While municipalities across the country struggle to deal with the onslaught of armed immigration agents who disregard migrants, citizens and even detain due process.legal workersA small Illinois town—where I live—has developed what Rachel Maddow calls “evanston handbookFor community response.
Evanston, Illinois, is an extraordinary blue dot in a critically blue state. Located on the shore of Lake Michigan just north of Chicago, it is the main campus of Northwestern University.
racially and economically diversepopulationWith a population of approximately 76,000, Evanston has long been known for its liberal politics, high levels of education, and commitment to civic engagement.
Recently, Evanstonians have drawn national attention for vigorously but peacefully confronting militarized Border Patrol troopers who are pulling people out of parking lots and onto the streets.
Throughout the Chicago area, President Donald Trump’s “Midway Blitz” is using helicopters and unmarked SUVs to detain migrants and American citizens alike.ChildrenOften for the seeming crime of “gardening in the gray”.
If that sounds like hyperbole, read Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh’s concurrence Noem vs. PerdomoWithout any apparent embarrassment or self-awareness, Kavanaughopinion wasThat “apparent ethnicity” is a “relevant factor” for an immigration hold, especially in combination with working in “certain types of jobs” such as landscaping or agriculture and speaking Spanish or accented English.
In Evanston, “Kavanaugh Stops” have been going on for weeks. InWordAccording to Mayor Daniel Biss, federal agents “are roaming the city looking for people who have brown skin.” Then, “They pick them up, they grab them, they kidnap them, they go away.”
In response, as Maddow put it, “incredibly determined and resourceful, brave, no-nonsense Americans” are using whistles, phone trees, and Internet messages to alert each other to the presence of “armed, masked agents” in their neighborhoods.
The Evanston city government has also taken a step and establishedhotlinewith the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights, andto put a stop toUse of city databases or property for immigration enforcement, except in compliance with a lawful warrant.
Things came to a head on Halloween, when Border Patrol agents arrested three US citizens who were tracking their movements. according towitnesses“A man and a woman in a red car” were following the Department of Homeland Security vehicle to warn people of their presence.
The agents “slammed their brakes” at an intersection, causing a rear-end collision. During a traffic stop, agents pulled the man and woman from their car and violently threw them to the ground.
Following the “Evanston Handbook”, a crowd quickly gathered in response to the community warning. AsshowedIn the video, the crowd kept their distance from the armed officers, whistling and yelling at them to release their prisoners, while a protestor was arrestedAnd was arrested.
In appearance Commander-at-Large Gregory Bovino, an ICE agent, can be seen video on drawing and its branding handgunwhile the other punches An arrested man lying face down on the sidewalk, bound with zip ties.
video recording clearlyrebuttal The story of the Department of Homeland SecurityOne of the protesters grabbed an officer’s genitals. In another case, Bovino has beenaccusedOf presenting false evidence in federal court.
As the agents left with their prisoners (who were later released without charge), informant Evanstonians followed them from one end of the city to the other. according to aresistorAgents were clearly unnerved by the loud, coordinated community response.
Meanwhile, Evanstonians sat on the street corner, rallying in support of their neighbors. Mayor Biss, speaking to the group, “called for ICE to get out of Evanston.”
A vigil was held the next dayhundredsOf the participants. Speakers included local pastors and elected officials, including the city clerk who had worked as a migrant field worker during her childhood. Biss gave the closing speech, which has become a mantra, that Evanston “will not be cowed.”
Biss is one of 17 candidates in the Democratic primary for an open seat in the U.S. Congress. He did not say a single word about the elections at any rally and did not even wear a campaign button. Evanston was a unity promoter, admirably prioritizing solidarity over individual political gain.
No handbook will ever provide the keys to keeping gun-waving federal agents out of a community, no matter how many rallies it facilitates. But it can marshal residents to spread the alarm and document the brutality.
Children can remain inside their schools, aware of the presence of DHS; Street vendors, daily wage laborers and land owners may stay at home, bearing the loss of essential income.
AsExplainedAccording to one Evanstonian, DHS “is just getting started. They’re going to be more violent. But we’re also just getting started, and we’re not giving up.”
Steven Lubet is Williams Memorial Professor Emeritus at Northwestern University Pritzker School of Law. He has lived in Evanston intermittently since 1966 and continuously since 1980.
