Grassroots rapid response networks like GTFO ICE (Get the Facilities Out) can effectively stop the expansion of detention infrastructure by combining data journalism (Project Salt Box tracking warehouse purchases and proposed facilities), public awareness campaigns (Save America Movement raising consciousness about ICE policies), and sustained community action (Worker Circle's freedom vigils), which together create a coordinated infrastructure that allows communities to act before detention facilities are built, making the invisible visible and building coalitions across political divides to pressure authorities to halt harmful projects.
Deep Dive
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Deep Dive
GTFO ICE Fights Secret ICE Prison ExpansionAdded:
Hello, hello, hello everyone and welcome to our first GTFO ICE national call. I'm Xander Schultz, I'm the co-founder of defiance.org.
Uh, for those who are new here, welcome.
Defiance is a grassroots action network built to answer a simple question a lot of people are asking right now. What can I do? What can I do about rising authoritarianism rising fascism in America.
We're all sick of posting about it. We don't want to doomscroll anymore. And so what can I actually do? So we we launched defiance.org to answer that question. Um, every day we cover the news live. We work with organizers and frontline groups across the country and help build campaigns designed to push back against Trump's authoritarianism in real ways.
And when we see a threat growing faster than the response around it, we try to help build infrastructure to meet that moment. And so that's a big reason why we launched GTFO ICE.
Take a look.
>> America.
>> For months now, ICE has been quietly buying warehouses around the country.
[music] >> Neighbors go missing.
>> Close to 75,000 people arrested by ICE had no criminal record.
>> People go in, sleeping on the floor, little [music] to no food, and profit comes out.
>> CoreCivic and GEO Group are cashing in on mass deportations.
>> But we can stop it.
Before it starts.
>> GTFO ICE is a nationwide rapid response network to stop ICE prison camps.
>> We know the playbook.
>> Rumors of an ICE detention facility are being met with [music] some big pushback.
>> Public debate erupted over the proposed facility.
>> So we built the network. [music] Let's use this data to alert Americans about these facilities to crowd cancel them.
To show up >> Hundreds of people pouring out of the Surprise City [music] Council meeting.
>> To shut it down.
>> ICE detention center has been scrapped.
>> And to [music] say >> to ICE, get the out.
>> All right. Well, what you just saw is why this call exists because communities across this country are being forced to play catch-up while detention infrastructure quietly moves into place around them. And by the time many people hear about these projects, contracts are signed, plans are approved, and momentum is already building. So, GTFO ICE is built around one core idea, earlier action creates better odds at stopping these facilities before they open.
Right now, we're working with organizers and communities where detention projects are are already being proposed or developed. And if you're in one of those regions, you'll hear from us soon with information about local partners, actions, and ways to plug into the fight directly.
But we also knew these local battles needed national coordination because people around the country have been asking how they can help, where pressure is needed, what actions matter most.
That's what these calls are for. So, tonight you'll hear from our GTFO ICE partners, get updates from organizers on the ground, and leave with your first concrete action as part of this rapid response network.
Uh so, first thing's first cuz it's the first call, I want to take some time to walk through some of the coalition partners that are helping make this network possible. And first, I want to highlight a group that could not join us tonight but has become an essential part of this effort, and that's Project Salt Box.
Project Salt Box is an all-volunteer team of data journalists and researchers tracking ICE expansion efforts across the country. They've built one of the most important tools in this fight. It It It truly is. It's an incredible accomplishment what they've built. It's a live tracker following warehouse purchases and proposed detention facilities tied to ICE expansion. Their work tracks ownership records, contracts, operating cost, facility status, litigation, and local resistance efforts. In many ways, they are the intelligence and research backbone behind GTFOIs. They're a huge reason we're able to stay ahead of DHS activity and identify projects before most communities even know they exist.
Their reporting is free, it's public, and it's deeply sourced. You can follow their work at projectsaltbox.com and tracker.
projectsaltbox.com if you want to see the the tracker asset that's up on the screen here.
Um and if you know of a proposed facility in your area, you can be part of the group that helps them uh understand when facilities are are about to come online. Uh or if you have records or tips to share, you can contact them directly at [email protected].
