PICK THREE (No time for all the reporting? Here are three important stories from the past week that you might have overlooked):
Immigration Officials Conduct Operation at Wildfire Site in Washington State (New York Times, August 28, 2025): Immigration officials conducted an operation at the site of the largest wildfire in Washington State, fire officials said on Wednesday. The incident appeared to be a rare case of federal officials enforcing immigration laws at the site of an emergency.
To Replenish Their Ranks, DOJ Loosens Requirements for Temporary Immigration Judges (ABC News, August 27, 2025): Temporary immigration judges will no longer need experience in immigration law.
What to Know About Trump Deportation Policies that Could Send Kilmar Abrego Garcia to Uganda (AP, August 25, 2025): The administration’s agreements with so-called third countries have been contested in court by advocacy groups, who have argued that due process rights are being violated and that immigrants are being sent to countries with long histories of human rights violations.
PHOTO OF THE WEEK
Iman Ayman Soliman’s supporters at Stokes Federal Courthouse in Cleveland. Soliman’s hearing has been postponed to September 3 at 8:00 AM. If you are able to attend the hearing on Wednesday, September 3rd at 8:00 a.m., please email Anne Hill at [email protected].
LOCAL AND OHIO NEWS
ICE’s Detained Population Now at Record 61,226 People (Austin Kucher Substack, August 29, 2025): While the total number of official facilities used by ICE currently stands at 186, these numbers still do not include many places that ICE does not report on.
Northeast Ohio Is a Big Part of Trump Deportation Network (Ohio Capital Journal, August 28, 2025): The airport, a jail, and a prison in Ohio’s Mahoning Valley have emerged as a major part of the network the Trump administration is using to conduct mass deportations. As it has, residents and advocates are raising concerns.
‘Standing with the Vulnerable’: Why Communities Are Rallying Around Immigrant Neighbors (Christian Science Monitor, July 23, 2025): Volunteer-led groups – Springfield Neighbors United and Springfield G92 – have formed to counter what some community members and faith leaders see as governmental overreach that could hurt Haitian immigrants living in this once-vibrant manufacturing city.
EMERGING POLICY AND THREATS TO IMMIGRANTS
Detention and Deportation
‘I’m Not Coming Home’: Trump Policy Holds People in ICE Custody without Bail (Guardian, August 30, 2025): Restaurant workers’ case shows how Trump administration is ‘inflicting the maximum punishment’, experts say.
Trump Administration Plans to Remove Nearly 700 Unaccompanied Migrant Children, Senator Says (AP, August 29, 2025): The Trump administration is planning to remove nearly 700 Guatemalan children who had come to the U.S. without their parents in violation of the Office of Refugee Resettlement’s child welfare mandate.
Trump Administration Plans Immigration Crackdown in Chicago (New York Times, August 28, 2025): The plans involve sending in hundreds of homeland security officers and using a naval base as a staging area.
Border Patrol Arrests 2 firefighters Battling Bear Gulch Fire in Washington (ABC, August 28, 2025): Border Patrol agents lined up 44 members of the work crews and verified the identities of the personnel and arrested two individuals believed to be in the United States without authorization.
Immigration Advocates Alarmed Over Detention of DACA Recipient: ‘No Legal Basis’ (Guardian, August 27, 2025): Border patrol agents arrested Catalina Santiago, granted temporary protection as a Dreamer, on 3 August.
Inside ICE, Trump’s Migrant Crackdown Is Taking a Toll on Officers (Reuters, August 27, 2025): ICE officers face burnout, frustration amid Trump’s aggressive enforcement.
Florida Official Believes ‘Alligator Alcatraz’ Will be Empty within Days, Email Shows (PBS, August 27, 2025): A top Florida official says the controversial state-run immigration detention facility in the Everglades will likely be empty in a matter of days.
Trump’s Brutalization of Abrego Garcia Now Involves Uganda (David Kurtz, Talking Points Memo, August 25, 2025): Kilmar Abrego Garcia’s dark journey through the lawless Trump immigration system took another grievous turn Monday morning when he was detained by ICE in Baltimore only three days after being freed from criminal custody in Nashville.
A Last Lifeline in ‘Detention Alley’ (Ruby Cramer, Washington Post, August 23, 2025): In rural Louisiana: 9 ICE detention facilities, 7,000 detainees and one overwhelmed immigration lawyer who is “tired of losing.”
Inside the Facility Where ICE Is Training Recruits to Take On Trump’s Deportation Goals (PBS News, August 22, 2025): ICE is getting $76.5 billion in new money from Congress to help it meet Trump’s mass deportation goal. That’s nearly 10 times the agency’s current annual budget. Nearly $30 billion of that money is for new staff.
Why Did ICE Arrest This North Carolina Family? They Were Home (Sasha Abramsky, The Nation, August 22, 2025): Two family members have been released, but 20-year-old Allison Bustillo-Chinchilla has been held at Georgia’s infamous Stewart Detention Center since February.
A Backdoor for Immigration Enforcement (Dara Lind, American Immigration Council, August 20, 2025): Why Trump’s federal takeover of D.C. matters.
Profiles in Authoritarianism
The Border Is Invading America (Jean Guerrero, New York Times, August 29, 2025): Once confined to the borderlands, the Border Patrol — with its culture of Wild West impunity — is now operating across the country, joining Immigration and Customs Enforcement in raids far from ports of entry.
Who Wants to Work for ICE? They Do (Nick Miroff, The Atlantic, August 28, 2025): At a busy hiring expo in Texas, new recruits answer Trump’s call.
