On Thursday morning, MSNBC ran a report from NBC’s Morgan Radford that detailed the growing “resistance” in communities to protect and assist immigrants from ICE agents working for Homeland Security head Kristi Noem.
According to Radford, the wave of videos of masked ICE snatching innocent people off the streets has led to not only citizen patrols but also a collection of apps used to alert people about the presence, which has riled the Donald Trump administration that, in turn, has led to government threats against those who use them.
In the clip that ran on “Morning Joe,” Radford is seen touring Waltham, Massachusetts with a group of volunteers wearing pink vests, asking them, “People often use the word resistance. Is this what the resistance looks like?”
“Hell, yeah,” spokesperson Jonathan Paz laughed.
“Founded in February, Fuerza volunteers go on near-daily patrols, interacting with local residents and looking to spot ICE vehicles,” Radford reported.
According to Paz, “We engage ICE officers. If they’re on the street, we ask them to identify themselves, and we also make sure that if there is someone being detained, we take their information, we let them know their rights, and then we provide — we try to provide a safety net around their family.”
Speaking with the NBC reporter he added that, in one case, his group had to walk a child home after their caretaker was grabbed off the street.
According to Paz, the government is out of line attempting to suppress groups like his.
“It’s been pretty well established that those people have the right to the. First Amendment,” he explained. “We still think it’s important for people to step up and support in whatever ways they feel is necessary.”
“Are you all worried about being targeted by the administration or by officials?” he was asked.
“We know our rights, we still have a Constitution, and we’re going to continue exercising our rights,” he replied.
Radford reported, “We reached out to the Department of Justice about Ice Block, People Over Papers and Fuerza, which all operate in different ways, and they said they will not tolerate ‘the use of apps that allow illegal aliens to evade capture and disclose the location of our law enforcement. Any threats to the safety of federal agents will be taken with the utmost seriousness and thoroughly investigated to ensure justice is served.”
She then added, “I do want to make it extraordinarily clear that none of the groups that we covered in this story are publicizing the names or the personal information of ICE agents.”
You can watch her full report below:
– YouTube youtu.be