All right. Next up, our other coalition partner I want to bring on Mary Corcoran. She's the executive director of the Save America Movement.
Mary, thank you for being here.
>> Hello.
>> Hey.
>> Can you hear me?
>> There we go. We got your audio.
>> I can't hear you, um unfortunately.
>> Oh, no.
>> reason.
>> Oh, no.
>> You can hear me, but I can't hear you.
>> How about now?
>> Mhm.
>> Nothing?
How about now?
>> So, that's a bummer.
Um I'm so sorry cuz that's a technical difficulty we seem to be having. Um so, what I'm going to do is just talk a little bit about the Save America Movement and like what we have been doing and how we've been partnering with Defiance cuz you always got to roll through the tech difficulties. Um so, I'm Mary Corcoran. I'm the co-founder of the Save America Movement with um Steve Schmidt. We are so honored to have been a part of this um of of this program, Get the Facilities Out with um with Defiance um and with Project um Salt Box um I think that um uh Xander talked a little bit about the work that we've been doing, but I know that just to give you guys a little bit of background on the Save America movement. Um in a nutshell, we exist to defeat MAGA, wipe it off the face of the American um landscape, and look forward to building a more sustainable democracy moving forward. And the primary primary way that we do that is by raising the consciousness and stirring the conscience of the American public as to the impact of the Trump administration's um policies on everyday Americans um and both here and abroad. So, that's our purpose, and we've been involved in the ICE fight uh for a long time. Uh we started out in Los Angeles um and we've been um working in communities on ICE issues and telling the stories of people that have been impacted by ICE communities um and every aspect of it um from the really you know the the violent elements to it, but to the impacts on individual families, small businesses, education systems, schools, etc. Um we've had um we've we've been active and operated over the last year in Los Angeles, Chicago, Charlotte, Minneapolis. We went back to Los Angeles um and that currently we're actually in New York. As it relates to the detention centers, which is what we're talking about today, um you know, one of the things that um when I was talking to Xander and Miles about this when we decided to do this partnership, um you know, we had been um we started working on the detention center issue to raise um awareness around this amongst the American public so people would move to action because we felt like this was a really undertold story and people weren't nearly as um as riled up about it as they should be given that this was happening in our backyard. So, our goal from the beginning was where these detention centers were being set up, where the warehouses were being bought, um and where people were being um housed and mistreated, that we wanted to ensure that nobody in those local communities could ever say that they didn't know what was happening in their backyard.
That was kind of the the the insight.
So, we started in Social Circle Georgia.
We activated with Defiance um in Arizona in Marana and Surprise, Arizona. Um and now we are so happy to be partnering um as we move forward with the program um etc. >> Mary, can you hear me?
>> I still can't hear you. Um so, I'll just say a couple more comments and then I'll let you guys go cuz I don't want to be a one one-woman band here. It's not very like fun for folks, but just to say that um I do have um you know, while there's a lot to be up to be really angry about, um and there's a lot um that could bring us down every day, I have a tremendous amount of hope that we are going to come through this period of American history um and we will, you know, survive and eventually thrive and it's because of um the power of the people. It's that's one of the reasons why the Save America movement exists is that it was from the realization that the only people that were going to save us was us. Um you know, we there's no one coming to save us. So, we have to be the people that save us.
Um so, it's through the power of of of citizens in the United States that we're going to come through this and I do believe that um Americans ultimately have more of them have a strong moral compass than don't and anyone who hears the information coming out of these detention centers, including in Dilley, and we'll play a video on that in just a moment, um you know, no one with any sort of moral compass could possibly say that what is happening there, you know, whether the Republican, Democrat, Independent, or apolitical can say that these things are okay or in line with American um or or any sort of moral values or compass. So, I believe that people at the end of the day are good and we because of that we will defeat this.
In the work that we did in Surprise and and Marana, we worked with um with with several partners and I wanted to play one of the videos with representative Grijalva. She partnered with us in Arizona and with with what the comments that she had around Dilly where we're also planning to be activated moving forward. And then I'll stop talking because I know it's awkward cuz we can't have a conversation.
