I live in an area where people ask you where you’re from and if you actually live in the neighborhood. They may assume you don’t speak English, like they have with my wife.
ICE has already gone through the town nextdoor, and I’m waiting for our turn. I’m light-skinned, but my wife and kids are dark with Mayan features. I fear that all anyone has to do to terrorize my family is call a hotline. We have all our citizenship documentation, but that doesn’t matter anymore.
I keep waiting for the day when I’m going to have to defend my family, but I might not even be around when things take place. What if they come take my wife while she’s at work? What if she goes shopping and never comes back?
I have nothing without my family. I have nothing.
I know ICE has a reputation of doing whatever they want, but in an effort to provide the most civil option possible:
Have your family keep their papers on them at all times. In the house, in the yard, wherever. You get out of bed, your papers are in your pocket, in bed, they’re right there next to you. Ideally add some extra notes (people to contact, names numbers and addresses if you have them) and keep that with it.
Talk with family and friends and make contingency plans. Have a place to say you’re from or find out where people are getting deported to, reach out to family/friends out there (if you have any) and have them aware of your concerns. Save up money to be ready to travel if you need to reunite with them.
Talk as a family. Explain what could happen, and help them to understand what to do. Fire drills save lives in an emergency. This is no different.
I can’t promise a solution, I certainly wouldn’t recommend trying to fight with a gun if anything happens, all it will do is add fuel to their fire and get someone hurt. But being prepared to ride out a storm is always better than being stuck out in one in the open.
Thanks for the reasonable advice. We have all our paperwork in one place. I can see about getting passports in order. I’ve heard about passport ID cards, too. I’d like to have those readily available. Redundancy is helpful.
I have friends who can take care of the pets, and we have family very close by. I’ll talk to friends on my block who can watch our kids in case something happens.
Take pictures and/or make copies of your documentation as well. You don’t want to hand them the originals and then have nothing.
This is insane. I’m sorry.
You might try calling the police if a situation comes up? I don’t see a better option.
No due process means they can come for any of us. If laws aren’t stopping them, skin color doesn’t have to either.
passports are identification
The actual practical advice