Retired United Methodist pastor Jerry Eckert knows a lot about advocating for folks who may not have someone to stand up for their rights.
Eckert was a co-founder of a volunteer group, Associates in Advocacy, that provides advocates — usually clergy well-versed in church policies — for United Methodist pastors being investigated for alleged church-law violations.
With that background in standing up for others, he has been watching accounts of what’s happening with Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, teams around the United States. He lives in Punta Gorda, Fla., westward across the state from the infamous Alligator Alcatraz immigration detention camp. Hearings currently are going on in Florida regarding the detrimental environmental impact of the camp.
Eckert wrote in a broadly circulated email: “Is it legal to drive cars without license plates? Is it legal to wear masks with the intent of hiding your identity? Is it legal to arrest people without appropriate warrants? Is it legal to impersonate a law officer?
“Who enforces the laws against such behaviors?”
Eckert responded to his observations by writing four letters to his county sheriff, Bill Prummell, who is “pretty much in charge of law enforcement for the whole county.”
“One encouraged him to support any of his officers who interrupted any group of masked people riding in unlicensed cars and possibly carrying someone in their custody without a warrant,” Eckert reported. “The second asked if he insisted that those acting on behalf of ICE be unmasked, etc. like every other law officer.
“The third letter pointed out that the pressure to export 3,000 immigrants a day would have ICE coming into red states soon looking to satisfy (presidential adviser Stephen) Miller and (“border czar” Tom) Homan. I hinted at using army surplus vehicles and protective gear handed down to law enforcement all over the country to counter (Black Lives Matter) demonstrations.
“The fourth letter included a couple chapters of an unpublished novel where a sheriff actually used that equipment when an ICE contingent in full gear and with weapons of war attempted to remove Haitian workers from a senior living facility.”
Eckert submitted the first two letters to a local newspaper, which published them, he said in his email.
Eckert submitted the first two letters to a local newspaper, which published them, he said in his email. The third letter went to the sheriff and then the newspaper. The fourth letter went only to the sheriff.
Eckert said he hopes to meet with Prummell but is unsure if the meeting will take place.
“I noted in my first letter to Sheriff Prummell that his department was respected and appreciated,” he said. “We’d lived here since 2003 and never heard anything bad about the department.”
As he has in the past with United Methodist legalities, Eckert paid close attention to the ramifications of law enforcement cooperation with ICE. Law enforcement officers in New York and California are watching ICE raids for possible violations of local laws, he noted in his email.
“Every law enforcement agency is asked to sign something called a 287 (g) agreement to cooperate with ICE,” Eckert wrote. “That agreement could be invalid if there is a violation by the ICE teams operating where that agreement was signed. The agreement itself may even include a disqualifying passage if legalities are not met by the ICE units.”
Eckert invited his email recipients to consider using his letter-writing idea to challenge local law enforcement to scrutinize ICE activities: “Use it, expand upon it, modify it for your situation, pass it on or ignore it because you are already involved in another form of good trouble.”
The retired clergyman said he’d heard from a cousin who was considering his letter-writing proposal but added: “It is too soon for a reaction from most of the folks. Most often it takes a while for them to integrate the principles involved with their own busy visions. Something always works out better when it finishes that process.”
However, Eckert got a response from the Southern Poverty Law Center, an organization that defends people’s civil rights, saying his letter was forwarded to a staff member.
Eckert’s “good trouble” theme refers to a now-famous quote from the late Congressman John Lewis, a leader in the civil rights movement: “Do not get lost in a sea of despair. Be hopeful, be optimistic. Our struggle is not the struggle of a day, a week, a month, or a year, it is the struggle of a lifetime. Never, ever be afraid to make some noise and get in good trouble, necessary trouble.”
Cynthia B. Astle, a longtime religion journalist, writes about the United Methodist Church for BNG.