Neighbors Don’t Let ICE Arrest Their Neighbors
Welcome to our news segment: TL;DR of Immigration News, for when the news is Too Long and you Didn’t Read it.
This is a weekly collection of immigration-related news stories. These bite-size summaries will keep you up to date without overwhelming your inbox.
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Federal secret police escalate their invasion of Chicago, bringing violence to children and families
Content warning: violence and harm to children
Last week in a largely Black neighborhood of Chicago, federal agents, some descending from helicopters, “pulled parents and children from their apartments in the middle of the night, some of them naked. They zip tied many, releasing some and abducting others” as part of a raid allegedly targeting gang members, but which was actually spreading terror among children and adults just trying to sleep through the night. On Friday, masked federal agents indiscriminately deployed tear gas yards away from school children, forcing schools in the area to have recess indoors. On Saturday, ICE shot a woman in a protest at Brighton Park.
As of yesterday, ICE tried to claim the woman who was shot brandished a gun at them, a claim the woman’s lawyer says is contradicted by the officers’ own bodycam footage. A federal judge seemed to agree with the idea that ICE is lying, calling the officers who fired the shots “a danger to the community.”
David Orlikoff, Chicago District Councilor, NAA member, and author of this op-ed calling on Chicago Mayor Johnson to back up his words with action, witnessed some of the violence. David says:
“Last Friday I witnessed: a strong burning sensation filling the air around Funston Elementary and Rico Fresh grocery store, 5 of my neighbors including a close friend trying to recover from being directly hit by tear gas, an ICE agent threaten to throw tear gas canisters at two kids, and more explosive chemical devices thrown by ICE outside Humboldt Health Hospital. I feared for my life as 3 federal agents in military uniform jumped out of a parked SUV, threatening people with assault rifles.
“At the 14th District Council meeting the next day, concerned residents grew frustrated as Chicago Police reiterated that they would not investigate violations committed by or interfere in the function of ICE--even as ICE attacks our safety, local laws, and the constitution. Experienced organizers added that CPD itself targets Black and Brown communities with 4th amendment violations (including thru millions of pretextual stops) and has routinely assisted ICE by barricading and arresting anti-ICE protestors.
“If CPD and state police won't enforce "ICE free zones" by confronting and kicking ICE out, they had better stay home and stop wasting resources attacking residents who are doing the work to keep us safe.”
Action items: Donate to Illinois Coalition of Immigrants and Refugees. If you’re in Chicago and wish to report an ICE sighting or need assistance related to ICE detention, call 855-435-7693.
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The only known journalist detained by ICE on U.S. soil sends a letter to The Bitter Southerner.
After spending 100 days in ICE detention, Mario Guevara has been deported to El Salvador.
He was told by sheriffs that he would be released. He wasn’t. He was lied to and mistreated. It is worth reading his harrowing words at length, describing his eventual arrival in ICE detention:
“These were three very hard days. I didn’t eat anything, and I had severe headaches. I was afraid that they were going to kill me and cause more suffering to my family.Thank God my lawyers were informed about what was happening to me and managed to convince the government to transfer me to another detention center.
“They returned me to Folkston and once again put me in solitary confinement. When I returned to Folkston, I began to have nightmares again. The confinement and loneliness caused panic attacks, and I lived in constant fear.”
Now, Mario has been deported, all for the ‘crime’ of reporting on this regime’s increasingly brutal ethnic cleansing efforts.
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ICE releases Ohio hospital chaplain. Case for detention unclear.
In a win for immigrant justice, Egyptian American hospital chaplain and Muslim cleric Ayman Soliman was released from detention last month. Accused of “material support for terrorism,” Soliman spent over two months in detention, fighting a case riddled by inconsistencies and outright fabrication on the part of the Department of Homeland Security.
While Soliman’s release is an important win, the expansion of “material support” and “terrorism” charges is a dangerous weapon in the DHS’s enhanced war. These allegations can and have been easily weaponized against citizens and non-citizens alike, Muslims in particular.
Action item: learn about the Muslim youth-led human rights organization Yusra and support their work.
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Activists target low-cost airline Avelo for immigrant detention flights out of BWI
In Maryland, among other places, activists including Never Again chapters are pressuring local governments to end their contracts with Avelo Airlines. A recently-founded airline, Avelo chose to enter lucrative government contracts that help carry out the federal administration’s attempt at ethnic cleansing. This pressure to end the contracts has already caused Avelo to cease deportation flights on the west coast earlier this summer; let’s keep it up!
Action items: you can find actions near you at Stop Avelo and at Ground Avelo. Maryland folks can sign this petition to the Governor. Anyone can sign this pledge to boycott Avelo until they cancel their ICE contracts.
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Neighbors Don’t Let ICE Arrest Their Neighbors Without a Warrant
In Southwest Colorado, increased ICE activity has prompted local groups to organize to protect immigrants and arm residents with knowledge about their constitutional rights when dealing with federal law enforcement.
Colorado Rapid Response Network was established in Colorado in 2016 by a coalition of organizations. The network receives calls about ICE sightings or activity and mobilizes local people to respond to and confirm any sightings.
In rural communities like those in Southwest Colorado, where the distance between towns can be long, it’s important to have expansive local networks of people trained and ready to respond. Often each community needs its own independent response team.
Garcia Waddell works with the Colorado Immigrant Response Coalition to connect rural communities to statewide resources. During a Know Your Rights training in Cortez, Waddell highlighted the fourth, fifth, and sixth amendments in her presentation. She reminded people to make sure federal agents have a signed judicial warrant before complying with their requests, and that detainees have a right to ask on what grounds they are being detained. Spreading messages like this is uniquely challenging in rural areas, but CRRN is a great model for doing so.
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Update on a previous action item: Your organizing worked, and Xóchitl has been released!
We are overjoyed that our friend Xóchitl Santiago has been ordered released by a federal judge, who acknowledged that she should never have been detained in the first place. This victory could not have been achieved without the selfless time and effort put in by many, including readers of this newsletter!
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Support Never Again Action’s organizing by making a donation today. You can make a tax deductible donation via our fiscal sponsor at this link, or you can donate directly to our 501(c)(4) organization at this link.
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If you have questions, comments, or suggestions for next week’s roundup, drop us a line at neveragainaction@gmail.com.