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Man stopped by ICE uses 'know your rights' training, prevents immigrants' arrest

A member of a group that urges immigrants to know their rights used some of that training to keep immigration officers from arresting tw...


A member of a group that urges immigrants to know their rights used some of that training to keep immigration officers from arresting two people who were in the car with him.
Bryan MacCormack, 30, executive director of the Columbia County Sanctuary Movement in upstate New York, was captured on video refusing to open his car door March 5 to what an Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer insisted was a “warrant of arrest of alien.”

MacCormack had just accompanied two immigrants without legal status to the courthouse to deal with minor traffic citations. They were in their car about 20 seconds when they were pulled over by ICE agents, he told NBC News.
Before the agent got to the car, MacCormack told one of his passengers to start recording video and reminded them of the rights. The passengers had been told they might get pulled over and were prepared for the possibility, he said.
The video begins as MacCormack is telling an ICE officer at his car window that the papers he has handed him are not warrants for arrest.
“Yes they are, sir, warrant of arrest of alien,” the unidentified officer says to MacCormack as he points to a line on the papers he is holding. The officer's face can't be seen in the video.
“Yeah, warrant of arrest of ... alien, not signed by a judge. It’s not a judicial warrant. I have no obligation to oblige by that warrant,” MacCormack responds.
MacCormack's group posted the video on YouTube on March 8 and issued a news release. The incident was reported in the local media, but it has only just begun to get national attention. An edited version of the video was posted Tuesday evening by NowThisNews.
"This really isn’t about me," MacCormack said. "It’s about what happens when people in general know their rights."
MacCormack had called the group's attorney and put the call on speakerphone. During the exchange, the attorney can be heard telling him to tell the officer the lawyer was on his way.
Despite MacCormack's protests, the officer at the car repeated that what he had in his hand was a lawful warrant under the U.S. Immigration and Nationality Act signed by "an official with that designated authority." But MacCormack responded that the warrant was not an official warrant under the U.S. Constitution, but rather a Department of Homeland Security order.
He told the officer he’s undergoing Department of Justice-accredited training and has copies of the paperwork the agent was showing him and of a "real" warrant in the car “just so people know not to listen to that.”
The officer then asked MacCormack whether he is familiar with laws governing transporting and harboring of “illegal aliens” in the United States.
"I was nervous and felt fear for the safety of myself and the community members inside of my vehicle. But I was also inherently indignant at ICE’s tactics and their relentless pursuit and practice of detention, deportation and family separation," MacCormack said in a phone interview.
A spokeswoman for ICE emailed a statement to NBC News saying that on March 5, ICE officers were seeking two people not lawfully present in the United States and "an individual interfered with the enforcement action, causing officers to instead depart the scene to avoid further disruption."
The statement included a warning that people who impede ICE officers "expose themselves to potential criminal violations, and run the risk of harming the very people they purport to support." The statement cited a section of the law governing assaulting, impeding or resisting federal officers or employees.
Gloria Martinez, a co-founder of Columbia County Sanctuary Movement, said a lot of the work the group does involves responding to arrests similar to the one attempted with MacCormack.
Often the group gets calls from people who have a family member who was taken by ICE off the street, outside the court or on their way to work, she said. The group has worked to inform people of their rights and teach them how to demand to be shown a warrant signed by a judge.
MacCormack said ICE officers had warrants signed by judges in only about two of 12 cases involving people arrested at court.
Martinez said fear in the community often prevents people from asserting their rights even when they've been trained. ICE officers wear vests that say “police” and that often confuses people too, she said.
“Everyone sees ICE as very powerful and feel they have to do what they say, that they can’t ask questions and they tend to comply,” she said.
Many immigration advocacy and civil rights groups have organized campaigns and workshops to educate people about their rights since President Donald Trump took office and ICE has became more aggressive in making arrests of people who are in the U.S. without legal status.
MacCormack said the incident was the first time he had used "know your rights" training and first he was actually present when ICE arrests were attempted. He's hoping the video helps others who might be arrested or who are witnessing an immigration arrest.
"I want people to feel like anyone, anywhere can do this," he said. "All you have to do is know your rights and you can prevent this from happening to your community members."

10 comments

  1. It is government's PRIMARY DUTY to kill raping, pillaging, murdering, invaders at the BORDER.
    Then to HANG any traitor who opened the City Gates to them ........
    As for these "sanctuary" priests, politicians & judges .....It should be LAW that if your family member is killed by an ILLEGAL you get to execute the Judas Iscariots that gave the ILLEGAL "sanctuary". Since they claim these "immigrants" are so peaceful they should WELCOME such a law as PROOF of their tolerance.
    They should have dragged that POS out of his car and dressed him up.
    If you wake up in the night and find someone rummaging in your house who did not knock and request permission to enter, and who you did not invite to come in, do you call them GUESTS and set the dinner table for them? Or do you grab your shotgun and blow them away?

    Every politician that votes for or endorses the mythical "sanctuary" from Federal Immigration Law shall be subject to obtaining and providing a Surety Bond to secure 100% Reparations to any Legal Citizen injured, murdered, raped, robbed, or in any way harmed, including mental distress, by said Illegal persons in the area. By their refusal to honor their oath to uphold the Constitution and the Law of the land the said politicians have negated any "governmental immunity". Said politicians will serve the same sentence as the ILLEGALS they enable in the same cell as the ILLEGAL. Said politicians are Personally Criminal Accomplices to any crimes committed by the Criminals they are Harboring. Said politicians are Personally Financially Liable for damages, reparations, and to "make whole" any Legal Citizen harmed by the Criminals they are Harboring.
    .

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  2. But if we enforced such ideas on the politicians (or blood suckers) and insisted they be liable for their little "pets" and their criminal behavior.....they'd all go bankrupt and living in cardboard boxes in homelessvilles...!!! OMG couldn't happen to better people if you ask me. GREAT IDEA....GLAD YOU THOUGHT IT UP!!!

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  3. I did not think of it. It is well established LAW. Remember how immigrants had to have sponsors who were RESPONSIBLE for them? Back when America lived under "Rule of LAW"?

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  4. If his passengers are illegal immigrants then maybe he should be arrested for giving them aid as codified in
    8 USC 1324

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  5. But now there are too many illegals with NO SPONSORS!!! What's wrong with this picture? Nancy Schmancy would say there is nothing wrong with the fact the illegals have no sponsors.....she could care less what they do so long as they vote Communist and keep her in office.

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  6. What do you think I am saying-- by "providing sanctuary " THEY MAKE THEMSELVES "sponsors" and are criminally and financially LIABLE>

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  7. But Zap Sanctuary cities should be totally dismantled and permanently banned. What other county does this foolishness??? None.

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  8. MAKING them take criminal & financial responsibility would immediately end them.

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  9. ...they should all be legally arrested for treason, the illegals legally deported...and those guilty of giving aid to illegals should be legally executed.
    RJ O'Guillory

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