I know you don't want to believe it. I know you want to write this off as alarmist. You may be thinking, Things are bad, but they've been bad before. It'll blow over. It always does.
That thought process is wrong. And it will leave you and the people you love completely unprepared.
THIS HAS HAPPENED BEFORE; THIS IS HAPPENING NOW
What you are watching is not new; it is a pattern written in blood throughout history. From slave patrols in the United States to Stalin's purges in the Soviet Union to Japanese internment camps during World War II to the Gestapo of Nazi Germany, the pattern is the same:
A security force is expanded or built.
A hated or dangerous "them" is defined.
The use of force against "them" is normalized.
When the pool of available enemies shrinks, their definition of "them" is expanded.
You may be thinking: That happened in the past, but we've learned from history. It won't get that bad again.
It already is that bad again.
When political leaders promise "mass removals," "absolute immunity," and the use of emergency powers to crush dissent, that is not abstract. It is no longer hypothetical. That is real.
The machinery already exists: ICE, detention centers, militarized policing, the prison industrial pipeline, the surveillance economy (data brokers and Palintir and facial recognition and more).
We're already on to step four, watching the "them" expand in real time:
Systems built on "us vs them" are not designed to stop. They are machines that run with human beings as fuel.
Systems like this require a supply of people. To maintain power, they always need to be rounding up someone, detaining someone, making an example of someone—constantly, visibly, with headlines and numbers. Humans zip-tied, humans processed, humans dehumanized as efficiently as possible. Bodies in cells, bodies numbered, bodies separated from food and medicine and sleep. Relentless consumption, fresh meat grinding through their gears.
So, when they start to run out of an obvious "them," they don't pack up and go home—they move the line, and they find new enemies. Hannah Arendt described it clearly when she said totalitarian terror "turns not only against its enemies but against its friends and supporters as well."
Nobody remains inside the "us" forever.
Political leaders, judges, lawyers, local officials, journalists, teacher, clergy. Eventually, they will run out of significant outside opposition and will move on to their own rank-and-file: the cop who refuses an order, the agent who talks to a reporter, the loyal supporter who finally says, "This has gone too far."
Inevitably, you will no longer be included in the "us." You might think that your exclusion from the "us" is a long ways off. You might think, As long as I keep my head down and never get in the way, I will stay safe.
If that's what you're hanging your sense of safety on, I am telling you: do not.
This is the trajectory we are on.
Looking away won't save you. You need to acknowledge this head-on and prepare.
WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW: YOUR RIGHTS
Most importantly: Everyone in the United States has certain constitutional protections, including undocumented immigrants.
1. IF ICE STOPS YOU IN A PUBLIC PLACE (ON FOOT)
Ask if you're free to go.
"Am I being arrested or detained, or am I free to leave?"
If they say you're free to go, leave before they can manufacture a reason to arrest you.
You have the right to remain silent.
Don't answer where you were born, how you entered the U.S., or what your status is. Every word you say will be weaponized against you.
You are not required to show immigration documents.
You can refuse to show documents that reveal your citizenship or country of origin.
"I do not consent to a search."
They can pat down the outside of your clothes if they claim to suspect you have a weapon.
"I want to speak to a lawyer."
"I choose to remain silent."
If you're not a U.S. citizen, you can ask to contact your consulate.
On paper, that means you should be able to get help from inside detention. In reality, people are often moved quickly between facilities and states and have very limited phone access. Be sure to memorize at least one trusted person's number and, if you can, one legal aid or hotline number, too.
DO NOT SIGN ANYTHING WITHOUT SPEAKING TO A LAWYER FIRST.
2. IF ICE STOPS YOU IN YOUR CAR
Important: your vehicle is considered a deadly weapon. That doesn't erase your rights, but it does change a few things, including how they may treat you and how quickly they might escalate.
ICE often uses unmarked cars and plain clothes or vests that just say "POLICE." They may not admit they're ICE at first. ICE may lie, or as they call it, use a "ruse."
