If you would report an undocumented immigrant to ICE you would have reported me to the Nazis and I donβt fucking trust you
A note:
I live in a state where you βhave toβ report anyone you suspect of being undocumented (that wonderful hellhole of Arizona). Now in practice this law has fallen far short, thank goodness. But if you live in such a place and they start enforcing it, here is how you get around it:
Assume everyone who doesnβt speak English is visiting.
Never ask about their job, because if they tell you they work here then you know theyβre not visiting. You see them a lot for several weeks or months? Hm. Someone in the family must be ill. Thatβs terribly tough. They always dress in old, ratty laborersβ clothes? I feel you, my dude, I canβt afford new clothes either, and my dad has the fashion sense of an aardvark, so sometimes itβs not even about βaffordingβ them. They say theyβve been here for years? You must have misunderstood. Spanish isnβt your first language, after all. First and last name? It never came up, or you donβt recallβyou meet a lot of people.
And then, if youβre asked: no, you havenβt seen anyone residing illegally in the United States. Just people visiting.
Very good very important addition
Essentially, this is the civil society version of a work-to-rule strike.
Donβt do more than is expressly asked of you, and do what you are asked with such an intense attention to protocol that not asking you at all becomes more effective than even bothering.
In this case:
βHave you seen an illegal immigrant?β
βCould you describe an illegal immigrant, officer?β
*officer describes a person who is in the country without appropriate paperwork, or who has crossed the border illegally*
βNo, sir, I havenβt seen any illegal immigrant.β
And this is correct. You have NOT seen an illegal immigrant, because you have no way of knowing if Jose Fulano is here legally or not. And since you canβt see his paperwork (or lack thereof), and did not personally see him cross the border illegally, you are only answering precisely the question asked.
Iβm not American, and I have like, three followers, but this is important.
a surprising amount of really important activism rests on your ability to lie convincingly to people in authority



















