As immigration enforcement reshapes communities, many local stories go untold
In Northern Kentucky, local newsrooms are missing stories about fear, lost business and disrupted routines. Some of those stories may never be told.
Shortly after President Donald Trump returned to office in 2025, an immigrant family disappeared from a neighborhood in Covington, Kentucky. A few months later, while freelancing for a regional newspaper, I interviewed Clara Riley, a woman who lived on the street. As she described changes in her neighborhood over the past 60 years, Riley mentioned the family — and how her immigrant neighbors were responding to the administration’s immigration crackdown.
The family’s disappearance hit close to home for Riley. She had become fond of Angel, one of the children.
“I worked at the school and one of the kids, he grew up in my school,” Riley said. “I didn’t see him anymore. And after that, the house was empty.”
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