ICE efforts in DC thwarted by solidarity

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As soon as parents of students at Mundo Verde in Washington, DC heard the news that ICE planned to target their school starting Tuesday, they sprung into action. They quickly formed a Signal group to keep one another informed of potential ICE sightings at the bilingual charter school’s two campuses, and a sign-up sheet went around for parent volunteers to post up in front of the school buildings and keep watch. By Monday afternoon there were already several parents stationed, ready for whatever the coming days might bring. 

“We weren’t planning to post up in front of the school all day long, but there was a [potential ICE] sighting, and it just seemed like the Administration could use an extra few eyes out front,” one Mundo Verde parent told me Tuesday. One thing was clear from the parents’ quick mobilization: no one was willing to leave anything to chance when it came to their kids.

Over the weekend I was told the distressing news from a reliable source that ICE planned to carry out raids all across DC this week. The initial report I heard was that the raids would be targeting food service workers, many of whom are undocumented. Unable to find a second source to confirm, I felt uncomfortable posting the report. I feared causing panic among people already living in terror.

Then mid-afternoon Monday, independent reporter Pablo Manriquez bravely shared the story via his newsletter Migrant Insider. 

“The nation’s capital is on high alert as U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) prepares to conduct targeted raids on Tuesday and Wednesday in the District of Columbia, focusing on undocumented workers in the restaurant and gig economy sectors,” Manriquez wrote. “These actions are part of President Donald Trump's recent executive order aimed at intensifying immigration enforcement in the District.”

Manriquez’s report confirmed what I’d heard, adding details like Subway sandwich franchises and DoorDash delivery workers being targeted specifically. He didn’t cite a specific source, but the information was highly-detailed and tracked with what I’d heard. He also reported that Mundo Verde would be targeted as well, noting many of the students have immigrant parents. 

Migrant Solidarity Mutual Aid in DC began reporting ICE sightings via social media beginning at 8:24am ET Tuesday morning.

In the minutes and hours that followed, the Migrant Solidarity Mutual Aid reported ICE sightings outside of a school, a supermarket, a busy intersection, and entering multiple upscale restaurants, plus a Popeye’s. The co-owner of one of the restaurants, Lauriol Plaza, was himself undocumented when he arrived in the US in 1978, later becoming a citizen in 1987. “It’s very sad what’s happening right now,” Luis Reyes told Washingtonian on Tuesday. 

The Mundo Verde parents continued keeping watch through Tuesday afternoon pickup and resuming during Wednesday morning dropoff. At one of the campuses, parents set up shop at the picnic tables outside with a tablecloth, power strip and snacks. “It's a full on WeWork out here!” one told me. They’ve also had a handful of parents canvassing the neighborhoods. So far there have been no confirmed ICE sightings at either school campus.

Beyond restaurants and Mundo Verde, the panic rippled out across the city. A parent of a child who attends a DC daycare center shared with me a notice parents received on Tuesday letting them know all outdoor activities would be temporarily paused through the end of the week to keep all kids and staff protected. On Wednesday morning, rumor had it that nannies were being detained in front of kids at a park—which fortunately turned out to be false. 

“Outside the barbershop, a white paper flier flapped in the wind, taped to a pole, with two words in black: ‘ICE WARNING,’” Nicolae Viorel Butler wrote for Migrant Insider, describing the mood in DC this week. “It fluttered as I waited for the bus, a quiet ride. No one dared speak Spanish when la migra’s in town. Latinos vanish from public transit, leaving just Black and White riders, sitting like statues, avoiding each other.”

“The Metro was the same,” he continued. “No immigrants anywhere. The District hadn’t gone quiet—it had gone hollow. A ‘help wanted’ sign leaned against a locked door like a joke.”

An evergreen journalistic argument is identifying the line between journalism and activism. There was never a time in history where that wasn’t relevant, but it feels particularly salient as journalists try to figure out our role in safeguarding the most vulnerable and warning them about imminent threats. Everyone wants the scoop, naturally. But for me, the prevailing feeling is just wanting the story to get out, regardless of whether or not I’m the one to do it.  

We’ve seen what happens when we’re forced to react to the news, rather than attempting to proactively head it off. When 238 men were put on planes to El Salvador in March, the flights were already in the air when a judge ordered them to turn around. The order was ignored, the flights landed at their destination, and all of the men remain imprisoned there to this day. 

Conversely, Reuters reported Tuesday that the Trump administration planned to send third country nationals to Libya—a reportedly similar arrangement to the one already implemented by the US and Rwanda—and that flights could leave as early as Wednesday. As a result, lawyers were able to file an emergency request to prevent migrants from being deported to Libya, and a judge ruled Wednesday that any deportations would be in violation of a previous court order. 

Similarly, it seems the advanced warning to DC residents may have helped avoid the hundreds of arrests that ICE allegedly planned to make this week. There were no reported detainments in any of the surprise ICE visits on Tuesday. According to Migrant Solidarity Mutual Aid, there was at least one on Wednesday.

It’s impossible to know what didn’t happen. But if Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem was looking for another camera-ready smash and grab, by Wednesday night it seemed like the opportunity had eluded her. For that we can be grateful, both for the worst being avoided and for the reminder that only we can protect one another.