Preparing for ICE Raids
Immigrant rights organizations and immigrant communities are concerned about the surge in ICE raids over the past several months. Nicole Gaouette of the Los Angeles Times writes about how some groups are preparing:
Reeling from work-site raids that have jailed thousands of illegal workers, immigration organizations are quietly assembling informal networks to gather advance information about federal enforcement operations and to help locals and laborers prepare.
Students, union officials, waiters and others are volunteering to call in tips about Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents checking into hotels or renting facilities, about the sudden appearance of out-of-town cars and about a surge in action at the local courthouse.
“Is ICE going to tell us when they’re coming? What they’re doing? No,” said Socorro Leos, a community organizer for Mississippi Immigrants’ Rights Alliance. “You have to be working with the grass roots, on the ground, training them to be alert, to be very, very conscious, to open their eyes and senses.” Click here for the full story.
bh