 30, 2025): Officials in a Maine town where immigration authorities arrested a police officer say the officer was a trusted member of the force who is missed by his colleagues.
She Fled Cuba for Asylum – Then Was Snatched from a US Immigration Courtroom (Guardian, July 26, 2025): Jenny, 25, entered the US legally, but Ice agents arrested her after a hearing, part of a growing trend of court detentions.
Pastor and Father of Three Arrested in Maryland for Overstaying Visa a Quarter-Century Ago (CNN, July 26, 2025): A Maryland pastor who fled Honduras 24 years ago to escape poverty and violence is waiting to hear when he will face an immigration judge after his arrest this week by Immigration and Customs Enforcement for overstaying his visa in 2001, his family said.
Profiles in Authoritarianism
‘Welcome to Hell’: Inside the Megaprison Where the U.S. Deported Migrants (Washington Post, July 31, 2025): Interviews with 16 former detainees of El Salvador’s Terrorism Confinement Center offer the most complete view yet of conditions at the notorious prison.
National Guard Ordered to Do ICE Paperwork at Immigration Facilities in 20 States (The Intercept, July 31, 2025): Trump’s deployment of the National Guard to immigration facilities further blurs the line between military and law enforcement.
Justice Dept. Seeks Censure of Judge, Widening Fight with Judiciary (New York Times, July 29, 2025): A complaint said Judge James E. Boasberg, who has clashed with the Trump administration over deportation plans, made “improper public comments” about President Trump in a closed-door judicial conference.
Deep Dive into ICE’s Electronic Monitoring Program (Austin Kocher, Substack, July 28, 2025): ICE’s push to expand GPS ankle monitors for immigrants could cost taxpayers $500,000 per day. Here’s the backstory and the data.
‘Hell on Earth’: Venezuelans Deported to El Salvador Mega-Prison Tell of Brutal Abuse (NPR, July 27, 2025): Detainees described being subjected to violence — and, in some cases, sexual abuse — by prison guards, denied adequate food, and forced to endure inhumane conditions.
Immigration Agents Told a Teenage US Citizen: ‘You’ve Got No Rights.’ He Secretly Recorded His Brutal Arrest (Guardian, July 25, 2025): Video from Kenny Laynez-Ambrosio, 18, puts fresh scrutiny on the harsh tactics used to reach the Trump administration’s ambitious enforcement targets.
THREATS TO CITIZENSHIP
Video Arrest: 5 Things to Know About the US Citizen in ICE Custody in Palm Beach County (The Palm Beach Post, July 25, 2025): Kenny Laynez’s cellphone camera captured every undocumented immigrant’s nightmare on video when it happened to him on the morning of May 2. One problem: He is a U.S. citizen. Here’s more to know about what happened.
THE COURTS RESPOND
Judges Keep Restrictions on L.A. Immigration Arrests, in Setback for Trump Agenda (New York Times, August 2, 2025): An appellate panel upheld a finding that federal agents appeared to rely exclusively on race and other factors, such as speaking Spanish, in making arrests.
Judge Blocks Expedited Deportations of Those Who Entered the U.S. Legally, Possibly Curtailing ICE Courthouse Arrests (CBS News, July 1, 2025): U.S. District Judge Jia Cobb of Washington, D.C., barred federal immigration officials from using two Trump administration directives to apply a fast-track deportation process known as expedited removal on migrants who were granted immigration parole to enter the U.S. at an official port of entry. Parole is an immigration authority that allows federal officials to admit foreigners on humanitarian grounds, and lets them live and work in the U.S. legally on a temporary basis.
Judge Blocks Trump Administration from Ending Protections for 60,000 from Central America and Nepal (August 1, 2025): “The freedom to live fearlessly, the opportunity of liberty, and the American dream. That is all Plaintiffs seek. Instead, they are told to atone for their race, leave because of their names, and purify their blood,” Federal Judge Thompson said.
Judge Blocks Trump’s Birthright Citizenship Restrictions in Third Ruling Since High Court Decision (AP, July 25, 2025): A federal judge blocked the Trump administration from ending birthright citizenship, issuing the third court ruling blocking the birthright order nationwide since a key Supreme Court decision in June.
