Protesters demanding that the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency stall all ongoing operations and release illegal immigrant and criminal detainees in custody have a new “social distancing”-friendly method of demonstrating against ICE: they’re driving around ICE buildings in various cities, blaring horns and waving signs.
“Multiple people showed up in their cars outside the Los Angeles Metropolitan Detention Center on Tuesday to demand Immigration Customs Enforcement (ICE) release all of their detainees from custody out of fear for their health and safety if there is an outbreak of the Wuhan coronavirus in ICE facilities,” Townhall reported.
But because Los Angeles, California, is aggressively enforcing social distancing and shelter-in-place orders, in order to curb the spread of the deadly coronavirus, the protesters were forced to get behind the wheel in order to avoid being ticketed for being too close (it does not seem, however, that they gave much thought to the climate-related cost of a an all-car demonstration).
“[P]rotesters drove around the block in their cars, holding signs, and honking their horns for their demands to be met,” the outlet added. “They were also calling on Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) to help free everyone who is currently in ICE custody.”
Occasionally, the parade of cars would stop and protesters would exit vehicles holding a banner that stretched more than the requisite six feet.
We are outside the DTLA Metropolitan Detention Center. We can see inmates cheering, waving, and banging on their cell windows. #releasethemnow#meltICE #detentionisdeadly pic.twitter.com/WAjgcg48jY
— Never Again Action — Los Angeles (@LA_NeverAgain) March 31, 2020
A similar protest happened in Chicago earlier in the week.
“About 2 dozen vehicles are driving around the ICE building in Chicago, blaring their horns, and signs decorating their cars demanding the release of those in detaiment amid COVID-19 pandemic,” one Twitter user noted on social media, above a video of the demonstration.
About 2 dozen vehicles are driving around the ICE building in Chicago, blaring their horns, and signs decorating their cars demanding the release of those in detaiment amid COVID-19 pandemic #Chicago #Covid_19 pic.twitter.com/NjzWWfEKJL
— Tyler Pasciak LaRiviere (@TylerLaRiviere) March 30, 2020
One Los Angeles protester told Townhall reporters, “We need to make sure that we free them all, release them all from detention because it’s only one person who’s infected who can turn an entire detention center into a death camp.”
The Customs and Border Protection Agency agrees, which is why the Trump Administration has ordered a limit to the number of illegal immigrants who can be detained in border facilities at any given time, and why the United States is reportedly embracing a “turn back” approach to border control. Agents who capture individuals crossing the United States’ southern border between official border checkpoints are being sent back to their home countries where possible.
For the most part, ICE is responsible for immigration enforcement and not border detention — something that still seems to confuse anti-ICE protesters — and according to statements released by the agency last week, ICE has suspended much of its immigration enforcement work, though they are still capturing and deporting individuals they believe are an imminent threat to the safety of others.
ICE has also, reportedly, cut down on the number of its deportation flights, though they are using existing flights to help rescue Americans stranded abroad, mostly in Central American countries. Deportation flights that might have returned to the United States are being given over to the purpose of flying back stranded American tourists and workers who were unable to get a commercial flight home after the coronavirus-related border closures went into effect.