Frankly I didn’t know what forum to stick this in so if needs to be moved, so be it.
Do you belong to a group that has been visited, or there is a decent chance will be visited by I.C.E.? What were/are your group’s plans concerning confrontation/nonconfrontation with them?
Not sure if this counts as a “group” in your meaning, but my son’s school district (he’s in high school) has this among its policies:
“Limited Cooperation with Immigration Enforcement: The district has adopted policies aimed at limiting its cooperation with immigration enforcement actions at public schools. This includes requiring Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers to present a judicial warrant before entering non-public areas of school campuses for immigration enforcement purposes.”
It counts. Thank you.
As a Canadian who talks shit about Trump online all the time, I plan to avoid visiting Trump’s America until he is dead.
I have indirect involvement with a local farm.
It used to be that there was a low volume of retail sales. Now there’s a guard who only admits employees. That way, if I.C.E. does come, and they lack a full judicial warrant, they can be stopped.
A guard?
Are they heavily armed?
Not I, but a friend who works at a school said they have instructions to not let anyone without a warrant in. We’re well south of L.A. ,in fecking Republican Central so not too much expectation of an ICE raid, but I’m glad to hear that they will not cooperate.
Not armed.
The goal is to establish that the facility is no longer open to the public.
This was done on advice of counsel.
It hopefully gives worried employees a feeling that feared outsiders are not snooping around.
While I haven’t expected raids, I did expect the Feds to start auditing our I-9s to make sure we weren’t hiring any undocumented workers. But since Trump doesn’t seem too keen on going after employers, it looks like we’re safe. Per company policy, we’re required to participate and comply with any government audit. Though like any audit, I’m only going to provide them with the information asked and will volunteer nothing.
My neighborhood Episcopal Church, which has a “no questions asked” food pantry and an enclosed village for local homeless (mini one room houses) on the property and works with minorities and other disadvantaged people, has a current policy. At first sight of what might be I.C.E. agents in the parking lot, the guy in the back of the church who watches for such things bolts the two main doors and tells those in church to do one of two things: Use cell phones to call 911 and say that armed and masked intruders are trying to break in, and start fiming and and bradcasting everything that is going one. I am the guy in the back of the church, btw.
I have been a little involved with addressing I-9 paperwork inconsistencies at this farm, just in case ICE or HSI ever does come. I wonder if a lot of companies are wasting time with that even if they doubt they have any undocumented workers. It is more of an issue when you suspect that some of your best employees are undocumented.
We’re in a highly regulated industry, we’re contractually obligated to use E-Verify, and some of our clients even hire third party auditors to make sure we’re in compliance (being audited is part of our contract). For us at least, we already kept a good handle on completing our I-9s, so there was nothing more we needed to do. We just assumed we’d be audited and its not come so far. Because Trump doesn’t care about employers using undocumented workers, he just wants to go after the workers.
The church we attend has a close relationship with a predominantly Hispanic congregation elsewhere in town. My wife and I attended training to be “advocates” during Sunday morning services; we would essentially interface with “ICE” while the front doors get locked and anyone inside who feels in danger can move to a non-public part of the church. Obviously, should men with firearms decide that they will enter the church, there’s nothing we can do about it, but the idea is to delay, witness, record, and notify a local immigrant rights organization.
At the time, I thought that raiding Sunday morning services was a bridge too far for even this administration. I have since changed my mind.
The one heartening thing is that there were something like three times as many middle-aged white folk attending training than they expected. The disheartening thing is seeing what an extensive and detailed security plan the Hispanic congregation already had in place.
Excellent. Let the cops and ICE sort it out. It’s time for ICE to face justice and get a taste of what they have been serving (not that justice has anything to do with that dish)
Our lab has a lobby behind which is a locked door to the rest of the facility. Card reader access is needed to get in. I told the receptionist if they show up to come get me and then stay back there with the employees. I will come out and tell them to come back with a warrant. They could arrest me but I am of an age where I really don’t care..and I know a lot of lawyers. They won’t be able to get to my employees.
We don’t have any non-US citizens. We have one Muslim guy, one Hispanic guy and the rest are white or Black. There’s no obvious reason they would raid us but I would rather be prepared. The world is not the same as it was two years ago.
I note sadly that this is how you change a free and open society into one that isn’t. That’s not a criticism of the people against ICE, but of the supervillain in the White House and his Gestapo.
I remember the days when church (and possibly synagogue and mosque, although I have no direct knowledge of such) doors were often left open for anyone who felt the need to come in and seek comfort, feel the presence of God, or just try to escape their troubles.
I weep to think that our government has made this impossible.
We can’t do that because too many other groups meet in the building and stuff needs to be secure.
To all of those who talk about a “war on religion”, take note: This is how an actual war on religion works.
At my work, the official word from administration is “We have a plan”.
On this day, August 4, 1944, Anne Frank and her family was abducted by the Gestapo.
Need I mention that the Gestapo were fully uniformed and badged, and didn’t hide their faces?