Judge Throws Out Trump’s Lawsuit Against Illinois Over Sanctuary Policies (Politico, July 25, 2025): The case is just one in a series of lawsuits DOJ has filed against blue states and cities.
IMMIGRANTS AND THE ECONOMY
US Workers Say Trump’s Immigration Crackdown Is Causing Labor Shortages: ‘A Strain on Everybody’ (Guardian, July 29, 2025): As economists warn the administration’s full-scale deportation ambitions could ultimately cost millions of jobs, workers at two sites – in Michigan and Kentucky – told the Guardian that industrial giants are grappling with labor shortages.
As Deportation Fears Keep Immigrants from Work, Their Churches Feel Financial Strain (National Catholic Reporter, July 27, 2025): “We have people who are locked in their homes out of fear, or only leaving to go to work. No leisure, no outings with their families, no vacations — sometimes not even coming to church. … They are terrified,” Pastor Sergio Elias of the Brazilian Free Methodist Church in Connecticut said.
ICE Took Half Their Work Force. What Do They Do Now? (New York times, July 27, 2025): Glenn Valley Foods tried to verify every hire through a federal system. After a raid, the company is wondering how it can keep going.
RESISTANCE
They Saw Their Neighbors Taken Away by ICE. Then They Made a Plan (Michelle Goldberg, New York Times, July 30, 2025): A citywide network in Los Angeles which is constantly tracking ICE’s activities.
House Democrats Sue ICE for Barring Them from Detention Facilities (New York Times, July 30, 2025): The 12 Democrats accused the Trump administration of violating the law when it turned them away from immigrant detention sites and imposed a new policy limiting congressional access.
Christian Groups Sue Over Trump Administration Policy Allowing ICE Arrests at Churches (Catholic News Agency, July 29, 2025): A coalition of religious groups filed a lawsuit on July 28 challenging the Trump administration’s policy that makes it easier for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents to arrest people in churches and other sensitive locations.
Pope: Migrants Are ‘Witnesses of Hope’ in a Devastated World (Vatican News, July 25, 2025): In his Message for the 111th World Day of Migrants and Refugees, Pope Leo XIV emphasizes the important witness that Catholic migrants and refugees can offer in a world affected by conflict and inequality in hoping and searching for a better and more peaceful future.
BY THE NUMBERS
A Majority of ICE Arrests in Trump’s First 5 Months Took Place in Border and Southern States, Figures Show (CBS News, July 31, 2025): Nearly a quarter of all ICE arrests were in Texas.
New Detention Numbers Are Out, ICE Still Hiding Data on ‘Alligator Alcatraz’ (Austin Kocher, Substack, July 31, 2025): At least 56,945 immigrants are held in ICE detention this week, with untold numbers hidden from public view in off-the-books sites in Florida and in field offices across the country.
US Citizens – Not Migrants – Smuggle the Majority of Fentanyl into the United States (Melissa Cruz, American Immigration Council, July 22, 2025): Roughly four in five people apprehended for smuggling fentanyl into the United States at the southern border between October 2018 and June 2024 were U.S. citizens. The rest were largely individuals with visas, border crossing cards, or other permission to enter the United States lawfully at a port of entry.
ACTION ITEMS
Close “Alligator Alcatraz” Detention Center: The National Immigration Law Center is calling on Congress to shut down Trump’s Florida Everglades gulag. No human being should be subjected to the conditions in this camp. Take action to pass the No Cages in the Everglades Act and oppose the expansion of Trump’s gulags across the country.
Stop Detention Expansion: Communities Not Cages: Sign a petition to stop ICE detention expansion.
Liberty Denied for Ayman Soliman (Ohio Immigrant Alliance): Ayman Soliman is the interfaith Imam beloved by Cincinnati residents of all faiths and a global community. Catch up on his case here. Keep calling, praying, writing, and donating to Ayman’s legal defense. It all matters and it IS making a difference.
Resources: New Tool – DetentionReports.com Provides Valuable Updated Data about ICE Facilities (Austin Kocher, Adam Sawyer, and Sunita Kunwar, Substack, July 28, 2025): Relevant Research launches Deportation Reports, a new tool providing real-time data on ICE detention centers using our Interval ADP method for more accurate population estimates.
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!
TO LEARN MORE ABOUT Oberlin Community Supporting Immigrants (OCSI): https://oberlincommunitysi.org/
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