ICE IMPERSONATIONS PROLIFERATE AMID THE AGENCY’S UNDERCOVER TACTICS
Faisal Al-Juburi, chief external affairs officer of the Refugee and Immigrant Center for Education and Legal Services (RAICES), a Texas-based nonprofit that provides legal and social services for immigrant, refugee, and asylum-seeking people, especially families and children, said this of masking protocols: “If you are incubating that culture of fear and incubating that culture of acquiescence to anyone who presents themselves as that authority figure without question, you are creating the space for nefarious actors to exploit, to their own motives, whatever those may be.”
Impersonating ICE can also be used to create unnecessary chaos, stemming from motivations rooted in right-wing ideology. At the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in February, Jason Selvig of the political comedy duo The Good Liars conducted a chilling interview with an attendee wearing a dark blue jacket with “ICE Immigration” printed on the back and front, and a Make America Great Again hat on his head. The interviewee says that for “$29.99 on Amazon … if you want some entertainment wear this [the jacket] and go to a Home Depot in a sanctuary city like I live in right now, Washington, D.C., see all the illegals, not all of them, but you can maybe see a lot of them start to run away and you feel like a group fitness instructor, it’s really good.” When Selvig asks him if it’s funny, the man says that he thinks it’s “hilarious.”
In February, that very jacket became a best-seller on Amazon, and although it is no longer available, other websites are continuing to sell similar clothing. Buying law enforcement gear online is also a relatively simple process, with retailers not requiring identification from their customers. One can purchase a police vehicle on used-car websites, with other companies selling new cars online that can be customized with police graphics and sirens. A quick Google search of the desired item needed for law enforcement impersonation garners hundreds of results, allowing just about anyone to appear as an official actor of the government.
Unfortunately, there isn’t much hard data on the prevalence of ICE impersonations, said Al-Juburi. “I think one of the hard issues here around collecting data … is the underreporting of interactions with law enforcement of our immigrant community. It’s kind of a catch-22 in that way.”
This is made more difficult by the Department of Homeland Security’s decision to rescind a 2011 policy that limited ERO activity in certain locations such as hospitals, churches, and schools, which has expanded agents’ ability to detain individuals. “There is no longer hallowed ground, really,” Al-Juburi said. Factors such as this only increase immigrants’ apprehension when seeking out help from community organizations or others after experiencing a scam.
