An April 22 action by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in Davenport has the local community worried, and many concerned citizens met Monday night to discuss the issue and potential next steps.
Organized by One Human Family QCA and Iowa State Rep. Ken Croken, the 90-minute meeting at Davenport Public Library’s Fairmount branch included representatives that support QC immigrants, as well as Davenport Police Maj. Greg Behning, who is interim police chief.
“This has been a great concern for us for quite some time, and we always had this sense that it's just a matter of time before it comes knocking on our own door,” Rabbi Henry Karp, co-founder of One Human Family, said Monday of ICE actions. “And now we have it here.”
Croken noted that ICE removed eight or nine workers April 22 at Izumi Steakhouse at 4901 Utica Ridge Rd., Davenport, as they were coming to work, with no advance notice given to local law enforcement.
“We really have to commit ourselves to nipping this in the bud,” Karp said at the start of Monday night’s meeting. “The longer we delay in taking action to address this issue to make sure that the message is clearly out that ICE is not welcome in this community, that we care about our neighbors, regardless of the color of their skin or the nation of their origin,” he said, noting when his group formed in 2016, they made yard signs (in English, Spanish and Arabic), with the slogan, “No matter who you are or where you come from, we're glad you're our neighbor.” (Karp wore a T-shirt with that emblem Monday night.)
“That is something that we need to stand by. Hopefully out of this, we can start the conversation on going from talk to action,” Karp added.
“When candidate Donald Trump said we are going to deport murderers, rapists and child predators, I did not have eight Asian kitchen workers in mind,” Croken said. “I think we all want murderers, rapists and child predators deported. We're good with that. But this has evolved way, way beyond that.”
Maj. Behning said local police had no advance notice of the action, nor were they asked for any assistance.
“I cannot give you an answer as to where the federal detainees are, because I don't know. We do not have anything to do with it,” he said. “I would also caution you to make sure that if you're reporting ICE sightings, that they are actually ICE. I only know of one incident that ICE was in town doing anything. I'm not saying that there's others or not others. I can tell you I know of one, and that's the one that we've discussed and we'll probably continue to discuss.”
“I understand you're passionate about this issue. I encourage that within your rights,” Behning said. “I would just ask that you're very cautious about spreading information before it's verified. I know of an incident that was reported, I believe, last week, where it was ICE was in town on a particular street. That was actually not ICE at all.”
A Davenport native, Behning has worked in DPD 31 years, and police always want to partner with the public.
“It's one of our pillars of the police department, specifically says community partnerships,” he said. “Unfortunately, when it comes to ICE and actually all federal law enforcement operations, there's no duty, there's no obligation for them to tell us. And it scares me as much as it scares anybody else. From a slightly different perspective, and that is my officers getting involved in something that isn't their responsibility, isn't something they want to do or be involved with, and then have some kind of what we would call a blue-on-blue incident, where it's federal law enforcement and city or local law enforcement.”
Behning recommended if anyone sees something that's dangerous or illegal, to call 911.
There have been many rumors circulating, he said, including that people have seen helicopters landing on the roof of the Scott County Jail, which cannot support such helicopters.
“In the absence of facts, fiction elbows itself in,” Croken said Tuesday morning. “There are rumors around the city that people representing themselves as federal law enforcement abducting someone and demanding ransom for their release. If that is going on, it’s particularly important that appropriate law enforcement is aware of the activity so they can assure the public. In absence of transparency, rumors can circulate.”
That ICE gave no advance notice to Davenport police is not only “inappropriate but dangerous,” Croken added Tuesday. “When local law enforcement is not aware of the activity, it cannot allay fears and concerns among citizenry, who are observing this detention or abduction, or apprehension, not knowing if they should intervene, report to police. It just sets the stage for confused response, and might lead to serious harm to innocent bystanders.”
Allison Ambrose, co-facilitator of the Immigration Coalition of the Quad Cities, said at the meeting: “Putting out false information, alarming people for no good reason, I mean, is almost as damaging.”
Marcia Thrall, who works for the Sisters of St. Francis in Clinton, Iowa, said she got a call May 5th that two mothers had been taken from a Walmart in Davenport.
“I know we are all passionate about the work that we are doing and that we really, really want to help the people who get entrapped in these very precarious situations,” she said Monday. “But the reality of the situation is, if you have not heard it directly from a source connected to the incident, please do not share misinformation or what you may think is correct information.”
“And the reason for that is it's very difficult to build these trusting relationships, not only within the community that is being directly impacted by our current ICE situation here, but the other piece is when we build relationships with other community organizations and they are in this position to trust us with information that is valuable that could potentially help the families impacted or maybe build trust with other families in order to get them support services, then when we share misinformation, what we're doing is we're breaking that trust,” Thrall said.
“If we cannot verify the information that we have received -- if we're repeating second, third, fourth, fifth-hand information in our incredible quest to be wonderful and helpful individuals, we might actually be, for lack of better terms, defeating our purposes,” she added.
Behning said local police do not make immigration arrests, and would not arrest without a judge’s order.
“We go by the Constitution of both the United States and state,” he said. “And short of being asked by ICE for assistance, which has not happened and probably will not happen, we won't be involved in those arrests.”
Rabbi Karp asked him if Davenport police saw ICE make an unconstitutional arrest or detention, would they intervene?
