By Kellen Blackwell
On the evening of Jan. 21, the Associated Press obtained an ICE internal memo published through Whistleblower Aid. In this memo, “acting ICE director Todd Lyons authorizes ICE agents to forcibly enter into certain people’s homes without a judicial warrant, consent, or an emergency.” Instead, they are to use Form I-205, which is not a judicial warrant. Previously, use of Form I-205, which authorizes ICE agents to execute a final order of deportation, was limited to public places. Now, they have full authority to enter into private homes: a gross violation of the Fourth Amendment.
The Fourth Amendment guarantees “The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures but only upon probable cause.” However, the memo states that “instructors at the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center are directed to verbally train all new ICE Agents to follow this policy while disregarding written course material instructing the opposite.” They know that this new policy is blatantly illegal, but they don’t care, and nobody else in the federal government will hold them accountable.
In the face of this onslaught of attacks on the constitutional rights of citizens and non-citizen immigrants alike, “know your rights” frameworks, such as the commonly distributed Red Cards from the Immigrant Legal Resource Collective, are significantly weakened. It is a noble effort to inform people, especially undocumented immigrants who speak no English, of their rights in the face of state aggression. However, that requires federal actors to uphold these rights, not to destroy them at their leisure. If these rights won’t be respected, let alone continue to exist, having knowledge to assert them becomes far less useful.
The situation calls to mind Kwame Ture’s words: “In order for nonviolence to work, your opponent must have a conscience. The United States has none.” The bourgeoisie imperialist government of the so-called United States will stop at nothing to acheive their aims. Concepts like fairness and respect for the rule of law are off the table for them, (even when they demand we continue to play by those rules) and we must keep this in mind when planning our tactics.
State repression and militarization has already increased, and will only continue to do so. The only way forward is community solidarity and defense, such as the Neighborhood Defense Unit framework. Everyone has something to contribute, and with all our effort and skills together, we can protect our most vulnerable neighbors.
