{"id":185666,"date":"2025-12-15T11:27:36","date_gmt":"2025-12-15T11:27:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/185666\/"},"modified":"2025-12-15T11:27:36","modified_gmt":"2025-12-15T11:27:36","slug":"new-orleans-resists-ice-invasion-despite-surveillance-and-state-repression","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/185666\/","title":{"rendered":"New Orleans Resists ICE Invasion Despite Surveillance and State Repression"},"content":{"rendered":"

Independent journalism at Truthout faces unprecedented authoritarian censorship. If you value progressive media, please make a year-end donation<\/a> today.<\/p>\n

When concerned residents of the New Orleans metro area stepped out into the streets with their whistles and phone cameras over the weekend, ready to protest and document the Trump administration\u2019s unwelcome<\/a> assault<\/a> on immigrant communities, they faced both widespread digital surveillance by state and federal authorities and a vague state law that makes hindering federal immigration enforcement a crime punishable by up to one year of hard labor in a Louisiana prison<\/a>. <\/p>\n

Championed by Republicans and signed by Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry, Act 399<\/a> went into effect August 1 and now looms over New Orleans as Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Border Patrol continue their latest invasion of a Democrat-led city as part of President Donald Trump\u2019s mass deportation campaign. The new law makes \u201cany act intended to hinder, delay, prevent, or otherwise interfere with federal immigration enforcement\u201d a crime.<\/p>\n

On December 3, the ACLU of Louisiana filed a lawsuit<\/a> challenging Act 399 on behalf of a local group, which stopped conducting know-your-rights trainings after organizers feared they could be criminalized under the law\u2019s broad language. Louisiana\u2019s attorney general conceded<\/a> in a court filing that Act 399 covers \u201conly actual obstruction of justice \u2014 conduct, especially violent conduct,\u201d and not constitutionally protected speech. <\/p>\n

Act 399 went into effect August 1 and makes \u201cany act intended to hinder, delay, prevent, or otherwise interfere with federal immigration enforcement\u201d a crime.<\/p>\n

The ACLU of Louisiana dropped<\/a> the lawsuit on December 5 after the judge and both sides agreed on the attorney general\u2019s interpretation of the law. While the lawsuit focused on the First Amendment rights of groups holding community defense trainings for immigrants and their families, the clarification also offered a green light for activists to deploy resistance tactics<\/a> seen in other cities targeted by ICE.<\/p>\n

Videos<\/a> shared online show residents gathering for a series of protests<\/a> over the past week against ICE deployments in New Orleans<\/a> that began on December 3. In suburbs like Kenner<\/a>, a working class city with a large immigrant population and a local police chief who works directly with ICE<\/a>, activists on the ground said caravans of vehicles coordinated by ICE watch activists followed ICE patrols<\/a> with whistles and bullhorns, warning anyone who could be profiled as undocumented that federal agents were nearby. Coalitions organized know-your-rights trainings for documenting immigration arrests and set up a hotline<\/a> for reporting ICE activity to a network of neighborhood response groups. Businesses across the city posted signs<\/a> refusing entry to ICE and Border Patrol.<\/p>\n

Related Story<\/p>\n


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\n ICE demanded Meta hand over personal information attached to Instagram accounts that track immigration raids.\n <\/p>\n

\u201cWhat we are hearing from our clients is exactly what we have seen in other cities \u2014 folks are being arrested indiscriminately, targeted for the color of their skin<\/a>, the language that they speak, the location where they are working,\u201d said Homero Lopez, legal director of Immigration Services and Legal Advocacy in New Orleans, in a press conference with local leaders on December 5. <\/p>\n

Meanwhile, a digital surveillance fusion center shared by federal law enforcement and state police is keeping tabs on the online activity of residents and protesters as ICE and Border Patrol fan out across the New Orleans metro area, according to records obtained by the Associated Press<\/a>. The records showed agents monitoring message boards and social media posts \u201caround the clock\u201d to provide updates on the community\u2019s response and criticisms of the immigration crackdown in New Orleans.<\/p>\n

