Get to know five men who are part of the Mauritanian widows and orphans movement. A day before International Human Rights Day these brave young men — who sought asylum in the US — joined with other leaders to talk about Black civil rights in Mauritania today, and why they continue to demand justice and equality, and seek safety in the United States.

This is an agency that demonizes immigrants who have committed no crimes, yet it fails to police its own ranks. The hypocrisy is breathtaking, and the threat to public safety is clear. We want answers from the Detroit ICE Field Office and Cincinnati Local Office. Do ICE agents have to inform their employer when they come under scrutiny by other law enforcement agencies? Did Saxon inform ICE that he had come under police scrutiny 22 times? If yes, why did they continue to employ him? After allowing a serial sexual predator, Andrew Golobic, to abuse women for years, ICE should have implemented tighter controls. Instead, they are showing that they really do not care about predators. Our community is tired of hearing this agency spread lies about immigrants, and failing to hold its own officers accountable. We demand true public safety, and that includes safety from violent ICE officers like Samuel Saxon.

Ahead of International Human Rights Day on December 10, human rights defenders with the Mauritanian Network for Human Rights in US, Progressive Forces of Change (Columbus Chapter), and Mauritanian Orphans’ Alliance documented the Mauritanian government’s ongoing persecution of Black Mauritanians in a webinar for members of the media and lawyers.

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. 

The Butler County Commissioners’ meeting on November 18 was packed with residents opposed to the “dirty money contract” Sheriff Jones has with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). So many people attended, some had to sit on the floor. Over a dozen people spoke against the concept of detaining immigrants for civil immigration purposes, saying things like: “Your ICE facility has created a disgusting stench in our town, and we want it gone,“ and “You are empowering a bounty hunter.” 

Another resident said, “When the sheriff is focused on immigrant capture, his attention is away from other crimes.” That’s true. But also, the ICE contract is a way for Sheriff Jones and his deputies to commit their own crimes against a captive audience of people, who simply want to work and take care of their families. 

This annotated version of Souleye Ball’s poem provides cultural references and context for people who aren’t familiar with Mauritanian history, culture, geography, and U.S. immigration policy. It offers a deeper level of understanding of the poem, and we invite you to listen to his delivery as well.

Margarita Asicona Avilés, an Ixil woman from Homestead, Florida, has been held for days in a local jail, separated from her children, without an interpreter to explain what is happening, or help her communicate with attorneys and the court. She is facing criminal charges, and possibly deportation and the loss of custody of her children. The confusion and terror Ms. Asicona Avilés must feel, without being able to fully express herself, is unimaginable.

There’s a universal truth among Ohioans of all political persuasions — we love Mexican restaurants. Let’s unpack this. Let’s talk about the urban-rural divide. On immigration, are we really as divided as we are told?

Pancho’s Tacos in Mount Vernon, population 17,000, is similarly beloved, but temporarily closed. They had an immigration raid last week, but the community is rallying behind the restaurant. ABC 6 interviewed community members who attended a demonstration in support of staff.

Despite stereotypes, Ohioans in small and medium-sized towns are not a monolith. Many love the fact that people from all over the world are choosing to make Ohio their home, bringing their families and new foods, traditions, music, and culture to places that were once sleepy, monolithic, and at risk of losing their industries and economies. 

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.

Earlier this week, federal agents with the Border Patrol, FBI, and ATF ransacked an entire apartment building on the south side of Chicago, indiscriminately arresting people, zip-tying them, and holding them for hours. Even U.S. citizens and children were held, some naked. The agents had no warrants. They used brute force, and gave no answers. They left only chaos and destruction. 

Is this what Congressman Max Miller wants to happen in Cleveland, by calling for the militarization of our streets? Which neighborhoods? Why?

“This American Life” interviewed over a dozen U.S. Immigration Judges about how the Trump administration turned their job into a rubber-stamp for mass deportation, and fired those who refused to give up their limited independence — in just a few months.

The Ohio Immigrant Alliance is an organization of immigrants and allies working together to build a stronger state, because Ohio is home. We need leaders that understand debate is the cornerstone of a healthy democracy, and real solutions come from the people, not politicians. The truth is, we know what we need to create healthy communities and a rational immigration policy. Politicians need to listen to us, not the other way around.  

But under the Trump administration, all we get are acts of intimidation and attacks on free speech and lawful dissent. They want us to be scared of each other, scared to meet people who didn’t grow up exactly like us, and scared to go outside our homes. We know better than that. At the Ohio Immigrant Alliance, we love meeting people who come from different backgrounds and finding out what we have in common. Learning from each other makes us stronger, too.

Today, Ayman Soliman was released from immigration jail and his legal asylum status was reinstated. Some of his best friends, supporters, and attorneys met him outside the Butler County Jail.

At 5pm, Mr. Soliman, his attorneys, and his community will gather at the Clifton Mosque in Cincinnati to celebrate this tremendous victory.

Ayman Soliman is not a murderer or a terrorist. The U.S. government’s case against him is riddled with mistakes. And deporting him to Egypt — a place where he was already tortured for helping to broadcast the pro-democracy movement, and where people are still being murdered and tortured today — is a death sentence.

Yet the Department of Homeland Security continues to seek the deportation of the former Cincinnati Children’s Hospital chaplain, rather than admitting its mistakes. 

Late Friday, news broke that Ohio Guard members may be deployed inside the state, to help the federal government deport Ohioans born in other countries. We didn’t hear this from the President. We didn’t hear this from Governor DeWine, who is the only person authorized to deploy the Ohio Guard. 

If this is true, we deserve to hear it from the Governor directly. And our voices deserve to be heard before a decision is made. We do not want, and do not need, militarized communities and streets.

We, the undersigned concerned community members, write to you with urgent concern for Chaplain Ayman Soliman, who is currently in detention and facing deportation – a move that would almost certainly mean his death. Our community, and our friend, desperately need your help.

Ayman was placed into solitary confinement “as a result of targeted harassment due to [his] attempt to practice his religion,” and denied access to counsel. These serious, constitutional violations are part of a daily pattern and practice at this jail.

Today attorney Robert A. Ratliff, with Brennan, Manna & Diamond, LLC, in collaboration with the attorneys Kathryn Brady and Franchel Daniel at the Muslim Legal Fund of America, filed an emergency petition for writ of habeas corpus pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 2241 and a request for temporary restraining order (Case No. 25 cv. 556) in federal court. 

Listen to Mustapha Komeh talk about his time at the Butler County Jail in these testimonies, recorded in August 2025