What does collaboration and public safety mean in a world where ICE and the police rampage through communities?
Colonel Perez maintains that Providence Police Officers were not collaborating with ICE during an early morning arrest on Sunday, but cellphone video seems to indicate otherwise.
“I want to take a moment to address the incident at 55 Alverson Avenue yesterday, which has raised concerns and questions within the community,” said Providence Police Chief Oscar Perez at a press conference on Monday. “Yesterday, the Providence Police Department responded to reports of multiple motor vehicle accidents at that location. On arrival, our officer noted that the vehicles involved were operated by agents of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement [ICE].
“Our offices remained at the scene to ensure the safety of residents and to maintain order,” continued Colonel Perez. “Let me repeat that: To ensure the safety of residents and to maintain order consistent with our responsibility to the public. While officers were documenting the vehicle collisions, the individual sought by ICE left a nearby residence and voluntarily surrendered to federal agents. By our established policy and longstanding protocol, Providence Police Officers did not participate in or assist with any enforcement actions by ICE. Our role in the situation was strictly limited to ensuring the wellbeing of everyone present.”
Not everyone is convinced. In a video taken from inside the home at 55 Alverson, and released by the Party for Socialism and Liberation Rhode Island, a Providence Police Officer can be heard and seen calling for “Ivan,” the man ICE was seeking to detain and disappear, to come downstairs and outside to be arrested. Ivan complied with the orders of the Providence Police Officer and was immediately arrested by masked ICE agents.
“When you look at that video, you recognize that incidents involving federal immigration authorities can create anxiety and fear, particularly within our immigrant communities,” said Colonel Perez at the press conference. “I assure you that the Providence Police Department remains committed to fostering trust and safety for all residents regardless of immigration status. We do not enforce federal immigration law, nor do we collaborate with ICE in its operations. We’re aware of the videos from yesterday’s event that circulated online. We take these matters seriously and have reviewed the circumstances of the incident to ensure that our policies were followed appropriately, and they were.”
Before his comments above, Colonel Perez said that since becoming chief, for the last two and a half years, the department has followed the model of releasing videos “immediately.” Minutes later, there was this exchange:
Reporter: Are you releasing body camera footage from this incident as well?
Colonel Perez: No, that’s still on the review…
Based on the only video currently available to the public, it is clear that Providence Police Officers were assisting ICE agents during this arrest.
In a statement on X, State Representative David Morales wrote:
“For months, Mayor Smiley and the Chief of Police have insisted that the Providence Police Department is not collaborating with ICE. This morning, in the Silver Lake neighborhood, however, Providence Police officers and ICE agents raided a home and forcibly detained one of our neighbors. What unfolded was horrifying. They drew their guns on a Providence family in front of children. And together, they kidnapped one of our neighbors, Ivan.
“This is not public safety — this is a betrayal. Providence should not be executing the cruel, racist agenda of Trump and ICE. A family has been traumatized. Children watched as armed men stormed their home and tore a loved one away. No one deserves to experience that, especially not in a city that claims to protect our immigrant neighbors. Alongside community members, we are demanding that Ivan be released. We are demanding that Providence Police end ALL collaboration with federal immigration enforcement, immediately. We are demanding answers from the Mayor's Office because who knows how long this state-sanctioned violence has been happening in our neighborhoods.
“We will continue to protect our own.”
More from the press conference:
Reporter: Colonel, as the arrest of the gentleman is being made, police officers are up on the stoop with ICE officers. If they’re there to investigate a motor vehicle accident and do, why would police officers be up on the stoop with the ICE agents?
Colonel Perez: I’m glad you asked that question because that needs to be clear. I talked about de-escalation. We heard that there was an individual who, after the accident, ran into his home. So our sergeants pulled up and were told that force was going to be escalated by these ICE agents, so the sergeant decided to knock on the door, [in case] someone needed to be evacuated out of our house. The landlord opened the door, engaged in extremely respectful conversation with the officer, and asked to be escorted out, so the officers were waiting to assist her to get out. She said she didn’t trust the ICE agents and was more comfortable with us. We allowed her to go back in the house for us to escort her, and as we were getting this done, the individual that [ICE was] looking for came out of the house at the same time. At that point, the lieutenant gave the order that the Providence Police Officer not engage or get involved, and the ICE agents came up and took him into custody.
[The landlord] lived on the first floor of the house. I guess when the accident occurred, the individual [wanted by ICE] ran from that vehicle and ran into the home. We didn’t know if he lived there. We didn’t know at that point. We were looking to assist, with public safety in mind.
Reporter: What vehicles did ICE hit?
Colonel Perez: It appears that they were chasing this individual. When that person stopped, the ICE agent struck the vehicle and the parked vehicle in the same driveway.
