In January 2025, I started a Facebook group called ICE Watch Northwest Arkansas. I did it because I was pissed that it didn't already exist. A team of volunteers and I grew the group to more than 30,000 people.
Twice.
Here's why I did it, how you can do it, and why you actually can make a difference if you try. I'll share some insights from a career in social media that can help your movement, as well as some lessons I learned the hard way.
Photo from one of many protests outside the ICE headquarters in Fayetteville, Arkansas.
It all started in January 2025. This was right around the time that the first big publicized ICE raids were making the news. My community was absolutely freaking out. As I scrolled through Facebook, almost every single post was about ICE arrests, ICE sightings, rumors, or speculation. We needed some sort of central place for these reports and discussions if we were going to have any hope of informing the folks who needed to know.
It was clear that the local news was only going to cover the most egregious arrests. If we wanted transparency, a historical record, and the sharing of knowledge, those things needed to come from the community.
I set the group up, made it public, and wrote a post about it in a handful of totally unrelated community groups. Within a day, we had a hundred members. Within a week, we had two thousand.
Simple beginnings.
Looking back, it is clear that I didn't know what I was getting into. It would be an understatement to say that this grew far beyond anything I ever expected. Still, there are a few principles I held from the very beginning that I believe are key to any sort of organization of this nature.
Be Public
The goal of an ICE Watch - or any activist group - is to reach people. You simply can't make a real difference in silence.
It doesn't matter if you have the perfect social philosophy, undeniable principles, and are the hardest worker to ever live. If you are organizing in a private group, you are not reaching the people you need to reach. We never would have had the explosive growth we did without public sharing.
Being public involves accepting risk, knowing your protections under the law, and being prepared to fight bad actors. This philosophy has been the biggest point of contention between me and others in our local activist community. I will always stand by the idea that a group like this needs to be public to be worthwhile.
(We'll talk about security later.)
Find Good Help
Good help is hard to find, but you must find it. As the group began to grow, I quickly realized the need for moderators. I was extremely lucky to find a small group of extremely dedicated moderators. I would attribute 90% of the success of this group to them. Between them, they have volunteered thousands of hours. I can count on them during late nights or early mornings. Even at times when I have been unable to contribute, they have carried the group forward.
Equally important has been the support from the community and local organizations like the Alliance for Immigrant Respect and Education in coordinating our efforts. We've had lawyers, translators, local politicians, drivers, and donors all volunteer their time toward protecting the immigrant community here.
AIRE statement on ICE Watch NWA during a KUAF radio interview on 9/25/2025:
https://www.kuaf.com/show/ozarks-at-large/2025-09-25/aire-continues-to-support-immigrant-community-in-northwest-arkansas
Avoid Bad Help
The activist space is absolutely full of well-meaning but uncommitted people. You will find allies who spend more time fighting each other than volunteering their time. You will find people who spend more time telling you what changes you need to make than actually helping you make those changes. You will find people who are unbelievably committed for three weeks before they become bored and move on. You need to figure out how you're going to keep these people from killing your group.
Understand That You Will Be Harassed (And It Will Be Ok)
There are organizations that exist only to take you and your group down. When you run a public group, you're going to get harassed. Make sure you're prepared for that. I had to change my Facebook name and have my info removed from the directory at the university where I worked.
I had people send death threats, try to have me fired, and come to my apartment.
You've got to sacrifice a little bit of personal peace in order to serve the community. That's just how it is.
Oh, that's Mia, Transtifia Supersoldier.
Throughout all the growth, these ideals have kept us on track. And boy, did we grow. Near the beginning, we were gaining around 1,000 followers per day as the group quickly circulated across the platform via shares.
There was a whole lot of "figuring things out" in the beginning. Most of the concern was around turning a group of 30,000 members into a force that actually serves the community it intends to serve. We spend a lot of time figuring out how to avoid spreading panic over nothing, how to identify ICE, and how to help those who would contact us after losing family members to ICE. We were extremely lucky to have organizations like the Alliance for Immigrant Respect and Education, which is based in our area, to assist and guide us.
Disaster struck in fall 2025. We received a message saying that our group had problems and was under review. Within 30 minutes, we were informed that the group was permanently banned with no option to appeal. The reason Facebook gave was "Sharing Personal Information" on a specific post, which was a stock image of an ICE service vehicle that had been our cover photo from the very beginning. The stock image had a license plate visible. It's clear that we were targeted in an unusual enforcement of the rules.
We had to start completely over, from almost nothing. The only things left were our personal networks and the scattered chats we had left over. We had a lot of political momentum the first time. The second time was tougher.
Here are some of the things that helped us grow the second group to nearly 40k members.
The Keys to Rapid Growth Specifically on Facebook
Meet People Where They're At
Places like Signal, Bluesky, or Discord are obviously safer and have better algorithms for this kind of stuff, but that's not where the people I needed to reach were. Facebook is the biggest and most localized social media platform for the demographic I was trying to reach. Sure, we could hide it away on Discord, but we'd only ever get a tiny fraction of the members, and it would be far less effective.
Be Easily Found
The name of the group includes both the location and purpose of the group: ICE Watch Northwest Arkansas. When it's shared, people immediately know what it's about and where it is. Additionally, the group is PUBLIC. I want as few barriers to entry as possible. I want somebody who needs the group to be able to see our posts without ever signing up for Facebook.
Be Really Annoying About It
People aren't going to find your group on their own. You have to work to get it out there, and you have to advocate for it with everything you have. It's going to seem like you're being the most annoying person on the internet, but if you want to make a difference, you have to get the word out.
Be Strong and Take Real Action
People want something to hope for and believe in. They want to make a difference. You have to give them a way that they can make a difference, get excited, tell their friends, etc. ICE Watch works because anyone can contribute, share, and feel like they're making a difference. You'll have to get creative, depending on your cause.
Anger Works to Your Advantage
This is controversial. Anger is one of the most powerful motivators.
When something happens in your community that isn't right, you need to share it. You need to get people angry. You need to motivate people to get up and make a difference.
When people saw firsthand cellphone footage of our neighbors getting arrested by ICE, they shared it THOUSANDS of times. All these policies and laws are unfortunately meaningless until you start seeing the videos and hearing the stories. If you amplify those stories, people will start helping.
I find that it is most effective when joined with moral credibility, discipline, and a constructive direction.
Prioritize Shares to Beat the Algorithm
The Facebook algorithm suppresses political speech. If you prioritize shares, you can get around this a little bit. Make things that people can share.
Have Good Luck
You can do everything right, and sometimes it still just won't work. You've got to try anyway.
Photos from one of the Renee Good protests.
Challenges like this need all sorts of people. This is an extremely small part of a much bigger picture, and I am glad to do my part. If you're interested in starting your own ICE Watch, please reach out! And please feel free to join our existing group: