“With great power comes great responsibility” may be one of the most overused quotes in the history of overused movie quotes, but please, bear with us. Last week, The Beachcomber fielded multiple phone calls and emails from concerned islanders claiming Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) was on the island rounding up undocumented immigrants. No one that the editor talked to was able to give a location or any specifics. Posts circulated on Facebook warning people ICE was here and to check on those they knew.
After some back and forth between The Beachcomber and an island immigration attorney who had been called into the situation, it was determined that the purported ICE vehicles were actually Homeland Security vans that routinely work with Washington State Ferries. It’s still unclear whether they were driving around on the island or just at the ferry docks. According to the Washington State Patrol (WSP) website, the Homeland Security Division of the WSP encompasses Vessel and Terminal Security for the entire Washington State Ferries fleet and security for the terminals in Western Washington counties. The division provides bomb and drug-sniffing dogs, as well as a bomb squad.
When a similar situation happened in July with islanders believing ICE was on Vashon, Ferries spokesman Ian Sterling said the presence seen at the Fauntleroy dock was Homeland Security “federal partners” who “visit our facilities on a regular basis.”
It’s important for any users of social media to recognize the responsibility that comes with being able to post anything online at anytime that hundreds or thousands could potentially see. The consequences that can come from making assumptions even with the best of intentions can be serious. The islanders reporting the supposed ICE vans had good intentions and wanted to alert the members of our community who may have been at risk, but by alerting them to a false threat, those who posted online created unnecessary worry. Now more than ever, as the world we live in becomes more and more divisive, it is important to do your due diligence and check what you can before posting anything on social media. Make sure your information is coming from a reliable source and that the claims can be proven. Try to see things with your own two eyes before believing what someone else is saying.
It’s an exercise in restraint a la Aesop’s “The Boy Who Cried Wolf.” If ICE or any other agency were to ever make an appearance on the island and warnings would be necessary, it would be important for those warnings to be taken seriously. Incidents like the one that occurred last week compromise that ability to be trusted.
