Ohio
More than half of Ohio Immigrant Hotline reports came from Columbus area
Columbus city officials says police aren’t working with ICE
Columbus police Chief Elaine Bryant said officers won’t be helping with federal agents in immigration enforcement operations.
Nearly half of the more than 500 incidents reported to the Ohio Immigrant Hotline in the past year were from Columbus-area callers.
The hotline, which is run by advocacy group Ohio Immigrant Alliance, serves loved ones of immigrants; immigrants (including those in detention) who need help; ordinary and concerned Ohioans; and professionals who are seeking guidance on how to deal with ICE enforcement actions against their staff, clients, customers and community.
The hotline launched in January 2025, when President Donald Trump took office for his second term, promising increased immigration enforcement. It catalogued 548 incidents between its start and February 2026, according to a report released March 25 titled “Connecting Ohio: The Ohio Immigrant Hotline’s First Year in Action.”
The goal is to provide immediate help and to use data to advocate for systemic change, according to the report.
Of the 548 incidents, 229 happened in an 11-county region of central Ohio. A 21-county region in northeast Ohio had the second-most at 123.
After a wave of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) arrests and activity in December in Columbus, dubbed “Operation Buckeye” by ICE, hotline calls surged and haven’t let up, said Lynn Tramonte, executive director of the Ohio Immigrant Alliance.
Hotline staffers who speak English, Spanish, French and other languages handled 94 incidents in December.
Before that, the hotline’s busiest month was October, with 40 incidents.
Last year, the hotline averaged 39 incidents a month, the report said, but this year that has ballooned to 96 monthly. Most of the incidents were reported via email, with the most common reports discussing ICE and Border Patrol activity within the state.
Who called the Ohio Immigrant Hotline?
The Ohio Immigrant Alliance often gets requests for help from individuals, but the hotline allowed it to be able to report and track its work, according to the report.
Though some people thought the hotline was ICE’s tip line and reported immigrants’ presence and a few harassing or prank calls, the majority wanted to help immigrants, according to the report.
“It’s heartening,” the report reads, about those wishing to help. “The spirit of solidarity and community in Ohio is real.”
The hotline manager, who the Alliance did not name because of threats to their safety, has often engaged with people in distress, including those who cannot find a loved one they suspect may have been arrested and detained by ICE. There were 73 reports of arrests by ICE or Customs and Border Patrol agents.
The hotline gathers details about those individuals and connects callers with resources to help.
Other callers have included attorneys or friends of detainees calling because medication or other needs are being denied to someone in detention.
What has the hotline accomplished?
The hotline helped people find immigration attorneys; deposited thousands of dollars in immigration detention commissary and phone accounts for 50 people; helped families raise money for attorneys, filing fees, medical needs, and support after deportation; and connected callers to volunteer, donation, and advocacy opportunities.
The hotline also helped defend civil rights and the quality of life for detained immigrants. After reports from immigrants in detention detailed violations of Ramadan meal services, the Ohio Immigrant Hotline notified the American Civil Liberties Union of Ohio. The ACLU Ohio resolved the issue with leadership at the jail, which was not identified in the report.
The Ohio Immigrant Alliance is also part of a lawsuit due to one report that came in through the hotline.
People can report incidents about ICE arrests and raids to the Ohio Immigrant Hotline, at 419-777-HELP or 4357 or hotline@ohioimmigrant.org. Resources for immigrants and advocates can be found at OhioIsHome.org.
Underserved Communities Reporter Danae King can be reached at dking@dispatch.com or on X at @DanaeKing.
KRCR News Channel 7 and KCVU Fox 20 offers local and national news, sports, and weather forecasts to viewers in the Northstate including Redding, Shasta Lake, Shingletown, Anderson, Red Bluff, Corning, Chico, and Oroville. Coverage is also provided on the North Coast through KBVU Fox 28 and KAEF ABC 23.
Tick Bite Prevention Guide
Essential steps to prevent tick bites and protect your family and pets while outdoors.
Although they’re silent and among nature’s stealthiest stalkers, ticks now seem to be creating considerable public buzz.
Certain ticks can operate year-round. Nonetheless, interest heightens during spring when intersections increase between reactivated ticks, people and people’s pets.
What happens post-encounter depends on how long a person takes to find and disengage from a tick that has found them. Infection can occur after two-hour attachments. In short, hunters, anglers, hikers, noodlers, birders and anyone else wandering woods and fields, especially during May and June, demand speedy self-inspection and precautionary repellent use.
Lyme disease, a malady that can leave sufferers with chronic malfunctions, draws much attention because of its inexorable and fairly rapid spread from New England into seemingly virgin territory, including Ohio.
THE GREAT OUTDOORS: More about Ohio hunting and fishing
Specific tick species carry different maladies, though some deal out more than one.
Blacklegged ticks, aka deer ticks, are the primary spreaders of Lyme disease. The bite from a lone star tick, another relative newcomer to Ohio, can trigger several illnesses, the most trumpeted being a potential killer known as alpha-gal syndrome that makes the bitten allergic to red meat and dairy.
