'White saviors'' use of whistles causes bitter internal rift inside anti-ICE movement

Immigrant groups have a message for their mostly White allies: Quit blowing the whistle on ICE. 

Fox News Digital has reviewed days of messages inside Signal chat rooms that reveal that a new internal feud has erupted inside the anti-ICE protest industry, pitting immigrant-led organizations against predominately White "rapid response" networks that have made whistle-blowing a dramatic part of anti-ICE protests.

In one dismissal, a "rapid responder" in Seattle reported back that "immigrant networks are being weird."

Groups from Seattle to Montgomery County, Md., are telling mostly White "rapid responders" to back off a dynamic described by activists as "White Savior," reminding them they are not cameo actors in an "action movie" against ICE.

This past weekend, the Washington Immigrant Solidarity Network — known locally as "WAISN," a Seattle-based, immigrant-led organization, publicly rebuked the practice of whistles, setting off a backlash inside mostly White liberal activist "rapid response" circles.

"WHY WAISN RAPID RESPONSE DOES NOT USE WHISTLES," the group wrote in an Instagram post, emphasizing, "We show up with care and accountability, not noise or panic."

"It is not about being the loudest, the bravest, or the most visible person on the scene or confronting immigration agents. It is a commitment to non-violence, discipline and harm reduction, centering the well-being of the most vulnerable immigrant and refugee committees in Washington," the post continued.

The message amounted to a blunt directive: Put away the whistles.

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Fox News Digital reviewed internal Signal chat messages from Seattle-area rapid response groups showing that the rejection of whistles triggered open hostility.

"We believe in whistles, people want whistles. Nothing change [sic] no matter what WAISN says," one participant wrote in a group called "WA Whistles."

The dispute escalated when Snohomish County Indivisible in Washington state told followers this week it would follow the guidance and "pause distribution of whistle kits." The local group is a chapter of the powerful national nonprofit, Indivisible, which has received $7.26 million from 2018 through 2023 from billionaire George Soros’s Open Society Foundations,  which is aligned with the Democratic Party. 

In a striking admission, the Indivisible chapter warned against activists positioning themselves as rescuers, falling into a "'White Savior’ dynamic." It added bold-faced type to get its point across.

"The use of whistles is complex, and we recognize this decision may be disappointing," the Indivisible chapter said. "It is essential that we avoid falling into a ‘White Savior’ dynamic, centering ourselves as rescuers, acting on communities rather than with them, or prioritizing feeling helpful over building real, shared power."

For months, whistle-blowing has been a favored tactic among mostly white rapid responders in cities including Minneapolis, Chicago, New York and Seattle. Activists have used whistles to alert neighborhoods to the presence of federal immigration agents, disrupt operations and create public pressure.

In the Seattle group, a "rapid responder" dismissed the group’s concerns as "vaguely condescending," arguing that while whistles might be "traumatizing," they were surely "no worse than being actually kidnapped, or watching it happen in front of your house."

Others framed the immigrant-led nonprofit as self-interested and risk-averse. One person sneered at the "immigrant rights nonprofit business," while another complained about "careerists at nonprofits" who don’t put the "cause over their job." 

The Washington Immigrant Solidarity Network is a tax-deductible organization under 501(c)(3) of the tax code, raising $3 million in revenues in 2024, according to its latest publicly available tax filing.  Indivisible Project is a 501(c)(4) political nonprofit that raised $10.4 million in 2024, according to its latest tax filing. It has a political 501(c)(3) nonprofit, Indivisible Civics Inc., that raised $5.2 million in 2024, according to its most recent tax filing.

A separate comment derided long-term nonprofit workers as drinking the "koolaid," labeling nonviolent, disciplined approaches as "fed coded."

WA Whistles told Fox News Digital the group "respects" the local immigrant organization's decision "not to use whistles in their rapid response." It added: "Individual comments made in our chats do not reflect WA Whistles as a whole. We respect everyone’s first amendment right to express themselves."

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Some activists, who referred to themselves as "print dwarves" for producing whistles on 3-D printers, said they would remove the group’s contact number from their materials. Only a few participants pushed back to the criticism, one saying she was "very uncomfortable" with the "derogatory remarks" directed at the immigrant organization.

