ICE Archives - Ramblin' with Roger

Interacting with Immigration Enforcement Officials

Welcoming, Protecting, and Preparing: A Congregational Guide

**Madison Avenue at Eagle Street, ALB, April 2025**

I became particularly interested in the subject of interacting with Immigration Enforcement Officials in recent weeks. In late March, a speaker at my church discussed their local entity, which holds a Department of Justice accreditation, enabling them to assist with applications for Asylum, Citizenship, Family reunification, Travel documents, Work authorization, and more.

However, the speaker reported that, since January 20, there have been reports of raids in my area at businesses, bus stops, and on public transportation. Fake job offers and phony attorneys are out there to deceive.

Private space

“In the performance of their immigration enforcement duties, an ICE agent may enter any area open to the general public.” So, how is that defined? From the Shelterforce document ICE Is Coming to Your Building—Are You Ready?:

Designate common areas as private spaces: If property, including a multifamily building lobby, courtyard, or other typically common area, is marked as being closed to the public, ICE agents cannot enter without a warrant. “So, for example, if you’ve got an apartment building, and the lobby doors are unlocked, anybody can enter the lobby. But, to go past the lobby, if they need to have a key card, or it’s marked ‘residents only’ or something, then they’re not allowed to enter those types of areas without either [a warrant or] permission from somebody who has the right to give it—that would usually be either a tenant or, if it’s a common area, it could be the owner. But they can’t just go in to the private areas,” Eric Dunn, director of litigation for National Housing Law Project, says.

Signs

“So one step is to make sure that in multifamily-type buildings, any common areas are marked with signage or barriers and fences to make clear which parts are public space and what parts are private areas so that ICE agents can’t just start walking up and down the halls looking for people.” Unfortunately, Trump’s racist rhetoric and deportation actions have emboldened ICE agents, who’ve been documented disregarding private spaces and declining to produce warrants. Additionally, although adding signage—such as ‘Restricted Area: Residents and Employees Only’—is a good idea, Public Counsel, a nonprofit public interest law firm focused on civil rights and racial and economic justice, cautions that “signs alone may not make an area legally private.” It’s recommended that building owners work with an attorney to draft legally defensible policies.

Response

If an ICE agent approaches staff in a public area of a facility or work
location, staff should do the following:

Ask the ICE agent for identification (“Can I see your ID, please?”). If the agent provides valid identification, note the agent’s name, title,
badge number, and agency. Take a photograph or make a copy of the
agent’s ID, if possible. Also, ask for and note the name and telephone
number of the agent’s supervisor, if possible.

Shelterforce: “When passing along info, these groups suggest using the S.A.L.U.T.E. acronym to make sure you document all relevant information:

S is for size: How many agents are in the group?
A is for activity: What are the agents doing?
L is for location: Where are the agents?
U is for uniform: What are the agents wearing?
T is for time: What is the date and time of day?
E is for equipment: Do the agents have weapons?”

• If, after presenting valid identification, an ICE agent asks questions of staff about an employee or other individual, staff should state, “I am
not authorized to answer your questions.” The reason for declining to answer is to protect the privacy of employees and patrons.

What to Do if ICE Comes to Your Church

Sojourners has shared a valuable and detailed document. Rev. Minna Bothwell, who pastors the Capitol Hill Lutheran Church in downtown Des Moines, IA, was motivated to create Welcoming, Protecting, and Preparing: A Congregational Guide. “As people of faith,” Bothwell explained, “we are called to provide sanctuary, welcome the stranger, and uphold the dignity of all people, holding both joy and sorrow without discrimination…

“Once I received confirmation that the materials were legally sound, I began sharing them online,” Bothwell said, “recognizing that many faith communities were urgently seeking reliable guidance amid widespread misinformation.”

Also: The ACLU notes, “Regardless of your immigration status, you have guaranteed rights under the Constitution. Learn more here about your rights as an immigrant and how to express them.”

Once again, I recommended an Oscar-nominated short film. “A Lien brings you into the tense, intimate moment of a green card interview that could change three people’s lives forever.” It gets very intense and entirely believable. You can see the film for free here or here. Here’s an interview with the directors.

US citizen told to self-deport: ‘They want immigrants to be uncomfortable here.’ Nicole Micheroni is an immigration attorney and a U.S. citizen born and raised in Massachusetts. Federal immigration authorities wrongfully detain U.S. citizens.

The Kafkaesque Case of Juan Carlos Lopez-Gomez Is a Warning to Us All. In a clear case of racial profiling, immigration police in Florida unlawfully arrested and held a U.S.-born citizen.

