Monitoring the most powerful family in West MI: The DeVos Family Reader – July 2026 edition
It has been roughly 9 months since I last update the . As always, there has been plenty to report on regarding the most powerful family in West Michigan.
In Howard Zinn’s monumental book, A People’s History of the United States, he constantly juxtaposes the amazing things that people did to fight for liberation and the people behind the systems of oppression that social movements were fighting against.
This is exactly why I have spent years monitoring, investigating and critiquing the DeVos Family. They are the most recognizable and powerful manifestation of the systems of power and oppression in West Michigan. Now, I know there are plenty of people who share the belief that without the DeVos Family, Grand Rapids wouldn’t be where it is today. I fully agree with that belief, but for reasons that are the exact opposite of those who hold the most powerful family in West Michigan in high regard.
This updated version of the DeVos Family Reader includes information and analysis on a variety of local issues, even some that are not directly focused on the DeVos Family, but there are connections.
There were a total of 25 articles involving the DeVos family since the last time I updated the DeVos Family Reader, with 5 of those being my annual information on the 5 separate DeVos Family Foundations, which you can find here. The other 20 articles are listed below in chronological order. The DeVos Family Reader is now up to 888 pages.
Further evidence of how much the DeVos family has their tentacles in all things Grand Rapids https://griid.org/2025/10/26/further-evidence-of-how-much-the-devos-family-has-their-tentacles-in-all-things-grand-rapids/
Rockford (Construction) will likely get the contract for a housing development project next to the Amway Stadium https://griid.org/2025/12/12/rockford-construction-will-likely-get-the-contract-for-a-housing-development-project-next-to-the-amway-stadium/
Campesinos reclaim some communal lands in Mexico that Amway has been using for their Nutrilite product line https://griid.org/2025/12/15/campesinos-reclaim-some-communal-lands-in-mexico-that-amway-has-been-using-for-their-nutrilite-product-line/
State board OKs $561M tax incentive to billionaire Amway families for 3 tower project: Mayor LaGrand celebrates this decision https://griid.org/2025/12/22/state-board-oks-561m-tax-incentive-to-billionaire-amway-families-for-3-tower-project-mayor-lagrand-celebrates-this-decision/
Doug DeVos re-introduces his dad’s book Believe, trashes socialism and thinks the country was founded on the principles of free enterprise https://griid.org/2026/01/14/doug-devos-re-introduces-his-dads-book-believe-trashes-socialism-and-thinks-the-country-was-founded-on-the-principles-of-free-enterprise/
Griffins hockey team President who made a racist and homophobic statement works for the DeVos/Van Andel families https://griid.org/2026/02/05/griffins-hockey-team-president-who-made-racist-and-homophobic-statement-works-for-the-devos-van-andel-families/
Doug DeVos and revisionist history of Grand Rapids since 1976: How the Capitalist Class always tries to control the narrative https://griid.org/2026/02/16/doug-devos-and-revisionist-history-of-grand-rapids-since-1976-how-the-capitalist-class-always-tries-to-control-the-narrative/
New Hotel proposal for Grand Rapids once again demonstrates that expanding the wealth of the rich takes priority over housing for working class families https://griid.org/2026/03/15/new-hotel-proposal-for-grand-rapids-once-again-demonstrates-that-expanding-the-wealth-of-the-rich-takes-priority-over-housing-for-working-class-families/
AI and data centers are not a problem if God is involved, says Doug DeVos and his fellow believers https://griid.org/2026/03/17/ai-and-data-centers-are-not-a-problem-if-god-is-involved-says-doug-devos-and-his-fellow-believers/
Expanding their wealth and control over auto sales: DeVos-owned Fox Motors acquires even more auto dealerships in West Michigan https://griid.org/2026/04/09/expanding-their-wealth-and-control-over-auto-sales-devos-owned-fox-motors-acquires-even-more-auto-dealerships-in-west-michigan/
Rick DeVos and his family have been coming for you and your children for a very long time https://griid.org/2026/04/28/rick-devos-and-his-family-have-been-coming-for-you-and-your-children-for-a-very-long-time/
DeVos-led GR A250 group is offering a class from the National Constitution Center on “Happiness in America’s Founding” https://griid.org/2026/05/02/devos-led-gr-a250-group-is-offering-a-class-from-the-national-constitution-center-on-happiness-in-americas-founding/
Two speakers, two war criminals and the DeVos family: Econ Club annual dinner will celebrate members of the Capitalist Class https://griid.org/2026/05/04/two-speakers-two-war-criminals-and-the-devos-family-econ-club-annual-dinner-will-celebrate-members-of-the-capitalist-class/
Monitoring the Rich and Powerful in Grand Rapids – Segment #11: Dick DeVos says God loves work, plus a Housing Summit featuring wealthy developers https://griid.org/2026/05/07/monitoring-the-rich-and-powerful-in-grand-rapids-segment-11-dick-devos-says-god-loves-work-plus-a-housing-summit-featuring-wealthy-developers/
DeVos acolyte justifies the Crusades, genocide and Islamophobia in an article entitled, When Did We Stop Subduing the Earth? https://griid.org/2026/05/21/devos-acolyte-justifies-the-crusades-genocide-and-islamophobia-in-an-article-entitled-when-did-we-stop-subduing-the-earth/
Deconstructing the comments from Dick DeVos after his family received an award at the Econ Club’s annual dinner on Tuesday https://griid.org/2026/06/05/deconstructing-the-comments-from-dick-devos-after-his-family-received-an-award-at-the-econ-clubs-annual-dinner-on-tuesday/
DeVos-led group GR A250 continues to want to control the narrative about the history of the US https://griid.org/2026/06/15/devos-led-group-gr-a250-continues-to-want-to-control-the-narrative-about-the-history-of-the-us/
Doug DeVos is endorsing a new book, which tells us exactly what he really believes in https://griid.org/2026/06/17/doug-devos-is-endorsing-a-new-book-which-tells-us-exactly-what-he-really-believes-in/
Resisting the narratives about Grand Rapids from the DeVos dominated GR A250 committee https://griid.org/2026/06/21/resisting-the-narratives-about-grand-rapids-from-the-devos-dominated-gr-a250-committee/
The DeVos/Van Andel Three Towers project will now get millions in public funding after a recent Michigan Legislative vote https://griid.org/2026/07/06/the-devos-van-andel-three-towers-project-will-now-get-millions-in-public-funding-after-a-recent-michigan-legislative-vote/
Pickleball tournament going on now in GR, so how is the DeVos family connected? https://griid.org/2026/07/08/pickleball-tournament-going-on-now-in-gr-so-how-is-the-devos-family-connected/
The annual pickleball tournament that began in 2018 in Grand Rapids, also known as the Beer City Open, is taking place at the Belknap Park until Sunday, July 12.
