IRTF News

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.

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.

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.