Kansas City’s immigrant rights advocates call for nonviolent resistance

Black SUVs whizzing by were the first hint an immigration raid might be imminent.

A Kansas City man riding his bike along the Trolley Track Trail felt his initial fear confirmed when a Waldo area construction site came into view.

He saw handcuffed laborers, men he assumed to be Latino, being questioned by other men in tactical gear.

“My full intent was to stop and let them know that someone was watching,” said the man, who didn’t want to be publicly identified.

He wasn’t the only one who saw what many assumed was an immigration raid in the heart of Waldo in mid-July.

Others shared their outrage on social media. And the man riding his bike took photos and a video that showed some of the men wore tactical gear marked U.S. Marshals Service.

But was it an immigration raid?

The construction workers were released when a small crowd of bystanders gathered, some drawn from businesses along Wornall Road.

Tensions quickly escalated as bystanders began yelling and cursing. At least one agent who identified himself as a U.S. marshal cursed back, said the man who took photos.

The incident is now part of a growing list being documented by local advocates for immigrant rights. They’re tracking dozens of possible immigration actions, watching for patterns and trying to tamp down unsubstantiated rumors before they spread.

The Waldo incident has not been confirmed as an immigration raid.

So far, only about a dozen incidents in the Kansas City area have been verified as immigration enforcement actions since President Donald Trump took office in late January, according to Advocates for Immigrant Rights and Reconciliation, or AIRR.

Many more reported incidents could not be verified, or simply turned out to be someone receiving a ticket for a traffic violation, with no issues involving immigration.

The value of the ‘silent observer’

Amid the Trump administration’s mass deportation campaign, civil rights advocates nationally and locally are emphasizing training for bystanders and a heightened attention to nonviolent protests.

Janet Murguía understands that Latinos and other allies are angry about reports of federal officials arresting people at workplaces, in their homes and even when they go, as directed, to immigration court.

“But that outrage needs to be targeted in the right ways,” said Murguía, the president and CEO of UnidosUS. “It cannot give more fuel to this administration to … bring in more law enforcement.”

UnidosUS is the nation’s largest Latino civil rights and advocacy organization. The group held its annual convention in Kansas City in early August.

Training in nonviolence while advocating for immigrant rights was a recurring theme during the conference.

Contributed Photo

The actions of even one rambunctious protester can quickly escalate and incite others. Often unsubstantiated rumors spread quickly via social media.

The Department of Homeland Security reports escalating numbers of attacks on federal immigration agents and other federal partners, which can include the U.S. Marshals Service.

A June DHS release following the outbreak of protests in Los Angeles said there had been a 413% increase in assaults against federal agents from the same time last year. It also said that agents and their families had been doxed, which has been a reason that the government has given to defend the use of face masks.

The fact that a bystander had a child present during the July arrests of 11 workers at two area El Toro Loco restaurants was also called out in a Homeland Security statement.

“ICE was carrying out a criminal federal search warrant to rescue victims of human trafficking. Extremists and activists, one with their child in tow, tried to interfere with law enforcement by storming the restaurant, calling law enforcement Nazis, and attempting to keep officers from leaving the scene,” said DHS Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs Tricia McLaughlin.

“Unfortunately, these types of smears and obstruction to law enforcement operations are becoming more and more common. Our brave ICE law enforcement are facing an 830% increase in assaults against them as they carry out operations.”

Statements by Homeland Security consistently highlight the administration’s goal of targeting violent criminals.

But the government’s own data shows that less than half of people arrested from late January through late June had been convicted of a crime, according to information gathered by the Deportation Data Project through Freedom of Information Act requests and analysis by news organizations like Stateline.

And among those who do have criminal convictions, for many it was for a less serious issue, like a traffic conviction.

Only 7% had been convicted of a violent crime, according to Stateline.

A person’s immigration status is a civil matter.

In training sessions, Kansas City area organizers seek to redirect those who might become agitated when interacting with federal immigration agents or other law enforcement.

