Adrian Carrasquillo writes:

Imagine this scenario: Department of Homeland Security agents storm a meatpacking plant in the South, a show of force in the largest workplace raid in a decade. Rounding up workers, they target those who appear to be Latinos, without regard for citizenship. They don’t ask for documentation until hours later.

A worker, overcome by fear, makes a run for it and is tackled by immigration agents, with one putting a boot on the worker’s neck for over 20 seconds, as a video of the encounter shows.

You don’t have to imagine this as some far-flung dystopian scenario that could happen in Trump’s second term because it happened during his first, in Tennessee in 2018. But that raid was not the end of the story. After it took place, the National Immigration Law Center joined forces with the Southern Poverty Law Center and an outside law firm on behalf of seven workers who were racially profiled and experienced excessive force. They were certified as a class of around 100 workers in the lawsuit, eventually winning a $1.175 million settlement in 2022 that required the U.S. government to pay the plaintiffs $475,000.

As Trump prepares to take power once more, a constellation of immigrant-rights advocates are preparing for moments like the one that took place in Tennessee. They’re also prepping a game plan to fight back, one that will elevate and amplify those instances in which the administration crosses the line into unconstitutional and unlawful actions.

The fear they have is that the media isn’t up to the task—that the cable networks and news organizations that covered Trump’s lawlessness in the past have already been cowed by the swaggering incoming administration. These feelings aren’t just coming from the advocacy world, either. They’re coming from inside the house. [Continue reading…]