How to Foil ICE (at least once)

Back when The Scumfuck In Chief was in his first term and going after Chicago's Mexicans, we (Family Mediation Services of the Circuit Court of Cook County) had couples asking (nicely) for earlier appointments because they expected to be deported shortly.

We also had ICE show up at our offices one morning to round up a mother, father and their kid, who were there by court order for family mediation. Our department, being a part of the court, meant that I was able to keep him from going back into our offices. So the agent waited by our elevators, a public space, to nab the family as they were leaving.

I called the mediator and told her what was going on, to let the couple know, and we'd try to work out a way to leave safely if they chose. I brought their child from our children's room, and they waited. I felt both enraged and nauseated.

I went back up front and sat at our sheriff's desk and kept an eye on the ICE agent, and when he asked our receptionist for the bathroom key, I ran back to the office where the couple was waiting and told them they could leave immediately if they chose, which they did and were gone just before the agent came out of the bathroom.

I didn't tell him they were gone, so he stood around for a few more hours before figuring it out. All the better to discourage future visits.

Immediately, I had a staff meeting and worked out protocols for the next time it happened.

And so it begins again. Here's hoping the current director and administration have their shit together.

It made me want to puke then, and it makes me want to puke now.

OK, that's it. I am now going back to avoiding all the world's current bile that is raising my blood pressure. Being Pollyanna ain't easy these days.