[1]Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez for Congress[2]Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez for Congress

So I was seeing some of the footage on Wednesday of the community coming
to defend itself when ICE tried to plow into Canal Street and nab up a
bunch of people.

I want to describe why this is important, and how it disrupts what ICE is
doing in a very real way.

It is important to note that what ICE is doing is illegal, in many
different ways.

And before you accuse me of being one of those Democrats that just says,
“Oh, they can’t do that, it’s illegal,” I want to describe why that’s
relevant:

Knowing that it’s illegal, ICE and all of these agencies know that they
are likely not going to be backed up. In fact, that kind of bore itself
out on Wednesday.

ICE had done a bunch of arrests — and they needed people to feel like they
were arresting a bunch of people — but they ended up releasing a lot of
them, because they know they don’t have a leg to stand on.

They rely on the show of force, on us being afraid, because they don’t
have anyone backing them up.

And the reason that’s important, is because they know this is illegal, the
tactic that they rely on is just smash and grab — see what you can get
away with.

What they do is just round people up, deport people, and even if the judge
says that they can’t do that, they just say, “Well too late, we already
sent them out and that’s it.”

Use of force. Blunt instrument.

So if they want to be criminals that are using blunt force, and don’t want
to be held accountable to the law, we have to be good Samaritans.

Because if the law is not something that they are going to respond to,
what they will respond to is literally not being able to complete the
illegal behavior.

That means community defense.

We can’t allow people to commit crimes and break the law in public. We
have to defend each other.

If you notice, they will issue a lot of threats. The Acting Director of
ICE at one point threatened to lock me up.

The best response you can do? Show up for one another. Blow the whistle.
Record any illegal behavior.

I’m not scared of you. We are not scared of you. Because we know you are
not legitimate.

Governance requires the consent of the governed. And when people start not
complying en masse, then they are not able to get away with it.

We can’t wait for them to commit a crime, and then for a judge to say that
was illegal. We have to stop the crime in the act.

So when you see them wearing masks, and acting like unidentified thugs,
how can you separate that from someone who is just trying to kidnap and
assault a person?

You can’t. They have chosen to make themselves unidentifiable.

So if someone is going to come in and try to snatch up my neighbor with
some Party City vest that they bought, I’m not going to let that happen.
Are you going to let that happen?

Hell no. We need to have order.

And they are the pinnacle of disorder and disruption.

That is why it is important that we have a mass movement, our collective
agreements, social contracts.

Yes we have to fight institutionally, but we also need to look out for one
another.

We will not be afraid — because that’s what they want.

And we do not have to comply with illegal activity — even if that illegal
activity is coming from the President of the United States.

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In solidarity,

Alexandria


 


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