It Could Happen Here: The Campaign to Free Albeiro From ICE

Date: January 20, 2026
Host: Be A Wong (Cool Zone Media)
Guest: Ellie Bell (Community Organizer)

Overview

This episode centers on the campaign to free Albeiro, a father and community leader from Chicago, currently detained by ICE in Indiana. Host Be A Wong and guest Ellie Bell, an organizer on Albeiro’s support team, explore the personal, legal, and political dimensions of his detention, placing it within the wider context of escalating ICE raids, state violence, and resistance. The dialogue is candid, urgent, and deeply rooted in concern for community action, solidarity, and the struggle against racist and inhumane immigration policies.

Main Discussion Points & Insights

1. Escalating ICE Violence and Ethnic Cleansing

• ICE Repression Isn’t New, but It’s Getting Worse
  • “One of the many, many, many, many, many crises that are unfolding in this country right now is a rolling ethnic cleansing carried out by ICE and Border Patrol with the assistance of the cops.”
    — Be A Wong [01:35]
  • ICE raids and killings are spreading and intensifying, with the number of victims rising quickly and accurate data deliberately withheld by authorities.
• Recent Killings and Community Reactions
  • ICE agents recently killed a woman named Renee and shot two people in Portland (ongoing confusion if it was ICE or Border Patrol) [05:08–06:21].
  • “There are so many people missing from Alligator, Alcatraz. What we saw happen in Minneapolis last week is horrendous.”
    — Ellie Bell [06:21]

2. Albeiro’s Detention: The Personal Story

• Who is Albeiro?
  • An asylum-seeker, father, husband, and community leader, described by neighbors as “a beacon” [08:29].
  • “There’s no such thing as a ‘good’ or ‘bad’ immigrant. Nobody deserves to be treated this inhumanely.”
    — Ellie Bell [09:31]
• How Was He Taken?
  • Early morning ICE raid in Chicago (Dec 29), agents approached Albeiro and his wife as they got into their car for work, with no warrant or probable cause as required under the NAVA consent decree [10:02–11:13].
  • ICE’s targeting is fundamentally racist and opportunistic: “They go after nonwhite people, kidnap them, and ask questions later just because they think no one is going to care.”
    — Ellie Bell [11:14]
• Family Impact
  • His wife was also detained, coerced to sign an “official paper” (actually a voluntary deportation document in English, which she doesn’t speak), but refused [22:04–22:14].
  • “These are real people’s lives. This is a real man whose three young children have now gone to bed without him every night for two weeks. They don’t know where their dad is.”
    — Ellie Bell [13:12]

3. ICE’s Methods: State Violence and Manipulation

• Dehumanization & Public Health Abuses
  • Detainees suffer inhumane conditions (cold, poor food, denied medical care):
    “He has a severe seizure disorder and he requires medication to be administered at least, I think, twice a day. Even one missed dose can be fatal.”
    — Ellie Bell [28:22–28:52]
  • The environment is intentionally cruel, aimed at control and deterrence:
    “These conditions happening are orchestrated. What’s worse is they do care, but they care about creating the suffering.”
    — Ellie Bell [32:48]
• Lack of Oversight & Accountability
  • ICE conducts zero meaningful background checks on hires, showing disregard for even basic legal standards [34:47].
• Legal Entrapments
  • Raids often rely on intimidation and linguistic trickery, coercing signatures on documents not understood by detainees [22:14].

4. Resisting Disappearance: The Importance of Witnessing and Action

• Call to End Complacency
  • “They count on us to not be paying enough attention… the more of you that there are at a thing, the less likely they are to kill you.”
    — Be A Wong [12:35, 15:43]
• Community Responsibility
  • “We owe each other everything and we owe each other witnessing. The job of telling these stories, of trying to help get vulnerable people out of detention, is falling to a select few people who are the most vulnerable already.”
    — Ellie Bell [16:33]
  • Discussed need for logistical as well as frontline roles in the resistance [19:13].

