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.
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!
Save The Date: KNOW YOUR RIGHTS/KNOW YOUR RISKS: What to Do When ICE Shows Up: Training and updates for newcomers and experienced folks. Oberlin Public Library (65 S. Main Street, Oberlin), Thursday, Feb. 12, 7:00PM. Co-sponsored by OCSI and Lorain County Rising.
PICK THREE (No time for all the reporting? Here are three important stories from the past week that you might have overlooked):
None of This Should Have Happened (David A. Graham, The Atlantic, January 13, 2026): The White House’s persistent escalation has laid the groundwork for more tragedies like Renee Good’s death.
We Are in Moral Exile. We Must Resist (Editorial Board, National Catholic Reporter, January 9, 2026): Nonviolent resistance begins inwardly, with the refusal to let fear shape our vision. But it does not remain there. It takes public form. … It says, quietly and persistently, that there are lines we will not cross, even if the state does.
Inside ICE’s Tool to Monitor Phones in Entire Neighborhoods (404 Media, January 8 2026): Tangles and Webloc are the two surveillance systems ICE recently purchased. Webloc can track phones without a warrant and follow their owners home or to their employer.
PHOTO OF THE WEEK
U.S. Border Patrol agents smash a man’s car window before dragging him out and taking him into custody when he failed to present citizenship documentation at a gas station on Jan. 11, 2026, in St. Paul, Minn.
LOCAL AND OHIO NEWS
Trump Ally and ICE Deputy Director Resigns to Run for Congress in Ohio (Guardian, January 15, 2026): Madison Sheahan, who will be running for Marcy Kaptur’s newly redistricted seat, was appointed to DHS position in March despite having no law enforcement experience.
In the Wake of ICE Shooting, Protests in Ohio, Preparation for More Raids (Ohio Capital Journal, January 14, 2026): Thousands of protesters turned out across Ohio on Saturday, days after an ICE agent in Minneapolis shot a protester there in the face, killing her. As the protests took place, advocates worked to organize responses to future ICE actions in the Buckeye State.
Columbus Businesses See Drop in Customers Amid ICE’s Ohio Surge (Columbus Dispatch, January 13, 2026): Fear tied to recent Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) activity in Columbus has dramatically changed customer behavior— particularly in Latino communities.
ICE Detained More than 280 People in the Central Ohio Area During One Week in December (Ohio Capital Journal, January 12, 2026): Ohio Immigrant Alliance reported last month that at least 214 people were arrested and were in detention as of Dec. 24. Ninety-three percent were men and 80% appear to be Latino, according to a report from the Ohio Immigrant Alliance. They said the actual number is likely higher.
MINNEAPOLIS: LIKE A MILITARY OCCUPATION
‘Make No Mistake, This Is an Occupation’: ICE’s Deadly Presence Casts Long Shadow Over Minneapolis (Guardian, January 17, 2026): Classrooms have emptied, shops have shut, and the mood is tense – but as the federal operation has ramped up, so has residents’ response.
How Trump Could Use the Insurrection Act to Pummel Minnesota (Axios, January 15, 2026): 44% of Americans would strongly disapprove of Trump invoking the Insurrection Act in Minnesota, while only 22% strongly approve, YouGov said in a poll released Thursday.
Aggressive Tactics Used on Minneapolis Protesters Raise Concerns About Federal Officer Training (AP, January 15,2026): They have pointed rifles at demonstrators and deployed chemical irritants early in confrontations. They have broken vehicle windows and pulled occupants from cars. They have scuffled with protesters and shoved them to the ground.
Video Analysis of ICE Shooting Sheds Light on Contested Moments (New York Times, January 15, 2026): Newly available videos and existing footage synchronized and assessed by The Times provide a frame-by-frame look at how an ICE officer ended up shooting and killing a motorist in Minneapolis.
Dueling Accounts of ICE Shooting of Venezuelan Migrant in Minneapolis (CBS, January 15, 2026): Cell phone footage appears to show the moments after Wednesday’s shooting took place, in which a woman calls 911 and can be heard pleading for help. The caller says her husband was chased by ICE agents before he reached his home, and was shot in front of his family.
‘I’m Embarrassed’: ICE Agents Speak About the Shooting in Minneapolis (Time, January 14, 2026): Behind the scenes, current and former ICE agents have expressed concerns about the agent’s conduct, about the agency’s operations in Minneapolis, and about a broader push by the Trump administration to aggressively recruit more agents.
Two Photo Essays: Minneapolis Neighborhoods vs. ICE (Alan Taylor, The Atlantic, January 14, 2026) and This Is What ICE Descending on Minneapolis Looks Like (Mark Murrmann, Mother Jones, January 14, 2026).
