You have the right to remain silent.
Whether you dare exercise it when facing ICE agents is a judgment call.
“When you’re going to things like protests, it’s not without risk to you as an individual. We all have to decide for ourselves what level of risk based on our personal circumstances we’re willing to take,” Samantha Rumsey told a standing-room-only audience Tuesday at a “Know Your Rights” talk at the Morristown & Township Library.
Rumsey is legal director for the New Jersey Consortium for Immigrant Children, a nonprofit in Jersey City. She and consortium Executive Director Priscilla Monico Marín spent 90 minutes sharing tips for safely navigating encounters with ICE, and for supporting detained neighbors and their families.
The topics resonated in the wake of this month’s ICE sweep in Morristown that detained 11 individuals — including a Morristown High School senior and a father hauled off before he could find anyone to watch his 6-year-old daughter — and the killing of two protesters by federal officers in Minneapolis.
Marín, an attorney, said masked, unidentified agents running roughshod over due process angers and emboldens her to stand up for her rights. But fellow citizens should think hard before doing anything that could escalate a confrontation, she cautioned.
“The reality is, U.S. citizens are being detained. You can refuse (complying) up the wazoo to, like, stick it to ICE. And then when they arrest you, because they have reasonable suspicion to think that you’re undocumented, you’re the one that’s getting arrested. You’re the one that’s being called to detention, until they realize you’re a U.S. citizen. But at that point, you’ve experienced hell on earth,” she said.
The session came on a day when Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) posted a video about Adonay Mancia Rodriguez, the Honduran native taken from Morristown by ICE agents who family members say refused to let Rodriguez contact anyone to care for his traumatized young daughter:
“All over the country, people who are law-abiding community members are being swept up in Trump’s lawless deportation machine,” Sanders posted. “ICE is not only out of control in MN, they are out of control everywhere they go. This must end. Adonay must be returned to his daughter and family.”
The Department of Homeland Security has called all 11 detainees from Morristown “illegal aliens” who now face deportation. Some are felons, according to a DHS spokesperson, who would not disclose their identities or alleged crimes.
A federal judge ordered the high schooler’s release; Rodriguez remains in custody. Online campaigns have raised tens of thousands of dollars for their legal battles to stay in the country.
DO’S AND DON’TS
Marín and Rumsey shared a “Rapid Response” link to resources for detainees and communities targeted by ICE. Their consortium also has posted an Instagram video, What To Do After an ICE Raid:
View this post on Instagram
Some advice from Marín and Rumsey:
New Jersey law enforcement is restricted from cooperating with most federal deportation efforts under a 2018 directive from the state attorney general. Former Gov. Phil Murphy last week pocket-vetoed a bill that would have cemented that policy as law. But he did sign a measure to make schools, churches, hospitals and other “sensitive spaces” off-limits to ICE.
Whether ICE will heed that state law is questionable, Rumsey said, acknowledging that President Trump revoked a similar federal policy early in his second term.
Marín noted concerns raised by reports of a federal memo suggesting ICE may try entering homes using administrative warrants from immigration officers. Right now, they need a warrant signed by a judge to enter a home or other private places.
Brandi Szymanski, a Morristown mother of two teens, said she was “simultaneously and immediately shocked by the violence and the cruelty” of the ICE raid on Jan. 11.
She subsequently has met some of the detainees — “teenagers, fathers, husbands and brothers” — being held in a privately run Elizabeth detention center she described as cold, uncomfortable and isolated. Phone calls are expensive, difficult, and “seemingly designed to be that way.”
Although “nothing feels right now,” Szymanski said she is buoyed by how Morristown and communities like it across the country have rallied to support their detained neighbors.
“The good does rise out of the evil, and I have seen so much caring and decency rise from this,” she said.
Morristown has a long history of people stepping forward in pivotal moments.
When you chip in to Morristown Green, you’re helping your neighbors stay informed, strengthening our civic backbone, and carrying on the spirit that’s defined this town since its earliest days.
Rally for local news.
