U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents have become crueler, more aggressive, and more deceptive in Michigan, increasingly making arrests that draw less public attention and leave families blindsided, immigration attorneys say.
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There are weeks when the news feels like weather; something that happens over there, something you brace for and then move through.
And then there are times when it lands in your body.
In the last few weeks, vigils have spread across the country after a federal immigration officer killed Renee Good. People are mourning, but they’re also organizing — and not just with signs and speeches. Some are choosing disruption. Some are choosing civil disobedience. They’re asking a blunt question: if systems can take a life in broad daylight and then argue about vocabulary, what exactly are we supposed to do with our grief?
Detroiters know what it means to be extracted from, written off, and still survive. And that makes these stories feel like different chapters of the same book— a book about power, and whose lives it’s allowed to break.
To help us read that book more clearly, Robyn Vincent spoke with Saqib Bhatti of the Action Center on Race and the Economy. His work traces the money behind public pain, and it asks what happens when communities confront the power brokers who, he says, are facilitating that pain.
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A lawsuit alleging that disaster-recovery workers were put in unsafe, overcrowded conditions during early pandemic cleanup work in mid-Michigan has been resolved through a confidential settlement, the Sugar Law Center for Economic and Social Justice announced this week.
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Immigration enforcement over the last year has become a lot more visible. Late last year, four Detroit students and their families were detained by ICE. The incident sparked outrage among community members who voiced their concerns.
Teachers, students, and parents requested the Detroit Public Schools Community District institute stronger protections for immigrant students, and over the weekend, protestors urged the city council to make Detroit a sanctuary city.
A new project spearheaded by two Detroiters aims to give people whose loved ones were detained or separated by immigration enforcement a place to heal.
The Altars for Collective Grief Project is an effort by Theresa Beckley-Amaya and Julianna Sanroman to construct altars around Southwest Detroit. They will be made of photos of loved ones who have been detained. Beckley-Amaya and Sanroman joined the show to discuss the project and why they organized around grief.
Submit your photos to the project here.
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The Detroit Auto Show officially begins Wednesday as the event’s media and industry days get underway. Hundreds of journalists from around the world are in town to see the latest offering from Detroit’s automakers and other manufacturers.
Detroit Auto Dealers Association executive director Sam Klemet says this year’s show will be unlike any other in recent history. “It’s one thing to look into the rearview mirror of what has been. That kind of takes your eyes off the road ahead. I think that people who come to the 2026 show will have a very different, positive engaged experience that we haven’t had in a number of years. So, I think it will be a show that really resets the tone of what the Detroit Auto Show is all about.”
The charity preview takes place on Friday evening. The show opens to the public on Saturday and runs through Jan. 25 at Huntington Place in Detroit.
The 2026 North American Car, Truck and Utility of the Year awards were announced today. A group of 50 automotive journalists rate the vehicles on several criteria, including design, safety, technology and performance.
The 2026 Car of the Year is the Dodge Charger. The Truck of the Year is the Ford Maverick Lobo. And the Utility Vehicle of the Year is the Hyundai Palisade.
President Trump traveled to Detroit Tuesday to connect with the auto industry. He toured the Ford Rouge plant in Dearborn and talked with company leaders before heading into the city to speak to members of the Detroit Economic Club at the Motor City Casino.
During his wide-ranging remarks, the president touted the strength of the economy and claimed that affordability is a “fake word”. He also made allegations of rigged elections and called for stronger voter identification requirements.
Hundreds of demonstrators showed up outside of the Motor City Casino Tuesday to protest against President Trump and his administration’s policies, particularly those involving Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
The protest was peaceful, but Detroit Police did arrest a couple of people for failing to move when ordered to do so.
Detroit’s three casinos earned more than $1.2 billion in revenue last year, according to numbers released by the Michigan Gaming Control Board Tuesday. Nearly 80% of that came from slot machines.
The three casinos are reporting lower revenues for December. The gaming houses brought in $105.1 million last month. That’s down more than 5% from December 2024. MGM Grand held nearly half of the city’s gaming market at 49%. Motor City controlled 29 % and Hollywood Casino at Greektown held 22% of the market.
