OIA’s Advocacy Director Demba Babaly Ndiath attended an Iftar the Ohio Statehouse yesterday, hosted by Rep. Munira Abdullahi. He said, "It was a powerful moment of community gathering, reflection, and shared humanity. Hearing the Adhan echo in the people’s house, and praying Maghrib behind Imam Ayman Soliman during this blessed month of Ramadan, brought deep hope to my heart — especially at a time of profound despair and fear within our immigrant communities.”

These six pillars are the core components of how Ohio Immigrant Alliance’s work. This is how we respond to overreaches in federal immigration law enforcement and advocate for a fairer, more dignified immigration system for all.

In an new video, Lynn Tramonte of the Ohio Immigrant Alliance explains how ICE’s tactics for making arrests mimic the behavior of criminals, and the agency has a history of employing violent sexual criminals. The two facts are intrinsically linked.

ICE killed Dr. Linda Davis in Chatham County, Georgia. An immigrant, Oscar Vasquez Lopez, has been charged with the crime, but the simple truth is that immigration agents carried out a reckless law enforcement action that caused Dr. Davis’ death. And it didn’t need to happen. Today, a family, school, and community are mourning the untimely death of someone who “dedicated her career to ensuring that every child felt supported, valued, and capable of success,” according to her school’s principal, Alonna McMullen.

We’re talking about the enforcement of civil laws. Oscar Vasquez Lopez has a deportation order issued by a judge in a civil court. Police chases like the one ICE used to apprehend him are extremely dangerous to the public. That is why local law enforcement have criticized ICE, and are told not to engage in these types of tactics unless public safety calls for it — for example, if a suspect flees a murder scene and remains armed.

OIA’s Executive Director, Lynn Tramonte, testified at a hearing on Federal Civil Immigration Enforcement Proposed Code Changes before the Columbus City Council Rules & Policy Committee today.

Many people around the world are, rightfully, concerned about Haitian-Americans and Springfield. This post from the Ohio Immigrant Alliance addresses unfounded rumors and shares information on how you can get involved in your local community.

Said Sophia Pierrelus, founder of the New American Cultural Center (NACC) and a Columbus-based leader, “Framing the termination of Haiti’s TPS as a matter of ‘national interest’ ignores the real consequences on families, workers, and communities who have contributed to this country for years. Policy decisions must be grounded not only in authority, but in reality. Ending Haiti’s TPS designation disregards the ongoing humanitarian crisis and places thousands of law-abiding families in immediate uncertainty. It is in our national interest to protect Haitian people who have made Ohio their home.” 

“This is the very definition of stacking the deck against your opponent, and this is why the U.S. immigration courts must be removed from the Executive Branch,” said Lynn Tramonte, Executive Director of the Ohio Immigrant Alliance. “Stephen Miller cannot completely eliminate the Board of Immigration Appeals without action by Congress. Instead, his plan is to keep the Board in place to rule against immigrants who win in the lower courts, while denying people who lose their cases the opportunity for a second look. Courts should be independent from political direction. Our immigration courts need to be completely separated from the Executive Branch. That’s fundamental to fairness and due process. Finally making the immigration courts into an independent judiciary is long overdue. Congress must act, today. Anyone who argues against that simply wants to keep an unfair system in place.”

OIA’s Executive Director, Lynn Tramonte, spoke at the Cleveland City Club’s “Happy Dog Takes on ICE” forum, held at this beloved Cleveland hot dog restaurant and bar on February 4. The crowd was standing-room only. She was joined by immigration lawyer Pat Espinosa and Chris Schmitt, Chief Executive Officer of the Cleveland Metropolitan Bar Association, who moderated the discussion.

As Ohio communities face the uncertainty of the future of Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for Haitians, and the threat of an immigration abduction operation, members of the Children Thrive Action Network (CTAN) stand in solidarity with Haitian families who call Ohio home, and demand federal immigration agents get out of their communities. 

“Ohio Is Home for All” reads a new, robin's egg blue digital billboard in Akron, featuring faces of people of all races, ages, and ethnicities. According to the Ohio Immigrant Alliance and Elizabeth Zaleski, the billboard’s sponsor, all people who choose to make Ohio their home, raise their families and build good lives here, are welcome in the Buckeye State. 

Ohio House Members are introducing a package of bills to ensure accountability of law enforcement, ICE, and Border Patrol in Ohio.

Photo Credit: Jonathan Groner

Lynn Tramonte, Executive Director of the Ohio Immigrant Alliance, said: “Unmask ICE and the Border Patrol. It is unacceptable to have masked ‘law enforcement’ officers roaming our streets, carrying guns, to enforce civil immigration laws. They have brought chaos and death to local communities. Body cameras are a small concession, but this doesn’t mean a thing unless the government agrees to quickly release unedited footage. Given this administration’s track record on transparency, we don’t have any reason to believe they will. They also need to remove the masks, and require agents to wear standard uniforms and show ID. Professionalism and integrity in law enforcement requires this. Right now, ICE and the Border Patrol are using criminal tactics to harass and arrest our community members. They are also emboldening and empowering criminals, who are copying their actions to harm people.”

Following is a quote from Ohio Immigrant Alliance's Executive Director, Lynn Tramonte, about today's ruling on Haitian TPS. 

"This 11th hour reprieve is, of course, welcome. But people can't live their lives like this, pegging their families' futures to a court case. Haitian-Ohioans have literally saved their own lives and their kids' lives, multiple times. They did the hard part. The least this country can do is honor their strength and contributions by giving them a permanent home. That is what many in Ohio are advocating for, as was made clear in Springfield today."

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.

On January 29, OIA’s Demba Ndiath spoke at a press conference at the Columbus Liberation Center about our endorsement of the January 30 National Shutdown. Here are his prepared remarks.

Ohioans Against Extremism published this primer on anti-immigrant bills pending in the Ohio legislature during the final week of January 2026. Follow their Substack and bookmark their multi-issue legislative tracker.

An updated list of 30 current and former ICE and Border Patrol agents who have been charged with and/or convicted of crimes shows that Palacio’s behavior is part of the organizational culture there. The men included on this list — and they are all men — have been charged with offenses like gunpoint sexual assault; child sex trafficking; aggravated assault; robbery; rape; torture; kidnapping; sexual abuse of a minor; and possession and production of child sexual abuse materials.

A new list of criminal agents at Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and the Border Patrol shows that their violence, in public, is part of an organizational culture that rewards misogyny. From Cincinnati’s Samuel Saxon and Andrew Golobic, to Arizona’s John Daly III (the East Valley Serial Rapist), the men on this list of 29 criminal agents preyed on women and children over years — and even decades — of employment at federal agencies.

Additional updates from OIA are included.

Under the Trump administration, the Department of Homeland Security likes to claim that every immigrant is a criminal. But a new list shows the real criminals work for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and the Border Patrol. As the government pushes to hire new agents rapidly, background checks and vetting processes are being tossed aside. How many more predators are in the process of joining these federal agencies? No one knows.