Does that sound good, Sandra?
>> Dilly is, you know, what the only location in the nation where families can be housed together. Well, really moms and their children or dads and their sons. They can be housed together at that facility and that one is heartbreaking in a level that I I mean, I cuz you're I that was the first time that I could really have conversations with multiple families.
And and that is something that will forever change me.
And then, you know, when I go to this one at Florence, it I couldn't talk to anyone because they're behind glass. And you know, the the dehumanization is something that, you know, they in the terminology and the way they address people that are there. But also we have to remember that 91% of people that are detained right now are being detained in privately operated facilities.
And that is where you have to follow the money. And then we have to look at the documented widespread use of force in detention centers with guards that have increasingly used chemical agents, physical tactics on detainees including groups demanding, you know, they're just demanding adequate water, food, and medical care.
>> All right, Mary.
>> Now I can hear you.
>> No way.
You got us through it anyways. It's all right. You're a real pro. I appreciate you so much. Thank you for guiding us through what you're doing. I will never forget you bringing me aside at State of the Swamp, I think it was 4 months ago.
>> Yeah.
>> And it's so easy in this work, there's so much happening to for it to all kind of feel normal.
And I remember you looking me in your eyes and you said, "This could very well be the most important work we ever do in our lives. It's fighting these this construction of this prison camp network." And I believed you. You got me fired up. I think we were always at Defiance going to fund work like that, going to work with the organizers and whatnot. But I think the once I understood what you all had learned in Marana and Surprise and and Social Circle about the need to get involved earlier in these fights, use bureaucratic interventions when they're most available to you, um, and and looking around and seeing that there was room for for a new effort to be built for that goal, um, anyway, I I I thank you so much for allowing us the opportunity to be your partner in this work and do this work together cuz I agree. We may look back and say this was maybe the most important piece of work we've ever been a part of.
>> Yeah, I mean, cuz if this if these things are allowed to go on unabated, what is the society that we are going to be living in? What is the reality of that? Um, we can't accept that. We cannot accept that as Americans. And what's going on with the detention centers is and and and the spread of them and the growth of them and it's it's antithetical to everything America is supposed to be about. Um, so I do think it could and very well be the most important work that we've any of us will have ever do in our lives, um, stopping these detention centers from being built and pulling back the ones that are already in motion and detaining people and abusing people, um, and all the terrible things that are happening right now. So, I thank you so much and I'm sorry that I talked I I'm sorry that I we had technical difficulties, but hopefully, um, >> This is it.
>> This is new media, baby. We just roll with it. It's all good. Thank you, Mary.
I appreciate you so much.
>> It's my pleasure.
>> Have a nice night.
>> Okay.
Bye.
>> All right. So, let's get into the core of tonight's program because GTFO ice is not supposed to be a passive information network. It's supposed to be an action network. And tonight, we want to introduce all of you to a strategy that's already started producing real results on the ground. Joining us tonight are leaders from Worker Circle, one of the organizations helping lead freedom vigils across the country. These vigils have become a major point of pressure against detention facilities, including at Alca Alligator Alcatraz, which now appears to be on its way towards shutting down.
Joining us is Noelle De Miko, director of social justice uh so social justice at Worker Circle. Noelle has spent more than three decades organizing for human rights and also teaches political advocacy at NYU.
We're also joined by Arianna Betancourt, a South Florida organizer with Worker Circle, who turned her own family's experience into action after her father was detained at Alligator Alcatraz.
Noelle and Arianna, thank you thank you thank you for being here with us today.
>> You're so welcome. It's really a pleasure to be with you all.
>> It's always great to be back.
>> Uh you guys are starting to feel like family. I I We've had you on a a few times now and now I'm like texting with both you on a weekly basis. So, so it's so nice to see your faces again.
Um I want to start Noelle with you.
Uh for people hearing about these freedom vigils for the first time, what are they? What what are these freedom vigils and why did Worker Circle launch them back in August?
