An anti-immigrant blitzkrieg

In recent weeks, President Trump has embarked on an anti-immigrant blitzkrieg. With lightning-fast executive orders, well-sharpened military and ICE personnel, and privatized, profit-generating detention centers, the Republican agenda against immigrants is advancing rapidly.

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Since January, ICE has detained more than 200,000 individuals suspected of being undocumented, with at least 8,000 deported. While most detainees are from South and Central America, ICE data also shows a significant number of arrests among Indian, Chinese, and Russian nationals. Additionally, ICE has been directed to arrest 1,200 to 1,500 people per day.

We All Have Rights 

In this political climate, understanding and exercising our rights is crucial. At a Feb. 7 Ethnic Media Services briefing outlining key legal protections and strategies for handling ICE encounters, Amanda Alvarado-Ford, Deputy Directing Attorney of the Immigration Institute of the Bay Area emphasized those rights.

“We all have rights, whether we are documented or not. The U.S. Constitution grants certain inalienable rights to every person in this country. These include the right to remain silent, the right to seek asylum, and the right to refuse unwarranted searches and seizures.”

No Need For Immediate Panic

Though an alarming number of ICE detentions and raids have been reported in recent weeks, most of these raids have been targeted and designed to detain certain individuals on ICE’s watchlist. There have not yet been widespread random arrests conducted by ICE, said experts at the briefing, urging that this window of time is used to educate and prepare immigrants. 

What to do if ICE Knocks at your door

Key steps to take before and during an ICE encounter:

  1. Avoid direct interaction with ICE agents: If ICE agents show up at a private home, you have the right to deny them entry. If they show up at your office, school, or hospital, go to any area marked “For employees only”, i.e., any area that is not open to the public, as ICE is not allowed to enter non-public spaces without a warrant.
  2. Stay calm: Do not panic or run. Remain composed and silent.
  3. Do not provide immigration information at schools. Federal law prohibits schools from collecting, saving, or sharing this information. Moreover, privacy laws protect schools from disclosing student files to ICE agents without the proper warrant. 
  4. Always ask to see the warrant signed by a U.S. district court judge that allows the ICE agent to search your property or arrest you. In many cases, the ICE agents will turn up without the proper judicial warrants and instead show you a warrant signed by an ICE official. These ICE-signed warrants are invalid and you should not allow them entry based on those. 
Example of a valid judicial warrant signed by a U.S. District Court Judge on the left, an invalid ICE-produced warrant signed by a deportation officer on the right.
An example of a valid judicial warrant signed by a U.S. District Court Judge on the left, an invalid ICE-produced warrant signed by a deportation officer on the right. (image courtesy: Immigration Institute of the Bay Area)

What to do if ICE stops you in public

If ICE agents stop you in a public space:

  • Do not panic or run.
  • You are not required to answer questions about your immigration status, birthplace, or how you entered the country.
  • Refuse a search: You do not have to consent to a search of your belongings, though an officer may “pat down” your clothing if they suspect you have a weapon.
  • State your rights: Politely say, “I am exercising my right to remain silent.”
  • Avoid confrontation: Keep interactions brief and calm.

What to do after an arrest

Inform the arresting officer that you are exercising your right to contact an attorney. Even if you do not have an immigration attorney already, it is legal to state this and then find an attorney. Do not reveal any information that may be used against you in later proceedings. 

If you have a pending visa application or have any visa receipt or approval, have a copy of the receipt in your phone and show it to the official. If you fear deportation and violence in your home country, it is important to state this information to the ICE agents at the time of arrest. 

“If a person has been in the U.S. for more than two years, they cannot be legally deported without a hearing,” said Alvarado-Ford. “It is essential to contact a lawyer immediately and explore all available legal options.”

What to expect in detention

If you have been detained, not all is lost; there are still organizations like La Resistencia that seek to educate, support, and free detainees at the ICE Detention Center in Tacoma, Washington. 

Maru Mora-Villalpando, a community organizer with La Resistencia, outlined options that detainees do have: If you are in ICE detention you have the right to air grievances and ICE has a maximum of 5 days to respond. The problem many detainees face is the language barrier as the grievance channels require one to know English and to have the ability to use tablet technology. 

The detention centers are run by private corporations like GEO and are quickly reaching maximum capacity. Villalpando stated that the largest new influx of detainees is people from India, many of whom entered the country within the past few years and have been subject to squalid inhumane conditions. New detainees are not even given a fresh set of clothes or linen, instead, they are forced to wear used underwear and sleep on bed-bug-ridden bedsheets. 

The only form of resistance available to the detainees is hunger strikes, but the brave individuals who undertake and organize strikes are either isolated at once or deported at the first chance. A recent deportee to India had been one such individual leading the fight against GEO within the Tacoma detention walls for more than two years. 

Outside detention centers, legal organizations such as the ACLU are actively challenging anti-immigrant policies. Current legal battles focus on:

  • Preserving birthright citizenship
  • Protecting asylum rights
  • Stopping immediate deportations

At this moment in time, people of color and non-immigrants of all backgrounds and document statuses need to band together and practice solidarity. Right now even children of legal residents can be termed “undocumented” and denied basic access to health resources at the time of life they need the most. The experts urged communities to unite to protect civil rights and ensure that constitutional protections apply to all individuals in the United States.

Harshini is an ex-AI engineer who gave up a career in tech to explore the better things in life. Her story recently appeared in the The Smart Set magazine. She also have a Substack in which she writes...