Right now, Ohioans are being arrested, incarcerated, and treated like they are disposable, because they are immigrants. That is wrong. We demand an end to “civil” immigration jail, and action from Congress to reign in Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and build an immigration system that recognizes that migration is part of being human.

Between May 23 and May 30, communities across Ohio are coming together for a statewide week of interfaith vigils in solidarity with people held in civil immigration detention (a.k.a. ICE jail). Faith leaders, organizers, and community members will raise their voices, hold space for reflection, and stand in collective action. The coordinated week of action calls for:

• An end to ICE detention

• Transparency in detention facility funding

• An end to 287(g) agreements

Ohio Immigrant Alliance just released, “Ending Immigration Jail in Ohio: How and Why,” a report that breaks down the concept of immigration jail into simple terms; provides examples of successful community organizing to end ICE jail contracts in Ohio; and offers recommendations for a more logical and humane policy.

From May 23-30, organizers are planning a week of action to end ICE jail, with interfaith vigils in communities around the state.

As ICE and the Border Patrol threaten to surge in Ohio, people around the state and country are wondering what they can do.

• Here is a list of the key organizations working on the ground in Springfield and Lima, another area of Ohio that welcomed Haitians, and is now worried about their ability to remain in their new home.

• Sign this petition calling for an extension of Temporary Protected Status for Haiti, started by a Springfield couple.

• Register to attend the Emergency Meeting: Unite for Springfield - ICE Out of Our Communities (online) on Tuesday, February 3, at 8:30pm ET. Ohio Immigrant Alliance is one the speakers.

• Program the Ohio Immigrant Hotline (email and phone) into your phone, and share it with your friends and community. Reach out if you have a question, need a speaker, want to report abuses, need support for a loved one in detention, and more.

• Order your “Ohio Is Home” and “Migration Is Human” merch from our online store. Designs by Shema Asifiwe, a high school student in Cincinnati.

• Join the Ohio Immigrant Alliance e-mail list for updates and action alerts and donate to OIA. Help keep our hotline, commissary support, jail abuse monitoring/advocacy, and immigrant accompaniment programs going.

I wish you could have been with us at the Ohio Immigrant Alliance Family Reunion. It was a chance for us to come together after a difficult year, and there were some true heroes in that room.

• People who fled apartheid in Mauritania and Guatemala, surviving kidnappers, animals, and dangerous terrain to exercise their legal right to request asylum.

• People who exposed abuses from inside immigration jail, despite the risks.

• A father who returned legally to the United States after being deported. A mother whose husband is in immigration jail, today. 

We’re asking everyone we know to take two simple actions, from home, every day over a three day period. Send a message to the leadership of the Ohio National Guard that we DO NOT OR NEED want a military presence on the streets of Ohio. Our communities can solve our own problems by working together, not following politicians who want us to turn on each other.