By Claire Elmore
A Jews United for Justice community group began meeting this fall to focus on base-building and launching a campaign to end police collaboration with ICE in Creve Coeur, Missouri. Over the past few months, we have identified our goals, deepened our understanding of the local landscape, and built relationships with community organizations and city council members. From the beginning, our group has understood that police collaboration with ICE is a countywide (and nationwide) concern, not one limited to a single municipality. Our ongoing collaboration with the MICA Project has helped us connect our work in Creve Coeur to the broader regional efforts, and in the long term, we hope to work alongside other groups in St. Louis County that share these goals.
Creve Coeur is not the only municipality taking action on this issue. We recognize and appreciate similar efforts across the region. Jews United for Justice is grounded in economic, racial, and social justice values, and we encourage community members to get involved with local organizations that support migrants. St. Louis is meant for all of us, regardless of race, religion, sexuality, gender identity, or immigration status. Current attacks on migrant communities are not driven by public safety. They are racially targeted forms of harm. We see this through federal rulings such as Vasquez Perdomo v. Noem, where ICE agents have the “green light” to question individuals based on how they look, the language they speak, what they do for work, or where they happen to be (American Immigration Council, 2025). ICE is pushing for greater collaboration with local police departments for enforcement purposes, not to strengthen safety or trust in our communities. Together, we can push back against these harmful practices. We urge community members to speak out, get involved, and join us in taking action to protect migrant communities and build a safer, more inclusive St. Louis.
If you want more information on Creve Coeur efforts, similar efforts, or want to start a community group of your own, please contact gabbyeissner@mica-project for support.
From MICA Project - Next Steps!
1. Find your people. Start organizing locally with groups you’re already part of or reach out to us at gabbyeissner@mica-project for support.
2. Figure out what is happening. Look at the news and talk to your neighbors to better understand what collaboration looks like between the police and ICE in your community. How are officers instructed to deal with immigrants? Where have you seen the most enforcement? Speak to affected community members. Reach out to other community organizations. Is there an ally who works on the “inside” who can give you the lay of the land (e.g. a city council member)?
3. List your demands. Now that you have a general sense of what the problems are in your community, establish some overarching goals. Within your goals, start discussing what your demands are. What changes to local practices will get you to your goal?
4. Identify your target. Who has the power to make those changes? In many localities, the target will be the police chief. Other local authorities, like the city council or the city manager, may be secondary targets. A secondary target is someone who you have more influence over and who has more influence over your primary target.
5. Develop your strategy. Once you’ve identified your target, research them. What do they care about? What stories do you have that will affect them? What individual or political interests can you use? What public actions will you take to move them? What media can you get? How will you organize with others to make it happen?
6. Find and recruit others. Build your local power! Do some power mapping to ensure you’re working with the right people who can move your target. Identify who can move closer to you by also mapping your spectrum of allies and seeing who can be shifted into the fight to move the target.