Resolution Condemning DHS/ICE Raids, State Violence, and the Criminalization of
Journalism and Protest
Whereas libraries are public institutions committed to intellectual freedom, democratic
participation, and the protection of access to information for all members of society; and
Whereas this resolution responds to lived conditions affecting many of the communities libraries
serve in real time, and affirms the responsibility of librarianship to address social and political
developments as they occur rather than only after harm has been normalized; and
Whereas Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and other Department of Homeland
Security (DHS) raids and aggressive immigration enforcement practices have intensified,
producing widespread fear, family separation, injury, and death, and disproportionately targeting
immigrant, refugee, and working-class communities; and
Whereas DHS?ICE-related protests have increasingly been met with militarized policing and
escalating state violence, including the murders of protesters Good and Pretti, demonstrating
the lethal consequences of suppressing dissent and public assembly; and
Whereas DHS/ICE raids, aggressive policing, and protest repression are not isolated abuses
but part of a broader pattern of governance built on fear, deterrence, and spectacle; and
Whereas such enforcement practices frequently rely on surveillance, intimidation,
misinformation, and cooperation with local law enforcement in ways that erode trust in public
institutions, including libraries; and
Whereas journalists, photographers, legal observers, and protesters have increasingly been
arrested, assaulted, surveilled, and prosecuted for documenting or opposing state actions,
including immigration enforcement and police violence; and
Whereas the criminalization of journalism and protest undermines the public’s right to know,
chills free expression, and weakens the conditions necessary for democratic accountability; and
Whereas libraries are not abstract spaces in relation to these developments, but serve
immigrant communities and populations who are surveilled, displaced, and silenced, and whose
access to information, safety, and civic participation is directly affected by state repression; and
Whereas when migration is treated as a crime, dissent as a threat, and documentation as
subversion, the mission of libraries and the meaning of intellectual freedom are directly
implicated; and
Whereas the Social Responsibilities Round Table has historically recognized that democracy
depends on the ability to speak, report, assemble, and exist without terror;
Therefore be it resolved that the Social Responsibilities Round Table of the American Library
Association condemns DHS/ICE raids, mass detention, and immigration enforcement practices
that rely on fear, collective punishment, and the destabilization of communities; and
Be it further resolved that SRRT condemns state violence directed at protesters, journalists,
legal observers, and community members, including arrest, prosecution, surveillance, physical
harm, and lethal force used to suppress documentation, dissent, or public assembly; and
Be it further resolved that SRRT affirms the essential role of journalism, protest, and public
visibility in sustaining democratic society and making intellectual freedom meaningful in practice;
and
Be it further resolved that SRRT calls on the American Library Association to publicly oppose
policies and practices that criminalize migration, suppress dissent, and endanger those who
document or challenge state power; and
Be it finally resolved that SRRT reaffirms its commitment to solidarity with immigrant
communities, journalists, protesters, and all those whose rights to safety, expression, and
participation are threatened by state repression, and refuses to normalize the narrowing of
those freedoms.
Submitted by Mark Rosenzweig, SRRT Action Council
Passed by SRRT Action Council on February 4, 2026