If a volunteer demonstrates a fervent desire to fight fascism, or to accuse people of being Nazis, they probably need to reassess before becoming involved.

There’s more at stake with local organizing than what some people who want to lend support as an ally might realize, immigrant rights advocates and immigration attorneys said.

For example, videos taken by bystanders could be useful in legal cases challenging the constitutionality of the tactics being used by federal agents during arrests.

But videos with people screaming slurs at federal agents can be less useful.

Such actions can also undercut the philosophy of nonviolence.

Civil rights struggles require a consistent, long-term strategy to succeed, said Trinidad Raj Molina, an organizer with AIRR.

Dramatic actions might feel good in the moment, Molina said, but aren’t a part of strategies designed to bring significant social change.

“Being a silent observer is important,” Molina said.

Vaughn Wheat

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The Beacon

Lessons on nonviolence

Murguía is leaning into her friendship with the late civil rights icon Rep. John Lewis for guidance.

Through the years, she heard the Georgia congressman speak about nonviolence to groups large and small, often emphasizing lessons he learned over a lifetime fighting for voting rights, desegregation and so much more.

“I remember repeatedly hearing him say that civil disobedience requires courage,” she said. “And that the part of courage that people don’t understand is being brave enough not to respond with violence, and how critically important it is to understand the role of nonviolent civil disobedience and peaceful protests.”

UnidosUS is partnering with other national organizations like the National Urban League to call for more immigrant rights training sessions around such disciplines and to learn from the civil rights legacy of the African American community.

Martin Luther King Jr. taught that nonviolence is not passive. It focuses on injustice, rather than individuals. It’s a way of life, not a tactic.

People today might not realize how much training was involved in some of the most famous civil rights actions of the 1950s, Murguía said.

Murguía is especially aware that protesters today might be goaded to react, which can then be used as a pretext for a more militarized response by government officials.

Congress recently authorized more than $170 billion for increased immigration enforcement, which is more than the combined budgets of all other federal law enforcement agencies, Murguía said.

That point was also underscored by labor rights leader David Huerta, who said it is imperative that people who protest are disciplined and committed to nonviolence and understand how to deescalate situations.

Huerta spoke on a panel during the UnidosUS conference in Kansas City.

“When you do see violence, you have to deescalate it,” he said. “Because it can escalate so quickly.”

Huerta is president of the Service Employees International Union of California and first came to prominence through the Justice for Janitors campaign.

Huerta was recently arrested during immigrant rights protests in Los Angeles, spending three days in jail before being released on bond and charged with conspiracy to impede an officer.

He said it is too easy for government officials to “flip the narrative” on people who protest immigration arrests.

“We can’t let this sense of intimidation keep us from doing what we have to do,” Huerta said. “But we definitely have to be intelligent and smart about it, and we have to be really disciplined and always engaged in nonviolence.”

AIRR doesn’t want to dissuade people from getting involved as allies. It strives to empower immigrants, in particular.

All reported information is helpful, advocates said. For instance, AIRR has noted that more foreign cars are now being used in enforcement actions.

There are also instances of federal agents being seen driving around apartment complexes in Olathe in the early morning hours, and in neighborhoods in the Northeast section of Kansas City.

The assumption is that they might be searching for people to arrest on their way to work.

More than 2,400 people have been trained regionally in know-your-rights sessions. There are also guidelines on what to do if you believe you are witnessing a raid, including how to document it, while staying safe.

Local training sessions are similar to those made available by UnidosUS and other national organizations.

In the case of the Waldo worksite, a wrought iron fence separated the half-dozen people who tried to confront the U.S. Marshals Service.

One woman, who had come from a nearby gym, was very angry, said the man who photographed the incident.

He doesn’t regret his role. But he did worry that he might end up getting arrested as the tensions escalated.

Still, he felt an obligation to speak up as an African American, knowing that his community also had to fight for basic civil rights.

“I just felt like it’s happening right in front of my face now,” he said. “We might have kept those people from getting kidnapped.”