Months after an immigration judge canceled her deportation order and cited family hardship in setting her on a path to legal residency, ICE officers arrested Elvira Benitez during a routine check-in in Milwaukee.
Paul Kiefer / Wisconsin Watch
Paul Kiefer joined Wisconsin Watch in September 2025 as a Roy W. Howard fellow, focusing largely on immigration and data reporting. He grew up in Washington state, first setting foot in a newsroom as a teenage producer-in-training at a Seattle public radio station. He went on to cover criminal justice in Washington for both the Seattle news site PubliCola and InvestigateWest. He headed east in 2023, finding work as a state politics reporter for Delaware Public Media before receiving a master’s degree in journalism from the University of Maryland and interning with the Washington Post’s metro desk.
Posted inCommunity, Criminal justice
Immigrants fight ICE detention in federal court — and increasingly win
After a federal appeals board barred most detained immigrants from seeking bond, filings challenging their confinement surged in Wisconsin and nationwide. Wisconsin judges have ruled for detainees more than half the time.
Posted inCommunity, Public Safety
Air Wisconsin turns to ICE
The Appleton-based airline now plays a role in the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown, flying between detention centers. Explore how its flight patterns have changed since its sale to a federal contractor.
Posted inCommunity, Economic Development
Data center boom spotlights Wisconsin’s Public Service Commission. Here’s what the agency does.
The three-member commission regulates Wisconsin’s utilities and power rates. A surge in data center proposals is putting agency decisions under new scrutiny.
Posted inCommunity, Health and Wellness
Can immigration officials access your Medicaid data? What it means for Wisconsin patients
Wisconsin is suing to block federal immigration officials from accessing Medicaid records. The dispute has sparked concerns over privacy and avoided health care.
Posted inCriminal justice
Guns and protests: What are Wisconsin’s laws on open and concealed carry?
The White House’s effort to blame Alex Pretti for the Border Patrol shooting that killed him in Minnesota has renewed a national conversation about Second Amendment rights. Here are the parameters for open and concealed carry in Wisconsin.
Posted inCommunity, Economy
Skilled but uncertain: Immigrant workers and employers navigate hiring hurdles under Trump
From a Manitowoc foundry to a south-central Wisconsin dairy, immigrant workers and their employers are grappling with visa changes, enforcement crackdowns and an increasingly fragile labor pipeline.
Posted inCommunity, Inside the NNS Newsroom
As ICE surges next door, share your questions about immigration enforcement in Wisconsin
Here’s how Wisconsin Watch has covered immigration so far. What should we report on next?
Posted inCommunity, Government
Refugee resettlement agencies try to keep doors open as White House shuts out new arrivals
Wisconsin agencies are navigating funding losses and layoffs after the Trump administration halted most refugee admissions. Some are resettling South Africans under a controversial Trump program, out of principle and to preserve a system they say will be needed again.
Posted inCommunity, Criminal justice
Background check delay shows crackdown’s strain on immigration system
An immigration judge backed a green card for a Sheboygan Falls mother arrested after accidentally crossing the Canadian border, but a delayed background check prolonged her ICE detention for weeks.