This week: ICE, data centers, Good Trouble actions, and our summer picnic
If They Count on Silence, We Get Organized
ICE is not always on the evening news. Proposed AI data centers are not always explained clearly before communities are expected to live with the consequences. Big federal votes can move forward while most people are busy trying to get through the week.
But quiet does not mean harmless.
This week’s newsletter is about visibility, local accountability, and action. We’re highlighting ways to support immigrant-defense work, push for oversight around ICE operations in Salina, join Good Trouble actions across the region, learn more about proposed AI data centers in New York, contact members of Congress on urgent national issues, and gather with IMV at our annual summer picnic.
The answer is not panic. The answer is organizing — locally, visibly, and together.
DID YOU KNOW?
According to Syracuse Immigrant and Refugee Defense Network, the ICE facility at 100 Northern Concourse in Mattydale, just north of Syracuse, is not just an office: it includes detention cells, and advocates have raised alarms about crowded conditions, lack of interpretation, unclear inspection records, and little public transparency about how long people are held or how they are treated inside.
ICE should not be able to operate quietly in our communities, behind closed doors, without public accountability.
ICE Is Counting on Silence. We Need to Get Louder.
Just because ICE is not making the nightly news in Central New York does not mean it is not here. The Utica Immigrant Defense Network continues to receive reports of ICE activity in our communities and of family and community members being detained, transferred, or taken out of public view.
UIDN’s public Facebook page is one place to follow local alerts, Know Your Rights information, and guidance on how to report ICE activity safely and accurately.
Across the country, ICE has not stopped. It has gotten quieter. AP reported that ICE arrested 10,000 people over five days at the end of June — about 2,000 arrests per day — after shifting away from high-profile city sweeps and toward lower-visibility enforcement.*
When ICE operates quietly, families are left searching for answers. Local organizing helps bring what is happening into the light.
*https://apnews.com/article/immigration-arrests-border-ice-trump-a748345d743ebc84b5a20b71abea17f1?utm_source=chatgpt.com
What Can You Do This Week to force these actions into the light for our community?
What Can You Do This Week?
1. Volunteer in Liverpool this Saturday to support the ICE Detention Out of Salina petition.
Syracuse Immigrant and Refugee Defense Network is organizing volunteers to canvass door to door in Liverpool to collect petition signatures related to the ICE facility at 100 Northern Concourse in Mattydale. You do not need to be a resident to collect signatures.
Volunteers will meet at the Liverpool Library for training from 10–11 am, then canvass in the village from 11 am–1 pm. Please bring a smart phone or device that can download an app and be used door to door. A clipboard or something firm for people to sign on is also helpful. Volunteers will be partnered up, so you will not be knocking alone.
For more information, message Jana at janacrogers@proton.me.
2. Join Indivisible’s Immigrant Justice Summer training tonight, July 9 at 8 pm.
This first virtual training will cover how to build a safe, hyper-local, immigrant-aligned response when ICE comes to your community. No prior experience is required.
3. Volunteer in Utica on Saturday, July 18.
There will be a Know Your Rights outreach event in Utica that morning. Volunteers are needed to help drop off Know Your Rights cards and information throughout the community, provide basic KYR training to local businesses, drive volunteers making those connections, and possibly help laminate KYR cards in languages spoken locally.
To volunteer, email IMV@IndivisibleMV.org and let us know how you can help.
Good Trouble Weekend of Action!
Thursday, July 16th, 4-5:30 pm,Thursday Good Trouble Lives on Rally, 8 Park Ave. Whiteboro, Join us every Thursday for a peaceful protest to exercise your first amendment rights! This week please bring your signs to honor the legacy of Rep. John Lewis, civil rights leader, who encouraged us all to make good trouble for democracy, equality, and human rights. A core principle behind all Indivisible events is a commitment to nonviolent action. We expect all participants to seek to de-escalate any potential confrontation with those who disagree with our values.
Friday, July 17th, 4-5 pm, Good Trouble Lives On Rally, Clinton Village Green, East Park Row, Clinton. Rally jointly organized by Kirkland Democratic Committee and Hamilton Rally Team. We are facing the most brazen rollback of civil rights in generations. In the spirit of Congressman John Lewis, bring signs for our rally to protect voting rights! We stand on the Clinton Village Green peacefully displaying our signs to passing motorists. Please bring non-perishable food, hygiene & menstrual products for local food banks. Sign up to attend.
Friday, July 17th 4-5:30 pm. IMV Visibility Bridge Brigade. Meet at Rt 49 west exit onto River Road on Marcy. We provide the signs.