A few years ago, former Columbus Dispatch nature columnist Jim Fry lay on a hospital bed while paralysis crept up his legs to his arms and neck. Spreading immobility made him unable to lift his head.
“I was terrified,” said Fry, then 79.
Fortunately, a healthcare attendant noticed an engorged tick on Fry’s upper left arm. Removal of the tick veered Fry away from a proximate path to eternity, though full recovery took time.
The would-be assassin turned out to be a dog tick, historically common in Ohio. Also known as a wood tick, the relative of spiders and scorpions can carry in its saliva a neurotoxin that triggers what is known as tick paralysis in susceptible people, dogs and cats. Tick paralysis – rare enough not to ratchet up public awareness, let alone mania – can kill.
Climate change has been popularly depicted as the reason deer ticks and lone star ticks have spread from the South into New England and the Midwest. Climate probably has an influence, but it’s not the primary cause, concluded the Entomological Society of America with findings shared in the publication Entomology Today.
Researchers found it highly probable that tick species currently viewed as newcomers were here spreading their diabolical wares before a wave of settlers mowed down trees for agriculture and virtually wiped out the deer through hunting and habitat destruction.
Deer are not themselves vulnerable to Lyme disease, but they are spreaders of ticks.
It was especially extreme in Ohio around 1900. By that time, the landscape had been transformed from 95% forested to about 5%. Deer went absent. When much marginal farmland reverted to native trees during the next 100-plus years, it stimulated the growth of a teeming deer population.
More deer have allowed more tag-along ticks to reoccupy lost territory, the study hypothesized.
Parting shots
Pro bass fisherman Charlie Hartley, who led the 2008 Bassmaster Classic for a day and who earned a paycheck in 78 of 296 Bassmaster tournaments in which he competed, has been named to the Ohio Bass Fishing Hall of Fame. Hartley resides in Grove City. … Turkey season ends May 24 at sunset in central Ohio and May 31 at sunset in five northeastern counties. Through May 17, the turkey take exceeded the three-year average at a comparable date by about 550.
COLUMBIANA, Ohio (MyValleyTributes) – Glen Wenger, 83, formerly of Columbiana, Ohio, passed away at his home in Dublin, Ohio on May 20, 2026, after suffering from Parkinson’s disease and cardiac amyloidosis for many years. He was born February 9, 1943, the son of David and Letha (Brunk) Wenger.
He attended North Lima Schools up until his senior year, which he completed at Eastern
Mennonite High School in Harrisonburg, Virginia, graduating in 1961.
As a young adult, Glen spent two years in Nigeria with Mennonite Voluntary Service. He worked with a community development program, teaching boys in the village of Illah agricultural skills from which they could earn a living. Upon completion of that term, he returned home to Columbiana, where he was employed by Witmer’s Inc. In 1967, he married Ethel Baird. They would have celebrated their 59th wedding anniversary this August.
From 1980-82, Glen and his family served as Mennonite Mission representatives in Nairobi, Kenya, where he and Ethel were houseparents for boarding students at Rosslyn Academy. The trips Glen’s family took to game parks in Kenya were among his most treasured memories.
Upon returning to the US, Glen continued working at Witmer’s, Inc. until his retirement. During his time there, he worked in the parts and sales departments. For several years thereafter, Glen worked at McMaster Farms in Columbiana, thriving on the energy of the farm and finding great satisfaction in the growth and harvesting of various crops of produce. Glen was a dedicated, hard-working man. He was devoted to his family, church, and community. Always ready to help others, he served the Lord in numerous ways at Midway Mennonite Church, where he was a lifelong member. He was the groundskeeper at Midway for many years, as well as the cemetery sexton. He loved music, and contributed his rich bass in many special music groups, the Midway Church chorus, and in duets with Ethel.
Since moving to Dublin in 2019 to be closer to family, Glen enjoyed attending his granddaughter’s musical performances. Glen is survived by his wife, Ethel, son Mark (Candis) of Fredericksburg, Virginia, and daughter Amy (Jeff) Bixler, of Columbus, Ohio; his beloved grandchildren, Stella Bixler, Mira Bixler, Eve Wenger, Cameron Wenger, and foster granddaughter, Dani Naghshineh. Also surviving him are his siblings, Rachel (Joseph) Martin of Westwood, Massachusetts, Dale (Marian) Wenger of Columbiana, Ohio, and Alan (Marilyn) Wenger of Poland, Ohio, along with many nieces and nephews.
He was preceded in death by his parents, son Eric, and sister Jean Wenger.
Glen will be greatly missed by all who knew him, and was dearly loved by his family and
friends.
Glen’s family asks that in lieu of flowers, memorial gifts be given to Midway Mennonite
Church, Columbiana, Ohio or Mennonite Central Committee, Akron, Pennsylvania.
Arrangements have been handled by Shaw-Davis Funeral Home.
A service to honor his memory will be held at a later date at Midway Mennonite Church
A television tribute will air Monday, May 25 at the following approximate times: 6:47 a.m. on WYTV, 9:43 a.m. on WKBN, 10:58 a.m. on FOX and 8:12 p.m. on MyYTV. Video will be posted here the day of airing.
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