The Horns and Whistles Work

Merry Christmas! I know many of you are likely logged off for the rest of the week, but I wanted to make sure I sent out this Mother Jones article I wrote about my time in Louisiana — a trip that would not have been possible without all of you!

In a residential neighborhood in Kenner, Louisiana, two vehicles full of Border Patrol agents speed down the street. Their goal is to work quickly, before the protesters show up and start blowing whistles and honking horns to alert potential targets to hide inside. Border Patrol might spend hours waiting to detain an immigrant, only to be thwarted by a united neighborhood effort. Here in Kenner, a suburb of New Orleans, it looks like the feds might succeed. But as the agents round a corner, a Mercedes-Benz SUV comes out of nowhere, wedging itself between their vehicles, laying on the horn, whistles shrieking.

It’s a scene that has played out across Chicago, Charlotte, and now New Orleans, where the Trump administration launched what it calls “Operation Catahoula Crunch.” When Customs and Border Protection and Commander Gregory Bovino move into town, so does Whistlemania. Activists create and distribute thousands of 3D-printed whistles, and their piercing cries are used to signal that immigration agents are nearby. Caravans of protesters follow agents around, raising the alarm as they drive through the streets.

Read the rest here.

This article goes along with another story for the Nation, about Greg Bovino’s text messages.

I also previously wrote about the content creation happening at Broadview in Illinois. Here is a clip from New Orleans of the cameraman that follows Bovino around:

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