‘Like a Military Occupation’: Clashes Rise with Federal Agents in Minneapolis (New York Times, January 13, 2026): Arrests and aggressive tactics by ICE and the Border Patrol, many seen on viral videos, have intensified the frustration and fear among residents.
Terror in Minneapolis: The Ordeal of Brandon Siguenza and Patty O’Keefe (Patrick G. Eddington, Cato Institute, January 13, 2026): The homicide last week of Renee Good by an ICE agent has justifiably received national press attention and public condemnation. What should also be getting the same level of press, public, and congressional attention are cases like those of Brandon Siguenza and Patty O’Keefe.
‘A Breaking Point’: The Minneapolis Police Chief on ICE (New York Times, January 12, 2026): In an interview on “The Daily,” Chief Brian O’Hara spoke with Michael Barbaro about the killing of Renee Good and how ICE’s presence affects his city.
ICE Tactics and Training Under Scrutiny after Minneapolis Shooting (Washington Post, January 10, 2026): Policing experts say officer who fired fatal shots may have placed himself at needless risk by standing in front of Renée Good’s vehicle.
An ICE Killing Puts Minneapolis on the Brink (E. Tammy Kim, New Yorker, January 9, 2026): The city where George Floyd was murdered finds itself again at the epicenter of a national crisis.
RESISTING, PROTESTING, AND ORGANIZING FOR CHANGE
Ohio State Students Tell University to Remove CBP Recruiters from Job Fair (Columbus Dispatch, January 17, 2026): Several campus and community groups are calling on Ohio State University to pull U.S. Customs and Border Protection recruiters from an upcoming career fair.
They Couldn’t ‘Abolish ICE’ in Trump’s First Term. Now More Americans Are Taking Up the Call (Guardian, January 16, 2026): For the first time, more US adults now support eliminating ICE than those who oppose it, according to a new Economist/YouGov poll.
Austin Police Will Change Policy of ICE Cooperation after Detention of Mother, Daughter (KUT News, January 14, 2026): “Officers may but are not required to call ICE,” Davis told The Texas Newsroom in an interview on Tuesday.
How to Stop ICE (American Prospect, January 13, 2026): With another government funding deadline looming, congressional Democrats can at least partly curtail Trump’s thugs.
Joe Rogan Breaks with Trump over ‘Gestapo’ ICE Operations (The Hill, January 13, 2026): Are we really gonna be the Gestapo, ‘Where’s your papers?’ Is that what we’ve come to?”
Five Anti-ICE Anthems and Music Videos, Ranked (L.A. Taco, January 13, 2026): Major artists and newcomers alike are putting their stamp on the political moment. Plus nine honorable mentions to songs that get everybody amped for the fight against fascism.
New Jersey Lawmakers Send Governor Pro-Immigration Bills as ICE Faces Nationwide Scrutiny (Politico, January 12, 2026): The centerpiece of the three-bill package would write into law limits between state and local police from cooperating with federal immigration officials.
Minnesota Sues DHS, ICE over Immigration Enforcement (Washington Post, January 12, 2026): The state, along with the cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul, allege the Trump administration’s decision to surge ICE agents into the area violates federal and state laws.
Anti-ICE Protests Spread Nationwide (New York Times, January 10, 2026): Mounting outrage over an ICE agent’s killing of a woman in Minneapolis spilled into streets across the country on Saturday, as crowds of protesters mobilized against what they called the excesses of the Trump administration’s mass deportation campaign in an “ICE Out for Good” campaign.
More Federal Agents to be Sent to Minnesota, Trump Administration Says (BBC, January 11, 2026): Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem told Fox News that “hundreds more” will be sent to the area “in order to allow our ICE and our Border Patrol individuals that are working in Minneapolis to do so safely”.
‘We Have to Show Up’: Outraged Portlanders Gather in the Hundreds to Protest Border Patrol Shootings, Immigration Enforcement (The Oregonian, January 10, 2026): Protests were the latest in a series held across the city in the last week.
Georgia Town of 5,000 Vows to Fight ICE Plan to Warehouse 9,000 Detainees (Washington Post, January 9, 2026): The Trump administration is facing pushback in many of the 23 U.S. towns and cities where it plans to convert warehouses into immigrant detention centers — including in some places that support the president.
THE COURTS
US Judge Restricts ICE Response to Minneapolis Protesters (BBC, January 16, 2026): Judge Katherine Menendez ruled on Friday night that federal agents cannot arrest or pepper spray peaceful demonstrators, including those monitoring and observing ICE agents.