>> Freedom vigils, Sander, is a very basic concept of taking an an an way of gathering that is similar to but also a little different from a protest. And through that, bringing people publicly together in opposition to these horrible detention centers, to the sites where local sheriffs are collaborating with ICE. It might be county jails, and to centers of power that have decision-making capability. And so, we started these vigils out at Alligator Alcatraz back in August of last year. We knew we couldn't stop Alligator Alcatraz from being built on protected Everglades land, Miccosukee land in the middle of the Everglades, but we felt it important to get out there, to be consistent in denouncing what was going on, and to not let up one moment. So, one of the very simple concepts is get out there, be public, be consistent, and build the broadest possible coalition to sustain these vigils over time.
>> And they started at Alligator Alcatraz, but these vigils uh have now spread and they are national.
What do you think has made this strategy so effective?
>> Well, they we're in week 44 at Alligator Alcatraz, and it's pretty crazy to think about, but anywhere from 100 to 200 people gather there every Sunday. And as people heard about the vigil elsewhere in the country, we said, "Well, you can start your own vigil. We'll help you."
So, everywhere from uh different parts in Florida began. There's uh one at What we're looking at right now is Pinellas County in Florida. That's uh they started a vigil there, in um Orlando, uh in Pompano Beach.
Uh, here's the one in Chantilly, Virginia. That one started with a small group of people from a local congregation. There were about five to seven people at their first vigil. Their next vigil had 50. And so, people are figuring out that they can really do this themselves. We offer help to people to get off the ground. A lot of people are like, "Well, I don't really know how to start a vigil. Where is it okay to do a vigil? How do I reach out to people in my community?" And we help you get started and we support you every step of the way.
>> I mean, that that that stood out to me.
When we were chatting earlier, that really stood out to me. I I know a theory of change we have at Defiance is that people actually really want to get involved. They're just looking for instruction. And not only do you all do calls like this where you provide, you know, an overview of of what's going on.
Worker Circle actually will provide one-on-one calls for people that want to start these free freedom vigils and support them and just getting off the ground as it I I that's a huge barrier for for even me who's so involved in this work. When I'm asked to do a new action, hey, can someone just walk me through exactly how to do this right? I don't want to mess it up. I want to be effective. And it so cool that you offer support all the way down to that one-on-one level for folks who are starting their own freedom vigils.
>> We do. We offer the one-on-one to discern, is building a freedom vigil for you? What do you need? To whom will you outreach? We start right at the ground.
Where's it going to happen? Do you have public access? We'll take you through those things. And then, we'll invite you to be part of our vigil community of practice. And that's where people who are holding vigils all across the country come to share their best practices, also to troubleshoot. Oh, what do I do about that annoying protester that keeps, you know, interrupting our vigils? How do I handle that? Well, and then we crowd source and we see, how did you handle that? But most of all, this is what local people are doing. Their creativity, their initiative, and we just help you all along.
>> Mhm. You guys are such pros, by the way, with the matching backgrounds over there.
>> [laughter] >> You guys you crush it. Arianna, I want to flip to you. This is uh This is uh you all are such a your story is such a um validation of the strategy on every level. Your father was detained at Alligator Alcatraz. Uh and you came to this work as an impacted person. Can you talk about what those early weeks were were like for you and your family after your father was detained, and how you eventually became involved in this movement yourself?
>> I think on the first day that I went to the vigil, I um met with Noel, and I I was like, "How can I help? How can I do more?"
And I think that was uh shocking to a lot of people, because instead of me asking for help, I was figuring out ways for me to help, because I figured these movements are already in place, so I have to figure out how I can I can add to them.
Um and and I just I don't I and I it kind of just happened so naturally that it took my dad being released and me sitting at home for like the last 6 months to really hit me on how active I've been.
I I was just like, "Okay."
Because from the very beginning, I believed in what we were doing. I I got to the vigils, and I and I kind of understood I saw the vision. I I understood the bigger picture.
I understood that this wasn't just a a protest. Um you know, it was an actual just consolidation of efforts, and you don't you we didn't have to look for each other to find the resources. Like everyone who's there week per week is there willingly.
