Jia Lissa
Columbus, Ohio – In a tense political climate marked by heightened immigration enforcement rhetoric, immigrant communities across the United States are mobilizing to safeguard electoral participation against potential federal interference. Central to these concerns is the Franklin County board of elections building at 1700 Morse Street in central Columbus, Ohio, which serves as a crucial early voting site for next week’s pivotal midterm elections. This location is not merely a polling place; it is nestled within a vibrant Somali American community that was directly targeted by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) just last December during a campaign dubbed Operation Buckeye.
Operation Buckeye, as described by ICE, aimed to apprehend "the worst of the worst criminal illegal aliens." However, its execution and outcomes sparked widespread alarm within the community. While official figures cited a number of arrests, local activists and community members reported a "paltry number of arrests" relative to the perceived scale of the operation, which they characterized as months of "sustained harassment." This past campaign has left a palpable lingering fear that ICE agents could return, particularly around the sensitive period of elections. The perceived heavy-handed tactics and broad scope of Operation Buckeye created a deep-seated distrust, fostering an environment where even routine law enforcement activities could be misinterpreted as voter intimidation.
A Climate of Fear: Operation Buckeye’s Lingering Shadow
The roots of the current anxieties in Columbus stretch back to Operation Buckeye. Launched in December of the prior year, the ICE initiative focused heavily on central Ohio, including neighborhoods like the one surrounding the Morse Street polling site. While ICE press releases at the time emphasized targeting individuals with serious criminal convictions, community leaders and advocacy groups highlighted the broad impact on immigrant families and the pervasive fear it instilled. The operation, according to community accounts, involved increased ICE presence, checkpoints, and raids, leading to disruptions in daily life and a sense of vulnerability among both documented and undocumented residents.
Liliana Rivera Baiman, an organizer with the 614 ICE Watch group and the Ohio Good Neighbor Network, articulated the immediate concerns stemming from this history. "Here in central Ohio, our early voting location is located in a neighborhood that’s been the hardest hit by ICE, and it’s an immigrant community neighborhood," Baiman told WIRED. She emphasized the vulnerability of residents, particularly Somali American and Latino communities, many of whom rely on walking to the polling location. This proximity of past enforcement actions to active voting sites creates a direct nexus between immigration policy and democratic participation, raising fears that the specter of enforcement could suppress voter turnout.
Grassroots Mobilization: A Nationwide Network of Election Defenders
In response to these anxieties and perceived threats from the Trump administration to target immigrant communities during the midterms, a robust grassroots network has rapidly expanded its efforts. Organizations like 614 ICE Watch are at the forefront, orchestrating sophisticated monitoring operations. Baiman reports that dozens of volunteers are already patrolling near early voting sites in Columbus daily, a number projected to surge to approximately 250 on Election Day. These volunteers undergo rigorous training focused on documenting, recording, and reporting any sightings of federal immigration agents, with real-time information dissemination through dozens of secure Signal and WhatsApp groups.
The training protocols are meticulous. "We teach people that they have to observe the behavior. We show them what to look out for, what does ICE look like, this is the type of uniform that agents wear, these are the types of vehicles that they drive," Baiman explained. "We show them examples so that they can get familiar with what they might see." This proactive approach aims to empower community members to act as informed observers, differentiating between routine activities and potential intimidation tactics.
This model of community-led vigilance is not isolated to Ohio. Across the country, in towns and cities with significant immigrant populations, similar initiatives are taking root. WIRED interviewed a dozen individuals involved in these efforts, revealing a coordinated nationwide response. Large national organizations such as Common Cause, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), and Indivisible are providing foundational training and resources, working in tandem with local powerhouses like Living United for Change in Arizona and NorCal Resist. These collaborations have cultivated vast networks of volunteers equipped to document ICE activities, understand voter rights, and, in many cases, prepare for worst-case scenarios.
A significant example of this preparedness was the "Eyes on Ice" Zoom training session held in January. Following the tragic shooting and killing of Alex Pretti in Minneapolis, which heightened awareness of interactions with federal agents, more than 200,000 people logged into the session. This training, designed to instruct participants on how to properly document ICE activities, has become a cornerstone of the current midterm election protection efforts, as confirmed by Ezra Levin, cofounder of Indivisible.
Official Stances Versus Political Rhetoric
Amidst the community-led preparations, official statements from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) offer a nuanced, though not entirely reassuring, perspective. A DHS spokesperson informed WIRED that "ICE is not planning operations targeting polling locations." However, this denial was immediately qualified: "ICE conducts intelligence-driven targeted enforcement, and if an active public safety threat endangered a polling location, they may be arrested as a result of that targeted enforcement action." This caveat leaves a window for potential enforcement actions, even if not explicitly "targeting" polling places, which critics argue could still have a chilling effect on voters.
This official ambiguity stands in stark contrast to the rhetoric emanating from the Trump administration and its allies. For the past six months, President Trump has consistently declined to rule out possible deployments of federal agents to voting locations during the midterms. When questioned in May about deploying the National Guard or ICE, Trump stated, "I’d do anything necessary to make sure we have honest elections. We have to have honest elections." This assertion, framed in terms of election integrity, is viewed by many as a thinly veiled justification for potential federal presence at the polls. Further solidifying these concerns, Todd Blanche, then acting attorney general, questioned in July, "Why are there objections to sending ICE officers to polling places? Illegals can’t vote." Such statements, widely publicized, exacerbate fears of voter intimidation, regardless of their legal merit. Federal law explicitly prohibits federal agents from interfering with the voting process or intimidating voters at polling places. The Brennan Center for Justice has extensively documented these prohibitions, underscoring the illegality of deploying agents to deter legitimate voters.
