All the resources you need on immigration and ICE

Federal immigration actions are rapidly expanding, with deadly consequences. The killings of poet Renee Nicole Good and nurse Alex Pretti by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents in Minneapolis have brought intense focus on the use of excessive force. At the same time, the Department of Homeland Security has rescinded its longstanding guidance on "protected sensitive locations," which constrained ICE actions in places like schools, hospitals, courts and houses of worship-spaces that must remain safe.

An AFT webinar, co-hosted by AFT President Randi Weingarten and AFT Massachusetts President Jessica Tang on Jan. 28, featured experts on immigration and constitutional law. It highlighted AFT resources and showcased how our locals are showing up to minimize fear and trauma.

While introducing U.S. Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.), Weingarten asked how we should respond to ICE killings in this "war on all of us." The United States has never fully lived up to its ideals, she mused, but the current nightmare is "something I never imagined." Weingarten recalled the heartbreaking image of 5-year-old Liam Conejo Ramos in his blue bunny hat when ICE used him as bait to catch his father in a Minneapolis suburb. The two are being held in Texas.

"This is not the way you treat anyone in the United States of America," Weingarten said.

Jayapal called this moment a test. "You are the ones who are doing the work on the ground in these worst of times," she told the webinar audience of more than a thousand. She observed that ICE's actions, unlike the Trump administration's words, have never been about deporting "the worst of the worst." Tens of thousands have been incarcerated, she said, most with no criminal record. And their detentions have produced a record number of deaths.

Jayapal said she's heard wrenching stories, but the people standing up for their neighbors are inspiring. Like Weingarten, she called for action. "It's that pressure that makes a diamond," she said. "We will never be hopeless. We will never be powerless. ... Let's go get the change we deserve."

AFT resources can help

Our union is providing a wealth of resources to help members mobilize against this cruelty. Among these resources:

• The AFT's program on Education, Not Deportation.
• A letter to Congress about Protecting Our Children by codifying into law sensitive locations.
• A K-12 checklist to proactively protect families in the event of an immigration enforcement action.
• A higher education checklist to do the same.
• A checklist for protecting healthcare patients in case of immigration enforcement.
• How schools and early childhood programs can support immigrant students and their families, by Colorín Colorado.
• How schools can serve and support immigrant students, also by Colorín Colorado.
• Know Your Rights, by the American Civil Liberties Union.
• How to get involved with the ACLU's People Power movement.
• How to support the St. Paul, Minn., public schools community.
• An immigrant rights and resources toolkit, in Spanish, from LULAC, the League of United Latin American Citizens.
• A resource guide for community leaders, also from LULAC.
• Bruce Springsteen's new protest song, "Streets of Minneapolis."

Protests are working

ICE's harsh immigration enforcement in Los Angeles, New York, Minneapolis, Portland, Chicago and other cities is not about safety, Weingarten emphasized. The erosion of our constitutional protections, combined with deportations, is fueling fear, destabilizing schools, deterring families from seeking medical care, and undermining trust in essential public institutions.

But our union is pushing back. AFT nurses in Oregon gathered in Portland on Jan. 27 to honor Pretti, an intensive care unit nurse who worked at a Veterans Affairs medical center. Their vigil, organized by the Oregon Nurses Association and the Oregon Federation of Nurses and Health Professionals (OFNHP), brought together healthcare workers and allies to mourn his death and demand accountability.

Vigils and rallies are beginning to influence lawmakers. During the webinar, Weingarten noted that Senate Democrats were trying to uncouple DHS funding from the rest of the appropriations bill. And state officials in Maryland are considering how to keep ICE from contaminating state and local law enforcement.

Voices of AFT leaders, experts

Jessica Tang, who also chairs the AFT Resistance Committee, hailed our union's affiliates for fighting illegal ICE actions. She urged AFT locals to keep building power. Citing the late Rep. John Lewis of Georgia, Tang said that when you see that something is not right, you have a moral obligation to act.

Leah VanDassor, president of the Saint Paul (Minn.) Federation of Educators, said there's been high demand for online schools so that immigrant students don't have to leave home. By Jan. 8, a system had been set up to help families. For example, there are now patrols at every school for drop-off and pick-up. More than 2,000 families are working with the union and the schools to develop emergency plans that will engage families-whether through mutual aid, rapid response teams, constitutional observers or bus patrols. VanDassor encouraged AFT locals to formulate plans for their own communities.

"I'm constantly on alert" for incursions by ICE, she said. "They're creeping, and they're creeping, and they're creeping. They are supposed to have a judicial warrant, but they haven't been playing by the rules for weeks now." That said, VanDassor asserted that if everyone stands up for their rights, no matter where they live, "that's what ICE did not count on."