And and you know, they want to help, and they want to share resources and it's become a just like a tight-knit like family.
Having my dad at the the vigil last weekend was he was he was in shock the whole time.
He was just there and he was looking around and everyone was so happy and he was like these people are actually happy that I'm home that I'm free and I was just like, "Yeah, people care."
And then he was like >> I love I love that he was there with you guys. I love that he it's this it can feel intimidating going up against your federal government. That's the opponent in this moment is our federal government with all the resources of a federal government and this particular administration's cruelty. To see your progress all right, and your both your leadership and your progress that you made. You have a couple huge wins to report on. You kind of winked at it already. Your dad has since come home and Alligator Alcatraz is planned for closure.
Can you talk about kind of that journey, the role like you leading you becoming part of the leadership group of these vigils and the role you think the vigils played in those outcomes?
I I can't even it doesn't feel real. I feel like I before I officially became a Worker Circle employee I was already just figuring out ways to to help grow the vigils before I was even work for me. Like it became like a like a personal mission to bring awareness to the vigils and try to bring more more people out and a lot of people didn't believe in what I was doing and a lot of people told me it was crazy that Alligator Alcatraz would not be shut down that people standing there every Sunday wasn't going to work that I was just a crazy hippie or a crazy liberal. Like I I mean I heard all of it.
And then when the news started coming in >> [clears throat] >> that Alligator Alcatraz was going to be shut down um I I cried. I instantly cried and I know I called Noel and I was like, this is like I was like once we shut this one down we have like we're going to like onto the next one and onto the next one and the next one and the next one. I was just like this is just I'm like I know it's a big win but I'm treating it as a small win because I want to just keep I want to keep going.
We want to you know, expand these vigils bring more awareness to these detention centers and kind of just replicate what we've done at Alligator Alcatraz and make sure that it we shut it down on all ends, not just one.
>> Uh, I cried. I was alone on an airplane when you text me that this happened and [laughter] I cried next to strangers on the airplane when you text me, you know, the the dual news of you being reunited with your dad and the success you were having in that fight. Noel, you know, you're you're you're a strategist here.
What do you think if you're going to do a, you know, postmortem on why these vigils were so important at Alligator Alcatraz? What role do you think they played in that particular fight and what should we be replicating?
>> Absolutely. The possibly the single most important thing that these vigils did was bring together people whose loved ones were detained and everybody else.
And they made it very clear that we were going to fight this together. And from bringing together those two communities who this Trump administration would like to be separate and in enemy stance with each other and instead bringing them together, from that came everything else. And some of the things that grew were first of all, because we were out there week after week, we built relationships with family members and also with people who were detained, which meant when horrible things were going down, which is pretty much a daily occurrence in Alligator Alcatraz, there was a place that people could go.
They'd call Arianna, they'd text me, and we'd get stories up and out into the news. And you know, the news doesn't just magically show up places. How do we get things on the news? We the people can be a bridge to that happening. So, the vigils were very important in terms of getting out the experiences of detainees and families.
They were important in terms of saying a profound public no to what was going on.
They demonstrated that people from all different backgrounds were coming together and saying, "Look, everybody deserves due process. Everybody should have their human rights respected, and we refuse to stand idly by while this is going on." The vigils further generated an empowered base of people that went back to their local communities, and they wrote op-eds. They wrote letters to the editor. They told their neighbors, and more and more and more people came.
From the vigils then, as our power built and the media was covering, we were able then to fly families up to testify in front of the Senate Judiciary Committee.
Uh we had them there at the Christine Home hearing, and then submitted testimony on the record following that hearing. And then from that came the Senator Durbin and Senator Ossoff investigation into the use of torture at Alligator Alcatraz. I could go on and on, but what the vigils did was create a constant heartbeat right outside that detention center from a group of people that refused to just turn away. We made visible what they wanted to be invisible. They built this under the cloak of night in 8 days, but we refused to stand silent as the harm ratcheted up day after day, person after person. And so these vigils actually are a strategy for healing divides. People were at this vigil that disagreed on any number of things, but could come together under our constitutional rights and say, "Whatever kind of person you are, you just you this is not a decent thing to do to another human being what's going on." So it was incredibly catalytic, it empowered people, and from vigils so much more can grow.
