Local
This article first appeared on Substack
I live in Columbus, Ohio, one of several cities that has been terrorized by ICE raids in recent months. It’s been tough to get into the Christmas spirit while our neighbors live in fear of masked goons jumping them in the Kroger parking lot.
Ohio Immigrant Alliance (OIA) just released a report, based on publicly-available data, showing that more than 214 people are currently behind bars due to the ICE raids in Columbus — and 80 percent are Latino.
A Linden-area church offering Spanish-language mass at 7:30 pm on Christmas Eve and 11 am on Christmas Day has asked for a protective presence outside their building. We are recruiting people willing to show up in support of our neighbors.
If you are or may be able to show up and protect our neighbors celebrating Christmas in this environment of fear, please respond to this email and express that you are able to join Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, or both.
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In Central Ohio, the federal government has unleashed untrained individuals from outside the community, who think they are unaccountable. But greater Columbus has responded in one voice. From the grassroots, which quickly organized itself in sophisticated ways, to civic leaders and faith-based institutions, Columbus is sending a unified message: Immigrants are welcome, ICE is not. Read on for quotes from leaders; more examples of ICE brutality; and resources keeping the community safe.
Columbus Responds With One Voice
From disrupting ICE agents’ sleep, to documenting abuses and holding them to the Constitution, Central Ohio activists, lawyers, and organizers are mobilized around the clock.
Tuesday December 23, 2025, 2:00PM
2210 Morse Road, Global Mall
A community event, highlighting how ICE enforcement affects immigrant businesses, workers, and the local economy is happening Tuesday.
This is a documented (but incomplete) map of their abductions and the level of escalation throughout the week. Data is from ICEOUT.
The author, Dissent in Bloom, writes at Substack Please consider supporting her work. https://substack.com/@dissentinbloom
Columbus is arguing about “public safety” again — but this time, the debate isn’t happening in a City Council chamber or on the courthouse steps. It’s happening in the gap between two artifacts floating around the city like opposing flyers for the same event.
One is a statement on Fraternal Order of Police (Capital City Lodge #9) letterhead, signed by lodge president Brian Steel, insisting that while local law enforcement doesn’t have authority to enforce federal civil immigration laws, they still have an “absolute duty” to respond when federal partners ask for assistance — and that “public safety depends on cooperation.”
The other is a Facebook post from “West Columbus ICE Watch” (also calling itself Westgate ICE Watch), introducing itself as a neighborhood network formed because residents believe ICE activity is spreading, fear is rising, and people need a way to report sightings anonymously and share mutual-aid resources. The post says it plainly: they’re organizing because they don’t want “a repeat of history.”