How local organizations are helping neighbors against ICE raids

Pro-immigrant organizations across Los Angeles, San Diego and the Central Valley are mobilizing in defense of vulnerable community members as Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) launched a 45-day crackdown in California, just weeks before the midterm election. 

The Washington Examiner reported the operations first began in San Diego, with ICE officials ordering its agents to “go after anybody,” regardless of whether an individual has a criminal history.

Adriana Jasso, a member of Unión del Barrio for the past 29 years, said community patrollers with the San Diego organization confirmed an increased presence of agents in the area the same week rumors about the operation started circulating.

“We began to go out on patrols every day in multiple cities and regions of the county, and we witnessed an unprecedented number of agents and communities impacted around the same time. That leads us to believe that the unconfirmed information that came out was true,” she said.

The organization increased patrols and communication with different leads throughout the county to improve response times and verify information.

Documenting and verifying

For others who are trying to help by documenting the arrests for social media, Jasso emphasized that, to minimize the level of risk when individuals are out in the field, she recommended a buddy system. She noted that capturing footage from multiple angles is important, as is identifying the specific type of enforcement they are conducting and counting the number of agents present.

“There’s power in numbers. One of the things to keep in mind is if you’re going to go out there, please try to make sure that you go with somebody else and that the information that you're providing or that you decide to put out to the public is verified information,” she said. “We definitely want to be very cautious and careful with the impact of misinformation or unconfirmed activity, or what we call false positives, because it impacts the mental health of the people.”

ICE is early and fast

Jasso shared that since the surge of operations, they are struggling to find volunteers quickly during morning shifts due to the high number of calls and requests they are receiving. “Those calls usually come in around 6:00 a.m. until about 1:30 p.m.,” she said.

They are also not able to deploy patrollers on time due to how quickly agents are operating. “They avoid being in the public eye as much as possible, and therefore our ability to document and establish contact with the person who they are detaining or about to detain becomes difficult,” Jasso said. “Time doesn’t allow us to take a name and a phone number and notify their loved ones.”

She told CALÓ News that the 45-day campaign aligns with President Donald Trump’s goal of mass deportations, specifically targeting immigrants who have no criminal records. Jasso also added that the great majority of the individuals being detained are working-class people such as landscapers, construction workers, street vendors and more.

As the midterm elections approach, she believes that the Trump administration is using this operation as a tool of intimidation to instill fear among Latino voters as they make up about 20% of the U.S. population.

The Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights (CHIRLA), one of the largest immigrant rights organizations in the country, recently hosted a press conference to call on Angelenos to come together and stay vigilant amid the increased immigration crackdowns.

“As ICE threatens more actions in the days ahead as a clear voter intimidation effort, we stand united, informed, and grounded in our values. Our community will not be intimidated from exercising our right to vote. We will vote early by mail, drop off our ballots in mail booths, and train and prepare legal observers to ensure our rights and values are protected,” said Angelica Salas, CHIRLA Executive Director.

Other key recommendations at the conference included knowing one’s rights, establishing a family preparedness strategy, developing a voting plan and participating in local training sessions with community organizations.

Guadalupe Carrasco, who represents both the Association of Raza Educators (A.R.E.) and Unión del Barrio in Los Angeles, said that due to the increase in ICE operations, they have consistently been conducting educator trainings as schools, professors and different local unions are requesting them more often. Focused on student safety within targeted communities, the educator training teaches participants how to organize effectively.

“Sometimes we get 30-40 educators, and then there are times where we literally had up to 1,000 educators showing up,” Carrasco said. She noted that participants involved in the training are eager to learn and take meaningful action to protect their neighbors and loved ones.

Last year, the California Legislature approved the SAFE Act, mandating that schools establish procedures to inform parents and educators when immigration authorities are present on campus.

As an educator, Carrasco believes that the bill has not lived up to its expectations. She explained that there is a lack of leadership initiatives within the schools, as well as insufficient awareness surrounding ICE presence. 