Judge says 2-year-old US citizen appears to have been deported with ‘no meaningful process’.

Abrego Garcia Family Flees to Safe House After DHS Posts Home Address on Social Media

From Heather Cox Richardson: “FBI agents arrested Milwaukee County Circuit Judge Hannah Dugan at the courthouse this morning in what, as Josh Kovensky of Talking Points Memo notes, appeared to be an attempt to draw attention and to illustrate that judges ‘must cooperate with the Trump administration’s mass deportation campaign or else face overbearing actions from federal law enforcement.'”

The follow-up post: ice, COVID, more

Half a block away

This is a follow-up post about what I’ve written about, most recently.

Remember that our car was stuck in the ice in February? Of course, you do. After we got out, and the snow and ice subsequently melted away, we discovered that our neighbor’s sidewalk was still very wet. There was water bubbling up from the intersection of their sidewalk and the walkway to their house.

Apparently, someone from the city or from National Grid, the power company, nicked the waterline. Their water bill must have been terrible for that quarter. The owner had to contact a company to use their backhoe to dig up a couple of sidewalk panels so that the leak could be fixed.

This explains why there was SO much water around our car thawing and refreezing since our car was essentially in front of their house.

Grandma Agatha

I’ve been trying to access the records of the court case involving my grandmother, Agatha Walker (later Green), and my biological grandfather Raymond Cone from October 1926.

Alas, I got word that they can’t find the records. They may have been misfiled or destroyed. And I know, from the conversation I had with the person at Family Court, that they are very interested in this case.

The unmasking

I’ve noted that our church had been masking during worship. However, the Session, the ruling body of the congregation, had commissioned a group of folks, expert in these things, including current and former members of the state Department of Health. The infection rate in Albany County, NY is presently at Green, or low, as is all of New York State. (Green is good, as we know.)

The bottom line is that, as of March 20, masks are optional during worship. The choir, for instance, had a discussion at the beginning of the St. Patrick’s Day rehearsal. Most chose to unmask while singing. BUT no one had to. I tended to keep my mask on while NOT singing but to take it off when I was.

Moreover, congregational singing was allowed, which made them, and me, very happy. And they passed the peace by moving around, rather than just waving at each other.

I will say that my comfort level with unmasking was based on the fact that the choir members are fully vaccinated. Moreover – and I don’t know how to say this without sounding pretentious – our congregation is of a demographic, educational, and political composition that most, if not all of them have gotten the vaccines and likely wearing masks frequently.

Now I know this could change with the BA.2 variant of Omicron in Europe, Asia, and Africa. The recent BAFTA awards in England may have been a super spreader event. And there are more stringent rules in place at church if the CDC guidance for our county goes to Yellow or Orange.

Former governor

Speaking of my church, you probably WON’T remember that I wrote about New York Governor Martin Glynn nearly a decade ago. The Glynn Mansion is half a block from my church! I have walked by it a few dozen times since writing that post. But only recently did I notice the commemorative plaque.

Unsettled. Deeply unsettled.

too much insurance

In early 2022, I have felt deeply unsettled. The snow/ice event was an amazing time suck. I spent a minimum of 12 hours chopping ice over five days, and it was exhausting.

Returning the unwanted devices made me anxious because I needed to get them within 14 days. Not two weeks from when I got them but a fortnight after their package was sent. I went to one of those FedEx drop boxes, which was very convenient, even though I felt the persons checking me out gave me the vibe that I was some sort of terrorist dropping off an explosive device. And I’m still unclear about whether I’ve been compromised, though Experian seems to think not.

One of those annoying things I, and most retirees, have to deal with is a ton of solicitations from Medicare Supplement providers. And for a time I had two of these insurance policies. This was NOT a good thing. This involved getting reimbursed for the insurance I no longer had, paying for the new insurance, and waiting for reimbursement for that. Plus the hassle of contacting all of my medical providers.

Other passings

I’ve discussed Paul Weinstein, who I had last seen when his daughter and my daughter were inducted into the honor society in November; I attended his funeral. The choir sang at the funeral of Michael Attwell, with whom I had sung on Christmas Eve.

I had briefly mentioned Kay Olin Johnson, a fellow member of the Olin Family Society, who I last spoke with on 15 January. Subsequently, she commented on my Facebook page how much she enjoyed talking with me. Then she died on 22 January. On 3 February I contacted someone in my old office for Reasons and discovered that Kay had sent mail to my wife and me there.

