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midterms
ICE Expected to Flood Ohio Next Week and Round Up Haitians Stripped of Legal Status By Trump
Holocaust historian Timothy Snyder said it sounds like ICE is "gearing up for a pogrom in Springfield, Ohio."
Jan 30, 2026
The Trump administration is expected to flood Ohio with immigration agents next week to target thousands of Haitian migrants after they are stripped of their legal status.
One of the main targets will be the town of Springfield, where President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance infamously concocted the tale that Haitian immigrants were eating the pets of white residents to stoke xenophobia during the 2024 election, which unleashed an onslaught of racist threats and intimidation upon the community.
Earlier this week, the Springfield News-Sun received a message sent to staff at the Springfield City School District saying that school officials were expecting a federal immigration enforcement operation to begin in the town sometime after February 3, when Haitian residents' temporary protected status (TPS) expires, and last at least 30 days.
Given that history and the escalating brutality with which US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has carried out its recent surges in Minnesota and Maine, Holocaust historian Timothy Snyder said he was "getting the impression that ICE is gearing up for a pogrom in Springfield, Ohio."
"Any day now, a swarm of armed state police dressed for war could descend" on the town, wrote columnist Marilou Johanek in the Ohio Capital Journal. "The small town of Springfield in Clark County is awaiting an invasion of unaccountable thugs who conceal their faces and identities, drive in unmarked vehicles with blackened windows, stomp on the Bill of Rights, and viciously brutalize human beings based on race and accent."
The 15,000 Haitians living in Springfield are among around 30,000 in Ohio and more than 500,000 across the US who are expected to lose TPS on Tuesday after it was abruptly revoked by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) last year. The expiration could be halted by US District Court Judge Ana C. Reyes, who is expected to issue a decision on February 2.
If not, "they could potentially be arrested, detained, or put in removal proceedings unless they have already applied for some other form of relief they have in addition to TPS, or that they are applying for in addition to TPS,” explained Emily Brown, Ohio State University Moritz College of Law’s Immigration Clinic Director to the Journal.
While the Trump administration has often emphasized its supposed targeting of those in the US unlawfully, editor-in-chief David DeWitt at the Journal emphasizes that "Haitians are currently in the United States legally," under TPS, which grants temporary legal status to those in danger from armed conflict, environmental disasters, or other extraordinary conditions in their home countries.
The Haitians living in the US are at risk of being deported back to what has been described as "the most dangerous country in the world," in the midst of a gang war that killed over 8,100 people between January and November 2025, according to the United Nations.
"They are not here illegally," DeWitt wrote on social media. "Trump is revoking their legal status on February 3, and then, according to reports, immediately sending ICE in to Springfield and Columbus, Ohio, to target them."
As part of a crusade to end migration from impoverished "Third World" countries, Trump has ramped up his use of racist invective against Haiti in recent months, proudly referring to it as a "shithole country" at a rally in December after denying having described it that way back in 2018.
Viles Dorsainvil, executive director of the Haitian Support Center in Springfield, told the Journal that rumors of the coming surge have struck terror into the hearts of many in the community.
"The folks are fearful,” Dorsainvil, who came to the United States from Haiti in 2020, said. “They came here just to work and send their kids to school and be here peacefully. All of a sudden, they find themselves in another scenario where they’re not accepted… They are panicked, and the worst thing is that they can’t even plan their lives for three months down the road.”
One TPS holder, 41-year-old Pushon Jacques, told the News-Sun that the potential loss of his status "has a big impact." He said: “I won’t be able to work, I will not be able to provide for my family. It’s a bad situation to be in.”
While the administration has emphasized "self-deportation" as a way to avoid being on the business end of an ICE jackboot, Jacques said: “The situation in Haiti—especially the political situation—has made Haiti unlivable... There is no place in Haiti that is safe right now."
Local reports say residents are already preparing for their town to come under siege, and despite the White House's portrayal of Haitians as loathed outsiders, many others in the community have come out to support them.
Churches are running immersive role-playing sessions to train community members on what to do if ICE agents attempt to storm their doors, and residents have constructed phone chains to alert vulnerable community members when agents are spotted.
