The Know Your Rights Red Cards were created to help people, including the immigrant population, assert their constitutional rights. Photo: RedCardOrders.com

This story is the first in CityBeat’s “ICE Age” series about the Trump administration’s crackdown on community members who are undocumented.
Newly inaugurated President Donald Trump has unleashed a slew of executive orders that seek to make good on his campaign’s most ominous promise: to carry out the “largest deportation in the history of our country.”

Agents with Immigration and Customs Enforcement, known as ICE, have detained at least 4,500 people across the country since the Trump administration’s crackdown, according to publicity from ICE on X. Most of those arrests are coming out of cities like Chicago, New York, Los Angeles, San Diego, Philadelphia, Phoenix, Denver, Miami, Atlanta and various cities across Texas, according to NBC News. The outlet compiled a list reflecting both confirmed ICE operations from officials and videos of arrests not yet confirmed by ICE officials.

Arrests have started popping up in parts of Ohio, including more than 50 arrests in Geauga County and six in Cleveland Heights, according to Axios.

ICE did not respond to CityBeat’s request for information on operations happening in the Greater Cincinnati area. There has been no verified evidence of targeted ICE raids in Greater Cincinnati yet, but speculation over ICE operations in and around the Queen City has already begun popping up on social media.

“ICE was spotted in Delhi today at the delshire apartments,” someone posted to a local Facebook group on Jan. 30.

“ICE WAS SPOTTED IN READING OHIO,” said another Facebook user on Jan. 29.

But the alleged ICE spotting that gained the most traction in recent days was a rumor that agents are staying in Northern Kentucky and planning a “raid” of two major warehouses.

“ICE agents spotted in a hotel in Newport, KY staging for raids in the area targeting major workplaces likely including DHL and Amazon,” reads a post shared over 100 times on Facebook.

CityBeat viewed several different versions of this same warning shared across varying social media platforms between Jan. 26 and Jan. 31; some posts differed in where they allege ICE agents were staying ahead of the alleged raids. CityBeat asked Amazon KCVG Teamsters, the labor organizers working to unionize Amazon’s KCVG facility in Hebron, Kentucky, to respond to these social media reports.

“Yes, we have heard reports and are monitoring the situation,” a spokesperson for the union said.

Amazon corporate officials did not respond to CityBeat’s request for comment by press time.

Sharing information
CityBeat spoke with immigration advocates about social media reports like these, asking what people should keep in mind while posting about potential ICE sightings.

Lynn Tramonte is the director of the Ohio Immigrant Alliance. She told CityBeat these social media posts aren’t always correct, but that it’s important to share what you see.

“I do think it’s important to document what’s happening around the state,” Tramonte said. “I just want to make sure we’re spreading good information that’s accurate and not third-hand information. There’s been a lot of incorrect statements I’ve seen online that are declared as fact, and then there’s been a lot of very accurate information that clearly somebody knew the person involved. […] It’s helpful for people to report ICE sightings, particularly if they can share photos and specific times and specific locations.”

Samantha Searls is the Immigration Justice program director at Ignite Peace, a Cincinnati-based social services organization. She told CityBeat that some members of the immigrant community have told her the warning posts on social media are helpful and appreciated.

“I was talking with some leaders from the immigrant community last night about the ability for families to make decisions in regards to their safety and what’s best for them, and so they have appreciated [the tips],” Searls said. “Just so they can make educational decisions about where to go, so that they can be empowered as much as they can to protect themselves.”

Spotting ICE, teaching procedures
But spotting ICE agents can be difficult – they’re not always obvious.

“It’s complicated, because sometimes ICE doesn’t wear the identifying clothes,” Searls said. “Sometimes it says police or sometimes they’re in plain clothes. I believe that some people have been mistaking, like, service vans and vehicles as ICE. But, it’s important to write down what people think they saw, just in case something did happen and people were detained.”

“ICE comes in unmarked cars, typically,” Tramonte said. “The way you can tell who they are is because they are these overblown, tough-looking guys with vests on and guns – usually their vests say police instead of ICE. Sometimes it says police and ICE. That’s how people identify that it’s ICE when they see agents traveling in a pack.”

Tramonte and Searls told CityBeat how advocates are educating residents on ways to prepare themselves and family members for encounters with ICE agents.

“If you’re an immigrant and ICE approaches you, you can ask them who they are and they are supposed to tell you that they’re ICE,” Searls said. “It’s also important for folks to know that ICE cannot detain you unless you have a warrant signed by a judge with a specific name on it. Often ICE ends up detaining people because they willingly share information in what seems like a casual conversation. So it’s really important for people to invoke their right to remain silent.”

