The Monarch Pledge: a vision for an ICE Free KC!

Every day, over 1,000 of our neighbors are arrested across the United States in a white supremacist program of ethnic cleaning.

Here, in the KC Metro, the immigrant community has been victim to daily kidnappings as innocent mothers, grandparents, and friends are regularly disappeared while commuting to their jobs or taking a child to school. As further insult to injury, our state agencies and local police departments are openly cooperating with federal immigration through a multi-billion dollar program that rewards law enforcement for collaboration in an increasingly discreet campaign of racialized terror.

So what is to be done?

THE MONARCH PLEDGE

• WE AFFIRM our commitment to freedom, justice, and equality for all immigrants and all people;
• WE OPPOSE all forms of racism, bigotry, discrimination, exploitation, and oppression;
• WE DECLARE ourselves an ICE-Free community, and to that end;
• WE COMMIT to supporting our immigrant community and their right to live in dignity and safety.
• WE PLEDGE to join others in working to abolish ICE and end all support for ICE; and
• FURTHERMORE we will deny business to those in our community that continue to cooperate with ICE.

How does the Monarch Pledge work?

The Monarch Pledge is both a political campaign and consumer boycott and it is a pledge that both individuals and businesses can take.

Here are the details:

For individual taking the pledges

This is a declaration that you believe your neighbors, immigrant and non-immigrant alike, deserve to live without fear. To that end:

• You support the abolition of ICE.
  • This means you will commit, in your capacity as a community member and citizen, to working towards the abolition of ICE.
  • This includes exerting your power as a worker and consumer by denying any association and business with ICE and those who cooperate with ICE.

As a side note for individuals: it is not required for you to have your first name and last initial listed. Including your name is entirely optional, though we encourage it!

For businesses taking the pledge

In addition to the above, the following applies:

• You are declaring yourself a Monarch Business*.
  • ICE makes your neighbors scared of going outside and feel not welcomed in their own community, including regular businesses such as your own. A critical facet of being a Monarch Business is to publicly and explicitly declare the opposite and act to those ends.
  • You will not allow ICE (or any other immigration related law enforcement, contractors, etc. actively cooperating with ICE) into your business unless with a valid judicial warrant that requires entry.
  • Furthermore, you will not do business with ICE or anyone working with ICE.
    • You won't serve them food.
    • You won't deliver them services.
    • You won't even let them use your bathrooms or stand in your parking lot.

As a Monarch Business, your establishment will be included in a widely distributed list of Monarch Businesses throughout the extended Kansas City metro area. While the Monarch Pledge Campaign will persevere as long as ICE continues to exist, this distribution includes major fan events and hubs for the 2026 World Cup. Both the local community and tourists will know where they can take their dollars and, more importantly, feel safe.

^* When you take the pledge and mark yourself as an interested business, the Monarch Campaign will be reaching out to you for immediate next steps. We want to verify your application ASAP so that you can be included in the list in addition to free Monarch Pledge materials so that you can advertise your status as a Monarch Business.

Who is the Monarch Pledge?

The Monarch Pledge is a community effort started and maintained by the KC ICE Free Campaign of the Kansas City Democratic Socialists of America. As fellow Kansas Citians, the KC DSA stands in solidarity with our neighbors who regularly face harassment, physical assault, theft, kidnapping, rape, medical negligence, deportation, and death by masked secret police. There is no reforming militarized white supremacist agencies like ICE. KC DSA believes abolition is the only answer. The Monarch Pledge is one facet of our ongoing strategy of fighting for an ICE Free Kansas City. If you are interested in participating further, please join us!

If you would like to collaborate more seriously with the Monarch Pledge Campaign, either as a prominent member of the community, a civil/community organization, or otherwise, please reach out to us at monarch@kcdsa.org