Paul Bass Photos
Fatima Rojas, Yenimar Cortes, Ambar Santiago-Rojas, and Jacqueline Gonzalez at WNHH FM.
Don’t freak out. Do pull out the red card.
You can read right there what to say if an ICE (federal Immigration & Customs Enforcement) agent is indeed at the door: “I don’t wish to speak with you, answer your questions, or sign or hand you any documents based on my 5th Amendment rights under the United Stations Constitution … I do not give you permission to enter my home based on my 4th Amendment rights … unless you have a warrant to enter, signed by a judge or magistrate with my name on it that you slide under the door …”
A coalition of 60 agencies and nonprofit groups is spreading those red cards, and that calm-but-ready message, to the heart of New Haven’s immigrant community, which is bracing for ICE mass deportation raids promised by the newly installed Trump administration.
Those raids have begun elsewhere. They haven’t hit New Haven yet. It’s believed to be a matter of time. Meanwhile, false rumors of ICE raids have spread in the community, heightening the fear.
That’s where the coalition is stepping in.
“Exactly what the Trump administration wants is just fear, to incite fear and panic and chaos,” Yenimar Cortes, New Haven organizer for CT Students For A Dream, said during a New ICE Age conversation Tuesday on WNHH FM’s “Dateline New Haven.” She was joined by fellow organizers Fatima Rojas of Semilla Collective, Junta case worker Jacqueline Gonzalez, and high school youth organizer Ambar Santiago-Rojas.
“Let’s be prepared, and let’s be calm, and let’s not incite fear among us,” Cortes said.
Toward that end, the coalition has distributed the red cards with advice for responding to an ICE door knock; engaged lawyers and others to conduct “Know Your Rights” trainings for neighbors and for workers at frontline agencies like Fair Haven Health and Junta. They’ve set up a “rapid response team” and a hotline to field calls about suspected ICE sightings, suss out the truth, then dispel false reports. They’ve trained people about how to gather info — descriptions, locations, photos — to include with such calls. The youth wing has posted videos on Instagram and Facebook with similar information. The group is urging people to patronize Fair Haven businesses to make up for business lost because of fear of ICE raids; supporters organized a dinner gathering this past Saturday at Salsa’s Restaurant.
When ICE did show up to make arrests in Danbury, CT Students For A Dream directly called members to convey calm and go over specific steps to take if encountering an agent.
An estimated 100,000 undocumented people live in Connecticut.
You can call the rapid response hotline at 220 – 666-4472. Rojas said people can call her at 203 – 747-4309 for information on attending the coalition’s Saturday community engagement meetings. Cortes invited people to contact her group at 203 – 787-0191 for information on Know Your Rights workshops.
Click on the video below to hear the full conversation with Fair Haven activists Fatima Rojas, Jacqueline Gonzalez, Ambar Santiago-Rojas, and Yenimar Cortes on WNHH FM’s “Dateline New Haven.” Click here to subscribe or here to listen to other episodes of “Dateline New Haven.”