In 2025, GRIID conducted a study of four local daily news agencies – MLive, WOODTV8, WZZM13 & WXMI 17 – from January 1st of 2025, through the end of June 2025.
In this 6 month news study, I looked at three critical community issues:
- The Grand Rapids Public Schools
- Climate Change/Environmental Justice
- Public Safety/GRPD
I tracked these three themed news stories from the online portals of each of the four news agencies. All of the hyperlinks to those stories are part of Appendix #1. In addition to monitoring all of these stories, I monitored the sources used in each story, the racial and gender make up of the sources used (only for TV stories) and how the stories were framed. All of this data is included in Appendix #2.
For the Public Safety/GRPD stories that I monitored, I also tracked images of crime suspects that appeared on the three local TV stations, which I include as part of Appendix #3
What follows is a breakdown of each of the three critical community issues that I monitored, with some content analysis.
Monitoring local news media is an important tactic that can help us all think about what kind of information we are receiving. The way stories are reported (or not reported) can influence public opinion, just as the sources that are use and they way local new stories are framed.
It is true that we live in an information saturated world, but what is different about local news media is that they might be the only sources of information we have access to regarding what is happening in our community. Understanding this fact can help us see the tremendous responsibility local news agencies have to serve what the Federal Communications Commission refers to as, “serving the public interest.
In addition, it is important that we not just focus on individual news stories and what they mean. What media analysis have been saying for years is that we need to pay attention to the cumulative effect of coverage around issues like policing, public education, and climate change.
Summary of Findings
- The local news media primarily rely on sources from systems of power and privilege – the courts, the GRPD, GRPS administrators, instead of utilizing more community based sources for stories.
- Crime coverage dominates local news coverage and takes priority over public education and Climate Change.
- Local news coverage of the issues monitored in this study, received superficial reporting, with very little investigative reporting, especially around public policy matters.
- Local TV news often reported on crime using suspect images, which were disproportionately images of BIPOC people, thus perpetuating racist stereotypes. See Appendix #3.
- Despite the fact that the first half of 2025 was one of the hottest on record, in the 9 local news stories that deal with extreme heat and extreme weather, only once were the words Climate Change used.
- A disproportionate amount of crime/community safety coverage also centered around the courts, especially since there was the before, during and after coverage for the trial of former GRPD cop Christopher Schurr, who shot and killed Patrick Lyoya. The total number of crime/community safety stories was 432, with 199 of them related to Patrick Lyoya’s death and the Schurr trial.
- There were a total of 9 stories that local news reported on the All Acess GRPD TV Show, with no investigation or critique of what that show was designed to communicate to the public.
- Out of the 433 stories that were about the GRPD, the courts or public safety matters, only once was there a story where the GRPD prevented a crime or violence.
Look at which groups are opposing the ballot initiative that would raise taxes for millionaires and billionaires in Michigan
There is a ballot initiative in Michigan called Invest in MI Kids, which is slated to be on the ballot in 2026. The premise of this ballot initiative is to restructure the tax system in Michigan so that millionaires and billionaires will be more in taxes. It’s about time.
In addition, the additional tax revenue that will be generated will be used to fund public schools in Michigan. At the state level, the Michigan Education Justice Coalition is coordinating the campaign, with groups like the Urban Core Collective (UCC) in Grand Rapids acting as a partner in UCC has been doing lots of education justice work in Grand Rapids.
So, people want to pass a ballot initiative that would appropriately tax millionaires and billionaires, then turn around and use that money to fund public schools. Sounds like a winning combination.
However, not everyone is enthused about the Invest in MI Kids ballot initiative, especially organizations that represent millionaires and billionaires. In late June, the Michigan Chamber of Commerce released a statement against the Invest in MI Kids ballot initiative, claiming the “tax increase would be particularly devastating to smaller businesses.” The Michigan Chamber of Commerce doesn’t really providing any evidence or support for how it would impact smaller businesses. Making this claim is a standard claim from the Chamber of Commerce, so they don’t have to substantiate it, since it is designed to get people to doubt the benefit of taxing millionaires and billionaires.
The Grand Rapids Chamber of Commerce came out with the same position against the Invest in MI Kids ballot initiative in early July, stating that the ballot initiative “would add a 5% income tax on small businesses and individuals earning over $500,000/couples over $1 million, raising the total rate to 9.25%.” Again, they offer to concrete evidence for how the tax increase will hurt small businesses.
Then there is the West Michigan Policy Forum (WMPF), which also came out against the Invest in MI Kids ballot initiative. The recently appointed President of the WMPF, Jase Bolger, wrote an opinion piece in the Detroit News on July 14th, with the headline, State must reject graduated income tax hike proposal.
Bolger uses the same arguments about opposing increased taxes for the wealthiest residents of Michigan, writing:
“This isn’t just about a few high earners — it’s about thousands of small-business owners who reinvest in Michigan, hire locally, and are the foundation of our economy. And the workers they support with pay, benefits and future growth.”
