Reclaiming Our Community: A Campaign Against Police-ICE Collaboration
By Lilly Jarc, Summer 2026 Intern
Posted: 9/15/2026
As we enter our 20th month under an administration that prioritizes quotas over families and labels over humanity, we have witnessed mass detention, state-funded violence, and the criminalization of an entire population. While seemingly sudden and unprecedented, this tale is all too familiar.
Through a narrow lens, it may appear that the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement agenda is a crisis unlike anything our country has experienced. However, when observing the situation from a broader perspective, it is clear that this type of state-sponsored violence, including the detention of innocent people and race-based murder, is recognizable. The objectives and implementation of ICE tactics against immigrants parallel our country’s historic violence against the Black community.
State-sponsored violence goes beyond physical force. It is rooted in the racist institutions that preserve inequality and promote injustice towards the Black community with the support of our government, like our system of policing. As a direct descendant of slave patrols, police departments were born from racism, leading to racial profiling and an increased use of force against Black individuals. Other institutions are more veiled, like our prison system, which disproportionately impacts the Black community. Disguised by laws that are “tough on crime” or “for our security,” America’s prison system is organized around the criminalization of a population. This violence is not accidental, but intentional, and perpetuated by government regulations and funding.
Now, this blueprint is being recycled. ICE is utilizing these same systems of criminalization and incarceration to abuse immigrant communities. Feeding on misinformation from our anti-immigrant administration that encourages dangerous stereotypes, ICE uses racial profiling to stop cars, enter homes, and violate people’s rights. Too often, these targeted interactions escalate, resulting in officers displaying aggressive behavior that can lead to death. Encounters with ICE often lead to detention, even when the individual has committed no crimes. Noncitizens are apprehended without cause and denied due process along with their very humanity. This detention and criminalization is a state-sponsored operation, with money and resources dedicated to intentional violence against immigrants. Earlier this year, the Department of Homeland Security was granted $70 billion under the Secure America Act, with $39 billion dedicated to ICE enforcement and operations alone.
Not only has ICE followed the model of state-sanctioned violence at the federal level, but they are collaborating with local law enforcement to carry out this violence in our communities. State and local law enforcement agencies are supporting the deportation machine by targeting, apprehending, and detaining immigrants on behalf of ICE. 287g contracts and other partnerships grant officers the authorization to carry out immigration enforcement in a variety of ways, including the creation of joint teams with ICE, identification of possible noncitizens, and detention in local jails. With the support of state and local law enforcement, mass surveillance through invasive technology helps ICE streamline this process. Using facial recognition, license plate identification, data sharing, and more, ICE collects information about citizens and noncitizens alike that is then used to intimidate, monitor, and capture. The Butler County Board of Commissioners recently approved a request authorization to apply for an $850,000 Department of Justice grant to purchase an infrared system that can aid in the identification, location, apprehension, detention, and transportation of immigrants. These surveillance methods allow ICE and local law enforcement to carry out their deportation agenda more quietly and efficiently. Their tactics have transitioned from public arrests to targeted traffic stops that allow ICE to detain and deport discreetly.
It’s time to get ICE out of our streets. Using the nonviolent tactic of noncooperation, we are launching a campaign to end ICE cooperation with local law enforcement. Authoritarian regimes and institutions like ICE are held up by pillars of support that grant and expand the regime’s power. Any institution or organization that upholds this authority is a pillar of support, including the media, corporations, schools, law enforcement, and more. When these pillars no longer consent to be governed, the regime loses its way of maintaining power. Our campaign will develop nonviolent direct actions to crack the pillars of support that enable ICE and the Trump administration to target our immigrant neighbors. ICE’s power in our communities is sustained by the partnerships they hold with state and local law enforcement, and we are ready to organize against these partnerships.
We see the pattern. We have been here before. Now, we must put our knowledge and tools of noncooperation into action to reject the state-sponsored violence that is enabled by agencies in our own communities. Ending local contracts and other partnerships with ICE is key to dismantling ICE’s enforcement abilities and diminishing its capacity. It is time to use our power to take action and end the collaboration between ICE and local law enforcement agencies.
Learn more about our “Don’t Flock the ‘Nati” campaign at our next noncooperation training, Wednesday, September 16, from 6:00-8:00 PM at the Peaslee Neighborhood Center. RSVP today!
Can’t make it? Stay tuned to our social media and email list for campaign updates. Together, we can take our communities back.