“That's where we would reach out to federal law enforcement supervisors or whoever else was there to try and work some of that stuff out,” the interim chief said. “I do believe in talking with the city attorney that our interference with a federal investigation or a federal arrest will probably not go well for local law enforcement.”
“We have very good relationships with federal law enforcement and federal prosecutors,” Behning added. “A lot of our gun and drug charges go through the federal prosecution for a specific reason again outside of immigration. So we have a good relationship with federal law enforcement and federal prosecutors and we would probably be able to de-escalate some of events and if not that, then we would be very good witnesses.”
What to do if you see ICE
A perplexing fact was noted Monday that federal agents who are part of ICE do not wear a common uniform or any identifying information, like badges.
Ashley Raleigh, a member of the Immigration Coalition of the QC, recommended how people should respond to potential ICE actions, gathering information using the SALUTE acronym:
- Size of the group – How many people are involved?
- Action or activity – What are they doing?
- Location – Where is the incident?
- Uniform or clothing – What are they wearing?
- Time – What time and date did it happen?
- Equipment or weapons – What are they carrying or using?
Raleigh also recommended taking photos and/or video of the incident.
“Descriptions are great, but you know, a photo is worth a thousand words,” she said. “Horizontal pictures or videos, your safety is always number one priority. We don't want you getting it up in anybody's face, ever, whether they be immigration enforcement or obviously, police officer. We don't want you interfering with that and then clearly identifying if there are landmarks that would be something to get in your picture or your video, street signs, things like that.
“All of that is super helpful when we're verifying this and making sure that the community knows what is happening and everything like that. It's important to videotape not the people that are being taken, but the people who are doing the taking,” she added.
Monday night, attendees also received other tips on how to protect immigrants from ICE:
- Send an email to immigrationcoalitionqc@gmail.com if you want to join a Rapid Response Signal group (who are trained on how to respond).
- If you see ICE presence, call 515-505-8805 to report it.
- Ask to join the Quad Cities ICE Alerts Facebook group.
- Follow the QCIMBY page on Facebook.
- Get a whistle kit (distributed Monday) and follow instructions in it.
“The whistle would be used to alert people to ICE activity,” Croken said Tuesday. “There’s information about organizations working on these issues, who could be contacted, phone numbers and basic instructions on what to do.”
“The Rapid Response people have been in response to what to do in these situations, reporting such activity,” he added. “It ensures people with training and know-how can respond to the scene and take whatever appropriate action is available.”
Josh McAtee of Viola, Ill., is administrator for the private Facebook group Quad Cities ICE Alerts, which now has 1,200 members.
“Every single time one of these incidents happens or an incident nationwide happens, we get flooded,” he said Monday. “It gets very difficult when you can't put a billboard up or do a TV spot. We did agree that it is coming to the time where we can't just sit back and be quiet and work in whispers. We need to get out in front. And I appreciate the representatives being here as well as the police department to acknowledge that these things are going to happen here. We're not protected because we're the Quad Cities and away from the big metropolitan areas anymore.”
He said there’s a persistent fear of ICE among QC immigrants.
“One of the biggest things is also you can submit any of this video or rumors to us and we will get in touch with our verification teams to clarify, find out what's going on,” McAtee said. “Part of our process is we don't want a fearmonger. We kind of want the opposite. We want action. So to that effort we do contact the police departments. I've never had so many cops’ cell phone numbers in my phone in my life.”
“Keeping things honest and truthful is paramount because our safety, your safety, the victim's safety, the officer safety. It is easy to get lost in the misinformation that goes around that the officers are not on our side,” he said, noting he’s a former U.S. Coast Guard officer.
“I get the paranoia. I get the fear. Work with local law enforcement as best you can,” McAtee said. “If you believe that they're acting unlawfully, you run it up the chain to him. In the meantime, we haven't seen any of that. Every officer I've spoken to, regardless of their political affiliation, they want to make sure that people are safe. No one's going to get hurt.”
The ICE website says it “enforces laws by arresting immigration violators in the interior of the United States. It relies on statutory law enforcement authority to identify and arrest aliens who may present threats to national security or public safety, or who otherwise undermine the integrity of U.S. immigration laws.”
The agency “uses targeted, intelligence-driven operations to prioritize its enforcement actions in ways that help protect communities nationwide,” the site says.
What are the next steps?
Raleigh of the Immigration Coalition said there are many QC organizations doing great work with the area immigrant community, including QCAIR, Akwaaba, and Tapestry Farms, and they all face budget challenges.
“They are really bare bones right now. If you're able to give, giving to any of those organizations would be money well spent,” she said. “If you're able to donate time, that would be time well spent as well. If there's anything that I have learned in this is that we are stronger together as a community.”
As part of One Human Family QCA (which works to protect immigrant rights), there will be a “Stand Up for Each Other” rally on Sunday, May 31 at 3 p.m., at MLK Park at 5th and Brady streets, Davenport.
“It’s coming together as a community to nip this in the bud,” Rev. Rich Hendricks of Metropolitan Community Church, co-founder of One Human Family, said Monday. “Let them know that everyone is welcome in our community and that we care about each other. We care about our trans neighbors who have been labeled terrorists. We care about all of us who are anti-fascists, who have been labeled terrorists. So it's time for people to rally together and address some of these issues as well as the issues of free and fair elections.”
Croken said people should also get involved with the groups, including Progressive Action for the Common Good, on what to do next. He said he will follow up with each of them.
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