“No ICE, please!”
ICE acts like it can go anywhere and do anything. Restaurants and stores can push back by posting private areas (like kitchens) as off-limits. This is legal notification to ICE that they may not pass without a judicial warrant.
Learn how to approach businesses with everything they need to participate. Thank businesses already participating. As consumer pressure grows, more businesses will join.
How to do it:
While anyone can generally enter public businesses, private spaces in those businesses are not open to the public. ICE utilizes ambiguity to break laws, so make it unambiguous: post private areas as off-limits. To enter these areas, ICE needs a judicial warrant. While ICE breaks many laws, some people have been released because it’s easier than fighting the case in court. This is sand in the gears: slowing them down saves people.
WA Neighborhood Defense has a comprehensive packet of materials. There is a script to help you educate business owners about their legal rights, a sample judicial warrant so they can learn how to distinguish it from a powerless ICE “warrant” and even signs you can print and distribute. The materials are Washington State branded, but can be used as a template for other areas. (We’ll add generic templates if we find them.)
To find a program up and running in your area, keep an eye out for posters, or contact one of these rapid response networks, or an immigration rights group local to you. They will know if anyone is already working on this, and may be able to provide support if you want to take the next step and become an organizer.
