Lesser Known Undaunted Heroes

Ordinary Americans defend neighbors against MAGA brutality and lawlessness

This space usually features prominent, public figures who have distinguished themselves in their defense of the rule of law, democracy, decency, truth, and other values the MAGA regime attacks. But especially this week, the work of ordinary Americans standing up in defense of their neighbors in the face of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Customs and Border Patrol (CBP)’s harassment, brutality, and lawlessness underscored how critical grassroots defiance is to democracy’s survival.

Photo by John Cameron

Individual parents, informal neighborhood groups, and larger cross-denominational groups around the country have literally and figuratively interposed themselves between migrants at risk of assault, detention and deportation, and the out-of-control ICE and CBP teams that have instilled fear and chaos in too many people.

Chicago residents showed their mettle by literally blowing the whistle on abusive, illegal, and brutal immigration agents’ conduct. Lynn Sweet and other journalists reported on the fleet of Chicago locals who have been distributing and sounding plastic whistles (or beeping car horns) to warn immigrant neighbors and workers about ICE and CBP raids.

They have used nothing more than cell phones and grit to record and circulate images documenting abusive tactics and potential violations of U.S. District Court Judge Sara Ellis’s TRO. The wealth of evidence (from citizen and professional journalists)—including stark images of CBP’s Chicago chief Gregory Bovino lobbing tear gas—helped raise public awareness and gave her fodder to interrogate him and other witnesses.

Conveying the crucial role of infuriated neighbors, The Chicago Tribune recounted the experience of Brian Kolp, a former prosecutor with the Cook County State’s Attorney’s office, who was out drinking his coffee when he leapt into action at the sight of a vicious raid employing tear gas:

He didn’t even have time to put on his shoes or change out of his Chicago Blackhawks pajamas, he said, drawing jeers from one of the agents.

“I was calling them Nazis and Gestapo and telling them to [expletive] off, because that’s exactly what they are,” Kolp said. “Quite honestly, when all this started happening, I thought to myself that if the opportunity ever came my way to have to get involved in one of these situations, I was certainly going to do what I could to make sure that they weren’t openly and flagrantly violating the law or the Constitution. And yet, they just went ahead and did it anyway.”

Indeed they did. Nevertheless, he was able to document the abduction of three people and turn over evidence (a tear gas canister) of abusive tactics to lawyers representing plaintiffs suing the government. In doing so, he likely energized others to display courage in support of immigrants and those being baselessly mistreated.

Chicago is not the only place where locals have organized themselves. Community groups have sprung up in Los Angeles, D.C., Memphis, and elsewhere to document abuses, provide early warnings, and reaffirm that they welcome immigrant neighbors. Teachers, parents, and neighbors have rallied to protect immigrant students in transit to and from school and secure a safe school environment free from fear of ICE raids. Colleges in Florida have stood up organizations to protect their classmates. And New Yorkers, with their tell-tale style, have called out ICE officials.

In some cases, a single person has triggered a full-scale operation of defense. The Nation reports on one woman in Downey, Ca.:

For [Angelica] Vargas, a Mercedes-driving self-described “soccer mom,” [it] was the start of a new extracurricular: chasing ICE vehicles on the road, and posting the videos on TikTok. Now Vargas is known to her hundreds of thousands of followers—and the tens of millions of people who have watched her content—for her videos with cheeky titles like “Spending Quality Time With ICE.” Posted in time-lapse speed to jaunty Mexican music, Vargas’s videos show ICE vehicles weaving lanes, and in some cases making multiple or illegal U-turns, to avoid her. In one video, Vargas cuts across what appears to be a gas station parking lot to speed up her pursuit.

Larger organizations have also stepped up. The California Immigrant Policy Center has put together an exhaustive list of community groups in Northern California, the Bay Area, Southern California, Los Angeles, and the Central Coast & Central Valley that are prepared to assist with a wide array of services for immigrants including rapid response/early warning, legal representation, public outreach, and family support.

Interfaith groups in places such as Philadelphia, DC, El Paso, and Tucson have played a leading role. In the Southwest, such groups “have formed a defense team for immigrants, at a time of rising pressures to remove them, and have essentially created an underground railroad of help to uphold church teachings,” The Guardian reports. Some groups are quite public while others choose to remain out of the limelight, “noting the sharp risks, even dangers faced, over protecting immigrants.”

An El Paso group engaged Pope Leo, the first American pontiff, who has been vocal in support of immigrants:

The pope was moved when [Mark Seitz, the chair of the committee on migration within the US conference of Catholic bishops] presented him with a video that captured the anxieties of people facing deportation, according to members of an El Paso delegation following the meeting in early October at the Vatican. “It’s so important that we as a church give a message of hope in the midst of these horrible struggles, what’s going on in so many cities in the United States right now. At least the church cannot be silent,” the pope told the El Paso delegation, according to a video of the meeting provided by the Hope Border Institute, whose leader attended the meeting.

The array of Americans who have risen to the occasion is heartening and inspirational. Their undaunted, unabashed, and uncompromising defense of their neighbors and of our deepest held values belies the notion that Americans are content to allow Trump’s police state kidnap and disappear peaceful, hardworking, and productive members of our communities.

Certainly, courts and local officials have been critical to preserving democracy, the rule of law, and simple decency. But defeating the MAGA regime will require ordinary Americans acting individually and cooperatively, in small but extremely meaningful ways, to oppose the violent White nationalist onslaught. Our democracy and democratic values are only as vital as those willing to defend them.

We salute all who have met the moment.