OCSI Corner
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PICK THREE (No time for all the reporting? Here are three important stories from the past week that you might have overlooked):
One Year and More than 500,000 Deportations (New York Times, January 2, 2026): New York Times journalists chronicled the first year of President Trump’s anti-immigration campaign in words and photos, from New York to Texas.
Story of the Year: How Did We Allow This to Happen? (The Nation, December 29, 2025): In a remarkable set of images, the graphic artist Steve Brodner details one week in immigration enforcement through drawings and short vignettes.
Which Skilled Immigrants Does America Need? You Decide (Washington Post, December 29, 2025): Close to a half-million skilled foreign workers got job offers from American companies annually in the past five years. But Congress mandates that only 85,000 new skilled worker visas — known as the H-1B visa — can be issued every year.
VENEZUELA AND IMMIGRATION
As you know, the U.S. invaded Venezuela and seized President Nicolás Maduro and his wife on January 2. In a press conference later that day, Trump said that the U.S. would “run” Venezuela. Much will be written about this elsewhere, but one part of a New York Times article (How Oil, Drugs and Immigration Fueled Trump’s Venezuela Campaign, December 27, 2025), written prior the illegal operation is useful to keep in mind. Quoting from the Times: “[Stephen] Miller told officials that if the United States and Venezuela were at war, the Trump administration could again invoke the Alien Enemies Act, an 18th-century law, to expedite deportations of hundreds of thousands of Venezuelans the administration stripped of temporary protected status. He and Mr. Rubio had used it earlier in the year to summarily deport hundreds of Venezuelans to a notorious prison in El Salvador, only to be stopped by court rulings.” Hmmm.
PHOTO OF THE WEEK
Rachel Blumberg, the chief executive of Sinai Residences, a senior living facility in Boca Raton, Fla., said half of the people who work there are immigrants. (Story here)
RESISTING, PROTESTING, AND ORGANIZING FOR CHANGE
One Lawyer’s Standoff with Trump’s Deportation Machine (New York Times, December 31, 2025): Mahsa Khanbabai’s client, Rumeysa Ozturk, had been whisked away by masked agents and held in lockup for weeks. Would a court free her — and would the government let her go?
Rioters? Agitators? Immigration Agents’ Claims Against US Citizens Mostly Fall Apart in Court (Chicago Tribune, December 30, 2025): Allegations against protesters have not withstood the harsh light of the federal court system.
A Vineyard Manager’s Deportation Shattered an Oregon Town. Now His Daughter Is Carrying on His Legacy (Guardian, December 27, 2025): Alondra Sotelo Garcia took over her father’s business when he was deported to Mexico after three decades in the US.
After a Year of Insults, Raids, Arrests, and Exile, a Celebration of the California Immigrant (Steve Lopez, Los Angeles Times, December 27, 2025): There’s an understanding, even in largely conservative regions, that immigrants with papers and without are a crucial part of the muscle and brainpower that help drive the world’s fourth-largest economy.
Palm Beach Rallies Behind a Restaurant Manager Held at ‘Alligator Alcatraz’ (New York Times, December 23, 2025): After nearly two weeks in detention, José Gonzalez, the popular host of an upscale restaurant, returns home. It helps to have billionaire friends.
THE COURTS
Wisconsin Judge Convicted of Obstructing Arrest of Immigrant Resigns as GOP Threatens Impeachment (AP, January 3, 2026): Embattled Wisconsin Judge Hannah Dugan, who was convicted of obstruction last month for helping an immigrant evade federal officers, has sent her resignation letter to the governor.
Judge Voids Decision to End Legal Status of 60,000 Immigrants from Honduras, Nepal and Nicaragua (CBS News, December 31, 2025): The judge found the effort to be unlawful, “preordained and pretextual rather than based on an objective review of the country conditions as required by the TPS statute and the (Administrative Procedures Act).”
Documents Suggest DOJ Sought Abrego Garcia Prosecution after Mistaken Deportation, Judge’s Order Says (NBC News, December 30, 2025): Kilmar Abrego Garcia has pleaded not guilty in federal court in Tennessee to charges of human smuggling.
Federal Judge Blocks Deportations of South Sudanese Migrants (New York Times, December 30, 2025): The decision temporarily preserved deportation protections for more than 200 South Sudanese.
Trump Admin Can Share Immigrants’ Medicaid Data with ICE, Judge Rules (Politico, December 29, 2025): Blue states sued to prevent Medicaid data from being used in deportations.
