Columbus - Ohio Immigrant Alliance is hosting its first-ever Family Reunion and Fundraiser on November 15 at Chez Rama (3669 E. Livingston Ave), a popular Senegalese restaurant. The entire community is invited!

Details and a quote from OIA Executive Director Lynn Tramonte follow.

CAIR-Ohio’s Columbus and Cincinnati Office honored OIA’s Executive Director, Lynn Tramonte, with the Trailblazer Award. The Honorable Cori Bush gave a keynote speech at the banquet.

View photos and Tramonte’s video and statement here.

Ben & Jerry’s Foundation was the first funder to back the Ohio Immigrant Alliance’s ground-breaking #ReuniteUS campaign, which was launched after the first Trump administration. #ReuniteUS brings visibility to people who were deported, creating a platform for them to talk about their lives in the U.S. and why they want to come home. The people behind #ReuniteUS were the subject of a book, “Broken Hope: Deportation and the Road Home, which you can download for free here.

To commemorate 40 years of social justice funding, the Foundation is recognizing 40 organizations through a series of social media videos. Watch this video featuring OIA Executive Director Lynn Tramonte and some of the people involved in #ReuniteUS. Learn more about our campaign here.

We just opened a merchandise store, with art by Cincinnati high school student Shema Asifiwe. His drawings have already been featured on work by OIA, Maketank, and UNIQLO, and Shema is only a sophomore. He is currently creating a coloring book, “Ohio Is My Second Country,” which OIA will publish.

“Migration Is Human” is the message on our t-shirts and sling bags — the perfect, protest-size portables. Pick up something for every member of your family, just in time for the holidays, and support the Ohio Immigrant Alliance too.

There’s a new way to support the Ohio Immigrant Alliance, and spread the message that migration is a basic act of being human! Head over to our new Bonfire Store and pick up a t-shirt, belt bag, or sling bag for yourself and everyone on your gift list.

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. 

Art helps us process the idea of “place,” especially when governments build borders overnight, and force us to live between them. Indigenous people understand this better than anyone.

Get to The Sculpture Center in Cleveland before November 8 to see Federico Cuatlacuatl’s exhibit, “Xoxal: Baño de Fuego.”

For the first time ever, we’re making digital versions of the Ohio Migration Anthology completely free! Download Volume 1, “Far From Their Eyes,” here and Volume 2, “(Everything Is) Cells and Bodies,” here.

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?

Our Executive Director, Lynn Tramonte, was published in The Land blasting Congressman Max Miller’s divisive, political, and dangerous call to deploy the National Guard on our own community in Ohio.

Following are key excerpts, or read the entire piece.

“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.

Ohio Immigrant Alliance is proud to announce its new website and partnership with Apogee Travel, the only hotel booking website that rewards travelers while supporting the causes they care about. The new website — ohioimmigrant.org — was designed by Honey Creative.

OIA supporters can now give back to the Ohio Immigrant Alliance mission, just by booking a hotel stay through a dedicated link on Apogee’s website, without spending a penny more. 

With Apogee Travel, travelers book the same hotels at the same prices found on major travel sites. But what sets Apogee apart is its triple benefit model. Travelers continue to earn hotel brand loyalty points, get cash back through Apogee Bucks ^TM, and support Ohio Immigrant Alliance at no added cost. 

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. 

Police officers Donald Kopchak and Daniel Lajack were indicted in Medina County on two counts of third-degree felony abduction, one count of fifth-degree felony ethnic intimidation, and a first-degree misdemeanor count of assault due to their commission of a hate crime in Hinckley Township. Lynn Tramonte, Executive Director of the Ohio Immigrant Alliance and a native of Medina County, issued the following statement.

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.