The FBI spied on a Signal group chat of immigration activists
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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The people united will never be defeated
Over the weekend, people from coast to coast bravely resisted ICE and their collaborators.
Home Depot has been a willing partner in ICE raids. That’s why the home supply store is the target of nationwide boycotts, and it’s why people are taking actions inside and outside their stores. In Los Angeles this weekend, activists jammed up the works inside a store in Monrovia, California, buying, and then immediately returning, an ice scraper that retails for less than a dollar. The mass action, coordinated by the National Day Laborer Organizing Network, aimed to “scrape ICE” out of Home Depot stores.
Meanwhile on the east coast, New York ICE agents gearing up for a raid were thwarted by the courageous rapid response of local community members. Migrant Insider gives us a quick look at the hundreds-strong mobilization that kept ICE officers blockaded inside a parking structure, unable to carry out their vile attacks on our communities.
Nice work, Los Angeles and New York!
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The kids are alright (aka, fighting back against ICE)
Fortnite, Grand Theft Auto, Roblox: not names normally associated with activism, though they have been weaponized by right-wing extremists to radicalize young men. But recently, groups of progressive gamers organized by the New Save Collective have been using these platforms to build communities of like-minded people, and even to practice what they might do to interfere with an ICE raid. From Wired: “Games like Halo or first-person shooters already have built-in messaging around ‘protect the homeland,’ Anosh Polticoal says. ‘I think [ICE] have seen that as an opportunity to reach an audience that is already engaged in what they may feel is similar work. We want to make sure that our message is showing up in those same places—maybe you are not an immigrant, but someone in your life, in your community definitely is.’”
Meanwhile the Chicago Tribune brings us the story of high-school-aged brothers using the privileges of homeschooling (which include a flexible schedule and the ability to leave the house in the middle of the day) to monitor ICE aggression. The brothers, Sam and Ben Luhmann, with the full support and encouragement of their parents, have spent dozens of hours patrolling their own and nearby neighborhoods watching for ICE, updating Signal threads with sightings.
Ben “wanted to be able to fight it so bad” when he started seeing ICE aggression in LA. So when the raids came to Chicago, he was ready. He says, “If I get the opportunity to fight like this for the rest of my life, I would be totally OK with that”.
This activity is not without risk: at one point, Ben and Sam find their vehicle surrounded by ICE agents, and they are dragged out, put in handcuffs, and threatened. After a few moments to process the experience, they get another call and are off to resume their patrol.
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Undocumented Immigrants Currently Eligible for Bond Hearings
A significant and new change made by ICE’s policy is their argument that regardless of how long someone has been in the U.S. or whether they were arrested shortly after they arrived in the country, they are not eligible to ask an Immigration judge for release from detention on bond.
A federal district court has given back the right of many immigrants to ask for release from immigration detention on bond. Until the government appeals this decision, immigrants across the country have the right to ask an immigration judge for a bond hearing. Note that the court’s decision does not require an immigration judge to grant bond, only that the judge must hold a bond hearing.
Even if an immigrant has spent years inside the country, they are, legally speaking, still trying to enter the U.S. because they were never given permission to enter in the first place.
The new ICE guidance is not published. However, based on arguments made in immigration court by ICE prosecutors, it seems they are relying on prior Supreme Court and Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA) cases.
If this situation applies to you or a loved one, the NILC link above has far more extensive and specific advice.
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The FBI spied on a Signal group chat of immigration activists, records reveal
A “joint situational report” from FBI and NYPD records obtained by the Guardian and the organization Property of the People reveals that agents infiltrated a Signal chat of activists in New York organizing courtwatch efforts in immigration court.
This year immigration organizers have ramped up their court watch and court accompaniment programs, as ICE has used increasingly forceful tactics in court, including detaining people who show up to routine hearings, something prohibited under the Biden administration.
The FBI’s report characterized court watchers as “anarchist violent extremist actors,” and the report did not specify how they accessed the Signal group. The infiltrator participated in a Signal debrief call within the courtwatch chat, and also claimed that discussions within the chat included instructions for participants to use violence against law enforcement. There were however no specifics in the report around what violence was discussed. Court watching has long been a nonviolent tactic, and activists are worried this could be one more way the Trump Administration suppresses speech.
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Action items:
- Help Vince Rebuild After Deportation -- Vince Jobo, whose story we have featured previously, was deported recently after months of detention in horrible conditions in ICE facilities. This page will help him raise funds to start a new life.
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If you have questions, comments, or suggestions for next week’s roundup, drop us a line at neveragainaction@gmail.com.