Clearly, the secret ICE death squads of President Trump and Stephen Miller are back on the warpath against us and bloodier than ever. They haven’t killed anyone in Orange County YET, but it’s imperative that ALL of us fight these stormtroopers every way we can, and that includes such mundane things as supporting businesses that resist their abuses, and calling out and SHAMING those who assist them.
Along those lines, this report came over the weekend from friend of the blog Peter Mullins, who is also a member of Indivisible Orange:
Members of Indivisible Orange were advised by allies that vehicles seen leaving the ICE compound in Santa Ana had Nissan of Orange license plate holders and dealer plates. After receiving credible evidence of this, including photos, we requested a meeting with the fleet services manager at the dealership. We wanted to discuss these allegations and determine if they had any knowledge of their vehicles being used for this purpose. Further, we wanted to remind them of the following quotation from Nissan Global Corporation’s code of ethics.
“Nissan considers strict adherence to corporate rules and applicable laws and practices fundamental to its business activity in every country and area where it operates. The human rights of all stakeholders must be respected, and all Nissan employees must act while upholding the highest ethical standards.
“We neither condone discrimination or any other form of harassment — based on race, ethnicity, national origin, culture, religion, gender, sex, sexual orientation, gender expression, gender identity, disability, marital status or any other characteristic — nor tolerate infringements of human rights in the supply chain, such as forced labor and child labor.”
Five members of Indivisible Orange met with the fleet services manager who quickly called in the general managers at the dealership that day. They were extremely civil and polite and expressed great shock that any of their vehicles had been rented or used by ICE. They assured us this had not been done with their knowledge, that they had no record of renting to that agency, that a large percentage of their customers were immigrants, and that they had never had a policy of examining whether their customers had papers.
Further, they described the owner of the dealership as a proud Mexican-American who was extremely active in that community. We left our phone numbers and emails and requested that we be advised of any further information.
Less than 24 hours later, the owner of Nissan of Orange, Jorge Barrera, got in touch by phone with one of our members as well as reaching out via email to others. He owns other dealerships in the Inland Empire and assured us that none of his operations had or would rent to ICE. He thanked us for sharing information and support for our continuing mission to protect our immigrant neighbors. He also advised us that since public perception of his vehicles being used by ICE could hurt his business, that he would be asking his attorney to look into actions they might take.
The photos that prompted this investigation showed numerous other ICE vehicles that had plates from dealerships all over Southern California. We urge other Indivisible chapters throughout the state and nation to work with allies and take this to heart and follow the trail of deception that is the standard for ICE. Support for our cause is far more widespread than the corporate media acknowledges and people from all levels of business and society are on the side of human and immigrant rights.
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