After The Tennessee Star last week reported that far-left agitators plan to disable U.S. Customs and Immigration Enforcement (ICE) vehicles while violently rioting during August’s special session of the legislature, The Star reached out to ICE to see if the law enforcement entity had any plans to quell the potential rioters.
After multiple comment requests and a promise to provide a statement, the agency did not respond to The Star’s inquiry.
In secretly obtained audio from a March 13 planning session among left-wingers, which was hosted by Tennessee Advocates for Planned Parenthood, those who attended the session detailed the plans for their riot outside ICE’s Nashville office.
“I think there’s increased risk with it being a federal building and beholden to federal laws on federal property,” one agitator said. “I also think there’s significant risk to any undocumented folks who would want to be a part of that action. I also think that, you know, if we are disabling vehicles, I think there’s a way to do it without being caught – and I’m a strong proponent of ‘it’s only illegal if you get caught’ – but it would be property damage at the minimum, and I do think that with further planning there would be ways to make this a safer action.”
The group also revealed that some of the agitators intend to be arrested, and one agitator noted that it is possible that some could be charged with domestic terrorism.
“There’s even aiding and abetting,” a third activist said. “Specifically if you’re in an immigration space, people who have helped illegal aliens – that’s the terminology that they use – undocumented people, flee or escape or even ride in their vehicle, have been charged with aiding and abetting. And that’s up to five years. Five to 10 years in prison for you, just so you know. So I would call this a red risk. I think it’s important for us to be conscious of our privilege, right? Sometimes when we enter into spaces – to me it might be like, ‘oh, I can step into Amazon and get arrested, but I have no prior arrests.’ So for me if it’s an arrest I’ll beat that charge, it’ll be fine. But for somebody who has a prior arrest or something like that, that could mean a whole other different can of worms for them. So yes, we each have our individual level of risk, but it’s important to understand the collective risk that we have.”
“I would add that domestic terrorism charges is a possibility for ICE,” another agitator said.
Amazon is another location where the rioters plan to gather during the special session.
The agitators plan to take to the streets during Republican Gov. Bill Lee’s planned special session of the legislature, which will take place in August and will focus on gun control.
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Pete D’Abrosca is a reporter at The Tennessee Star and The Star News Network. Follow Pete on Twitter.
Photo “ICE Agents” by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Background Photo “Nashville” by paulbr75.