5. Systemic Challenges and Opportunities

• Legal Advantage: The NAVA Consent Decree
  • In Chicago, a consent decree restricts warrantless ICE arrests; violations can be challenged in court, offering a rare point of leverage [44:51].
  • “Nothing remotely legal about what they did… [this can be used] to push back and say, you need to release him immediately.”
    — Ellie Bell [44:57]
• Racism in Support and Solidarity
  • Vast disparity in public (and financial) support for detained Black and brown immigrants versus white victims of ICE brutality [11:39].
  • “White people get all that money when… [we] can’t even push past $14,000 for Albeiro.”
    — Ellie Bell [47:37]

6. What Can Listeners Do? Concrete Steps

• Direct Action
  • Donate to Albeiro’s crowdfund (link in episode description) and sign the petition for his release [47:20].
  • “If we can use this as a case study, we know what we can get done through people power, through sheer will and through not allowing things to just fall through the cracks of social media.”
    — Ellie Bell [48:27]
• Amplification & Network Building
  • Share Albeiro’s story, fundraisers, memes, and information widely—every individual’s action can have community impact [50:12].
  • Activate your own networks: “Text five people and tell them… and they text five people, and they text five people. That’s the whole world, baby.”
    — Ellie Bell [50:12]
• Human Solidarity
  • Show up for nonwhite immigrants in your communities; offer emotional support, challenge racism, and take everyday anti-authoritarian action [51:15–53:18].
  • “Every single one of us has a community that we can activate at any time.”
    — Ellie Bell [50:55]
• Rest and Sustainability
  • “Rest is not resistance, but me getting the rest that I need… allows me to resist in a way that helps someone else to get free.”
    — Ellie Bell [23:15]

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On the Nature of ICE Raids:
  “They describe it as operational tempo. I describe it as they don’t have the people to kidnap this many people at once.”
  — Be A Wong [04:02]

• On Witnessing and Resistance:
  “We owe each other everything and we owe each other witnessing.”
  — Ellie Bell [16:33]

• On the Power of Action:
  “Even the smallest act of insurrection pushes our lines forward. You never know if you don’t go. You’ll never shine if you don’t glow.”
  — Be A Wong [53:32], quoting the Andor Manifesto & Smash Mouth (with Ellie Bell)

• On Community Care:
  “We are in this together. And we really owe that to each other—to maybe shut up and show up.”
  — Ellie Bell [26:44]

• On Overcoming Helplessness:
  “There are not enough cops to evict us all. There simply aren’t.”
  — Be A Wong [26:39]

• On Small Actions’ Consequences:
  “Your smallest actions could be the difference between someone losing their life or not.”
  — Ellie Bell [53:18]

Key Timestamps

• 01:35 – Introduction: The scale and horror of current ICE actions.
• 05:08–06:21 – ICE killings and escalation.
• 08:29–13:12 – Albeiro’s background and his family’s ordeal.
• 15:43–19:32 – Importance of mass presence, mutual aid, and activism logistics.
• 22:04–22:14 – ICE’s coercive tactics and manipulation.
• 28:22–32:59 – Detention conditions; public health crisis; deliberate cruelty.
• 34:47–36:13 – ICE recruitment failures; lack of institutional checks.
• 44:51–47:10 – Legal tools (NAVA decree); precedent and advocacy.
• 47:20–50:12 – Practical steps for listeners to help.
• 53:32–54:56 – Closing words: Andor, Smash Mouth, and hope in collective action.

Resources & Action

• Albeiro’s Crowdfund & Petition: Linked in episode description. Donations critically needed.
• Follow Ellie Bell:
  • Instagram: @literally
  • Newsletter on community care (link via social media)
• Support Ongoing Campaigns: Share, donate, organize, and participate in local efforts to resist deportations and state violence.

“Solidarity forever. I believe that we will win if what you do is make memes. Make a meme… Take whatever you got and find a way to spread the news.”
— Ellie Bell [50:19]

This episode is both a rallying cry against the normalization of ICE terror and a practical guide to supporting targeted community members. Its raw honesty, calls for humanization, and insistence on collective responsibility and grassroots power make it a must-listen—and a call to action.