What the public is saying

A New York Times/Siena poll released Jan. 23 found 61 percent of voters saying the tactics ICE uses have "gone too far." That included over 9 in 10 Democrats, about 7 in 10 Independents and roughly 2 in 10 Republicans. Just 26 percent of voters overall said ICE's tactics were "about right."

According to a Jan. 23-26 YouGov/Economist poll, a growing share of Americans lacks confidence in ICE. More of them support cuts to ICE spending than to any of nine other types of federal spending they were asked about. Fifty-five percent say they have very little confidence in ICE, an increase of 10 percentage points since mid-December. Confidence in ICE has declined most among Independents: 67 percent now say they have very little confidence in ICE, up from 49 percent in December. Three-quarters of respondents started the survey after Pretti's killing.

The unrest is not just in Minnesota, either. It's occurring in Maine, Arizona, California, Illinois and elsewhere. AFT members where ICE operations are underway include:

• Employees at a Minneapolis high school where ICE used tear gas as students were dismissed;
• A teacher in a nearby suburb who reported that ICE apprehended two students at their after-school jobs;
• Teachers in Detroit pressing for the release of students held in detention centers; and
• Nurses in Oregon concerned about ICE while detainees receive medical treatment.

The AFT is calling for ICE to stay out of schools, preschools and hospitals. This is a moral moment as Americans state that schools and communities must be safe and welcoming places, not targets of violence.

Other webinar panelists (short video clips here) included Roman Palomares, national president of LULAC, the nation's oldest and largest Latino organization. In Los Angeles, he said, schools have suffered a 24 percent drop in enrollment. That's about 16,000 kids.

Palomares commended the courage of school employees. "Educators are not bystanders," he said. "You all are the frontline defenders of stability."

Sarina Roher, president of OFNHP, reminded everyone of the responsibility of healthcare workers. Our duty of care extends beyond the individual patient to the conditions that shape whether care is even possible. When fear enters healthcare spaces, she added, when armed law enforcement is present during care, when patients hesitate or delay seeking treatment, the standard of care is compromised for everyone.

On a related point, Lindsey Sadlou, a statewide political organizer for the Oregon AFL-CIO, described how unions took part in an October training in nonviolent resistance. She endorsed the idea that it will take 5 percent of the U.S. population rising in protest to rid our communities of ICE.

Andrea Vásquez is secretary of the Professional Staff Congress in New York City, an AFT affiliate representing 30,000 faculty and staff at the City University of New York. She shared their immigration solidarity work to help students and employees on and off campus respond to the federal government's targeting of immigrants. Vásquez recounted how, after ICE showed up during a job fair at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice, students organized and ICE did not return. Then in May, ICE started seizing immigrants at the courts, so more than 200 PSC members trained to become court watchers-and most were not experienced activists.

"It is our legal right to bear witness," Vásquez said. "We will not give up that space. We will always fight for our students."

Daniel Coates, public affairs director of Make the Road New York, emphasized the importance of action. He said his group is training hundreds of protesters every week. Having a plan, even a whistle for alerting your neighbors to the presence of ICE, is powerful as "neighborism" becomes a political philosophy.

Weingarten agreed. The AFT will be part of the next No Kings rallies on March 28, she said, as well as an action with Sunrise on March 4.

Jonathan Blazer, senior policy counsel for the American Civil Liberties Union, offered a rundown of our rights and what we should do if apprehended, including remaining calm, avoiding sudden movements, keeping hands visible, following orders or asking for clarification, and asking if we are free to go.

"ICE must abide by the Constitution," Weingarten added. "It pretends it doesn't have to, but it must."

Keeping up the good work

States' reactions to the ICE killings vary widely. In Tennessee, according to the New York Times, a proposal would force the government to verify the immigration status of schoolchildren, despite a decades-old Supreme Court ruling that schools cannot do that. In Maryland, proposed legislation called the "ICE Breaker Act of 2026" was introduced in the General Assembly. The bill would keep recent ICE officers out of state law enforcement jobs.

In the wider culture, commentators from songwriter Bruce Springteen to Minnesota sportswriter Jim Souhan are lifting up the moral imperative of safeguarding peaceful protest and other liberties guaranteed by the First, Second and Fourth amendments to the Constitution.

AFT Executive Vice President Evelyn DeJesus closed the webinar with a call to action. "Our beloved country is at risk," she said. "Our most cherished rights are under assault." She exhorted members to meet ICE's guns with nonviolence and to turn the tide of hate.

Our members are taking action in many ways. A first step is using the resources above. A second is telling your representatives in Congress to Keep ICE Out.

[Annette Licitra]