Pickleball began as a sport for older adults because it required less running than tennis, but has not become a massive billion dollar sport that has it’s own professional league.
The main sponsor of the Beer City Open is AHC Hospitality, is a management company owned by the DeVos family and includes hotels, resorts, and restaurants. On the Beer City Open website it lists AHC Hospitality as the title sponsor and the official hotel partner, with links to the four DeVos-owned hotels in downtown Grand Rapids – JW Marriot Grand Rapids, AC Hotel Downtown Grand Rapids, Amway Grand Plaza Hotel and the Courtyard by Marriot Downtown.
The the thing about the DeVos family is that they are strategic, which is why they have been a major force in the creation of Grand Action 2.0, which brought us the Van Andel Arena, the Downtown Market, the Amphitheater and soon to be open Amway Soccer Stadium. All of these projects have relied on millions of public dollars, plus they increase tourism, thus the need for hotels, like the ones the DeVos family owns.
However, this is not the only connection the DeVos family has to pickleball. In 2024, WZZM 13 reported that Ryan DeVos, one of the son’s of Dick & Betsy DeVos, is the owner of the Orlando Squeeze, a Major League Pickleball franchise. In that article, DeVos said that he was working on getting the 30 million pickleball players to watch pickleball played on a professional level. Always thinking about capturing consumers.
Then there is the DeVos-owned Michigan Sports Academies that are located throughout West Michigan. The Michigan Sports Academies offers soccer, volleyball, basketball and pickleball leagues.
Ownership of the Orlando Squeeze and the Michigan Sports Academies is just part of the DeVos family’s larger portfolio of sports teams and sports complexes that they own. Having hotels on top of that works well, since the DeVos family is constantly thinking about ways to expand their wealth by controlling more of the economic, social and cultural dynamics in West Michigan.
In August of 2024 I wrote about the newly created Thrive and Prosper group, or as they like to refer to themselves as a movement. Here is part of what I had to say:
Thrive and Prosper is just the latest iteration of the talent development and entrepreneurial pipeline that will allow a small sector of the local population to make money and be successful. The problem with this tired old approach is that it is just another manifestation of Capitalism 101, where given the right opportunity, you too can be financially successful.
Of course, the problem is that only a small percentage of Grand Rapids will Thrive and Prosper, since wealth creation under this model always requires profit making from cheap labor and the extraction of natural resources.
Thrive and Prosper will only benefit a few people, who will ultimately have to play the game created by members of the Grand Rapids Power Structure. However, the few that will Thrive and Prosper will also have to abandon their communities, since you can’t thrive and prosper without causing others hardship, poverty and despair. Welcome to West Michigan Nice!
In December of 2024 I once again wrote about an event that Thrive and Prosper put on, where Doug DeVos was the MC and also presented his own perspective on Grand Rapids.
“We saw that in our own community, about 4 years ago. We saw that here, very unsettled. We started experiencing some of the mob, some of the rioting and some of the lawlessness that don’t really comport with a civil society.”
These comments from DeVos clearly demonstrate his class privilege, since what happened with the uprising in 2020 was rooted not only in how the police murder and repress Black communities, but how there is deep seated structural injustice and exploitation that people like DeVos are removed from and responsible for. The DeVos family is the best example of the growing wealth gap in Grand Rapids, where a small number of people are benefiting from the labor and suffering of the majority of the population.
In the new report from Thrive and Prosper they continue to push the same agenda. Here is a brief overview of their 2025 annual report.
Thrive and Prosper acknowledges that nearly half of the population of Grand Rapids is living paycheck to paycheck, but what they offer is more support for people who want to start their own businesses.
