In recent weeks, a groundswell of legal action, community outcry, and calls for transparency have swept across the United States, as immigration enforcement tactics and government secrecy come under renewed scrutiny. From the corridors of federal courts in New York and San Juan to the rural heartland of Wisconsin, a series of lawsuits, raids, and revelations have ignited debate about civil liberties, due process, and the human cost of aggressive immigration policy.
On October 1, 2025, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and its Virginia and North Carolina affiliates filed a federal lawsuit against U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in the Southern District of New York. According to The Davis Vanguard, the lawsuit demands that ICE release records about its potential plans to expand immigration detention in Virginia—specifically, details related to a May 28, 2025, Request for Information seeking new facilities for up to 1,500 detainees within two hours of Richmond International Airport.
The ACLU alleges that ICE failed to comply with the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) by not releasing any records or providing a legal justification for withholding them, despite statutory requirements to respond within 20 business days. The case is not just about paperwork; it’s about the public’s right to know how government agencies operate—especially when, as the ACLU points out, more than 59,000 people are detained daily in ICE’s sprawling network of approximately 190 facilities, most of which are privately operated or run by local governments.
“The public has a right to know how its taxpayer dollars are being used to expand the abusive ICE detention machine,” said Eunice Cho, senior counsel at the ACLU’s National Prison Project, in comments reported by The Davis Vanguard. The lawsuit, she emphasized, is about “transparency and accountability.”
That demand for openness echoes across the country. In Puerto Rico, the ACLU’s local chapter filed its own legal challenge on October 1, 2025, against the island’s Department of Transportation and Public Works (DTOP) and Secretary Edwin González Montalvo. As reported by The San Juan Daily Star, the ACLU of Puerto Rico is seeking documents related to the transfer of confidential information about nearly 6,000 migrants who obtained Puerto Rico driver’s licenses under Act No. 97 of 2013. The lawsuit claims that between February and March 2025, the Puerto Rican government handed over personal data to federal immigration agencies—without apparent court orders—potentially exposing thousands to arrest and deportation.
Annette Martínez Orabona, executive director of the ACLU of Puerto Rico, explained, “The legislative intent of this law was specifically to protect data for non-immigration purposes. Therefore, the government acted illegally by providing this information to a federal entity without, apparently, a court order signed by a judge.” She called on authorities to make any such order public, in line with constitutional mandates.
The stakes are high. From January 1 to September 21, 2025, at least 1,128 immigrants were arrested by ICE on the island, according to the ACLU-PR. Fermín Arraiza Navas, the legal director of ACLU-Puerto Rico, did not mince words: “The negligence of DTOP has led to devastating and irreversible consequences. Our government has become complicit in systematic human rights violations.”
Both lawsuits underscore a broader trend—a government push for secrecy around immigration enforcement, even as communities and advocacy groups demand answers. The ACLU’s Virginia lawsuit points to mounting reports of inhumane conditions in detention centers, including a facility in Chantilly, Virginia, where immigrants were reportedly given only one meal a day and denied access to lawyers following President Trump’s federal takeover of Washington, D.C. “ICE’s solution to the dangerous, rapidly degenerating conditions in its existing facilities can’t be to replicate those conditions in new facilities that it builds in secret,” said Sophia Gregg, senior immigrants’ rights attorney at the ACLU of Virginia. “ICE must be transparent and follow the law—not violate people’s civil rights and civil liberties to advance an inhumane political agenda.”
Meanwhile, in the rural farmlands of Manitowoc County, Wisconsin, the human impact of federal enforcement has become acutely personal. On September 25, 2025, the FBI’s Milwaukee field office and ICE conducted a joint operation resulting in the arrest of 24 immigrants without legal status. According to Wisconsin Public Radio, the operation was linked to a transnational human and drug trafficking investigation. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) released the names of six individuals, citing serious allegations, but offered little detail about the others detained—many of whom were farm workers or members of a local Catholic church.
The lack of transparency has left families and communities in turmoil. “They want to paint everyone automatically as a criminal illegal alien,” said Matt Sauer, a pastor for Manitowoc Cooperative Ministry, as quoted by Wisconsin Public Radio. “To me, that sounds like positioning.” State-level court records showed no corresponding criminal charges as of early October, fueling skepticism among local leaders about the federal government’s narrative. “If there are indeed some people that were involved in human trafficking, they should go through the justice system,” Sauer added. “We don’t want violent criminals on the streets. But we also believe that there needs to be due process.”
Farmers and business leaders voiced similar worries. Michael Slattery, a Manitowoc County farmer, noted that not all those detained were farm workers, but he was concerned about the negative image being projected. “What is conveyed in the national media is that the people that they were picking up were traffickers,” he said. In fact, as of September 21, 2025, 71.5 percent of people held in ICE detention had no criminal conviction, according to data from the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse at Syracuse University.
The climate of fear has spread far beyond those directly affected. Deacon Mark LeGreve of St. Francis of Assisi Parish said two parishioners were among the detained and have since agreed to be deported to Honduras. “They’re questioning, ‘Should I go to work? Should I bring my kids to school? Should I bring my kids to the doctor’s appointment? Should I go get groceries?’” he recounted. Rosa Huizar, a resident and legal U.S. resident since 2024, said some community members have even asked her to take power of attorney over their children in case of deportation. “The community, they’re scared,” she said. “I know they’re very scared.”
Business leaders echoed these concerns. Sachin Shivaram, CEO of the Wisconsin Aluminum Foundry, said, “This lack of transparency about what happened is causing regular people who have nothing to fear to actually be fearful and not go about their daily lives.” Darin Von Ruden, president of the Wisconsin Farmers Union, observed that immigrant farm workers across the state have grown increasingly nervous, sometimes avoiding work altogether for fear of being detained.
As lawsuits wind their way through the courts and communities grapple with uncertainty, one thread binds these stories together: a demand for transparency, due process, and respect for human rights. The ACLU’s legal actions in Virginia and Puerto Rico, as well as the outcry in Wisconsin, highlight the urgent need for open government and accountability—principles that, advocates argue, are foundational to democracy itself.
In the end, the ongoing legal battles and community responses serve as a stark reminder that behind every statistic and policy decision are real people—families, workers, and neighbors—whose lives are shaped by the actions and secrecy of those in power.