DHS Moves to Bar Aid Groups from Serving Undocumented Immigrants (Washington Post, August 27, 2025): Disaster-aid groups said the new contracts would make it harder for nonprofits to help the most vulnerable Americans in the aftermath of a disaster.
Jokey Names for Detention Centers Face Criticism for Insensitivity (New York Times, August 26, 2025): The use of such names is part of a broader strategy that President Trump and his allies are leaning into in his second term.
Fast Times at Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Nick Miroff, The Atlantic, August 26, 2025): Flush with cash and soaring with hubris, Trump appointees are supersizing ICE.
Confusion, Explosive Anger and Waiting: NPR Spend a Day in New York Immigration Court (NPR, August 25, 2025): “We’ve seen an institution die in real time,” said Benjamin Remy, a senior staff attorney with the New York Legal Assistance Group, which provides legal services to immigrants navigating the court system.
Nearly a Quarter of San Francisco’s Immigration Judges Have Been Fired by Trump Administration (NBC, August 25, 2025): Just seven months into President Trump’s term, the Department of Justice has fired nearly a quarter of San Francisco’s immigration judges, prompting fear the administration is attempting to assert control over U.S. immigration courts and purge judges whose decisions aren’t in line with the White House’s agenda.
The Supreme Court Could Give Immigration Agents Broad Power to Stop and Question Latinos (Los Angeles Times, August 24, 2025): Trump’s lawyers are urging the justices to confirm that immigration agents have “reasonable suspicion” to stop and question Latinos who work in businesses or occupations that draw many undocumented workers.
Trump Mobilizing Up to 1,700 National Guard Troops in 19 States to Widen Crime and Immigration Crackdown (Independent, August 23, 2025): Deployments reportedly set to take place largely in Republican-controlled states.
Army Base Used for WWI Japanese Internment Now Nation’s Largest ICE Detention Center (USA Today, August 23, 2025): Stewards of Japanese American history, including the children and grandchildren of those who were held in detention, are criticizing the use of Fort Bliss and the plans to expand immigrant detention on American military bases.
Attacks on Citizenship and Authorized Immigration
U.S. to Resume “Neighborhood Checks” for Citizenship Applications as Part of Trump Push to Heavily Vet Immigrants (CBS News, August 26, 2025): The Trump administration is reinstating a long-dormant practice of conducting “neighborhood checks” to vet immigrants applying for U.S. citizenship, expanding its efforts to aggressively scrutinize immigration applications, according to a government memo obtained by CBS News.
The Courts Respond
Judge Says Trump Effort to Expand Speedy Deportations of Migrants Violates Due Process (CNN, August 30, 2025): Unlike migrants detained at or near the border, who have previously been subject to expedited removal, the people the administration are now targeting have “long since entered” the country, wrote US District Court Judge Jia Cobb.
D.C. Judges and Grand Jurors Push Back on Trump Policing Surge (Washington Post, August 27, 2025): A federal grand jury refused three times to indict a woman accused of assaulting an FBI agent as magistrate judges questioned tactics in other arrests.
IMMIGRANTS AND THE ECONOMY
Wilted Lettuce. Rotten Strawberries (Robert Rivas and Shannon Douglass, New York Times, August 25, 2025): Here’s what happens when you round up farmworkers.
She’s Cared for America’s Elderly for Decades. Trump Wants Her Gone by September 8 (NPR, August 22, 2025): After three decades in the US, caring for the elderly, caregivers face the end of their TPS protections.
ICE to Use ImmigrationOS by Palantir, a New AI System, to Track Immigrants’ Movements (Steven Hubbard, American Immigration Council, August 21, 2025): ICE has partnered with Palantir Technologies—a Denver-based software company co-founded by billionaire entrepreneur Peter Thiel—to use artificial intelligence and data mining to identify, track, and deport suspected noncitizens. Palantir is slated to deliver a prototype of the ImmigrationOS platform by September 25, 2025, with the contract running through September 2027. ICE is paying Palantir $30 million for the platform. Stephen Miller holds a substantial financial stake in Palantir.
IMMIGRATION REFORM
These House Democrats Seek a New Middle Ground on Immigration (Washington Post, August 25, 2025): The New Democratic Coalition unveiled a plan to win back voters on immigration but they need the party’s support. (Full plan here.)
COMMUNITIES RESPOND
A Vigil for Immigrant Families in Lake Worth Beach [FL] Vigil for Immigration Reform (Palm Beach Post, August 25, 2025): Community holds a vigil for children harmed by immigration enforcement outside the Lake Worth Beach City Hall in Lake Worth Beach, Florida.
RESISTANCE
Dining Across the Divide (Guardian, August 24, 2025): “I was really hardline about immigration – but her struggles softened me a bit.”
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.
BY THE NUMBERS
Top Statistics on Global Migration and Immigrants (Migration Policy Institute, August 26, 2025): The number of international migrants globally has nearly doubled since 1990, to a record 304 million as of 2024.
ACTION ITEMS
Urge DHS to Keep Churches Out of Immigration Enforcement: Urge DHS to reverse new policy in the Fiscal Year 2026 Grant Terms and Conditions that would undermine religious freedom by turning grantees, such as places of worship, into extensions of immigration enforcement. Read the petition and sign here.
Tell Governor DeWine to recall the National Guard troops he has sent to Washington DD where they are intended to intimidate and instill fear, particularly in the immigrant community. For states that have not already sent National Guard troops, tell your governors not to send them. The National Immigration Law Center has prepared this letter awaiting your signature.
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]