1/19/26 - ICE, immigration, and disability

Good afternoon!

Here in the US, it's hard to think of anything but ICE actions. And as Friday's newsletter made clear, there is definitely a disability angle to the issue – more than one angle actually.

The Danger ICE Poses to the Disabled Community

Alison Stine, Nonprofit Quarterly - January 14, 2026

"Across the country as ICE agents, given more leeway and little to no oversight by the second Trump administration, push into communities, target construction workers at their jobs, and abduct parents at their children’s schools, people with disabilities face an increased threat of violence at the hands of the federal immigration enforcement agency."

It may help to think about the connections between the hardline immigration practices and the current ICE actions, and disability discrimination, as having at least two layers. One is the deeper conceptual and historical links between racism and ableism in the formation of US immigration policies. Disabled people have always been considered, on some level, unwanted or disfavored, a factor that is often further compounded and intertwined with race. At the same time, there is also a somewhat more practical, surface-layer lack of understanding of disabled people that tends to affect how coercive government actions of all kinds are carried out. Once someone is regarded as outside the law, rightly or not, it becomes easier not to care – not to give a crap – whether or not someone also happens to be disabled, and what that might mean for how to treat them. None of us should be surprised to see this happening with ICE. It's built into the system, and is also a predictable product of that system's deliberate carelessness.

Recent Changes to Immigration Policies Have Disastrous Impacts on Disabled People and Long-Term Care

Rachel Litchman, American Association of People with Disabilities - January 9, 2026

"All care attendants deserve better pay and treatment, and care attendants who are immigrants deserve to not feel threatened in the workplace due to increased anti- immigrant enforcement activity. Unfortunately, Trump’s immigration policies, which include visa suspensions for immigrants of color – including Haitians, Somalis, and Afghans – have already affected the long-term care workforce. Immigrants are leaving or disappearing from healthcare jobs and facilities are struggling to find people to hire."

And this is the other way disabled Americans are affected by the Trump administration's immigrant intimidation and deportation campaign. Our reliance on immigrants and other low-income workers have for a long time placed disabled people in awkward relationships with these communities. We depend on them, and they on us. That makes allies, but also sometimes adversaries. Which and when depends on all sorts of individual and systemic factors. But now is clearly a time when emphasizing the allies part is more important than ever.

How Do You Get Systems to Care When They Don’t?

Sara Minkara, Curious Constructs - January 14, 2026

"Systems are made of people ... People bring assumptions, experiences, expertise, and personal histories that shape how they engage. They may also carry untapped motivations or personal connections to your issue that have never been surfaced ... Finding common ground—and appealing to it—can move the system in ways formal directives may never."

This is one of several great insights offered in this post. And it's mostly meant to be hopeful, which it mostly is. But I can't help thinking that it also helps explain some of the negative things we are seeing with ICE actions right now. Watching video of that autistic woman in Minneapolis being dragged from her car and pinned to the ground, I find it all to easy to believe that the officer involved probably had some pretty specific and negative ideas about people who declare their disabilities and assert their need for accommodation. Put another way, did her saying she's autistic cause the agent to pause or ease off? Or, did that actually further inflame him?

Disability Thinking Weekday is a Monday-Friday newsletter with links and commentary on disability-related articles and other content. You can help promote Disability Thinking Weekday by forwarding it by email or posting on your social media. You can also comment by sending me an email at: apulrang@icloud.com. Collected comments are shared on the first of each month. A free subscription sends a newsletter to your email each weekday. Benefits of paid subscription include:

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