By Kevin Carlson
About 150 people gathered Tuesday June 10th in response to the kidnapping of 5 people by ICE and their growing presence in the city, to demand their release. To appease moderates (read liberals), the Philadelphia Police Department commented, “Several officers employed force while making arrests. Consistent with Philadelphia Police Department policy, every use of force has been documented and will undergo a review to ensure compliance with department guidelines.”
While the PPD reflects on their behavior (as they do so well), and the City Solicitor debates whether Philadelphia should be a “sanctuary city” or a “welcoming city”, our neighbors are being deported. Although the city is technically a sanctuary city, the Philadelphia Federal Detention Center is used to facilitate the logistics of ICE’s mission and “house” detainees. As a sanctuary city, it’s curious why city officials have forgotten that “compliance with immigration detainers is voluntary, not mandatory.”
Democrats and Republicans alike try to sell snake oil for immigration policy: that through deporting undocumented people, taxpayers will finally see relief from crime and welfare leeching. Meanwhile, Philly is pussyfooting around infrastructure improvements, housing is unaffordable, SEPTA is expected to lose funding, and so on.
Undocumented comrades are farm workers and construction crew, yes. They also hold so many other jobs and identities shared by Philadelphians beyond the stereotypes conventional media focuses on: parents, tenants, the unemployed worried about how much longer it will take to find a job, students, drag queens and kings, Eagles fans. It is well overdue for people to stop buying the snake oil which positions the undocumented as those who can be sacrificed first instead of human beings and comrades.
To not do something more than feeling sorry as so many of us scroll through Instragram is counterintuitive to the lesson Pastor Martin Neimoller imparts in his poem “First They Came.” It is often hard to reflect on and move past the desire to look out for ourselves (or our immediate family) and avoid risk. Yet Philly would do well to remember that “true individual freedoms are dependent on the well-being and support of the collective and vice-versa”.
Everyone’s something will vary. Your first step doesn’t need to be a standoff with police. Consider learning what you should and should not doing when an ICE raid happens at work. Consider volunteering with a local organization that calls to you. Local orgs often need help that doesn’t require a particular skillset or prior knowledge. Even if talking to people makes you nervous or you don’t know as much as you’d like to, there’s a role for you in collective action.
Our very own Philly Socialsts is working on several projects including the Philly Survival Collective which delivers groceries to those in need and the No Sister to Genocide campaign which aims to end Philly’s sister city relationship with Tel Aviv. Juntos is a great Philly-based community-led Latine immigrant organization fighting for our human rights as workers, parents, youth, and immigrants. As Los Angeles is on its 16th consecutive day of protest, will Philadelphia show the same rigor to make it clear we won’t cooperate with ICE? Ron Gochez, a community organizer and history teacher in LA aptly reminds us, “When we organize ourselves, we can defend ourselves.” Now more than ever, it’s time for Philly to get organized against the forces of oppression kicking in our doors.
The Philadelphia Partisan 