When ICE Shows Up: A Monday Morning Reflection

Feb 2

By K. Birdsong Oliver-Kressler

When ICE shows up at a job site, the impact extends far beyond one individual.

It lands in workplaces. In families. In therapy rooms. In the nervous systems of entire communities.

Let us meet this moment with clarity, courage, and care.

Know your rights. Share them. Change the language. Change the temperature. Protect the observers. Stand with the people.

A New Reality in the Therapy Room

I have been in practice for nearly twenty years.

I am no stranger to crisis calls—middle-of-the-night phone calls about overdoses, suicidality, domestic violence, sudden loss. Those calls still matter. They still carry weight.

But what is new—what feels profoundly different—is this:

On a Monday morning. In America.

I am receiving calls from educators, small business owners, builders and contractors, truck drivers, food service leaders—people who employ others, people who anchor communities—calling their therapist before lunchtime because their staff are being detained by ICE.

Parents of children. Team leaders. Trusted neighbors. Family friends.

Detained at work sites. Detained while coworkers watch. In some cases, detained while standing in line to pick up their children from school.

These clients are not calling as abstract observers of the news.

They are calling from the center of it.

Bearing Witness Changes You

One client shared that they gathered their staff to debrief.

They listened as employees recalled being on the phone with their loved one—powerless—hearing:

“Please help. ICE is here. Please make sure my kids are okay.”

That business owner will go home tonight to their own family.

And they will never be the same.

Neither will the coworkers who bore witness. Neither will the children waiting to be picked up. Neither will the neighbors who watched it unfold.

This is how trauma spreads—not through headlines, but through proximity.

This is vicarious trauma. Moral injury. Collective shock.

It is social, emotional, and psychological warfare—and it does not stay contained.

What I Witnessed Today

Today, I took a FaceTime call and cried with several of my clients.

Different locations. Different professions. Unknown to one another.

Living the same nightmare.

This is no longer about helpers alone.

This is about entire communities—blue collar and white collar—turning to therapy as a place to process the unthinkable in real time.

The Weight We Carry as Helpers

Receiving calls like this is heartbreaking. It is also clarifying.

We are not neutral witnesses to harm. We are community touchpoints. Translators of chaos. Nervous systems regulating other nervous systems in real time.

And we cannot do that work well if we are uninformed, unsupported, or silent.

Language Matters: From “Protestors” to Observers

Words shape safety.

When communities mobilize in response to ICE activity, the term protestor can unintentionally escalate risk. A more accurate—and protective—term is observer.

Observers:

Bear witness
Document objectively
De-escalate rather than confront
Protect community members through presence and accountability
Keep hands in sight, clasped together on/at chest at eye level with body-worn-cameras.

Observation is not passive. It is a civic act rooted in care, legality, and restraint.

Know Your Rights (and Share Them)

Fear thrives in uncertainty. Rights knowledge saves lives, families, and futures.

Core principles to know and share:

Individuals have the right to remain silent.
Individuals do not have to open doors without a valid, signed judicial warrant.
Individuals have the right to ask, “Am I being detained?”
Individuals have the right to speak with an attorney.
Individuals do not have to sign documents they do not understand.

Trusted resources:

ACLU “Know Your Rights” materials (available in multiple languages)
National Immigration Law Center (NILC)
RAICES
United We Dream
Local immigrant legal aid organizations and rapid response networks

Helpers should keep these resources readily available—in offices, go-bags, vehicles, and phones.

Self‑Care for Helpers Receiving These Calls

This work hits the body before the brain.

Immediate grounding:

Pause. Breathe low and slow.
Name what you are feeling without judgment.
Place both feet on the floor. Feel the contact.

After the call:

Debrief with a trusted peer (confidentially and ethically).
Hydrate. Eat something grounding.
Limit doom‑scrolling—information is helpful; overload is not.

Sustainable care:

Seek peer support spaces designed for helpers.
Rotate roles when possible—no one person holds this alone.
Remember: being affected does not mean being ineffective.

A Call to Action: Helpers as Community Liaisons

This is the moment for professional helpers to step forward—not as saviors, but as protectors of process and people.

We are uniquely positioned to:

Serve as community liaisons between legal resources and impacted families
Support and educate observers so they are protected too
Offer trauma‑informed presence during and after enforcement actions
Advocate publicly and professionally for humane, ethical practices

Observers should not stand alone. And those who witness should have witnesses too.

This Is a Public Health Issue

Now, more than ever, social-emotional intelligence, emotional regulation, and crisis management are not optional skills.

They are public health issues.

When parents are detained at work sites or school pickup lines… When coworkers witness loved ones being taken away… When business owners are left holding the fear, guilt, and grief of their teams…

The psychological impact does not end when the sirens fade.

It settles into bodies. Into homes. Into classrooms. Into workplaces.

Communities need safe, reinforced spaces to process what is happening—spaces grounded in dignity, consent, and mutual care.

You Are Not Alone

If you or someone you know is struggling with the emotional impact of current events, know this:

You are not weak. You are not overreacting. You are responding normally to abnormal circumstances.

In response to what we are hearing; we are in the process of developing a virtual peer support space focused on Mutual Aid During Unpredictable Times.

This offering is intended to provide: