Latest / The Real News Podcast / ICE Brings Terror and Violence to Maryland

Transcript

ICE Brings Terror and Violence to Maryland · The Real News Podcast

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Breaking story in Frederick.
• 0:01
  Speaker 2: We have been told that ICE agents have been camped
• 0:04
  Speaker 2: out in the Tasker's Chance neighborhood.
• 0:07
  Speaker 3: Neighbors say ICE has made a move on one home
• 0:10
  Speaker 3: under the cover of night.
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: That's exactly what you are seeing right now.
• 0:14
  Speaker 2: There are protesters next to me. There are protesters across
• 0:17
  Speaker 2: the street. And then I turned to this car and
• 0:21
  Speaker 2: it was like right here. And then I heard out
• 0:23
  Speaker 2: of the side, the siren go off and I turned
• 0:27
  Speaker 2: and here's this car that coming at me from, you know,
• 0:31
  Speaker 2: on the sidewalk.
• 0:32
  Speaker 3: By Friday night, protesters were chanting on the sidewalk, also
• 0:35
  Speaker 3: trying to block the street and a home they believed
• 0:37
  Speaker 3: ICE was targeting. That's when Santos says ICE became aggressive.
• 0:44
  Speaker 3: This video shows when an ICE officer drove up on
• 0:46
  Speaker 3: the sidewalk toward protesters. Santos and local activists Sula Kemp
• 0:51
  Speaker 3: say ICE officers became violent.
• 0:54
  Speaker 4: I'm standing here in Frederick, Maryland, just over an hour
• 0:56
  Speaker 4: west from Baltimore, and I'm standing in a quiet residential
• 1:00
  Speaker 4: neighborhood where just over a week ago, ICE agents in
• 1:04
  Speaker 4: unmarked cars swarmed this neighborhood, surrounded the house behind me.
• 1:10
  Speaker 4: ICE agents are on video beating peaceful protesters with their batons,
• 1:15
  Speaker 4: menacingly driving their cars onto the curbs, into the directions
• 1:19
  Speaker 4: of protesters. And I'm standing here with Sula, who is
• 1:23
  Speaker 4: a local resident of the area and who was here
• 1:26
  Speaker 4: the night of those events. Sula, thanks so much for
• 1:28
  Speaker 4: joining me here. Can you walk listeners through what happened
• 1:31
  Speaker 4: and what you saw that night?
• 1:33
  Speaker 1: Okay.
• 1:36
  Speaker 2: Was asked by as many people were asked to come
• 1:39
  Speaker 2: and help. So I had that time and I was
• 1:41
  Speaker 2: able to come down and I, um, you know, saw
• 1:46
  Speaker 2: different ice tables actually around this whole neighborhood. They were
• 1:49
  Speaker 2: in different pockets and locations. Um, I hadn't even come
• 1:53
  Speaker 2: to this street. I had gone to two streets down
• 1:55
  Speaker 2: and then the next street right over and you could
• 1:58
  Speaker 2: see where they were positioned. Um, and then it, You know,
• 2:04
  Speaker 2: there was also one that was driving around that seemed
• 2:08
  Speaker 2: to be sort of intimidating by chasing cars, which I
• 2:12
  Speaker 2: thought was really strange behavior because you didn't see anything
• 2:17
  Speaker 2: on the vehicle to say who it was. It didn't
• 2:19
  Speaker 2: say police. It didn't say anything. Didn't have any markings
• 2:23
  Speaker 2: on the cars. So we didn't know who they were.
• 2:26
  Speaker 2: Assumed they were ICE. And their lights were just kind
• 2:31
  Speaker 2: of on. They're just sitting in.
• 2:32
  Speaker 1: Their cars parked.
• 2:34
  Speaker 2: On the kind of on the street. So then there
• 2:38
  Speaker 2: was a call like later, I was there about three hours.
• 2:42
  Speaker 2: And then there was sort of somebody was on it.
• 2:45
  Speaker 2: I just said, you know, they need people on this
• 2:47
  Speaker 2: street specifically. So I was like, well, I'll just walk over.