>> You you you said it best. You guys made the invisible visible. These make the invisible visible. Oppression often times works cuz they take small subsets of society and they put them in a corner where no one can see them and then they do horrible things to them. And you all continue you ensured there was light that was shining on this issue from the day this project started and it's so so inspiring to see the win you all got and the wins we're going to continue to get together. So let's get into actions, Noel. Let's do it. Uh first and foremost, that's what this call's about. We want you all to get involved in working with the worker circle work in these freedom vigils.
First and foremost though, if you're coming to this call because I don't know you got an invite from Safe America Movement or from defines.org or from Project Salt Box and you haven't joined gtfoice.org yet, go to gtfoice.org, sign up, you'll get alerts when a detention center springs up in your area and instructions on how to get into the fight. On top of that, Noel, we've got instructions around the freedom vigils.
For everyone watching tonight, what can people do right now to either join a freedom vigil or to help start one in their own community?
>> Well, if you want to join a freedom vigil that's already going, you can go to freedomvigil.org and you'll see a list on the join page of different vigils across the country.
Now, we have to update our page actually because we just had a big mobilization call and there are a lot more vigils starting, but whether it's Battle Creek, Michigan or it's Tallahassee, Florida, whether it's uh Speedway Slammer in Miami, or whether it's at Alligator Alcatraz, we invite you to join us.
And then, I hope from this call that some of you will be saying, "Hey, I'd like to start a vigil in my own community." And it's very easy. Right on the home page, you'll see a button that says, "I would like to start a vigil."
And we don't leave you alone in this.
Remember, the idea is this is your work.
You know your community, but we'll help you get started on this. And so, you can just sign up on the form that says, "I'd like to start a vigil in my community."
Don't worry, you're not signing your life away. This is to sign up so that we can reach out to you and have a conversation with you. It's a simple Google form and I hope you'll take a moment and and think about filling that out and maybe starting a freedom vigil in your community. The goal here for Worker Circle is with you together to build a durable local infrastructure from which we can fight forward for our democracy. And so, these are truly your vigils. It will be your creativity, your neighbors, your local leaders, whether they're clergy or lawmakers or or public school teachers, whether they're musicians or whether they're your next door neighbor. Little kids can be involved as elders have been involved as well. And so we encourage your creativity, but we'll support you every step of the way in getting started in answering questions. And then if you sign up and and are getting started, you can become part of our vigil community of practice as well.
>> Well, I want to Before I let you go, I want to read a comment from Substack. Me by the Sea says, "You two are true heroes and so amazing and inspirational.
Thank you for sharing your stories and helping everybody with a learning a path to your success." I wanted to make sure you all saw that if you're not in the comments there. Also listeners, I pasted that Google Doc link. If you're in the Substack live, you'll see the link to the Google Doc so you can sign up to start a vigil in your area. Aryan Noel, thank you. Thank you. Thank you so much for your leadership. All you've done.
Aryan, I'm with you. Let's keep the good times rolling. Let's keep shutting down these prison camps. You know, Defiance, Save America Movement, Project Salt Box, and the whole GTFO ICE network is here to support you all on your journey. So thank you. Thank you so much.
>> Thanks for having us.
>> Cheers. Cheers, gang. All right. That's That's it. These aren't meant to be long. They're meant to be your action steps. You know, what we hope to do these once every couple weeks for the GTFO ICE network and for our broader networks at Defiance, at Project Salt Box, at Save America Movement.
Defiance.org is also going to Miles and I hopefully are going to find one of these vigils coming up here in the next couple of weeks and be involved ourselves at an activation.
Um Thank you. Thank you for your commitment to a just and fair system.
Thank you for your commitment, more importantly and most importantly, to your neighbors, to your vulnerable neighbors who need you to take aggressive steps, strong steps, take action on behalf of them. They need us in this moment and we will get past this if we work together. So thank you so much and I hope you all have a wonderful night and you'll be hearing from us soon.
See you.
>> [music] [music]
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