Thrive and Prosper highlights the partnership between the following groups – Grand Rapids Chamber of Commerce, AmplifyGR, Construction Allies in Action, the Center for Community Transformation, Michigan Minority Supplier Development Council, Opportunity Empowered, Opportunity Ventures and SpringGR. All of these groups are pushing for business opportunities and support for entrepreneurs, but say nothing about economic injustice or structural and systemic exploitation.
- Thrive and Prosper promotes workforce development, but only if it is mutually beneficial to business owners.
- Thrive and Prosper embraces faith communities as a necessary component in promoting wealth creation. This makes complete sense since wealth creation has nothing to do with economic justice or a radical redistribution of economic resources across the community.
- Thrive and Prosper continues their Cocktails and Cross-Pollination approach to connecting people, which provides an opportunity for people to meet and discuss “opportunities” with the very people who have created economic disparities in Grand Rapids.
What Thrive and Prosper will not talk about or not suggest are the some of the following:
- Everyone should be paid a Livable Wage.
- People should organize a union to democratize their workplace.
- Tenants should organize a tenant’s union to challenge high rental costs and exploitative landlord practices.
- How hundreds of million in public dollars will be used for projects like the Amphitheater, the Soccer Stadium, the Aquarium and the Three Towers Project, but no comporable investments in neighborhoods.
- If the GRPD budget was reduced to the 32% City Charter amount of the annual budget, there would be at least $10 million a year that could be spent on meeting basic community needs.
- That Grand Rapids has the largest wealth gap in the entire state of Michigan.
When are the faith leaders in this city going to start quoting Dr. King or using similar language to hold the government accountable with spending priorities, where militarism is prioritized, but not community needs? “A nation that continues year after year to spend more money on military defense than on programs of social uplift is approaching spiritual doom.”
Thrive and Prosper is just another economic con within the capitalist system. Some will benefit, while the masses struggle to survive.
Several months ago many news agencies were reporting that the roughly $565 million in public subsidies for the DeVos/Van Andel Three Towers project was at risk for lack of public dollars.
However, last week State Legislators passed a bill that would increase a $1.6 billion limit on post-construction tax captures in the transformational brownfield plan program to $3.2 billion.
According to an article in Crain’s Grand Rapids Business the increased transformational brownfield tax incentives program will already being going for a partial demolition and overhaul of Detroit’s iconic Renaissance Center, along with funding for the DeVos/Van Andel Three Towers project in Grand Rapids.
Senate Bill 723 was approved by the Senate in December by a vote of 24-12, with Senate Minority Leader Winnie Brinks voting for it. The House passed it on an 82-26 last week with a voice vote, thus demonstrating plenty of bipartisan support for giving millions to developers as a subsidy while nearly half the families in Michigan are living paycheck to paycheck. The Crain’s article presents this vote as a a good thing, since their publication is business centered.
GRIID first wrote about the DeVos/Van Andel Three Towers project in September of 2024, with several articles that followed which as listed here.
All of the hoopla over the 250th birthday of the US is now in our rearview mirror, but if you think that we can now movement on from that you are gravely mistaken.
Ever since the US was founded there has been a battle to control the narrative of how the country was founded and how it has evolved over the past two and a half centuries. On the one hand you have the narrative that the US was founded on freedom and liberty, yet at the same time there has been tremendous scholarly research and publications coming from historically marginalized communities and insurgent writers that tells a much different story about the what the US was founded on and what has happened over the past 250 years.
The 10 books listed above are an example of a people’s history of the US, which is in stark contrast to the narrative we all grew up with where some great white men won us our freedom. We are not told that the first Supreme Court Justice John Jay believed, “those who own the country ought to govern it.” Many of us have not been exposed to the well documented history of the US founding to demonstrate that is was based on genocidal policies of the US towards Indigenous people and the enslavement of African people.
Most of us grew up with the vision of the founding of the US, one that Rich DeVos believed in, which says, “The call of freedom went forth from a rugged wilderness, and Europe and Asia and Africa sent their sons of adventure to hew out a new society in a land of forests and savages.”
Most of us were not exposed to the powerful speech that Frederick Douglass gave in 1952, What, To The Slave, Is The Fourth Of July? Douglass said in part:
What, to the American slave, is your Fourth of July? I answer: a day that reveals to him, more than all other days in the year, the gross injustice and cruelly to which he is the constant victim. To him, your celebration is a sham; your boasted liberty, an unholy license; your national greatness, swelling vanity; your sounds of rejoicing are empty and heartless; your denunciations of tyrants, brass fronted impudence; your shouts of liberty and equality, hollow mockery; your prayers and hymns, your sermons and thanksgivings, with all your religious parade, and solemnity, are, to him, mere bombast, fraud, deception, impiety, and hypocrisy—a thin veil to cover up crimes which would disgrace a nation of savages. There is not a nation on the earth guilty of practices, more shocking and bloody, than are the people of these United States, at this very hour.
For those of us in Grand Rapids we are influenced by the great white men here, like the DeVos family, with their names plastered on buildings across the city. In a recent issue of Doug DeVos’ online journal Believe!, he writes:
We make no apology for our patriotism. We believe this is the greatest country in human history, and that America’s example has uplifted the world. We also believe that every generation of Americans has done the hard work of better applying our national principles. Our people have continually forged a more perfect union, grounded in freedom, equality, and justice for all.
I ask you, how many people across the US or just in Grand Rapids have real freedom, equality or justice? Remember, the above statement is coming from a billionaire who has made his wealth off of the exploitation of others or by siphoning public funds.