• 2:51
  Speaker 2: And they said that there was one car that had
• 2:53
  Speaker 2: a spotlight on protesters. And what they were apparently trying
• 2:58
  Speaker 2: to do on this street was just line the sidewalk,
• 3:01
  Speaker 2: public space, with protesters. So that was fine. So I
• 3:05
  Speaker 2: was like, all right, let me take my phone and
• 3:08
  Speaker 2: go to the other side and get the perspective of
• 3:10
  Speaker 2: the spotlight being put onto the protesters. So I did that.
• 3:16
  Speaker 2: I first took, you know, a bit of... video from
• 3:19
  Speaker 2: this side as an observer, and then went to the
• 3:21
  Speaker 2: other side and stood there and, you know, and, um,
• 3:24
  Speaker 2: watch just cars. And then all of a sudden, um,
• 3:28
  Speaker 2: as I was standing on the sidewalk, uh, I heard
• 3:32
  Speaker 2: a siren go off, just like a few like bursts
• 3:35
  Speaker 2: of it. And I happened to turn my camera and
• 3:39
  Speaker 2: there was a car on the sidewalk coming toward me.
• 3:43
  Speaker 2: and telling me, you know, and everybody who's on the sidewalk, move, move,
• 3:47
  Speaker 2: get out of the way. You're, at some point they
• 3:50
  Speaker 2: said you're impeding a federal investigation.
• 3:52
  Speaker 4: We're talking about a car like driving up like right
• 3:55
  Speaker 4: here where we're standing.
• 3:56
  Speaker 1: Right, right.
• 3:57
  Speaker 2: On the sidewalk, like public space.
• 4:01
  Speaker 1: These are people's houses. They're driving onto people's property.
• 4:03
  Speaker 2: Well, and if you or I had done that, what
• 4:06
  Speaker 2: would have happened to us?
• 4:07
  Speaker 1: Yeah, they'd throw my ass in jail.
• 4:08
  Speaker 2: Reckless endangerment of people. And it was, it was crazy.
• 4:13
  Speaker 2: They stopped for a hot second. And I stepped, I
• 4:16
  Speaker 2: jumped onto the grass at first and then I stepped
• 4:18
  Speaker 2: back onto the sidewalk. Cause I was like, I don't
• 4:20
  Speaker 2: know what's happening. Just a natural response. I was like,
• 4:23
  Speaker 2: wait a minute. I'm on the sidewalk. So I stepped
• 4:25
  Speaker 2: back on the sidewalk and then he started really coming.
• 4:28
  Speaker 2: Like he did not stop. And he sped up toward
• 4:32
  Speaker 2: me first. And then there was a woman behind me.
• 4:34
  Speaker 2: And then there was another person, another protester that they
• 4:37
  Speaker 2: did hit and started to push with their car.
• 4:41
  Speaker 1: So you were standing like right around here?
• 4:43
  Speaker 2: I was right here. And there was a car there.
• 4:47
  Speaker 2: There's a car on the cross the street. So I
• 4:49
  Speaker 2: had my camera on this car. There were protesters next
• 4:52
  Speaker 2: to me. There were protesters across the street. And then
• 4:56
  Speaker 2: I turned to this car and it was like right here.
• 4:59
  Speaker 2: And then I heard out of the side, the siren
• 5:02
  Speaker 2: go off. And I turned and here's this car coming
• 5:06
  Speaker 2: at me from, you know, on the sidewalk. I jumped
• 5:09
  Speaker 2: over to here. He passed me. He he hit another
• 5:14
  Speaker 2: protester and then pushed that protester out of the way.
• 5:19
  Speaker 2: And then, you know, the protesters at some point have
• 5:22
  Speaker 2: been sitting down, just linked arms, sitting down, singing and
• 5:28
  Speaker 2: chanting right in the middle of the street, which is fine.
• 5:31
  Speaker 2: They can do whatever they want to.
• 5:33
  Speaker 4: Community members surrounding one of their neighbors homes to try
• 5:38
  Speaker 4: to protect them.
• 5:39
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 5:40
  Speaker 4: And then agents of the state come in and start
• 5:44
  Speaker 4: beating the hell out.
• 5:45
  Speaker 1: Of them for it.
