Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents carried out some enforcement actions across the U.S. last weekend, but in a number of cases, they had their plans to sweep up and separate families foiled by residents who had been prepared with “Know Your Rights” information distributed by immigrant rights advocacy groups and activists about what these mass deportation agents can and can’t do.
“A teenager who lives with her parents in Passaic, N.J., said she was awakened at about 1 a.m. Sunday by a knock on the door from people she believed to be ICE agents,” The New York Times reported. “Having seen numerous ‘know your rights’ posts on Instagram, she knew not to open it.” Instead, Liza asked through the door if they had “a paper,” or a warrant signed by a judge. They didn’t, and they instead insisted she instead come outside. She knew better, though.
“We’re not trying to come inside your house, we just want to speak with you,” they claimed, but the teen refused to budge. “No, I’m not coming outside,” she told them. The agents left, only to return four hours later with more aggressive tactics, including “surrounding the house with flashlights and banging on the door and window. Liza ran upstairs to be with her parents, and they hid with the lights off … eventually they left again.” The family, at least for the moment, seemed to be safe.
As The New York Times reports, unshackled agents have a history of using downright evil tactics to try to separate families, including claiming “to be police officers responding to calls about domestic disturbances or gas leaks,” while others “often carry decoy photos, holding them up to the windows of migrants who are being targeted and pretending to be looking for someone else, to persuade them to open the door.” But just because ICE didn’t carry out the mass sweeps promised on Twitter by Donald Trump doesn’t mean the operations were unsuccessful, because fear and cruelty are also part of the goal.
Arcenio, an undocumented immigrant from Queens, New York, told the Times that his family didn’t go outside all weekend and refused to answer the door for anything—but they can’t do that forever. “My children need food. I need to pay rent,” he said. “We have to keep living our lives. We know that there is a risk we won’t see our children when we close our apartment door. I really don’t want to think about it.” ICE officials said that more sweeps would continue into the week. The fear will continue, too.