MONITOR
How We Can Stop the Rise in ICE Raids
Eliminating a popular agreement can prevent the removal of thousands of immigrants
We are fresh off (another) nationwide raid warning from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) that, so far, has resulted in minimal ICE encounters but maximum fear in Black and Brown immigrant communities. This was the goal, of course: to wreak havoc by forcing families into hiding and preventing immigrants from going to work.
In these frightening times, finding concrete ways to fight ICE can be challenging. One potent way to keep immigrants safe is to share information about their legal rights and hotline numbers of immigrant advocacy groups. But communities can go a step further. They can pressure their state and local law enforcement agencies to sever their ties with ICE by rescinding or refusing to renew their 287(g) agreements.
ICE, a federal agency created under the Department of Homeland Security in the wake of 9/11, operates some 1,500 detention centers in every single state in the U.S. But for 79 jurisdictions across 21 states, the agency’s reach extends far beyond the barbed wire and high concrete walls of its detention facilities — to jails operated by county sheriff departments and state correctional departments.