The Springfield City Council, meanwhile, has passed a resolution urging federal agents to comply with city policies that prohibit police from wearing masks and require them to carry identification, though the city has no authority to enforce them.
“Springfield is a good place,” Jacques said. “I like the environment and the people, because Springfield has a lot of good people... I have never felt any racism, and I feel appreciated.”
Despite attacks from the leaders of his party, Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine, a Republican, has defended his state's Haitian community, telling the statehouse bureau, "I don't think it’s in our interest in this country for all the Haitians who are working, who are sometimes working two jobs, supporting their family, supporting the economy, I think it’s a mistake to tell these individuals you can no longer work and have to leave the country."
According to a spokesperson for DeWine, there has been no formal communication between federal authorities and the governor about ICE's plans for the state. However, DeWine said, "If ICE does in fact come in, comes in with a big operation, obviously we have to work this thing through and make sure people don't get hurt."
The ACLU of Ohio said it will be monitoring the situation in Springfield closely for unconstitutional actions.
"This despicable surge in lawless ICE officers descending upon Springfield will ignite swells of fear within the Haitian community, terrorize our Black and Brown neighbors, and cause considerable damage to citizens and non-citizens alike," said ACLU Ohio executive director J. Bennett Guess.
"Following the government’s senseless, brutal killings of Alex Pretti and Renee Nicole Good in Minneapolis, it is clear that ICE poses a grave threat to all who call Ohio home," he continued. "The ACLU of Ohio urges state and local elected officials to do everything in their power to protect the 30,000 Haitians living in Central Ohio. We call on the US Congress to reject a DHS budget that allows these lawless agencies to continue putting our communities in danger.”
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Civil Rights Coalition Files Motions to Block Trump Administration’s Immigration Courthouse Arrest and Detention Policies Nationwide
Jan 30, 2026
In a sweeping legal challenge to the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement regime, a coalition of civil rights organizations filed two motions for summary judgment seeking to vacate and block some of the administration’s most extreme policies on a nationwide scale.
The motions, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, seek to vacate (1) ICE’s waiver of the 12-hour limit on detention in temporary holding cells, and (2) ICE and the Executive Office for Immigration Review’s (EOIR) courthouse arrest policies, which target immigrants at immigration courts. If granted, the rulings would apply nationwide, ending both the policy permitting extended detention in ill-equipped short-term facilities and the policies permitting mass arrests of immigrants while they attend court.
The motions arise from the ongoing federal class action lawsuit Pablo Sequen v. Albarran, challenging the Trump administration’s policy of courthouse arrests and the prolonged detention of immigrants in unsafe and unlawful conditions at short-term holding facilities.
The motion to vacate the courthouse arrest policies challenges Trump administration policies that have forced immigrants to choose between attending mandatory hearings and risking arrest or skipping court and facing automatic deportation. The policies have led to a sharp increase in absenteeism, undermining the integrity of the immigration court system. The motion argues that the policies violate the Administrative Procedure Act, as they reverse a longstanding practice without a reasoned explanation and fail to consider the severe chilling effect on access to justice.
On December 24, 2025, Judge Casey Pitts issued a ruling staying for the pendency of the lawsuit the ICE and EOIR courthouse arrest policies in ICE’s San Francisco Area of Responsibility, which includes Northern and Central California, based on a finding that the policies likely violate the Administrative Procedure Act.
The motion to vacate ICE’s “Nationwide Hold Room Waiver” challenges a policy ICE issued in June 2025 which extended the limit on detention in temporary holding facilities from 12 hours to 72 hours. The motion argues that ICE failed to consider alternatives and disregarded the humanitarian and constitutional consequences of detaining people overnight or for days in barebones cells designed for short-term use.
Both motions seek full vacatur of the policies nationwide. If successful, they would restore the 12-hour limit for ICE holding facilities across the country, restrain ICE from making civil arrests at immigration courthouses nationwide, and reinforce the principle that federal agencies must provide reasoned justifications for abrupt policy changes, especially when those changes endanger human rights and access to due process.
