“There are virtually no limits on what federal agents can do to achieve President Donald Trump’s goal of mass deportations.” — ProPublica
Right now, ICE is bursting at the seams with billions of dollars in new funding, thousands of new hires, and more than 1,100 new working agreements with local police departments. Not to mention permission from SCOTUS to racially profile.
As of November 17, there are 65,140 people in ICE custody — up from 39,240 in January. That’s an increase of 66% this year, according to The Guardian‘s analysis of ICE data. In the same time frame, the agency has made roughly 290,000 arrests and about the same amount of deportations. 72% of people arrested had no criminal conviction. 90% were Latino. 170 were U.S. citizens, while others had pending asylum cases, green cards, or work visas.
Over the last nine months, we’ve seen countless videos of people dragged into unmarked cars by masked “agents” who offer no identification and no warrants. Because our local governments are unwilling and/or unable to rein in this activity, immigrant communities have come together to defend themselves. Everywhere that ICE is active, rapid response networks have cropped up to:
- patrol neighborhoods,
- report ICE activity,
- track down detainees,
- and provide cash and legal support to victims and family members left behind.
FCWA members are doing this work in their local communities, and they need your support. For Day Two of International Food Workers Week, consider giving to these rapid response networks:
Syracuse Immigrant & Refugee Defense Network
A project of the Workers’ Center of Central New York.
Holding rallies, alerting the community about ICE activity, raising funds and more.
LUCE Immigrant Justice Network of Massachusetts
A coalition of immigrant-led, community groups including Pioneer Valley Workers’ Center.
Defense Hotline to report ICE activity, get help, and connect with trained volunteers.
Migrant Justice Immigrant Rights Campaign
Through public campaigns, MJ has won the release and prevented the deportation of many members of our community: Danilo, Eliazar, Victor, Miguel, Enrique, Zully, Yesenia, Esau, Jose Luis, Alejandro, Eli, Beto, Ismael, Wuendy, Max, José, Arbey, Nacho, Heidi, and more.
FCWA Immigration Rapid Response Fund
Making small grants to FCWA members for their work defending immigrant communities, and to individuals for legal fees, bail costs, commissary funds, emergency housing, and travel costs.
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