President Donald Trump on the campaign trail pledged “the largest deportation operation in the history of the United States,” and a Dayton Daily News analysis of ICE data shows the Trump administration has made good on this promise.
The data shows ICE arrests in Ohio skyrocketed in the first six months of this year to nearly double the number in all of 2024 under President Joe Biden.
During the same time period, ICE deported 1,081 people from Ohio, compared to 561 in all of 2024, according to the data.
While Trump initially promised to focus on detaining and deporting only illegal immigrants considered most dangerous or those who have committed crimes while in the U.S., community members in Dayton say innocent, hard-working immigrants are being targeted.
Attendees to Sunday’s service of lament heard the stories of immigrants in the Dayton area who have been arrested by ICE, some of whom remain incarcerated, and another who has been deported.
Their stories were shared by community members who know and support them. Some names and details have been omitted at the request of the storytellers for the safety of the individuals and their families.
Irv Heishman, a pastor at a local church, shared the story of a man in his congregation who came to the U.S. under a humanitarian parole program, which allows individuals facing urgent humanitarian crises to enter the country without a visa.
That humanitarian program was terminated earlier this year by the Trump administration, which stripped the man of his legal status.
“He became undocumented through no fault of his own, but rather because the government changed the rules on him and on others like him,” Heishman said. “The chaos of changing rules has left this person, who came to this country legally, at risk of detention and deportation.”
This has caused some immigrants within the community to lose their jobs due to lack of work authorization, and has left many fearful, said Tim Sietman of East Dayton Fellowship, where Sunday’s service was held.
“Our ministries have seen the impact; we provide meals and clothing to hundreds each month, but our immigrant neighbors are much more hesitant to come receive this help in public now due to fear of potential immigration enforcement,” Sietman said.
Pastor Caleb Kragt shared the story of Armando Reyes Rodriguez, a Honduran immigrant and Dayton father who was unexpectedly detained earlier this year by ICE after attending a routine check-in.
Rodriguez was deported from the United States in June after two months in jail.
Kragt said Rodriguez was in the country with ICE’s permission, as his partner and their two children pursued an asylum case and federal policy allowed families to stay together.
The family had fled from their home country due to increasing violence and instability.
“From the first Sunday they were ever at our church, Armando dove into community life,” Kragt said. “He was the first one in the kitchen washing dishes after meals. He was using an app on his phone to translate and converse with anyone. He was the most faithful attender of our English class.”
Throughout his monthslong detainment at the Butler County Jail prior to deportation, Kragt said Rodriguez kept in touch with his family and congregation via letters and occasional video calls.
“Armando shared stories with us of treatment and conditions inside the prison, his own and others, from the indignity of guards coming in and throwing away the items they bought in the commissary from time to time to the physical abuse that some suffered at the hands of an officer,” Kragt said.
Rodriguez was shipped to multiple locations prior to his deportation, making it nearly impossible for loved ones to keep informed of his status. He ultimately landed in Honduras with only the clothes on his back, Kragt noted.
“When we finally spoke to him over the phone from Honduras, he asked, ‘What was the point of all that?’ And I had to say, ‘Armando, I think the cruelty is the point for some of these folks,’” Kragt said.
Viles Dorsainvil, a Haitian immigrant and Springfield resident, encouraged community members to remember that for many immigrants to the U.S., their journey began due to trauma.
“There is no way a person would leave their homeland, a place that’s important to who they are as a person, if not for some very hard reason ... people migrate because of war, poverty, and things like this,” he said. “I always share that if Haiti would get back on track tomorrow, you would not have to ask Haitians to leave; they would do so (voluntarily).”
During a break-out discussion after Sunday’s service, Terrilynn Griffith noted immigration issues within the U.S. are not new, rather something the country has grappled with for generations.
“I think we’d all like to believe we’ve always been a welcoming nation, but historically, that’s not been the case,” Griffith said. “... Immigration has always been an issue where we tend to demonize immigrants ... so, it’s important that we counteract that and share the stories of these immigrants because a lot of people are only getting one part of the issue.”
Pastor Mark Lancaster, of Trotwood Church of the Brethren, said Sunday damaging narratives paint immigrants as criminals, or give way to assumptions that immigrants are displacing Americans by taking their jobs.
“Through our personal experience with these displaced brothers and sisters ... we have experienced immigrants as law-abiding, tax-paying, caring, and faithful members of our community,” Lancaster said. “They enrich our communities, are good neighbors, family and parents, and they love this country as well as anyone who is native born.”
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