Our City. Our Standards. Standing Together Against ICE Incursions
The city in which I led police for two decades is facing a moment that demands clarity, courage, and coordination—not fear, not silence.
Across the country, federal immigration enforcement operations have increasingly relied on tactics that spread fear rather than safety: masked agents, unclear authority, questionable detentions, and a deliberate blurring of accountability.
These actions do not make communities safer. They fracture trust, discourage cooperation with local police, and undermine the rule of law itself.
The response to this moment must be non-violent, deliberate, and disciplined. That is the work now underway in Madison, Wisconsin. [Check out our coalition: Building Unity for Non-Violent Action at tinyurl.com/BU4NVA-Info-Page]
A CALL TO THE COMMUNITY: ORGANIZED, TRAINED, NON-VIOLENT RESISTANCE
Community members, faith leaders, peace and justice advocates, and immigrant-support organizations are coming together to form a unified coalition committed to trained non-violent resistance to ICE incursions in our city.
Non-violence is not passivity. It is not chaos. It is not spontaneous outrage.
Non-violence is a strategy—one refined through history, from the civil-rights movement to labor struggles to democratic resistance movements around the world. It is disciplined. It is prepared. It is public. And it works.
Our commitment is simple and serious:
- We will organize and train together.
- We will show up calmly, visibly, and in numbers.
- We will sit and even sing when appropriate.
- We will not provoke, escalate, or resist arrest.
- We will place our bodies in the way of injustice.
Every minute federal agents spend processing peaceful citizens is a minute not spent terrorizing families. Every act of non-violent resistance exposes the difference between legitimate policing and coercive federal enforcement.
This is how unjust systems are stressed—lawfully, morally, and publicly.
A DIRECT ASK OF LOCAL POLICE: STAND AS OUR GUARDIANS
This moment also requires leadership from police chiefs in our county and our elected county sheriff.
Our local police are not federal immigration agents. Immigration enforcement is a federal civil matter. Local policing is different by design, oath of office and the policing code of ethics.
Police swear to uphold our Constitution, protect life, and defend the rights of all persons within their jurisdiction. That oath does not disappear when the badge in question is federal.
We are asking local police leaders to publicly affirm (and act on) three essential principles:
1. Non-Participation
They will not participate in federal immigration enforcement activities, raids, or detentions that lack judicial warrants, transparency, or clear legal authority.
2. Duty to Intervene
They will intervene and report when any agent—local, state, or federal—uses excessive force, conducts unlawful detention, or violates constitutional rights. The duty to intervene does not stop at agency lines.
3. Protection of All Residents
They will protect every person within their jurisdiction, regardless of immigration status. Constitutional rights apply to persons, not just citizens.
These principles are not radical. They are orthodox ethics of policing a free, democratic and diverse society. They are consistent with our nation’s constitutional law, professional standards, and decades of trust-building, community-policing practice.
WHY THIS MATTERS
Fear is corrosive. When people are afraid to call 911, cooperate with investigations, or report crimes, everyone is less safe. That is not ideology—it is an operational reality.
Federal authorities today are relying on fear and the threat of funding retaliation to keep local leaders silent. But silence is not neutrality. Silence is complicity. And history shows that staying quiet does not provide protection—it merely delays harm. If our local institutions fail to stand now, they will be weakened later.
STANDING TOGETHER
This is not a call to chaos. It is a call to order rooted in law. It is not a call to defy police. It is a call to support police leadership that honors their oath. It is not a call to violence. It is a call to courage with discipline.
Community members and police leaders do not stand on opposite sides here. When done right, this is a call for all of us to stand together—guarding the Constitution, protecting our neighbors, and showing the country what democracy looks like and how it acts.
Your city can model this. Calmly. Lawfully. Non-violently.
Our city. Our standards!
Now is the time.
Improving Police: A Necessary Conversation 