On February 21, CVI joined coalition partners — including El Centro de Conexion de Chippewa Valley — for a rally outside the Altoona Police Department, demanding answers about local law enforcement cooperation with ICE.

By design, the press credited the impacted immigrant community rather than CVI. When your advocacy is about other people’s lives, the right move is to put those people forward and step back.

WEAU and the Wisconsin Examiner both covered the action. The Examiner’s reporting questioned the sheriff’s account of four people detained by ICE — the kind of accountability journalism that happens when a community refuses to accept official narratives without scrutiny.

CVI’s role was what it always is in immigration work: build the infrastructure, support the community, and let the people most affected lead the conversation.