Cincinnati committee hears pleas to protect immigrant residents, asks administration for report on supports

Vice Mayor Jan Michelle Leming Kearney opened the Healthy Neighborhoods Committee meeting by saying the panel would hear public comment and presentations about services for immigrant residents and new Americans.

Public speakers described fear and economic harm in neighborhoods with large immigrant populations and urged city action. “To me, this is a moral question versus a legal question,” said Don Driehaus, a Price Hill resident. Nancy Sullivan, director of Transformation CDC, told the committee “If suddenly… the immigrants living in the Price Hill area and Westwood disappeared, the economy would tank.”

The committee heard a presentation from Myra Casas Jackson, executive director of the Immigrant and Refugee Law Center, who emphasized practical steps residents can take during immigration enforcement encounters and the center’s legal‑support work. “Everyone in The US has rights regardless of our immigration status,” Casas Jackson said, and she urged broader distribution of the center’s “know your rights” materials. She gave the center’s phone and web contacts and…