Case Dropped Against TikTok Streamer Who Was Shot by US Immigration Agents (Guardian, December 29, 2025): Carlitos Ricardo Parias, who livestreams LA breaking news, was accused of ramming car into federal officers’ vehicles.
EMERGING POLICY AND THREATS TO IMMIGRANTS
Detention and Deportation
ICE Shifts in Tactics Leads to Soaring Number of At-Large Arrests, Data Shows (Washington Post, December 28, 2025): The agency has moved away from focusing on arresting migrants at local jails to tracking them down in communities as the Trump administration presses to increase deportations, a Washington Post analysis found.
Another Front in the Trump Immigration Crackdown: Import Warehouses (New York Times, December 27, 2025): Workers at facilities that stock shipped goods say customs officers who inspect merchandise are helping immigration agents arrest migrants.
The Florida Keys Tourist Paradise Is Besieged by Immigration Agents: ‘We’ve Never Seen Anything Like This’ (El Paid, December 22, 2025): The highway connecting the islands to the rest of the United States has become an ‘easy trap’ where authorities set up checkpoints and roadblocks to detain migrants passing through the area.
Targeted Cities
Community Leaders [in California] Hold Press Conference to Bring Attention to Recent ICE Actions (KSBY, January 2, 2026): anta Maria City Councilmember Gloria Soto told the crowd that since last Saturday, Dec. 27, community organizations, such as 805 UndocuFund, have documented nearly 150 ICE detentions in Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo counties.
ICE Plans to Descend on Phoenix (The Bulwark, January 2, 2026): Following L.A., Chicago, and Charlotte, DHS now intends to scale up arrests—and its network of detention facilities—in Maricopa County.
Profiles in Authoritarianism, Racism, and Cruelty
ICE Plans $100 Million Yearlong ‘Wartime Recruitment’ Media Blitz to Attract New Agents (Guardian, December 31, 2025): Campaign will target conservative radio show listeners, gun rights aficionados, military affairs followers and men’s interests enthusiasts – among others in the Maga-verse – to fill ranks to meet Trump deportation goals in 2026.
Attacks on US Citizens, Authorized Non-Citizen Immigrants, and Immigrants in General
DHS Pauses Immigration Applications for an Additional 20 Countries (NPR, January 2, 2026): U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, or USCIS, in a memo released Thursday, said it would pause the review of all pending applications for visas, green cards, citizenship or asylum from immigrants from the additional countries. The memo also outlines plans to re-review applications of immigrants from these countries as far back as 2021.
US Government Audits Cases of Somali US Citizens for Potential Denaturalization (Reuters, December 30, 2025): FBI Director Kash Patel said on Sunday the bureau has “surged” investigative resources and personnel to Minnesota in the latest instance of the Trump administration’s fraud investigations that have targeted the state’s Somali immigrants.
Despair for Would-Be US Citizens as American Dream Blocked by Trump (Guardian, December 30, 2025): Aspirant Americans tell of exclusions from ceremonies by sudden policy introduced on ‘security’ grounds.
The Trump Administration’s Plan to Close a ‘Huge Loophole’ in Legal Immigration (Politico, December 29, 2025): The Department of Homeland Security is asking courts to summarily dismiss asylum claims without a hearing and send migrants to a third country where they can pursue relief, even if they have no connection to that place.
IMMIGRANTS AND THE ECONOMY
Trump Says the Job Market Is Booming for U.S.-Born. The Data Doesn’t Show It (The Detroit News, January 2, 2026): The data shows that U.S.-born workers are doing moderately worse under Trump than they were under President Joe Biden because the labor market has weakened — partly due to a sharp slowdown in immigration.
In Washington Orchards, Immigration Crackdown Sows Fear and Uncertainty (Washington State Standard, December 29, 2025): The Trump administration’s deportation push has caused turmoil within the state’s farm labor workforce as federal legislation meant to improve the situation has stalled.
BY THE NUMBERS
1.86 Million Immigrants Left US in 2025? Why Official Data May Mislead (Business Standard, December 30, 2025): Economists say falling survey participation among immigrants may be distorting official US immigration figures.
BACKGROUND AND ANALYSIS
Why the Supreme Court Is Giving ICE So Much Power (Nancy Gertner, The Atlantic, December 29, 2025): The Constitution inarguably applies to federal immigration agents—but the Supreme Court has taken away the hope of ever holding them to that standard.
What America Might Look Like with Zero Immigration (Lydia DePillis and Campbell Robertson, New York Times, December 28, 2025): The Trump administration’s efforts to reduce the foreign-born population are being felt in hospitals and soccer leagues and on Main Streets across the country, with hints of what’s to come.
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