The plaintiffs are represented by the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights of the San Francisco Bay Area (LCCRSF), the Central American Resource Center of Northern California (CARECEN SF), the American Civil Liberties Union Foundation of Northern California (ACLU NorCal), and Coblentz Patch Duffy & Bass LLP.
View the motions here and here.
Attorney Quotes:
"The Trump administration’s arbitrary policies are an assault on due process. Transforming immigration courthouses into sites of arrest eviscerates the right to access justice while prolonging detention in barren cells violates the Fifth Amendment's core promise against punishment without trial. Our fight is to restore the foundational principle that the government cannot detain people in inhumane conditions or terrorize them out of court," said Nisha Kashyap, Program Director at the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights of the San Francisco Bay Area.
“The administration’s reckless courthouse arrest policy is an affront to justice, designed to sabotage the immigration court system and force people to abandon their lawful claims,” said Jordan Wells, Program Director at the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights of the San Francisco Bay Area. “This is a critical step in ensuring that immigrants can safely pursue their immigration cases without fear of arrest.”
“From arrest to detention, the Trump administration’s policies are a symptom of a lawless approach to governance. One policy creates fear of the system, and the other inflicts suffering within it, creating a cycle of trauma.We are fighting to break this cycle by ending both the courthouse arrests and the prolonged, brutal detentions they feed,” said Neil Sawhney, Director of Appellate Advocacy at ACLU of Northern California.
“These policies are a direct attack on the safety and dignity of our families. They force parents to choose between appearing in court to fight for their right to stay with their children, or missing that hearing to avoid being snatched away by masked agents. We hear the trauma in our community's voices every day. This legal action is our collective cry for justice. We ask the court to uphold the rule of law and restore human dignity,” said Laura Sanchez, Legal Director at the Central American Resource Center of Northern California.
“The Administrative Procedure Act is a cornerstone of accountable government, requiring agencies to act with reason and transparency. The Trump administration has trampled on these requirements.The government failed to consider alternatives and disregarded profound constitutional and human costs. We hope the court will see these failures and vacate both policies.” said Mark Hejinian, Partner at Coblentz Patch Duffy & Bass LLP.
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‘Most Dangerous Attack on Voting Rights Ever’? New GOP Election Bill Sparks Dire Warnings
"Make no mistake, this egregious power grab is about suppressing turnout, silencing voters, and ensuring minority rule."
Jan 30, 2026
The Republican chairman of the House committee that oversees federal elections introduced legislation on Thursday that one analyst characterized as possibly "the most dangerous attack on voting rights ever" put forth in the US Congress.
Led by Rep. Bryan Steil (R-Wis.), chair of the House Administration Committee, the Make Elections Great Again (MEGA) Act would ban ranked-choice voting and universal mail-in ballots in federal elections, prohibit states from accepting mailed ballots that arrive after Election Day, enable large-scale voter purges, and institute photo ID requirements.
The bill was endorsed by right-wing organizations including the Election Integrity Network, an organization that—in the words of the New York Times—"has done more than any other group to take [President Donald Trump's] falsehoods about corruption in the democratic system and turn them into action." The Election Integrity Network has received funding from Citizens for Renewing America, a group founded by White House budget director and Project 2025 architect Russell Vought.
Tiffany Muller, president of the End Citizens United Action Fund, said in a statement Thursday that the MEGA Act "is a dangerous anti-voter bill and the latest escalation of the same conspiracy-driven agenda that has nothing to do with protecting our elections and everything to do with clinging to power."
"There is not a shred of evidence of widespread voter fraud in the United States. Courts, audits, and election officials from both parties have repeatedly proved that," said Muller. "Yet House Republicans, in their never-ending quest to stay in power, have once again chosen lies over facts to justify making it harder for eligible Americans to vote."
“When you steal from the working class, impose policies that strictly benefit billionaire donors, and know voters are about to hold you accountable in the midterms, you try to change the rules of the game," Muller added. "That’s the Republican playbook, and this bill is the proof. Make no mistake, this egregious power grab is about suppressing turnout, silencing voters, and ensuring minority rule."
