In the past few days, we've had several posts on immigration actions. Some of them have been very general non-Austin specific actions. Some of been reports of activity without proof that amount to "heard from a friend of a friend..." or "trust me bro."

As the mod team, we're responsible with trying to ensure that hearsay and rumor is not allowed - these often lead to misinformation and other problems.

To get a handle and make things clearer, here's how the mod team wants to outline how we handle these posts:

Things need to be related and specific to Austin. What's happening at a national level applies to Austin but is not specific.

Example:

• OK: "TX DPS and ICE officials both confirmed that state facilities in Central Texas will be used to hold people arrested under suspicion of being in the US illegally."
• NOT OK: "Whitehouse officials say that all areas of the country should expect more law enforcement related to immigration status"

Live "reporting" of enforcement actions need to have reasonable evidence:

Example:

• OK: Video/photographs of enforcement actions; Linking to direct/trusted sources(Links to Social Media sites MAY BE ALLOWED if posted in a self post vs direct link)
• NOT OK: "A friend of a friend says that ICE is going to raid everything near 45th and Lamar tomorrow."; "Think I saw ICE/APD at corner of 45th Lamar." "Lots of sketchy buses near 45th/Lamar"

Trying to get confirmation or information:

Example:

• OK: "I've noticed a lot of DPS or other official looking people going door-to-door in <x> neighborhood. Can someone confirm?"
• NOT OK:"I saw DPS pulling people over. Are they trying to catch people?"

What about this <crowd source> website that shows Immigration actions? Can that be posted?

 Probably not - while these sites certainly have value, they do not provide a means of preventing noise or false reports. Therefore, the level of trust they should be assigned is limited. 

tldr - don't post rumors or "i think saw...."

The /r/Austin moderator team holds the final decision on whether content/comments are allowable or hearsay.  We encourage resources to posted in relevant threads and for discussion to remain on topic and civil. Failure to do so will result in temporary bans and removal.