At this point in America you have to be hopelessly naïve or just completely tuned out to think ICE is still a conscientious law enforcement agency and not a rogue enterprise. Just ask actual police.
A county sheriff’s deputy would not shoot a young mother in the head and declare her a domestic terrorist. A state trooper would not stage a raid on a workplace without a judicial warrant. A local police officer would not cart off a father in front of the local high school and leave his 7-year-old daughter to rot without a ride home in 90-degree summer heat. None of them would wear masks to hide their identity.
But ICE agents do all these things, brazenly, every day. The masked aggressors sent to swarm our cities are not trained law enforcement officers with an oath to the U.S. Constitution. They are amateurs drawn in by lavish $50,000 signing bonuses, operating with few rules, under enormous pressure to meet President Donald Trump’s declared national quota of 3,000 arrests per day.
The relentless cruelty, the detention of people lawfully in the country, and the public execution of protesters who object marks ICE operating procedure now. If you still think ICE makes us safer, go ask the people of Minneapolis how that’s working out.
ICE uses excessive force that violates our civil liberties. One option is to pretend this is all normal. The other is to act like Americans and take action to defend those basic rights. Here is how.
1. Video record everything.
If you see an ICE operation in progress, do not obstruct or get near an ICE agent. ICE is prepared to shoot people, with no apparent repercussion. What we can do is exercise our legal right to video record everything, as long as we’re not interfering. We can do this from a distance on foot or from our vehicles. If ICE tells you to stop, tell them you are just exercising your Constitution rights. Step back, but record everything. When federal officials lie, video evidence is critical. Without it Trump and ICE would still be insisting Renee Good and Alex Pretti were violent attackers instead of the victims of ICE executions in Minneapolis.
2. Require signed court warrant for workplace or home entry.
We still live in a country where the Fourth Amendment to the Constitution requires the government to have a signed warrant from a judge before ICE agents can enter your home or non-public areas at your workplace. If approached, do not open the door. Demand to see the judicial warrant, slid under the door or through a window. A signed paper by an ICE officer is not enough. If you operate a farm, business, or worksite that might be targeted, be sure your employees know this. Many businesses around the country are posting signs that read: Judicial warrants are required for ICE entry.
3. If stopped by an ICE agent, know your rights.
If you are a citizen you are not obligated to roll down your car window or supply identification in the way you would if a police officer stops you. Ask repeatedly if you’re being arrested or free to leave. If agents respond you are not being arrested, leave. If you’re not a citizen and a federal agent requests your immigration papers, you must show them if you have them with you. If you think you are at risk by ICE, carry a “drop card” that lists your name and emergency contact. You can drop it so the people around you know who to call to let them know you’ve been detained. If you know people at risk, encourage them to do this.
These are the things we can do as individuals, but the most important things we can do are the things we must do together. We must raise our voices against the deportation abuses and we must elect candidates who will stand up for personal liberties.
President Trump told us his attack on the nation’s undocumented immigrants was aimed at the criminally “worst of the worst.” But with our own eyes we can see migrants hogtied and carted away to detention camps. They include grandmothers, refugees from the hell of Haiti and 5-year-olds. They have committed no crimes and have lived among us honestly as our neighbors for years.
In Niagara County, where I live, and elsewhere, people are looking at what is happening today in America and saying, “This is not the country I want my children to grow up in.” Wishful thinking won’t change that. Only action will.