SPRINGFIELD, Mo.—On January 31, hundreds of community members gathered to learn how to hold ICE (U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement) accountable at a rapid-response training hosted by the Southern Missouri Immigration Alliance (SMIA). The event garnered thousands of views, shares, and likes online. It was also attacked by local news outlets and right-wing groups, framing the event as notably being held at the “taxpayer-funded Schweitzer Brentwood Library.”
The event drew over a hundred people to the modest library room, and organizers reluctantly had to turn away the overflow crowd waiting outside. One of the main presenters noted that, “two weeks ago we had eight people signed up for this event, and now over 100 people pack the room full, with others turned away.”
The gathering is occurring after the murders of both Renee Good, a mother and legal observer, and Alex Pretti, a union nurse at the local VA hospital, in Minneapolis in recent weeks. Not insignificant is the recent general strike led by the AFL-CIO in Minneapolis of an estimated 50,000-75,000 strong crowd, and protests all across the country demanding “ICE OUT” of communities.
SMIA presenters often emphasized the importance of rapid response as a form of support for immigrant communities and as a means of providing information and aid to their families. The day was full of information about ICE’s behavior and tactics, and about how attendees can hold them accountable by learning their rights, teaching others their rights, and videotaping ICE in action. As one SMIA presenter said, “Just because they [ICE] are breaking the law, doesn’t mean we will, but we need to know their tactics and how they act.”
The day covered the constitutional rights of both the rapid responder and the individuals impacted by ICE. Notably, the First Amendment allows our rights as responders to film law enforcement in a public setting that does not interfere with operations, our Fourth Amendment right allowing us to refuse unwarranted search and seizures of cars, bags, homes, and cellphones, and our Fifth Amendment right to remain silent and for due process of every person in the United States.
For the individuals targeted by ICE, their Fourth Amendment right ensures that, without a judicial warrant signed by a judge, they do not need to allow ICE entry into their homes or cars. Impacted individuals also retain the Fifth Amendment right to remain silent, due process, the right to speak to a lawyer before signing any document, and the right to photograph that document.
Also covered were the risks of rapid response. When asked about the risks of being in the presence of ICE, the crowd listed arrest, tear gas, being beaten, and murder. When being on the ground responding to ICE, the crowd was taught to identify the number of agents, note the area and environment, keep the camera on ICE as opposed to the impact, inform the agents and the individuals of their rights, not to interfere with the arrests, and to bring a crowd of people to hold these agents accountable and to hopefully scare them away.
“These ICE agents are not qualified, and you’ll be teaching them your rights at that same moment,” said one of the workshop leads.
With the event information being passed around local right-wing groups, it did attract a share of far-right agitators. As the presenters discussed the constitutional rights of both rapid responders and impacted individuals, an older man shouted, “So do you believe we should have open borders for anyone?” and often asked questions throughout the presentation that were bad-faith and agitational. The presenters answered them as they would any other question.
When the presenters tried to move on from a section, the few agitators with their raised hands stood up and shouted “You’re ignoring me! You’re ignoring me!” until another older gentleman took his boot off and raised it at the agitators, telling them to “Lick it!” The three agitators were then collectively booed and shouted out of the room until they left.
The presenters and crowd resonated with each other on the ideas of community and collectivity, and stressed that capitalism has created an isolation of individuals that “didn’t exist even 20 years ago. Nowadays I don’t even know my neighbors, and that’s not normal,” said SMIA presenter Dominique.
In Southwest Missouri, in the heart of so-called “MAGA country,” it would appear that hundreds of people are standing together to push back against what they see as an unrelenting force (ICE) set on punishing their neighbors.
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