The three casinos paid $12.4 million in taxes and wagering agreement fees to the City of Detroit last month. They paid another $8.4 million in taxes to the State of Michigan in December.
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During President Trump’s second term, immigration enforcement has become more dangerous and more visible.
Detention has expanded rapidly. Last year was the deadliest year in more than two decades. Federal records show people have continued to die in custody in the opening days of this year.
There have also been multiple fatal shootings at the hands of on-duty and off-duty ICE agents in recent months.
In Minneapolis, an ICE agent shot and killed Renee Nicole Good. That killing prompted lawsuits from Minnesota and its largest cities. There were also resignations inside the Justice Department after leadership declined to open a customary civil rights investigation.
Other people have also been killed by ICE agents, including Silverio Villegos González near Chicago and Keith Porter Jr. in California. Those deaths, though, did not trigger the same national response.
In Detroit, City Council Member Gabriela Santiago-Romero is pushing the city to act. She represents Southwest Detroit and chairs the City Council’s Public Health and Safety Committee. She’s asking whether Detroit can legally restrict ICE activity on city property and in sensitive areas, such as schools and hospitals.
Santiago-Romero joined Robyn Vincent on The Metro to discuss how cities can respond when federal immigration enforcement becomes more aggressive, and how local governments weigh responsibility, risk, and trust.
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While President Trump was inside Motor City Casino on Tuesday, protesters outside were braving the elements and aggression by the Detroit Police Department.
A group of demonstrators marched from Cass Park in front of the Masonic Temple and to the sidewalk in front of the casino at the corner of Temple and Grand River Avenue.
After being allowed to peacefully assemble for a few minutes, Detroit Police forced protesters down Grand River to a less visible location on the casino’s west side at Trumbull Ave and Elm Street.
A Detroit Police officer – who would not give his name, only the numbers 168 – threatened protesters and members of the press with arrest if they did not move. At least two protesters were arrested.
Sarah Reed of Farmington Hills carried an inverted American flag – a symbol of distress. She stood in front of the advancing officers in an act of defiance.
Reed was surprised by their aggression. “It’s a public sidewalk, and if you and I were there this evening, this morning, before any of this, they’d have no issue with us being on the sidewalk,” Reed said.
Reed, the granddaughter of a Holocaust survivor, said she wants the president to resign. But she had a message for Democrats too. “Get off your asses and fight,” Reed said.
Troy resident Jake Malacos used his lunch hour to protest. He says he was happy to be around protesters because a show of solidarity is good for the community.
As for why he was picketing: “Well, the corruption from the Trump administration. The brutality. The murder of Renee Good. Most of the policies that he’s putting out are pretty rough for me,” Malacos said.
Once DPD had pushed the protesters to the designated 1st Amendment area on Trumbull, about 1,000 protesters marched to Detroit Public Safety.
Officially, Detroit Police do not work with Immigration and Customs Enforcement, but they do share office space.
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When the police make a mistake, who is around to hold them accountable? Sometimes it’s courts and attorneys.
But in many American cities, including those here in Michigan, there are civilian oversight boards. These boards do various things, including investigating civilian complaints, making disciplinary recommendations, and auditing police departments.
The Detroit Board of Police of Commissioners was established in the 1970s after widespread claims of police abuse. Today, after the murder of George Floyd and increased scrutiny of police, more pressure is on police commissioners to hold officers accountable and to make policing work for everyone.
Just before the new year, Detroit welcomed four new people to its Board of Police Commissioners, including Victoria Camille. She is the District 7 commissioner.
Why did she run for the position? How can policing improve in Detroit? And, what does she make of the role of policing in society?
Commissioner Camille joined Cary Junior II on The Metro to discuss.
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Detroit Councilmember Gabriela Santiago-Romero hopes to ban or limit Immigration and Customs Enforcement or ICE agents access in the city. This follows an incident in Minneapolis in which an ICE agent fatally shot a legal observer. Renee Good was a 37-year old mother of three.
Bridge Detroit reports Santiago-Romero sent the council’s Legislative Policy Division a memo during a committee hearing yesterday to define the city’s ability to keep agents out of clinics, schools, and places of worship or city property.