Grand Rapidians are not generally taught about the about the 6,000 KKK members who who to town in 1925 for a parade on the 4th of July, where they had a GRPD escort and thousands of people lined the streets to cheer them on.
GRIID has been monitoring the DeVos-run GR A250 committee propaganda over the past year, where those with power in this city want to craft a very narrow narrative of this city’s history.
This is exactly why I wrote a People’s History of Grand Rapids in 2023, because I wanted to provide a counter-narrative. In the introduction of that book I write:
A People’s History of Grand Rapids is about what the Zapatistas, a revolutionary autonomous movement in Southern Mexico, refer to as: La Guerra en contra del Olvido, or in English, “The War Against Forgetting.”
The systems of power and oppression in Grand Rapids do not want us to know this history and will do whatever they can to suppress it or co-opt it. These same systems of power and oppression in Grand Rapids also want us to forget this history once we have learned it. They don’t want us to know that Grand Rapids was built on settler colonialism; they don’t want us to know that all the wealth in this city was created by laborers; they don’t want us to know that Grand Rapids practices a very sophisticated version of structural racism; and they certainly don’t want us to know that social movements and direct action – which disrupt their “business as usual” – have always been the most effective means of fighting oppression.
We cannot afford to forget this history and we need to continually create counter-narratives that celebrate the incredible work being done at the grassroots level. We need to celebrate the lived experiences of those on the ground and in the streets, and we need to center the voices of the most affected members of this community if we want to counter the narratives of the wealthiest and most privileged among us.
Free Them All was the message during the protest at the North Lake Concentration Camp on July 4th
I don’t celebrate the 4th of July. I don’t celebrate the US Empire. I don’t celebrate a country that was founded on genocide and slavery. I don’t celebrate US imperialism that has caused the deaths of tens of millions of people around the world from US military actions or the economic exploitation of of Capitalist policies that often drives US military conquest.
However, I do celebrate people. I celebrate the rich history of people resisting empire, resisting oppression and systems of power. On the 4th of July this year I was inspired by the courage and commitment of amazing people who are continuing the legacy of what radical historian Howard Zinn refers to as a people’s history.
In a previous post I wrote about the Cosecha led action during the Hollyhock Lane parade yesterday. Last night I participated in and witnessed the power of solidarity that people were demonstrating at the GEO Group-owned North Lake detention center in Baldwin.
The action at North Lake was organized by No Detention Centers in Michigan, which sent out a brief statement about the July 4th protest:
It has now been one year since the GEO Group reopened North Lake for ICE, six months since Nenko Gantchev died behind its walls, and three months since immigrants held inside launched hunger and work strikes that prefigured a massive wave of organizing inside ICE prisons around the country. People held at North Lake and across the immigration detention system have reported dire medical neglect, abuse, insufficient or spoiled food, foul drinking water, unsanitary conditions, lack of access to legal help or outside communication, forced labor, and retaliation for organizing. These are the inherent conditions of detention.
Our main goal in organizing these demos is to make sure the people inside know we care about them, their wellbeing, and their liberation.
The last time there was this kind of protest at the North Lake Concentration Camp people decided it was time to enter the North Lake detention center grounds to continue to stand in solidarity with those detained in the largest ICE detention center in the Midwest. Surprisingly the GEO Group security did nothing day, but there was plenty of evidence that they were going to try and prevent such an action again.
When people first arrived yesterday they discovered a two foot wide red line painted on the main entrance to the grounds of the North Lake Concentration Camp, with the words NO TRESPASSING written in white, as shown in the photo above. It’s as if the GEO Group was saying you can no longer cross this line. Most of the reactions to the newly painted red line were that of laughter, as if they thought that painting a no trespass message would stop people from resisting this oppressive place. I kept thinking of the scene from Monty Python and the Holy Grail where the Black Knight says, “None shall pass!”
Another response to the June protest where people entered the North Lake grounds was that they cut down at least 10 trees. The trees they cut down were most likely to create a clear line of sight from the main building to the front gate, so they won’t be caught off guard again (shown in the photo below). But they cut down 10 trees, a few close to the ground, but most of them were cut 2-3 feet above ground. The remaining stumps also create another barrier, like the concrete ones built at prisons or military bases so people can’t easily drive into those areas. It would seem that the same way that the GEO Group disregards the well being of those they are making money off of while detaining them, they have a similar disregard for other living beings, in this case trees, in order to protect their interests from people resisting their brutality.
There was something else that we witnesses yesterday in Baldwin, which we have not seen as much of over the past year. There were numerous people who were there to monitor what those demanding the release of all detainees were doing. We saw several people filming those who were protesting, but every time we started to film them they stopped. There were some that just drove past the protest, mostly at a slow pace, as if to signal that they were watching us. There were also people on foot that appeared from various side streets to see what was happening, without getting too close. It is difficult to know if these were curious locals, if they were people who were supporting the GEO Group’s concentration camp or if they were paid informants. It is likely a combination of the three, but as I mentioned the presence of people monitoring then protesters was significant.
