As always, I’m more than happy to take questions, tips, or concerns. I can be reached at Avery.Kreemer@coxinc.com or on X at @AveryKreemer.
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What should you do if ICE visits your workplace?
Credit: NYT
Credit: NYT
• The lede: Increased activity by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents since President Donald Trump signed executive orders to change immigration policies and continue mass deportations has immigrant communities on edge.
• More to come: These efforts will ramp up with Congress approving a hike to ICE’s budget — $29.9 billion toward ICE’s enforcement and deportation operations and $45 billion for building new immigration detention centers, according to the American Immigrant Council.
• Conditions: Immigration agents may come to a private workplace for a few reasons: raids, detainment of specific people or to conduct so-called “Form I-9″ audits, according to the National Immigration Law Center.
• Business’ rights: Immigration law experts say that in most cases, anyone, including ICE agents, can enter public areas of your business during its operating hours without permission. However, businesses have the right to deny federal agents in private workplace areas where there is a “reasonable expectation of privacy,” according to ACLU Ohio.
• Workaround: ICE agents could get authorization to enter private spaces through the form of a judicial warrant. This document must be signed by a judge and come from a state court or U.S. District Court. Without a judicial warrant, in most cases, ICE agents would need the employers’ permission to enter private areas.
• Other spaces: In January, the Trump administration reversed a policy that protected certain areas, like places of worship and health centers — from immigration enforcement. This means that immigration officials may now enter these formerly protected spaces to enforce immigration laws, according to ACLU Ohio.
• For a full breakdown on how to navigate ICE’s visits, here’s Sydney Dawes’ story.
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Ohio to soon require photo ID or other age verification to access porn sites
Credit: AP
Credit: AP
• The story: Starting in late September, Ohio law will force pornography websites and any other site with a “principal business purpose” of hosting obscene content to verify the age of their users using government IDs.
• ‘Reasonable’: The new rule, buried inside the state’s newest two-year operating budget, requires these sites to use “reasonable age verification methods” before allowing users to access content. Two “reasonable” methods were included in the law itself: photo identification, like a driver’s license or passport, or so-called “transactional data,” like records documenting a user’s mortgage, education history or employment.
• Privacy: The law also calls for companies to “immediately delete” a user’s information after verification is completed.
• Growing contingent: Nearly half of the country’s state legislatures have passed similar laws in the past two years. The policy has gained considerable traction, with states like Michigan, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and Minnesota contemplating similar legislation today, according to Free Speech Coalition, a trade advocacy group for adult content sites.
• Opposition: The Free Speech Coalition opposes mandated age verification laws. The organization argues that minors can use virtual private networks, or VPNs, to disguise their location and access sites. The organization has argued that the safeguard endangers a user’s private information; that users will begin to seek shoddy, alternative sites; and that mandated age verification is outright unconstitutional, which the Supreme Court of the United States has rebuffed.
Local political news of the week
Credit: Jim Noelker
Credit: Jim Noelker
• Food bank boon: The Montgomery County commission canceled the 2025 Economic Development/Government Equity fall funding cycle, meant to promote job creation, and will instead shift $1 million to the region’s food bank. Sydney Dawes has the story.
• Busing changes: Dayton Public Schools won’t be busing high school students this year, according to the district superintendent, after a state law was passed to block high school students from transferring at the RTA bus hub in downtown Dayton. Here’s Eileen McClory.
• Stretched thin: Nine area people opposed CenterPoint Energy’s proposed higher natural gas rates in a public hearing Tuesday, pleading that inflation and higher costs in general have left them or others pushed to the breaking point. Thomas Gnau has the details.
State political news of the week
• Contribution records: The campaigns of Ohio’s leading Republican and Democratic 2026 gubernatorial candidates are both boasting record-breaking campaign finance contributions, but that doesn’t mean it’s particularly close. Here’s my story.
• Sugary drinks: A governor’s task force composed of retailers, medical professionals and government officials has begun its work to help Ohio achieve its not-so-straightforward goal of excluding sugary, low-nutritional drinks from food stamp eligibility. Here’s my story.
• Fair gun rules: County fairs are not allowed to make their own gun regulation rules, according to a new opinion from Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost, meaning of-age fairgoers can legally open carry and concealed carry without a permit, as per Ohio law. Here’s the story from Rob Blankenship, London Bishop and me.
• Snooze fest: Ohio is expanding commercial truck parking by at least 1,400 spaces across the state to help alleviate the shortage of safe, accessible parking as part of a new, $150 million road safety initiative meant to cut down on crashes caused by weary truckers. Jen Balduf has the story.
National political news of the week
• Unfinished business: Republicans delivered some big victories this month in Congress for President Trump, but despite talk of passing all 12 government funding bills for next year before leaving on a five-week summer break, House Republicans were able to approve only two measures. Here’s Jamie Dupree with the story.
• Paper trail: Dayton’s representative to Congress Mike Turner, a Republican, has reintroduced a bill to prohibit financial institutions from abandoning paper records in favor of electronic bank statements. Thomas Gnau has the story.
• Republican challenger: An Air Force veteran and former CIA official announced his 2026 congressional campaign with the intent of unseating incumbent Democratic U.S. Rep. Greg Landsman in a vulnerable southwest Ohio district. Here’s my story.
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