MARK THE SPOT is a community-led campaign that confronts the growing normalization of state violence by making it visible in the places we live. The project identifies and marks locations across Washington, D.C. where Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has detained or kidnapped community members. At each site, volunteers install temporary signs that read “ICE Kidnapped A Community Members Here,” transforming familiar sidewalks and street corners into spaces of remembrance, resistance, and civic awakening. Each sign is both a public record and a call to action — a way to interrupt the illusion that authoritarian tactics only happen “elsewhere.”

The idea for MARK THE SPOT emerged from my own frustration and grief watching ICE kidnap my neighbor in August after racially profiling him on our block, and the continued extrajudicial actions ICE has taken with other community members across the city, often unnoticed by those living just blocks away. I began tracking confirmed ICE activity in D.C., mapping locations, and researching city laws around public signage to ensure the campaign remained lawful yet disruptive. What started as a personal act of witness has grown into a collective effort involving neighbors, and organizers who want to make visible the violence we’re too often told to ignore.

At its core, MARK THE SPOT aims to break through public apathy by localizing connection — showing people that the erosion of rights and democratic norms is not abstract, but happening on our own streets.