Catholic Legal Immigration Network, Inc. (CLINIC)

06/19/2026

A new farm on O'ahu's North Shore in Hawai'i is employing refugees, immigrants, and survivors of human trafficking while strengthening Hawai'i's food resilience and security. Pacific Gateway Center (PGC) — a partner with the U.S. Committee for Refugees and Immigrants and a CLINIC Affiliate — started its original farm program in 2012 after workers from Southeast Asia were brought to Hawaii under false pretenses and allegedly exploited for their labor. PGC Farms worked to rescue them and introduced them to a path for independence, where they could access land, resources, and education on starting their own businesses. "They're helping the farmers a lot — they support us, they give us the answer and everything," said Perawat Panyamanee, a farmer from Thailand who has been with PGC for over a year.

Pacific Gateway Farms Haleʻiwa on Oʻahu’s North Shore is working to employ refugees, immigrants and survivors of human trafficking while strengthening Hawaiʻi’s food resilience and security.

06/18/2026

On Saturday, Pope Leo XIV plans to visit the northern Italian village of Sant'Angelo Lodigiano, where he will venerate Mother Frances Cabrini, a saint close to his heart. She was born there in 1850 and died in 1917 in Chicago, the pope's hometown. She is the first U.S. saint. The pope and the saint are linked by a shared global sensibility, developed by their own passage across borders, cultures, and continents that inspired a commitment to people building new lives in distant lands. Immigration, one of the world's most urgent challenges, is expected to be a chief topic of the pope's visit, and the pope will likely highlight the saint's ministry to U.S. migrants during an earlier era of mass displacement.

When Pope Leo visits Mother Cabrini’s birthplace, the message will not be their shared American nationality but a rebuke of American exceptionalism.

06/18/2026

Siblings Jose and Bernice Orozco are turning their own immigrant experience into a mission to help others. The longtime residents of Las Vegas, Nevada, founded Orozco Siblings Foundation after partnering with Catholic Charities to work with immigrant, refugee, and asylum-seeking youths in southern Nevada. The Orozcos immigrated from Tijuana, Mexico, and said they understand firsthand the challenges newcomers face. What began as a single workshop for Catholic Charities quickly grew into an effort to mentor youths, build confidence, and create a sense of belonging in the United States. Bernice remembers struggling to adjust, dealing with language barriers, and feeling like she didn't fit in. The foundation continues partnering with Catholic Charities and the goal is to be the support system the siblings wish they had when they arrived. "We live in a time right now where it's important that we really show our values — show that we care for people and that we want to push forward together as one single community, with so many various backgrounds, but again, as one community," said Jose.

Jose and Bernice Orozco founded the Orozco Siblings Foundation after immigrating from Tijuana, Mexico, drawing on their own experiences to mentor immigrant and refugee youth in Southern Nevada.

06/18/2026

According to a recent analysis of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) data, the death rate of detainees inside U.S. immigration detention centers has more than doubled during President Trump's second term in the White House. Between 2009 and 2024, immigration detention facilities logged one fatality a year for every 3,848 people held, according to the data analysis. That ratio has since jumped to one death per 1,630 detainees, according to provisional figures through early June.

“By the time medical came, he was dead,” a witness said in one case.

06/18/2026

When immigrant communities are threatened by federal immigration raids, parishes serving those communities have the chance to deepen their understanding of what it means to "welcome the stranger," church liturgists say. But they add that for a parish to fully appreciate and minister to the diversity of its members, it needs to go beyond addressing this at Sunday Mass. Different cultural communities within a parish "have to spend time together," said John Flaherty, music director for 35 years at the Los Angeles Religious Education Congress, an event praised for its inclusivity of many languages and cultures in its liturgies. Jesus' teachings on recognizing and welcoming "the other" is the basis for many church documents addressing the need for open minds and hearts toward immigrants. "You give up a little of your own power. You give up your seat at the table, and let your guest, whoever that might be, have your seat. It's about welcome and sacrifice, which ties directly to the Eucharist," said Flaherty.

When immigrant communities are threatened by federal raids, parishes that serve those communities have the opportunity to deepen their understanding of what it means to "welcome the stranger," church liturgists say.

06/18/2026

Death Rate in ICE Detention Centers Doubles Under Trump, According to Data

06/18/2026

Cristofer-Ortega Varela spent almost a year in jail waiting as his petition challenging the legality of his detention worked its way through the U.S. District Court in New Hampshire. But he never stood before a judge and was deported to Honduras in April. His habeas corpus petition is among the more than 200 that have been filed in the federal district court in New Hampshire this past year. These filings have skyrocketed locally and nationwide as the Trump administration detains more people and immigration courts hold fewer bond hearings. The sheer number of filings strain detainees, lawyers, and the courts. Lawyers say the habeas corpus filings are meant to provide due process, but they also add pressure on courts because of high caseloads.

In the last month, 27% of cases filed in New Hampshire’s federal district court were challenges filed by immigrants claiming their detention doesn’t follow due process.

06/17/2026

A medical examiner has ruled the death of a Haitian asylum seeker to be a homicide, and a lawyer for her family said he expected the family to sue Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). Daphy Michel, 31, was found deceased in a bus shelter in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania on March 2. The Allegheny County Medical Examiner's Office ruled that she was a vulnerable adult "suffering from untreated severe mental health issues and a significant language barrier" when she was released on February 27. ICE took her into custody at a county jail where she was being detained for shouting at imaginary people, her attorney, Joseph Patrick Murphy, said. ICE then put an ankle monitor on her and took her 25 miles to Pittsburgh where she sat in a bus shelter for several days in winter. "She was in September clothes and it was February, and the weather overwhelmed her and she went into hypothermia," Murphy said.

The death of a woman from Haiti seeking asylum in the U.S. who died from hypothermia days after her release from federal custody was ruled a homicide by a Pennsylvania county medical examiner's office.

06/17/2026

The four Perez siblings — ranging in age from 13 to 21 — have to fend for themselves, relying on each other and friends. They are all U.S. citizens but their parents are undocumented and they were detained last fall by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). In the aftermath, the siblings missed school or work to sit in front of a computer screen to testify on behalf of their parents at scheduled deportation hearings. But often the hearings were cancelled without explanation. Finally, the parents were ordered deported. Years ago, the parents signed legal papers designating guardians for their children in case something like this happened. ICE is supposed to ensure that minors are not left alone after an arrest, but often that is not the case. Under the Trump administration, from late January 2025 to early April 2026, more than 146,000 U.S. citizen children have had a mother or father detained, according to a Brookings Institution estimate.

Four American siblings left to fend for themselves—and they're not the only ones.

06/17/2026

It's been six months since Claudia first applied to renew her DACA status — and she's still waiting. For the past 14 years, this process took only a few weeks for her, but now this prolonged delay has put her life on hold. Years of work invested in education and starting a career are now at risk because of the lapse in her work authorization. "It feels like a personal attack. I renewed on time, completed my biometrics, followed every rule, but I'm still waiting to hear back," said Claudia. The processing delays come at a time when DACA recipients like Claudia face growing hostility from the Trump administration. Hundreds of DACA recipients have been arrested by federal immigration enforcement and several have even been deported over the last year amid the White House's broader immigration crackdown.

The process to renew Daca immigration status used to take a few weeks – now it drags on for months