Actually, the Invest in MI Kids ballot initiative is about the high earners. In Michigan right now, there are 12 billionaire families, 11 according to this news article, but they forgot to include the DeVos family. Another source says that there are 73,364 households in Michigan with $500,000 or more in income, which makes up only 1.8% of the population. Therefore, if the ballot initiative is passed, then 1.8% of the population – the wealthiest members of Michigan – will pay increased taxes that will generate billions for public schools.
The West Michigan Policy Forum President was also recently interviewed on the Michael Patrick Shiels podcast, to encourage people not to sign the petition for the Invest in MI Kids ballot initiative.
For those who are unfamiliar with Michael Patrick Shiels, he used to be a radio show producer, but then decided to start a career in talk radio himself in 2005. He is the host of Michigan’s Big Show Starring Michael Patrick Shiels, which is a production of Spotlight Media Marketing and Productions, a pro-business media company. Sheils has written several books on golfing and writes for the Travel Tattler.
In the podcast with WMPF CEO Jase Bolger, Michael Patrick Shiels essentially agrees with Bolger and doesn’t question any of the information that for State Representative share on the graduated income tax ballot proposal. Bolger makes the claim that the Invest in MI Kids ballot initiative would hurt the Michigan economy, but doesn’t really offer any evidence to support such a claim.
If you support taxing millionaires and billionaires and use that money to support public schools in Michigan, then you can reach out to the Urban Core Collective about being a Justice Captain. Use this form to sign up now and be part of the movement: https://bit.ly/justice-captain-training
5 reasons to support the campaign to get Grand Rapids to adopt Sanctuary policies at this Tuesday’s City Commission meeting
This coming Tuesday, July 29th, at 7pm, people have an opportunity come attend the Grand Rapids City Commission meeting to demand that they adopt the following 5 Sanctuary policies that Movimiento Cosecha and GR Rapid Response to ICE has laid out:
- Policies restricting the ability of state and local police to make arrests for federal immigration violations, or to detain individuals on civil immigration warrants.
- Policies restricting the police or other city workers from asking about immigration status.
- Policies prohibiting “287(g)” agreements through which ICE deputizes local law enforcement officers to enforce federal immigration law.
- Policies that prevent local governments from entering into a contract with the federal government to hold immigrants in detention;
- Policies preventing immigration detention centers from being established in Grand Rapids.
- A policy that will not allow the GRPD to share Flock camera images or any other
information gathered by the city of Grand Rapids with ICE or any other law enforcement agency seeking to arrest, detain and deport immigrants.
GRPD Chief Eric Winstrom has repeatedly stated that the Grand Rapids Police Department does not engage in immigration enforcement. As someone who has followed these matters closely for years, the policy that the Winstrom often refers to, is known as the Foreign National’s Policy.
This policy clear states:
The policy allows officers to provide assistance to federal immigration authorities when there is an emergency that poses an immediate danger to public safety or federal agents.
This clause within the Foreign National’s Policy is designed to allow the GRPD to assist ICE, plus they get to determine when and how there is an immediate danger to public safety or federal agents. However, recent incidents show a disturbing pattern of cooperation between GRPD and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), directly contradicting the department’s public position and further endangering immigrant communities in Grand Rapids.
ICE and Cops go hand in hand
- ● June 4th, 2025: As ICE agents arrested immigrants during their ISAP check-in appointments, members of Movimiento Cosecha GR and GR Rapid Response to ICE mobilized to try to prevent detentions. GRPD officers arrived and threatened to arrest the community members, forcing them to leave the building and making it easier for ICE to intimidate and detain individuals that day.
- ● Tuesday, July 22nd, 2025: GRPD officers responded to the ICE office where members of GR Rapid Response to ICE were nonviolently attempting to support an immigrant being detained and prevent a family separation. In an unnecessary show of force, GRPD deployed eight police cruisers, arrested two volunteers, and impounded their vehicles—an unmistakable attempt to intimidate and suppress community efforts to defend immigrant families. Despite these unjust arrests, the volunteers remain committed to showing solidarity with their undocumented neighbors. These events have only made more visible the ongoing collaboration between GRPD and ICE.
This comes at a time when the federal budget for immigration enforcement has increased by $170 billion under the “Big Beautiful Bill,” allowing for the hiring of more ICE agents and the expansion of immigration raids. As a result, more immigrant families will be targeted, traumatized, and torn apart in cities like Grand Rapids. This is why it is critical that the GRPD not assist ICE in their campaign of terror against immigrant communities, why they should not provide information about people’s immigration status or provide data on immigrants, along with not showing up to intimidate or arrest people who are acting in solidarity and accompanying members of the undocumented community.
