Advice to immigrants: Don’t open your door

WASHINGTON – A champion of immigrant rights, Congress member Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, advised immigrants not to open their doors if federal agents come knocking — unless the agents have a warrant. Tell agents to leave if they don’t produce a warrant, she said. “Citizen or not, we all should know our rights to protect ourselves and others from illegal search and seizure,” Ocasio-Cortez said. Her advice was directed to her New York constituents but applies everywhere that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents are rounding up immigrants for deportation. “ICE cannot enter your home without a warrant signed by a judge,” she said. Once inside, they have the brute strength and weapons to do whatever they want, she said. ICE tactics have been called “Nab now, ask later.”  If detained, immigrants should remain silent, she said. Ocasio-Cortez, a Democrat, has been outspoken against the massive new ICE campaign ordered by President Trump to deport immigrants. “We are on the eve of an authoritarian administration,” she said. “This is what 21st century fascism is starting to look like.” Ocasio-Cortez was hosting a webinar that was streamed from her House website. One webinar participant, Genia Blaser, a lawyer with the Immigrant Defense Project, called ICE raids “often very aggressive” with political tactics intended to create fear. “We see how ICE often uses rhetoric to criminalize immigrants, to normalize their tactics and justify what they’re doing.” Another speaker with the Immigrant Defense Project told viewers that “very, very, rarely” do ICE agents have legally obtained judicial warrants. “They often use ruses or intimidation to try to trick people into doing or saying things that they can interpret as consent to enter a private space,” she said.

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