PICK THREE (No time for all the reporting? Here are three important stories from the past week that you might have overlooked):
How to Protect People During ICE Raids: A Rapid Response Action Plan for Faith Communities (Votecommongood): This action plan equips faith communities to respond immediately and meaningfully when immigration enforcement threatens the well-being of undocumented individuals and families in our communities.
How ICE Became Trump’s Secret Army (David Frum, The Atlantic, Pulitzer Prize winner Caitlin Dickerson on ICE’s explosive growth, Trump’s detention surge, and the future of U.S. immigration enforcement.
Trump Administration to Vet All 55 Million Foreigners with U.S. Visas (Washington Post, August 21, 2025): The State Department plans to scour legal visa holders for “overstays, criminal activity, threats to public safety … or providing support to a terrorist organization.”
VIDEO OF THE WEEK
ICE agents, in complete violation of the First Amendment, remove a sign from a Mount Pleasant (DC) park. (Click photo for video.)
LOCAL AND OHIO NEWS
After 2 More ICE Arrests, Cleveland Heights for Immigrant Rights Seeks Legal Defense Funds (Cleveland.com, August 19, 2025): The majority of the 30 people signed up for public comment at Monday’s council meeting, including OCSI’s Steve Volk, spoke on behalf of Cleveland Heights for Immigrant Rights, which is seeking up to $200,000 from the city for defense attorneys to fight deportation proceedings.
An Ohio City Faces a Future Without Haitian Workers: ‘It’s Not Going to Be Good’ (New York Times, August 18, 2025): Many Haitian families in Springfield face two bleak options: leave the United States entirely or remain without lawful status, dependent on underground work and vulnerable to arrest and deportation.
EMERGING POLICY AND THREATS TO IMMIGRANTS
Detention and Deportation
ICE Chief Threatens to ‘Flood’ Boston with Agents After Mayor Won’t Abandon Sanctuary Policy (NBC News, August 21, 2025): Mayor Michelle Wu had said she would “not back down” from the city policy of limiting police from cooperating with ICE on civil immigration enforcement efforts.
Deportation Reaches New High After Sumer Surge in Immigration Arrests (New York Times, August 21, 2025): President Trump’s campaign promise of mass deportations may be coming closer to reality. Until June, deportations had lagged behind immigration arrests and detentions. By the first week of August, deportations reached nearly 1,500 people per day, according to the latest data, a pace not seen since the Obama administration.
Uganda Joins African Countries Agreeing to Take Deportees from US (New York Times, August 21, 2025): The East African country said it had reached a deal to accept an unspecified number of deportees, who would not include people with criminal records or unaccompanied minors.
Kristi Noem Is Pushing for ICE to Buy and Operate a Fleet of Deportation Planes, Sources Say (NBC News, August 20, 2025): Former officials say that if ICE owned its own planes, it could double the number of people it deports each month. But it would be costly.
Deportation of 6-Year Old Student Sparks Uproar in New York over ICE Tactics (USA Today, August 19, 2025): New York City schools saw increased enrollment driven in part by families who had sought asylum during the Biden administration.
Tuberculosis Spawning in Crowded, Dirty ICE Detention Centers (The American Prospect, August 18, 2025): Doctors and medical researchers expect more outbreaks of infectious disease as the Trump administration crams thousands more people into miserable conditions.
Maine Police Officer Arrested by ICE Agrees to Voluntarily Leve the Country (AP, August 18, 2025): ICE arrested Old Orchard Beach Police Department reserve Officer Jon Luke Evans, of Jamaica, on July 25, as part of the agency’s effort to step up immigration enforcement. Officials with the town and police department have said federal authorities previously told them Evans was legally authorized to work in the U.S.
Trump Is Targeting Nonviolent and Legal Immigrants. Americans Are Starting to Notice (Fox News – yes, THAT Fox News, August 15, 2025): American Immigration Council report reveals less than half of current detainees have criminal records.
ICE Is Deporting Thousands with Minor Offenses – From Traffic Violations to Weed Possession (The Marshall Project, August 15, 2025): Many people with little or no criminal record have been swept into the administration’s immigration dragnet since January, an analysis of deportation data shows.
Profiles in Authoritarianism
ICE Pepper Sprays Protesters and Press at S.F. Immigration Court (Mission Local, August 20, 2025): Chaos erupted after ICE arrested an asylum-seeker at the courthouse.
ICE’s 287(g) Programs Explodes to 900 Agreements Under Trump (Austin Kocher, August 20, 2025): Local law enforcement agencies across the country are signing up to participate in ICE’s “mass deportation” efforts. Florida and Texas lead the way. Most aggressive “task force model” now dominates.
The Official Voice of the US Government Is Cruel, Gross, and Weird. What Is That Doing to Us? (Anna Merlan, Mother Jones, August 15, 2025): Joking memes about imprisonment, deportation, and death by alligator are designed to radicalize and desensitize.
Nebraska Announces Plan for Immigration Detention Center Dubbed the ‘Cornhusker Clink’ (CNN, August 20, 2025): Yet another joking reference to mass concentration camps.
Migrant Detention Center at Fort Bliss Officially Opens (KTSM, August 17, 2025): A 1,000-bed facility that carries a price tag of more than $1 billion, money that will mostly go to a private contractor.
Attacks on Citizenship and Authorized Immigration
US to Screen for ‘Anti-Americanism’ in Immigration Applications, a Move Critics Liken to McCarthyism (CNN, August 20, 2025): People applying to live or work in the United States will now be screened for “anti-Americanism,” including having their social media checked, authorities announced on Tuesday, in a tightening of restrictions that has alarmed immigration advocates and lawyers.