“If that bill was actually implemented, if the administrators were truly trained, it would be enough,” she said. Additionally, she said that it requires a lot of organizing and the right protocols, as well as having the right resources that should come with SB 98. Carrasco emphasized that schools currently rely on volunteers and educators to inform families, maintaining a continuous defense against ICE operations.

She shared with CALÓ News that the Community Self Defense Coalition, a network of over 50 organizations, has spent the last two years developing and refining protocols. The coalition has also been securing support from other networks to be able to provide additional resources that are immediately activated whenever an individual is targeted for detention.

“It takes a lot of work because LA is really big, but hopefully, continuing to do that, we’ll be able to get more people to be walking around, be more aware, and be ready to go into action,” she said. Additional training that the coalition is doing is role-playing certain scenarios so that volunteers are not caught off guard or feel afraid.

Do not walk alone

Another effort that the coalition is doing together with Unión del Barrio is spreading vital messaging around not being alone or walking alone. Carrasco emphasized that they are also trying to alert religious groups that these detentions can happen to anyone. 

“Through an awareness chat we let them know it could happen to any of us, especially right now with what they've been saying of not asking any questions and just snatching people up and figuring it out later,” she said.

Carrasco believes that these operations are not only a part of a theater act from the administration but that it's also political when ICE is only targeting cities with the most organizing.

“The elections are coming, and the cities that they're hitting the hardest are the cities that, by large, do not have electoral control over,” she said. “Trump is a showman, and he likes big theater, and so when they message out that they are doing these big operations, it gets a lot of media attention, but the reality is, between these big shows that they put on, we always need to be aware, either because the raids are consistent or because we’re going to get caught slipping.”

Organizations in the Central Valley are also ramping up their efforts to protect Latino voters.

Power California, a statewide multi-racial civic engagement organization, along with local volunteers, is mobilizing to defend and support their communities. The organization shared that they are not surprised by the 45-day “go after anybody” campaign and added that it’s a clear attempt to spread chaos and fear. 

“Families in the Central Valley are struggling to afford rent, utilities, gas and grocery prices. Young people and our families are asking for relief from rising costs, not unjustified and manufactured immigration raids supported by wealthy interest groups," says Luis Sanchez, president with Power California.

Alicia Olivarez, executive vice president at the organization, shared that their primary focus prior to the recent surge of immigration raids was educating community members on their legal rights and equipping them with essential information.

“Since last year we've been distributing tens of thousands of door hangers in communities, specifically in the city of Fresno, but also looking to expand because we know parts of West Fresno and Madera are also being targeted," she said.

Olivarez told CALÓ News that ICE is focusing on closely contested congressional races, such as in District 22, where Latino voters represent a significant portion of the electorate and serve as key decisive voters. 

“Latino voters make up 63% of the district, and in Madera they also are really critical to Congressional District 13. Overall, I do think these are targeted attempts against our community, not only to kidnap and instill fear but also as a tactic for the upcoming elections,” she said.

She noted that they are witnessing instances of racial profiling where Latino individuals, including U.S. citizens, are being pulled over and let go. "Those tactics are to instill fear amongst anyone, and they said this themselves: go after anyone, and I think that is part of intimidation tactics to keep folks from voting,” Olivarez said. “A lot of our efforts here have been working with young people, especially young Latinos who are eligible to vote. We know they’re so critical, and young people are often the best passengers to other young people.”

Central Valley young people and community organizers are working together to get as many of their locals to vote early and have created in-person and virtual training to do poll protection. She also added that the Central Valley is part of a statewide network where they have trained over 6,000 neighbors to monitor the polls. 

Power California will additionally be hosting 500 ballot parties across the state to ensure that they are combating fear and misinformation. “We knew this was going to happen; we knew this administration was going to attempt to do this to us, and so, all we want to say is we’re ready in California,” she said.

Olivarez also shared that they have been mobilizing with many organizations to have rapid response systems to ensure that they can document, verify, and spread power, not panic. She said that in the Central Valley, she is witnessing people showing up for the community in every way that they can.