ICE Raids in Flagstaff and Activist Response : AZ IMC

It has been a crazy 48 hours in Flagstaff, Arizona. Wednesday night we held an immigrant rights and anti-racism rally where over 100 people showed up to share their stories and listen to the voices of the community. The Repeal Coalition has spent months planning for this event by going door to door in targeted neighborhoods such as Sunnyside and Old Town. Each door has brought us closer to the reality and fear that un-documented and people of color are facing on a daily basis. This is the fear of the police, the fear of deportation and the fear of being excluded from something as basic as the right to live, love and work wherever they please. The idea behind Wednesday nights rally was to bring together the people who have let us into their homes, cooked us meals and shared their struggle to survive in a state that has passed or considered over 55 anti-immigration laws in the past few years alone. We brought people together to mobilize a community effort to fight these laws and the fear they have created for both documented and undocumented residents of Flagstaff.

In no time at all everyone in the room faced the same harsh reality- the climate was one of perpetual fear caused by blatant racial oppression and the looming possibility of ICE raids. One woman told her story, while holding her baby, of her fear to drive to the hospital when her child was sick. She was too afraid to leave her house. And she could barely get the words out of her mouth as tears dripped down her face. The air was heavy and thick. The space was open and for another hour and a half we shared our stories about why we were interested in fighting for our rights, about what we were fearful of and about what the next steps were. We walked away feeling that we had begun in a preemptive way to build the kind of community support needed for the work that had yet to be done.

Bittersweet. We woke up Thursday morning to news that since our last nights rally 12 homes had been raided by ICE. The coincidence was alarming at first, but this is what we knew was on the horizon for quite some time. Our response was quick and powerful. In less then two hours we mobilized a base of more than 50 individuals. The initial request was to provide direct support for families who were picking up their children from school on Flagstaff's Sunnyside. Parents were afraid that they would also be targeted by ICE agents. The climate of fear spread through Sunnyside in such a way that the air was vibrant with both motivated folks splitting off to scope out and patrol the neighborhood from ICE while at the same time everyone became keenly aware that what we had been anticipating was coming into fruition.

The 50 individuals grew to over a hundred as we descended onto the Coconino county jail to voice opposition to the raids and solidarity to the community. Our banners and chants were seen be rush hour traffic and state and local law enforcement in an effort to make our presence clear- We are here. We are not afraid and we will fight until all people have the right to live, love and work wherever they please.

The momentum didn't stop as we met to discuss patrolling Flagstaff at a Copwatch meeting. Quickly we came together and formed teams of three and four to patrol the streets until Saturday, when we have been told ICE will be gone. ICE was no where to be seen, but our presence was surely felt. We were able to directly aid members of the undocumented community by offering rides home from safe spaces. In addition, we have put together a constituency of mothers who have offered up their homes and dozens of people ready for taking the next steps. We have a lawyer and we are working on getting the names of those detained in order to connect with their families and organize from there.