The Trump Administration Moves to Reinstate Restrictions on Legal Immigration Proposed in First Term (Aaron Reichlin-Melnick, American Immigration Council, August 18, 2025): “Extreme vetting” policies promise to add significant barriers to the legal immigration system.
Trump Administration Defends Use of Racial Profiling to Detain Immigrants (El País, August 14, 2025): The DHS is asking the Supreme Court to halt a California judge’s order that banned arrests based on factors such as speaking Spanish or working in construction.
Trump’s Immigration Policies Make Americans Less Safe (Nayna Gupta, American Immigration Council, August 12, 2025): Trump’s immigration policies have become a testing ground for unchecked executive power and the erosion of procedural rights.
THE COURTS RESPOND
Judge Blocks Trump from Cutting Funding from 34 Cities and Counties over ‘Sanctuary’ Policies (AP, August 22, 2025): U.S. District Judge William Orrick in San Francisco extended a preliminary injunction blocking the administration from cutting off or conditioning the use of federal funds for so-called “sanctuary” jurisdictions. His earlier order protected more than a dozen other cities and counties, including San Francisco, Portland and Seattle.
Kilmar Abrego García Set Free After Illegal Deportation, Smuggling Charges (Washington Post, August 22, 2025): The man whose case has become a flashpoint in the Trump administration’s deportation campaign has been released while awaiting trial. ICE could try to quickly deport him.
Florida Ordered to Dismantle Alligator Alcatraz over Environmental Impact (Washington Post, August 21, 2025): The ruling, which gives the state 60 days to act, comes as Gov. Ron DeSantis plans to convert a prison in North Florida into a second immigrant detention site.
Appeals Court Allows End of Protected Status for Migrants from 3 Countries (NPR, August 21, 2025): A federal appeals court on Wednesday sided with the Trump administration and halted for now a lower court’s order that had kept in place temporary protections for 60,000 migrants from Honduras, Nicaragua and Nepal.
IMMIGRANTS AND THE ECONOMY
Eating Meat While Deporting Those Who Produce It (Alice Driver, The Nation, August 20, 2025): The people who do the dirty work of killing and processing animals hold up our food system. Trump is putting them in danger.
Some Florida Farmers Reduce Crops as Deportation Fears Drive Workers Away (Jasmine Garsd, NPR, August 20, 2025): Just in the last four months, agricultural employment has fallen by 155,000 workers, the biggest dip in nearly a decade.
Immigration Reform: ‘We Have to Have Mexican Labor’ (Farm Progress, August 18, 2025): Farmers struggle with visa programs and labor shortages, emphasizing the need for Mexican workers in U.S. agriculture and simplified immigration policies.
Immigration Reform Meets Primary Care: How the Dignity Act of 2025 Could Help Ease the Workforce Shortage (Medical Economics, August 18, 2025): Recently introduced in Congress, this bipartisan immigration reform bill would open new doors for immigrant workers.
RESISTANCE
The Churches Fighting Back Against ICE (The Bulwark, August 20, 2025): A network of 5,000 churches is launching a rapid-response action plan to protect worshipers during ICE raids.
‘This Cannot Be Normalized’: Blue Cities and States Rebuff White House Over Immigration Enforcement (Politico, August 20, 2025): The attorney general is threatening criminal prosecutions of officials who refuse to cooperate with federal authorities, but “sanctuary” leaders aren’t backing down.
Oregon, Washington Governors Reject Federal Calls to Scrap Sanctuary Laws (Oregon Public Broadcasting, August 19, 2025): The governors were responding to a demand letter sent by U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi last week.
Trump-Loathing Billionaire Teams with Archbishop to Fight Deportations (Bloomberg, August 19, 2025): In immigrant-heavy Miami, a Cuban-born businessman and Catholic leader are leading a backlash to ICE sweeps.
Boston’s Wu Fires Back at Bondi, Citing Revolution, as Other Cities Slam Feds Over ‘Sanctuary’ Warnings (Fox News, August 19, 2025): Boston, Philadelphia, Washington state and other jurisdictions received warnings from Bondi
Democratic-led States Sue Trump Administration Over Tying Grant Money to Immigration (Washington Post, August 18, 2025): The lawsuit takes aim specifically at the administration’s recent threat to withhold more than $1 billion in crime victim grants in the next fiscal year to states that refuse to work with federal officials to implement Trump’s aggressive immigration and deportation policies.
BY THE NUMBERS
Poll Suggests Trump’s ICE Raids Are Backfiring in California (Politico, August 22, 2025): Nearly three-quarters of registered voters in the state — including roughly half of Republicans — said removing millions of undocumented immigrants from the workforce would hurt California’s economy,
What the Data Says About Immigrants in the U.S. (Pew Research, August 21, 2025): After more than 50 years of rapid growth, the nation’s immigrant population is now in decline.
ACTION ITEMS
AMIS (Americans Making Immigrants Safe) is asking folks who are available to come to Ayman Soliman’s court hearing on Tuesday, August 26 at 7:45 a.m. at the Immigration Court in the federal courthouse at 801 W. Superior Avenue, downtown Cleveland. Soliman was the Muslim chaplain at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital detained by ICE after having been granted asylum in 2018. His legal team and Soliman have requested this support. He’s from Cincinnati and we don’t know if he will be there in person or virtually, but whichever it is, community support in Judge Jennifer Redithaler’s courtroom would be very helpful. If you can attend this hearing, which is expect to last until 8:30 or 9:00 am at the latest, please email Anne at [email protected] so we can let Soliman know we’ll have a good crowd for him.
ICE believes it’s above the law. Demand Congress hold the agency accountable. Sign the petition to demand that Congress conduct oversight of ICE sponsored by the National Immigration Law Center here.
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/
IF YOU KNOW OF OTHERS WHO WOULD LIKE TO RECEIVE THIS WEEKLY BULLETIN: Send an email to: [email protected]