Then there is the issue of the GRPD’s use of the Flock camera technology, in which the GRPD and the City of Grand Rapids has denied in a statement from June 6th:
I want to assure our community that GRPD does not utilize license plate readers (LPRs) to conduct immigration-related investigations. A GRPD officer has been falsely identified on social media as conducting searches related to immigration enforcement actions. We are not the source of this document, and are unable to verify its origin, but can confirm no GRPD officers are using license plate readers to engage in immigration-related activity.
At the same time that the GRPD was denying using Flock camera technology against immigrants, GR Rapid Response to ICE had received a message from someone who has been tacking the use of the Flock camera technology in West Michigan.
These are logs from the Flock License Plate Reader System that I obtained that show the searches that Grand Rapids Police have used on the system. It shows the plate searched, the officer that conducted the search, the reason for the search and the time of the search.
In the image above, you can see the data described in the research, with the reasons listed, many of which were Deportation Warrant. This is certainly alarming information and further demonstrates that the GRPD is cooperating with ICE.
One last example of the GRPD cooperation with ICE, has been seen directly by GR Rapid Response to ICE since they started offering accompaniment to people who have appoints at the ISAP office, which is near downtown Grand Rapids. Those who are providing the accompaniment will ask those with appointments if they want them to go inside til that person enters the office. Whenever this happens, the company which manages the ISAP office and has a contract with ICE, calls the GRPD. The GRPD cops then intimidate and threaten to arrest anyone who even goes in the building.
Now, Grand Rapids City officials and the GRPD can continue to deny that these examples in no way demonstrate ICE and GRPD cooperation. Use your eyes and your common sense. Every time that GR Rapid Response to ICE has been attempting to prevent ICE from taking immigrants or accompanying immigrants to reduced the chance that ICE might take them during their appointments, the GRPD has been there to intimidate and threaten people who are practicing real community safety and solidarity. Immigrants aren’t asking the GRPD to accompany them during their appointments, because they know very well that they are at risk when the GRPD is present.
Lastly, here is an excerpt from a Media Release send out by Movimiento Cosecha and GR Rapid Response to ICE:
A Call to Action for the City of Grand Rapids:
The City of Grand Rapids claims to be a “Welcoming City,” but actions speak louder than words. The city has the opportunity to adopt six concrete Sanctuary policies that won’t stop ICE entirely but will ensure Grand Rapids is not complicit in immigrant family separation and state-sponsored terror.
Movimiento Cosecha GR and GR Rapid Response to ICE will be speaking during public comment at the upcoming Grand Rapids City Commission Meeting on:
Tuesday, July 29th, 7:00 PM
Gerald R. Ford Academic Center, Madison Ave SE, Grand Rapids
We invite all who believe in immigrant justice to attend, show support, and demand that the City adopt the six Sanctuary policies to protect and stand with our immigrant neighbors.
It has been more than 21 months since the Israeli government began their most recent assault on Gaza and the West Bank. The retaliation for the October 7, 2023 Hamas attack in Israel, has escalated to what the international community has called genocide, therefore, GRIID will be providing weekly links to information and analysis that we think can better inform us of what is happening, along with the role that the US government is playing. All of this information is to provide people with the capacity of what Noam Chomsky refers to as, intellectual self-defense.
Information
Nearly 2 Years Into Gaza Genocide, US Activists Escalate Their Resistance
From Auschwitz to Gaza’s “Humanitarian City”
U.S. NONPROFITS FUNNEL MILLIONS TO ISRAELI ARMY VOLUNTEERS
Fragmenting a Nation: Israel’s Enduring Pursuit of Palestinian Disunity
Top 10 Signs That Israeli Government Is Starving People in Gaza
Dell’s complicity in Israel’s genocide
Gaza’s Fighters Shattered Israel’s Fantasy of Easy Victory w/ Jon Elmer
Israel is Attacking Deir al-Balah, Gaza’s Last Standing City
AIPAC-Backed Lawmakers Are Pushing AI Funding for Israel
Analysis & History
The Long Anti-Zionist History of the American Jewish Left
Activists push to get Kent County to adopt Sanctuary policies is overshadowed by Sheriff Departments lengthy presentation
On Thursday morning, more than a dozen supporters of Movimiento Cosecha and GR Rapid Response to ICE attended the Kent County Commission meeting to push for numerous Sanctuary policies.
Unbeknownst to those attending, the Kent County Sheriff’s Department made a presentation about all the “good work” they do in the community. The Sheriff’s Department’s presentation, which came with slides, lasted about half an hour if you included comments and responses, which you can watch at this link. Unfortunately, the video of the Kent County Commission meeting doesn’t start at the beginning, so the length of the presentation is a bit misleading.
Whether or not it was intentional that the Kent County Sheriff’s Department presentation had been scheduled for some time or it was added recently to preempt the push from the community to adopt Sanctuary policies is unknown. However, it seemed clear to me that the Sheriff Departments presentation, along with the bi-partisan support for what they do, ultimately did have an impact on the demands for the County to adopt Sanctuary policies. They got to dictate the narrative about what they do without a time limit. In addition, there were also a dozen members of the Sheriff’s Department present, which also seemed like overkill, so it is good that members of the immigrant community did not come, since the presence of so many cops would have been unnerving and intimidating.