As for what people were doing that were there to resist the North Lake Concentration Camp, there were messages shared with the group from some of the detainees, since No Detention Centers regularly receives messages from those inside. Some people also share information about detainees or from former detainees. One example was a story about a Venezuelan journalist who spent months in North Lake and was eventually deported back to Venezuela. This former detainee and journalist recently wrote about the devastating earthquake in Venezuela, along with talking about the fact that several people who have been deported by the US were killed in the recent earthquakes. This was yet another sobering reminder of the harm that ICE commits against immigrant communities all across the country, whether from the traumatic separation of families, the harsh detention conditions or the economic and human cost of deportation.
Later in the evening when the GEO Group shift change was occurring, those resisting blocked the entrance to the gates. However, one could easily conclude that the GEO Group security guards had prevents employees from getting in, since they close and chained the gates shut shortly after people arrived yesterday to demand that everyone be released from the detention center.
Driving back from the protest I was once again celebrating the people who resisted oppression and injustice. In fact, this 4th of July may have been the most inspiring in my life, since it was most definitely not about celebration 250 years of the American Empire, rather I celebrated the actions of those who resist and their aspirations for a liberated world for all.
Earlier today Movimiento Cosecha and several allies/accomplices participated in the annual 4th of July Parade in southeast Grand Rapids known as the Hollyhock Lane Parade. The last time that Cosecha joined a parade was in 2019 when they were working on getting Kent County to end their contract with ICE.
The main message of the Cosecha action today was to Abolish ICE, but one way to do that would be to get Kent County and Grand Rapids to adopt the 6 sanctuary policies that Cosecha and GR Rapid Response to ICE have been demanding since January of 2025.
Most of the parade participants were candidates running for local office, specifically Democrats. The primary message from the candidates was “vote for me” as opposed to the issues that they claim to stand for.
For Cosecha, beside communicating certain messages they wanted to make a point about why we need local government to adopt sanctuary policies and why we need to abolish ICE. Cosecha decided to dramatize the terror and harm that ICE inflicts on the immigrant community. Cosecha had a truck in the parade, which had a makeshift cage in the bed of the truck, with one of the Cosecha organizers sitting in the cage. There were also three people acting as ICE agents, two on either side of the truck and one walking directly behind the truck. The fake ICE agents all dressed the same in pants a basic shirt and a vest with the words Police and ICE on the back. Each of the mock ICE agents also wore baseball hats, sunglasses and covered their faces.
Besides the more theatrical aspect of the Cosecha action, there were two banners. The first banner said Abolish ICE, which was before the truck and the second banner said Sanctuary Policies Now, which was following the ICE agents. There were also allies/accomplices handing out information sheets, candy and shouting out statements like, “ICE is kidnapping our neighbors every day in this community”, “Sanctuary Policies Now”, and “freedom for everyone.”
It was interesting to watch and hear how people lined up along the parade route responded to the Cosecha banners, chants and street theater component. Quite often when approaching a new crowd of people they would applaud Cosecha’s message, repeat the abolish ICE demand and even say things like, “we are so grateful for your presence today and all the important work you do.”
It was also interesting to watch all of the conversations that parents were having with their children about the mock ICE agents and a Cosecha members sitting in a cage. At one point a group of young people began chanting abolish ICE, which prompted one of the mock ICE agents to walk over to one of the kids and say (with his face cover), “Don’t you know that being critical of the government can get you in trouble young man?” This kid was immediately uncomfortable, but then the mock ICE agent removed his mask and said that he wasn’t a really ICE agent and thanked the boy for chanting abolish ICE.
The parade lasted about one hour, but afterwards Cosecha decided to attend a post-parade event behind someone’s house in an alleyway. There was only one speaker, who identified himself as Anishinaabe and share great stories that were wrapped in powerful history lessons about Indigenous people and the history of settler colonialism in the US and in Michigan.
As the post-parade event was wrapping up people spotted the new Grand Rapids Police Chief Joe Trigg. Cosecha organizers wanted to confront him on the GRPD’s collaboration with ICE. The Cosecha organizer who was in the cage during the street theater had the 3 mock ICE agents present when talking to the police chief. They said to the new chief of police, “I’m here to talk to you, so what do you have to say to me? Do you have some sort of statement about the GRPD working with ICE?” Chief Trigg responded by saying, “We have put out a number of statements addressing this issue, so we are not going to do that here.”
A Cosecha ally then stated, “It seems like you are never available in the eyes of the public, you just want to meet in private so you can ly and misdirect.” Trigg responded with, “We don’t need a private meeting as we are open 24/7 (referring to the Police Department headquarters.)” The ally then asked the question, “when are you going to stop putting the Marshal’s access Flock data their sending to ICE? This is the space since we are celebrating freedom, while you are complicit and locking up our neighbors. This is definitely the space (to have this conversation).”
An additional Cosecha ally then said to Chief Trigg, “We have video evidence of your officers cooperating with ICE.” This was followed by people chanting, Cops and ICE go hand in hand. Not wanting to deal with confrontation, Chief Trigg walked away.
Cosecha and the allies/accomplices that joined them today did what they set out to do, which was to communicate a clear message about ICE, to demand the City and County adopt the 6 sanctuary policies and to confront city officials who are complicit in the harm that ICE is inflicting in this community on a daily basis.
You can watch most of the Cosecha action from July 4th by going to this link, where another Cosecha organizer was live-streaming and providing commentary in Spanish for their communities.
All of the photos used in this post were taken by the amazing Viviana Rubio.
