"I fear there will be aggressive actions" : civil society mobilizes against ICE in the United States before the World Cup

The FIFA World Cup kicks off in a week now, with the majority of matches taking place in the United States. But beyond sport, concern is growing around the role that ICE, the American immigration police, could play in the security system.

A few weeks ago, the Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) confirmed that ICE would be officially deployed to combat counterfeiting, drug trafficking and counterfeiting. Although the government claims that there will be no “raids“, the director of ICE recently refused to formally exclude arrests near fan zones. One of the cities most hostile to this presence of ICE is Atlanta. Georgia is now the fifth state with the most arrests.

For the first time, David is training to volunteer with those who deal with ICE agents. The prospect of seeing these agents participating in maintaining order worries him. “I fear that there will be aggressive actions by ICE, to intimidate people, arrest people in the street, and that this will cause a lot of fear and anxiety“, he explains.

He continues: “If we see them showing up en masse, carrying out the kinds of actions they took earlier this year in Minneapolis, against protesters or immigrants, then yes, I would want to be there, if only to say, ‘No, not here.’“

In February, ICE made an average of 41 arrests per day in Georgia, almost double the previous year. Anton Flores-Maisonet, founder of the Casa Alterna association, fears that this will increase further during the World Cup, and that the controls will target tourists. “We are already seeing racial profiling, acts of intimidation… I wouldn’t want to travel to another country with this lump in my stomach, even as a simple tourist“, he explains.

So the associations are hard at work to create “sanctuary areas“, places, they say”guaranteed without ICE“. On the front of this café, for example, several anti-ICE posters and logos have appeared. The door-to-door campaign to increase their number continues, says Amilcar Valencia, director of the El Refugio association: “Our goal is to mobilize local businesses, community centers, churches… Any place ready to get involved to say: ‘Here is a refuge’. And registrations are already pouring in“.

While the mayor of Atlanta has publicly stated that ICE agents would not be welcome during the World Cup, Georgia law requires local police to cooperate with federal authorities. So Kimberly Diemert prefers to prepare for the worst. His organization, 50501 Georgia, is working to put together a list of lawyers who can be mobilized to help people who are arrested. Many associations like his will organize anti-ICE protests in cities hosting matches this month.

“It’s not just about the people who live in this country, it’s about integrity.”

Kimberly Diemert, de l’association 50501 Georgia

à franceinfo

“This speaks to who we are, as the United States.estime Kimberly Diemert. We cannot, in good faith, say to people ‘welcome’, and once they have set foot on our soil treat them less than human beings.“The opportunity, she hopes, to show another face of the United States.