El Salvador is the smallest and most densely populated country in Central America. The US-backed civil war, which erupted after the assassination of Archbishop Oscar Romero in 1980, lasted 12 years (1980-92), killing 70,000 people and forcing 20% of the nation’s five million people to seek refuge in the US.
Learn more here.
A sharp reflection on how U.S. officials have long responded to state violence by blaming the dead—from the murder of churchwomen in El Salvador to the killing of Renee Nicole Good by ICE—and a warning that such lies can only hold for so long.
More than 150 faith-based organizations from 25 countries launched an open letter on supporting an El Salvadoran ban on metals mining that was overturned by right-wing President Nayib Bukele in 2024.
“We stand in solidarity with civic and religious leaders who are being persecuted and imprisoned for working against injustices, including the devastation that metals mining would cause their communities.”
Do you and your neighbors and co-workers know what to do if visited, questioned, or arrested by ICE? Do you know you can call the Ohio Immigration Hotline 419-777-HELP (4357) ? There’s also the Ohio National Lawyers Guild Hotline: (614) 654-6477
You can stay up-to-date every day on ICE activities, trends in apprehensions and detentions by following Austin Kocher on Substack https://substack.com/@austinkocher/posts
In northeast Ohio, you can reach out to irtf@irtfcleveland.org for educational resources and trainings for your workplace, congregation, or community group.
Consider your position in your community. What can you contribute to undocumented community members or migrant organizations?
Do you know any legal, mental health, social work professionals?
What about school employees?
We need EVERYONE to consider how they can mobilize support for vulnerable migrant families.
If you yourself don’t hold a professional position that is needed, consider this: Could serve as a first-call, point person for someone who is detained? Reach out to them to initiate a supportive conversation. Are you positioned to do child pick-up and safeguarding? Well-connected with community orgs or professionally situated to help with legal, medical or other needs?
See the attached flyer for more resources and ways to get involved.
The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ vote and new national campaign to support migrants are the group’s first responses to the Trump administration’s crackdown.
In a rare group statement, America’s Catholic bishops voted nearly unanimously Wednesday to condemn the Trump administration’s crackdown on undocumented immigrants as an attack on “God-given human dignity,” and advocated for “meaningful reform of our nation’s immigration laws.”
“We oppose the indiscriminate mass deportation of people. We pray for an end to dehumanizing rhetoric and violence, whether directed at immigrants or at law enforcement,” read the message from the U.S.
Conference of Catholic Bishops. After the vote (216-5, with three abstentions), the bishops stood and applauded. The last such “Special Message” was delivered 12 years ago.
The new message listed the types of suffering the church leaders say many undocumented migrants experience, including “arbitrarily” losing their legal status, being subject to poor detention conditions, and being afraid to take children to school or go to church. “We feel compelled now in this environment to raise our voices in defense of God-given human dignity,” the bishops wrote.
A new Human Rights Watch and Cristosal report confirms that 252 Venezuelans deported by the Trump administration to El Salvador in early 2025 were systematically tortured inside the CECOT mega-prison. Nearly half had no criminal record, and many were asylum seekers with pending cases. Former detainees described daily beatings, torture in punishment cells, sexual violence, psychological abuse, and months of enforced disappearance, as both U.S. and Salvadoran authorities concealed their whereabouts. Conditions violated multiple international human rights standards, and the U.S. government paid El Salvador to detain them despite knowing the risks. The findings underscore severe violations of non-refoulement obligations and highlight U.S. complicity in torture.
Thank you to all who gathered with IRTF on November 9 for our annual commemoration event to mark the 45th anniversary of the sacrifice of four US women missioners in El Salvador. In response to that horrific tragedy, people of faith and conscience in Cleveland founded IRTF as a way to carry forward their legacy—taking action in solidarity with oppressed and marginalized communities as they struggle for peace, dignity, and justice.
IRTF board and staff wishes to thank all the volunteers who helped us set up, decorate, run the event and pack up at the end of the night, Pilgrim Church for hosting us, the kitchen staff at Guanaquitas pupsería for preparing our dinner, Megan Wilson-Reitz for coordinating our social hour (and the many kitchen volunteers!), Salim and Lucía for coordinating our raffle/auction, Pastor Jay for running the tech, and all who participated in the service and speaker program.
To our 46 co-sponsors: Thank you for your financial support that helps us continue calling people into solidarity with oppressed peoples in Central America and Colombia. We are deeply appreciative of your affirmation of our mission and ongoing commitment to this important work.
They said they were punished in a dark room called the island, where they were trampled, kicked and forced to kneel for hours.
One man said officers thrust his head into a tank of water to simulate drowning.
Another said he was forced to perform oral sex on guards wearing hoods.
Others were shot by rubber bullets.
They said they were told by officials that they would die in the Salvadoran prison, that the world had forgotten them.
“‘You are all terrorists,’” Edwin Meléndez, 30, recalled being told by officers who added: “‘Terrorists must be treated like this.’”
When they could no longer take it, they held a hunger strike. They cut themselves, writing protest messages on sheets in blood.
One detainee, age 26, was so sick that he could not get out of bed, and other men had to feed him. Taken to the infirmary, he was beaten in front of medical personnel. A doctor told him: “‘Resign yourself. It’s time for you to die.’”
To send the 252 Venezuelan men to prison in El Salvador —along with many Salvadoran nationals—in March of this year, Mr. Trump invoked the Alien Enemies Act, a sweeping, rarely used 18th-century law that allows for the expulsion of people from an invading nation.
In September, Mr. Trump, speaking at the United Nations General Assembly, praised Salvadoran officials for “the successful and professional job they’ve done in receiving and jailing so many criminals that entered our country.”
A New York Times analysis revealed that U.S. military aircraft — including an AC-130J attack gunship, a Navy P-8A surveillance plane, and an unmarked Air Force jet — began operating out of El Salvador’s main airport in mid-October. Their deployment marks a significant expansion of the Trump administration’s military buildup in the Caribbean, tied to counternarcotics missions and potential action toward Venezuela. The move underscores close ties between Washington and President Nayib Bukele and raises legal and political concerns as airstrikes in the region increase with little public justification.
After President Bukele’s government repealed El Salvador’s historic mining ban, environmentalists fear a quiet return of metal mining—starting with the long-contested El Dorado gold project. Despite official silence, new companies are being registered, land deals linked to mining firms are surfacing, and military presence in affected communities is increasing. Activists report being watched and harassed, even as they continue to fight criminal charges seen as politically motivated. With worsening water shortages and contamination risks, many Salvadorans warn that reopening the mines threatens not only the environment but also their communities’ survival and democratic freedoms.