There were a total of 13 people who spoke up and demanded sanctuary policies to be adopted by the Kent County Commission. Some people talked about how other communities in Michigan have already adopted Sanctuary policies, while others addressed the terrorist actions of ICE agents in Kent County. One person talked about Avelo Airlines, which operates in Kent County and has a $150 million contract with ICE to transport immigrants to El Salvador.
Another person who spoke during public comment spoke about how undocumented people have committed a “civil infraction” which should not result in people being arrested, sent to a detention center and maybe deported. These comments were followed by someone who pushed back on much of the Sheriff Department’s presentation, demanded that the County not cooperate with ICE, provide holds for ICE at the Kent County Jail, the use of surveillance technology, specifically the Flock technology, which takes pictures of license plates.
A person who identified as a social worker, provided a specific example of a recent arrest of a mother, who was then turned over to ICE, which is a pattern that Cosecha and GR Rapid Response have seen consistently since ICE ended their contract with Kent County in 2019. Another person who worked in education, said that they had seen an increase in participation and attendance of immigrant students.
Despite all of the public comment urging the County Commission to adopt Sanctuary policies, County officials were insistent that they would not do so, which is exactly what the Kent County Administrator said. At 1:29:00 into the video, Commissioner Ponstein, made the claim that over the last four years “we don’t have immigration, we have had wide open borders.” Commissioner Ponstein then went on a rant about sex trafficking and the fentanyl drug problems and how immigrants were responsible for these issues. Of course Ponstein provides no supportive evidence, data or sourcing to back up such claims. People like him always get to spew this shit without any real accountability.
There was only one Kent County Commissioner, Commissioner Womack who said that he did not want the Kent County Sheriff’s Department to cooperate with ICE, which was only one of the many Sanctuary policies presented by the community. This means that of the 21 Kent County Commissioners – which was all of the Republican Commissioners and all but one Democratic Commissioner – did not verbally say they supported any of the Sanctuary policies that Movimiento Cosecha and GR Rapid Response were demanding.
One last clarifying point. Commissioner Womack congratulated the Kent County Sheriff’s Department for ending their contract with ICE in 2019, which is a false statement. ICE chose to not renew the contract with Kent County in 2019, and those of us who were involved in the campaign to end that contract know that it was because of all the bad publicity that ICE was getting during our 14 month campaign to end the ICE contact.
Rep. Scholten displays fake empathy for people in Gaza being killed while trying to access food aid
On Monday, Rep. Hillary Scholten posted an article from Reuters News with the headline, Israeli fire kills 67 people seeking aid in Gaza, medics say, as hunger worsens.
While I agree that what is happening to people in Gaza is abhorrent, I’m going to call bullshit on the comment that Rep. Scholten wrote that was attached to the Reuters article. Rep. Scholten wrote:
“I’m heartbroken and deeply concerned about the loss of innocent lives this weekend in Gaza. Innocent people seeking aid and food MUST be able to do so without harm as we work toward an end to this humanitarian crisis.”
First, what is happening to the people of Gaza is NOT an humanitarian crisis, it is genocide, a genocide being perpetrated by the Israeli government/military.
Second, it is instructive that Rep. Scholten can’t even name the innocent lives being lost, the Palestinians. She can’t, not unless she wants to piss off the Israel lobby and the Democratic Party leadership, which pretty much do whatever the Israel lobby wants them to do. In addition, Rep. Scholten can’t even say that the Israeli military killed the 67 Palestinians over weekend.
Third, Rep. Scholten’s empathy is so ridiculously shallow, since she has supported every US military aid bill since October of 2023 and every weapons sales since then as well – as I have been methodically documenting. You can’t sign off on genocide and then claim to give a shit about innocent lives being killed while trying to access food aid.
Fourth, the Israeli military has been engaged in the strategy of attacking and killing Palestinians seeking food aid since last year. What happened last weekend was not new, so why is Rep. Scholten addressing it now. Again, fake empathy. Here is just a sampling of sources on how Israel has not only created starvation conditions for those in Gaza, but are attacking those seeking food aid.
THEY WENT TO GET FLOUR WITH THEIR MOTHER IN GAZA. “SHE CAME BACK IN A WHITE SHROUD.”
