Alliance, Instead of Intimidation
A statement from Lynn Tramonte, Executive Director of the Ohio Immigrant Alliance
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 who understand that 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.
In our advocacy, we use legal methods and the legal process to make change — not violence, lies, or fear. We educate the public and legislative bodies about where we want our tax dollars directed, and how we want the laws to be written and applied. That is part of the legal process and our right, as participants in this democracy. And when someone else breaks the law, we turn to the courts to get it corrected. That is also part of the legal, democratic process outlined in our state and federal Constitutions.
The Ohio Immigrant Alliance has never advocated violence or used violent tactics, and never will. This stands in stark contrast to the way agents empowered to enforce civil immigration laws operate — whether they be sheriff’s deputies or Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Border Patrol officers. From shoving a man down the stairs at the Butler County Jail in 2020, to the violent, masked abductions of ordinary people off of U.S. streets in 2025 — or yesterday’s brutal assault on a woman in New York — enforcers of U.S. immigration laws, and the people who run jails for ICE, treat immigrants’ bodies like trash.
People like Sheriff Richard Jones, and some of his followers, describe immigrants as less than human. Their callous words encourage the violent treatment of immigrants, or people assumed to be immigrants — like the off-duty officers who attacked a truck driver in Hinckley, or the neighbors who assaulted a mother in Columbus. No matter what religion you follow, respecting everyone's inherent human dignity is a central tenet, and that means everyone. Even if you aren’t religious, we were all taught in elementary school to treat others the way we want to be treated. Many jailers and ICE officers, right now, are failing that basic test.
The truth is, migration is as old as time, as basic as breathing. It always has been and always will be. People move for safety, opportunity, and sometimes both. Immigrating from one country to another takes courage and strength; it’s difficult to start over in a new country, with a new language and culture. It’s also an act of love. Who wouldn’t do anything they can to take care of their loved ones? Ohioans who immigrated here from other countries bring their strength, intelligence, resiliency, and skillsets with them. And we all benefit.
Unfortunately, U.S. immigration laws do not work the way most U.S. Americans think they do. They were written on a foundation of racism, over a century ago. They are not rational. They are not flexible. They are not fairly applied. You can simultaneously be eligible for legal status and deportation, and the government decides which one to carry out. When you have a government like the Trump administration, that means instituting a massive quota for deportations, which results in illogical decisions like detaining and deporting people who are paying taxes and raising U.S.-citizen children. With the Trump administration, too, these decisions are often carried out with truly unnecessary violence.
Instead of continuing this failed and brutal policy, we could change the laws so that immigrants can get permanent residence and citizenship. Instead of declaring war on people and organizations who want our country to have a more just immigration system, we could work together to achieve solutions.
These past several months have been chaotic, cruel, and crushing — for so many people. Turning on each other won’t improve that. We can make progress by advocating for an end to county jail contracts with ICE, and U.S. immigration laws that create a path to citizenship.