\u201cOnline opinions still remain mixed, with some supporting the operations while others are against them,\u201d noted an intelligence briefing circulated early Sunday to law enforcement and obtained by the Associated Press. Previous intelligence bulletins noted \u201ca combination of groups urging the public to record ICE and Border Patrol\u201d as well as \u201cadditional locations where agents can find immigrants.\u201d<\/p>\n

A local activist who declined to be identified for fear of retaliation from law enforcement said many immigrant families are unable to work and shop for basic necessities due to the crackdown and concerns over racial profiling.<\/p>\n

However, New Orleanians have survived hurricanes and other disasters together, and already existing mutual aid networks sprang into action to deliver groceries and help people access medical care and other needs. \u201cPeople are getting rides, people are getting food, people are being accompanied \u2014 that is not an issue because people know how to do mutual aid here,\u201d the activist told Truthout.<\/p>\n

Jeremy Jong, a staff attorney with the immigrant rights group Al Otro Lado in New Orleans, said both Act 399 and the digital surveillance are designed to stifle speech and dissent.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt appears that there is a real chilling effect,\u201d Jong said in an interview. \u201cObviously the government surveilling essentially everyone is super concerning. It\u2019s frankly infuriating that tax money is going to this fusion center that just monitors what everyone is saying on social media.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jong said many people in southern Louisiana may have heard about Act 399 or a separate state law restricting the filming of police officers \u2014 the latter was temporarily blocked<\/a> by a federal court in January \u2014 but they may not understand how these attempts at repression impact their constitutional rights.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe want to tell people they have the First Amendment right to go out there and blow a whistle and follow them around and record them \u2014 these are all things that are essentially protected by the First Amendment,\u201d Jong told Truthout. \u201cBut we get a lot of questions like, \u2018but I don\u2019t know, it could be illegal.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Jong said he recently spoke to members of a church in the New Orleans area who were worried that they could be prosecuted under Act 399 if they refused to let ICE agents enter the church without a warrant. Jong noted that ICE still needs a warrant to enter private property under the Fourth Amendment of the Constitution, which protects everyone in the United States against unreasonable search and seizure. Shortly after taking office, Trump ended a longstanding policy<\/a> that prohibited ICE from making arrests at schools, churches, and other sensitive public locations.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s designed to scare people into giving up rights that they otherwise have,\u201d Jong said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis system depends on people being scared, people unthinkingly complying.\u201d<\/p>\n

Steadfast in their repudiation of Trump\u2019s deportation efforts \u2014 as well as of Border Patrol Commander Greg Bovino, who has been heckled by protesters and workers<\/a> in viral videos<\/a> as he patrols New Orleans \u2014 Crescent City residents are not easily intimidated. Jong pointed out that the Trump administration\u2019s stated goal<\/a> is to arrest 5,000 undocumented people in the New Orleans area, but the records obtained by the Associated Press show only 38 arrests were made during the first two days of the operation.<\/p>\n

Of the 38 people arrested, only about a third had a criminal record, further undermining ICE\u2019s debunked<\/a> claims that immigration sweeps are focused on public safety threats. The total number of people arrested for civil immigration violations in New Orleans has not been publicly reported despite demands from city leaders. Masked ICE and Border Patrol agents also ignored pleas from city leaders not to conceal their identities in public.<\/p>\n

Jong said people across the metro area are asserting their rights when confronted by federal agents, making it more difficult for ICE and Border Patrol to make indiscriminate arrests at Home Depots and construction sites, for example.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople can\u2019t go to work, people can\u2019t make rent, can\u2019t go to the doctor\u2019s office \u2014 that\u2019s terrible, but one silver lining is it gives us the opportunity to talk to people and say, \u2018no, you have rights, and if everyone asserts their rights, these terrible calamities can be resisted,\u2019\u201d Jong said. \u201cIt\u2019s really nice to see people feel empowered, to just say no, to withdraw their consent, because this system depends on people being scared, people unthinkingly complying.\u201d<\/p>\n

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