Yesterday's post chronicled the brutal history of concentration camps. But it made scarcely a mention of resistance to these facilities in societies where authoritarians have used them to crush designated enemies and those who resist.
We're not all the way there yet. For the time being, the broad resistance to Trump's detention camps should inspire us all. In jurisdictions across the country, people reject having these facilities as part of their landscape. As of today, the ICE warehouse purchase tracker, Project Salt Box, shows that DHS has bought 11 properties intended to become detention camps -- and seen 11 other acquisitions canceled because of citizen agitation.
In early February, NBC News via AP reported:
The fatal shootings of Renee Good and Alex Pretti during immigration enforcement actions in Minnesota have amplified an already intense spotlight on U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, increasing scrutiny of its plans for new detention sites.
A proposed ICE facility just north of Richmond, Virginia, drew hundreds of people last week to a tense public hearing of the Hanover County Board of Supervisors.
"You want what's happening in Minnesota to go down in our own backyard? Build that detention center here, and that's exactly what will happen," resident Kimberly Matthews told county officials.
As a prospective ICE detention site became public, elected officials in Kansas City, Missouri, scrambled to pass an ordinance aimed at blocking it. And mayors in Oklahoma City and Salt Lake City — after raising concerns about building permits — announced last week that property owners won't be selling or leasing their facilities for immigration detention.
Meanwhile, legislatures in several Democratic-led states pressed forward with bills aimed at blocking or discouraging ICE facilities. A New Mexico measure targets local government agreements to detain immigrants for ICE. A novel California proposal seeks to nudge companies running ICE facilities out of the state by imposing a 50% tax on their proceeds.
Journalist Scott Dworkin passes along what happened in one town in rural George when ICE tried to set up a camp:
GEORGIA TOWN SLAMS THE DOOR ON ICE PRISONS
In the nearby towns of Social Circle and Oakwood, ICE prisons landed with no warning. DHS quietly bought the buildings, signed the deeds, and told local leaders only after the fact. Mayor Michael Owens saw the “calamity and unrest” that followed—and vowed Mableton wouldn’t be next.“They are stood up much faster and a lot of times without taking into account the burden that’s going to be placed on a local community,” he said.
Mayor Michael Owens The Mableton City Council unanimously approved a moratorium on detention centers within city limits—effective through December 31, 2028.
State Rep. Terry Alexis Cummings backed the vote. Her statement was read into the record at the council meeting: “Our community should not be a site for expanding a system that too often operates with limited transparency and accountability. Every person deserves to be treated with dignity and our community should stand on the side of justice and human rights.”
Trump's camps are largely being built in rural areas where people voted for Trump. But lots of locals don't want to be known as where ICE put its immigrant concentration camp. The objectors won't win all these skirmishes. But every eruption of resistance makes it slower and more difficult for the Trump regime's fascist project to succeed.
Sand in the gears, folks! Detention Watch Network has a great guide to taking action against detention camps.
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