Ten
Examples of Resistance to Government Raids
By Bill
Quigley
February 23, 2017 "Information
Clearing House"
- Resistance to unjust government action is the
duty of all people who care about human rights.
As Dr. King reminded us in his
letter from a Birmingham jail,
“Never forget that everything Hitler did in
Germany was legal.”
It is now clear that
Latinos and
Muslims are
Trump’s first target for government actions. The
orders just released put ICE (Immigration
and Customs Enforcement)
and
US Customs and Border Protection
on steroids. These new policies also will have a
devastating impact on
LGBTQ , as well
as
Black and Muslim communities.
Here
are ten recent examples of how people are
directly resisting.
One. Blocking vehicles of Immigration and
Customs Enforcement. A coalition of undocumented
immigrants, faith leaders and other allies
blocked a bus in San Francisco
which was full of people scheduled for
deportation. Other buses were blocked in
Arizona and Texas.
People blocked streets outside of ICE facilities
in
Los Angeles.
Two. People have
engaged in civil disobedience inside border
highway checkpoints
to deter immigration checks. People have
called neighbors to warn them
that ICE is in the neighborhood and held up
signs on highways that ICE is checking cars
ahead.
Three. Cities refusing to cooperate with
immigration enforcement and targeting.
Hundreds of local governments
have policies limiting cooperation with
immigration enforcement.
Four. Colleges and universities declining to
cooperate with immigration authorities and
declare themselves sanctuary campuses.
Dozens of schools have declared themselves
sanctuary campuses
and over a hundred more are considering some
form of resistance to immigration enforcement.
Five. Churches sheltering and protecting
immigrants scheduled for deportation in their
sanctuary.
Over a dozen churches
are already doing this with hundreds more
considering sanctuary. The
Episcopal Diocese of Los Angeles
declared itself a Sanctuary Diocese in December
2016 and pledged to defend immigrants, and
others targeted for their status.
Six. Detained people demanding investigation
into illegal actions.
Over 400 detained immigrants in Broward County
Florida wrote and publicized a letter
to government officials challenging the legality
and conditions of their confinement.
Seven. Divesting from stocks of private prisons.
Private prison companies CCA and GEO
have pushed for building more prisons for
immigrants and have profited accordingly.
Columbia University became the first university
to divest from
companies which operate private prisons.
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Eight. Lawyers have volunteered to defend people
facing deportation. People with lawyers are much
less likely to be deported yet
only 37 percent of people facing deportation
have an attorney
and of those already in jail the percentage
drops to 14 percent.
Los Angeles has created its own fund to provide
legal aid to
those facing deportations. Other groups like the
American Bar Association
recruit and train volunteer lawyers to help.
Know Your Rights sessions are also very helpful.
Here are
CAIR Know Your
Rights materials for
Muslims. Here
are Know Your Rights materials for
immigrants from
the
National Immigration Law Center.
Nine.
Restaurants
declaring themselves safe space sanctuaries for
undocumented and LGBTQ workers. The
US Bureau of Labor Statistics
reports that 25 percent of workers in
restaurants are Latino.
Ten.
Sit-ins at
elected and appointed officials at government
buildings.
Bodegas have gone on strike.
Eleven. Social self-defense. Jeremy Brecher
pointed out that decades ago communities in
Poland organized themselves into loose voluntary
networks called
Committees for Social Self-Defense
to resist unjust government targeting. This
opens resistance in many new forms in addition
to the ones identified above including: setting
up text networks for allies to come to the scene
of ICE deportation raids, to document and
hopefully stop the raids; identifying and
picketing homes of particularly aggressive ICE
leaders; providing medical, legal and financial
assistance to help shelter people on the run
from authorities; and boycotting businesses and
politicians that cooperate with ICE.
Resist! For more information on how, check out
some of the many organizations already resisting
targeting and deportations.
Mijente offers
creative ideas and examples for action to expand
the idea of sanctuary to protect all residents
from criminalization and deportation.
National Day Laborer Network
has many resources for communities seeking to
stop deportations. Central to the campus
sanctuary movement is
MovementCosecha.
The
National Immigration Project of the National
Lawyers Guild
provides resources for lawyers. Faith
communities looking into this should connect
with the
Sanctuary Movement.
Puente Arizona
is a great example of grassroots organizing in
local communities.
Bill
Quigley, Law Professor, Loyola University New
Orleans
