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This past week brought the latest round of threats from the Trump Administration, with the acting director of the Boston ICE office promising to "flood" the area with ICE operatives. This comes on the heels of waves of ICE actions in the region, and Somerville specifically. In my conversations with our neighbors on the doors and when I'm stopped on the street, one of the most common questions I get is: What can we do about masked, unidentified federal agents coming into Somerville and abducting our neighbors? I've heard a resignation from many in our community that there's not much we can do, with folks often citing the supremacy clause that prohibits state and local law enforcement from interfering with federal law enforcement. While it's true that we can't stop an ICE action, there still are plenty of things we can do: 1. Know Your Rights education. The City has partnered with community organizations to conduct Know Your Rights training sessions. It's crucial that anyone targeted by ICE know what they can do under the law in these situations, most importantly that they don't have to open the door if it's a just civil warrant. We need to be doing even more of these trainings, as well as getting this information out to every resident through a mailing in multiple languages. 2. Make sure the public knows what to do when they see ICE. If you see ICE call the LUCE Hotline at 617.370.5023 to report it. Stand a safe distance away, announce that you are recording, and take video. Videos are how we found out about Rümeysa Öztürk's abduction back in March. Two other ICE abductions happened in our city around the same time, but neither one has been talked about, because there wasn't video. So it's critical to document these ICE actions when they happen. 3. Encourage residents to help. If you'd like to be there for your neighbors, you can join the ranks of LUCE volunteers, including becoming a verifier of ICE actions. You also can do things on a daily basis like walking immigrant friends' and neighbors' kids to school, and helping with court accompaniment. 4. Deploy rapid response legal assistance. When there is a report of ICE activity, we should be trying to get legal assistance out to residents under threat. We've seen a pattern of ICE quickly bouncing detainees around between jurisdictions to stay ahead of legal processes and separate detainees from their legal counsel. So it makes sense to try to connect folks with legal assistance in the moment whenever possible. We have amazing community members working on the front lines to keep our city as safe as it can be. When I talk with someone engaged in this work, I tend ask a lot of questions, because I want to know what else we can be doing as a city. It's vital that we make clear ICE is not welcome in Somerville, both with words and with our actions, so Somerville's immigrant community knows they are supported in a moment of crisis. -Jake |
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We're into the final weeks of the preliminary election, and we're asking you to help us get over the line and onto the ballot in November. Doorknocking is a major factor in these races, and it's critical that we maintain our advantage on the doors. If you've previously knocked doors with us, we're asking you to join us again for a canvass this weekend. And if you've never done it before, the ask is that you come try it. We'll give you all the training and tools you need to have a great time out talking to your neighbors. The forecast calling for dry weather with temperatures in the 70s, so it's looking like really comfortable weather for knocking doors. So come to one of our canvass launches to do your part. We have late morning, mid-day, and afternoon shifts available on Saturday and a Sunday mid-day launch. If you're away the long weekend, you can join us for phone banking on Monday or canvassing next weekend. Check out future volunteering opportunities next week and beyond on our calendar, and RSVP for something today! |
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