Berkshire County — A Berkshires-based political communications group has created free downloadable posters to help people know their rights when encountering U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents—a resource that has taken on new urgency following recent fatal ICE encounters, including the killings of Renée Good and Alex Pretti in Minneapolis, captured in viral videos that have spread widely on social media.
Filmmaker, designer, author, illustrator, and Berkshire County resident Ben Hillman created Big Tentacle in 2016 as a progressive political messaging project when he realized his “political work was adding up and that it [needed] its own entity,” distinct from his other work in advertising, design, book illustrating, and independent filmmaking.
Hillman and Big Tentacle offer a series of ICE preparedness posters in five languages—English, Haitian Creole, Portuguese, Spanish, and, most recently, Somali—addressing what to do if ICE comes to your home or workplace, how employers should prepare, and guidance for designated “ICE liaisons.”
The Berkshire Edge spoke with Hillman over email on the creation and dissemination of these posters. “What initially inspired me to do this project was a Know Your Rights for Immigrants PDF from the Massachusetts Office of the Attorney General that I got in an email,” Hillman said. “It was a mile-long column of text and I thought, ‘No one is ever going to read this.’”
Hillman saw a hole in typical “Know Your Rights” messaging. “What I couldn’t find was a clear visual explanation that could be used in emergencies—something you didn’t have to study beforehand that was mostly text,” he explained. “What inspired these [posters] was the Choking Victim posters in restaurants. Clear, visual, quick, simple, and understandable to people from all walks of life.”
Hillman says these graphics have garnered “very positive responses from numerous organizations around the country who said that the posters are very useful to their work.” The graphics have over 1,000 downloads so far, he said.
Hillman said his group made these ICE preparedness graphics available in Somali at the request of an activist in Minneapolis. The Trump administration and ICE have focused enforcement efforts on Somali communities in both Minnesota and Maine. “[The posters] are also being sent to Maine, where ICE is starting to harass the Somali communities there,” Hillman added. The agency launched an immigration crackdown in the state, dubbed Operation Catch of the Day, on Tuesday, January 20. ICE officials have arrested more than 200 individuals in Maine since that date. However, U.S. Sen. Susan Collins (R – Maine) said on Thursday, January 29, that the agency has ended enhanced operations in the state.
While Hillman encouraged spreading links to these posters and sending them to immigration activists and organizations across the country, he also emphasized that people need to take action beyond simply downloading and posting materials. “This is an emergency,” he said of the nationwide militant crackdown on immigration. “Go out in the streets, protest, and don’t be afraid. Get food to immigrants who are too scared to come out of their homes. I know people in Minneapolis who are doing this right now. Form a group to chaperone children as they travel from home to school.”
Click below for links to free downloadable PDFs of Big Tentacle’s ICE preparedness posters in five languages:
For more information about Big Tentacle and its work, visit its website.
