...the real criminals out there, lemme tell ya.  

So there has been a huge community led effort to warn people about the risks of going to their meetings vs not going. We picket outside the ICE office and fluent Spanish speakers tell people who show up what their options are-- there are no great ones. Many who show up reschedule, and we tell them they can use us as an excuse: "We showed up, but there were these crazy people picketing and we got scared!"

Some go inside, and...

...some of those people have been kidnapped-- but some come out. It's a deterrent that we have their names and emergency contacts and can initiate community support. So they can't fully disappear people with this pressure from the community.

It's been very busy in previous weeks, but the word's gotten out enough that only one family showed up today. They had a lawyer, decided to chance it and thank God came out (yay!). When they did they told us ICE is freaking out about us and saying...

...that if we take one step into the parking lot they will "come out." We are like the world's least scary people, so that just showed you what kind of brave warriors we're dealing with.

I showed up early, and early on there are IC agents driving to work as well as potentially immigrants coming in. We don't know who's approaching, and we try to be friendly and welcoming in case it's *not* ICE. That does mean wasting the occasional warm smile and wave on a Nazi, which is gross.

....can be bulk purchased, not that I've looked into this in case my city gets invaded.

Now, having seen how much a friendly greeting discomfits the bastards, I'm not sure. Just filing that one away for now.

It is unreal how scared of us they are. They drive really fast past us-- way faster than you'd normally drive into a parking lot-- and try to use alternate entrances. One of the guys was getting their license plates anyway, which is of course legal.