“I wish you weren’t here. I wish we didn’t have to do this,” Professor of History Emeritus and Vice Chair of Oberlin Community Supporting Immigrants Steven Volk began his address to a room of over 100 people Wednesday night.

For over an hour, attendees from multiple towns across Northeast Ohio convened at the Oberlin Public Library for “Know Your Rights, Know Your Risks,” a training aimed at preparing community members for the growing possibility that immigration enforcement agents might turn their attention to the region. This meant reviewing the constitutional rights that every person holds, as well as discussing how to organize and protest safely in the event that Oberlin does see an influx of Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents.

The event, organized by Oberlin Community Supporting Immigrants in partnership with Lorain County Rising, was not the first of its kind. But following the recent explosion of ICE activity in Minneapolis, and the threat of a potential ICE operation in Springfield, OH, the organizers scheduled this event in response to the new and heightened urgency.

“If [people] don’t know what their rights are, they can’t defend them, regardless of whether law enforcement and immigration enforcement pays attention to them,” Volk said. “It’s critically important to know that you do have free speech rights, that you do have the right to silence, that you do have the right not to open your door, et cetera.”

Wednesday’s event is part of a larger effort by OCSI and other organizations to prepare for local immigration enforcement. This includes the creation of a rapid response network to facilitate communication around the tracking of ICE activity in Lorain County neighborhoods.

Concerns about an ICE escalation in Ohio have increased in recent weeks as the Trump administration has discussed a crackdown on Haitian immigrants living in the state.

Last year, Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem terminated Temporary Protected Status for Haiti, meaning that an estimated 330,000–350,000 Haitian immigrants in the U.S. were set to lose their legal status Feb. 3. As the deadline began to loom near, Ohio Governor Mike DeWine warned of a possible influx of ICE agents in Springfield, OH, where an estimated 12,000 to 20,000 Haitians live. On Feb. 2, U.S. District Judge Ana C. Reyes of the District of Columbia indefinitely extended the Temporary Protection Status for Haitian immigrants in the United States that was set to expire. Reyes’ ruling, which is “pending judicial review,” leaves the termination of TPS “null, void, and of no effect.” 

“Kristi Noem has a First Amendment right to call immigrants killers, leeches, entitlement junkies, and any other inapt name she wants,” Judge Reyes wrote in the conclusion of her ruling. “Secretary Noem, however, is constrained by both our Constitution and the [American Procedure Act] to apply faithfully the facts to the law in implementing the TPS program. The record to-date shows she has yet to do that.”

Activist groups throughout Ohio have been preparing for weeks for ICE’s potential descent on Springfield and surrounding areas. Although the extension of TPS has temporarily assuaged fears of immediate deportation and ICE activity in Springfield, groups like OCSI have ramped up their programming and resources in recent weeks. 

“Oberlin, as a sort of blue bubble in Ohio, is on a lot of radar screens,” Volk said. “It’s a target. So it’s not impossible that they would want to make a point coming here. Does that make it likely, more likely, or less likely? I don’t know. Generally speaking, ICE and immigration enforcement seems to like spectacle, and you don’t get spectacle when you arrest three people here and two people there. They like the big show. So that makes it less likely that they would expend resources here. But symbolically, it’s always possible.”

In Wednesday’s training, to ensure community members are prepared for ICE activity hyperlocally, Volk reviewed the City of Oberlin’s ordinances related to law enforcement and ICE, which state that Oberlin police officers cannot sign 287(g) agreements. These agreements establish a partnership between ICE and local law enforcement, in which police officers can carry out the tasks and duties of ICE officers. A 2017 City ordinance states that, “the City of Oberlin will not avail itself of the opportunity to participate in the Delegation of Immigration Authority provided through Section 287(g) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (1996).” 

In response to a question posed by a student in attendance at the training, Volk also clarified that campus buildings are private spaces, which  ICE agents cannot enter without explicit consent or a judicial warrant.

In the aftermath of violent ICE activity in Minneapolis, nonviolent protestors have swelled the City’s streets by the thousands. Seeing such a strong response has reinvigorated community organizations like OCSI, which are seeing a marked increase in attendance and participation. 

“In my perspective, Minneapolis changed everything,” Volk said. “The administration is backing off of Minneapolis, which means that we won. I mean, they’re not going away. … They will still round up and arrest and do violence and whatnot. But it showed the power of nonviolent, peaceful resistance, block by block, neighborhood by neighborhood. That was terrifically important. So people need to know both the power of resistance and the challenges that it faces.”

Professor and Chair of Comparative American Studies Gina Pérez has been on the board of OCSI since its inception in 2021. Pérez reiterated the cruciality of active engagement in multiple communities through nonviolent organizing and protesting.

“I think we can get really bogged down in focusing on the negative, and just the chaos and spectacle of it, but we also need to think about what are the moments of success,” she said. “So Liam Ramos being released with his father, that’s a success, and it comes out of incredible organizing people, protesting people, working on so many different levels, legal, social, and faith-based responses, and to see how that can also result in small events.”

“Know Your Rights, Know Your Risks” was the first in a month of events related to immigration in Oberlin. Earlier today, the Oberlin chapter of the Ohio Students Association hosted a teach-in on how students can stand in solidarity with anti-ICE organizers around the nation. On Tuesday, President Carmen Twillie Ambar and Josh Nolan, the vice president, general counsel, and secretary of the College, are hosting “Conversations with Counsel: Update on Immigration Actions.” OCSI will be conducting another “Know Your Rights, Know Your Risks” presentation on Feb. 12.