An accident report was conducted, and officers investigated. The landlord lived there with her kids, and she wanted us to assist her in getting out of the house because she didn’t want the ICE agents to escalate force. We knew they were doing their search warrant and potentially even calling a SWAT team.
There were multiple offices there. The federal agents struck several cars. We wanted to make sure the crowd [wasn’t?] hostile. At the end of the day, when we respond to these locations, our number one priority is the safety of everyone involved, and sometimes, including de-escalation. As you’ve seen in videos in other parts of the country, other parts of the state, and other parts in other states not far from us, officers have been placed in the middle of these actions. We want to ensure that our officers act professionally, and sometimes, like I said, de-escalate situations.
But I want to make sure - I’m going to be clear - we were not involved in a violent raid. That’s not our job. And if we were, people would be held accountable. That’s not our job. We were there to keep people safe—public safety. We got called. It was a dispatch call that came in for a motor vehicle accident. That’s what we responded to in the video that I saw.
Reporter: When ICE is chasing someone through the City of Providence, do they tell you?
Colonel Perez: Nope, no communication with them. We found out, through dispatch, that there was a car accident involving federal agents.
Reporter: They don’t notify you when there’s a chase through the city?
Colonel Perez: Correct.
“We want to reiterate to the community that we are here to ensure their safety and provide the public safety they need,” said Colonel Perez. “When they watch these short clips, we want to ensure they trust this department’s leadership and the men and women who work for them.
“This specific incident has to do with immigration law, which we have a policy in place in Providence. Police. We don’t collaborate with ICE, we don’t provide information, and we don’t engage in any enforcement action that they are involved in. If it’s an administrative warrant, [as opposed to a criminal warrant], they have nothing to do with us. There’s no exchange of information.
“We don’t get involved unless it’s a criminal activity and they’re looking for criminals and have an arrest warrant for criminal activity - that’s different. It’s not just Providence. All the police departments around this nation will be involved in these incidents. We have to remember that as a police department, we have to respond to some of these calls to keep the peace, sometimes to de-escalate, and sometimes to make sure that the individuals who live in that city feel comfortable that we're responding and de-escalating.
“The last thing I wanted was a search warrant being done in a house at 55 Alverson, where doors are being kicked in and individuals with machine guns, so our officers used tactics and were smart enough to de-escalate. There was hostile activity, and names were thrown towards our officers. They were insulted, but our officers kept their professionalism, and at the end of the day, it turned out that whatever ICE was looking for, they got it, and that was the end of it.”
Rhode Island Sanctuary Illusion (Podcast)
https://coyoteri.substack.com/p/rhode-island-sanctuary-illusion
Some of our legislators are hypocrites,. While they are outraged that police collaborated with ICE, They are silent when ICE comes to RI to collaborate with police to conduct racist Asian spa raids.
Some of them recently voted on a bill to exclude asian spa workers from immunity when reporting violent crimes. https://legiscan.com/RI/votes/S0278/2025
see S0278 & H5358 Will Fuel Violence and Exploitation, Not Combat It – Will RI Legislators Prioritize Outside Interests Over Community Safety ? https://coyoteri.substack.com/p/s0278-and-h5358-will-fuel-violence
Now if some of them claim they didn't know that there was a better immunity bill H7307 in 2024 that included Asian spa workers in immunity. don't let them fool you.
COYOTE has spent the past several years,, emailing every member of the general assembly a welcome letter, that includes our research, charging document reports, we called out the bogus H5250 study commission that was run by the outside interest who paid a lobbyist 5,000 a month. We showed up to testify at legislation hearings, we gathered over 400 signatures opposing the racist immunity bill and in support of a better immunity bill H7307 .
The H5250 study commission didn't read or consider COYOTEs recommendations , which included "Rhode Island’s police departments and state police should not work with ICE officials in prostitution enforcement as ICE involvement is highly correlated with an increase in the targeting and deportation of Asian workers."
https://coyoteri.org/wp/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/COYOTE-Reccommendations-for-Commission.pdf
You don't really support undocumented folks if you don't support Asian spa workers.
You don't. really support trans women, if you don't support trans sex workers
You don't really support LGBT people if you don't support LGBT sex workers who happen to make up more than 1/2 of the sex workers.
So the next time an Asian spa workers disappears, we will remember which legislatures voted on a bill that EXCLUDED them from immunity when reporting a violent crime. We wont know if ICE or a serial killer has gotten them.
I didn’t just fall off the turnip truck but perhaps the PPD should investigate arresting for cruel and unusual punishment because every single clip I’ve seen, from anywhere, clearly shows ICE agents who seem to act as aggressively as they possibly can with the specific intent to terrorize, brutalize, humiliate, and dehumanize HUMAN BEINGS. The police should be standing between these dangerous ICE thugs and the people they are torturing. Yes, I used that word and it is perfectly apt. ICE are the criminals. It’s quite plain to see.