‘An Avoidable Disaster’: Israeli Blockade of Gaza Could Starve Hundreds of Premature Babies
ISRAELI SOLDIERS KILLED AT LEAST 410 PEOPLE AT FOOD AID SITES IN GAZA THIS MONTH
‘The Never-Ending Hunger Games of Gaza’: IDF Kills 70+ Palestinians Trying to Get Food Aid
Children Are Starving in Gaza, as Soldiers Kill People Looking for Food
US and Israel turn “aid” centers into slaughter zones
IN GAZA, FAMINE IS THE WEAPON — AND SO IS AID
THE RISING DEATH TOLL OF THE U.S.–ISRAEL AID DISTRIBUTION PLAN IN GAZA
“People Are Starving to Death”: Oxfam Warns Israel’s Blockade on Gaza Is Catastrophic
Surveillance Humanitarianism”: As Gaza Starves, U.S.-Israeli Plan Would Further Weaponize Food
We need to see through the fake empathy from Rep. Scholten and any other politicians who doesn’t support a tru ceasefire, an end to US military aid and weapons sales to Israel and for Israel to be tried in an international court for the crime of genocide. Anything less would betray the Palestinian people.
Five reasons to demand that the Kent County Commission adopt Sanctuary policies at their meeting this Thursday
Movimiento Cosecha and GR Rapid Response to ICE have invited people to attend the Kent County Commission meeting this Thursday, at 8:30am, to demand that the commissioners adopt sanctuary policies that would ultimately mean that Kent County would not cooperate with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) or support private entities that are profiting from ICE contracts.
Anyone who attends will have a chance to speak during public comment in order to support these demands. If you are unable to attend in person, then make sure you sign the online Action Alert and share it with your people.
Here are 5 reasons why people should attend the Kent County Commission meeting this Thursday and why the Kent County Commissioners should adopt Sanctuary policies.
1. There have been numerous instances over the past 6 months, where the Kent County Sheriff’s Department has been seen during ICE arrests in Grand Rapids and the surrounding communities. In addition, GR Rapid Response to ICE received the following message from a family impacted by ICE violence, where the Kent County Jail directly cooperated with ICE by alerting them to an undocumented person in their custody.
“My wife was driving home from Chicago. She was almost home. It was heading East on Michigan St, and was pulled over for speeding, just before reaching Ele’s Place which is a little before turning on Lakeside Dr.
She had a warrant out for her arrest in Ottawa County for a partially paid traffic ticket. They were going to let her go because she was going 10mph over at 0330 in the morning, but they noticed she had a warrant and so called me to pick up our son so that they could arrest her.
She was initially sent to Kent County Corrections. I paid her bond the following afternoon, and that’s when I was told that she is not allowed to leave due to a 48 hour ICE hold.
An ICE agent picked her up Monday morning at about 0840. I saw the vehicle go into the jail and leave with her. I followed the vehicle (safely) and they dropped her off in an unmarked building, which I later learned is the Department of Homeland Security building in downtown GR.
I stayed outside for a while, not knowing what to do. The agent saw me and immediately closed the garage door. About 15 minutes later (I was still outside the building), a van pulled up and an officer stepped out to pull out chains from the rear side of the van. I knew those were for her. They opened the garage doors, they greeted each other, and again noticed me still there. Once they saw me, they closed the garage door again. I left after about 5 minutes because my wife had contacted me by that point.”
She told me they were moving her to Battle Creek, Calhoun County Corrections. They did that and she’s been in there since. ICE agents told her that she wasn’t even on their radar and that they probably wouldn’t have looked for her if it were not for the jail reporting her.”
This recent first hand account is the same thing that Movimiento Cosecha and GR Rapid Response to ICE have been hearing since ICE ended their contract with Kent County in 2019, where the Kent County Sheriff’s Department continues to notify ICE when some undocumented is processed into the Kent County Jail.
2. The Kent County Commissioners must adopt a policy to make sure that they will never permit an ICE detention center to be constructed in Kent County. In addition, the Kent County Commission needs to put an end to allowing the Kent County Jail to hold immigrants for ICE.
3. For several years, the Kent County Sheriff’s Department has been using 25 cameras that are spread around Kent County, cameras that relay information about vehicles and license plate numbers. According to a recent article on 404 Media, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is now using what are called Flock cameras to obtain license plate numbers to track down undocumented immigrants.
While state and local law enforcement agencies normally lack the authority to enforce federal immigration laws, the Trump administration has encouraged them to participate in a program called 287(g), a provision of the the Immigration and Nationality Act that authorizes DHS agencies including ICE to delegate certain immigration enforcement actions to state and municipal police.
Using the Flock technology provides an additional tool to be used by the Kent County Sheriff’s Department, the GRPD and other local law enforcement agencies to assist ICE in hunting down those who are undocumented and those that the administration are targeting, regardless of immigration status. To see the exact location of the Flock cameras being used in Kent County, go to this link.
4. In March, it was announced that Avelo Airlines would be offering flights out of the Kent County Airport, with a few direct flights to North Carolina and Florida. In May of this year, Avelo Airlines entered into a $150 Million contract with ICE to transport immigrants directly to El Salvador, becoming the first commercial airline to begin deportation flights, and running flights and hiring flight attendants in Mesa, AZ to fly people in ICE custody out of the country.