Trump Cabinet Secretaries Conspired to Violate Constitution, Judge Says (Washington Post, January 15, 2026): In remarks laced with outrage and disbelief, U.S. District Judge William Young said Donald Trump and top officials have a “fearful approach” to freedom of speech that would seek to “exclude from participation everyone who doesn’t agree with them.”
Judge Blocks Trump Administration from Revoking Immigration Parole (Politico, January 10, 2026): Court grants two-week reprieve for more than 10,000 immigrants set to lose legal status next week.
EMERGING POLICY AND THREATS TO IMMIGRANTS
Detention and Deportation
Immigration Detention Is Bigger, Harsher, and Less Accountable Than Ever (American Immigration Council, January 14, 2026): The Trump administration is locking up hundreds of thousands of people— most with no criminal record—into a harsh immigration detention system that makes it near impossible to fight their cases or secure release.
Federal Prosecutor Apologizes for Babson Student’s Deportation in Violation of Court Order (Boston.com, January 14, 2026): The 19-year-old was attempting to fly to Texas to surprise family for Thanksgiving. She was swiftly deported instead.
What to Know about the Warrants Most Immigration Agents Use to Make Arrests (ABC News, January 12, 2026): The Trump administration’s immigration enforcement tactics are sparking debate over federal agents’ authority to enter private property.
Video Captures Minneapolis Immigration Arrest in a City on Edge after Shooting of Renee Good (ABC News, January 11, 2026): Agents break into home without proper warrant to detain a man.
Authoritarianism, Lawlessness, Racism, and Cruelty
DHS Seeking to Deport Two Men Who Said Fellow ICE Detainee Was Killed (Washington Post, January 17, 2026): The two men’s accounts of the Jan. 3 death of Geraldo Lunas Campos at a Texas detention camp differ from the Department of Homeland Security’s account of the incident.
Push for Greater ICE Training Grows on Some Republicans (Politico, January 15, 2026): A handful of GOP lawmakers are showing an openness to Democrats’ demand that immigration officers should get more training in the wake of the shooting of 37-year-old Renee Good in Minneapolis.
Medical Examiner Believes Death of Man in ICE Custody Was Homicide, Recording Says (Washington Post, January 15, 2026): A fellow detainee says he witnessed Geraldo Lunas Campos being choked to death by guards at an ICE detention center in Texas on Jan. 3.
ICE Deletes Rape Protection for Trans Immigrants (American Prospect, January 14, 2026): The agency this month altered more contracts with private prison companies to remove care and protection measures it took advocates years to win.
How Donald Trump Has Transformed ICE (Isaac Chotiner, New Yorker, January 14, 2026): A former D.H.S. oversight official on what, legally, the agency can and can’t do—and the accountability mechanisms that have been “gutted beyond recognition.”
White House to End Funding to Sanctuary Cities and States on Feb. 1 (Politico, January 13, 2026): The Department of Justice has identified 11 states as sanctuary jurisdictions, including California, Illinois, Minnesota and New York. The District of Columbia is also considered a sanctuary jurisdiction.
The Legal War Against Immigrant Aid in Texas (Texas Signal, January 13, 2026): Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has launched a broad campaign of investigations and lawsuits against nonprofit organizations that provide humanitarian aid to migrants, arguing that such efforts enable illegal immigration.
We Found More than 40 Cases of Immigration Agents Using Banned Chokeholds and Other Moves That Can Cut Off Breathing (Nicole Foy and McKenzie Funk, ProPublica, January 13, 2026): We showed former police and immigration officials videos of incidents. They said agents are out of control. One said it’s “the kind of action which should get you fired.”
Four Migrants Die in US Immigration Custody over First 10 Days of 2026 (Reuters, January 12, 2026): At least 30 people died in ICE custody in 2025, the highest level in two decades, agency figures showed.
Family Seeks Answers after ICE Deported Man to Costa Rica in Vegetative State (Guardian, January 11, 2026): The family of a Costa Rican man who was deported from the United States in a vegetative state and died shortly after arriving back in his home country is still urgently seeking answers from the authorities about what happened to him while he was in detention.
Day after Minneapolis Shooting, Noem Ordered New Restrictions on Congressional Oversight (Politico, January 10, 2026): Three lawmakers blocked from entering an ICE facility in Minnesota, new policy required one-week notification, something rejected by a federal judge rejected last month.
Attacks on Immigration in General
US Freezes All Visa Processing for 75 Countries, Including Somalia, Russia, Iran (Fox News, January 14, 2026): Somalia, Afghanistan, Brazil, Nigeria, Thailand among nations affected by indefinite pause starting Jan. 21.
