Tucson Facebook group becomes whisper network for Latinas amid growing ICE raids

Versión en español

TUCSON – Ivis Montaño pulled out her phone to snap a picture of the scene in front of her: a man being detained by an uninformed man with a police vest on. 

She took the photo right outside of her mobile home park on Tucson’s Southside.

Then, she sent in her post request to Tucson Beauty Baby’s, a Facebook group with over 26,500 members, all Latinas living in Tucson — each meticulously screened to create a safe space. The group was created originally in 2017 by Veronica Contreras, who manages the account alongside Sayda Armenta. Its purpose is to create a community, exchange tips, share advice and support women.

“So I uploaded a photo because immigration officers were outside and I asked Sayda if she could upload it at that moment so that people would know what was happening,” Montaño told CALÓ News. “Not to scare anyone, but simply and solely to inform them.”

The post was approved and within minutes, people were commenting to make it more relevant for others in the group to see. 

As Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) continues to detain Latinos at unprecedented rates, according to a report from the Luskin School of Public Affairs’ Center for Neighborhood Knowledge at the University of California, Los Angeles, the group has become a powerful online whisper network for Tucson’s Latino community: posts about ICE activity and pictures of cars left behind after immigration officers detain a person have proliferated in the group. As fear and uncertainty increase, this is how a significant portion of Latinas in Tucson are strengthening their ties online, effecting change and offering support.

The group was the first of its kind, according to Contreras. When it started, the only community groups around for Latinos were sell and buy groups and there were no private groups specifically for Latinas only, she said.

“Sometimes a woman wants to ask questions about things that concern women,” Armenta said. “We want it to be a space where you can express yourself, ask questions, answer them, give the answer you think is right, which is what we've tried to maintain.”

“A place where you feel comfortable, like you’re among friends,” Contreras added. 

A virtual whisper network

Women post about everything from who’s selling buñuelos, where to get their nails done and what to buy their nine-year-old daughter for their birthday to advice on divorces, domestic violence situations and immigration-related questions. 

The group serves as a virtual whisper network, an informal communication system where women share vital information that provides protection and community. More commonly used in the framework of sexual harassment against women, immigrants have their own whisper networks, too. 

It has become a go-to space for women with urgent questions about how to find loved ones in the ICE database, what the current immigration laws are, where to find a trusted lawyer and the latest activity at the ports of entry into Mexico, all answered by other women in professions like law, healthcare and wellness, who use their expertise to advise one another. 

“The woman is the foundation of this family-based society; she’s the backbone of her family,” said Maria Eugenia Carrasco, an organizer with the Coalicion de Derechos Humanos and a member of the group. “We're a little more aware of what's going on because we’re involved in so many things. More than anything, it's about people having a way to understand what's happening.” 

Some women have found their children after they’ve been taken by ICE. Others have been able to locate them after they’ve gone missing. 

Previously, these whisper networks spread through word of mouth — someone who’d recently arrived in the U.S. and was looking for a job that pays under the table would get referred to the right person; a woman looking to escape her abusive partner could be directed to a woman’s shelter and workers could be warned against companies known for their abusive workplace practices. 

They’ve since gone virtual, taking place online on a much larger platform. With 26,500 members, the group accounts for almost 5% of Tucson’s population. 

Recent posts are about ICE activity and raids — like the ones that took place early December at various Taco Giro locations in southern Arizona.

Carrasco also posts about immigration law and “Know Your Rights” information. She’s a part of the Tucson Community Rapid Response team that tracks and sends out observers to ICE sightings reported to the hotline. She uses the group to inform others in the community of areas to avoid. 

"We don't want to create chaos, we don't want to generate misinformation, but we also want people to stay informed," Contreras said. "It's a balance of all the information we process."

For women to post in the group, their submission must first be approved by Contreras and Armenta. The two moderators have created safeguards to prevent the proliferation of misinformation. They do not publish hearsay; they approve only firsthand accounts and videos or photos of ICE sightings. They also look to official statements from authorities for their version of events.

A group for community, resistance and survival 

“When I arrived [to the U.S.], I didn't have papers. I lived in the south, all my neighbors were in the same situation as me,” Armenta said. “I would enter into a panic, but as soon as I started to get out of [that mindset], it opened up my mind. It’s the misinformation that keeps us in panic mode.”

Armenta, 40, is from Obregon, Sonora, and grew up in Vicam. She arrived in the U.S. in the early 2000s with her family. Along with administrating the group, she’s a real estate agent and devoted mother, daughter and wife.  

Contreras, 39, is also from Obregon and most of her family lives in Tijuana, Baja California. She was a lawyer in Mexico before she moved to Tucson with her husband, who’s from there. She began the group to find other Mexican women to be in community with. Aside from managing the group, she owns Amelia’s Mexican Kitchen in Tucson. Throughout the evolution of the group, Contreras gave birth twice, had multiple surgeries and survived cancer. Despite it all, she’s committed to the community she’s helped build up. 

“Out on the street, I’ve had women approach me, crying, telling me how we helped them; that they found work through the group, that it has been a great blessing, that they found their son who was lost in the desert thanks to the advice they received,” Contreras said. “I mean, these are things that make me think there’s a reason we’re here.”

The work they do for Tucson Beauty Baby’s is all unpaid — hours of organizing events, approving over 100 requests every hour, vetting members and moderating conversations are all done with no financial goal in mind. 

“The truth is, it takes up a lot of my time,” Armenta said. “I would be much better off if I were just a member of the group and not the administrator, but I also understand that if I weren't managing things, the group might be in a completely different place or it might not even exist anymore.”

Other groups with a similar goal have sprouted and disappeared over the years. Many of the people who start these new groups are inspired members of Tucson Beauty Baby’s. The group, though briefly shut down, has stood the test of time and has become a prominent, secure and trusted group among Latinas. 

Armenta estimates that the group would have over 100,000 members if they didn’t screen people to make sure the group can be a trusted space. 

The screening process includes verifying that the account is older than six months, that the account has various friends and a profile picture — no profile photo is an automatic rejection. Business pages are also not allowed in the group and they remove people who leave hateful, discouraging comments and posts. 

“They've had good vision, a good clinical eye and a good attitude to be able to say, ‘You know what, this will work, this won't work,’ and that requires time,” Montaño said.

Montaño is the owner of Rohi Nails and Spa at 3553 S. 12th Ave. She’s been in the group for years and it's become a necessary fixture for her. She promotes her business, interacts with other women over different matters and protects her community by posting her firsthand encounters with ICE.  

“It's like the yellow pages of my life, that's how I see it,” Montaño said. “When you talk about something and hear other opinions, you realize that you're not the only one with that problem and that's when I realized that this group made the difference,” she said. “That's why I love it, and I've seen that the group is handled with a lot of respect and I love that too.”

For her and so many other women, groups like this reflect their Latino culture of community, resistance and survival. 

“Ignorance is the mother of all vices,” she said. “Being ignorant and not knowing your rights, not understanding what's happening in the world today, makes you just another sheep in society and this society is not going anywhere.”

Susan Barnett is an independent journalist in southern Arizona covering the immigrant and Latine community. She is a recent graduate from the University of Arizona, where she received her Master of Arts in Bilingual Journalism. She previously worked at La Estrella de Tucson and co-founded Tucson Spotlight.