“The only warrant that people are required to open the door for is one issued by a judge, but ICE is very tricky,” Tramonte added. “They create their own warrants and bring them and then they tell people, ‘We have a warrant.’ And then they’ll say things like, ‘We just want to talk to [name], that’s all.’ Once you open the door to law enforcement, you’ve given them entry to your house. And even if they say they’re just looking for me, they can question my daughter, they can question my friend, they can question, you know, anybody, but we always have the right to remain silent.”

Trump was reportedly “disappointed” with the number of arrests so far, according to The Washington Post, prompting the administration to set quotas for ICE agents of at least 75 arrests per day.

“In Ohio, this is what’s happening. They are asking anybody that they come across while looking for this quote-unquote person on their list to show their papers, and then they’re taking them in because they have a quota,” Tramonte said. “They’re literally sweeping the area and arresting people. It’s definitely quantity over quality.”

Red cards
Remembering your rights, knowing what to say or what not to say – it can all be difficult to remember in the face of a distressing ICE encounter. That’s why advocates for immigrant communities are distributing informational cards, known as red cards.

“There is a really great resource that is colloquially known as red cards that people can carry on their person,” Searls said. “If they come in contact with ICE they can give them this red business card and it asserts their right to remain silent and also demands to see a warrant.”

Red cards can vary with their language across organizations, but they generally list basic rights for immigrants to know in the event of an ICE or law enforcement encounter. Ohio Immigrant Alliance has a website called OhioisHome.org that links to options to order red cards or download a printable version in one of 16 languages.

The card also gives holders a script of what to say if questioned by ICE:

I do not wish to speak with you, answer your questions, or sign or hand you any documents based on my 5th Amendment rights under the United States Constitution.

I do not give you permission to enter my home based on my 4th Amendment rights under the United States Constitution unless you have a warrant to enter, signed by a judge or magistrate with my name on it that you slide under the door.

I do not give you permission to search any of my belongings based on my 4th Amendment rights.

I choose to exercise my constitutional rights.

Searls said these cards have been widespread across immigrant communities, but now they’re more helpful than ever.

“We’ve been hearing reports already from other locations around the country that it’s working when people stand up for their rights,” Searls said. “They are protected because there are certain rules that ICE has to follow, however they can sweep anybody up if they admit that they’re here without papers or even that they’re here from another country. So it’s really important that people remain strong in such a scary moment to assert their right to stay silent.”

How advocates encourage you to help
Beyond sharing detailed information about ICE sightings on social media, Searls said there are options for people who want to help community members who could face deportation. Donations to Ignite Peace will help to fund the organization’s rapid response team, which provides rapid assistance to families affected by deportation, including basic necessities and legal aid.

If you’re unable to make financial contributions, the Ohio Immigrant Alliance has set up a hotline for both reporting possible ICE sightings and connecting with volunteer opportunities.

“People can email the hotline if they aren’t sure how to get involved and we will try to help connect them. So we’re using that hotline as a very broad way for people to report what is happening,” Tramonte said. “The best way to get involved is locally. You’ll have the most impact. And there’s such a need. There’s so many things people can do. There’s driving, there’s accompaniment to ICE check-ins and [United States Citizenship and Immigration Services] appointments at court hearings.”

Shifting the tone
New White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters on Jan. 28 that the Trump administration sees all undocumented immigrants as “criminals,” even if they’ve never committed any crime in the United States.

“I know the last administration didn’t see it that way, so it’s a big culture shift in our nation to view someone who breaks our immigration laws as a criminal, but that’s exactly what they are,” Leavitt told reporters.

Asked by a reporter how many of the immigrants recently detained by ICE have criminal records, Leavitt said, “All of them. Because they illegally broke our nation’s laws.”

But entering and residing in the country illegally is not technically a crime — it’s a civil violation.

“All of the people that are in ICE jail or ICE custody are being held on civil immigration charges, not criminal charges,” Tramonte said.

Beyond financial donations and acts of service, advocates say it’s important to shift the narrative on immigrants, who studies show are less likely to commit crimes than native-born residents.

“People who want to help, speak up and to push back against these harmful narratives,” Searls said. “We’re being drowned out right now, and we all have a responsibility to stand up for each other, because our freedoms are tied in with one another, and the over policing of the immigrant community is also terrorizing other vulnerable communities, so it’s important to speak up for each other right now.”

Follow CityBeat’s staff news writer Madeline Fening on Instagram. Got a news tip? Email mfening@citybeat.com.

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This article appears in Jan 22 – Feb 4, 2025.