Since January 2025, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has detained at least 51 Christian leaders and at least 14 leaders of other faiths, Billal Rahman of Newsweek reports.
The outlet analyzed court filings, news reports and public records to arrive at the figure. Many of the leaders were detained at immigration appointments or during traffic stops or other law enforcement encounters, Rahman reports.
At least 30 have since been released, 18 have been deported and 14 are still in detention. One, a green card holder, died in custody.
“Once you are detained by ICE, you cease to be a human being,” said Pentecostal Pastor Steven Tendo, an asylum seeker originally from Uganda. “You become subhuman; you become an object. You become a file that is added onto their numbers.”
Among the other cases Rahman shares are those of Juan Antonio Maya Torres, a Seventh-day Adventist evangelism director and deacon arrested during a traffic stop while driving to work in Maryland, and Adolfo Gutiérrez, a volunteer Christian pastor in Texas who was taking his daughter to school when he was detained. Gutiérrez has since been deported.
Welcome to Tuesday’s edition of The Forum Daily. If you have a story to share from your own community, please send it to media@forumtogether.org.
Economic Effects
- 32,000 Jobs Gone. Most Lost by American Workers. Minnesota’s ICE Surge Tells the Real Story (Mateo Moreno, The Latin Times)
- Venezuelan favorite Arempas had to close half its restaurants. Crushed, its owners point to Trump’s immigration crackdown. (Isabel Meléndez-Rivera, The Salt Lake Tribune)
- Rural Utah still feels the labor squeeze of rising costs and immigration fears (Hugo Rikard-Bell, KUER)
- Aging workforce, immigration crackdown are depleting skilled workers (Tim Henderson, Stateline)
- Trump immigrant purge could cut social security for Americans by $2,000 a year (Alexandra Villarreal, The Guardian)
Children Targeted, Impacted
- ICE Is Detaining Children in Hotels Where Families and Lawyers Can’t Find Them (Shannon Heffernan and Lauren Villagran, The Marshall Project)
- ICE Has Arrested Twice As Many Children This Year (Shannon Heffernan and Anna Flagg, The Marshall Project)
- DHS Offers Migrant Children $3,000 to Voluntarily Depart U.S. (Ximena Bustillo and Celine Castronuovo, Bloomberg Law)
- Family accuses ICE of ‘executing’ immigrant whose sons are now in foster care (Ted Hesson, The Washington Post)
California Enforcement Surge
- Fresno siblings take over care of two younger children after parents detained by ICE (Vanessa Villafuerte, Fox26)
- Major ICE operation underway across California: ‘Go after anybody’ (Anna Giaritelli, Washington Examiner)
- ICE launching ‘Operation Safe California’ crackdown starting in San Diego (Alexander Nguyen and Matthew Bowler, KPBS)
- Sudden surge in ICE arrests empties streets in California’s San Joaquin Valley (by Wendy Fry, CalMatters)
- Man released from ICE detainment speaks out amid reported enforcement increase (Anna Torrea, ABC30)
More on Enforcement and Detention
- Orange County [North Carolina] family seeks answers after son detained by ICE (Jon Dowding, ABC11)
- Army study found shock gloves purchased by ICE cause pain, compliance and fear (Ryan Foley, Associated Press)
Local Police Involvement
- How this Pa. county became the most dangerous place for immigrants in the Eastern U.S. (Will Bunch column, The Philadelphia Inquirer)
- After ICE detained 5 people in central Utah, local police are reconsidering their agreement with the feds (Samantha Moilanen and Jose Davila IV, The Salt Lake Tribune)
- Houston police responded to a man in a mental health crisis. ICE arrested him (Dominic Anthony Walsh, Houston Public Media)
Deportations Limbo
- In Central African Republic, deported immigrants find themselves in limbo (Reshma Kirpalani, NPR)
- Judge orders Arizona man returned from Africa after ‘unlawful’ deportation (Emily Bregel, Arizona Daily Star)
- Lawyers: Arizona deportee freed from Equatorial Guinea jail (Emily Bregel, Arizona Daily Star)
Thanks for reading,
Dan
Boston Welcoming Week
Boston celebrates ‘welcoming’ designation as a place for immigrants to feel at home
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