While the bill is unlikely to get through the Senate due to Democratic opposition, it represents an ominous look at the GOP's vision for election administration ahead of the pivotal November midterms.
Yunior Rivas of Democracy Docket noted Thursday that the legislation would go further than the SAVE Act, a bill House Republicans passed last year that one historian characterized as “the most extraordinary attack on voting rights in American history.” One advocate described the SAVE Act, which some Republicans are looking to revive, as a "modern-day poll tax."
"Taken together, the MEGA Act is a catastrophic proposal for democracy in the United States," Rivas wrote. "Voting would move from a fundamental right to a permission-based system—one where voters must repeatedly prove their eligibility, navigate bureaucratic obstacles, and hope they are not wrongly flagged by a single database."
In a statement, Sen. Alex Padilla (D-Calif.) warned that the MEGA Act shows Republicans are "desperately trying to rig the rules for future elections because they know they cannot win on their unpopular agenda, which is raising costs for working families."
Rep. Joe Morelle (D-NY), the ranking member of the House Administration Committee, said the MEGA Act is further evidence that "Trump and House Republicans are terrified of the American people."
"They are desperate to rig the system so they can choose their voters," said Morelle. "This bill is their latest attempt to block millions of Americans from exercising their right to vote. I will fight this bill at every turn."
The MEGA Act was introduced amid growing fears that Trump is laying the groundwork to subvert the 2026 midterms. On Thursday, a group of Senate Democrats led by Padilla raised alarm over Justice Department efforts to seize sensitive data and purge voter rolls in states across the country.
"While most states are resisting this illegal voter roll grab, we are gravely concerned by the amount of sensitive data the department has already amassed on millions of American voters," the senators wrote. "The department has failed to provide Congress, or the public, any information on how it is maintaining this vast amount of data, the guardrails in place to protect state voter information, how the data is to be used, or who in the federal government has access to this sensitive data."
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'MAHA-Washing': Trump EPA Set to Reapprove Dicamba Despite Pesticide's Harms
“The fact that we’re here again after two failed attempts to fix this broken pesticide shows that Lee Zeldin and his army of industry lobbyists are utterly incapable of protecting the public,” said one expert.
Jan 30, 2026
The US Environmental Protection Agency plans to reapprove dicamba despite the pesticide's proven health and environmental risks, the Washington Post reported Friday—a move that would seemingly fly in the face of the Trump administration's pledge to "Make American Healthy Again."
According to a draft statement obtained by the Post, the EPA called the reapproval “the most protective dicamba registration in agency history," while noting “several measures” to head off “ecological risks.”
Two EPA officials told the Post's Amudalat Ajasa on condition of anonymity that the agency would move to reapprove dicamba next week.
It would be the third time the EPA approved the pesticide. On both prior occasions, federal courts blocked the approvals, citing underestimation of the risk of chemical drift that could harm neighboring farms.
“The fact that we’re here again after two failed attempts to fix this broken pesticide shows that Lee Zeldin and his army of industry lobbyists are utterly incapable of protecting the public,” Center for Biological Diversity (CBD) senior scientist Nathan Donley told the Post, referring to the EPA administrator.
One judge ruled in 2024 that since widespread dicamba drift damaged millions of acres of nontolerant crops, some farmers felt "coerced" to purchase expensive, dicamba-resistant seeds to safeguard their own fields, creating a "near-monopoly" for companies selling the products.
Some scientific studies have linked dicamba to increased risk of cancer and hypothyroidism. The European Union classifies dicamba as a category II suspected endocrine disruptor.
In 2021, the Biden administration published an EPA report revealing that during Trump's first term, senior officials intentionally excluded scientific evidence of dicamba-related hazards, including the risk of widespread drift damage, before reapproving the dangerous chemical.
A separate EPA report described the widespread harm to farmers and the environment caused by dicamba during the 2020 growing season.
Writing for the New Lede this week, Donley warned that "much like the greenwashing you see at the grocery store, with terms like 'eco-friendly' or 'green' advertising chemical-laden products on store shelves, Zeldin’s MAHA-washing paints the same rosy picture to distract from decisions that harm public health."
"We all stand to lose if this pesticide gets the green light," he added.
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