"Are you the police or immigration?"
"Why am I being stopped?"
Even if they don't answer, it's important to have record of asking and their refusal to answer.
The driver is legally required to pull over when signaled and to provide a valid driver's license if the stop is lawful.
Driver and passengers can be ordered to step out of the vehicle.
Passengers do not have to show ID or give personal information. (3)
Your core rights are the same as on foot.
You can refuse most searches of your car unless there's a warrant, your consent, or some claimed probable cause.
You can ask if you're under arrest or free to go.
DO NOT SIGN ANYTHING WITHOUT SPEAKING TO A LAWYER FIRST.
3. IF ICE COMES TO YOUR DOOR
You can talk through a closed door.
Do NOT unlock anything or open ANY doors.
To enter your home without your permission, officers generally need a judicial warrant — one signed by a judge, not by ICE.
ICE's own "warrants" are administrative forms signed by ICE officers. They do not give ICE the right to enter your home without consent from someone inside.
"Can you slide the warrant under the door or hold it up to the window so I can see if a judge signed it?"
If it's not signed or not a real warrant, you can refuse entry.
Example of ICE "warrant" and "detainer" forms:
Example of a real warrant signed by a judge:
ICE agents are officially taught to use "ruses"—pretending to be local police, delivery workers, someone from the DA's office, people asking about the Bible, etc.—to get you to open the door or step outside.
They do this because their own manuals say that administrative warrants don't authorize entry, so they need "voluntary consent" to come in. They will manufacture that consent in any way they can.
Inside your home, on paper, your rights are STRONG.
Without a judicial warrant or your permission, they are not legally supposed to cross your threshold.
You do not have to answer questions about:
where you or they were born
anyone's immigration status
whether a specific person is inside
Again: refusing to open the door, refusing a search, and refusing to answer questions are not crimes. However, lying can be. It is up to you to morally decide what you want to do.
DO NOT SIGN ANYTHING WITHOUT SPEAKING TO A LAWYER FIRST.
U.S. law has a "harboring" statute (8 U.S.C. §1324) that can be used against people who actively help someone avoid ICE by hiding them, moving them around, or giving false information to shield them from arrest. "Harboring" uses fairly broad language, so they can use it against you in a lot of different situations.
Actions that aren't considered harboring:
Refusing to open the door without a judge-signed warrant.
Refusing consent to a search.
Refusing to answer questions about who is inside or what their status is.
Those are your rights. These things are not harboring or obstruction.
Actions that could be charged as harboring:
Waving someone into your home while ICE watches so they can hide.
Telling officers "they're not here" when they are.
Actively helping someone hide or escape in that moment (moving them, giving fake documents, physically stopping ICE agents, etc.).
Again: I am not telling you what you should or shouldn't do morally. I'm telling you that the law protects your silence and your refusal to consent way more than it protects lying or actively hiding someone.
These are your rights. Using them is not a crime.
Good resources to explore further:
https://www.immigrantdefenseproject.org/wp-content/uploads/IDP_car_stops-FINAL-2.pdf
https://www.immigrantdefenseproject.org/ice-ruses/
https://nipnlg.org/sites/default/files/2025-01/2025_NIPNLG-1324.pdf
https://www.immigrantdefenseproject.org/know-your-rights-with-ice/
RESISTANCE DEMANDS HOPE — AND SUSTAINABILITY
You can't do everything, but you must do something.
When something like this is happening, a lot of people will tell you, "Go protest."
However, that assumes everyone can afford the same risks. A lot of people can't, especially in moments like this when contact with law enforcement can carry unequal consequences.
Maybe you're studying to become an immigration lawyer and you can't risk an arrest or a charge that could follow you for years.
Maybe you have undocumented family or a mixed-status household, and drawing attention to your home or your name is not safe.
Maybe you have kids you need to get home to every night. Maybe you're disabled, immunocompromised, or your body simply can't handle crowds, police lines, tear gas, or hours on your feet.