Santiago-Romero said, “We need to ensure that does not happen here in Detroit.” She says there have been recent reports of people getting picked up by ICE agents during school pick ups and entering mosques.
She further inquired about the Detroit Police Departments relation to the federal agency. As of now, Mayor Mary Sheffield says she does not support the police department’s resources being allocated to immigration efforts.
A report by The Trace says ICE has been responsible for 59 shootings and 23 deaths between 2015-2021. None of the agents were charged.
Tonight there will be a vigil and rally at Clark Park in Detroit at 6 p.m.
Bikes 4 Kidz Detroit is giving out free bikes this weekend. The event takes place Saturday, Jan. 10 from 6-9 p.m. at the FB4K Warehouse. That’s located at 4015 Michigan Ave., Detroit, MI.
Sign up for the event in advance.
The City of Hamtramck is naming a street sign after former Bangladesh Prime Minister Khaleda Zia. She served three terms.
The honorary street name will be given to Carpenter Street between Jos. Campau and Conant. Carpenter also borders Detroit where the “Bangladesh: Coming to America” mural is painted on a school building, honoring the Bangladeshi community.
Hamtramck is home to a significant population of Bangladeshis in Michigan. Khaleda Zia passed away on Dec. 30 from health complications. She was 80 years old.
A 30-year-old man with autism from Dearborn Heights, Yousif Hassan Naim went missing Wednesday, prompting a city wide and multi-jurisdiction search in the city with 200 volunteers. His body was found yesterday in the Rouge River near Hines Park.
Dearborn Heights Mayor Mo Baydoun said in a statement: “Despite the incredible outpouring of help and the rapid response from police and fire, the outcome was not what we prayed for.”
The Dearborn Heights Police Department hasn’t formally identified they body; however, they say it matches Hassan’s description. All search efforts have been called off while they await a confirmation from the Wayne County Medical Examiner’s Office. The investigation is ongoing.
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An unnamed gunman was arrested at Romulus Middle School.
The school was placed on lockdown following reports of shots fired outside the building on the second day of classes in the new year.
Romulus Police responded following reports of an ‘active shooter’ after school employees observed a man with a handgun attempting to enter the school’s main doors. A witness told police they heard shots fired.
Officers arrested a 44-year-old man near the school’s main entrance. A handgun was recovered at the scene.
Police say the investigation into the suspect’s motives is ongoing and there is no threat to the school or the community at this time.
Anyone with information related to this incident is asked to contact Detective Sergeant Otter at (734) 942-6857.
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A newly released tranche of Justice Department records tied to Jeffrey Epstein includes a handwritten letter addressed to Larry Nassar, the former Michigan State University and USA Gymnastics doctor who sexually abused hundreds of young athletes over nearly two decades.
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A federal jury on Monday found that a Clinton Township cop used excessive force during a non-emergency encounter, awarding $4 million in compensatory damages and $50,000 in punitive damages to Daniel Reiff, who was left blind in one eye after being punched in the face by the officer.
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Detroit Public Schools officials want Immigration and Customs Enforcement to release four high school students the government is holding, including a star baseball player at Western International High School.
Agents arrested Santiago Jesus Zamora Perez and his mother last weekend. Their lawyer says ICE is holding them in Texas.
At a school board meeting Tuesday, students and teachers described a climate of fear at the school in Detroit’s Mexicantown neighborhood.
Superintendent Nikolai Vitti says he and the school board will write a letter to ICE asking them to release the students it detained.
Detroit’s Kronk Gym officially reopened this month in the old rec center where Joe Luis trained. It’s now in the recently renovated Brewster-Wheeler recreation center.
Kronk Gym was Founded by Emanuel Steward and trained dozens of world boxing champions including Thomas Hearns and Lennox Lewis.
Kronk Gym memberships range from $90 to $129 a month, with training and HIIT classes, or $35 a month for youth.
The social justice group CodePink Detroit will join a coalition of grassroots organizations for a Human Rights Day march this Saturday starting at Hart Plaza.
The groups are calling for an end to the genocide in Gaza and Military aid to Israel, abolishing ICE and ending National Guard presence in some U.S. Cities. The march begins at 2:00pm.
For more information visit codepink.org/detroit1213.
Dearborn Heights came close to canceling it’s annual tree lighting ceremony this year but a local business man saved the day.
