‘ICE is in Modesto’: Social media spreads misinformation, panic, official says
Twitter and Facebook have connected communities for over a decade. But officials and advocates worry that use of the social media platforms have spread misinformation and unwarranted fear about the operations of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency.
On June 25, a slew of tweets were sent out by residents in the Modesto area, warning others that ICE officers were in town.
“ICE is in Modesto allegedly on Crows Landing and Grayson. BE SAFE Y’ALL,” began one tweet. Another tweet wrote that ICE officials were pulling people over to ask for documentation.
One of the most widely shared tweets of the day was from Zach Baker, who tweeted out his support for those afraid to leave their homes due to rumors of ICE officials in the area, and an offer to run errands for undocumented immigrants.
“I had seen on my feed all day long that ICE had been in the city,” he said. “I figured if I could keep someone safe in their home while people were out looking for them, looking to get people, I would love to help them out.”
Though the tweet sparked a wave of support for illegal immigrants, it also spread unwarranted fear, said Paul Prince, a spokesman for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security in Northern California.
“In the last two weeks, there have been a lot of unsubstantiated calls in regards to the ‘ICE’ agents people are reporting,” he said. Oftentimes, Prince said, people will either mistake local enforcement officers, like the county sheriff or city police, for ICE agents.
Prince was not able to confirm or deny that ICE had carried out any Enforcement and Removal Operations in the Modesto, Turlock and Ceres area over the past two weeks.
“The sensationalism from these tweets has created undue concern,” he said. “They’re usually untrue rumors.”
Prince also noted that when ICE agents are in an area, they are carrying out Homeland Security Investigations, or targeted operations to find a certain person, not sweeping an entire neighborhood.
Nevertheless, the fear is easily sparked.
“The majority of our callers are people responding to posts they’ve seen on social media,” said Lety Valencia, director of Faith in the Valley, which finds legal aid and other resources for immigrants. “Ninety percent are people who are scared and want legal advice.”
For the Central Valley, the organization has one number — through their “Valley Watch Network” — that anyone can call for help if they believe ICE is in their neighborhood. After receiving a call, volunteers are sent out to verify whether ICE really is there.
More often than not, Valencia said, they find the concerns unnecessary.
“We encourage people to not post on social media, but to call the Valley Watch Network, where we can directly help them,” Valencia said.
Many of the claims on social media warning others that ICE officials are in town spread misinformation about what the agency is legally obligated to do, said Modesto immigration lawyer Patrick Kolasinski.
“Without probable cause, (ICE) cannot demand identification from anybody,” he said. “And most people don’t know that they don’t need to let ICE in without a judicial warrant.”
Kolasinski said that for the Central Valley, ICE operations tend to focus solely on its HSI targeted arrests.
“They are completely overloaded and they don’t need more business,” he said. There are about 119,000 unauthorized immigrants in San Joaquin, Stanislaus and Merced counties combined, according to a Migration Policy Institute analysis in 2016.
Recently, Kolasinski has seen that when President Trump tweets about his deportation efforts, the number of calls to his office skyrockets. The increase is due to concern about what steps they can take to protect themselves from getting taken away by ICE.
For those who are worried that ICE may be in their neighborhood, Kolasinski urges them to refrain from posting on social media — instead speak to a lawyer or advocacy group — and to remember these key points:
In California, ICE does not do checkpoints, street raids, sweeps or other random person operations — these are illegal.
ICE usually operates in the morning for logistical, safety and operational reasons. It is incredibly rare for ICE to do anything in the afternoon; that is paperwork time.
Not every U.S. Department of Homeland Security vehicle is ICE, and not every ICE operation is immigration-related. It also works in customs, federal facility security, human trafficking and more.
“It takes no effort to share a tweet or Facebook post,” Kolasinski said. “But then you feel like you did something and it’s exciting because you’re a part of this resistance movement. But you’re not actually changing anything. I just wish people would actually get involved instead of just feeling like a tweet will change anything.”
This story was originally published July 8, 2019 at 10:54 AM with the headline "‘ICE is in Modesto’: Social media spreads misinformation, panic, official says."