DHS Announces Termination of Protected Status for Somalis after Group Targeted by Trump (ABC News, January 13, 2026): DHS said the conditions in the country “improved.”
Trump Administration to Shutter an Immigration Court, Adding to Judges’ Backlog (NPR, January 13, 2026): San Francisco Immigration Court will be closed by the end of the year. The court’s closure comes as immigration judges spent the last year facing pressure to move through their caseloads faster and streamline deportations.
Attacks on U.S. Citizens
Oglala Sioux Tribe Says Three Tribal Members Arrested in Minneapolis Are in ICE Detention (KTVB7, January 13, 2026): The president of Oglala Sioux Tribe in South Dakota on Tuesday called for the immediate release of tribal members who were detained at a homeless encampment by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents in Minnesota last week.
IMMIGRANTS AND THE ECONOMY
The U.S.-Born Unemployment Rate Rose after Trump Reduced Immigration (Forbes, January 11, 2026): The latest data indicate a substantial drop in foreign-born workers did not translate into better labor market outcomes for U.S.-born workers or encourage more workers to enter the labor force.
BY THE NUMBERS
DHS Claims 622,000 Deportations. Here’s Why That Number Might be Meaningless (Austin Kocher Substack, January 17, 2026): The administration has not provided a shred of evidence for how it is producing this number, whether this number is comparable to previous years, or why this number differs so remarkably from ICE’s reported 344,000 deportations over the same time period.
Trump’s Immigration Erosion Worries His Team (Axios, January 16, 2026): Private GOP polling shows support for his immigration policies falling. The results, reflected in public surveys, bolstered internal concern about the administration’s confrontational enforcement tactics.
Majority of Americans Say ICE Agent’s Shooting of Good Was Unjustified and Inappropriate, ICE Making Cities Less Safe (ABC, January 15, 2026): A Quinnipiac poll found 53% of voters said Good’s shooting was not justified.
US, for 1st Time in 50 Years, Experienced Negative Net Migration in 2025: Report (ABC News, January 13, 2026): The negative number is mostly due to a drop in entries, the report said.
BACKGROUND AND ANALYSIS
MAGA Wants a Moratorium on Legal Migration, Too (Economist, January 15, 2026): The most committed members of the base mean to impose an unpopular litmus test.
Why ICE Can Kill with Impunity (Lila Hassan, Wired, January 15, 2026): Over the past decade, US immigration agents have shot and killed more than two dozen people. Not a single agent appears to have faced criminal charges.
Trump Warned of a Tren de Aragua ‘Invasion.’ US Intel Told a Different Story (Dell Cameron and Ryan Shapiro, Wired, January 14, 2026): Hundreds of records obtained by WIRED show thin intelligence on the Venezuelan gang in the United States, describing fragmented, low-level crime rather than a coordinated terrorist threat.
Unleashing Power in New Ways: Immigration in the First Year of Trump 2.0 (Migration Policy Institute, January 13, 2026): Changes have made the United States more hostile to unauthorized immigrants while also altering how the government treats immigration and immigrants of all legal statuses and the communities in which they live.
You’ve Heard About Who ICE Is Recruiting. The Truth Is Far Worse. I’m the Proof (Laura Jedeed, Slate, January 13, 2026): What happens when you do minimal screening before hiring agents, arming them, and sending them into the streets? We’re all finding out.
ACTION ITEMS
Ways to Support Minnesota’s Immigration Communities as ICE Activity Escalates (Mpls/St Paul, January 12, 2026): Food drives, fundraisers, trainings, restaurant specials, and other resources to support immigrant communities during ICE’s massive Operation Metro Surge.
Know Your Rights Resources for ICE and Border Patrol Encounters (2026 Update) (Austin Kocher, Substack, January 14, 2026): A comprehensive resource library of KYR information for immigration enforcement encounters at home, work, school, healthcare facilities, and public spaces. Updated for 2026.
Contact your lawmakers in Congress (both Republicans and Democrats). Ask them to do three things:
(1) Refuse to approve any additional funding or contracts for ICE/CBP enforcement operations until the lawlessness stops, including pausing appropriations until there is meaningful accountability and oversight. (See here for an “ICE out of our Communities petition from AFSC you can sign.)
(2) Demand full accountability for the death of Renee Nicole Good, including an independent investigation and consequences where violations of law or policy occurred.
(3) Demand accountability for ICE and Customs and Border Protection (CBP) for actions that violate constitutional rights and procedures, ensuring that federal enforcement agencies are held to the same standards of law and justice as everyone else.
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]