by O’Keefe Media Group
“We know which states are being targeted… If you see someone [from ICE], you can text the group and it’ll go on a website, so people [illegals] can avoid the area.”
“We [Vera] keep track of everything that’s happening with ICE.”
“There’s been some really great work that has been done to create [ICE] notification systems,” reveals Santiago Mueckay, Director of Advocacy for the Vera Institute of Justice, to a hidden camera. Mueckay, details how the organization actively helps illegal immigrants evade federal law enforcement operations, raising legal and ethical questions about the nonprofit’s activities and funding.
The Vera Institute, a long-established nonprofit known for its criminal justice reform work, has in recent years expanded into immigration. According to Mueckay, that expansion includes deploying alert systems to notify illegal immigrants of approaching ICE raids, building online databases to monitor ICE activity, and storing information about government holding and transfer locations.
“If you see someone [ICE agents], you can text the group, and then it’ll go on a website… so people can avoid the area,” Mueckay told an undercover OMG journalist. Mueckay also admitted Vera maintains “a couple of databases” tracking ICE trends, including where agents are detaining or transporting illegal immigrants. “Sometimes we have to sue them to get information,” he added, referring to Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) litigation against the federal government.
Jessica Vaughan, Director of Policy Studies at the Center for Immigration Studies, called Mueckay’s comments “very concerning,” saying he “seemed to be endorsing and approving of this app that’s been developed to help illegal aliens potentially avoid immigration enforcement.” She warned that such efforts “are very dangerous to ICE officers and to the community” and could be “crossing the line into criminal behavior that would amount to harboring someone or shielding them from immigration enforcement.”
“We have to remember,” Vaughan said,…
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