Should I Confront ICE Agents?

Millions voted for this. Many celebrate it online. They treat the suffering of families as entertainment. They congratulate each other when a raid happens.

Anger, fear and disappointment set in this morning when I heard the news that I.C.E. would be conducting their operations in my city. We all know why. We’ve all seen the videos. We’ve all heard the stories. We know about the abuses of people and the abuses of power.

We all know what the result is going to be from their presence.

Children will be left at daycare, school, and bus stops wondering why their protector isn’t there. Why their source of stability is suddenly missing. Wondering if they suddenly were abandoned by the person that is supposed to love them the most.

Families will wonder if their loved one isn’t answering their phone because they’ve been taken by the federal government.

They’ll try to find the victims and then run into a wall of secrecy and legal problems.

They’ll be left wondering if their loved one has been sent to a foreign country to be tortured in a third-world prison or if they’re just being unlawfully detained and tortured here.

Make no mistake. This is torture.

Torture is the intentional infliction of severe physical or psychological pain or suffering by a state actor (or someone acting with state consent) for the purpose of punishment, intimidation, coercion, obtaining information, or discrimination.

That’s the core definition used by The United Nations Convention Against Torture (UNCAT), International human rights bodies, and most modern legal frameworks.

Community members will be left to pick up the pieces. The people who have NO power to stop this state-sanctioned violence will be left to care for the child who was left behind. To care for the family who just lost their loved one and their source of income at the same time. To help find legal remedies for the atrocities our government is committing against its own population.

And yet, the comment sections of these ICE videos are a cesspool of racist and bigoted support for this trash.

I noticed just yesterday where my local news station posted the news of ICE causing problems in Charlotte, NC. The reaction from people online in the comments section was filled with schadenfreude. They were reveling in the pain and suffering of people who are doing things like shopping for groceries, dropping their children off at school, or buying supplies they need to do their jobs.

“They should’ve come here the right way.” They’ll snort.
Just take a look for yourself.

It makes me wonder who these people are. Are they bots as so many commenters are? Are they a troll farm? Are they foreign actors in foreign countries stirring the pot and influencing opinion? Or, are they just assholes who live amongst us that support this abhorrent agency and its mission to round up 3,000 people per day from our communities without any specific reason other than they “look” like an immigrant. And, by that I mean they have brown skin.

These ICE agents are acting with impunity. They have zero accountability to the constitution or the public. Even when sitting governors and attorneys general express public disdain and call for the government to stay out of their state, these assholes still follow the orders of the federal government to roam parking lots, neighborhoods, grocery stores, hospitals, and places of worship to find their victims.

And now they are here.
In my town.
Looking for people to harass and “detain.”
Inciting chaos and feeding their fragile egos.
Paying tribute to a tyrant while feeling righteous.

They are indecent, incompetent, and violent.

In my opinion, it is state-sanctioned kidnapping and human trafficking. It’s violence ordered by the government leadership against the population. Cruelty sold under the banner of public safety and law enforcement.

But it goes further than that.

There are reports of ICE using tactics and technologies to spy on all of us without a warrant or a cause. Tapping into our phones and other devices to monitor, without repercussion, what we say and do. Surveilling communities against their will. Freedoms guaranteed by the constitution trampled in an “act first and ask for forgiveness later” fashion.

And when it’s brought to the attention of the Justice Department and the Supreme Court? Nothing but support for the government abuse and corruption but not for the victims or the constitutional rights we all live by.

It’s worth mentioning, however, that lower court judges and attorneys general are fighting and standing up for the constitution. Law firms like Elias Law Group LLP are working around the clock to monitor and file the legal suits where needed. Independent news outlets are reporting from the scenes on livestreams. Communities are banding together and using different outlets to notify and warn the vulnerable populations. Non-profits and faith communities are finding ways to protect the vulnerable and stranded.

There are hundreds of apps and websites for reporting and warning the local communities of the whereabouts of ICE or any government officials causing chaos and using violence as a tactic against the population. OjoNC.org is one such website… but I’m certain there is one that is local to you. Please find it, share it, and support it.

OjoNC.org

So, ICE is in my town and threatening to upend the lives of regular, non-violent people using violence and force. What do we do about it?

What do we do when we see the state-sanctioned violence and ICE agents harassing and kidnapping people in our local coffee shop or restaurant?

What do we do in the moment when we are faced with the decision to fight or flee?

Make a plan in advance so that you know that you have rationally decided what to do when this happens. Because, it WILL happen.

This isn’t going to just stop today.

The government and it’s stooges aren’t going to wake up tomorrow and just suddenly realize what they’re doing is wrong and then show any sort of contrition.

So, be prepared. Document the violence. Spread the word about their whereabouts. Don’t get violent because that will not help anyone except the government. Build community defenses like legal funds, pro-bono attorneys, neighborhood watch style shifts, and plans for who will care for children when they’re left stranded.

Remember, they will eventually have to face the shame of what they’ve done and who they’ve hurt. But, that doesn’t take away from the trauma they have caused and will cause in the future.

#AbolishICE

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