My response to a Phil Skaggs-endorsed mailer that insultingly cites GRIID to smear a campaign opponent
Editor’s note: GRIID regularly critiques local politicians specifically about the policies they promote or vote for. GRIID also monitor’s campaign financing in a very detailed fashion, since I believe that it says a great deal about a candidate. However, what GRIID does not do and will never do is endorse candidates, and this is primarily because I don’t put much faith in electoral politics and believe that history and work of social movements are the primarily way that change occurs.
I came across a recent political ad that was put out by the Phil Skaggs for State Senate campaign. My thoughts on political ads, especially attack ads are such that they are a despicable form of campaigning, as it often reveals the character of the candidate and team they are working with. The political ad was a mailer and the entity putting it out is Michigan Deserves Better.
When you receive a flyer from Michigan Deserves Better, you are looking at a product meticulously designed to deliver maximum political damage while shielding the actual corporate or private donors funding the operation from the public eye, since as a 501(c) (4) entity they don’t have to disclose their donors. Now, the Skaggs camp might say that they are not responsible for this smear ad, but they haven’t put out a statement says that they don’t support it. Michigan Deserves Better is a tool of the Democratic Party establishment and they will go after anyone who threaten the interests of that establishment.
Above is the front of the mailer that went out which attacks one of the two 29th District State Senate Democratic Party candidates Abbie Groff-Blaszak. Below is the back of the mailer meant to smear Groff-Blaszak. The back of the mailer – here below – includes a quote from a GRIID article, which is interesting and something that I will now respond to.
Ever since I first encountered Phil Skaggs in 2018, when he was a Kent County Commissioner, every interaction I have had with him informed the fact that I have nothing but contempt for him. Skaggs was one of several Democrats on the County Commission that would not support the demand from the immigrant-led group Movimiento Cosecha for Kent County to end their contract with ICE.
During the 14 month campaign, where Cosecha and GR Rapid Response to ICE would attended over a dozen Kent County Commission meetings, Skaggs would consistently ignore what immigrants and allies had to say. What was equally problematic is that he would gaslight immigrant organizers and even referred to some of the tactics used in the campaign as “Bolshevik Cosplay.” Equally outlandish is the fact that years later Skaggs tried to take credit for ending the contract with ICE, along with Sheriff Michelle LaJoye-Young. I wrote a rather length response to this bastardized account of what actually happened in that campaign, which you can read here.
I have also written several articles over the years about Skaggs as a politician. Phil Skaggs claimed that he came to a protest put on by Black organizers right after the City of Grand Rapids and the GRPD release body cam footage of the GRPD killing of Patrick Lyoya. Skaggs posted a paid statement, which I wrote about and provided numerous talking points about Skaggs as a politician that I want to include here.
- When a GRPD liaison (Captain VanderKooi) to Immigration and Customs Enforcement contacted ICE to have Jilmar Ramos-Gomez arrested, Skaggs never condemned the racist profiling of Jilmar, who was not only a citizen of the US, but had served in the US military.
- More than one African American who has served on the Kent County Commission with fellow Democrat Phil Skaggs, has often referred to him as being a bully and a racist. Commissioner Womack was threatened by Skaggs for challenging him to be the minority chair for the Democrats within the County Commission. According to Womack, Skaggs told him that he would ruin his political career if he ever challenged him again.
- After the Movement for Black Lives put out a toolkit on defunding police departments, I wrote an article about candidates that had received funding from the Grand Rapids Police Officer’s Association before 2020, which included Phil Skaggs who had received money from the GRPD union three times.
- In 2020, the Kent County Commission unanimously wanted to provide Care Act funding to Grand Rapids for the specific purpose of purchasing the ShotSpotter technology to be used by the GRPD, despite the overwhelming opposition from Black organizers and residents. Skaggs supported using $500,000 for the GRPD to purchase technology that would promote more government surveillance.
In 2022, Phil Skaggs was elected as the representative for the 80th House District in Michigan. In 2023 the Democrats had control of the Governor’s office, the Michigan Senate and the Michigan House. Despite this trifecta Rep. Skaggs and many of his fellow Democrats failed to pass progressive policies, many of which were promised. The Democrats still voted for increased police funding, maintaining the Prison Industrial Complex, massive subsidies to developers, plus they refused to adopt the policies that renters have been demanding.
Additionally, immigrant justice activists were told that if they supported Democrats in the 2022 Election, they would pass the Drive Safe bills, which would give undocumented immigrants the chance to obtain a driver’s license. The Democrats failed the immigrant community and even during the lame duck session could not get enough votes from their own party to win what they promised to immigrants.
On the matter of questionable sources of campaign finances Phil Skaggs doesn’t have a leg to stand on. Besides taking money from the GRPD union, Skaggs has taken money from the Michigan Realtors PAC and other corporate PACs while running as a State Representative. Skaggs also created his own PAC called PHILPAC, which has also taken money from corporate donors and PACs. We’ll have to wait until late July to look at who is contributing to Skaggs, but if his previous contributors are any indication it will include more corporate donors.
My other major response to the attack ad from Michigan Deserves Better has to do with the quote from GRIID used in the mailer. The source of the GRIID quote used is from an article I wrote in 2020, which looked at the groups that the Doug and Maria DeVos Foundation was funding, which included the West Michigan Leadership Academy. Specifically, I wrote:
The West Michigan Leadership Academy is actually part of the NYC Leadership Academy, which just has a subsection on their website for the West Michigan Leadership Academy. One of the major funders listed for the NYC Leadership Academy is he Doug & Maria DeVos Foundation.
