Concerned citizens have turned to an app once used largely for lost deliveries to make public service announcements about ICE raids in their communities.
Neighbors, an app originally designed for Ring doorbell users, is typically used by people looking for lost pets or missing packages. But last week, horrified by ICE raids in and around Los Angeles, residents started using the Amazon app to alert their communities to immigration agents carrying out searches and arrests. “It was very grassroots and it’s become a tool being used by people just trying to help keep neighbors safe,” said Nic, a Southern California resident whose full name isn’t being published to protect her safety.
While social media sites and Nextdoor have been used to highlight ICE activity across the U.S. in recent days, Neighbors has been especially popular, with dozens of posts reviewed by Forbes over the last week. It allows anyone to post on safety issues in their locale and users can choose to include footage from their Ring doorbell cameras where relevant. As one community activist wrote on Facebook, “Ring Camera is saving so many families’ lives and proving citizens are being harassed and beat up.”
People turned to Ring in particular around the L.A. protests, which began on June 7 in response to ICE mass arresting immigrants and became a political flashpoint as President Trump called in the National Guard and sent in Marines to clamp down on demonstrators. While Trump has slightly tempered the aggression of his immigration policies in recent days, saying he would pause “work site enforcement investigations/operations on agriculture . . . restaurants and operating hotels,” per the New York Times, big cities like L.A. would continue to be the focus of ICE’s efforts.
Neighbors users remained vigilant in posts reviewed by Forbes over the last week, which featured photos and videos of ICE agents, including their locations and, in numerous cases, their vehicle type. Some posts had information on ICE agents near stores like Dollar Tree, McDonald’s, Starbucks and Target. Two alerted communities to ICE operation near elementary schools. Others claimed that construction workers were being apprehended at sites across L.A., including a Home Depot, in a June 10 post that was subsequently deleted (the L.A. protests began after immigration agents were spotted near a Home Depot in Paramount, though there was no actual raid at the store). Many of these alerts feature the ice cube emoji as shorthand for immigration officials.
“Just trying to keep everyone safe,” wrote one user, who was warning about ICE agents potentially heading to L.A.’s MacArthur Park, after receiving a notice from her kid’s school. “Be safe everyone,” said another, alerting Neighbors users to ICE officers at a recreation center.
Forbes spoke to three people who used the Amazon-owned app over the last week around the L.A. protests. “My neighborhood is very diverse, I don’t know everyone but many of us are people of color and I assume, some are immigrants, possibly undocumented,” Nic said. “Even as an American born citizen whose family goes back generations on both sides, I’m nervous about the possibility of coming across ICE.”
She said it’s been helpful to know what parts of Los Angeles to avoid. “I feel like in a time when things are so unfamiliar and scary, small peaks of hope are helpful,” she told Forbes, saying that she’d seen users posting reminders of people’s rights and recommendations not to open doors to ICE agents who didn’t have warrants.
“I live in a Hispanic neighborhood and am trying to raise awareness to keep families safe,” Jennifer, a Neighbors user from Orange County, told Forbes. “I feel strongly about the constitution, due process and that America is a country full of migrants.”
She said Nextdoor had also been helpful for spreading similar information. The LA Times last week reported on citizens using that app to alert others to ICE raids, and Forbes reviewed many posts on Nextdoor warning about immigration operations over recent days.
Not every Neighbors post has been in support of the immigrant community, with numerous examples of users cheering the ICE raids. “I live in a pretty red part of Southern California, so of course under the warning posts there are the gross comments where people were saying, ‘Hooray! Go get the illegals,’” said Nic.
The Neighbors activity viewed by Forbes over the last week poses a dilemma for the Amazon-owned company. Ring prohibits any posts likely to inflame tensions between users, including those discussing politics and “highly debated social issues.” A Ring spokesperson said those rules haven’t changed, declining to provide further comment. ICE didn’t respond to requests for comment.
A spokesperson for Nextdoor said it too prohibited “political discussions,” though declined to comment on any specific moderation of users flagging ICE raids. “Nextdoor has over 300,000 volunteer community moderators, combined with Nextdoor’s own operations team, to ensure that content that violates guidelines is quickly removed,” they added.
It appears Amazon is actively moderating posts around the ICE raids. A number that had warned of ICE presence across L.A. last week have been removed. They included a warning about imminent raids at thrift stores in the city and another about ICE presence at a public community college in Lancaster, California.
Another user, who asked to remain anonymous, said the posts were “70% helpful and 30% vague or fake.”
“I worry about people posting just to scare people,” they told Forbes.
There are good reasons to be careful when posting on Neighbors or Nextdoor. While Ring did remove a feature where police could request doorbell camera footage through the Neighbors app last year, police can obtain information on users with a court order. Search warrants and subpoenas could be used to demand data from any business with information on those protesting ICE’s actions.
Emily Baker-White and Alan Ohnsman contributed reporting.
More from Forbes
Read the full article here
