Springfield community leaders, not sure what to expect when ICE shows up in the next few weeks, went on offense. They arranged a meeting with the Department of Homeland Security in advance of what’s expected to be an influx of agents after Temporary Protective Status ends on February 3 for the thousands of Haitian refugees that have made the Clark County city home.
Casey Rollins, the executive director of St. Vincent DePaul, says she’s already seen agents in town. No one knows if ICE will make its presence felt on Feb. 4, or whether they’ll wait until Feb. 8, when churches swell with congregants and immigrants might feel a bit more protected in a house of worship.
So Rollins, Brother Mark Muhammad, and others have spent time educating people on what they can legally do when agents come to Springfield.
“We are all, most times, under the impression that the people on the opposite side are the boogeyman, and they probably think the same way about us,” Muhammad, a local business owner involved in community outreach, said. “But the best form to resolve all conflict is through communication.”
That communication can be difficult in a charged atmosphere. Advocates don’t like what’s coming. They’re ardent opponents of a crackdown that will tear apart families, and they wonder how a government for the people can only be for some, including the immigrants they worry about.
But they also know that ICE is within its rights to arrest anyone in the city illegally, and citizens have to abide by the law even when they don’t like it.
But they do push back.
During a meeting with DHS, Rollins said government officials said she and others could encourage illegal immigrants to self-deport.
“And we said, no,” Rollins said. “We are trusted in the community, and we’re there to inform the people of what ICE says to us. But we are not going to encourage people to self-deport.” She was adamant on that point, jabbing her index finger into her desk for emphasis.
DHS has provided a list of rules to abide by. Protests have to stay six feet from agents, though they can videotape them and ask them to identify themselves.
But in any potentially volatile situation, interpretation matters. If an agent pulls someone over, “And ask for your name, you have the right to first say, ‘Am I being arrested or detained?’ Mohammad said. But asking that question could be interpreted as resisting a command and set off a potentially dangerous situation.
“Now we’ve seen instances in which people have done those things and they’ve not been mishandled,” Muhammad said. “We’ve seen instances when they have been.” ProPublica, by its count, says at least 170 Americans have been detained across the country, and some who have been are suing the U.S. government.
Rollins is one of many in the community who work, quite literally, from the very early morning until deep into the night, talking about what’s to come and planning on to educate as many people as possible. Despite those efforts, Rollins, under the weight of the unknown, feels like she’s failing.
“I just think we feel like we’re letting our community down,” she said. “We’re letting our people down.”
If she and others can convince a few people to peacefully protest, to not get in the way of agents doing their job, and help prevent injuries or worse, she’ll see how wrong she is.
Ray Marcano’s column appears on these pages each Sunday.