Leaflets are being passed around in the D.C. area warn illegal immigrants to “not open doors” for ICE agents, among other things.
The group “United We Dream” is working with social justice groups to distribute the leaflets. They say they are “not asking people to evade law enforcement”, but they are just “teaching them their rights”.
Ambar Pinto, the manager of United We Dream’s nationwide deportation hotline, says they are doing this because ICE has been more active than usual. “People are coming at 5 in the morning or in the middle of night in your house with guns … asking everybody for ID and fingerprints, that is rogue,” he said.
Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly issued a statement Monday, saying that the recent ICE actions have “targeted public safety threats, such as convicted criminal aliens and gang members, as well as individuals who have violated our nation’s immigration laws”. Pinto says there are families being torn apart and that’s why United We Dream is acting. “What we are talking about, these people, we need to keep in mind these are our mothers, our fathers; these are workers, someone’s brother or sister,” he said.
Jessica Vaughn, director of policy studies at the Center for Immigration Studies, says the fliers might actually be making things worse though. “Resistance is not always the best way to handle this,” she said. “It may cause them to get in more trouble than before”
Pinto says the group will continue handing out the fliers, however, so that people can “know their rights”. Pinto also says they should “use them to protect their families, to protect themselves, to protect anyone around them.”