It was forwarded a week later. Kay had sent her holiday greetings. She wrote of home improvements she did finish in 2021 but promised pictures of the changes in December 2022. She likewise suggested some genealogical news in the coming year. But mostly, her letter was about her far-flung family, who she greatly appreciated, especially since her husband Don had died 31 years earlier.

Betty Curtis, who died 11 Feb was an extremely talented member of my church choir and very generous of spirit. She was the one person who dealt well with a certain cranky soul. She was active in that choir from at least the 1960s to just a few years ago. Her birthday was a couple of days after mine. And she LOVED her Butler Bulldogs men’s basketball team. Her funeral is upcoming.

Health Care in America

It’s always disturbing to me when people are forced to start, or their friends initiate a Go Fund Campaign for someone’s health care. It’s more irritating when it’s someone I know. Ken Screven, a well-known TV reporter in this area “faces mounting medical bills.” His friends started a GoFundMe campaign and raised over $33,000, crushing the goal of $25,000.

But should this be the way we do health in this country?

Lockdown

At my daughter’s high school this past Thursday, two freshmen got into an altercation. Then one cut both the other kid and a hall monitor. The school went into lockdown; my daughter texted me that neither the students nor the adults in her room were quiet, as is recommended. Incidentally, the alleged assailant, 14, was hiding in the cafeteria with the other students until he was found out.

I was most annoyed with the tease for WRGB’s news broadcast. “Violence boils over at Albany High School.” The following day was remote, the third school district that went to distance learning that week for non-COVID reasons.

My daughter had already had experienced a rough week, so this did not help.

I read the news today

A crazy lady was complaining about the gazpacho police. Another GOP MOC says Americans must own enough weapons to overthrow the government if 30-40% agree on “tyranny”.

But I was most distressed by a former president hiding or destroying government docs. This goes beyond mere politics. This is proof – once again – that he doesn’t understand that the Presidency is a trust.

Also, not just the country but much of the world is at war over COVID mandates. I’m not quite to the surrender mode yet, but I’m teetering. Hey, I could say, I’ve got my three shots, and I’d get a fourth if suggested. I’m going to keep wearing my mass indoors, so don’t bother me if you don’t like it. But it seems the fight is tearing the fabric of society apart. It is wearying, as is the possibility of another Greek letter.

There are other things, but these are the big ones. The cumulative effect has left me unsettled.

Comic books, football players, ICE intertwined?

“We found one bloated, cruel, and useless agency that is begging to be abolished.”

My old friend Catbird asked:

Hi Roger—

When I heard rump’s “maybe they shouldn’t be in this country” comment about football players staying in locker rooms the other day, I wondered if they’d “pass” the Comic Book Code of America. I remember you explaining this to me decades ago. I suppose it depends on whether anybody acts on it.

What do you think?

Might it be worth a blog item?

I hope all is well with you and your “bearers of two X chromosomes.”

It had not occurred to me, but I suppose both the Comic Code Authority (1954-2011) and the NFL owners’ new policy requiring on-field player and personnel to stand for the national anthem were both self-regulating actions designed to make the federal government leave them alone.

In the case of comic books, the industry was worrying, rightly, that the government might want to regulate it, to “protect the children.”It agreed submit the comics to a board for a stamp of approval. No excessive violence, no drug use shown, et al.

The owners of the NFL just wanted the bad press to go away – n.b., didn’t happen. They are worried about the bottom line, with ratings down substantially, although that may not be just a function of the anthem imbroglio.

There’s a more significant question you ask here: when DO we say in America, “My way or the highway?” Certainly, I’ve heard, “America, love it or leave it” a few times, usually when I was protesting some war, mostly Vietnam, but also Iraq. Yet, as I was wont to say, “I stay, and protest, BECAUSE I love America.”

When HAS the United States actually thrown people out of the country? In the past, not very often, in the vast scheme. It wasn’t until 2002 when the United States actually had an agency whose primary function appears to do just that.

As Full Frontal with Samantha Bee put it on May 23: “For Republicans looking to cut government fat, we found one bloated, cruel, and useless agency that is begging to be abolished. And no, ‘President’ is not considered an agency.”

It is, of course, the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency. I appreciate it when the ICE agents remove some MS-13 gang member. But, much more often, they are seen as a source of terror in the immigrant community, even for those who are here legally.

As someone approaching Social Security, I find this problematic, not just from a moral and ethical position, but from an economic one. Driving out productive young people from the country is a recipe for federal fiscal disaster.

So, there’s a lot of bluster about people needing to leave the country. But it won’t be football players going. Unless they were born elsewhere.

Tag: ICE