In a past few months of disturbing trends, here’s one we absolutely want to see more of. According to a recent report from the Los Angeles Times, while ICE arrests of undocumented immigrants have surged nationwide under Donald Trump’s mass deportation force, arrests in “immigrant-heavy” Southern California “have remained steady compared to last year.” And, there’s a specific reason why:
ICE officials in LA claim nothing has changed about their tactics—or their focus—when it comes to arresting undocumented immigrants.
But, as the paper reports, what has changed—thanks to various non-profit and immigrants rights groups—is that more immigrants know their rights.
In fact, the Times story begins with an arrest that doesn’t happen:
The man’s wife came to the door after a few minutes with her own demands: Did the agents have a warrant?
Told that they didn’t, she refused to allow the agents in the house and said her husband would not speak with them.
Thwarted, at least for that day, the agents departed. As they walked to their SUVs, a neighbor stood in the street recording them on his phone.
Without a court-issued warrant, ICE agents are not allowed to enter an immigrant’s home. It’s been common, then, for ICE agents lacking court permission to trick immigrants—many of whom may have limited English-language proficiency—into giving them verbal consent to enter, or by even pretending to be police. “And,” despicably, “it works,” notes NPR. This is exactly the kind of information that grassroots immigrants rights organization are attempting to spread far and wide in undocumented immigrant communities. So far, it’s seeing some positive results.
After Trump dramatically broadened ICE agents’ authority, essentially giving them clearance to arrest anyone suspected of being in the country illegally, immigrant rights groups have pushed to educate immigrants on their rights — in particular to deny ICE agents permission to enter their homes. The effort has had a noticeable effect on arrest operations, [Dave Marin, director of enforcement and removal operations for ICE in Los Angeles] said, as agents increasingly have been stymied, as they were by the the Mexican man’s wife, who did not try to hide the fact that her husband was inside the house.
The Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles, one of several immigrant advocacy groups that ramped up “Know Your Rights” campaigns in the wake of Trump’s election, estimates it has reached 25,000 people through various outreach programs over the past three months, the group’s spokesman said.
As Fusion notes, this can also be attributed to pro-immigrant actions in the state, since “California in particular has been the site of a great deal of broad resistance to Trump’s anti-immigrant crackdown.” Last month, the state legislature approved the California Values Act, a bill that advocates have called “the most strident anti-deportation bill the country has ever seen.” Immigrant rights groups have also distributed pocket-sized cards containing information on the basic legal rights all people in the U.S. have, no matter their legal status. Check out Informed Immigrant for more resources available to immigrant communities and allies.
