Honduras is entering a sharp pre-election crisis just weeks before voters head to the polls, with warning signs emerging from civil society, international observers, and the U.S. Join experts on November 20 for a critical briefing on what’s driving the turmoil — and why the stakes extend far beyond Honduras’ borders.
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Despite improvements in the USMCA, outsourcing, low wages, and weak enforcement persist. Join us this month as AFL-CIO’s Riley Ohlson breaks down what must change for the trade deal to finally deliver for workers.
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U.S. Catholic bishops have launched “You Are Not Alone,” a nationwide migrant-accompaniment initiative aimed at supporting people facing deportation amid rising fears under Trump’s mass-deportation policies. Announced by Bishop Mark Seitz, the effort expands pastoral care, emergency support, and public witness while reaffirming the Church’s stance on the dignity and protection of migrants.
A new Human Rights First report exposes record-breaking ICE deportation and detention-transfer flights under the Trump administration—reaching 77 countries and often carried out with harsh, dehumanizing practices. The data reveals a vast, largely hidden global deportation system, made visible only through painstaking investigative tracking.
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 federal judge has ordered the release of hundreds swept up in Chicago’s recent immigration raids, sharply rebuking Trump’s “Operation Midway Blitz.” The ruling blocks officials from pressuring detainees into voluntary deportation and could free more than 600 people as courts review claims that federal agents carried out illegal, warrantless arrests.
In this article Rory Fanning, former US Ranger describes how ICE is acting like a military occupation force.
"Similar to the way that I terrorized Afghan villages during my time in the military following 9/11, ICE has been terrorizing my town."
"If you are carrying a weapon on behalf of the federal government in 2025, you are the opposite of a hero."
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.
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.
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.”
