Prayer Vigil at ICE Headquarters

3 Nov 2025

So the great news lately is that the latest election was a blowout! Democrats won every major contest! From the Mayor of New York City to the governorships of Virginia and New Jersey to many others across the country! In my own town where I serve as an Election Inspector, we were busy all day! Turns out Democrats made a clean sweep of the school board and the Township Council went from a 3-2 Republican majority to being all Democrats!         

Our weekly prayer vigil at ICE Headquarters in Philadelphians doesn’t, at this point, have all that much to complain about, but 21 faith leaders protesting at an ICE facility in Chicago were detained. When, in an authoritarian regime, a tough-looking fellow in a military or military-like kind of outfit says “Papers please,” historically, that has meant the tough guy will examine the papers and then let you go if you pass muster. ICE isn’t doing that! They are not carefully examining the papers of suspected immigrants and then letting legitimate citizens go free! 

And the problem is far from being just ICE. It’s the US Park Police w/ DHS officers as well. The latest word in the newest city to be “occupied” by federal immigration officers, Charlotte, NC, is that when arrests are made, the cars of the arrestees are quickly towed and the families of the arrested person has to pay the fee! The Baltimore-Washington Expressway is an especially active area for federal authorities to pick up suspected immigrants.  

These little ones in the picture above fall under the “Why We Fight” category. We’re doing this so that they can grow up in a free society and not a tyranny.

There is a legal way to enter the country and to apply for citizenship. Unfortunately, the way is narrow and steep and “Unfortunately, at least 100 immigration judges and appellate immigration judges have been fired by the current administration, about 14 percent of their total ranks.”  None were told that their performance was lacking, they were simply let go. The Trump Administration is also using  military lawyers with no previous immigration experience.

What has the effect been on Charlotte? Business has been very badly hurt. Charlotte is a large and busy and very diverse city.

Over the weekend, videos circulated on social media that showed people being chased or simply picked up by federal agents outside of various local businesses.

Needless to say, this has had a chilling effect on the whole city. 

“Our city has gone from a thriving city to a standstill,” Charlotte city council member-elect JD Mazuera Arias said in a telephone interview

 David Rebolloso, an American citizen who is “brown-skinned” and a military veteran wonders if he should be carrying his passport with him as, when an ICE agent asks him “Papers please,” he should have those papers at hand.

The good news? Chicago’s pushback was so effective that the Border Patrol under Greg Bovino, despite his  “shock troops have the most in common with the [Ku Klux] Klan ‘night rides’ of the Reconstruction and Jim Crow era South” still never managed to inspire fear, just revulsion and disgust.

In fact, while the trauma and terror that Bovino’s unit instills is certainly real and damaging, it’s remarkable to note how ineffective the force has turned out to be.

Border Patrol is a bit more effective at making their arrest quotas than ICE because they go after landscapers, who tend to be undocumented immigrants and to work in relatively isolated circumstances. The answer to that? Whistles! If people see landscapers threatened, they can alert the neighborhood right away!

Videos (My apologies for not identifying the participants in these photos, but the video includes introductions to everyone).

Chicago’s becoming a model for other cities.  One thing that’s apparent is that when masked agents are surrounded by whistle-blowing, agitated citizens, the  agents aren’t at all intimidating! It isn’t a matter of “We’re attacking this individual and you better stand back because you can’t do anything about it!,” It’s more a matter of “ICE is attacking US, the community!” And the community now consists of everyone from “established activists and everyday residents from wealthy suburbs to working class neighborhoods.”

The “immigration crackdown” in Charlotte, NC, is looking like a bust. A big problem is that, despite being extremely well-funded, people just aren’t signing up to be DHS members. With local police not cooperating, DHS is an occupation force trying to subdue hostile territory. It doesn’t help that Trump wants some immigrants!

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