Louisiana communities organize rapid response to ICE terror raids

Metairie, Louisiana, Dec. 6 — A protest at a Metairie Home Depot demanded answers after ICE agents allegedly struck and possibly killed a pedestrian during a high-speed chase the previous night. While the Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office claims the crash was unrelated to Border Patrol, officials have not released evidence. Community activists are calling for JPSO to make surveillance footage public.

Regardless of what JPSO releases, the ICE terror is real. People are living in fear of being snatched up by masked Nazi-like agents in unmarked vehicles. 

Back in September, the U.S. Supreme Court greenlit racial and ethnic profiling by immigration agents, allowing roving patrols to stop people whom they suspect to be immigrants because of their appearance or the language they speak. 

Jefferson Parish — where Metairie is located — is 20% Latine, with some neighborhoods being as high as 54%. Louisiana has also been made into an immigrant detention hub, further enriching the shareholders of the for-profit prison industry.

Speaking at the rally, Deborah with the New Orleans Party for Socialism and Liberation said:

“We’re out here today because we see the violence that ICE — that Border Patrol — is injecting into our community. They’re committing acts of violence and terrorizing our neighbors. 

“People are too afraid to leave their houses out of fear of being targeted, arrested, deported. People are afraid to go to work.

“We saw a few days ago images and videos of workers repairing someone’s roof and had guns pointing at their faces. And they arrested these workers — people who were just showing up to do their job and contribute to society. 

“We’re hearing reports from all over the city — in New Orleans, and in Jefferson Parish, all over Louisiana — of neighborhoods being terrorized. This is an invasion, a racist occupation of our city, and the majority of us reject it.”

On the same day, two other anti-ICE protests happened in New Orleans. And the day before, people came out to confront ICE agents and Border Patrol chief Gregory Bovino in Metairie’s Lafreniere Park, live-streaming everything that the agents were doing. Community members responded to calls posted on social media by Unión Migrante and other organizations, showing that real-time response networks are forming here, just as in other parts of the country. 

The people of Louisiana — especially the workers — have the power to drive ICE out, just like they did in Charlotte, North Carolina. The South is not some place where the people passively accept every injustice inflicted on them by the racist ruling class. This is where the Civil Rights and other movements started. That can happen again.