ICE on the Road

Neighbors in the Streets

Since the January shootings of Renee Nicole Good and Alex Pretti in Minneapolis, resistance to the presence of the U.S. Border Patrol and Immigration and Customs Enforcement has grown rapidly both locally and nationally. On a recent broadcast of On Point, host Meghna Chakrabarti interviewed volunteers from several of the grassroots groups in Minneapolis who are standing up to ICE. These groups are helping their neighbors in a variety of ways—leading workshops on constitutional rights, patrolling neighborhoods in order to send out alerts when federal agents are in the area. and delivering groceries to people afraid to leave their homes to go to work, to houses of worship, and to medical appointments. Many parents no longer send their kids to school. When folks are afraid to go outside their homes, not only families but businesses and churches suffer.

One of Chakrabarti’s interviewees was the pastor of a predominantly Latino church that last December decided to provide groceries to 20 local families. Within a day after putting a link about the program on the churchs social media, 2,000 people had registered. Soon the service expanded from households to schools and other organizations, and the program has over 4,000 volunteers trained to exercise caution. If they’re being followed while delivering food to a church for distribution, they leave without making the stop.

Volunteers also patrol the areas around schools and hospitals with whistles to warn people when ICE comes into a neighborhood. Some volunteers are ICE watch dispatchers who receive reports from residents. Then they send out volunteers to verify the reports. If the verifiers see agents or identify their license plates, the dispatchers send out an alert to hundreds of people in the area. When there’s an attempt at abduction, neighbors blow whistles, honk their horns, and create a ruckus.

Care network groups meet a variety of community needs such, as shoveling sidewalks and taking a family’s laundry to the laundromat. They find midwife or doula services for pregnant women afraid to give birth in hospitals. Some provide legal counsel, rides to medical appointments, and rides to and from schools. They are all neighbors helping neighbors.

We can’t leave this subject of neighbors helping neighbors without mentioning the “singing resistance” movement. Here’s a video clip of thousands singing outside a hotel where ICE agents were staying:

It’s okay to change your mind
Show us your courage, leave this behind
It’s okay to change your mind
Then you can join us, join us here anytime.

This “deference” song was written by Minneapolis community song circle leader Annie Schlaefer. Its intent is more than protest—it’s a serious invitation to ICE, an appeal to their humanity.

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Anti-ICE protestors sing outside ICE hotel rooms | Screenshot

Connections

Singer songwriter Brian Claflin brings together folk-rock with traditional Appalachian roots music. As a solo act, and as a duo with singing and songwriting partner Ellie Grace, Claflin is a part of the lively Asheville, N.C., music scene. Brian describes why he wrote “ ICE on the Road”:

On January 7th, my heart broke at the news of Renee Nicole Good’s senseless, tragic death at the hands of ICE agents. I imagined Ms. Good’s youngest child wondering where she is, and writing her a note--or perhaps just talking to her in his head. I had seen photos of the plush toys this young mother kept in the glove compartment of her car for this child, so I referenced those toys in the lyric. There was no plan for the song, no intention to choose a child’s perspective, it just poured out of me over the course of about an hour. My heart goes out to those close to Renee, and to all those being unfairly targeted by ICE.

Vibrations:

Here’s the link to Brian’s “ICE on the Road” (For Renee Nicole Good)

Resonance:

If you were a resident of Minneapolis, how would you be one of the neighbors in the streets?