Leaders Testify and City Responds with a Lawsuit

With San Antonio ranking fourth in migrant deportations — and after hearing hundreds stories from immigrants and witnesses to the disappearances of fellow parishioners — COPS/Metro proposed to US Congressman Joaquin Castro a public field hearing on ICE practices, to document the impact of deportations and detention practices on the local community. Congressman Castro agreed and San Antonio’s first public field hearing was organized.

Close to 200 COPS/Metro leaders crowded into a library conference room for the field hearing.  They were joined by TX State Senators Jose Menendez, Roland Gutierrez, TX Representative Barbara Gervin-Hawkins, and San Antonio City Councilwoman Phyllis Viagran, along with other local elected officials.

COPS/Metro leader and pastor of St. Margaret Mary Catholic Church, Fr. Jimmy Drennan, testified about Kimberly, who, 8 months into her fourth pregnancy, faced ICE agents who stormed into her home without an arrest warrant and removed her husband.  He was moved from detention center to another -- the locations of which were not always known to his family -- before being deported.  Kimberly was left on her own to work day and night to support her four children, all under the age of 10.  Fr. Drennan also shared stories of American citizens profiled and detained, and desperation driving detainees to drink water out of toilets.   

Allies from the Texas Immigration Law Council detailed instances of rape and sexual assault, where access to lawyers has been extraordinarily limited and official information about detainees effectively nonexistent.  TILC Director Kristen Etter declared privately-run detention centers "essentially black sites" in practice.  

Within hours of public testimony, San Antonio Mayor Gina Ortiz Jones announced a lawsuit.  Bexar County officials pledged to do the same. 

At the urging of COPS/Metro and allies, San Antonio City Council passed the city’s first property tax rate increase in 33 years – protecting essential programs from cuts. Those programs include SA Ready to Work, the workforce development program COPS/Metro leaders fought to create. 

Together New Orleans with New Orleans City Council Members and the Alliance for Affordable Energy pose after a Sept. 23, 2026 vote to advance a backup battery incentive program [Photo credit: New Orleans City Council]

[Excerpts]

The New Orleans City Council has cleared the way for a new backup battery program that advocates say will help keep the lights on at homes, businesses and community sites when the grid goes down.

[Excerpts]

Valley Interfaith, a broad-based regional coalition of congregations, schools, and civic organizations across the Rio Grande Valley, will hold a major nonpartisan Accountability Session next month to seek public policy commitments from congressional, state, and county candidates ahead of the upcoming general election....

More than 300 leaders from 30 institutions across Oklahoma City and Tulsa came together for VOICE and ACTION's Statewide Accountability Session for Public Education. They brought their stories and an agenda for action: improving school transportation, supporting teachers, expanding mental and behavioral health services, and ensuring that all children, regardless of immigration status, know they have a right to a quality public education. 

[Excerpts]

In 2021, Hurricane Ida knocked out eight transmission lines and 31,000 utility poles in Louisiana. This left 1 million people without power, with some outages lasting several weeks. In the heat wave that followed, 10 people died without air conditioning.

Launched only six weeks earlier, Together New Orleans solidi­fied a clear vision after Ida: They would organize “resilience hubs” powered by solar energy within a 15-minute walk of every resident in Southeast Louisiana. The hubs, called “community lighthouses,” would provide charging stations during power outages, invite residents to cooling stations during heat waves, and offer food during emergencies….

Years after Together New Orleans (TNO) began organizing for Community Solar, New Orleans City Council voted unanimously to support consolidated billing.

500 leaders from 30 faith, education, and community institutions gathered on September 20 to raise the most pressing issues facing their families and to secure commitments for concrete action from candidates for public office. Both state legislative candidates present pledged their support for OTOC’s agenda, and candidates for governor, U.S. Senate and U.S. House committed in writing to meet with OTOC within their first 100 days of office if elected.

Approximately 175 representatives from the Calgary Alliance for the Common Good’s 32 member organizations gathered at Scarboro United Church to launch their Get Out the Vote (GOTV) Campaign. This is the second phase of their Vote for the Common Good campaign ahead of Alberta’s October 19 referendum. Alliance member organizations made commitments to mobilize an estimated 16,000 to 20,000 voters.

In a multi-national two-day gathering at the Vatican, Industrial Areas Foundation (IAF) National Co-Director Joe Rubio and Texas IAF Director Elizabeth Valdez joined national and international labor, business, university and community organizing leaders for the Fourth Synodal Meeting, “Fratelli Tutti: North-South Socio-Environmental Dialogue.”  It was the culmination of a four-year series of gatherings held in Latin America and Washington D.C.  The two-day meeting concluded with a direct audience with Pope Leo XIV, described below.        

[Excerpts]

At a time of ever-increasing polarization and conflict in the world, Pope Leo XIV called for developing social dialogue through

a healthy ‘culture of negotiation’ which is capable of opening paths where differences seem to close off every possibility of encounter.”