Law schools can teach you a lot of things that you hope to never use: civil procedure, the rule against perpetuities, and necessity not being a defense against murder-cannibalism at sea. A more practical item of that set is what to do if ICE comes knocking at your door. The general response should be to treat them like trick-or-treaters once you’ve ran out of candy: turn all the lights off, don’t make a sound, and definitely don’t open the door no matter how much you want to peek at their costumes. But there’s more to dealing with ICE — knowing that they need a warrant for a search, knowing what a valid warrant looks like, the list goes on. Law schools are specially positioned to make sure that folks are aware of the limits our Constitution puts on federal actors and the University of Maine is on the cutting edge of making sure their community is informed. The Maine Wire has coverage:
University of Maine School of Law’s Dean of Students sent out a notice to students and staff Thursday, encouraging them to call an anti-ICE hotline and providing pointers on recording immigration enforcement activities. …
The communication focused on security protocols, reminding students that visitors must check in and warning that their access policies even apply to law enforcement, specifically calling out ICE agents. …
He urged students not to open or hold doors for people they don’t personally know, and reminded them that the school does not disclose any personal information to law enforcement without written consent or a legal exception requiring it to do so.
UMaine Law isn’t the only one spreading awareness on what to do if poorly vetted masked men with truncated training who think being ICE agents lets them get away with sex crimes and murder come knocking on your door — even Fox is ringing the “hey, you still have rights” bell:
Knowing your rights isn’t the be-all and end-all when it comes to protecting yourself from this era’s rebranded slave catchers, but it is an important step in reversing the rapid backslide from “Give us Liberty or Give us Death” to “Well, if she just complied with the contradictory orders she wouldn’t have been shot” bootlicking that has already afflicted so much of the country. The second step is direct action. The school’s law clinic partnered up with the ACLU and the Immigrant Legal Advocacy Project to compile and spread the information in a digestible way. Further, the school offered to partner up students worried about ICE with someone to walk with as they go from campus to their cars.
It is also important to be mindful of how the media covers federal agents trying to skirt the Fourth Amendment. The author of the Maine Wire article suggests that it is natural to wonder why the school is so concerned with ICE activities unless the school is knowingly employing or enrolling illegal immigrants, but that’s plainly bullshit. Threats to anyone’s liberty are threats to everyone’s liberty — it isn’t like ICE confirmed if Keith Porter or Renee Good were or were not American citizens before they murdered them. Back in October of last year, ProPublica reported that over 170 U.S. citizens were detained by ICE for various reasons. More recently, a Minneapolis pastor, citizen mind you, was arrested because he wasn’t afraid of ICE. “If you aren’t an immigrant you shouldn’t be worried about ICE” is a lazy palimpsest of “You wouldn’t be so worried about being searched if you have nothing to hide.” It treats war-earned and constitutionally protected rights as if they were relatively weak and conditionally revocable privileges, which is in itself an affront to anyone who gives a damn about liberty. The “let the federal agents do whatever they want” take isn’t just intellectually dishonest bootlicking. It is un-American.
Kudos to UMaine Law, the ACLU, and ILAP for reminding people of their rights and doing their part to protect them. Let’s hope that many other law schools follow suit.
UMaine Law Sends Out Notice Encouraging Students And Staff To Call Anti-ICE Hotline If They Witness Enforcement Activities [The Maine Wire]
Earlier: ICE Kills A Woman In Minneapolis And Will Probably Get Away With It
Chris Williams became a social media manager and assistant editor for Above the Law in June 2021. Prior to joining the staff, he moonlighted as a minor Memelord™ in the Facebook group Law School Memes for Edgy T14s . He endured Missouri long enough to graduate from Washington University in St. Louis School of Law. He is a former boatbuilder who is learning to swim, is interested in critical race theory, philosophy, and humor, and has a love for cycling that occasionally annoys his peers. You can reach him by email at cwilliams@abovethelaw.com and by tweet at @WritesForRent.
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