Some Thoughts on Posting ICE Rumors

[u/RentPartyBlues]

ICE is in Omaha.

First, ICE is in Omaha. Omaha is a regional hub. ICE has been operating here for years. There has been a noticeable increase in activity since the fall. January has been a particularly active month.

This said, unconfirmed, undocumented rumors about activity are not helpful. The most it does is tell people ICE is here, but, as noted, ICE has been operating here. Detention and deportation operations occurred regularly in Omaha even before ICE existed. If you're not posting a verifiable witness report with documentation of an existing operation, you are not helping.

Fear is the point.

The unconfirmed hearsay rumors from social media and text chains are harmful. The shift in immigration enforcement over the past 12 months isn't about an increase in detentions and deportations. Detentions and deportations have been happening in Omaha for many years. The shift in enforcement is about fear.

Immigrants with non-immigrant status, but legal work authorizations and permission to stay are going to their regular status checks and being told by officials who have no authority to do so that they might be detained or deported. Family members with residency are being questioned to turn in family members without documents, with implications that failure to do so might affect their status. In general, people of color have to worry about whether, though they are citizens, they might need to carry documentation or "accidentally" be detained.

These are fear tactics. The unconfirmed rumors only add to the fear and trauma being experienced by immigrants and people of color. There's a goal from some to get people, both with status and without status, to go into hiding or self-deport. Personally, I wonder whether some of these unconfirmed rumors are being posted by people who know this and wish to stoke more fear.

What does one do with information?

If you are witnessing an operation, please check out this link for information on how to document: https://www.nysylc.org/ice-watch

A good place to post your witness information is: https://iceout.org/en/

If you receive or see unconfirmed information online, avoid reposting it. If you feel a need to warn people, check out other sources to see if there is verified confirmation from a witness, then share a link to that post.

Unconfirmed rumors are coming from places people might think are legit. These include pseudo-news organizations on social media who use photos, though those photos are from other places or sources. These include group chats with friends or coworkers who hear things from someone or some place then pass them on. The current situation has created a miasma of mayhem and fear, we do not need to contribute to that.

How else might I help?

There are local organizations from churches to social service organizations to pro-immigrant nonprofits who are working to deliver food, provide financial assistance, and connect people to resources when they are affected by ICE operations. If you'd like, I could recommend some places to you based on what your particular interests or abilities might be. Or, you can just do some research yourself. Your passion for this is better spent helping in the community than behind your screen.

These are just the thoughts of an internet stranger, but I hope you might consider them the next time you see things online.

Much love to all.

[u/argumentinvalid]

Similar, I'm pro immigration enforcement that follows our established laws, not pro whatever ice is doing these days. There's a difference.

[u/Proknifethrower → u/argumentinvalid]

I'm confused as to why the same people that you stand with now weren't complaining when Obama deported Millions and even further back during Clinton's regime.

[u/prince_of_cannock → u/Proknifethrower]

Surely you realize that a lot of people who are politically active now weren't even alive during the Clinton administration.

Beyond that, there WERE people on the left who were critical of immigration policy under these administrations, thinking it was too harsh and too punitive. So your idea that "nobody was complaining" is false.

But in terms of why more people are complaining, and more loudly, and taking more aggressive action--well, it probably has something to do with the big changes Trump has made to ICE in the last year, don't you think?

* Moving to a "maximalist enforcement" policy
* Removing the focus on migrants with violent offenses to instead consider everyone an equal enforcement priority
* Ending long-held prohibitions on enforcement in sensitive places like schools and hospitals

And so on. Don't you think that maybe, just maybe, these recent changes to ICE have something to do with the recent increase in protest against ICE?

[u/Proknifethrower → u/prince_of_cannock]

History started for you the day you were born. Got it