It Could Happen Here

It Could Happen Here Weekly 216

Jan 24, 2026
Guest
Ellie Bell
Ellie Bell, a community organizer fighting for immigrant rights and mutual aid, discusses Albeiro’s detention and the community campaign to free him. She outlines ICE’s tactics, detention conditions, medical neglect, and the rise in disappearances. The conversation covers organizing strategies, mutual aid roles, legal avenues, and ways listeners can support and pressure institutions.
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ANECDOTE

Community Organizer's Story About Alberto

  • Ellie Bell describes helping Alberto, a father detained by ICE after an early-morning vehicle stop in Chicago.
  • She emphasizes his role as a community leader and the trauma his three children face without him.
INSIGHT

How Complacency Enables ICE Violence

  • ICE escalations rely on public complacency and racialized indifference to disappearances.
  • Ellie argues that differential public empathy (white victims get more attention) enables this state violence.
ADVICE

Activate Your Privilege For Direct Support

  • Use your privilege to share labor: donate, call representatives, or amplify cases like Alberto's.
  • Small actions (sharing, $5 donations, texts) can scale rapidly through networks.
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