City officials had ordered an artificial tree from China but the shipment ran into serious delays. The city decided to try to find a replacement tree, and businessman Sam Hussein helped pay for it. Hussein told Channel 7 he felt it was the right thing to do and was a great way to give back to his community.
The tree lighting ceremony will take place Friday at 6:30 p.m. outside of the Dearborn Heights City Hall.
The Charles H Wright Museum’s Season of Soul is back! The daylong event is Sunday Dec. 14 starting at 10 a.m. The event falls on Second Sunday.
The museum offers free admission on the second Sunday of every month. Activities include morning yoga, photos with Black Santa and Mrs. Claus, and a holiday silent disco.
For more information, check out the events page on the museum’s website at thewright.org.
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Immigration enforcement in the United States has escalated sharply this year. Under the Biden administration, the daily number of people detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) peaked at just under 40,000. In President Trump’s second term, that number has surged to more than 65,000.
A striking majority of those detainees — nearly three-quarters — have no criminal convictions.
Michigan has felt this shift acutely. Longtime residents with work authorization, U.S.-citizen children, and active immigration cases are increasingly being detained. One of them is Ernesto Cuevas Enciso.
Ernesto came to the United States from Mexico in 1995. He was three years old. His baby sister, Miriam, was one. They grew up in Detroit one grade apart, sharing classrooms, milestones, and daily life.
As an adult, Ernesto became a DACA recipient. That protection was later revoked when prior, nonviolent misdemeanors surfaced during a renewal screening—a common outcome even for minor offenses from many years earlier.
Today, Ernesto has legal work authorization through a different process and is pursuing a marriage-based green card application. He is a construction worker, a husband, and a father to a one-year-old daughter.
Last week, Ernesto and another construction worker were near a job site in Ypsilanti when an unmarked vehicle approached. ICE detained both men.
Ernesto is now being held more than three hours from home at the North Lake Processing Center in Baldwin — currently the largest immigration detention facility in the Midwest.
Operated by the private prison company GEO Group, North Lake has been the subject of repeated concerns from families, attorneys, and civil-rights groups, who describe cold temperatures, limited access to medical care, and difficulty contacting legal counsel. ICE has disputed these claims, saying the facility meets federal standards.
Ernesto is awaiting an immigration hearing on December 17.
Ernesto’s family and several Michigan lawmakers are urging ICE to release him on bond. They describe him as not a safety risk, a man who has been following the legal process, supporting his family, and working toward lawful permanent residency.
His sister, Miriam Stone, spoke with The Metro’s Robyn Vincent about the impact of this detention on their family and why they believe Ernesto should come home while his case proceeds.
To understand the legal and policy context behind Ernesto’s case and why so many longtime Michigan residents are being detained this year, The Metro also spoke with Christine Suave of the Michigan Immigrant Rights Center, who explains the legal landscape and what options remain for someone in Ernesto’s position, and State Sen. Stephanie Chang, who discusses what Michigan lawmakers can and cannot do in response to federal immigration enforcement decisions.
The Metro contacted Detroit’s office of Immigration and Customs Enforcement. We asked why they detained Ernesto, given his legal work authorization and his pending marriage-based green card, and if ICE considers a person with two nonviolent misdemeanors, which occurred over a decade ago, to fall within its priority categories of enforcement.
The agency has not yet responded.
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Aggressive immigration enforcement has intensified nationwide. As of early this month, more than 200,000 people had been arrested by ICE agents, including about 75,000 with no criminal record at all.
Lue Yang doesn’t technically fit into this context. But his case is close.
He was born in a Thai refugee camp after his family fled Laos. The Hmong refugee has lived in Michigan since he was 8 months old. While he is here legally, Yang previously had a 1997 criminal conviction, which was expunged in Michigan, but isn’t recognized by federal immigration law.
That resulted in ICE agents arresting Yang in July at his work. He was in prison until last week when he was released with the help of Michigan Republican Congressman Tom Barrett.
Why did Congressman Barrett help free Lue Yang? And, what was the process like for getting someone out of ICE detention?
Congressman Barrett joined The Metro to discuss that and more.
