ICE Sweeps Into Ohio, Stirring Fear Among Somalis and Other Immigrants

After Mayor Andrew Ginther of Columbus said that its policy prohibited local cooperation on immigration enforcement, Elon Musk called him a “traitor.”

Naturalized citizens in Ohio’s capital, Columbus, have taken to carrying passports with them. Businesses and nonprofits that serve immigrants around the city are delivering goods to customers who are afraid to venture outside their homes. Churches in immigrant neighborhoods are all but empty.

A surge of enforcement in Columbus by Immigration and Customs Enforcement over the past week has created turmoil there and angered local leaders, who find their city the latest target of the Trump administration’s mass deportation campaign.

A blue city in a red state, Columbus is home to the Ohio State University and a host of immigrant communities. The increased ICE action in the city comes weeks after federal agents carried out big sweeps in New Orleans and Charlotte, N.C., which, like Columbus, are Democrat-led cities in states where Republicans hold much of the political power.

In a statement over the weekend ICE highlighted the arrests of 10 men in Ohio as part of “Operation Buckeye,” saying they had criminal records and were in the country illegally. Of the 10, three were arrested before the operation, according to the statement. The agency did not respond to an email sent Tuesday asking how many had been apprehended in the operation.

“We figured if they were going to come, it was going to be to Columbus,” said Lourdes Barroso de Padilla, the first Latina elected to the City Council and the daughter of Cuban immigrants.

Mayor Andrew J. Ginther, who has called ICE agents’ presence “unwelcome,” promised that city police officers would not assist ICE arrests based solely on immigration status. His stance has provoked attacks on social media by Stephen Miller, the architect of President Trump’s immigration policy, and by Elon Musk, a former adviser of the president.

Somalis make up one of the largest immigrant communities in Columbus, and Somali immigrants nationwide have been a target of President Trump. Earlier this month, he called them “garbage” and said he wanted to send them back to their troubled homeland in East Africa.

The Somali immigrant population in Columbus is the second largest in the country, after Minneapolis. ICE recently carried out a crackdown in the Twin Cities, spurred, the authorities said, by a fraud scandal in which almost all of the people charged are of Somali origin.

The scrutiny has shaken the Somali community centered in northeast Columbus, where restaurants serve tastes of home, like stewed goat and rice with mint tea and where stores sell traditional garments.

“Never in a million years did I think I would have to prove I was a United States citizen when I was born here in Ohio,” said Ayub Abdi, 24, the son of Somali immigrants who is studying accounting at Ohio State. He recently began carrying his passport when he leaves home.

A notice posted at an entrance to the Banadir Mall warns that ICE agents may not enter without a judicial warrant. Sam Gulid, an American citizen from Somalia, said he had to reassure his third-grade son, who did not want to go to school because he was afraid of immigration agents.

The Somali community is not the only ethnic community in Columbus that feels targeted.

Maria Beinnt said her financial services storefront, which many people use to transfer money to family in Latin America, was packed last year in the days before Christmas.

“Today the store is empty,” she said, adding that last week one of her customers and two employees of a neighboring business were seized by ICE agents in the parking lot. “Everyone is afraid to come out.”

On Monday Volunteers at Our Helpers, which provides resources to immigrants and refugees, delivered 100 boxes filled with rice, beans, lentils, eggs, milk, bread, sugar, flour, oil and assorted vegetables to immigrant families who were afraid to leave their homes. On Tuesday, two days before Christmas, 217 boxes were sent out.

“We only stopped because we ran out of food,” said Dr. Dorothy Hassan, the CEO of Our Helpers. “Our list is far longer than that.”

The Catholic Diocese of Columbus announced on Tuesday that because of the increased ICE activity in the city, parishioners would be excused from attending Mass through the Christmas season.

Mayor Ginther, in his third term as mayor, has tried to reassure immigrant residents. But after posting a video in which he and Police Chief Elaine Bryant affirmed the executive order he issued in 2017 that prohibited the use of city resources for the enforcement of federal immigration policy, he also became a target.

Mr. Miller, the White House official, accused Mayor Ginther on social media of “advocating for mass Somali migration.” Mr. Musk replied by calling Mr. Ginther a “traitor to America.”

Jennifer Lockrey, a spokesman for the mayor, said Mr. Ginther wanted Columbus to be safe for everyone. “Columbus will continue to be a city that follows laws and leads with humanity,” she said. Those principles are not in conflict, rather, they are the foundation of good governance.”

While Columbus and other big Ohio cities are led by Democrats, Republicans hold all of the statewide offices, including both U.S. Senate seats. In social media posts this week, Senator Bernie Moreno faulted Columbus for its stance on cooperating with ICE. “ICE is enforcing those laws and it’s a bare minimum expectation for Cities that receive federal monies to cooperate with them,” wrote Mr. Moreno, a Colombian immigrant who was elected to his seat last year. “That’s true for Columbus as it is for every other American City.”

Angela Plummer, the director of Community Refugee and Immigration Services in Central Ohio, said recent months have brought dizzying changes: Immigrants have had to worry about the loss of SNAP benefits, the cessation of green card processing, and the cancellation of naturalization ceremonies.

“The bad news of the day is the ICE raids,” she said.

In the Columbus area the population boom, in contrast to a statewide population decline, has been boosted by immigrants, who accounted for 77 percent of the city’s growth in 2023-24, according to U.S. census data. Beyond the Somali population, which census data estimates at 30,000 but other say is close to double, there are sizable communities of Afghans, Venezuelans, Cubans, Nepalis, Bhutanese and Haitians. Many arrived as refugees and are now naturalized citizens, according to officials with organizations that assist immigrants.

During the ICE operation, protesters have gathered outside hotels where they believe ICE agents are staying. On Monday outside one hotel, protesters banged pots and pans, blew whistles and blared rock music from car stereos.

“They’re here with masks and unmarked cars — and we got no notice,” said Councilwoman Barroso de Padilla, who has participated in some of the protests. “If you come into our community without manners, why shouldn’t we do the same?”

Kitty Bennett contributed research.

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