Kaitlyn Hughes | news editor

Jaime Martinez, founder of Frontline DIGNITY, said he has spent the past year visiting different college campuses and meeting with students directly in the Pittsburgh area to talk about U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

“Supporting neighbors is how neighbors love neighbors. And when we can do that, we’re better off for it, but it comes from the grassroots,” Martinez said. “If it comes for the institution, sometimes it doesn’t always trickle down.”

On March 12, Martinez joined Bethany Hallam, Allegheny County councilperson at-large, Kacy McGill, campaign representative for U.S. Rep. Summer Lee and David Greene, a constituent advocate in Lee’s office, for a panel at Carnegie Mellon University to talk about student concerns with ICE and teach them how to stay safe.

About 30 people — mostly students — gathered at CMU’s Baker Hall for the event, hosted by Sunrise Movement Pittsburgh and the Carnegie Mellon University Democrats. The speakers taught students how to respond to ICE raids and discussed the Allegheny County bill that prohibits about 6,000 county employees from cooperating with ICE.

‘Start fighting and organizing’

Martinez said international students coming to Pittsburgh are coming to a community that is working to build up protections for its residents.

Martinez said that Frontline DIGNITY is building an effective Rapid Response Network where they have about 1,000 onboarded volunteers trying to reach the site of ICE activity within seven minutes. The organization also encourages its volunteers to show up to local government meetings and speak at public forums, have difficult conversations with others and form relationships within their communities.

“How can we not just do the work of protecting people from ICE and being a legal observer and recording things, but also do the really great work of remaking the social fabric of our society right now?” he said.

Martinez walked the attendees through the difference between public and private spaces on campus so they know where ICE agents are allowed, and told attendees that they should understand the risk of felony harboring, which is knowingly harboring fugitives from law enforcement.

He said that students should always remember they have the right to remain silent, and they should always avoid escalation.

“Escalations only harm you,” Martinez said.

He said students should politely ask ICE agents to leave if they do not give them a reason for being stopped. He encouraged students to record every interaction with ICE agents and to ensure they are staying at least six feet away from the situation, so they are not accused of interfering.

Martinez said if students spot ICE activity they should call Frontline DIGNITY’s hotline: 412-536-6423.

He said Frontline DIGNITY started their hotline on Jan. 20. Shortly after, they began to hear rumors of a significant increase in ICE activity, and since then there has been an uptick in calls to the organization. Not every sighting that was reported to Frontline DIGNITY has been confirmed.

“That doesn’t mean they weren’t there. It just means … we can’t tell for sure based on the criteria,” he said. “We don’t want to put out things that are speculative because we understand that every time a rumor comes out kids don’t go to school.”

They prove ICE sightings through direct footage, a first-hand account from volunteers or a thorough search that proves someone was detained.

McGill said the campaign held town halls, including at the University of Pittsburgh, and concerns about ICE were a constant. As a campaign, they made a decision to talk to students about ways they can combat everything that’s happening.

McGill said U.S. Rep. Summer Lee’s goal is to abolish ICE. Lee is a co-sponsor of the Melt ICE Act, which seeks to abolish immigration detention and electronic monitoring and redirect funding to community-based, wrap-around services.

McGill went to Pitt, and during their time there, a group of students started the farmer’s market and Thriftsburgh. They said the students continued to do small things to fight for what they believe in.

“Start fighting and organizing in a way that isn’t just on what’s right now. It’s what is going to be the move for the next generation,” McGill said. “I want to see long-term effects … so we are never in this position again.”

Hallam said she will use her political platform to advocate for international students and immigrants if something goes wrong.

“I think a lot of people get elected to office and are just focused on making laws, which is awesome and is a really important part of it,” Hallam said. “But I think what’s even more important sometimes is using that platform that you get as an elected official.”

Understanding the legislation

Hallam said that she engaged with university students and recruited them to help draft the Allegheny County bill that prohibits cooperation with ICE, comment on behalf of it and organize their classmates to come and support the legislation.

“It is overwhelmingly people like you guys coming to us and saying ‘Hey, we should do this law or there’s this problem,’” Hallam said. “It is my job to listen to you and take your ideas and turn them into laws that protect everyone.”

The new legislation was introduced in January around the time tensions between ICE and Minneapolis residents grew.

The legislation process was accelerated after the shootings of Renee Nicole Good and Alex Pretti.

It forbids any cooperation with ICE for the about 6,000 county employees, unless a federal or state law says otherwise.

This includes inquiring into an individual’s immigration or citizen status, retaining information about someone’s citizen or immigration status for more than 60 days, disclosing the citizen or immigration status of an individual, use county resources to provide information to immigration enforcement officials and detaining for no legal reason besides an immigration detainer request.

Hallam said that this will only apply to county entities.

“I can’t tell Ross Township Police what to do with ICE. I can’t tell the borough manager in South Fayette what to do with ICE. All I can do is tell the over 6,000 county employees in the various divisions and row offices how they can not interact with ICE,” she said.

As a part of the Allegheny County’s Board of Elections, Hallem said they have been discussing for months how they will protect elections from ICE. Although no police officers are allowed within 100 feet of a polling place, according to Pennsylvania Election Code, Hallam was worried these rules would not apply to ICE.

“We got a legal opinion from our solicitor from the Elections Division that says that for purposes of the election code we are counting them as law enforcement,” she said. “They are not going to be allowed to be anywhere near a polling place.”

Campus community

Ixchel Sulub, an action leader at Sunrise Movement, said that it is important to have events like these on college campuses because international students and their friends are worried about ICE activity around the Pittsburgh area.

Last year, The Duke reported that a CMU student had his student visa revoked. About a month later the visa was restored.

But Savi Bhat, the president of CMU Democrats, said they struggle to get students on campus to show up and organize.

“It comes down to if people are into politics they’re going to show up. If they’re not, they’re not going to show up,” Bhat said.

Sulub said it is important for students to get involved on campus during a time where anxiety about the federal administration is heightened.

“It doesn’t necessarily have to be political,” she said.

Kaitlyn Hughes can be reached at hughesk10@duq.edu