Faith leaders, advocates, and community members will gather for a statewide Week of Action featuring interfaith vigils in solidarity with people held in civil immigration detention (ICE jail) between May 23 and May 30.

These peaceful events will include prayer, reflection, and brief speaking programs. 

Today we held a press conference about the lawsuit against Butler County, Sheriff Jones, and Sgt. Corneal Rowe on behalf of Luis Tenelanda, a compassionate and brave man who was assaulted while detained in the Butler County Jail for ICE.

If you missed it, you can watch the recording and read a summary and transcript here, as well as download the complaint, Luis' statement, and other materials.

We have two big announcements at the Ohio Immigrant Alliance! First, we are suing the Butler County Jail, for a second time.

Second, we just released “Ohio Immigration and Customs Enforcement Activity Report (January 2025 - March 2026),” the only statewide analysis of immigration detention in Ohio during the first fifteen months of the second Trump administration.

We found that nearly 8,000 people were detained for ICE in Ohio between January 2025 and March 2026. Fewer than 5 percent had been convicted of a violent offense.

A second lawsuit has been filed on behalf of immigrants detained for ICE at the Butler County Jail. Here is everything you need to cover this case.

The Ohio Immigrant Alliance released the first and only statewide analysis of immigration detention in Ohio during the first fifteen months of the second Trump administration. 

According to “Ohio Immigration and Customs Enforcement Activity Report (January 2025 - March 2026),” ICE detention capacity in Ohio soared more than 1,000 percent during the first months of President Trump's second term. The number of ICE contracted jails in Ohio grew from two at the end of 2024 to six by the end of 2025. The statewide average daily detained population rose from 117 in 2024 to roughly 656 in 2025.

On April 25, community leaders, advocates, and faith-based organizers gathered at the Spring Assembly in Columbus, Ohio, for a panel discussion titled “Immigration Justice Work of Ohio: Regional Response to Immigration Enforcement.” Organized by Unitarian Universalist Justice Ohio, the session brought together individuals actively engaged in supporting immigrant communities across the state, highlighting both the challenges posed by immigration enforcement and the innovative, community-based responses emerging in Ohio.

The panel featured Lynn Buffington, Demba Ndiath, Jan Phillips, and Samantha Searls —each representing a different but complementary approach to immigration justice.

People who were deported are often discarded in the immigration policy debate. OIA’s #ReuniteUS advocacy program exists to change that.

In this post, Mustapha Komeh and Selly and Amadou Dia show was Ohio’s immigrant (and second-generation) leaders can do when they use their voices.

The goals of #ReuniteUS might not be possible soon. But we insist on changing U.S. immigration laws and policies to actually address human needs, social ties, family relationships, community benefits, and humanitarian protection, however long it takes.

In two videos, OIA’s Lynn Tramonte talks about people helping people inside immigration jail, and how those of us on the outside can get involved; Mustapha Komeh tells us what “life” is like inside immigration jail.

People in those jail cells deserve to eat real food, buy warm clothing, and be able to call their loved ones and lawyers when they need to. But at the end of it all, we see that immigration jail is about profit and money motivations, not what is best for communities or society. And that is why the entire system needs to be dismantled.

From Welcome To Deportation is the forthcoming book from Demba Ndiath, Ohio Immigrant Alliance’s Advocacy Director, about West African migration along the “bottom route” to the United States.

It does more than diagnose problems and document pain. It advances solutions; improvements to today’s immigration system like guaranteed legal representation for people with cases in civil immigration court; a truly independent immigration judiciary, rather than one fully controlled by the Executive Branch; and an end to immigration jail.

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.

The Ohio Immigrant Alliance filed a comment about the Interim Final Rule, Appellate Procedures for the Board of Immigration Appeals, Docket No. EOIR-26-AB37, Dir. Order No. 03-2026, RIN 1125-AB37 with the Executive Office of Immigration Review (EOIR) today.

A new ACLU of Ohio report, “ICE in Ohio,” outlines the different types of formal agreements that ICE enters into with state and local governments, under section 287(g) of the Immigration and Nationality Act.

Also, wrote the ACLU of Ohio, “On any given day, ICE has access to 1,272 jail beds across Ohio. If every bed available to ICE was full every day of the year, the total cost to the federal taxpayer would be $54,343,113.”

The Cincinnati Enquirer profiles heroes who are helping their communities stay safe during a time of heightened immigration enforcement in “Beyond the protests, ICE resisters work to protect local immigrants." The Ohio Immigrant Alliance is included.

Anticipating major changes in immigration policy during the second Trump administration, Ohio Immigrant Alliance started the Ohio Immigrant Hotline in January 2025. We knew this resource was needed due to our experiences during the first Trump presidency, when helping each other deal with stressful immigration situations was vital. The Hotline is part of our “Build The Nest” strategy and the OhioIsHome.org resource website. 

On March 25, OIA released a report about the Hotline’s first year of existence, using Hotline operations data, called “Connecting Ohio: The Ohio Immigrant Hotline’s First Year in Action.”

The Columbus Dispatch exposed the Franklin County Sheriff’s Office’s booking policy and how jail officials work with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). Despite the City of Columbus declaring itself welcoming to immigrants, the County Sheriff is going above and beyond what is required in federal law, and feeding people to ICE who may be U.S. citizens or otherwise not deportable.

With the immigration courts not functioning fairly or well, immigrants and lawyers are taking cases to federal court and the circuit courts of appeals in hopes of finally obtaining justice. Here's what you need to know about the latest court challenges and policy shifts affecting immigrants across the state.

Between 2017 and 2022, immigrants detained by ICE in Ohio jails bravely spoke out about inhumane and abusive treatment, using the Ohio Immigrant Alliance (OIA) and other groups as their conduits. Through this effort, ICE jail capacity in Ohio fell 90% — from a high of 596 “beds” per day at five jails, to a low of 59 “beds” at two facilities. Deportations across the entire Detroit Field Office area of responsibility fell by 58% — saving thousands of people from deportation.

This case study shows how immigrants and allies ended ICE contracts with the Morrow and Butler County Jails in Ohio during the first Trump administration.

The Ohio Immigrant Alliance is launching the Brave Of Us Tattoo Design Contest, calling on all tattoo artists and apprentices to express what it looks like to be in solidarity with immigrants at this moment in history. The contest’s themes include Family & Love; Freedom & Safety; Bravery & Strength; Unity Across Differences; and Reclaiming Identity & Culture.