In January, the Trump administration paused visa processing for people from 75 mainly African, Asian and Latin American countries. It left a lot of refugees already living in the U.S. in limbo. Some of their employers laid them off, wrongly thinking that they weren’t authorized to work.

Two young organizers, one undocumented and one not, share how their personal experiences led them to advocate for immigrant rights and immigration reform. They’re part of Comité Sin Fronteras, an advocacy group in Milwaukee.

Janeth and Lizeth Zorrilla are originally from Mexico, but have lived in the U.S. since they were children. In 2017, they opened La Finca Coffee House in a suburb of Milwaukee. The business is inspired by their Mexican heritage and even features coffee beans from their grandfather’s farm in Oaxaca. In 2024, WUWM asked them to share their story as immigrant entrepreneurs.

Her father was in critical condition in a hospital in Mexico, after a tragic motorcycle accident. But as an immigrant and DACA recipient, she was concerned about traveling to see him. We talk to one woman who is watching how ICE in airports could affect people like her. And, an immigration attorney shares the air travel advice she’s giving her clients.

A recent piece in Milwaukee Magazine digs into how life has changed for immigrants in the Milwaukee area, amid the federal immigration crackdown. It shares the stories of DACA recipients, undocumented parents, asylum seekers and more as they navigate legal hoops to build lives, families and careers in the U.S.

In February, the Trump administration announced the end of its immigration crackdown in the Twin Cities. But some ICE operations there continue, and the surge of ICE agents also spilled over into western Wisconsin.

ProPublica reporters have been looking into the living conditions inside the Dilley detention center in Texas, where immigrant families and children are held.

Throughout U.S. and Wisconsin history, the idea of who gets to be a citizen has changed. At times, it’s been broad and welcoming. And other times, it’s been more restricted.

Read the full story at wuwm.com/makingwisconsin.