Saturday, July 18th, 12:00-1:30 pm, Good Trouble Lives On Rally in Rome, Along Black River Blvd near the intersection with Erie Blvd. on one side of Fort Stanwix, Rome. Bring your signs to honor Congressman John Lewis and the legacy of voting and civil rights activism. This peaceful weekly demonstration has music and creative signs.
Join Us at IMV’s Annual Summer Potluck Picnic on July 30
Join IMV for our annual summer potluck picnic at Sherrillbrook Park in New Hartford on Thursday, July 30, from 5–8 pm.
We have a covered pavilion and will provide drinks, plates, and cutlery for anyone who does not bring their own. Bring a dish to share if you can, and meet candidates for office.
This is a chance to relax, reconnect, and keep building the kind of grassroots progressive community that makes local action possible.
Let us know you’re coming:
https://www.mobilize.us/indivisible/event/986434/
Ask Gov. Hochul to Sign the Data Center Moratorium Bill Without Further Delay
Last month, the New York State Legislature passed the Responsible Data Center Development Act, A11560/S10642, which would establish a one-year moratorium on certain large data center projects in New York if signed by Gov. Hochul.
The delay matters. Until the Governor signs the bill, large data center projects may continue moving forward. These projects can place enormous demands on energy, water, local infrastructure, and public resources before communities fully understand the long-term costs.
Gov. Hochul should sign the data center moratorium bill now and not allow more time for large projects to push ahead. Our calls will also help support Ilion residents who are fighting back against the proposed AI data center at the old Remington site.
Call 518-474-8390. Press 1 to leave a message or 2 to speak to a staffer in the Governor’s office.
Say No to the AI Data Center in Ilion
The second Say NO to the AI Data Center in Ilion protest is planned for Saturday, July 25, from 12–1:30 pm, at East Clark Street in Ilion.
The proposed AI data center would be located in the former Remington Arms factory building, now owned by Turin Management LLC. The Herkimer County IDA is working with Turin on the proposed project.
This is a peaceful protest.
More information:
https://facebook.com/events/s/say-no-to-ai-data-center-in-il/1573084794447568/
Contact Your Members of Congress on Key Issues
Email your Members of Congress and urge them to hold the line and not give another dime to fund Trump’s illegal war with Iran. After launching a disastrous war with Iran against the will of the American people (and without the authorization of Congress) Trump is now seeking $87 billion from our tax-dollars to pay for it. Congress has passed War Powers Resolutions rebuking the regime over this illegal war. But that means little if they now vote to fund it.
Email your Members of Congress and urge them to reject right-wing plans to deepen US-Israeli military entanglement and insulate the Netanyahu government from accountability. The National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) moves through Congress each year, giving lawmakers an opportunity to sneak in other policies that would not typically pass on their own. This year, Congress is being asked to consider provisions that would enable even deeper entrenchment of the Trump-Netanyahu military relationship, while shielding it from typical congressional oversight -- even as Netanyahu sabotages ceasefire efforts and continues gross human rights abuses in the West Bank and Gaza. This is bad policy that should not be passed into law.
Call Sens. Schumer and Gillibrand and urge them to OPPOSE a toothless CLARITY ACT, and push for real crypto regulation instead. Financial disclosures show that Trump has profited from his crypto coins to the tune of a billion dollars since leaving office. It’s some of the most startling corruption in presidential history -- but somehow Congress is advancing a “crypto regulation” bill that would not address it -- or address other critical consumer protection and corruption issues around cryptocurrency. 78 House Dems helped pass the CLARITY Act last year -- our senators can’t make the same mistake.
Learn More About AI Data Centers in New York
CNY Solidarity Coalition and Indivisible Onondaga County are hosting an information session on Sunday, August 2 at 3 pm about data centers in New York State.
Jennifer Stromer-Galley, a professor in the School of Information Studies at Syracuse University, will give an overview of data centers, the role they play in the AI industry, current and proposed data center initiatives in New York, and the current state of public policy in Central New York.
The event will be held at All Saints Parish Center, 1342 Lancaster Ave., Syracuse.
IMV-Sponsored Rallies
Utica: Thursday, July 9th, 4-5 pm, IMV Thursday Protest. Continuing the Whitesboro location for July! Outside the Whitesboro Historical Society, 8 Park Ave., Whitesboro. Plenty of parking in the area. Bring signs (we have extra signs) to protest Trump's authoritarianism and unnecessary war and the complicit Republican Congress, judges, and corporations.
Marcy: Friday, July 10th, 4:00-5:30 pm, Visibility Bridge Brigade. The location is where 49 West exits onto River Road in Marcy (close to the Walmart). It is about a 1/4 mile walk on the pedestrian path to the bridge. Bring your signs and flags. Organizers will have the MAIN MESSAGE for the day that will be held for viewing from the highway. Please bring flags/signs/pom poms. We need helping hands and cheerleaders.
