Through “Know your rights” trainings, Bryan MacCormack’s group Columbia County Sanctuary Movement in upstate New York has worked to educate immigrant communities on how to deal with unshackled Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents. So when ICE agents pulled him over earlier this month and attempted to detain his two immigrant passengers, he knew exactly what to do.
“It’s not a judicial warrant,” MacCormack says in viral video recorded by one of the passengers. The ICE agent had shown him what’s called an “administrative warrant,” which is issued by the Department of Homeland Security but is not signed by a judge. That’s an important distinction.
If the ICE agent at your door presents an administrative warrant, they don’t have permission to enter, period. A warrant signed by a judge (this is what one looks like), however, must be obeyed. “I have no obligation to oblige by that warrant,” MacCormack continues in the video. During this time, his passengers remained inside the car, and remained silent.
”The agent continued to press MacCormack, telling him the document was a ‘lawful warrant’ under the authority of the Immigration and Nationality Act,” Huffington Post reports. “But MacCormack pushed back, ‘Signed by a judge?' You have no jurisdiction over me as a citizen,’ he told the ICE agent. ‘I’m the driver of this vehicle.’”
The thug of an agent is then overheard making what is basically a threat to MacCormack, asking him if he’s familiar “with statutes governing transporting and harboring illegal aliens.” MacCormack was driving the two immigrants to court to deal with minor traffic citations. “ICE tried to intimidate me into relinquishing my rights and I upheld my unwavering defense of our community,” MacCormack later said.
The agents gave up and left the scene to “avoid further disruption” after MacCormack’s attorney arrived. MacCormack acknowledged “a lot of privilege in my own identity” may have played a role, but “Know your rights” trainings also work, and it’s vital that communities hold as many of these as possible. "This really isn’t about me," MacCormack said. "It’s about what happens when people in general know their rights."
Click below to watch MacCormack’s viral video.