Nobody said it was easy, that is why sacrifice occurred over several generations here and tons of death and sacrifice. Nobody showed up with a suitcase and a sob story. We really are tired of hearing the liberal disordered mentality that is not sustainable. We are tired of being taxed to support your BS. It is all the wealthy liberals hiding at their doilie clothed tabled with high noon tea voting for handouts.
Relocate to the southern border and go live your liberal dream. We are so drained and its gross that you feel so comfortable disregarding genreations of death and sacrifice to this nation.
sorry, NO.
Not sure what to say, flee to Mexico, Columbia or another Latin America country. They can’t all be bad, if so, time to evaluate.
There is no world where you feel entitled to invade other countries and be rewarded. We all have a story. Yours cant be entitled and disregard for laws, language and regulations.
Fix your problems, especially if they span several countries.
Here’s something worth listening to:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wWKSoxG1K7w&list=RDwWKSoxG1K7w&index=1
Re: pathways to legal immigration, this can be a lengthy process depending on where you come from, your education level, etc. Trump is canceling protected status and immigration hearings, leaving people in limbo. It also costs money and requires English proficiency. If you fled from Honduras, an extremely poor and violent country, where the US has had a long military presence to support our agribusiness interests there and fight communism, chances are slim that you have either. There was an illegal election there in Trump’s first term, which he supported, and more recently he pardoned their former president from drug trafficking charges. Until we stop interfering with our neighbors we have no right to complain if people flee.
Peggy, um, you’re wrong. There certainly IS a clear pathway to entering this country. Are you kidding? People have been doing it for decades. I know people who have done it. It takes work, patience, and money. They deserve our respect.
And then you have illegals – folks who jump the border or overstay. They have thumbed their noses at our laws and deserve our contempt, arrest, prosecution, and removal. (Try illegal entry into Mexico. Good luck with that).
It’s beyond bizarre that there are those who are okay with allowing just anyone to just waltz into our country with no background checks, demonstrated skills, proof of assets, etc.
Any and all ICE violence was and is caused by troublemakers. They drop a quarter into the jukebox and dance to the tune in a classic case of FAFO.
Here you go, took my family 20 years, and serving in 3 wars, losing limbs, widowing grandparents.
Becoming a U.S. citizen through naturalization involves meeting eligibility requirements (usually 5 years as a permanent resident), filing Form N-400, attending a biometrics appointment, completing an interview/test, and taking the Oath of Allegiance. The total cost is approximately $725, with processing times varying by location.
You must be at least 18, a Permanent Resident (Green Card holder) for at least 5 years (or 3 years if married to a U.S. citizen), show physical presence and continuous residence, demonstrate good moral character, and be able to read, write, and speak basic English.
You will undergo an interview to review your application and take a two-part test: an English test (reading, writing, speaking) and a Civics test (knowledge of U.S. history and government).
If approved, you must attend a ceremony to take the Oath of Allegiance to the United States. Once completed, you will receive your Certificate of Naturalization.
Thank you for this important coverage. Inspired by the solidarity in Morristown, where so many people believe in the duty we have to one another as neighbors. To care about and be good to one another.
Peggy, you should be able to accept that others who are pro law enforcement and support the law enforcement community are citizens and patriots. You may not agree with that and maybe should evaluate yourself, rather than take some kind of authoratative and passive aggressive swipe at others who do. We are entitle to have our beliefs and support of the country without the mermerizing book references and commentary. It is simple, we support law enforcement and the Federal governement. The future of America, for its 250, Is for Law and Order.
Last thought for now: it’s never been a priority of federal government to have a coherent, organized pathway to entry into this country. I don’t understand the emotional or spiritual benefit derived by people who are glad to see ICE violence.
I have always loved this website but am finding some of the comments by people using generic first names only very ugly and disturbing. It’s such a smug hate fest.
I don’t get where the hatred toward others and glee at people being rounded up by ICE is coming from. There is a mesmerizing book by Hannah Arendt called The Banality of Evil that addresses atrocities against human beings based on ethnicity and how extreme cruelty could be ignored or justified. That’s a simplistic summary.
What is happening with ICE is profoundly awful and surreal. I never envisioned this kind of inhumanity in the United States.