A Brown University–linked neighborhood group says it has been monitoring the Garrahy Judicial Complex in downtown Providence and using rapid alerts and public outreach in an effort to deter U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement activity, as part of the Rhode Island Deportation Defense Network.
Volunteers connected to Brown University have organized what they describe as regular “ICE-watch” patrols around the Garrahy Judicial Complex in downtown Providence, Rhode Island, a strategy they say is intended to reduce the likelihood that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents detain people as they leave court. The effort is tied to the Rhode Island Deportation Defense Network (DDN), which The Nation describes as a collection of neighborhood groups that coordinate ICE-watches, mass mobilizations and a bilingual deportation defense hotline. According to The Nation, the Brown-linked unit is called the College Hill Organizing Group (CHOG) and focuses its courthouse shifts on weekdays from 9 a.m. to noon. During patrols, volunteers hand out “know your rights” information, track vehicles they believe are connected to ICE, record interactions, and relay suspected ICE sightings to the hotline. The Nation reports that the hotline sends alerts through WhatsApp and Telegram channels to a distribution list of more than 5,000 people in the Providence area. Organizers interviewed by The Nation said their presence can pressure agents to leave the area without making detentions, and one volunteer, Etta Robb, estimated that since the patrols began at the courthouse, ICE has been “unsuccessful” near the location “close to 80% of the time.” The Nation also reported volunteers saying that agents have adjusted their tactics in response, including by changing license plates. The Nation reported that CHOG’s organizing emerged amid heightened concern on campuses about federal immigration enforcement, citing detentions that organizers said involved Mahmoud Khalil and Rümeysa Öztürk at other universities. Brown student volunteers named by The Nation include Dakota Pippins, Etta Robb, Diego Castillo, Raya Gupta, and Kenneth Kalu. Separately, Rhode Island civil liberties groups and community organizations publicly direct residents who spot suspected ICE activity to a statewide deportation-defense hotline number, 401-675-1414, which is also listed by AMOR (Alliance to Mobilize Our Resistance) and the ACLU of Rhode Island.
