Many many thanks to Maine Federation of Farmers Markets for organizing Tuesday’s “Preparing for ICE Actions at Farmers Markets” webinar with Legal Food Hub at the Conservation Law Foundation. So very informative.

The presenters did not want the webinar recorded or the ppt shared so I am using my notes from the webinar below. I do not have any more information than this to share or any expertise to expand on these notes and am not an attorney so none of this information should be construed as legal advice.

So much of market management is about preparation and logistics which obviously is key to your market’s response to an ICE audit or raid.

As discussed in previous posts, for any crisis, focusing on de-escalation techniques are always helpful for the market management to be aware and trained on using.

Make sure you know the status of your market space (privately or publicly owned) and how even a privately owned space CAN be construed as public space see this section of the FM Legal Toolkit under Risks, Section II here.

Many important ideas were covered on the webinar, including knowing individual rights, know if your police force(s) are participating with ICE “287(g) agreements,” knowing your immigration status liability with independent contractors, collecting a list of sites in your state that offer assistance for immigrants to share with vendors and shoppers, knowing how to be a witness to any ICE actions that you are unable to stop,

-No warrant is required in public areas, meaning little to no restrictions on an enforcement action there

Current entities

• Department of Homeland Security

– U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS)

– U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP)

– U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE)

• Department of Justice

– Immigrant and Employee Rights (IER) Section

– Executive Office for Immigration Review (EOIR)

•Department of Labor

 -PERM Labor Certification, H-2A, H-1B, etc. compliance

What should markets know?

– Public Space: no judicial warrant needed

– Do not interfere, hide or remove target individual (harboring)

Take proactive steps by:

– Ensuring employer compliance

– Not knowingly bringing unauthorized individual(s) to the market

– Partnering with local organizations regarding Know Your Rights (KYR)

– Partnering with local law enforcement to ensure a safe and inviting location

– Read and understand INA Sec. 287(g): https://www.ice.gov/identify-and-arrest/287g

Resources:

https://www.aclu.org/know-your-rights/immigrants-rights

https://www.ilrc.org/red-cards-tarjetas-rojas

PAIR Project: https://www.pairproject.org/

• RIAN Immigrant Center: https://www.riancenter.org/

• Refugee and Immigration Assistance Center (RIAC):

• American Immigration Lawyers Association: https://www.aila.org/

ALIEN REGISTRATION REQUIREMENT:

• A 1940 law, known as the Alien Registration Act, requires every foreign national, age 14 year or older who will be in the U.S. for 30 days or longer, must be registered and fingerprinted.

• Foreign nationals 18 years and older also required to carry proof of registration.

• Failure to carry proof of registration can result in a misdemeanor, including fines and/or imprisonment.

• Undocumented foreign nationals are required to register, but registering does not grant legal status and may result in detention and removal proceedings.

• Should consult with independent immigration counsel.

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