Post #5012

🔤🔤🔤🔤2️⃣ Those still charged with felonies had allegedly physically assaulted officers or thrown rocks at federal vehicles. For example, Chicago resident Marimar Martinez was charged with felony assault after being shot five times by federal immigration agents who claimed she drove into them in October. The charge was dropped a month later, as Martinez and her legal team challenged their depiction of events. Now, in the wake of Good and Pretti’s killings, Martinez is seeking to have evidence from her case unsealed. “There is a lot of propaganda rhetoric and threats around making run-of-the-mill protest into ‘terrorism’(…) but at the end of the day, right now, from my vantage point, when you look at the statistics of what cases have actually been indicted and prosecuted and sentenced? You’re not seeing a huge shift in that stark line,” Regan said. During the Monday night online training, staffers role-played filming an ICE officer, while viewers weighed in about how they could be safer – did she back away fast enough when the agent told her to? Was she still recording while engaging with them? In the chat, some viewers encouraged others to carry makeshift body cameras for interacting with ICE. “As things become more popular on the side of the people, you see more desperate attempts by the regime to try and deter it, shut it down, minimize it,” said Regan. “One of the goals of an authoritarian regime is to scare the people into submission, and the most important thing that we can do to counteract that is to continue showing up.” Fearing government tracking, organizers say they’ve been turning off their Bluetooth and wifi at protests and areas they expect to be in direct confrontation with ICE, and most are anonymizing their online usernames when using encrypted apps like Signal to communicate – tactics that have been a part of community organizing tech safety since Black Lives Matter. Several organizers said that the administration’s aggressive tactics have, perhaps contradictory to the administration’s intent, also led to wider collaboration between organizations. At a time when immigrants and people of color are especially fearful of being racially profiled and arrested by immigration enforcement agents, Gudino said, it has been helpful to coordinate with legal aid groups and volunteer networks who can patrol neighborhoods for the presence of ICE agents, and help provide immediate legal aid and assistance in the aftermath of raids. David Chung, an organizer with ICE Out of New York, said the day after Good’s killing, hundreds of New Yorkers gathered at a press conference held by DHS secretary Kristi Noem to make their feelings – and presence – known. “For about two and a half hours, the energy was really electric, of people showing their defiance, their anger towards this administration,” said Chung. “And it wasn’t just the energy, but having conversations with people who are there. They wanted to know: ‘How can I get more involved? How can I take the next step? What are some things that we can do?’ I didn’t hear anyone that was saying: ‘I’m too afraid to come out now.’” At the Monday night ICE observer training, the chat was active with people wanting to help, connect and share gratitude for those who have already been doing this work. “Many thanks to Minneapolis for the weight they have been carrying,” one participant wrote. Majorie, the Minneapolis resident who opened the call, emphasized that being in community is getting involved. “I know some of you think you’re not qualified, or that you’re waiting for someone to tell you how to do this right,” she said. “But let me tell you that the person who is going to do that is you. You’re on this call, you have five neighbors right now who are waiting for you to talk to them and get organized. And that’s how you start. You won’t be perfect, you’ll make mistakes, but you just have to start.” #us#america#ice#minneapolis#immigration#martinez 📱American Оbserver - Stay up to date on all important events 🇺🇸