As local residents seek ways to support their immigrant neighbors amid at least one ICE operation in South Orange and fears of others across the area, the grassroots group SOMA Action is adopting an approach piloted in other communities.
“Signs of Solidarity” is a nationwide campaign to “show support for immigrant communities, and to help protect them from ICE raids,” SOMA Action volunteer Amy Higer told Village Green.
To that end, SOMA Action is seeking volunteers to help visit local businesses this weekend — Saturday, August 23 — to “ask them to take simple steps to protect their workers and make sure that immigrants know they’re welcome in their stores.”
According to a release form SOMA Action, “A first step is to post a sign in their windows that broadcasts their support for their immigrant neighbors and shows their opposition to ICE.” Higer explained that the effort is being organized nationwide by One Million Rising, which grew out of the “No Kings” protest on June 14.
From SOMA Action. Printouts of these signs will be distributed to members of the local business community this weekend.
A second step is to create an employees-only space; according to the Signs of Solidarity website, “ICE agents are allowed to enter any public space, like a lobby or the dining room of a small restaurant, but they need a signed and dated judicial warrant to enter private business areas.”
If local residents do see suspected ICE activity in town, they can call local law enforcement to confirm or report the activity. Maplewood Deputy Police Chief Niheema Malloy says that “reports can be made anonymously, upon request,” to both the Maplewood police non-emergency number at 973-762-1234 or 911. The South Orange Police non-emergency number is 973-378-7799.
Following resolutions passed in January 2017 and a directive from the NJ Attorney General, South Orange and Maplewood police do not aid or assist ICE actions in the towns, nor do they interfere with such actions.
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From the nokings.org website.
Another resource is DIRE — Deportation & Immigration Response Equipo — a “New Jersey-based rapid response hotline that provides assistance to undocumented individuals and their families facing immigration and detention crises.” The DIRE Hotline is 888-347-3767.
Since President Donald Trump took office in January, ICE has reported that it is arresting the “worst of worst criminal illegal aliens,” but it’s own data show that “40,461 out of 56,945—or 71.1% held in ICE detention have no criminal conviction according to data current as of July 27, 2025. Many of those convicted committed only minor offenses, including traffic violations.” Numerous stories have also arisen of U.S. citizens being detained by ICE, as well as immigrants following the legal process.
On June 6, a man was detained by ICE in South Orange. Local officials — including law enforcement — have not yet learned his name, why he was detained, if he was charged with any crime, or where he was taken.
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From SOMA Action:
This weekend, SOMA Action, a local, all-volunteer grassroots group based in South Orange and Maplewood, is seeking volunteers for “Signs of Solidarity,” a new campaign aimed at helping protect our communities from ICE raids. The initiative is part of One Million Rising, a nationwide anti-Trump protest that grew out of the “No Kings” protest on June 14, one of the largest days of protest in American history.
“Signs of Solidarity” is a coordinated response to the authoritarian practices of ICE and its agents, and specifically to their practice of entering businesses and detaining people without proper warrants. SOMA Action will visit local business owners and ask them to take simple steps to protect their workers and make sure that immigrants know they’re welcome in their stores. A first step is to post a sign in their windows that broadcasts their support for their immigrant neighbors and shows their opposition to ICE.
These signs are designed not only to show support for immigrant communities, but also to show solidarity with everyone who is standing against the Trump administration’s anti-immigrant agenda. Local artist Natalie Crandall, a SOMA Action Board Trustee, designed colorful posters that the group will distribute in our two towns. SOMA Action will also provide information to local businesses about their own rights vis-à-vis federal
agents and ask them to create private areas in their stores for their workers to go in the event of an ICE raid. Federal agents must have a judicial warrant to enter private areas.
The goal is to support local business owners and their workers in this time of unprecedented assault on basic human rights.
Read more about the national campaign here. SOMA Action will launch its Signs of Solidarity campaign this Saturday, August 23 at
10 am. It is seeking volunteers from the community to join this effort by signing up for one of three locations: Springfield Avenue, Maplewood; Maplewood Village; or South Orange Village.
