From buying out food vendors’ products to blowing whistles in order to warn about immigration agents, Americans are finding new and creative ways to defend immigrant communities
From Seattle to Los Angeles to Chicago and most recently Charlotte, Americans have been coming together to find ways to help shield their neighbors from the frequently violent, unjust, and indiscriminate grasp of the Trump administration’s mass detention and deportation agenda.
One vital tactic is a community bond fund to help free detained immigrants from oftentimes inhumane ICE detention, Block Club Chicago reports. The Midwest Immigration Bond Fund, formed by a group of attorneys in 2020, directly aids immigrant families in need by using a “revolving fund to help families or individuals detained as long as funds are available. When someone is able to return their bond money, the group then uses it to help someone else out of detention.” When bond can go up to $50,000, it makes release possible for families that would otherwise lack the ability to reunite with their loved ones due to financial means.
But other community-led efforts have been as simple as a whistle. In cities like Chicago and Los Angeles – two major epicenters in the administration’s anti-immigrant agenda – resistance has been the “sound of whistles,” the AP reports.
In Chicago, community member Baltazar Enriquez “is credited with being among the first to introduce the concept,” the AP said. “For months Little Village residents have used them to broadcast the persistent presence of immigration agents. Furious blasts both warn and attract observers who record video or criticize agents.” It’s a similar story in L.A., which has been a target of the administration for months on end and was the location of an unlawful National Guard deployment. “‘When we saw ICE, we started handing out whistles,’ said Elizabeth of Grupo Auto Defensa,” Los Angeles Public Press reports. “She hadn’t planned to become an activist; it was pure instinct — survival kicking in.”
In Seattle, some advocates have been holding weekly “whistle-making parties” for later distribution to community members, South Seattle Emerald reports:
In South Seattle, whistles have been distributed at Skyway Farmers Market. Cherryl Jackson-Williams, one of the organizers of the market, said whistles brought people who are “concerned for the safety of their neighbors” together. The kits were all taken within an hour.
When distributing the whistles, people asked Jackson-Williams for training on how to use them. She held an impromptu training at the farmers market where everyone blew their whistles at the same time.
“I was laughing, because I was like, ‘I can’t even believe you guys are having me do this in the middle of a farmers market,'” Jackson-Williams said, adding that people of all backgrounds and ages were participating. “That’s a beautiful outcome, the idea of being together and feeling safe.”
When the Trump administration led by noted tear gas-flinger Greg Bovino took its mass deportation roadshow of violence to North Carolina, Charlotte area community members also responded with action, including hundreds of neighbors signing up to be trained on how to watch out for ICE, Religion News Service reports. Amity Presbyterian Church “announced it would host a training on how to respond to the influx of federal immigration agents into the neighborhood. Later that evening, nearly 300 people filled Amity Presbyterian’s sanctuary to listen to representatives from Siembra NC, a secular immigrant rights group.”
While the training was not supposed to be religious in nature, Rev. Megan Argabrite, lead pastor at Amity Presbyterian, shared that “hymns found their way into the training anyway,” Religion News Service continued. “They sang ‘This Little Light of Mine,’ and it was led by a child,” she said, including an improvised lyric: “All around Border Patrol, I’m gonna let it shine.’”
Whistles have also been a presence in North Carolina, CNN reported. “‘Let’s practice our whistling language,’ Rev. Joel Simpson, a pastor at First United Methodist Church in Taylorsville, said before a dissonant symphony of whistles filled the church.”
“We’re going to report active operations that are happening in our city, alert people nearby and offer reminders of our rights,” Rev. Simpson told the crowd. “We’re going to document and record unlawful practices, and we’re going to deter violence by getting as many people as possible to join quickly as an organized presence.”
Among community members helping defend immigrant neighbors is Beth Clements, who stationed herself outside Manolo’s Bakery in Charlotte, CNN said. Manuel “Manolo” Betancur, the owner and operator of the bakery, had previously revealed to the Charlotte Observer that he was forced to close his business for the first time in years in order to protect his customers. “I’m going to close the door right now,” he said. “Yeah, I’m not going to risk my customers… I don’t want to risk myself even though I am an American citizen. Because the way they look, because they’re way that my accent, because the way that I talk, they’re just going to throw me down to the floor.”
This sort of treatment of Charlotte community members hasn’t been okay with Clements, who threw on a yellow vest worn by immigration watch volunteers and stationed herself outside the bakery, CNN reports. “I’m going to walk the streets with my whistle and I want to keep my neighbors protected because they deserve protection and they deserve to live in a world where they’re not scared,” she said.
The ways that community members are helping their immigrant neighbors truly are ingenious and varied. In Chicago, a group of cyclists have dedicated themselves to buying out street vendors’ products so sellers can return back home quickly and be safe, CBS News reports. “They are outside, and we are outside, and we are on bikes. So, what can we do? Cyclingxsolidarity co-founder Rick Rosales told the outlet. “So, let’s raise some money and buy them out so they can go home for the rest of the day and be safe with their families.” Whatever food items are left over are then donated to food banks, ensuring nothing goes to waste.
Back in North Carolina, PTA members are also “standing guard at school entrances during drop-off and pick-up so they can alert staff and families if they see federal immigration agents,” CNN noted. Rev. Simpson, who helped lead the whistle training at First United Methodist Church, told CNN that he believes these type of efforts not only help protect immigrant neighbors, but also create a sense of purpose for community members who might be feeling helpless in the face of federal encroachment and wonder what one person could do to help make a difference.
“People are telling me as they go through this training like, ‘I’m feeling empowered,’” said Rev. Simpson. “‘I feel like I can do something and there’s a way to channel my love and my anger and my fear into something that supports other people.’”