• 5:45
  Speaker 2: Yeah. So, you know, they they they did, you know,
• 5:49
  Speaker 2: they sat in the road and then they did get
• 5:50
  Speaker 2: up and did that protection. And it's a typical thing
• 5:55
  Speaker 2: that people do to kind of blockade. But peacefully, you're
• 5:58
  Speaker 2: not they're not they didn't they didn't do anything wrong.
• 6:02
  Speaker 2: They just linked arms. You can't do much when you're
• 6:04
  Speaker 2: linked arms. And it's a whole group of people. And
• 6:08
  Speaker 2: then all of a sudden, Frederick police were coming and
• 6:10
  Speaker 2: then they started. They moved up to the porch area
• 6:15
  Speaker 2: and then started, you know, beating them up.
• 6:18
  Speaker 4: You know, you and I are standing here right now
• 6:21
  Speaker 4: on this quiet residential street. people who are watching this
• 6:25
  Speaker 4: may have only seen a small slice of this street on,
• 6:29
  Speaker 4: you know, line. What they can't see is that this
• 6:32
  Speaker 4: is like the quietest, you know, residential street you can imagine.
• 6:36
  Speaker 1: Like there's nothing happening here. You would think with.
• 6:39
  Speaker 4: All the ICE agents and vehicles that were here last week,
• 6:43
  Speaker 4: that this would be a hotbed of, you know, overrun
• 6:46
  Speaker 4: with criminals and criminal activity.
• 6:48
  Speaker 1: It's just families and houses.
• 6:49
  Speaker 2: Yeah, it's very quiet here. You can drive around here and,
• 6:53
  Speaker 2: you know, people are working, people are doing their lives,
• 6:55
  Speaker 2: and that's it. So it would be like, you know,
• 6:58
  Speaker 2: everyday storm into your everyday world in your suburban America.
• 7:05
  Speaker 2: And that's what happened. And when you look at, you know, now,
• 7:09
  Speaker 2: It's it's quiet. It's peaceful here. So they brought a
• 7:14
  Speaker 2: sense of terror and they brought a sense of unsafety. So, yeah,
• 7:18
  Speaker 2: we were the main set of protesters. They're stationed on
• 7:23
  Speaker 2: the sidewalk here right now. kind of at the stop sign.
• 7:28
  Speaker 2: There was a whole group here. And then there was
• 7:32
  Speaker 2: an ICE vehicle here. There was an ICE vehicle behind, like... Like.
• 7:37
  Speaker 1: Right behind where I'm standing.
• 7:39
  Speaker 2: Right behind where you're standing. Because they started, like, sort
• 7:44
  Speaker 2: of parading in. It looked like, you know, a little
• 7:47
  Speaker 2: ICE parade. And I'm just joking about that because it
• 7:51
  Speaker 2: was so weird. Once they got into the house... I
• 7:56
  Speaker 2: could hear up in one of the rooms them banging
• 7:59
  Speaker 2: stuff around. And another protester had asked me, like, who
• 8:02
  Speaker 2: was observing, asked me, like, do you hear that? I
• 8:06
  Speaker 2: was like, oh, yeah, because, you know, it was loud.
• 8:09
  Speaker 2: I don't know how the house was on the inside
• 8:11
  Speaker 2: when this was all done, but this was a lot.
• 8:13
  Speaker 2: And then I actually went and looked through, like, the
• 8:17
  Speaker 2: back part. They have, like, they had a shed or
• 8:21
  Speaker 2: some kind of building out in the back there. And
• 8:23
  Speaker 2: you could see these guys go into the bath and
• 8:29
  Speaker 2: they started like searching, you know, they didn't know how
• 8:31
  Speaker 2: to get open the shed or whatever. Cause it's a big,
• 8:35
  Speaker 2: it's big. But eventually they did. And it was eerie.
• 8:39
  Speaker 2: It was very eerie.
• 8:39
  Speaker 4: And it feels reminiscent of the Gestapo.
• 8:44
  Speaker 2: Because who, who bangs down the door like that? Who
• 8:49
  Speaker 2: goes through looking for whomever, you know, and they're apparently
• 8:54
  Speaker 2: they didn't take anybody. I don't understand why it all
• 9:02
  Speaker 2: happened in the first place.
