More than 50 Sitkans attended a training hosted by the American Civil Liberties Union last Wednesday (5-13-26) on how to best support community members if detained by ICE.
Lisa Sadleir-Hart is one of the organizers for the event. She says she and her fellow organizers wanted to educate Sitkans on what to do should ICE officers arrive on the island following the surge in Immigration and Customs Enforcement activity in Minnesota earlier this year. While there has only been one confirmed ICE arrest in Sitka at the time of reporting, Sadleir-Hart says that hasn’t eased the worries of community members she has spoken to.
“Seeing what has happened elsewhere and thinking [that could] also happen here, and especially given the kind of division we’ve seen, not only in our nation, but it’s here in Sikka as well,” says Sadleir-Hart. “Maybe if you’re a person of color in Sitka, that might be something that would be more concerning than it was previously.”
The ACLU of Alaska has held several trainings throughout Southeast this year. The civil rights organization sent senior staff attorney Cindy Woods to Sitka to lead the local training and break down immigration law and its relation to ICE. While Woods says Alaska has not been hit as hard by ICE as many communities in the lower 48, increased ICE presence has made an impact on the state, most notably with a Soldotna family detained back in February. Woods says there’s been a 662% increase in the number of Alaskans detained by ICE in the first year of the Trump administration’s second term, from 13 detainees in 2024 to 99 in 2025.
“We have a small immigration bar, so we have few attorneys that practice immigration here in the state, and seeing that jump from 13 arrests to 99 is massive,” says Woods. “We could potentially be on track if arrests continue to increase proportionally for over 375 Alaskans to be arrested this year, and so that’s a huge, huge number.”
Woods also advised attendees on how to best support somebody being arrested by ICE and how to contact legal resources if someone feels their rights were violated.
Attendee Rachel Worthey says it was infuriating to learn in the session how ICE has engaged in racial profiling of Americans and immigrants across the country (earlier this year the ACLU sued the Trump administration, arguing that federal agents violated citizens’ constitutional rights, and disproportionately targeted Somali and Latino communities). But she says she feels empowered with the new knowledge she’s gained and feels hopeful seeing the strong event turnout.
“I feel encouraged when I come to places like this and see other people who I know feel the same way I do and aren’t going to accept being pulled backwards,” says Worthey.
The ACLU also hosted two more trainings last week focused on developing safety plans for families should ICE detain them. Sadleir-Hart says if anybody is interested in learning more or getting safety planning resources to email her at 3akharts@duck.com