The mailer uses the following language: The West Michigan Leadership Academy “is another front group for the DeVos family’s commitment to Neo-Liberal Education model.”
I didn’t use that language specifically referring to the West Michigan Leadership Academy, I never said they were a DeVos front group and the reference to a Neo-Liberal Education model was connected to the Education Network of Greater Grand Rapids. Therefore, the Michigan Deserves Better mailer took my GRIID article out of context and cut and pasted phrases that worked better for their ad smearing Abbie Groff-Blaszak.
Now, I have been tracking how the various DeVos family foundations have used their money over the past 13 years. One of the ways that the DeVos family foundations use their money is to fund non-profits, many of which provide social services or charity to individuals who are struggling. I call that money “hush money”, since it is primarily meant to prevent non-profits from criticizing billionaires like the DeVos family, specifically how they have used their wealth to get public policy adopted which benefits their interests, like the Three Towers Project.
I also recognize that there are many non-profits who take money from the DeVos foundations in order to fund their work, even if it means they have to hold their noses in the process. It is an unjust dynamic that is systemic in what is often referred to as the Non-Profit Industrial Complex. I would suspect that there are dozens of non-profits that Phil Skaggs supports that have taken money from one of the many DeVos foundations, like Baxter Community Center, Linc Up, ICCF or the Kent County Habitat for Humanity, but I doubt he has called them out on taking this money.
In the end, the Michigan Deserves Better mailer that smears Abbie Groff-Blaszak is designed to make Phil Skaggs look good. It doesn’t. In fact, it just makes Skaggs look desperate, since he is relying on mud slinging campaign tactics, which people have come to detest.
Big Tech and ICE: Understanding and resisting the Surveillance State in Grand Rapids and beyond
“At this moment, a dangerous convergence of two trends threatens democracy. The first is the Trump administration’s aggressive acceleration of the use of technology and artificial intelligence to rapidly expand immigration enforcement and military force. The second involves an unprecedented amassing of economic and political influence by a small group of tech oligarchs.”
The above comment is from a new report entitled, The Teach Behind ICE: Oligarchs, Immigration Enforcement, and the Threat to Democracy. The report was a collaborative project from Mijente, Just Futures Law and the Surveillance Resistance Lab.
The 86-page report provides excellent information and a robust analysis about the convergence of Big Tech with the Carceral State. In the report’s executive summary it states:
This report examines how DHS has laid the foundation for this authoritarian moment. We reveal how this moment creates an accelerated danger, as a power-hungry tech oligarchy becomes increasingly influential, and identify the major actors, corporations, monies, and mechanisms involved. This report also describes some of the most important strategies available to non-violently resist the entanglement of big tech, immigration enforcement, and militarism. Confronting this threat requires a clearunderstanding of the convergence of agendas and where their power can be disrupted.
The major sections of the report cover the following areas:
- The Architecture of Authoritarianism
- Follow the Money: Revolving Door to Corner Office
- Building the Militarized Police State
- Taxpayer-Funded Surveillance and AI
- Tools of the Surveillance State
- Organized Resistance
In Grand Rapids we have seen how the carceral state collaborates with ICE, with the GRPD assisting ICE in arrests, the Kent County Jail holding immigrants for ICE, and local cops sharing Flock camera information with ICE. These dynamics are a major reason why Movimiento Cosecha and GR Rapid Response to ICE have been pushing the City of Grand Rapids and Kent County to adopt the 6 sanctuary policies they are demanding. This new report can provide those resisting ICE in Kent County with better analysis and additional ways to fight back against ICE and other forms of the Carceral State.
According to the report, since June of 2026, the world’s 10 richest individuals, nine of them based in the United States,81 held a combined wealth of roughly $2.9 trillion —an amount more than the GDPs of all the countries in the world. Nine of the richest 10 are tech oligarchs.
The report provides lots of information on how Big Tech is partnering with the US military to increase its reliance on AI, specifically through companies like Palantir and Anduril. However, most of the Big Tech companies are also expanding their relations with the Carceral State in the US, in Michigan and in Grand Rapids. In addition, this new report makes it clear that Big Tech companies and their owners have become some of the largest campaign contributors to candidates and are also spending tens of millions on lobbying Congress each year.
A second major area in this new report looks at the relationship between Big Tech, ICE, local and state law enforcement agencies. The report notes:
While local police have been found to arrest people for routine traffic violations, for example, in order to turn them over to ICE, 287(g) further empowers police by giving them authority to arrest people for suspected immigration violations. A February 2026 study found participation in 287(g) has grown by 900% under the new Trump administration. This effectively means upwards of 15,800 police officers and sheriff’s deputies nationwide can participate directly in ICE surveillance and arrests. The June 2026 budget reconciliation bill pushed through by the Trump administration—the second such bill to increase DHS funding in less than a year—included $350 million specifically for ICE operations in cities and states that do not participate in 287(g) agreements.
Based on this analysis it is likely that there will be an increase in ICE activity in Grand Rapids and other parts of Kent County, since there are no 287(g) agreements with ICE.