• 9:03
  Speaker 1: Yeah, so all that terror for nothing?
• 9:05
  Speaker 2: All the terror for nothing.
• 9:06
  Speaker 4: How do you move on from something like this?
• 9:09
  Speaker 1: How does this community move on? How are folks responding?
• 9:13
  Speaker 2: I know right now they're collecting donations for the people
• 9:16
  Speaker 2: who were beat because they had hospital bills. And it's
• 9:22
  Speaker 2: really hard because I don't know them all personally. I
• 9:27
  Speaker 2: came because, you know, just like anybody else, we don't
• 9:30
  Speaker 2: know each other half as high. But we do see
• 9:33
  Speaker 2: something in these. So they do have like a donation
• 9:38
  Speaker 2: set up for them specifically.
• 9:40
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 9:42
  Speaker 2: I am not sure what the next steps are. I
• 9:45
  Speaker 2: know that I have personally tried to contact the attorney
• 9:49
  Speaker 2: general's office a few times. I haven't heard anything yet.
• 9:53
  Speaker 2: And I'm hoping that somebody who's above, you know, like
• 10:00
  Speaker 2: in some kind of governmental stance or something, because who
• 10:04
  Speaker 2: feels safe going to the police when you watch the
• 10:06
  Speaker 2: police stand there? There's the question. Like, I didn't report
• 10:11
  Speaker 2: anything to them, even though I had a vehicle come
• 10:14
  Speaker 2: at me on the sidewalk.
• 10:15
  Speaker 4: Right.
• 10:16
  Speaker 3: Right.
• 10:16
  Speaker 2: I doubt anybody else is really going to feel comfortable
• 10:20
  Speaker 2: or safe. And maybe that's the point. Maybe that was
• 10:22
  Speaker 2: the point, too. I don't I can't speak for that.
• 10:25
  Speaker 2: But I you know, it's just what goes in my head. Like,
• 10:28
  Speaker 2: why would I contact you to tell you what happened?
• 10:32
  Speaker 2: So I want to go higher up.
• 10:34
  Speaker 4: And so just when you were here and you had
• 10:37
  Speaker 4: federal agents and unmarked cars. And you also had local police.
• 10:42
  Speaker 4: Did you feel in that moment like the police were
• 10:45
  Speaker 4: there to protect you?
• 10:46
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 10:47
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 10:50
  Speaker 2: And, you know, the wild thing, too, is on the
• 10:54
  Speaker 2: car that, you know, at least this car that came
• 10:57
  Speaker 2: at me, you couldn't tell who they were because their
• 10:59
  Speaker 2: license plate was tinted out. There's nothing identifying that either.
• 11:04
  Speaker 2: So who are these people? I don't know if Frederick
• 11:08
  Speaker 2: Police had some kind of directive because... You know, I
• 11:11
  Speaker 2: don't know we even drew them out here in the
• 11:13
  Speaker 2: first place. Maybe they heard that people were getting beat, maybe,
• 11:16
  Speaker 2: but they were here kind of before that happened. So
• 11:19
  Speaker 2: maybe they have to take a specific, I don't know.
• 11:22
  Speaker 2: I literally do not know. And if that's the case,
• 11:28
  Speaker 2: if they have a specific directive that Or they don't
• 11:31
  Speaker 2: know what to do. Maybe that needs to be talked about.
• 11:34
  Speaker 2: Maybe something like this, when you have unmarked cars doing
• 11:38
  Speaker 2: reckless behavior on it with their cars, doing reckless behavior
• 11:42
  Speaker 2: towards other people. What is the community's, you know, protect
• 11:47
  Speaker 2: and serve folks going to do for the community?
• 11:51
  Speaker 1: Who are you protecting? Who are you serving? Right. Not us.
• 11:54
  Speaker 2: There are tax dollars going into all of this, too,
• 11:57
  Speaker 2: that people are going to step back and go, wait
• 11:59
  Speaker 2: a minute. What's happening here? I'm putting money toward them. And,
• 12:04
  Speaker 2: you know, and it was whoever was called out here
• 12:06
  Speaker 2: for that night. Who knows? I don't know. But at
• 12:11
  Speaker 2: the end of the day, who are they protecting?