Washington Immigrant Solidarity Network, for its part, was explicit about the stakes. In Washington state, the group said, whistle tactics have "increased fear, drawn unwanted attention, and interfered with rapid response efforts." It didn’t respond to a request for comment.

"We are committed to taking direction from organizations with the longevity, trust and expertise in this work—experience we simply do not have, nor would we presume to know better," the statement said.

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The controversy also exposes ideological fault lines. Since last summer, groups including the People’s Forum, the Party for Socialism and Liberation and the Democratic Socialists of America have promoted whistles as part of a broader confrontation with U.S. law enforcement. They have borrowed from whistle-blowing tactics used by socialist and communist labor union groups in Europe.

The People’s Forum and the Party for Socialism and Liberation are funded by an American-born tech tycoon, Neville Roy Singham, who lives in Shanghai and supports groups that have made it their business to foment mayhem and protests in the United States, with a pro-China agenda.

In one post, the Party for Socialism and Liberation declared, "Hear a whistle? That just might be ICE!" The Seattle whistle group uses templates that the People's Forum distributes through a group, "ICE Out of New York."

The Washington state group echoed a warning from immigrant-led groups in Maryland who issued an anti-whistle edict last month, pointedly speaking to "white allies" who they reminded weren’t playing cameo roles in an "action movie," with their whistles as weapons of power and authority.

In an Instagram post, the Montgomery County Immigrant Rights Collective published an anti-whistle message – "WHY WE DON’T USE WHISTLES IN RAPID RESPONSE – with other local immigrant-led groups, including the Central Maryland Immigrant Rights Collective, the Prince George’s County Immigrant Rights Collective, the "Immigration Coalition," "Migrant Solidarity Mutual Aid" and "UndocuRebels." The groups didn’t return a request for comment.

"Especially for white allies," they wrote, "whistles can represent a subconscious desire for authority, protection or control in moments of crisis, but rapid response is not about assuming authority. It is about showing up for your community with discipline, humility, and restraint when we question decisions made by those impacted, we risk centering our own comfort instead of impacted people."

They noted, "Loudness does not equal effectiveness."

"START WITH REALITY (NOT HEROICS)," they wrote, with the soundtrack of a popular protest song, "Que me devuelvan la tierra," which means "Give me back my land."

They wrote, "This is not an action movie. You are not in a one-on-one fight with ICE."

Adding bold emphasis, they noted, "And you are not the center of this situation."

They noted that its anti-whistle position was shaped by speaking to "120+ community members" with families who have "lived through ICE, detention, surveillance and state violence." After consulting community members, the conclusion was unanimous: do not use whistles.

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The Maryland coalition warned that whistles can "escalate already volatile ICE agents," "make it harder to document and capture information," "increase the likelihood of aggression toward bystanders or the detained person" and "create confusion" for community members and children.

They also pointed to disproportionate impacts on "Black and Brown communities" that are already "overexposed to chronic noise pollution," which they linked to PTSD, anxiety, sleep disruption and heart disease.

Perhaps most pointedly, the group rejected the symbolism itself. Whistles, it said, are historically associated with military and police operations, including "repression, raids and disappearances," especially in developing countries.

"They were not tools used by communities under oppression, they were tools used against them," they said, emphasizing their point in bold.

In the new clash between immigrant-led groups and mostly white activist allies, immigrant leaders warned that the tactics meant to signal solidarity can just as easily reproduce the sounds of "state power."

But in the trenches, the mostly White "allies" continued diminishing the guidance, saying they were going to continue, business as usual, blowing their whistles.

By mid-week, WA Whistles made its stubborn position public, posting a message on its Instagram, saying, "WHISTLES WORK."

"They are a call to courage and a decision to care out loud," it declared, laying claim to the moral high ground.

One user then asked for "more bright-colored whistles that can work around the neck as a symbol of resistance that everyone can see as they go about their day."

Fox News Digital's Kiera McDonald and Hannah Brennan contributed to this report.