ICE and AI
As the relationship between ICE and Big Tech has deepened, there is a greater reliance on the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI). On this growing relationship the report states:
Inside the federal government, Congress has passed several laws aimed at advancing US leadership in artificial intelligence, including the implementation of AI across federal agencies. Vendors providing ICE and CBP with AI applications include Anthropic, Palantir, Anduril, Microsoft, Dataminr, Clearview AI, and many others. DHS use of AI now covers areas including generative AI, computer vision, natural language processing, machine learning, and agentic AI. These procurement expenses are part of an IT budget at DHS that amounted to more than $10 billion in 2025.226 The White House Fiscal 2027 budget shows DHS will hold the third highest IT investment in the federal government—$11.7 billion, which includes AI. The Department of Defense holds the highest investment in AI, seeking $58.5 billion for “continued American dominance in AI-enabled warfare.
The increased use of AI by the Department of Homeland Security partly correlates to the increase in proposed data centers across the country and right here in West Michigan. All of the amazing public opposition to data centers over the past year in Kent County has been important, but they can now add ICE surveillance to the list of reasons to say no to data centers.
The last section of the report is on resisting ICE and its relationship with Big Tech. The report states:
The surveillance and deportation systems described throughout this report were built through political choices, public investments, and corporate partnerships. They can be challenged in the same way. The technologies that power modern immigration enforcement depend on local government cooperation, private sector participation, taxpayer funding, and public legitimacy.
The report states that local government should be doing the following to resist what DHS/ICE is doing in communities like Grand Rapids:
1) Dismantle data sharing with ICE;
2) End expansion of surveillance technology;
3) Strengthen privacy protection.
These suggested actions certainly fit within the 6 sanctuary policy demands that Cosecha and GR Rapid Response to ICE have been demanding since the beginning of 2025.
The report also suggests exposing and disrupting the companies that have contracts with ICE in every community. GRIID did some research into companies with ICE contracts and posted a story back in early April, which could also provide opportunities with expanding the scope of resistance to ICE. However we engage in organized resistance to ICE, this new report provides important information that could lead to the development of new resistance strategies.
Movements resisting surveillance and immigration enforcement must develop a much deeper understanding of the technologies we are confronting, and the power that circulates through them. The current fusion of state and corporate power driving technologies that foster authoritarianism and exclude and repress everyday people, requires that we challenge oligarchs and the ways that they are fundamentally changing the way our democracy operates.
For anyone who is concerned about the relationship between Big Tech and ICE, this report is an important tool. If you want to then get involved in resisting ICE in Kent County you should definitely be part of the important work of Movimiento Cosecha GR and GR Rapid Response to ICE.
Late last week State Representative Kristian Grant stated:
Housing affordability remains one of the biggest challenges facing communities across Michigan, and we have to use every single tool available to address it.
That’s why I’m proud to sponsor House Bill 5806, which establishes and administers a state-level tax credit program to help keep new construction affordable while preserving and upgrading existing affordable housing. This is a practical, proven tool that helps move projects from concept to construction and makes every investment go further.
House Bill 5806 does provide tax credits for new housing construction, but lets be clear it benefits developers, not the people who can’t afford a place to live in the current housing market.
If you read through HB 5806 you will see that there is no language about how these tax credits will benefit those seeking to buy a home or those who rent.
HB 5806 is similar to what Rep. Grant said during an April 2024 interview on WOODTV8. Similarly, when the state wide The Rent is Too Damn High coalition was in Lansing to try and get nine housing bills passed that would benefit tenants, Democratic lawmakers were not siding with the people. In an article from November of 2024, I wrote:
There were a few tenant activists that met with Rep. Kristian Grant (Grand Rapids), since she chairs the Housing Committee. One of the persons who met with Grant told me that she felt that it would only be possible to pass 2 or three of the nine bills that were introduced over the past 12 months. Part of the problem, according to Rep. Grant, was that there were several Democratic Party lawmakers that were not showing up legislative sessions, specifically the ones who lost in the November 5th Election.
There seems to be a pattern with Rep. Grant, which makes sense since she owns several rental properties herself, along with consistently taking campaign money from the Realtors PAC of Michigan.
There is also another housing related bill that also doesn’t really benefit people who are housing insecure. According to an article on Crain’s:
The state House-passed legislation, now pending in the Senate, does not propose a blanket ban on large institutional investors purchasing houses. Instead, it would prohibit such a transaction unless it adds new housing stock, substantially rehabilitates an existing home or is part of a program to create a pathway to ownership for a renter.
House Bill 6074 defines a large institutional investor as an investment fund, corporation, general or limited partnership, limited liability company, joint venture, association or other for-profit entity that directly or indirectly has investment control of more than 100 single-family homes in the state and manages or has a net value of $375 million or more.
So, a large investor, corporation or LLC could continue to own up to 100 single family homes. However, if the large investor, corporation or LLC would add new housing stock, substantially rehabilitate an existing home or is part of a program to create a pathway to ownership for a renter, then the cap on controlling 100 single family homes doesn’t apply. The House version of this bill passed with a vote of 102-3 in favor.
Call me silly, but this piece of legislation still seems like a pretty sweet deal for large investors, corporations or LLCs and does nothing to really protect families who are struggling to purchase a home or pay the high cost of rent.
Grand Rapids Institute for Information Democracy 