You never forget your first brush with La Migra
Growing up in Kansas as an unauthorized immigrant, I still recall my first brush with the Migra.
I had heard through the grapevine that INS (today’s ICE) had descended into town and swept up a family during a raid.
Word of this spread out like wildfire in our community. We knew the family. I played with their kids. We were in school together.
The entire immigrant community went into a high state of alert.
One summer afternoon, our youth soccer team was coming back from practice. A handful of us were crammed into the back of a raggity station wagon driven by our church pastor.
We were laughing and plotting our next move after practice.
Our car approached the usual drop off point — in front of a junior high school. We lived within walking distance from each other.
We pulled over and one by one we began to pile out of the station wagon.
Waiting for us at the intersection was an unmarked white van.
I instinctly and immediately knew: ICE.
One by one, we started to run for our lives. Each of us headed in a different direction. Fight or flight took over. Adrenalin pumped through my body as I crossed the street without looking for traffic.
I recently had dinner in Kansas with two of my friends who were there that day. They confirmed the details of my recollection.
As we crossed the street towards the safe confines of the school grounds, we had to jump a chainlink fence.
I managed to get over the fence without incident. A little scratch here and there but nothing major.
One of my friends wasn’t as lucky. His finger got caught on a wire and almost ripped his finger in half.
Besides that, all of us managed to get home safely.
We were teenagers. All of us from northern Mexico. All of us were good students. We kept our nose clean. We went to church. We had summer jobs. We went to dances. We played soccer, rode our bikes around town. We lived typical teenager lives.
It’s been more than 30 years since that day. And I haven’t forgotten the day this happened.
We got lucky. We didn’t know any better. Nobody told us, “don’t run.” Nobody said I had a right to stay silent if apprehended. No one said we couldn’t be arrested without a warrant. We didn’t know our rights.
Fast forward to today.
The Trump administration has declared war against our communities.
Trump has requested to add 10,000 new ICE agents and 5,000 border patrol agents.
ICE is using questionable tactics to go after their targets.
The threat of more ICE raids has people on edge.
Although I have stared ICE in the face, I can’t imagine what my life — and the lives of my friends and family — would have been like if we had to live under this constant threat today.
So what do we do now?
Here’s what I think we should do.
Fight ICE with power, not fear.
The good folks at California Immigrant Youth Alliance have put together what I think is one of the best tool kits to help communities organize and fight back, Five Ways to Fight ICE Raids.
- Fight the Fear: Don’t pile on by spreading rumors especially on social media.
- Verify before you post anything on social media or tell anyone
- If you witness any possible arrest, record — take photo or video from a safe distance.
- Share Know Your Rights (KYR) Information
- Reject and Fact-Check Trump’s Lies about our Communities
Go. Fight. Win.