Despite the political rhetoric, some election experts remain skeptical that widespread federal deployment will materialize. David Becker, a former Justice Department trial attorney and head of the Center for Election Innovation and Research, expressed confidence, stating at a recent media briefing, "ICE and troops will not be at the polls. It won’t happen. If it happens at all, it will be isolated. It will be accidental. It just won’t happen." This perspective offers a counter-narrative, suggesting that the logistical and legal hurdles would be too significant for a widespread operation.
Voices from the Communities: The Real Stakes of Voter Intimidation
However, for organizations directly engaging with voters in communities that have experienced heightened ICE activity during Trump’s second term in office, the reality feels distinctly different from expert predictions. Cisco Aguilar, the Nevada secretary of state, highlights the pervasive nature of these concerns, telling WIRED, "I’ve been up and down this state, in and out of Reno, in and out of Las Vegas, into our rural counties, and the number one question I get is about federal agents at polling locations." This sentiment underscores a widespread anxiety that transcends specific localities.
Beatriz Lopez, executive director of Voto Latino, a prominent group dedicated to encouraging Hispanic and Latino citizens to register and vote, echoes these concerns, particularly for the demographics her organization serves. "We know that Latino voters are in the crosshairs of this administration because we know our electorate, our voting bloc, is what’s going to shape and determine the elections of so many competitive races," Lopez explained. "There is legitimate fear among our community." This fear, she notes, is not abstract but rooted in past experiences and present rhetoric, posing a direct threat to civic participation.
Voto Latino, like many other groups, is preparing for a multifaceted Election Day strategy, including operating a "war room" specifically tasked with identifying and debunking viral disinformation designed to dissuade citizens from voting. But their preparations extend to more tangible, real-world threats. Lopez outlined a concerning scenario: "One of the scenarios that we’re anticipating is that at the same time that we’re trying to get people out to vote, there might be home raids by ICE in some of these neighborhoods, which has a real chilling effect on people." Such operations, even if not directly at polling places, could indirectly suppress turnout by creating an atmosphere of fear and uncertainty in the surrounding areas.
To counter such scenarios, groups like 614 ICE Watch in Columbus are organizing neighborhood patrols near polling locations. These patrols are conducted in pairs or groups, never by individuals, ensuring safety and multiple witnesses. Volunteers are even trained in unique de-escalation methods. "If it starts to get very tense, we teach our folks to hum, to sing, to calm themselves down," Baiman revealed, highlighting the creative and community-centered approaches being adopted. The primary objective is not confrontation, but meticulous documentation for public record and accountability.
The Sutter County Incident: A Case Study in Vigilance
The importance of this vigilance was underscored by an incident last week in Sutter County, California. Six ICE vehicles were observed in the parking lot of the Yuba City board of elections building, a site housing a ballot drop box. Following a swift alert from a local resident, NorCal Resist, a mutual aid organization, dispatched one of its trained volunteers and promptly posted an alert on Instagram. Giselle Garcia, programs director with NorCal Resist, highlighted the effectiveness of public attention: "They don’t like the attention, [and] when there’s more community attention, they do often leave."
DHS subsequently denied that the agents were conducting immigration enforcement at a polling location. Chandler Rebel, a DHS spokesperson, stated that ICE agents were conducting a targeted enforcement operation against an individual from Mexico. "ICE parked in front of a polling center—with permission from a representative of the center—while waiting for the target to exit the courthouse," Rebel clarified. While this official explanation provides a rationale for the presence, the incident itself served as a stark reminder to community groups of the need for constant monitoring and rapid response, regardless of the agents’ stated intentions. The perception of ICE presence, particularly in sensitive locations, can be as impactful as the actual intent.
Preparing for Election Day: Resilience in the Face of Uncertainty
On a smaller but equally vital scale, Living United for Change in Arizona (LUCHA) has been training volunteers as "constitutional defenders" in person, preparing for the upcoming vote. To efficiently track ICE activity, LUCHA developed a sophisticated heat map, accessible to volunteers, that logs and tracks incidents across Maricopa and Pima counties. While not publicly available, WIRED reviewed hundreds of recorded incidents, illustrating the systematic nature of these monitoring efforts.
Much of this extensive preparation and coordination is deliberately conducted in private to protect the online infrastructure and communication channels established over the past two years. Ezra Levin of Indivisible confirmed that his organization’s leadership team would be operating from an undisclosed location on Election Day, ready to deploy their considerable resources wherever needed.
Despite the pervasive fear within minority communities regarding potential federal actions during the midterms, a unifying message emerged from every group leader, activist, and volunteer interviewed by WIRED: preparedness. Jill Garvey, executive director of States at the Core, an organization focused on combating authoritarianism and political extremism, encapsulated this sentiment. "You have all this traditional election protection infrastructure that’s really, really robust, but then there is this grassroots infrastructure," Garvey stated. "They’ve done all this tactical documentation training. They know how to be constitutional observers, and I’m pretty confident that when and if we have an uptick in federal enforcement at the polls, it’s going to get documented really, really quickly, and it’s going to be beamed out to the world that it’s happening."
This robust, multi-layered approach, combining traditional election protection with agile, community-led grassroots efforts, signifies a deep commitment to upholding democratic principles. The confluence of official denials, political rhetoric, and documented incidents creates a complex landscape, but the widespread mobilization of citizens underscores a profound belief in the power of vigilance and collective action to safeguard the integrity of the electoral process and ensure every eligible vote can be cast without fear.
