The National Baptist Convention USA, Inc. plans to unveil strategies Wednesday to combat what it calls “lawless ICE operations.”
NBCUSA President Dr. Boise Kimber will lead the 2 p.m. press conference at Jacksonville’s Hyatt Regency, where he’s expected to outline proposals addressing what the organization describes as “murder, brutality, unlawful arrests, and deportation of people of color” by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents.
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“For more than a century, Black people experienced the horror unleashed by the Klu Klux Klan that is now replaying across America, unchecked,” Kimber said in a press release announcing the event. “The Klan was a secret society that hid behind masks as do ICE agents.”
In a 1-on-1 interview with News4JAX anchor Tarik Minor on Tuesday, Jacksonville Sheriff TK Waters pushed back against these comparisons, defending ICE agents’ use of face coverings as a necessary safety measure.
“They’re under siege for doing a job for enforcing federal law,” Waters said. “There are certain organizations that are following them, trying to dox them, trying to get people to go to their homes to cause them harm.”
Waters emphasized that such protective measures are standard practice for officers in sensitive positions.
“Some of our undercover officers here, when they do enforcement actions after they’ve done a long undercover investigation, they wear masks on their face because they can’t be divulged,” he said.
The sheriff acknowledged the politically charged nature of immigration enforcement but maintained that his focus remains on officer safety.
“If I have to weigh the lives of our families and the federal officers that are doing their job or making people comfortable, I’m siding with the side of the lives,” Waters said.
The National Baptist Convention, founded in 1880, represents the world’s largest predominantly African American Baptist denomination, with over 31,000 churches and 7.5 million members. Under Kimber’s leadership, the organization is expected to announce specific action plans and strategies during today’s press conference.
The press conference begins at 2 p.m. at the Hyatt Regency Jacksonville. Updates from this developing story will be available on air and online following the press conference.