Several groups, including GR Rapid Response to ICE, have been calling for a boycott of Avelo Airlines since June, a boycott which is part of a national campaign to pressure the company to end their contract with ICE. As a follow up to a June 21st action, GR Rapid Response to ICE invited people to attend the Kent County Airport Authority’s monthly board meeting and to pressure the board members to demand that Avelo Airlines end its contact with ICE.
The Kent County Airport Authority Board did not respond directly to the issues about Avelo Airlines that people raised during their monthly board meeting, but has since released the following statement:
“The airport is required by federal law to allow all airlines to use our gates as long as they comply with FAA rules and regulations and remain in good financial standing. To do otherwise would unfairly discriminate against an airline, which could jeopardize our FAA funding.”
The Kent County Airport Authority statement reveals several things. First, the Kent County Airport Authority is making it clear that even if private airlines have contracts with ICE, contracts that allows them to transport undocumented immigrants to El Salvador with little hope of justice, that this is NOT a violation of the Federal Aviation Authority (FAA). Indeed, having a contract to do harm to immigrants does not violate FAA rules and regulations, which means the FAA rules and regulations normalizes human rights abuses.
Second, the Kent County Airport Authority statement makes it clear that apart from not violating FAA rules and regulations, as long as Avelo Airlines remains “in good financial standing”, they can continue to profit off of human rights abuses.
It is also worth noting that there are two Kent County Commissioners who sit on the Kent County Airport Board Authority, Commissioners Dan Burrill and Jennifer Merchant. We demand that they speak out against Avelo Airlines’ contract with ICE and adopt a policy to not support businesses that are profiting off of the arrest, detention and deportation of immigrants in Kent County.
5. ICE violence and immigrant family separation are happening in Kent County every week. With the passing of the Big Beautiful Bill, there will be an additional $170 billion added to the budgets of ICE and other immigration enforcement agencies to arrest, detain, and deport immigrants, and for a border wall and militarization in the next few years. Specifically, the bill includes funding for some of the following:
- $45 billion: for expanding detention capacity, including building new facilities and expanding existing ones.
- $29.9 billion: for enforcement and removal operations, such as hiring more ICE personnel and providing transportation costs.
- $10 billion: for a DHS cost-reimbursement fund related to border enforcement.
- $12 billion: for state reimbursement related to border enforcement.
In early June, ICE agents arrested at least 8 people who were at the ISAP office on Michigan Street in Grand Rapids while they were attending regularly scheduled appoints with ICE. ICE agents took those immigrants, some who are in detention and some have been deported. Actions like these are causing fear and trauma in the immigrant community. This is family separation, it is violence and it is happening right here in Kent County. If Kent County adopts the Sanctuary policies that Movimiento Cosecha and GR Rapid Response are calling for, it will not only send a message to the immigrant community that Kent County cares about the well being of immigrants, it will send a message to the federal government that Kent County will not cooperate with violence and immigrant family separation.
If you are able, please attend the Kent County Commission meeting this Thursday, at 8:30am, and demand that Kent County adopt these Sanctuary policies. For details on the meeting this Thursday and where to park, go to this link.
Philanthropy is just reputation laundering for the oligarchy.
The Edgar & Elsa Prince Foundation
GRIID has always begun our Foundation Watch work by looking at the foundations associated with the most powerful family in West Michigan, the DeVos family. Seven weeks ago I looked at the Dick and Betsy DeVos Foundation, then six weeks ago I investigated the Doug and Maria DeVos Foundation. Five weeks ago it was the Dan and Pamela DeVos Foundation, and four weeks ago it was the CDV5 Foundation, which is the Cheri DeVos Foundation. Three weeks ago I looked at the DeVos Family Foundation, and two weeks ago I wrote about the David and Carol Van Andel Foundation. The most recent post was about the Steve and Amy Van Andel Foundation. Today, I want to look at the most recent 990 document from the Edgar & Elsa Prince Foundation.
According to GuideStar, in 2024, the Edgar & Elsa Prince Foundation contributed $1,367,500 leaving them with $1,222,741 of funds left in their foundation account. Edgar and Elsa Prince are the parents of Erik Prince and Betsy DeVos. Erik Prince is one of the Board members of his parents foundation. Although Edgar has been dead for several years, the foundation that is in his wife and his name, continues the legacy of funding the Religious and Political Right.
Religious Right
- Christian Leadership Institute $20,000
- American Values $20,000
- Gateways to Better Education $15,000
- Words of Hope $30,000
- Bible League – $15,000
- Women’s Rights Without Frontiers $20,000
- Pregnancy Resource Center $10,000
- Alliance Defending Freedom $25,000
- Protect Life Michigan $35,000
- Wycliff Bible Translators $15,000
- Michigan Family Forum $25,000
- Prison Fellowship Ministries $100,000
The Alliance for Defending Freedom is a Conservative Christian group of lawyers that defends religious groups around anti-LGBT policies and other religious right issues. They are a far right version of what the ACLU is. American values is a group that was started by Gary Power, which put their emphasis on fighting against abortion and defending Israel. The Prison Fellowship Ministries is a Far Right Christian group that tries to convert people in prison, but doesn’t have a problem with the Prison Industrial Complex. They are also part of the State Policy Network. The Bible League and the Wycliff Bible Translators often in work in tandem to impose Christianity on Indigenous people around the world, which I have written about previously.