You are not failing if you cannot protest. There are other ways to resist.
For every person on the front line, there are others doing the work that makes resistance possible: coordinating rides, running hotlines, raising bail money, building legal cases, feeding people, gathering stories, recording, and keeping communities connected.
Resistance that only values confrontation burns people out, excludes the most vulnerable, and builds no infrastructure.
Resistance that values many roles is harder to crush.
The Social Change Ecosystem Map
Deepa Iyer's Social Change Ecosystem Map lists several different roles that can actively support resistance movements:
Weavers: connect people, places, organizations, ideas, and movements.
Experimenters: innovate, pioneer, and invent, taking risks and course-correct as needed.
Frontline Responders: address community crises by marshaling and organizing resources, networks, and messages.
Visionaries: imagine and generate boldest possibilities, hopes and dreams, and remind us of our direction.
Builders: develop, organize, and implement ideas, practices, people, and resources in service of a collective vision.
Caregivers: nurture and nourish the people by creating and sustaining a community of care, joy, and connection.
Disruptors: take uncomfortable and risky actions to shake up the status quo, to raise awareness, and to build power.
Healers: recognize and tend to the generational and current traumas caused by oppressive systems, institutions, policies, and practices.
Storytellers: craft and share community stories, cultures, experiences, histories, and possibilities through art, music, media, and movement.
Guides: teach, counsel, and advise, using gifts of well-earned discernment and wisdom.
You can use the map to figure out what role fits your skills, risk level, and capacity right now.
You can download the guide here to explore it more deeply: https://buildingmovement.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/Ecosystem-Guide-April-2022.pdf
What you can do RIGHT NOW
Call your Representatives (even if you're under 18!)
You can contact your representatives even if you're under 18—members of Congress represent everyone in their state/district, not just voters.
If talking to a person makes you nervous, call after hours and leave a voicemail. It still counts.
Pick one issue (or all!) and do it now:
—> Defund ICE / oppose DHS funding that keeps writing ICE a blank check (House has already moved it; Senate action is next): https://5calls.org/issue/dhs-budget-ice-defund/
—> Stop ICE's aggressive raids, abusive detention, and unconstitutional tactics: https://5calls.org/issue/ice-raids-abuse-detention/
—> Demand accountability at DHS leadership and impeach Kristi Noem: https://5calls.org/issue/kristi-noem-dhs-ice/
Donate to Support Minnesota's immigrant Communities
Here is a list of "Food drives, fundraisers, trainings, restaurant specials, and other resources to support immigrant communities during ICE's massive Operation Metro Surge." https://mspmag.com/arts-and-culture/general-interest/ice-minnesota-support-immigrant-communities-fundraisers-food-drives-trainings/
Connect to Communities that Already Exist
Local community building and being around people who support you and the cause is the best way to make change. Pick something that fits your risk level, time, and energy:
Become a legal observer
Trained observers document police/ICE behavior at protests and actions.
National Lawyers Guild:
https://www.nlg.org/massdefenseprogram/los/
Help respond to ICE in real time
Volunteer with United We Dream's MigraWatch Hotline:
https://unitedwedream.org/our-work/deportation-defense/migrawatch-hotline/
Find local immigrant-rights and legal support orgs
Search for groups near you in this directory:
https://www.immigrationadvocates.org/
Join local chapters of bigger orgs and go to meetings
ACLU state affiliates:
https://www.aclu.org/affiliates
Indivisible local groups:
https://indivisible.org/get-involved/find-a-group/
Sunrise Movement hubs:
https://www.sunrisemovement.org/take-action/
Get involved with national immigrant rights campaigns
NILC action hub:
https://www.nilc.org/action/
If you can't do anything else right now:
Talk about these issues with friends and families.
Raise awareness so others can take action.
The time to prepare is not when they're at your door.
You do not have to be the whole movement.
You just have to stop being a bystander.