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Detroiters had to deal with a messy commute this morning – as snow overnight turned to rain, making a slushy mess on area roads and sidewalks. While northern suburbs received as much as five inches of snow, the city got about two inches before rain moved in.
The National Weather Service says the rain is expected to turn back into snow this evening. Temperatures will drop through the day as a cold front moves into town. Make sure to shovel your sidewalks or driveways today, because any slush will freeze tonight, with lows dropping to around 19 degrees. Highs for the rest of the week will only be in the 20s.
The Detroit Public Schools Community District closed today because of the weather. Students, teachers and staff got to stay home and all district buildings remained closed. Hundreds of other schools in metro Detroit were also closed today.
With temperatures expected to fall into the 20s over the next few days, the City of Detroit has put out a list of places where residents can warm up. The city’s 13 recreation centers will be available. Some will be open until 7 p.m.; others until 9 p.m. Detroit Public Library branches are also places where you can go to warm up.
Detroit casinos brought in just over $108 million in revenue last month. That’s up one-tenth of a percentage point from November 2024.
MGM Grand retained the top spot in Detroit with 47% of the market share. Motor City had 30%. Hollywood Casino at Greektown controlled 23% of the market.
The three casinos paid $13.2 million in taxes and development agreement payments to the City of Detroit last month. They paid another $8.6 million in taxes to the State of Michigan.
Kilpatrick wants restitution cut
Former Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick wants to have a federal judge reduce his restitution payments.
Kilpatrick appeared on WJR saying assets previously seized and restitution already paid should cover the remainder of what he owes the city.
The Detroit News reports Kilpatrick owed the city hundreds of thousands of dollars last year at this time. He was sentenced to 28 years in federal prison on racketeering conspiracy and other charges, but President Trump commuted his sentence in 2021.
A Michigan Court of Claims judge has declined to block a 24% wholesale tax on marijuana in the state less than a month before it’s scheduled to go into effect.
However, Judge Sima Patel allowed the challenge to the tax to proceed.
The Michigan Cannabis Industry Association claims the new tax is unconstitutional because it improperly alters a 2018 ballot measure that legalized the drug. Patel disagreed, writing that the new law was “another tax,” not an amendment to the ballot measure.
The City of Detroit is celebrating its “Rides to Care” program. Over the past year, the service has provided more than 20,000 free roundtrip rides for pregnant women and caregivers of babies up to a year old to get to medical appointments.
The goal of the program is to make it easier for those women to get to important prenatal and early childhood medical care.
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For years, Detroit students have borne the weight of decisions made far from their classrooms.
They’ve studied in buildings neglected through decades of disinvestment, crossed dangerous neighborhoods reshaped by school closures, and grown up in a district that spent years under state control. This trauma came from policy decisions that left Detroit students with less than their peers across Michigan.
Now, a new ballot initiative, Invest in MI Kids, argues it can help repair that history. The campaign proposes a 5% surtax on only the very highest incomes, with the money flowing into Michigan’s public schools.
That surtax would apply to income above $500,000 for single filers and above $1 million for joint filers. All revenue would be deposited into the Michigan School Aid Fund, where it would be legally restricted to classroom and student supports. The money could go toward things like smaller class sizes, educator pay, mental health staff, and career and technical education.
Funds would then be distributed through the state’s existing school-funding formula, meaning every public district would receive additional dollars. Higher-need districts, such as Detroit, would see greater impact if the state administers funds equitably.
Imani Foster with 482 Forward is organizing families and young people around this campaign. She joined Robyn Vincent to discuss what Detroit kids and students across Michigan stand to gain.
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Just two days after a violent Jan. 6 defendant marched into Dearborn with a bulletproof vest to taunt Muslims by yelling racial slurs and slapping a Quran with a bag of bacon, a top Trump administration official is now suggesting the U.S. Department of Justice may investigate the people he provoked.
The post Trump’s DOJ eyes Dearborn’s Muslims, not the racist insurrectionist who terrorized them appeared first on Detroit Metro Times.
When Gregory Berry walked out of prison in December 2020 after more than 17 years behind bars for a murder he didn’t commit, he said he had faced a difficult choice: Agree not to sue for wrongful imprisonment or remain incarcerated for life.
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