Political Right and Think Tanks
- Freedom Alliance $25,000
- Media Research Center $20,000
- Council for National Policy $15,000
- Mackinac Center for Public Policy $10,000
- Acton Institute $23,500
- Turning Point USA $35,000
- Mom’s for America $5,000
Freedom Alliance is an entity that was founded by convicted Iran Contra scandal participant Col. Oliver North. The Media Research Center is a right wing media “watchdog” group run by president and founder Brent Bozell. It is predominately funded by larger right-wing foundations. The Mackinac Center for Public Policy is a right-wing pressure group based in Michigan. Founded in 1987, it is the largest state-level “think tank” in the nation. It was established by right-wing activists to promote “free market,” pro-business policies. Moms for America is a group of women that fights against Critical Race Theory in schools, opposes the Movement for Black Lives, was involved in the January 6th, 2021 insurrection, plus the Southern Poverty Law Center designates them as a Hate Group. Turning Point USA is a right-wing 501(c)(3) organization, with a mission to “build the most organized, active, and powerful conservative grassroots activist network on high school and college campuses across the country.” The group funnels money to right-wing candidates for student government at universities across the country and has faced numerous allegations of racial discrimination. TPUSA is funded by a variety of right-wing mega-donors, including the Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation, the Ed Uihlein Family Foundation, Foster Friess, Michael Leven and various Koch brothers-affiliated groups, such as the Foundation for Economic Education, DonorsTrust and Donors Capital Fund.
Education Institutions
- Holland Christian Schools $28,500
- Potter’s House Christian School $37,500
- Zuni Christian Mission School $20,000
- Allendale Christian Schools $15,000
DeVos-owned, created or connected groups
- Christian Leadership Institute $20,000
- West Michigan Aviation Academy $47,500
Groups receiving Hush money
- Wedgewood Christian Youth and Family Services $15,000
- Family Promise $20,000
These groups all provide some sort of social service. There are root causes to all of these issues, but these groups are not likely to address root causes and larger systems of oppression. When the Prince family foundation makes contributions, this will increase the likelihood that systems of oppression will not be addressed by these organization, which is why we call it hush money.
You can clearly see that the Edgar and Elsa Prince Foundation primarily funds the Religious Right and the Political Right, even though sometimes it is difficult to distinguish the two. The Edgar and Elsa Prince Foundation is a perfect way for the family to hide some of their wealth from taxation, but allows them to use it, just like direct political contributions, often working in tandem with campaign contributions.
Last week, in the Email that Rep. Scholten sends out, she spent a great deal of time talking about how the “Big Beautiful Bill” would be bad for people, especially around the issues of health care cuts, food assistance cuts, attacks on public education and several other important matters.
Rep. Scholten is correct in pointing out what kind of damage the “Big Beautiful Bill” will do. Unfortunately, all she did was vote against it, since the Democrats do not control Congress. Michigan Senator Elissa Slotkin did the same thing in her July 19th Email, critiquing all the things wrong with the “Big Beautiful Bill.”
However, what Slotkin and Scholten did not do was to talk about where much of this money will be going, money that has been cut from food assistance and medicaid. The Big Beautiful Bill allocates $170 billion to arrest, detain, and deport immigrants, and for a border wall and militarization in the next few years. Specifically, the bill includes funding for some of the following:
- $45 billion: for expanding detention capacity, including building new facilities and expanding existing ones.
- $29.9 billion: for enforcement and removal operations, such as hiring more ICE personnel and providing transportation costs.
- $10 billion: for a DHS cost-reimbursement fund related to border enforcement.
- $12 billion: for state reimbursement related to border enforcement.
So, why did Slotkin and Scholten say nothing about the increased funding that will further the Trump Administration’s desire to arrest, detain and deport as many immigrants as possible? For one, Slotkin, Scholten and the Democratic Party as a whole have voted for ICE funding, the expansion of private detention facilities and related Department of Homeland Security efforts directed at the immigrant community since ICE was created in 2003.
A second major reason that Democrats have not talked about expanded funding for ICE and other immigration related repression is because the Democratic Party leadership did not want to talk about it. This matter is explored in an excellent article from the Intercepted, entitled, “TRUMP’S BUDGET BILL WOULD EXPLODE FUNDING FOR ICE. TOP DEMOCRATS AREN’T TALKING ABOUT IT.” The reason why the Democratic Party leadership did not want to talk about ICE and the the further criminalization of immigrants, along with the further militarization of the border, is because they fundamentally agree with those policies, just as they did under Clinton, Obama and Biden. (See Daniel Denvir’s book, All-American Nativism: How the Bipartisan War on Immigrants Explains Politics as We Know It.)
