Phase 0: Preparation

Your town has a big warehouse for sale? Take steps to get ready.

• Reach out to local activists about the possibility. To the degree folks can invest the time, make provisional plans for who will handle social media, who will organize protests, who will marshal folks to approach the town council, etc.

• Determine the realtor for the building, and the realtor contacts and their contact information. See if they are also realtors for any other ICE targeted warehouses.

• Determine the owners of your local warehouse. “Ownership” can prove complex; there may be several owners, and some may be shell companies. Penetrate through to find the names of the true owners, and the locations of their offices and HQ, and contact information. You will want this information already at-hand if the need arises.

• In whatever way you can, try to assess your city council’s degree of openness to an ICE detention center. It is helpful to know the council members’ individual levels interest and motivation to either welcome or resist a local detention facility.

• Consider giving your group/team/effort a fixed name. This gives legitimacy and gravity to your efforts and actions, as you proceed with the other steps. You don’t need a logo or social media presence at this point; but a name helps establish the concern as broader than any one individual.

• Request of your town council that they publish a position statement that they are not in favor of their local warehouses being used for ICE detention efforts. The debate around this can help illuminate the differences in the members’ attitudes. And while a position statement like this is hardly legally binding, it is newsworthy, and calls attention to

• If you have contacts in local press, alert them that ICE might target your warehouse, and that your team is taking a defensive footing. There is no news to report yet — but you will want them informed about the background, should ICE take action. This connection to the press can shorten the cycle before the news gets out. Clarify best persons to contact — on your side and theirs.

• Try to connect with other groups like yours, protecting other warehouses. Make plans to coordinate and share information. Should ICE come to one town, all the groups can be activated to respond. If ICE already targeted or purchased a building in your state, connect with the team pushing back, and let them know you want to coordinate and help. Allies and comrades help immensely in this work.

• Request of the owners and realtors that they pledge not to sell the warehouse to ICE. We can help draft such a pledge. Refusal to make this pledge might itself be of interest to media and the press.

• Keep aware of ICE warehouse activity in other locations. As of this writing (a few weeks after Kristi Noem left her position) this activity has quieted. That will surely change, and may take on a different character under Markwayne Mullin. Keep abreast of what is happening.

• Keep checking your warehouse’s realty listings. You want to know if it suddenly goes off the market. If it does, reach out to the realtors and owners to gather information: why is it off the market? was it sold? to whom? You may not get many answers, but it matters that they know you are watching.

Profile of ICE warehouse towns

• Has a for-sale warehouse of 200,000+ square feet of space

• Near one or more major highways

• Near large metropolitan areas

• Easy access to nearby logistics and transportation hubs

• Industrial zoning

• Seclusion from public view