Some people might point out that Senator Slotkin recently co-sponsored theVISIBLE Act, which requires ICE agents to not cover their faces and have some form of identification on their person when arresting and detaining immigrants. Of course it is problematic that ICE agents are covering their faces, but Slotkin’s legislation says nothing about how ICE has arrested, detained and deported millions of immigrants since ICE was created. As I wrote in a piece last week, Senator Slotkin doesn’t have a problem with ICE arresting in detaining millions of immigrants. In fact, she is pushing the VISIBLE Act legislation because it will, “strengthens officer credibility, and improves public cooperation.” This clearly means she doesn’t oppose what ICE does, only that she doesn’t want them to cover their faces.
For her part, Rep. Scholten has voted with the Trump Administration on several bills to further criminalize undocumented immigrants, as I have documented, Scholten and Slotkin refused to condemn the US bombing of Iran last month, and Rep. Scholten recently voted for the pro-Trump Genius Act, as did the majority of Congress, which would further Trump’s corruption, but also “expose our financial stability, national security, and consumer protections to greater risk.”
For those who continue to put their faith in electoral politics, I would argue, as does historian Howard Zinn, that the most effective means to address systemic oppression is by building radical social movements that are too powerful for politicians to ignore. From an Interview, Zinn said:
Significant changes occur when social movements reach a critical point of power capable of moving cautious politicians beyond their tendency to keep things as they are — or when these movements, by direct action, bypass the political system and bring about change by acting directly on the obstacles to change. When the anti-slavery movement reached its height in the late 1850s and early 1860s, it pushed President Abraham Lincoln toward the Emancipation Proclamation and pushed Congress toward the 13th, 14th and 15th Amendments. When the labor movement became militant and called strikes all over the country in the 1880s, it won the eight-hour day directly from employers without the actions of government. In the 1930s, the strike and the growing labor movement pushed President Franklin D. Roosevelt into the New Deal reforms — minimum wage, Social Security, subsidized housing, etc. When black people protested and demonstrated all over the South, bringing about scenes that shocked the nation, then we got the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965. But before that legislation, militant black protesters desegregated lunch counters and began to change the South by direct action. The movement against the war in Vietnam reached the point where it could not be ignored, where the direct action of deserting GIs, angry veterans and draft resisters created an atmosphere in which the government could no longer count on the support of the American people — and then the government began to move gradually toward ending the war.
It is true that things are worse under Trump than it was under the Biden Administration, but that is due primarily to the fact that the Democratic Party rarely keeps there promises on social and economic policies and actually embraces Imperialism, State violence and Capitalism as necessary.
The Democratic Party would love for all those involved in resisting current policies in the US to focus on getting Dems elected in 2026, rather than building powerful social movements. Indeed, this is the strategy of the Democratic Party, which is to be slightly less oppressive than the Republicans, but when they control Congress they only modify GOP policies instead of listening to the existing social movements or population most impacted by white supremacy, policing, the climate crisis, a market-driven housing system, militarism, patriarchy and other systems of power and oppression.
I would highly recommend that people read Lance Selfa’s book, The Democrats: A Critical History, which chronicles how the Democratic Party has undermined social movements throughout US history, by prioritizing voting over direct action, by convincing people that voting for the lesser of evil is good, and by not enacting robust social and economic policies when they have political power…….what we call betrayal. Lastly, why would we continue to defend and participate in a system of representative democracy, when we can have direct democracy or collective liberation through powerful social movements.
It has been more than 21 months since the Israeli government began their most recent assault on Gaza and the West Bank. The retaliation for the October 7, 2023 Hamas attack in Israel, has escalated to what the international community has called genocide, therefore, GRIID will be providing weekly links to information and analysis that we think can better inform us of what is happening, along with the role that the US government is playing. All of this information is to provide people with the capacity of what Noam Chomsky refers to as, intellectual self-defense.
Information
Witnesses Say American Military Contractors Shot Tear Gas at Gaza Aid Seekers
The Collapse of the Corporate University in the Time of Gaza
Beit Hanoun’s Fury: How Gaza’s Obliterated Northern Town Defies Israeli Victory
Trump and Netanyahu dither on Gaza ceasefire
Stop Israel’s Dystopian “Humanitarian City” Plan—Before It’s Too Late
Analysis & History
Israel’s Relentless Attacks on Gaza and Prospects for a Ceasefire
Iman Abid on the Economy of Genocide
Image used in this post is from https://fair.org/home/iman-abid-on-the-economy-of-genocide-victor-pickard-on-paramount-settlement/
Grand Rapids Institute for Information Democracy 